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Marantz PMD-671
Anyone used one of these yet? I was going to use it for video work and I
heard the preamps on the PMD-670 had a lot to be desired. They say the new preampss are nice, but are they? Thanks Scott Chapin |
#2
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Scott Chapin wrote: Anyone used one of these yet? I was going to use it for video work and I heard the preamps on the PMD-670 had a lot to be desired. They say the new preampss are nice, but are they? No personal experience, but the October issue of Electronic Musician appeared in my mailbox today and there was a picture of one on the cover, together with a number of other portable recorders, for a survey article. There's bad news and potentially good (but untested) news about the preamps. The reviewer said: "I wanted to love the unit, but the mic preamps were disappointing. Their high self0noise made any recording that I gathered preactially unusable for professional applicaitons without using lowpass filtering to remove the hiss. I was using an MKH40 which is one of the quietest mics you can buy. It's a great machine for someone who already owns a high-suality portable mic pre. Othewise, this machine would be stellar if [Marantz] would improve this one problem. Since then [the reviewer] got his wish: according to Marantz, recent firmware and hardware updates have addressed such concerns." They liked the Edirol R4 a lot, and this is the one I've been attracted to. The reviewer made the point that I often have - that with a built-in hard disk, you can keep a month's worth of work on board without having to unload it or drop in a new and fairly expensive flash memory card. Based on this article (and I would never make a purchase of something like this without the opportunity to try it before committing) the R4 at $1900 sounds like a much better deal than the PMD671 at $1200. On the other hand, $700 can buy a few large flash memory cards (that you then have to manage). But you get four tracks with the R4. |
#3
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"Mike Rivers" wrote in message oups.com... Scott Chapin wrote: Anyone used one of these yet? I was going to use it for video work and I heard the preamps on the PMD-670 had a lot to be desired. They say the new preampss are nice, but are they? No personal experience, but the October issue of Electronic Musician appeared in my mailbox today and there was a picture of one on the cover, together with a number of other portable recorders, for a survey article. There's bad news and potentially good (but untested) news about the preamps. The reviewer said: "I wanted to love the unit, but the mic preamps were disappointing. Their high self0noise made any recording that I gathered preactially unusable for professional applicaitons without using lowpass filtering to remove the hiss. I was using an MKH40 which is one of the quietest mics you can buy. It's a great machine for someone who already owns a high-suality portable mic pre. Othewise, this machine would be stellar if [Marantz] would improve this one problem. Since then [the reviewer] got his wish: according to Marantz, recent firmware and hardware updates have addressed such concerns." They liked the Edirol R4 a lot, and this is the one I've been attracted to. The reviewer made the point that I often have - that with a built-in hard disk, you can keep a month's worth of work on board without having to unload it or drop in a new and fairly expensive flash memory card. Based on this article (and I would never make a purchase of something like this without the opportunity to try it before committing) the R4 at $1900 sounds like a much better deal than the PMD671 at $1200. On the other hand, $700 can buy a few large flash memory cards (that you then have to manage). But you get four tracks with the R4. Thanks Mike, I was going to get the Fostex, but it doe s not record to standard wave. That would mean buting extra software to handle the broadcast wave format. This sounds like the Marantz would have to be sent back to the shop to be modified. Oh well. I need to look at the Edirol. I was attracted to the Marantz due to the arrangement of the controls and prtability. Scott Chapin |
#4
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Scott Chapin wrote: I was going to get the Fostex, but it doe s not record to standard wave. That would mean buting extra software to handle the broadcast wave format. I have no problems importing broadcast wave files from my Mackie HDR into Audacity, Fast Edit (an ancient 16-bit version) or Sequoia 7. Unless you're already committed to some special software that you know won't handle broadcast wave files, this shouldn't be a problem. The EM article does mention a rather disappointing battery life, however - barely an hour on eight AA cells. This sounds like the Marantz would have to be sent back to the shop to be modified. Oh well. I seem to recall that the previous model, the 670, had a "recall available" (if you learned that they had a fix for the noisy preamps) so I would have thought that it was fixed with the 671. Apparently it had to do with the gain structure and required changing some resistors. It might be worth a call to Marantz to see if the "fixed" version is in production yet, and if so, what serial number you should look for to know that you won't have to send it in for modification. |
#5
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"Mike Rivers" wrote in message ups.com... Scott Chapin wrote: I was going to get the Fostex, but it doe s not record to standard wave. That would mean buting extra software to handle the broadcast wave format. I have no problems importing broadcast wave files from my Mackie HDR into Audacity, Fast Edit (an ancient 16-bit version) or Sequoia 7. Unless you're already committed to some special software that you know won't handle broadcast wave files, this shouldn't be a problem. The EM article does mention a rather disappointing battery life, however - barely an hour on eight AA cells. This sounds like the Marantz would have to be sent back to the shop to be modified. Oh well. I seem to recall that the previous model, the 670, had a "recall available" (if you learned that they had a fix for the noisy preamps) so I would have thought that it was fixed with the 671. Apparently it had to do with the gain structure and required changing some resistors. It might be worth a call to Marantz to see if the "fixed" version is in production yet, and if so, what serial number you should look for to know that you won't have to send it in for modification. Thanks again Mike. I use Sound Forge, CD Architect, and Audition (Cool Edit). I'll have to check Audition, but SF does not, as of Ver 7.0, support bmf files. Yes, I did notice that battery life on the Fostex rather sucked, not to mention its lack of portability. I record stereo, so the coaxial level controls on the Marantz, are more appealing than the Edirol R4. All be it, the four channels would appear to be nice. Oade Brothers mentions some mods available, if the Marantz is bought from them. They say the MOD unit is $975, but it is not clear, if that is the total price. If so, I might jump on it. A basic concert MOD is available now, and an Advanced Concert MOD available this month. Supposedly it will enable higher front end loading, and I would need that. |
#6
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Mike Rivers wrote:
Scott Chapin wrote: I was going to get the Fostex, but it doe s not record to standard wave. That would mean buting extra software to handle the broadcast wave format. I have no problems importing broadcast wave files from my Mackie HDR into Audacity, Fast Edit (an ancient 16-bit version) or Sequoia 7. Unless you're already committed to some special software that you know won't handle broadcast wave files, this shouldn't be a problem. The EM article does mention a rather disappointing battery life, however - barely an hour on eight AA cells. The broadcast wave file is basically a standard wave file with additional information in the header. Any software that can read a standard wave file can read it, although it may not necessarily preserve the additional header information (which contains stuff like the title, for instance). The whole purpose of the broadcast wave format was compatibility with the older software. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
#7
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"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message ... Mike Rivers wrote: Scott Chapin wrote: I was going to get the Fostex, but it doe s not record to standard wave. That would mean buting extra software to handle the broadcast wave format. I have no problems importing broadcast wave files from my Mackie HDR into Audacity, Fast Edit (an ancient 16-bit version) or Sequoia 7. Unless you're already committed to some special software that you know won't handle broadcast wave files, this shouldn't be a problem. The EM article does mention a rather disappointing battery life, however - barely an hour on eight AA cells. The broadcast wave file is basically a standard wave file with additional information in the header. Any software that can read a standard wave file can read it, although it may not necessarily preserve the additional header information (which contains stuff like the title, for instance). The whole purpose of the broadcast wave format was compatibility with the older software. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." Hmmm. I downloaded a sample bwf from the net and it had a .wav extension. Sound Forge would not open it, but Windows Media Player played it. Scott Chapin |
#8
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On Sat, 1 Oct 2005 14:13:39 -0400, Scott Chapin wrote
(in article ): "Mike Rivers" wrote in message oups.com... Scott Chapin wrote: Anyone used one of these yet? I was going to use it for video work and I heard the preamps on the PMD-670 had a lot to be desired. They say the new preampss are nice, but are they? No personal experience, but the October issue of Electronic Musician appeared in my mailbox today and there was a picture of one on the cover, together with a number of other portable recorders, for a survey article. There's bad news and potentially good (but untested) news about the preamps. The reviewer said: "I wanted to love the unit, but the mic preamps were disappointing. Their high self0noise made any recording that I gathered preactially unusable for professional applicaitons without using lowpass filtering to remove the hiss. I was using an MKH40 which is one of the quietest mics you can buy. It's a great machine for someone who already owns a high-suality portable mic pre. Othewise, this machine would be stellar if [Marantz] would improve this one problem. Since then [the reviewer] got his wish: according to Marantz, recent firmware and hardware updates have addressed such concerns." They liked the Edirol R4 a lot, and this is the one I've been attracted to. The reviewer made the point that I often have - that with a built-in hard disk, you can keep a month's worth of work on board without having to unload it or drop in a new and fairly expensive flash memory card. Based on this article (and I would never make a purchase of something like this without the opportunity to try it before committing) the R4 at $1900 sounds like a much better deal than the PMD671 at $1200. On the other hand, $700 can buy a few large flash memory cards (that you then have to manage). But you get four tracks with the R4. Thanks Mike, I was going to get the Fostex, but it doe s not record to standard wave. That would mean buting extra software to handle the broadcast wave format. This sounds like the Marantz would have to be sent back to the shop to be modified. Oh well. I need to look at the Edirol. I was attracted to the Marantz due to the arrangement of the controls and prtability. Scott Chapin Scott, I was pulling .wav files off the FR-2 and importing them into Pro Tools with no problem. Is there something about the other data that you need? Ty Ford -- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric stuff are at www.tyford.com |
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