This does not specifically relate to flutes. Please let me know if this posting is inappropriate for this forum.
I have a compact Sony cassette recorder (model TCS-580V) for recording sessions or concerts or just tunes from friends that I want to learn. However, becaues of poor sound quality, and other reasons, I’m interested in a new digital recording product.
I’m curious what devices people find useful in this regard.
Thanks.
Jeff Zajac
I have an Olympus DM-20 with a built in stereo mic. (Radio Shack, $200) I had not done much recording before this, but for me the quality is at least good enough for “tune sucking”. The quality is far better than my tape recorder. It’s got two mic sensitivity settings; I use the “conference” for sessions (don’t sit next to the banjo) and the “dictation” setting when I’m alone. The unit is really small and is always ready to record. This is the only digital recorder I’ve tried but it’s given me no reason to want another.
I hope all is well.
moi aussi on the DM 20, go ahead and get a good mike if you want really high quality
but as previously noted there are several threads on this, look for uhmm R-1 and I forget the name of the other digital recorder
I use a mini-disk recorder with the little Sony stereo microphone.
The new M-Audio recorder looks good:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack2496-main.html
I’ve got an iRiver that I really like. I have one of the 100 series, since supplanted by something or other. Very good quality, and records direct to MP3, which would be useful for week-long workshops and such without needing to upload to a laptop. I think mine has a 40 gig hard drive, which would translate to >100 hours of MP3 recording.
By the way, Roland has just come out with a much smaller version of the Edirol R1, the R09. Records to SD media instead of compact flash.
Details here:
http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=757&ParentId=109
Wow! Now it’s getting very, very interesting.
Just read, they support SD up to 2GB, which is more than enough even for a 2-3 weeks trip anywhere. I don’t really need it because I got my iRiver, but this is better and I don’t know, I just feel like buying it. But I can’t, I’m just broke 
… and I’m not sure it’s available yet, I read somewhere spring 2006.
MikeC wrote:
I have an Olympus DM-20 with a built in stereo mic. (Radio Shack, $200) I had not done much recording before this, but for me the quality is at least good enough for “tune sucking”. The quality is far better than my tape recorder.
In doing some research about this model I found that there are some problems with the software on a bunch of these that affect the ability to download files - especially with MACs. Radio Shack, in my state at least, is declining to carry these anylonger due to numerous returns. The following model http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1195 is about $20 more and has more memory (512MB) and a number of other features that are cool. The sound quality is very good for sessions and I was amazed at the quality that came when I added a good mic. The thing that really sold me was the feature of being able to change the playback speed to 50% or 25% without changing the pitch.
Clark
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Luckily, I’ve not had these problems. Come to think of it, it was hard to find a Radio Shack that carried the DS-20. The DS-2 is readily available (less memory). The DS-20 also changes play speed without affecting pitch.
I did have to download software from the Olympus site to get my DM 20 to work on my Mac(software included did not work), but after that it works fine.
Note the difference between the DS 2 and the DM 20
ymmv