GEAR REVIEW - DAY 3 - YAMAHA POCKETRAK PR7
May 11, 2014 22:23:43 GMT
Akquarius, brianr2, and 1 more like this
Post by vikingblues on May 11, 2014 22:23:43 GMT
I got this courtesy of my eldest son for my birthday.
I'd wanted to unchain myself from having to always record at the computer since I went acoustic at the end of last year. I've had multitrack recorders in the past and have invariably found them too complicated for my liking (except a four track cassette recorder appx 1999!
). Also they nearly all come geared up for electric guitar playing with zillions of amp sims and pedal sims and lots of overdone and distorted sounds on offer. I've tried 3 of these over the years and none of them really ticked enough boxes to be of long term use - one still required the use of a manual for basic functions after a few months it was so unintuitive. 
But I would find only being able to do a single track recording a bit limiting, as I like to play around with a mix of different instruments, and also find it difficult to sing and play at the same time. Which seemed to rule out hand held recorders. So I had been wondering about trying multitrack again, but with something like a Tascam which concentrates only on the basic recording functions without all the bells and whistles. Not an affordable option for my son to get me one though.
Then I became aware of handheld recorders that have the overdub feature and two were also (just) within the price bracket my son could afford - the Tascam DR-07 Mk II and the Yamaha Pocketrak PR7. The PR7 came up at a really good price in a stock clearance scenario at Red Dog Music so I ended up with one of those.
Only uses 1 AAA battery and seems to get at least as much use from that as a lot of recorders do from two AAs. Not really an advantage if rechargeables are used though.
Recording - has five modes - (1) musical instrument, (2) musical instrument close microphone, (3) band, (4) conference/speech and (5) field. Only really used the musical instrument close microphone setting so far. I do seem to have to set the recording level pretty high, but I'm not a loud strummer, so that maybe makes sense - it certainly picks up an arm brushing on the instruments top, or a finger nail tapping against something solid. It doesn't make any difference to the recording volume whether the sound is from the front or back of the unit.
I have just found out while writing this post, and not had a chance to properly test it out, that the recording level is better when to unit is lying in a flat position with its microphones at the end pointing towards the subject - this advice is only in the detailed reference manual for some reason. This does mean that if you are recording yourself you have to look at the screen and buttons upside down and at a foreshortened angle which is not ideal. Using an external microphone would avoid this, though the microphone cabling would need to be geared up to 3.5mm mini-plug.
The recorder can attach to a standard camera tripod or mini tripod.
The internal microphones very sensitive to any touching or handling the recorder, or even the tripod attached to it. I believe this is a typical feature of these types of recorders - means you get the noise from starting and stopping a recording which is a shame.
OverDubbing - pretty straightforward. Much to my surprise. Both record and OverDubbing involve hitting the Record or OverDub button to arm the track, then if needed the record level button and +/- buttons to adjust and record level button, and then the Record button to start recording.
The overdubbing makes a new track which comprises both the original and the new part together. This can then also be overdubbed which produces a track with all three parts together on it ... etc. No noticeable degradation in sound as normally the case in this digital age. This system does mean that it's not possible to transfer each part individually to a DAW for selective editing - so for example the balance of volumes between the different parts in the mix cannot be changed.
There's not really much in the way of editing on board. No trim file function. Can divide a file and delete the unwanted part. There's markers and there's a punch in-out operation. File deletion is also thankfully straightforward.
Files cannot be given a name - they follow a numbering sequence, which is a shame. If an earlier file in the numbering sequence is deleted then all the later files numbers reduce by 1 to plug the gap. But it's not really a machine designed for storing finished songs anyway - so a proper name can be given when the file is transferred to the computer for storage &/or editing (including proper trimming).
Playback - straightforward - the on board speaker gives an indication of what's recorded, but very small speaker and tinny sound, so headphones really needed. Can transfer the Wav/mp3 file to the computer, import the track into a DAW and amend the volume, eq, reverb etc. The recorder comes bundled with access to download Steinberg Wavelab LE7.
Storage - 2Gb internal storage. Can use an external micro SD or SDHC card for an additional 32Gb. 2Gb gives 1hr 45mins at 24bit 48kHz PCM mode. With an mp3 128kbps gets 32 hours and 320kbps gets 12 3/4 hrs. So a 32Gb card gets a pretty decent storage amount. The recording format can be any one of 5 quality levels for mp3 and 4 quality levels for each of PCM(WAV) 16bit and 24bit. A 32Gb microSDHC card also means a single file size can exceed 2Gb
There is an external microphone input. Can't use this AND the in built microphone at the same time.
Tuner and Metronome included.
That's about that for now. A couple of recordings which are early attempts and are not taking advantage of what now appears to be the best position for recording. These files have not been amended from their state on the recorder - the "What Started Off as a Good Idea" has found it's way in a form amended by a DAW to the Plucky Duck, but this version here is the unedited one (and maybe the better for it).
"An Chearc ..." test TW73 Guitar, Octave Mandolin and Mandolin.
"What Started Off as a Good Idea" Tenor Mandolin and Octave Mandolin and Vocal.
Sorry - a long post - but there was very little I could find about this piece of gear online. I wish I could have found some posts on forums about it - so hopefully this may be of help to someone else who's wondering.
Mark
I'd wanted to unchain myself from having to always record at the computer since I went acoustic at the end of last year. I've had multitrack recorders in the past and have invariably found them too complicated for my liking (except a four track cassette recorder appx 1999!
). Also they nearly all come geared up for electric guitar playing with zillions of amp sims and pedal sims and lots of overdone and distorted sounds on offer. I've tried 3 of these over the years and none of them really ticked enough boxes to be of long term use - one still required the use of a manual for basic functions after a few months it was so unintuitive. 
But I would find only being able to do a single track recording a bit limiting, as I like to play around with a mix of different instruments, and also find it difficult to sing and play at the same time. Which seemed to rule out hand held recorders. So I had been wondering about trying multitrack again, but with something like a Tascam which concentrates only on the basic recording functions without all the bells and whistles. Not an affordable option for my son to get me one though.
Then I became aware of handheld recorders that have the overdub feature and two were also (just) within the price bracket my son could afford - the Tascam DR-07 Mk II and the Yamaha Pocketrak PR7. The PR7 came up at a really good price in a stock clearance scenario at Red Dog Music so I ended up with one of those.
Only uses 1 AAA battery and seems to get at least as much use from that as a lot of recorders do from two AAs. Not really an advantage if rechargeables are used though.
Recording - has five modes - (1) musical instrument, (2) musical instrument close microphone, (3) band, (4) conference/speech and (5) field. Only really used the musical instrument close microphone setting so far. I do seem to have to set the recording level pretty high, but I'm not a loud strummer, so that maybe makes sense - it certainly picks up an arm brushing on the instruments top, or a finger nail tapping against something solid. It doesn't make any difference to the recording volume whether the sound is from the front or back of the unit.
I have just found out while writing this post, and not had a chance to properly test it out, that the recording level is better when to unit is lying in a flat position with its microphones at the end pointing towards the subject - this advice is only in the detailed reference manual for some reason. This does mean that if you are recording yourself you have to look at the screen and buttons upside down and at a foreshortened angle which is not ideal. Using an external microphone would avoid this, though the microphone cabling would need to be geared up to 3.5mm mini-plug.
The recorder can attach to a standard camera tripod or mini tripod.
The internal microphones very sensitive to any touching or handling the recorder, or even the tripod attached to it. I believe this is a typical feature of these types of recorders - means you get the noise from starting and stopping a recording which is a shame.
OverDubbing - pretty straightforward. Much to my surprise. Both record and OverDubbing involve hitting the Record or OverDub button to arm the track, then if needed the record level button and +/- buttons to adjust and record level button, and then the Record button to start recording.
The overdubbing makes a new track which comprises both the original and the new part together. This can then also be overdubbed which produces a track with all three parts together on it ... etc. No noticeable degradation in sound as normally the case in this digital age. This system does mean that it's not possible to transfer each part individually to a DAW for selective editing - so for example the balance of volumes between the different parts in the mix cannot be changed.
There's not really much in the way of editing on board. No trim file function. Can divide a file and delete the unwanted part. There's markers and there's a punch in-out operation. File deletion is also thankfully straightforward.
Files cannot be given a name - they follow a numbering sequence, which is a shame. If an earlier file in the numbering sequence is deleted then all the later files numbers reduce by 1 to plug the gap. But it's not really a machine designed for storing finished songs anyway - so a proper name can be given when the file is transferred to the computer for storage &/or editing (including proper trimming).
Playback - straightforward - the on board speaker gives an indication of what's recorded, but very small speaker and tinny sound, so headphones really needed. Can transfer the Wav/mp3 file to the computer, import the track into a DAW and amend the volume, eq, reverb etc. The recorder comes bundled with access to download Steinberg Wavelab LE7.
Storage - 2Gb internal storage. Can use an external micro SD or SDHC card for an additional 32Gb. 2Gb gives 1hr 45mins at 24bit 48kHz PCM mode. With an mp3 128kbps gets 32 hours and 320kbps gets 12 3/4 hrs. So a 32Gb card gets a pretty decent storage amount. The recording format can be any one of 5 quality levels for mp3 and 4 quality levels for each of PCM(WAV) 16bit and 24bit. A 32Gb microSDHC card also means a single file size can exceed 2Gb
There is an external microphone input. Can't use this AND the in built microphone at the same time.
Tuner and Metronome included.
That's about that for now. A couple of recordings which are early attempts and are not taking advantage of what now appears to be the best position for recording. These files have not been amended from their state on the recorder - the "What Started Off as a Good Idea" has found it's way in a form amended by a DAW to the Plucky Duck, but this version here is the unedited one (and maybe the better for it).
"An Chearc ..." test TW73 Guitar, Octave Mandolin and Mandolin. "What Started Off as a Good Idea" Tenor Mandolin and Octave Mandolin and Vocal.Sorry - a long post - but there was very little I could find about this piece of gear online. I wish I could have found some posts on forums about it - so hopefully this may be of help to someone else who's wondering.
Mark
Jo whoever he is.
