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JoeCo Recorder


Timlin

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Hi all

 

I'm curious to know if anyone has ever used any of the JoeCo products as a principle recorder on set?

 

They seem to offer great value and many interesting features.

 

Could/would you consider one of these products instead of the usual suspects? (788T, Deva, Fusion etc)

 

For those moments when 8, 12 or 16 iso tracks isn't enough, these products appear to "tick-all-the-boxes".

 

http://www.joeco.co.uk/main/BBR_introduction.html

 

I'd be interested in knowing peoples thoughts on this...

 

 

Rgd's

 

 

 

Andrew

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I believe Philip Perkins has a JoeCo Blackbox recorder which he has used for high track count concert recordings. I have only heard good things about the box and since its introduction they have implemented a lot of features that were missing for the sort of work that we do. Maybe others will chime in with real world experiences.

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Jeff

 

Thanks for your reply!

 

On a bang-for-buck platform, I can't see how it could be overlooked. I wonder how the post-production people feel about it?

 

Does it add/remove any extra/fewer steps for them?

 

I can see how it would be an amazing tool for live concerts and performances, but I'm curious how it'd go on a cart as a principle recorder for drama/feature film work.

 

Its an amazing time we live in now isn't it? The developments are impossible to keep up with, and all the while the end-user price of a lot of these products seems to be dropping too - lets hope not too many UPM's have their collective noses too close to the ground here - they might wanna reduce our fees!

 

Take care...

 

 

Rgd's

 

 

 

Andrew

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They now have an iXML option for adding metadata, but the website doesn't show how that software package works. If it's as good as Metacorder or Boom Recorder, I bet this could be a very viable option for very high track-count situations like concerts or reality shows in a fixed location. It looks like you'd have to have a pretty big console to feed it, but I assume you could feed a standard DB25 cable directly to a whole bank of wireless units if you were only doing isos, or take the outputs of a FOH mixing console. At least they added 23.98fps timecode, which was the biggest objection a year or two ago.

 

It looks like the various models go for anywhere from $2495 to $4995, which given that they can record up to 64 channels, is a pretty good deal. 

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Do a search on this site for Joeco.  You'll find a previous thread.  Including some discussion of using Joecos for reality use.  

 

This platform has clearly improved since it first came out....  Metadata and ability to do poly files  certainly one of the most significant improvements.  

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I have been using two JoeCo BBR-1 as my primary recorders on the Food Network show Restaurant Impossible. I too wanted a recorder that would record to two places at once. At the price of the BBR-1 you can buy two and achieve redundancy. I put it into record about 8am and record until 8 or 9 pm breaking the files every 30-60 minutes. I record 12-15 tracks all day to two USB drives. This thing is a workhorse. Monitoring is an issue with this recorder so I have a pair of DigiDesign 888-24 downstream of the two recorders that I monitor with and they work great. I love my JoeCos! Here some photos of my rig.

post-3237-136226466005.jpg

post-1-0-98267400-1362270453_thumb.jpg

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A new software update does allow poly files now but it also causes the recorder to reject many USB drives that worked under the previous version. I had to go back one version because so many of my drives stopped working. Other than that its bulletproof. Our post loves the mono files because of the ease which they load into Avid and because the track name ends with the character name. Also in the photo is a Sound Devices 702t that I record mp3 files for transcription. I send two aux channels to this recorder. You'll see the ext CF card at the bottom of the box. Sorry it loaded sideways. [i fixed the image - JW]

 

Jay

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I had no idea Jay that you had been using the JoeCo all this time. Good to hear it is a solid performer. I'm not sure exactly what you meant by monitoring difficulties --- with the board that you have (is that an Allen & Heath Mix Wizard?) I thought you would be able to route signals back from JoeCo and split the board, mixing - monitoring.

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When I first was testing this recorder I armed all 24 tracks, plugged in a 1 TB USB drive, fed it a music source and put it in record and left it for a weekend. When I came back it was still going strong. I tested with a power failure and watched it rebuild most of the files. I was very impressed. Very robust! The Allen & Heath MixWizard 16:2 is a great routing tool but doesn't provide for individual channel level monitoring. I'm using the direct outs into the JoeCo recorder. L-R is for me to listen to each channel, AUX 1-2 sends to VideoVillage, AUX 3-4 to transcription, ST1 listens to the 702 and ST2 listens to the JoeCo a pair at a time. The JoeCo offers 3 tiny LEDs for level monitoring on each track. Green for signal present, orange for mid range and red for -2 to 0. It also offers normal 12 LEDs for watching two tracks at once in pairs, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and so on or summing all to L-R, very difficult to watch as many mics as I have to. The two 888's offer accurate monitoring of all 16 tracks. On this show I'm not really a mixer but really a tracker. There can be three or four action areas on this set at once. Each camera with it's own scene all recorded by me. It's quite exciting. 24 tracks in 1 RU, operating on 12V is another great feature. There is no power switch so I built in my own into the blank panel just above the top recorder. If anyone has a lot of tracks to capture this is an excellent option.

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Jay

 

I sure could've used this last week! 14 x radio mics, 2 x boom mics, 4 x live-to-tape locations all in the one house, all recording simultaneously - with NO video monitoring and very poor coms rules... and a kinda ordinary 1st AD... My brain still hurts.

 

I had the 14 x RX units going into a very tired, old, hired Mackie desk that no-one has ever loved with only 8 x direct outs and dodgy aux sends. Going into 2 x 788T's that were also much unloved and liked to crash as often as possible - plus VERY particular IFB requirements - all wanting different sources, and changing these sources every 20 minutes.

 

I think one of these units could've made my life soooo much easier! Next time!

 

If these really perform as you say they do, and I'm sure they do - surely that makes 1 - 2 of these units on a cart as a no-brainer? I'm sure gonna find space on my cart for 2 x of these rigs when I build it!

 

 

AT

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I am a big fan of the JoeCo - 12 volts, 24 tracks (more for DANTE and MADI models), USB drive, RS-422/MIDI/GPIO remote control, external LTC timecode. It's a great system for large track count, long take recordings on location.

 

They hold up well in our rental department (we have 4 units), and are an ideal complement to Metacorder/Boom Recorder setups - they allow for a truly redundant second recording, and the graphic meters on the computer make up for the lack of detailed metering on the JoeCo.

 

We clock the JoeCo boxes externally from a Rosendahl or other high-accuracy digital clock, as it's internal sample clock is not sufficiently accurate for long take recordings.

 

Peter Schneider

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We clock the JoeCo boxes externally from a Rosendahl or other high-accuracy digital clock, as it's internal sample clock is not sufficiently accurate for long take recordings.

 

Peter Schneider

It sounds like JoeCo needs to talk with the folks at Ambient.

 

Mark O.

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The thing about the JoeCo box is that it's primarily designed for music recording - specifically it was designed for the "virtual sound check" market. 

 

Of course it's since found it's way into other markets, including audio for video.

 

I think their feeling is that since most installations for film and tv include a master clock anyways, it might be cost prohibitive to include an Ambient "upgrade" option.

 

On the other hand, they sell the iXML option for our market, but that's *software* upgrade - much cheaper to implement!

 

Peter

 

 

 

It sounds like JoeCo needs to talk with the folks at Ambient.

 

MarkO.

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