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Has anyone had experience with R-09?


Jeff Wexler

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If it is not yet on the market I guess that's why nobody is using it yet

...it was maybe me who asked on RAMPS...

I really wish I had something small that I would not mind to take with me when I walk in the forest, a good antropological and ethnomusicological tool. Easy to carry, easy to hide when needed, AA bateries... (and-with-a-wind-ja-merrrrrrr! =:)

It's not shipping yet but soon will be (that said someone around here that inquired Roland directly)

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I made a few recordings with the new Sony D-1 which is the latest offering in a small handheld flash based recorder. The Sony has 2 built in reasonably high quality electret condenser mics in a sort of funny X-Y configuration at the top of the machine. There is a special windscreen (I believe just acoustifoam) that fits over this mic array. The unit worked very well and seemed very simple to use. It actually has 2 storage flash cards, a built in non-removeable flash memory card and a removeable Sony Pro-stick (or whatever they call it). I do not know how file sizes are handled or the allocation of these 2 memory sticks. The thing that hurts the Sony at this point I believe is the price: around $2000. and probably avilable street price around $1700 to $1800.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

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Yes, the Sony looks funny (I stored the image when I first saw it, I thought it was a fake!)

Good to have a report and know the price. Thanks

It looks like it has a 3/8'' thread on the back. If true, I think that's cool. It could work with a foam handle or a mini clamp (grip it to a tree, play rec and have a nice nap) But I see from a review that a real windjammer is needed as I suspected

It is fast to power on and start recording?

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Yes, the Sony looks funny (I stored the image when I first saw it, I thought it was a fake!)

Good to have a report and know the price. Thanks

It looks like it has a 3/8'' thread on the back. If true, I think that's cool. It could work with a foam handle or a mini clamp (grip it to a tree, play rec and have a nice nap) But I see from a review that a real windjammer is needed as I suspected

It is fast to power on and start recording?

It was very quick to power up and very easy to go right into record. The buttons are large and responsive and the display is clear and readable.

It is rather odd looking --- upper half is totally Retro looking, bottom half is all hi-tech. Also, the pictures do not do justice to the solid all metal construction --- very substantial.

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  • 2 months later...

On RAMPS there has been mention of the Roland/Edirol R-09 flash based recorder. Has anyone used this machine yet? Seems like an alternative to the R-1 or the M-Audio Microtrack.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

I received my R-09 last night.  I am hoping to use it for gathering stereo ambience and f/x tracks with an external mic.

My over all impression so far is that I like it.  It is incredibly small; much smaller than I expected, about the size of an iPod.

I performed a battery consumption test and it ran for over 7 hrs on a pair of 2500 mAh NiMh AA batteries.  Internal mics sound pretty good for what they are (cheap).  They may suffice for stereo ambience gathering in relatively high noise environments but they are somewhat noisy so they will not be too useful for recording ambiences in more delicate environments.

I am a little worried about the durability of the door on the bottom that provides access to the USB port, SD card, and the batteries.  It seems to be less than rugged.

Menu system is very straight forward and quick to learn.  Folder and file copying, renaming, moving, and deleting can be performed from the menu system.

That's about all I can say for now.  Stand by for more after I have had a chance to put more time into it.

-Darren

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I plugged the R-09 into an 01v96 yesterday.  I ran it as a backup in order to be able to evaluate how it sounded with an analog line in source.  I was filling in on a production that wanted the primary recorder to be DAT.  I pulled the PD-4 out of mothballs and ran it alongside the R-09.

I would say that the R-09 sounded at least as good as the PD-4, and my impression was that it was quieter.  The R-09 does have the advantage of being 24 bit.  By default, it names a new file "R09_0001" and then automatically increments each new file's name to "R09_0002", etc.  However, I found that the menu system was so easy to use that I could rename each file to a more appropriate Scene/Take naming stucture in less than 5 seconds.  So, it was very easy to rename each file immediately after cutting each take.  You can also create a folder for your project and sub-folders for each "soundroll".

The headphone amp appears to be quite clean with no noticeable self noise and, while it does generate sufficient output, it does not have as much gain as other HP amps that you may be accustomed to.  It is probably similar to that of an ipod.

The shooting day was 10 hours.  At the end of the day the R-09's battery indicator had not dropped below its "full power" setting.

Those Sound Mixers that used to provide a non-timecode DAT back up on a Tascam DA-P1 or Sony equivalent, such as the PCM-M1 etc, would find the R-09 to be an excellent inexpensive non-linear replacement.  As most of our primary non-linear recorders already have internal systems in place to mirror or back up their recorded data, the R-09 could make an excellent low cost backup of the "current take" in case one's primary recorder had a catastrophic failure whilst in record.  One could then reformat and recycle the R-09's SD card on a daily basis.

Later today I plan on testing the R-09 with an external microphone in order to evaluate its pre-amps for sonic quality and noise floor.  This is the scenario in which I am most interested in using the R-09, and I'm sure that this will be the toughest test for such an inexpensive recorder to excel at.

Best,

Darren

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I used the R-09 on a documentary shoot over the weekend and the unit performed very well. It rained all saturday and my porta-brace was wet all day, but the R-09 didn´t mind the damp conditions. I used it as a back-up out of my SD442 tape out. I put it on record when we started the day and kept rolling almost the whole day, filling two 2gig cards by the end of it. No problems with one set of 2500mAh Nimh´s. The bottom battery door is very fragile but otherwise I think it´s a nice inexpensive non-linear recorder.

Cheers,

Klaus

Helsinki, Finland

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all.

I bought one in a hurry for a commercial where I may have to hide a recorder inside a moving car to record driving sounds which could be wild (no synch) in case the wireless signal was no good.

I'm very satisfied with it as a standalone unit of that price (280 euros or so!) I have only used it with it's own mics, just to explore it that way, and I'm amazed. I've also recorded voices or atmos with it and it returns a very acceptable quality recording (obv. far from two Schoeps into a Deva or a 7-series but amazing for that price)

The user interface it's very fast and confortable to use (although I can't go from the end of a list to it's begining, but this is the only complaint)

I bought a 1GB SanDisk Extreme III card.

The recorder was inside a very fast driving car taped to the ceiling with foam in the middle. and recorded 98% OK, 2% being strong vibrations that saturated the mics, but also my Schoeps on a Floater. So I'm very impressed.

It's great to do ethnomusicological recordings, antropological recordings, etc. Great to have it with you most of the time and record all that sounds you usually miss while in nature, weird places, etc. Or just record your cat's comments anytime from 2 inches and inmediately (about 5 seconds from off to record!)

Extremely low handling noise!

Two AA  alkaline lasted very long (two shooting days used now and then, about 500MB in 25 files + all the tests I did the day before)

But a serious warning: if you use tape to fix it to something, when removing the tape you can take apart the unit!!! I accidentalyy opened the side and back pannels when taking the tape off! (argh!) It was easy to repair because I was in a calm and clean place out of the set, but not a good thing if it happens in a crowded set, the parts are very small.

I updated the firmware from my Mac and it only worked using the supplied AC adapter (It did not connect using batteries through USB)

I used that method to download the files from the unit to the computer too.

---> Now it would be good to have a working windshield for it, any ideas?

Fernando

P.S. I will do some tests: one using a battery operated medium quality stereo mic (Sony 999), another using a mixer as a front-end (MP2) and maybe another using a Schoeps+phantom directly into it... I'll report back.

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I use a small cheap Olympus WMA recorder as a audio note-taking device, via its built in stereo mic.  The mics are kind of wind sensitive, so I shoved an SM-58-sized ball foam windscreen over the whole end of the unit.  (About the size of a TV remote.)  The 09 isn't much bigger than this thing, perhaps a larger foam screen made for a LD condenser mic would work for you.

Philip Perkins

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  • 2 months later...

I would love to know if you can adjust the levels while in record mode. I am thinking of buying one to record concerts and with the levels at shows, that's a major plus.

Jon Ailetcher, CAS

Los Angeles, CA

www.indamix.tv

There are no Sound Problems....

                                            Only Solutions....

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