stratman_dup1 Posted May 26, 2001 Share Posted May 26, 2001 To take a spin off of Craigs post, What is your portable multitrack recorder of choice when you don't have access to an electrical outlet? I have recently started taking my hard disk recorder (VF-16) on little weekend camping trip escursions. I really enjoy getting out into nature and pluging up my recorder, grabbing my acoustic and layin down some tracks. The problem is not all campgrounds have electricity, plus I'd actually like to get away from all other distractions, and that generally means going where there is no elctrical outlets to plug into. I've tried just using a little tape recorder but the sound quality sucks and I'd still like to have at least 2 tracks and the ability to punch in and out. Are there any other good battery powered solutions other than a laptop. I'd love to get a laptop but just can't afford one, by the time you figure in the price of the computer plus the audio interface that gets to be some serious cash, maybe in the future but for now that's not an option. Is there some type of battery system I could hook my recorder up to that would provide power for an adequate length of time. Maybe something like the battery powered setup for the Fender Passport PA system. Any thoughts/suggestions?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mats Olsson. Posted May 26, 2001 Share Posted May 26, 2001 For on-location multitrack I have successfully used a 3-pack of DA-88´s. Would not mind bringing The Radar II either, but it sits nicely in a fully-booked studio... Have used the Radar on a couple of field trips though and it worked out just fine, thank you. For two-track I´d use Masterlink or, if there´s no electrical outlets, my beautiful girlfriends wonderful Nagra (and she´s got 2 Nagras... and me, what a lucky girl. We will even get married soon!). /Mats http://www.lexam.net/peter/carnut/man.gif What do we want? Procrastination! When do we want it? Later! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S_Gould Posted May 26, 2001 Share Posted May 26, 2001 I'm NEVER without an outlet -- I have an emergency car starting battery with a lighter socket & a 300W (500peak) power inverter. I take an ADAT XT20 everywhere. For less demanding duty my upgraded Powerbook G3 with Deck II, Cubase VST & Soundedit 16. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fantasticsound Posted May 26, 2001 Share Posted May 26, 2001 Originally posted by S_Gould: I'm NEVER without an outlet -- I have an emergency car starting battery with a lighter socket & a 300W (500peak) power inverter. I take an ADAT XT20 everywhere. For less demanding duty my upgraded Powerbook G3 with Deck II, Cubase VST & Soundedit 16. Scott You've got to be kidding. The ADAT XT20 is a step UP from your G3 DAW? Methinks the Mac enthusiasts have been lying or you've mistyped something here. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif My bro produces a new radio program on Business Talk Radio. He decided to invest in the best laptop Dell could build him to record radio blurbs, spots, and handle business. It would need a good interface for non-radio application. Personally I can't wait until the 2nd and 3rd wave of firewire audio gear hits the market. As they just hit with the first wave, it'll probably be a year before we see the real potential of this technology for multitrack.. One cable between gear.. Oops.. drooling! Neil It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman Soundclick fntstcsnd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiraga Posted May 26, 2001 Share Posted May 26, 2001 A Roland VS1680 uses 33 watts.. A bunch of solarcells + DC/AC converter shouldn't set you back more than 500USD.. (excluding VS) I kid you not - I have done it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strat0124 Posted May 26, 2001 Share Posted May 26, 2001 I bring a little Sony Minidisc recorder when out in "nature" and it has served me well, it ain't a multitrack, but it's a great sketchpad, and with the right mic it captures ambient sound well. I don't think I'd bring a VF16 in the woods, but that's me. Down like a dollar comin up against a yen, doin pretty good for the shape I'm in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fantasticsound Posted May 27, 2001 Share Posted May 27, 2001 Originally posted by strat0124: I bring a little Sony Minidisc recorder when out in "nature" and it has served me well, it ain't a multitrack, but it's a great sketchpad, and with the right mic it captures ambient sound well. I don't think I'd bring a VF16 in the woods, but that's me. Oh, yeah.. I use a minidisc to make 2-mixes of live gigs. I have a pretty good disc of Bill Frisell, from when I mixed him. He doesn't discourage bootlegs. (Another guy in the audience had a Dat and a stereo mic setup on a stand.) My feeds were direct from two aux sends. Neil It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman Soundclick fntstcsnd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiraga Posted May 27, 2001 Share Posted May 27, 2001 Yeah, MD has totally taken over DAT for me here. A few years ago I had to make a CD (copy after the gig) 'cause not so many folks had MD. Now I just sell the MD (I run two MDs so I have a copy myself) to the band for a beer or whatever.. everybody seems to have a MD. There's at least always one in the band who's got one.. Anyone got experiences with Tascam MDs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S_Gould Posted May 27, 2001 Share Posted May 27, 2001 Neil - Yes, the XT20 is a step up because I can record 8 tracks simultaneously. My Powerbook is a "Wallstreet" with the BlueChip 466mhz upgrade.I use a PC card USB port & Roland UA-30 to get the audio in. For what I'd have to pay to further upgrade this aging laptop to reliably handle 8 tracks of I/O, I might as well get a new one (which I probably will later this year). Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip McDonald Posted May 27, 2001 Share Posted May 27, 2001 I've been bringing my little $300 8mm camcorder to gigs in place of a boombox or whatever for "documentation" purposes. It's small and tidy, plus the bonus of the video. The way I look at it is I'm not going to try to make a CD of a performance - if I am, it's going to require a major expenditure of energy and money hauling out "real" gear, so why bother otherwise? I *almost* bought one of those Creative Labs Nomad jukebox mp3 players. I needed something for the car, and it claimed to record "DAT quality 44/16>.wav"... after investigating I found it has some sort of bad self-hum problem, and based on user sample files it has zilch headroom on the input electronics. But it would have been very cool if it worked as claimed, I could have taken care of two problems with one solution. Oh well... ------------------ New and Improved Music Soon: http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/ / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GY Posted May 27, 2001 Share Posted May 27, 2001 I still use my Sony D-7 DAT for picking up sound effects. I have used one of my DA-88s portable with a frequency controlled, sine wave inverter. Some of these AC devices do not like square wave inverters. Be careful! I posted this question earlier this month at Roger's forum and was surprised there were no responses. "I remember when the Sony FD-71 Mavica digital camera came out, I told my friend, next they'll come out with one that writes to CD. Sure enough, the CD-1000 writes to a 3" CD-R. If anyone has used one of these cameras you'll agree about how cool the lithium-ion rechargeable batteries are. If Sony were to make a portable CD recorder the size of a CD walkman, would you buy one?" GY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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