Hey...

Just received the Marantz PMD660 today. This has got to be one of the
first few units out there, so I'm offering my opinions on it if anyone's
interested. Unfortunately haven't formed many opinions yet as it got a
test drive in the kitchen and not in a real situation. This weekend
(3/4/05) I'll be recording a drum and bugle corps (www.corpsvets.org)
with a Shure VP88.

Only thing I can tell so far is that it's a bit noisier than I'd hoped,
and the -20dB pad really jacks up the noise. Funny how a pad makes
things even noisier. I'll need all the pad I can get with drum corps
since it's a loud source. Without pad, clipping was at -6dB so I'm
assuming the mic is pretty hot although this seems to be an unusual
place to clip and you wonder what kind of gain staging goes on
internally. I suppose a 6dB pad in the cables without the 20dB pad in
the recorder would probably be perfect. With pad I could scream
directly into mic and still had clean signal upon reviewing the
waveforms.

Menus are easy to use the options are plentiful. 16 bits 44.1kHz is
fine for me and that means approx 90 mins on a 1 GB compact flash. USB
works great and I'm sure popping the flash into computer would be a
darned fast transfer.

Eric
---- change x to z to reply

Eric,

I'm very interested in your results. Your setup with the Shure VP88 mic
seems like a nice choice. What are your typical, or expected, uses for
the PMD660/VP88 combination? I do field recording as a hobby with a
PMD430/AT822 combination and have done some steam railroad recording
and informal classical concerts at our church.

Tom

I have the 670 and use it with both a Crown SASS and a VP88.
Took it on an overseas tour and use it for both primary and
backup recorder for location stuff. WAV or MP2 are
indistinguishable to the end client.

Yes, the CF is a great time saver (as is a microdrive - I
have a 2.2Gb). I've found USB transfer to be a little bit of
a problem, though. When transferring via USB, a 1.5 - 2k
"whine" is added to the signal. Doesn't happen via digital
or analog outs. Haven't had a chance to contact Marantz
about it. Listen very carefully to your USB transfers -
might require high level in headphones.

Nice little machine. Good luck with the 660.



TM

Eric wrote:

Hey...

Just received the Marantz PMD660 today. This has got to be one of the
first few units out there, so I'm offering my opinions on it if anyone's
interested. Unfortunately haven't formed many opinions yet as it got a
test drive in the kitchen and not in a real situation. This weekend
(3/4/05) I'll be recording a drum and bugle corps (www.corpsvets.org)
with a Shure VP88.

Eric wrote:

Just received the Marantz PMD660 today. ... USB
works great and I'm sure popping the flash into computer would be a
darned fast transfer.

and in response T Maki wrote:

... I've found USB transfer to be a little bit of
a problem, though. When transferring via USB, a 1.5 - 2k
"whine" is added to the signal. Doesn't happen via digital
or analog outs.

On the USB interface, does the 660 appear as a mass storage
device, or does it appear as an audio device? TM's 670 would
seem to present as a USB audio device, if it's able to introduce
noise. Does it need a special driver?

If you copy files from the CF card, what are the file names
like, and do they have a creation time/date stamp?

I've got an Edirol R-1 which on USB mounts as a hi-speed disk,
so there's not much point in poping out the CF card (which
seems likey to wear out the cheap door).

-- Gid

Gidney and Cloyd wrote:


On the USB interface, does the 660 appear as a mass storage
device, or does it appear as an audio device?

Plug in to the USB port, hold the MENU button and switch on
power. Unit shows up as a USB removable device. No special
driver.

If you copy files from the CF card, what are the file names
like, and do they have a creation time/date stamp?

BWF shows up as .BWF, WAV as .WAV, MP2 and MP3 as .MPG -
standard Windows (DOS) naming conventions, time, date and
all that. You could read and write files back and forth
between the 670 and computer, as long as one maintains the
directory structure. One could probably use the 670 as an
auxiliary storage device for text or Excel or Illustrator
files if so inclined. It's just another storage device.



TM

T Maki wrote:

Plug in to the USB port, hold the MENU button and switch on
power. Unit shows up as a USB removable device. No special
driver.

Ah, good. The Edirol R-1 switches instantly to USB mode
when the cable is plugged in and it's on. No keyboard
pinch needed. If you don't do the keyboard pinch on
the Marantz, does it ignore the USB cable, or is it
a USB audio device?

BWF shows up as .BWF, WAV as .WAV, MP2 and MP3 as .MPG -
standard Windows (DOS) naming conventions, time, date and
all that.

The R-1 cheaps out by not having a time-of-day clock, so
the files it creates all have the creation/modify fields
set to zero. So if you care about when the recording
happened, you have to take notes. Files are named with
an increasing index number, so you know order. There is
no manual file-split on the R-1; you have to stop and start
recording to get a new file. Or if you set it on automatic
split, it uses a non-adjustable silence detect, which gets
you lots of tiny files for post-processing headaches.

Does the Marantz split files on the fly, and if so, is it
gapless? If you join the files later, can you hear the
transition?

Gidney and Cloyd wrote:

If you don't do the keyboard pinch on
the Marantz, does it ignore the USB cable, or is it
a USB audio device?

For USB to be recognized, you have to do the power on
sequence. The recognize on connection would be convenient
but wasn't a deal breaker for me.

Does the Marantz split files on the fly, and if so, is it
gapless? If you join the files later, can you hear the
transition?

REC and STOP begin and end a new file with a sequential file
name (number). REC and PAUSE allows a contiguous file. You
can do in-machine EDLs for later off-loading.

Rather than risk giving you unintended erroneous info, I
think the 670 manual is available at http://www.d-mpro.com
under the digital recorders, etc. There are a number of
functions I haven't messed with as they aren't relevant to
my work and the way I work. All the specs and file formats,
etc. are in there. Their customer service is quite helpful,
and they can give you more info that might be more up to
date, including any additional approved micro-drives. There
are some that they specifically do NOT recommend.



TM

More info coming up on the PMD660. My first test was not very
successful, borderline embarrasing although I had prepared as fully as
possible. I may have problems with with both (that's *BOTH* !!!) the
PMD660 and VP-88. I won't say anything bad about the manufacturers
unless they can't fix my problems.

I can say that it was difficult to see the level LED's on the PMD660 in
the Georgia sunlight last Sunday afternoon. Not helping this was the
fact that few LED's were coming on (more on this later, related to the
ongoing discussion with Marantz). It sure would be nice to implement
some LCD meters like on a 722 minidisc.

Eric


In article 1109907310.12cd5f741c2b783917fa620a51a70aee@teran ews,
says...
Hey...

Just received the Marantz PMD660 today. This has got to be one of the
first few units out there, so I'm offering my opinions on it if anyone's
interested. Unfortunately haven't formed many opinions yet as it got a
test drive in the kitchen and not in a real situation. This weekend
(3/4/05) I'll be recording a drum and bugle corps (www.corpsvets.org)
with a Shure VP88.

Eric wrote:

I can say that it was difficult to see the level LED's on the PMD660 in
the Georgia sunlight last Sunday afternoon. Not helping this was the
fact that few LED's were coming on (more on this later, related to the
ongoing discussion with Marantz). It sure would be nice to implement
some LCD meters like on a 722 minidisc.

Or some GaN LEDs like Sound Devices uses (on many products, including
the 722.)

Eric wrote:

Just received the Marantz PMD660 today. ...

We have a comparison of the PMD670, the Edirol R-1, Fostex FR-2 and our
PDAudio system posted on our Web site:

http://www.core-sound.com/comparison...-670-fr-2.html

If there's any interest, we'll add the PMD660.

--
Len Moskowitz PDAudio, Binaural Mics, Cables, DPA, M-Audio
Core Sound http://www.stealthmicrophones.com
Teaneck, New Jersey USA http://www.core-sound.com
Tel: 201-801-0812, FAX: 201-801-0912