NEW R20 Multitrack Recorder from Zoom - And now the R12 too!

[64Guitars]

The Zoom US website now has lots of info on the R20. It's also on the UK site and the Canada site, and probably some other countries too.

Here's the R20 Operation Manual and other docs:

https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/digital-mixer-multi-track-recorders/multi-track-recorders/r20/r20-support/

And there are 6 new R20 videos from Zoom on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwqM3vvQSt5MDdGYYXCtg-2c73lbynv9v

[Hook]

Just showing up to the party and I think I'm leaning toward this R20 machine.
 I hate learning a new system and I also have really disliked the menu designs on all Zoom machines in used. I also don't like the switch between the 1-8 tracks (9-12) and prefer  the virtually track design...but if the price is in $400 range I might do it.
I had a tascam 24sr and it is a great machine, easy to use ( effects are a little confusing at 1st) but quite large. Might be the perfect machine for your band Geir( maybe the 32?)
But I sold mine when I moved into my current ( & hopefully last) house which is smaller and has no space for me to have a studio. I'm agood 7 years away before a room frees up but the r20 could fit on my work desk.
I want faders, there is no scroll wheel and I like Zoom effects. Hope they have decent vocal and bass effects. I assume you can slave a 2nd machine like the r16 and 24 can it you need the inputs.. The touchscreen and daw like editing features intrigue me. im very interested...my wife is probably not.
I would like to know more about the mastering toolkit.

[64Guitars]

I also don't like the switch between the 1-8 tracks (9-12)

Yeah, bank switching of tracks is a pain on most recorders with non-motorized faders. I know from experience because my BR-864 has two banks of 4 faders (tracks 1-4 and 5-8). When you switch banks, tracks can suddenly jump in level because the physical fader no longer matches the level of the track. But the Zoom R20 has an interesting workaround for that problem. When you switch track banks, the mixing display shows you both the physical fader position and the actual track level (they call them "ghost faders"). Moving a fader has no effect on the level until you move it to the position where the physical fader matches the track level and the ghost fader disappears. Then you can move the fader in either direction and it will be in sync with the actual track level. I think this is a good solution to the problem of bank switching with non-motorized faders.



1) Track Faders (white). These show the previous actual setting of the faders. In other words, they indicate where the track level is currently set.

2) Track Ghost Faders (grey). These show the current position of the physical fader. They only appear when the physical position of the fader doesn't correspond to the actual level setting for the track.

Hope they have decent vocal and bass effects.

I haven't learned much about the effects yet from the manual and other sources online. There is a list of the Patches here:

https://zoomcorp.com/media/documents/E_R20_PatchMemoryList.pdf

But I haven't found a complete list of the available effects which make up those patches. However, from looking at the patch list, screenshots in the manual, and searching online, I can guess at the following partial list of effects:

Guitar Amp Simulations:

• MS 800 - Marshall JCM 800.
• DZ DRV - Diezel Herbert Channel2.
• FD DLXR - Fender Deluxe Reverb.
• UK 30A - Vox AC30.
• MATCH30 - Matchless DC-30.
• ORG120 - Orange Graphic120

Guitar Amp Speaker Simulations:

• MS4x12 - Marshall 4x12 cabinet.

Pedal Effects:

• AutoWah
• Chorus
• Compressor
• GoldDrive - "Models a famous gold overdrive boutique pedal."
• Plate - Plate reverb

Bass Amp Simulations:

• AMPG SVT - Ampeg SVT bass amp.
• BMAN100 - Fender Bassman 100.
• SMR400 - SWR SM-400 bass amp.
• AG 750 - Aguilar DB 750 bass amp.

Bass Amp Speaker Simulations:

• SVT8x10 - Ampeg SVT 8x10 cabinet.
• FD-B4x12 - Fender 4x12 bass cabinet.
• SMR4x10TW - SWR GOLIATH cabinet with four 10" speakers and a tweeter.
• AG4x10TW - Aguilar GS410 cabinet with four 10" speakers and a tweeter.

Bass Pedal Effects:

• Bass DRV - SansAmp Bass Driver DI pedal.
• D.I Plus - MXR Bass D.I.+ pedal.
• Dark Pre - Darkglass Electronics Microtubes B7K analog bass preamp pedal.

Microphone Simulations:

• Hm Bullet - Green Bullet harmonica mic.

Dynamics and EQ:

• LMT-76 - UREI 1176LN limiter.
• Low EQ - "Designed for low frequencies, this equalizer allows you to select the type."
• ParaEQx2 - Parametric equalizer.

Many of the descriptions above were derived from these documents:

• https://zoomcorp.com/media/documents/E_G5n_G3n_G3Xn_FX-list.pdf.pdf
• https://zoomcorp.com/media/documents/E_G11_FX-list.pdf
• https://www.zoom.co.jp/archive/GUITAR_LAB/EffectUpateHistory/Effect_Update_History_EN.pdf
• https://www.zoom.co.jp/sites/default/files/products/downloads/pdfs/E_B3n_FX-list.pdf

I would like to know more about the mastering toolkit.

As far as I can tell so far, it doesn't have any mastering effects. However, you can apply send effects (reverb) and insert effects to each track when mixing. And there's a compressor/limiter/gate on each track, but you can only use one of the three choices per track.



You can also adjust Low/Mid/High EQ for each track.

[StephenM]

64!!!!  thanks for telling about the "ghost" faders...that is a great idea... I have recorded alot on my zoom r24 and the fader positions with the bank switches can be very confusing.. the new approach should make that problem obsolete...
what i do now is take the tracks off the zoom to the DAW and mix... but if I am somewhere where I don't have access to internet or a computer that doesn't help

[Woodlake]

You can do the "ghost" fader thing on the BR recorders that use "scenes". It saves the fader locations, which can be viewed from the fader display in the menu. They remain in their saved position until you move the physical fader, then they re-sync.
Very cool actually - I use it a lot on the BR1600.

[StephenM]

You can do the "ghost" fader thing on the BR recorders that use "scenes". It saves the fader locations, which can be viewed from the fader display in the menu. They remain in their saved position until you move the physical fader, then they re-sync.
Very cool actually - I use it a lot on the BR1600.

the BR 1600 has alot of features that make things easier that I never tried...I just sold one of my BR's to a guy and he sent me a text about how to use it...so I was remembering all the things I have learned through the years that we just take for granted... I still love my BR even if just for the guitar patches and it's really great for recording drums as it has pretty good compression etc..

[BerryPatch]

I'm interested in knowing if this has a line in/line out feature, I use that for getting drums off GarageBand most of the time. It sounds like there isn't any though 

[64Guitars]

I'm interested in knowing if this has a line in/line out feature, I use that for getting drums off GarageBand most of the time. It sounds like there isn't any though 

It doesn't have RCA phono jacks labelled Line In and Line Out like you'd find on a BR. However, any of the 8 inputs can accept line level signals, so it's just a matter of finding the right cables or using adapters so you can plug your computer/tablet/phone's audio output into the R20's inputs. You'll probably want to use inputs 1 and 2 since they're the only ones that accept ¼" phone plugs. Although, the other 6 inputs would work too if you had a cable with an XLR plug on the end that goes into the recorder. The R20's outputs are balanced ¼" phone jacks. So again, it's just a matter of getting the right cables or adapters to connect the R20's outputs to your device's inputs.

Transferring your drums this way will work but it includes an unnecessary digital-to-analog conversion on the iOS device followed by an analog-to-digital conversion to bring it into the R20. A better way would be to output your drums from GarageBand as a stereo WAV file and save it on a USB flash drive, then plug the flash drive into the R20 and import the drums. That way everything stays digital. There is no digital-to-analog-to-digital conversion.

Another way would be to us the R20 as an audio interface and send the drum track directly from GarageBand to the R20 over a USB cable. See pages 138 to 144 in the R20 Operation Manual. There's also a YouTube video about using the R20 as an audio interface.

[StephenM]

64 wrote:  "Transferring your drums this way will work but it includes an unnecessary digital-to-analog conversion on the iOS device followed by an analog-to-digital conversion to bring it into the R20. A better way would be to output your drums from GarageBand as a stereo WAV file and save it on a USB flash drive, then plug the flash drive into the R20 and import the drums. That way everything stays digital. There is no digital-to-analog-to-digital conversion."

yup ...I do this with my R24... it's easy and pretty fast...much faster than getting files off the BR...
but i also use adapters to go from my phone jack to xlr so I can play to some songs etc.... and since I am not recording it, i don't care about panning on that part..

[64Guitars]

One thing worth noting about the R20's insert effects is that each patch can only have 3 effects in its chain. Now, I think of effects as the pedals that go between my guitar and my amp, so 3 effects seems adequate. But on the R20, the amp sims and speaker sims are insert effects. For nearly every electric guitar patch, I'm going to want an amp sim and speaker sim. So that only allows me to use one pedal-type effect per patch. That seems like a pretty serious limitation compared to other recorders. To be fair, the BRs are a bit limited too since you can only have one modulation effect per patch. But at least you can combine that modulation effect with a compressor, wah, and delay, along with your favourite amp sim and speaker sim.

Of course, if you're creating patches for vocals or acoustic guitar, for example, then you probably won't want an amp sim and speaker sim, so you can use all three effect slots for pedal-type effects. But for electric guitarists, three effects is pretty limiting when two of them will always be used for the amp sim and speaker sim.