[ddots-l] Re: Need recommendations on good accessible field recorder
- From: "Mike Tyo" <mtyo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2012 19:36:16 -0500
Kevin,
Freedom Scientific has it for around 375 bucks. I got mine when they were
running an introductory offer late last year. Too bad you couldn't have
cashed in then as they were selling it for $275.00 with free shipping.
It's still a good deal as you can play a pretty wide variety of popular
audio formats, read Audible and DAISY books, and you can create your own
DAISY books either as text or audio files. It comes with software for
creating DAISY books on your computer as well. You can do audio DAISY
recordings right on the recorder, but the software gives you the ability to
create text formatted files that can be played back on the Plextalk. Even
though the unit marks up the recordings in DAISY format, you can bring the
audio files into Sonar or whatever editor you want to use to do further
processing. It gives you four MP3 settings to record in along with two
sampling rates to record wave files in 16-bit. These settings can be stored
in presets that are already named for you so you don't have to program them
every time you want to record in a designated format. The latest OS gives
you WIFI capabilities so you can listen to Web-based radio stations,
download podcasts, or transfer files wirelessly too and from your computer
via software that you download to your computer from the Plextalk Web Site.
I use it primarily to play backing tracks on gigs; but I also use it to
create notes for myself. I'm waiting for the next OS release as I'm anxious
to see what enhancements they're going to add or what existing features will
be updated. It has a halfway decent built-in speaker that sounds good for a
portable audio device. What's nice about the audio part of it is that you
can set the speaker volume independently of the headphone jack so that if
you put it through a sound system, you can set it the way you want it. You
can also control the voice guidance volume so that if you're using it to
play tracks on a gig, the speech synth won't be blaring at you. I've already
made some suggestions to the manufacturer for the next OS release, so we'll
see what happens there. It even has an accessible recording level meter
which I think is pretty cool. I don't know of any other device in its class
that has this feature. It uses an SD card for storage, and it'll support up
to a 32-GB card. It also allows you to have standard 2.0 USB connectivity to
do file transfers, etc.
After all this, I'm still not done. You can record up to 100 voice memos to
its internal memory and back them up to the SD card if you need to save
them. You can also hook up an external USB drive or memory stick that's
formatted to FAT16 or FAT32 if you want to store data on a medium separate
from your computer. It has a power save mode that will allow you to keep the
unit booted all the time if you want. There's also a sleep timer that can be
set to turn it off if you fall asleep reading books or listening to audio.
Get this; there's even a built-in help file which is essentially the manual
for the device that you can call up from anywhere you are on the machine at
the touch of a button. You can set parameters to control how the unit plays
back data, including playing of audio files one at a time. It remembers
where you left off in whatever books or files/albums that you were listening
to, even if you completely power off the device. I think that this is a
well-rounded unit for what it does, even if you can't record in 24-bit audio
at present. I have my backing tracks formatted in 24-bit, and it plays them
perfectly. The only thing that I haven't done with it is use a high quality
external stereo mic on it; but I'm sure that it would do a good job in
16-bit for live situations.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Gibbs" <kevjazz@xxxxxx>
To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2012 17:22
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Need recommendations on good accessible field
recorder
Mike,
How much? Who sells it?
Sent from my iPhone
PLEASE READ THIS FOOTER AT LEAST ONCE!
To leave the list, click on the immediately following link:
ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe
If this link doesn't work then send a message to:
ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
and in the Subject line type
unsubscribe
For other list commands such as vacation mode,
click on the immediately following link:
ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq or
send a message, to
ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
and in the Subject line type
faq
Other related posts:
