thanks all for the wise advice. i did use a fostex once a while back
and didn't really rate the sound much. Curiously i've felt the same
way about all the portable tascam stuff i've used in the past. I've
never used the sound devices machines but I've only heard good about
them so they would be my first choice if i could afford one but my
interest in the motu traveller was that it does actually sound pretty
good and it seems a shame that it's 3/4 way there to a truely portable
8 track solution. I'll certainly take all this advice on board -
especially the overheating issue. I'm going to talk with some unix
friends to see what the possibilities are of building a small recorder
box. probably wishful thinking.
david
Soundhaspriority wrote:
"Marc Wielage" wrote in message
.com...
On Nov 8, 2006, David@liminal commented:
I'm new to this list so apologies if this has come up before. I'm
wanting to record up to 8 channel audio 'in the field' - i.e really in
the field. All the the purpose built machines that can do this (HHB
portadrive, aaton, sonosax etc) are way too expensive for me but I've
had really results using the motu traveller.
------------------------------snip------------------------------
With many laptops, the moment you close them, the computer goes to sleep.
At
best, you won't be able to get to the controls or meters to operate the
recorder, unless those features are remoted to an outboard mixing device.
And as Mr. Morein says elsewhere, laptops can get very hot when used in
confined spaces without ventilation.
I suggest you look at the Sound Devices 7xx series:
http://sounddevices.com/products/7.htm
These are much cheaper than the HHB PortaDrive, the Aaton Cantar, or the
Zaxcom Deva (which you didn't mention), which are all in the $10,000+
price
range.
If you can live with six channels instead of four, Fostex recently
discontinued the PD-6, which is a 6-channel portable recorder. The PD6 is
being blown out for $5500 from many companies, even less if you can find
one
used. If you can live with only four channels, the Sound Devices 744t
(actually 4 channels plus timecode) is about $4000, give or take.
The advantage of either the Fostex or the Sound Devices is that the mike
preamps are going to be a lot better than the ones in many cheaper
devices.
The units are also built for ruggedness, and I think they're going to hold
up
a lot better than a laptop out in the field.
--MFW
His problem is, he wants it very cheap. I wish I could think of a way to
help him. David, perhaps if you make a custom mesh bag for the laptop, open
on all sides -- but also bear in mind that the hard drive in a laptop
typically has no shock mount. So your mesh bag would also require soft
corner bumpers. Also, the USB connectors on a laptop are very delicate,
being mounted directly to the very thin motheboard. To protect these, use
one of the Zip-ling cables. The connectors on these are very short, and the
thin cable exerts little force on them.
The laptop lid may be programmable as part of the power scheme.