Need Help In Choosing A Recorder

[Ronniejm]

Hi There,

I am an old, lapsed member on the forum, recently i've hit a problem that I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction to get sorted.

A very good friend of mine, is looking for a recorder. Just to set the scene, my friend George's last recorder was a tascam cassette recorder. he does not own a computer, and has no interest in them at all.

What he wants and loves doing is pressing a record button, playing his guitar and singing his songs, with his wife, pressing stop and being left with a CD that he can play back at home or in his car.

He has no interest in adding any bells or whistles, no multitracking, no effects, no drums etc etc.

I showed him my BR800, as a starting point but that was a non starter, way too many buttons, so I have given him my Zoom H2N which seems to work for the recording part, he presses record to start and again to stop, he cant listen back to his recordings, so he passes it to me I download the songs and put them on CD, this works but takes time as we only see each other once a week so its at least two weeks till he gets to hear his last concert, (which is what it is, he becomes Luke the drifter, and goes to town on his opry shows, you can really tell hes loving it so I want to do what I can to help).

Anyway long story short, is there a recorder out there with the equivalent ease of use as the old tascam cassette recorders. the only thing Ive seen is a BR900,(I think thats the one, where you can write to CD direct on the machine), but its all the other options and buttons that would rule it out.

He has bought two tascam cassette machines from ebay I think, but one was broken on arrival and one broke shortly after.

Any help or pointers would be much appreciated

Cheers

Ronnie

[64Guitars]

Hi Ronnie. Nice to hear from you. It's been far too long. When are you going to post another song for us?

Not many recorders have CD capabilities these days. The only one that comes to mind is the Roland CD-2u. Unfortunately, it's a bit expensive at £589.

https://www.roland.com/uk/products/cd-2u/

https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/CD2U/multitrack-recorders/roland-cd-2u-sdcd-recorder

I'll have a look online to see if there's anything more affordable.

Meanwhile, maybe Hook has some ideas. He's owned just about every recorder ever made, so he might be able to offer some practical advice.

[alfstone]

Anyway long story short, is there a recorder out there with the equivalent ease of use as the old tascam cassette recorders. the only thing Ive seen is a BR900,(I think thats the one, where you can write to CD direct on the machine), but its all the other options and buttons that would rule it out.

AFAIK, the old BR900 is the only one, apart from the TASCAM DP24 (NOT SD version), but it has even more buttons and options...

Probably a PC (of course with a CD-writer) would be the best solution.

Alfredo

[Hook]

Yes, he needs  the Tascam dpoo4 , easy to use, press record, nice mics, headphones for playback. No matter what he's gonna have to face a menu or 2 but this is a super machine that fits all his needs.

2nd choice, tascam dp006, he has to deal with stereo tracks with that one thouhh. Go for the 004!

[64Guitars]

Yes, he needs  the Tascam dpoo4

2nd choice, tascam dp006

Great recorders, but they don't have CD burners built in. He needs something that will allow him to burn CDs of his recordings without using a computer.

[Hook]

Then he needs this one...the Tascam dp 03
http://tascam.com/product/dp-03/
Not the SD model as it dropped the cd burner.
You'll have to find it used, I saw it on ebay for around $250.
Good luck.

[Ronniejm]

Thanks very much for the replies guys, I'll look further into the details of both recorders mentioned. I'll admit I wasnt aware of them before, so very much worth further investiation.

On first glance I think the CD 2u looks a more likely solution, and thats just from the number of buttons on it, or lack of them, I know it may sound a bit crazy to say on a forum like this but the more buttons on the machine the less likely my mate is to spend any time with it, its not like he's lazy or anything, but modern technology is just not his thing at all. I tried to show him how to play back his songs on my Zoom H2n, but he wont try it "just in case he breaks it".

Thanks again for the replies, I really do appreciate your help.

Cheers

Ronnie

[64Guitars]

Yes, I think the Roland CD-2u is the most suitable one too. It's too bad that it's so expensive.

There are some older versions (CD-2i and CD-2e) that you might be able to find used. I had a look online but didn't have any luck.

The CD-2e looks especially good for George since it has fewer buttons and features than the newer CD-2u and CD-2i. If you can find one, it might be just the thing you're looking for.

https://www.roland.com/uk/products/cd-2e/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuVVdfy51Js


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6fCGtduxRk

[Hook]

What year were those? I've never seen them before but it Cleary became the br80.

[64Guitars]

I'm not sure if this would work or not. It's called the Plextor PX-650US PlexEasy Smart Back-up & Share Station. It's a portable backup device for smartphones, tablets, etc. It includes memory card slots (SD, SDHC or MMC), so I assume you could take the SD card out of the Zoom H2n, pop it into this device, and transfer the files to a CD. Also, the website says "you can connect almost any device that uses the USB interface to the new PlexEasy, from MP3 players to external hard disks." So you might be able to connect the Zoom H2n directly to the PlexEasy with a USB cable. But you should check it out closely before buying it to make sure it does what you want. Perhaps you could write to Plextor explaining what you need to do and ask them if the PlexEasy will do it. Include a link to the Zoom H2n page and say that that's the device you wish to connect to the PlexEasy.

It's £122.45 at amazon.co.uk.

http://www.goplextor.com/Product/Detail/PX-650US

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plextor-PX-650US-PlexEasy-Android-External/dp/B0072OGQMI




Does George have a smartphone or tablet? I'm sure there are lots of simple apps available for recording with a smartphone or tablet. And you can connect the smartphone/tablet directly to the PlexEasy above to burn a CD. So, if he already has a smartphone or tablet, he wouldn't need to buy a recorder at all. He'd just need the PlexEasy and a free or inexpensive app.