I've been waiting for an audio in mp3 to come on the market, but having just read the spec, it seems to only have a mono built in mike. (but with a stereo line in). I think the stereo is pretty important. Playing about with the balance afterwards with a seperate eq can often get rid of the bodhran
I've looked on the Mambo-X website, it looks like a nice product but it has the same problem as the others that have a stereo line in (Archos etc...) : It's juste a line in, no pre-amp on it , so if you plug in your mic, sound will be terrible 'cause you cannot get right quality sound without a pre-amplification... I've tried recording myself with such a product, even with atenuation fully down, you don't get any good stuff.
I think what all the session people wait for is described in here :
www.minidisc.org
But no one produces it yet, although it's fully possible on a technical point of view, I guess it's more for political reasons related to copyrights, disc industry etc...
I see that Archos is now selling an add-on stereo mic (see http://www.archos.com/products/prw_100878.html), apparently with preamp (at least there's a lump of something between the mic and the line in). Also there are 3rd parties selling amplified mics. Has anybody tried this solution?
I've been watching this thread with a lot of interest. While I love my Mini-Disk, the ability to directly download music files to my Mac would be the ticket, if only the quality were any good. Please, some 'bleeding-edge fanatic' buy one of these so we can benefit from your experience! I'll have my 300 dollars in my pocket until then.
The Archos seems to be good. It has a 20MB hard disk, costs less than $300, and has a microphone, but i'm thinking the internal microphone is mono??? It has a line-in input, but no stereo microphone-level input.
Yeah, I want to know about that Archos too. I am soooo tired of cassettes that I, loser that I am, keep neglecting to label, and so I've this whole pile of tapes that I won't throw out because what if something really important is on there? I haven't plunked for the minidiscs yet through sheer inertia, but Something Must Be Done soon about the tape thing.
A stereo mic costs less than $20USD, at least mine did from Radio Shack, & the resulting effect is great. My Sony MD is awesome, but still a lot of work to download recordings.
Yes it does, but that device (Archo) takes a line-level input (line in), not a microphone input, so the special microphone they sell must have a pre-amplifier in it. If you buy it from http://www.archo.com there is a "special" on the recorder and microphone.
Also, from reading a few reviews, it seems that the user interface on the Archo is atrocious. For example, you have to assign a file name every time before you can record a track. If you don't do it, each recording overwrites the previous one. Doh! Apparently the higher model (the one that includes an FM receiver) doesn't have this problem (you can define the file name once and it will append 1, 2, 3, etc, creating a new name each time you hit record).
I haven't looked at the Archos yet but be careful. The 'live' recording capabilities of some of the other hard-disk mp3 recorders (Creative Labs) are very limited. The sampling rates and resolution are nowhere near what they need to be for quality music recording. They are mostly designed for 'voice', that is, speech.
MD is still a great product for the money. The only drawback is that up-loading to your computer must be done in real time and results in another analog to digital conversion. The quality is still very high, much higher than cassette.
I checked out both the Mambo site and the Archos site. They both seem to offer about the same capabilities. It seems to me that live recording may be of 'good' enough quality to be useful but of course what you get is mp3 files. They really are designed as portable jukeboxes and not as live digital recorders. That's where the market is.
I'd love to see a machine this size offer the capability of recording true cd-quality WAV files. (The Creative Labs jukeboxes offer a WAV file recording mode but not cd quality).
Many years ago I had a reel-to-reel Sony 377 tape deck - 3 heads, 3 speeds, wow-and-flutter not detectable and a reasonable signal/noise ratio. For about 10 years years it happily looked after my recording requirements, mostly radio but sometimes live, until it irretrievably expired, and I became fairly adept at editing the tapes using a razor. And then I had a succession of tape cassette decks, most of which weren't particularly good, but the last one, which I still have and use, an Aiwa 3-head AD-F810 deck, gives reasonable quality recording and playback using that old Sony as a comparison.
What I always yearned after in the portable recording arena was the reel-to-reel Uher (are they still being made?), as used by the BBC professionals and others, but I could never afford one. Now today's MD recorder gives a standard of recording that puts most of yesteryear's analogue reel-to-reel and tape cassette technology in the shade, at an affordable price, *and* my MD recorder has the inestimable bonus that it sits comfortably in either of my fiddle cases. Downloading onto my pc's hard disk in real time I never see as a problem because I always start that off just before I'm about to go out or do some playing or equally worthy activity.
Trevor
Yes, the MD thing for me is more a question of principle. Dammit, let us have the files already! There's no technical reason not to and not even a good business reason not to.
I gave up on the Archos, BTW. After digging a little, i started finding consumer reviews that said some bad things, for example, battery life when recording is less than 2 hours (not 10 as they advertise). The user interface is horrible, some say that the unit is unreliable (freezes without any provocation) and, worse of all, technical support doesn't exist. Also, Archos only handles MP3. No way to record uncompressed WAV, for example.
One option is maybe the Creative Labs Jukebox 3, but i don't know yet if it can take an external microphone. I think as far as MP3 recorders go, they're still not mature enough to plonk money on one. Better wait another year or so and see what surfaces.
Last thing about MD: I'd buy one if they cost US$100 or less, but to pay US$200 for something that yes records nice but won't let me get my files out, i'm not willing to do that right now. Maybe later. If it were cheaper, yes, i'd just say oh well, it's really just a fancy portable cassette recorder.
"When the Revolution comes, they will be the first ones against the wall..."
My girlfiend is a concert harpist so we own both an Archos Multimedia 20 and a Sharp MD. Comments and comparisons:
1. Achos (with latest firmware) is no more difficult to record with than the MD. In fact, setting line levels is easier.
2. The MD, there is always a problem that disks only get used 60%. For most recordings, we don't want to run out of space so we start with a new disk. Never a problem with a 20Gb disk and the ability to make directories and subdirectories.
3. MP3 files can store much more descriptive data. This may not be practical. Copying is so easy with the Archos, but not very satisfying experience with the MD. In fact, I have started first copying from MD to Archos and then copying to the computer via USB.
4. Sound quality for each is roughly the same. Sampling rates are not an issue on an Archos; however, sometimes a "dropout" can occur-- I saw that the newer units have better processors so I imagine this rare occurance is eliminated now. Archos works better recording from line-in signals, so you will need the adapters referenced above. Cabling is; however, remarkably simple-- to stereos, microphones, TVs, or computers.
5. Battery and size is one area the MD definately wins. The Archos battery is always the limiting factor to any recording session. I am going to upgrade mine to see if I can improve it. The MD is also about 1/2 the weight.
Regarding Mambo vs. Archos. It looks like the Mambo referenced above is equivelent to the old Archos Jukebox Recorder-- USB 1.0 only, MP3 only. But the new version is comparable to the Archos Multimedia - USB 2.0 and Video. The only advantage I see with Mambo is the WMA capabilities that are missing in the Archos.
Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
Has anyone here had any experience using the Mambo-X P350 ( http://www.mambox.com/P350.htm ) to record sessions?
--Dave
# Posted on June 12th 2003 by Dave Weinstein
Re: Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
I've been waiting for an audio in mp3 to come on the market, but having just read the spec, it seems to only have a mono built in mike. (but with a stereo line in). I think the stereo is pretty important. Playing about with the balance afterwards with a seperate eq can often get rid of the bodhran
# Posted on June 12th 2003 by llig leahcim
Re: Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
Hi Dave,
I've looked on the Mambo-X website, it looks like a nice product but it has the same problem as the others that have a stereo line in (Archos etc...) : It's juste a line in, no pre-amp on it , so if you plug in your mic, sound will be terrible 'cause you cannot get right quality sound without a pre-amplification... I've tried recording myself with such a product, even with atenuation fully down, you don't get any good stuff.
I think what all the session people wait for is described in here :
www.minidisc.org
But no one produces it yet, although it's fully possible on a technical point of view, I guess it's more for political reasons related to copyrights, disc industry etc...
Robinson
# Posted on June 12th 2003 by Robinson
Re: Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
I see that Archos is now selling an add-on stereo mic (see http://www.archos.com/products/prw_100878.html), apparently with preamp (at least there's a lump of something between the mic and the line in). Also there are 3rd parties selling amplified mics. Has anybody tried this solution?
# Posted on June 12th 2003 by pm
MP3 recorder
Is there any MP3 recorder out there that can record in stereo out of the box, and move MP3 files to the PC with a minimum of fuss?
# Posted on June 13th 2003 by glauber
How about the Archos? Anyone using one of those?
# Posted on June 13th 2003 by glauber
Re: Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
I've been watching this thread with a lot of interest. While I love my Mini-Disk, the ability to directly download music files to my Mac would be the ticket, if only the quality were any good. Please, some 'bleeding-edge fanatic' buy one of these so we can benefit from your experience! I'll have my 300 dollars in my pocket until then.
# Posted on June 13th 2003 by Caoimghgin
Re: Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
The Archos seems to be good. It has a 20MB hard disk, costs less than $300, and has a microphone, but i'm thinking the internal microphone is mono??? It has a line-in input, but no stereo microphone-level input.
# Posted on June 13th 2003 by glauber
Archos
I keep following up on my own posts... for the Archos, you have to plonk in another $50 for an external stereo mike.
# Posted on June 13th 2003 by glauber
Re: Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
Yeah, I want to know about that Archos too. I am soooo tired of cassettes that I, loser that I am, keep neglecting to label, and so I've this whole pile of tapes that I won't throw out because what if something really important is on there? I haven't plunked for the minidiscs yet through sheer inertia, but Something Must Be Done soon about the tape thing.
Zina
# Posted on June 13th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
A stereo mic costs less than $20USD, at least mine did from Radio Shack, & the resulting effect is great. My Sony MD is awesome, but still a lot of work to download recordings.
# Posted on June 13th 2003 by emily_bmore
Stereo Mic
Yes it does, but that device (Archo) takes a line-level input (line in), not a microphone input, so the special microphone they sell must have a pre-amplifier in it. If you buy it from http://www.archo.com there is a "special" on the recorder and microphone.
Also, from reading a few reviews, it seems that the user interface on the Archo is atrocious. For example, you have to assign a file name every time before you can record a track. If you don't do it, each recording overwrites the previous one. Doh! Apparently the higher model (the one that includes an FM receiver) doesn't have this problem (you can define the file name once and it will append 1, 2, 3, etc, creating a new name each time you hit record).
# Posted on June 13th 2003 by glauber
Re: Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
ohhhh..... eww. Too much work, not enough plug'n'play.
# Posted on June 13th 2003 by emily_bmore
Re: Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
I haven't looked at the Archos yet but be careful. The 'live' recording capabilities of some of the other hard-disk mp3 recorders (Creative Labs) are very limited. The sampling rates and resolution are nowhere near what they need to be for quality music recording. They are mostly designed for 'voice', that is, speech.
MD is still a great product for the money. The only drawback is that up-loading to your computer must be done in real time and results in another analog to digital conversion. The quality is still very high, much higher than cassette.
# Posted on June 14th 2003 by Tusong200
I checked out both the Mambo site and the Archos site. They both seem to offer about the same capabilities. It seems to me that live recording may be of 'good' enough quality to be useful but of course what you get is mp3 files. They really are designed as portable jukeboxes and not as live digital recorders. That's where the market is.
I'd love to see a machine this size offer the capability of recording true cd-quality WAV files. (The Creative Labs jukeboxes offer a WAV file recording mode but not cd quality).
# Posted on June 14th 2003 by Tusong200
Re: Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
Many years ago I had a reel-to-reel Sony 377 tape deck - 3 heads, 3 speeds, wow-and-flutter not detectable and a reasonable signal/noise ratio. For about 10 years years it happily looked after my recording requirements, mostly radio but sometimes live, until it irretrievably expired, and I became fairly adept at editing the tapes using a razor. And then I had a succession of tape cassette decks, most of which weren't particularly good, but the last one, which I still have and use, an Aiwa 3-head AD-F810 deck, gives reasonable quality recording and playback using that old Sony as a comparison.
What I always yearned after in the portable recording arena was the reel-to-reel Uher (are they still being made?), as used by the BBC professionals and others, but I could never afford one. Now today's MD recorder gives a standard of recording that puts most of yesteryear's analogue reel-to-reel and tape cassette technology in the shade, at an affordable price, *and* my MD recorder has the inestimable bonus that it sits comfortably in either of my fiddle cases. Downloading onto my pc's hard disk in real time I never see as a problem because I always start that off just before I'm about to go out or do some playing or equally worthy activity.
Trevor
# Posted on June 14th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
Yes, the MD thing for me is more a question of principle. Dammit, let us have the files already! There's no technical reason not to and not even a good business reason not to.
I gave up on the Archos, BTW. After digging a little, i started finding consumer reviews that said some bad things, for example, battery life when recording is less than 2 hours (not 10 as they advertise). The user interface is horrible, some say that the unit is unreliable (freezes without any provocation) and, worse of all, technical support doesn't exist. Also, Archos only handles MP3. No way to record uncompressed WAV, for example.
One option is maybe the Creative Labs Jukebox 3, but i don't know yet if it can take an external microphone. I think as far as MP3 recorders go, they're still not mature enough to plonk money on one. Better wait another year or so and see what surfaces.
Last thing about MD: I'd buy one if they cost US$100 or less, but to pay US$200 for something that yes records nice but won't let me get my files out, i'm not willing to do that right now. Maybe later. If it were cheaper, yes, i'd just say oh well, it's really just a fancy portable cassette recorder.
"When the Revolution comes, they will be the first ones against the wall..."
g
# Posted on June 14th 2003 by glauber
Re: Mambo-X P350 MP3 Recorder
My girlfiend is a concert harpist so we own both an Archos Multimedia 20 and a Sharp MD. Comments and comparisons:
1. Achos (with latest firmware) is no more difficult to record with than the MD. In fact, setting line levels is easier.
2. The MD, there is always a problem that disks only get used 60%. For most recordings, we don't want to run out of space so we start with a new disk. Never a problem with a 20Gb disk and the ability to make directories and subdirectories.
3. MP3 files can store much more descriptive data. This may not be practical. Copying is so easy with the Archos, but not very satisfying experience with the MD. In fact, I have started first copying from MD to Archos and then copying to the computer via USB.
4. Sound quality for each is roughly the same. Sampling rates are not an issue on an Archos; however, sometimes a "dropout" can occur-- I saw that the newer units have better processors so I imagine this rare occurance is eliminated now. Archos works better recording from line-in signals, so you will need the adapters referenced above. Cabling is; however, remarkably simple-- to stereos, microphones, TVs, or computers.
5. Battery and size is one area the MD definately wins. The Archos battery is always the limiting factor to any recording session. I am going to upgrade mine to see if I can improve it. The MD is also about 1/2 the weight.
Regarding Mambo vs. Archos. It looks like the Mambo referenced above is equivelent to the old Archos Jukebox Recorder-- USB 1.0 only, MP3 only. But the new version is comparable to the Archos Multimedia - USB 2.0 and Video. The only advantage I see with Mambo is the WMA capabilities that are missing in the Archos.
# Posted on April 14th 2004 by mmayfield9