10
Best Digital Recorders
for Guitarists
Zoom H4
(Street $270)
The H4 is
one beast
of a step up
from the H2.
We’re talking 4-track
recording,
guitar and
bass amp
modeling,
effects (
chorus compression, delay)
and computer interface
capabilities,
not to men-
tion XLRs and
auto level setting. Stereo
electret car-
dioid condensers offer knock-out quality in an
X-Y pattern. There’s also mic modeling and 48V
phantom power for an external. Bonus: Tuner
and metronome. Also: wall wart, windshield
cover, 512 MB SD card, windscreen, tripod
adapter and Cubase LE included.
Ovation iDea Guitar
(Street $600)
Here’s a novel idea:
why not build a guitar around a digital
recorder? The Ovation
iDea features a digital
recorder (up to 192K
bit/sec) in its preamp
that records, plays,
loops, slows playback
while keeping pitch
and basically gives you
an all-in-one instrument for songwriting
and instruction (via
audio lessons and
play along tracks). An
aux input allows you
to play along with an
external source or convert any audio source
to mp3. Rather than
drag your guitar and a
digital recorder to your
favorite spot for inspiration, you’ve got it all
in one package.
Boss Micro BR (Street $230)
Traditional stand-alone multi-track recorders
aren’t anything new but a few are worth including in this roundup due to their continually
shrinking size. The 5 ounce Boss Micro BR can
easily fit in your front pocket but still offers
4-track recording, editing and mastering with
multiple inputs, amp modeling, built-in effects
(distortion, chorus, verb, delay, etc.) and 293
drum patterns. Virtual tracks, time stretch, copy/
paste, an internal mic and a slew of other features allow you to literally take a powerful little
studio with you anywhere. It records in MP3 and
. WAV up to 16bit/44.1kHz.
TASCAM DP-004 (Street $200)
Two standard stompboxes wide, TASCAM’s
DP-04 offers no-frills 4-track recording with
dedicated knobs for inputs ( 2 ins and master)
and playback (level and pan). Like the Micro
BR, it can handle two simultaneous inputs.
Overdubbing, track consolidation, autopunch
and undo make editing easy and mixdown
is simplified with a dedicated track. The unit
records at 16bit/44.1kHz on an included 1GB
SD card. At 2. 8 ounces, the DP-04 is still light
but is very solid. Bonus: dedicated RTZ button, jog shuttle.
