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Re: Zoom H4 for laptop looping
Per,
Sadly, I heard the artifacts you described tonight. Horrible! I wasn't
using the ASIO drivers either. I'm on an old version of Adobe audition
that doesn't recognize ASIO, so I'm just using it plug-and-play. Makes
me think it's possibly a hardware issue. However, I've successfully
used a USB interface, so I don't think that's the issue. I just wish I
had known about this up front. I need an interface more than I need an
portable recorder.
I'll be on the phone with their support tomorrow.
--Josh
Per Boysen wrote:
> You won't hear the artifacts when you play an audio input because your
> source audio is "leaking" through the ASIO direct monitoring and
> masking the drop-outs (the analog signal of the H4 is very good). Try
> to set up a long delay or reverb, in your audio application, with only
> wet sound (no direct instrument going through it). Then you can play
> something and stay silent and listen to what you just played coming
> back through the delay/reverb.
>
> I'm afraid it is not as much a driver issue as it is a USB2 protocol
> issue (for sound cards you should look for Firewire or PCI). But the
> H4 is great bang for the buck as a field recorder IMO! And I'm totally
> happy with using it as a pre amp, merge box and reverb unit before my
> laptop (with another "clean" audio interface).
>
> per
>
>
>
> On 11 nov 2006, at 01.20, Joshua Carroll wrote:
>
>> That's weird. I didn't notice any artifacts, but I haven't really
>> run it through the ringer yet. I'll play with it some more and see
>> if I can get it to reproduce your results. If so, I'm going to be
>> all over Zoom to fix that as I bought it specifically because it
>> could double as an interface and I need it to work.
>>
>> Thanks for the heads-up!
>>
>> --Josh
>>
>>
>> Per Boysen wrote:
>>> Yes, of course. By writing "the dedicated software drivers" I meant
>>> the "H4 ASIO Driver Version 1.0.0.1". AFAIK there are no other
>>> drivers for H4 (I tried ASIO4ALL but it did not detect the hardware,
>>> but on Mac the OS X took care of it right away, although still with
>>> tiny audio artifacts) . I'm hoping an update to the ASIO driver is
>>> due soon... ;-)
>>>
>>> per
>>>
>>>
>>> On 10 nov 2006, at 02.22, Joshua Carroll wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ha! Very cool.
>>>>
>>>> Did you download the ASIO driver for it? I've not had any problems
>>>> getting a great sound as an interface via ASIO...
>>>>
>>>> --Josh
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Per Boysen wrote:
>>>>> Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 10:06:16 -0600
>>>>>
>>>>>> Just thought I'd throw out a plug for the new Zoom H4. It works
>>>>>> as a great 2x2 audio interface for Mobius (it has some built-in
>>>>>> effects I haven't tried yet, but will work in audio-interface
>>>>>> mode), and the other features make it ideal for collecting
>>>>>> found-sounds or putting together rough song ideas on the fly.
>>>>>> The built-in stereo condenser mic has really impressed me so
>>>>>> far. I expected it to pretty much suck for the price, but I've
>>>>>> been getting some excellent acoustic guitar recordings with it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anyway, for the price, I'm really happy, so I thought I'd pass it
>>>>>> along.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --Josh
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Someone posted and asked about latency. I just picked one up this
>>>>> morning to check out, and may have some information to share.
>>>>> Regarding the option to use the H4 as an audio interface the
>>>>> software drivers are bad news. So bad actually that I would rather
>>>>> say that the H4 is not usable at all "as laptop sound card". I
>>>>> tested it for hours and although I used the largest available
>>>>> buffer I could not get a clean sound from it. Not on Mac with OS X
>>>>> and not in Windows XP with the dedicated software drivers. I'm
>>>>> glad I don't have to review it in a magazine because the marketing
>>>>> of it is partly misleading.
>>>>>
>>>>> But the H4 is great for other purposes - just forget about that
>>>>> audio interface dimension - like for example the stereo recording
>>>>> and the effects. Good guitar sounds in there (Some people might
>>>>> want to use it as a four track porta studio as well). H4 is also
>>>>> awesome as a USB2 based SD card reader. And it rocks as a portable
>>>>> field recorder. I like it so much that I decided to buy one as a
>>>>> replacement for my old portable DAT recorder.
>>>>>
>>>>> And I did actually find a place for it in my laptop looping rig -
>>>>> as a mic pre amp, merge box and input reverb unit :-) I feed the
>>>>> H4 with one acoustic flute mic and one line level EWI synth
>>>>> clarinet. Then I put a simple stereo cable from the H4 into the
>>>>> PCMCIA sound card Echo Indigo i/o on my lappy. That's a minimal
>>>>> set-up that sounds decently ok. Two instantly connected
>>>>> instruments of which one is electric and can be used for heavily
>>>>> distorted sounds that would not be possible with a microphone.
>>>>>
>>>>> Greetings from Sweden
>>>>>
>>>>> Per Boysen
>>>>> www.boysen.se (Swedish)
>>>>> www.looproom.com (international)
>>>>> http://tinyurl.com/fauvm (podcast)
>>>>> http://www.myspace.com/looproom
>
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