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

[Ted]

as far as live recording with others.. this would not be the best tool as there is only 2 inputs... so that would not work for a band,

Hmmm... Maybe the BR 800 still has a shot. Plus it has built-in microphones. Although that might be a dumb reason to like the BR 800.

[StephenM]

as far as live recording with others.. this would not be the best tool as there is only 2 inputs... so that would not work for a band,

Hmmm... Maybe the BR 800 still has a shot. Plus it has built-in microphones. Although that might be a dumb reason to like the BR 800.

My zoom r24 does also and they work very well imo... but at 500 new and about 300 used it may not be the best choice... also can run on 6AA batteries which I use all the time.. and sometimes I use it live as a mixer which I plug my electric guitar into and get the distortion settings easily... and that allows me to have a few pre recorded drum tracks and bass that I can play along with if needed... but I generally only do that once in a while.. I don't want to become a slave to machines playing live...

[Billy Tree]

I don't understand the track confusion with the R20. You don't have to do a track import thing every time. You record on a track. You can simply drag it over to any other track for playback or just to save it aside.
So let's say you are doing guitars direct in on input 1. I would go to track 9 - which will record the input of track 1 there, then drag it over to tracks 10 through 16.
For punch ins, there is no auto punch, but I would do a manual punch into a track of silence. Then record the part in the silence on another track.
With a mic that needs phantom power, I would use track 8 which has phantom, then drag the takes to a lower track as well. Tight but certainly doable.
The R20 is on sale for $299 right now, and for the quality of the recordings alone I think it is worth it, the audio quality is very very good.
The actual limitations are it does only have one midi track, and one drum loop track. And *one* effect you can use either as an insert or as a send. An insert will print to the track. There are actually a couple very good acoustic guitar models available as insert effects.
For acoustic singer songwriter work, it's great. I do think they can improve it in future firmware updates with templates that say, sacrifice MIDI for an second effect. But even as it is, $299 ... Totally worth it in my view.

[StephenM]

The actual limitations are ... *one* effect you can use either as an insert or as a send.

The only way I have figured out around this if I want to use effects on more than one track is to "bounce" (record) that track to another track with the effect on it.  Then the effect is permanently there but you cannot adjust it further.  I am however talking about the R24 which is a bit different but I would think the R20 can do the same.  If you actually can get this for 300 that is a steal (although the lowest I saw was at B and H for 350.) 
If you know of a different way to do the effects to tracks I would like to hear about it.  Generally I just take the tracks off the recorder to the DAW software and add effects there.  Sometimes though I like to do everything (except final mastering) on the Zoom, like when I am away on vacation or something.

[macman]

I recently got the R20 and I absolutely love it. Mainly use it to record my guitar processors, HX Stomp etc. The touch screen is great and as mentioned above when a track is recorded simply move it to another track to free up the track again. If any of you have questions or are considering the R20 just let me know.

Happy Holidays, Mark 

[Caulfield]

Hey there, new dude first post!

I just picked up the R20 after quite a bit of research including watching Gaz Rendar's YouTube video and reading Guitar64's excellent review. I do agree that for the $450 list price it shouldn't have the limitations it does. But I picked mine up for $275 on reverb.com and couldn't be happier.

I'm replacing an R16 which itself replaced Ardour on an Ubuntu Studio PC. The R20 is soooo much easier to use for my hobbyist songwriting/recording than the other tools.

[64Guitars]

I just picked up the R20

If you play electric guitar or electric bass, I recommend getting a Hosa MIT-129 1/4 inch TS to XLR Male Impedance Transformer. It provides a practical solution to Zoom's huge mistake of only allowing you to record an electric guitar to track 1 or track 9. Using the Hosa adapter, you can record your electric guitar or bass directly to any of the R20's 16 tracks, which is as it should be.

You might also find it helpful to get a stylus. It will allow you to use the R20's touchscreen a bit more precisely. It needn't be expensive. I got one for $2 at the local Dollarama store.