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Zoom F8


Michael Panfeld

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Great review Jose! Thanks very much. Very clear and unbiased. Pretty shocked about how much you liked the preamps. That's exciting.

Those are indeed some major shortcomings. However a lot of them could be fixed in software:

- switch trim and fader functions

- add track name metadata

- change track order (and allow for single mono mix track)

- the limiter algorithm could technically be improved

In fact, most of the "not so good" is in the software. I'll wait for a couple of updates before giving my final verdict. But as of now, I'm not getting one.
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Nice review, thanks Jose.

"Below the arm/disarm button is a PFL button which can be assigned to either access the Input Setting screen, or to solo the particular input in the headphone output."

When in the 'Input Setting' screen (setting up the channel) what is heard in the monitor - can the channel be solo'd while setting it up? If not, 

Where are these functions assigned? Is there any other way to solo a channel eg scrolling through HP options? 

Regards,

dan.

 

Edited by daniel
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Great review!! Jose is definitely one of the two best writers on the site, the other being Glen Trew. I think it's a tie.

Wow, thank you for the compliment, but I know that there are many other amazing writers whom I admire in this forum who put lots of time into reviewing products, and do so fantastically, including, but not limited to, Ty Ford and Matt Brodnick.

Glad you enjoyed the review.

Nice review, thanks Jose.

"Below the arm/disarm button is a PFL button which can be assigned to either access the Input Setting screen, or to solo the particular input in the headphone output."

When in the 'Input Setting' screen (setting up the channel) what is heard in the monitor - can the channel be solo'd while setting it up? If not, 

Where are these functions assigned? Is there any other way to solo a channel eg scrolling through HP options? 

Regards,

dan.

 

If I recall correctly, in the Setup menu or the Input menu, there's an option to indicate what each of the PFL buttons do. Which means you can assign individual PFL buttons to one of either function. I did not test this thoroughly, but I believe you cannot solo the channel if the PFL button is setup to access the input setup screen.

 

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on paper and by size and price this looks very very good as a cheap back / crash recorder, if it proves reliable that is. Not being able to mix easily is no biggy as it could pair up with a 552 etc and just use it as an iso rec. And if all else fails iso tracks only with a crappy mono mix for coms feeds etc will still keep the shoot day rolling along fine until your main gear is sorted.

I wonder if the scene increment option can be either numeric or alphanumeric, can't see it mentioned in the manual.

Very good routing options on where the slate mic and tone goes too.

Leakage of spurious RF would be bad too, hope they thought about that also.

Hello cjh,

Currently the F8 increments scenes numerically. However, we take all feedback very seriously and have heard requests for alphanumeric increments.

Thanks

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I think this is a really smart product. Internationally, there are many recordist that work for low wages and suffer from very high import duties enacted by their respective governments (India, Nigeria, Oklahoma, etc.) Putting an 8 channel multi-track recorder within reach of so many people is a big stride forward in the digital revolution. Good job, Zoom! 

Edited by David Stevens
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  • 2 weeks later...

A musician friend of mine was recently looking for a portable multi channel recorder, but could not justify the cost of a professional unit. He ended up one of the H6. Given the theoretical performance of the mic preamps and ability to accept Zoom's assortment of swappable, albeit "wobbly mounting", microphones, he will no doubt welcome the upgrade. 

With that said, it seems no easy task to use the back panel microphone mounting plate, or access the TC I/O in a bag. I suppose we'll see what interesting bag designs follow. Also, the trim and menu pots look extremely delicate and fiddly, in the video. I believe it will take a great deal of Zoom re defining their brand, to show up with one of these on a professional set, at least in my market. With that said, I agree with David's comment above. This could be a perfectly viable solution for many markets where no other options exist, hobby recordist, or ars saving backup unit. Time will tell. 

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Hi Zoom Official:

I think a very attractive feature would be a automatic mixing function.  Since it could be 100% software driven, it could be rolled out in an update.  I can tell you that similar functions on the SD 788 and 688 are popular capabilities, especially for seminars/panel discussions where multiple mics are employed, but usually only one person speaks at a time. 

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Nice review, thanks Jose.

"Below the arm/disarm button is a PFL button which can be assigned to either access the Input Setting screen, or to solo the particular input in the headphone output."

When in the 'Input Setting' screen (setting up the channel) what is heard in the monitor - can the channel be solo'd while setting it up? If not, 

Where are these functions assigned? Is there any other way to solo a channel eg scrolling through HP options? 

Regards,

dan.

 

Hi Samuel,

Can you tell us a bit about the current HP monitoring options: 

~ When setting up a channel in the 'input setting' screen what will the operator be able to hear? Eg can we hear (as solo/pfl) the effect of the hpf or limiter on given channel as we apply it or will we have to toggle the pfl/input setting option?

~ Other than the recorded mix, solo and PFL what other routing options to the HPs are there?

thanks,

dan.

 

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high import duties enacted by their respective governments (India, Nigeria, Oklahoma, etc.) 

Oklahoma? Really? If this was meant as humor, ++1. Non sequitur humor always catches me. 

I'm moving this here from another F8 thread, where it belongs:

Overall, this could be better suited to location sound, but it looks like a very promising product. Some of my thoughts:

This might be 'not a good idea', but I'd love to see a full 8 TA3F connectors (in a 2x4 pattern), with switchable line/mic inputs. It might leave space on the panel for other connectors. But with the widespread use of TA3 connectors, and with the advent of some truly beautiful right angle connectors that our Eric Toline, Matt Radlauer, and James Berek have shown are possible, we can come up with our own mini-snakes for how ever many TA3's we'd need. That's easy these days. Locking connectors good. 

I've never run across the need for TRS in my world (seems the music guys here spoke to that), because I'm not sure..but it seems like an input idea from the music recorders Zoom is so well noted for..that could just be axed.

Additionally, is it possible to make the Zoom mic input on the back connectable to our favorite shotgun mics? I'd route the boom in there on the first track and then the second track at -6dB and keep the others open for wireless dual SR's. Could it be wired to send phantom and T power?

I'd like to put the F8 on a Molle vest, so making this into a smaller footprint by an inch or so could really help to make room for a dual RX, or several. But for the price, it may be worth a try, as it's not like killing a 633, if the conditions are bad and the stakes are high. If you guys concentrate on making this item *really* durable, so we can *really* test it..this might work. We'd need to break it and find where those weaknesses are. I'm thinking of extreme heat/cold (Philip's account of the 744T recording all day in a plexi box @ 200˚ temps!), high altitudes, vibrations, bumps, jars, motion, gyration, dust, high humidity/splashes/rain cover work, and during all these extremes, jerking it about through the menu system and trying to 'confuse' it...stuff like that. 

I'm likely asking a lot for the price point. I don't know much about the costs of creating such changes, or how it would effect the retail costs..

..but there's some constructive criticism from the peanut gallery side of JWS, late to the party, as usual, and probably quite irrelevant. : \ But there it is.

And many thanks, Samuel, for coming here to seek this input.

 

 

 

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+1 for android.

+infinity for android...

 

EDIT: 

+1 Oklahoma

-1 for having TRS connectors for line in (?)

+1 on designing it to work in extreme conditions, because that's what our job entails.

And if you are looking to the future: At least 4 tracks of AES inputs would be ideal.

Thanks!

Edited by Strei
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Zoom Official:

I think a very attractive feature would be a automatic mixing function.  Since it could be 100% software driven, it could be rolled out in an update.  I can tell you that similar functions on the SD 788 and 688 are popular capabilities, especially for seminars/panel discussions where multiple mics are employed, but usually only one person speaks at a time. 

Hello Michael,

This is a great idea for a future update to the F8. I will bring it to the attention of our team.

Thanks

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Hi Samuel,

Can you tell us a bit about the current HP monitoring options: 

~ When setting up a channel in the 'input setting' screen what will the operator be able to hear? Eg can we hear (as solo/pfl) the effect of the hpf or limiter on given channel as we apply it or will we have to toggle the pfl/input setting option?

~ Other than the recorded mix, solo and PFL what other routing options to the HPs are there?

thanks,

dan.

 

Hello Dan,

Thanks for the questions

1. You would want to be in the PFL/SOLO menu of a particular input.

2. The HP output is based upon the stereo mix you have created

Thank you

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Hello Dan,

Thanks for the questions

1. You would want to be in the PFL/SOLO menu of a particular input.

2. The HP output is based upon the stereo mix you have created

Thank you

Thanks for the reply ZoomOfficial.

Just to be sure i understand you right, when in PFL/SOLO menu of a particular input the settings for that input can be changed (without coming out of the PFL/SOLO menu)?

And is there any chance line level can be enabled for the XLR I/Ps with a firmware update?

dan.

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