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

[64Guitars]

Zoom R20 Effects

When the Zoom R20 was announced, I started searching for information about it, especially about the included effects. There wasn't much information available at first. Eventually, Zoom provided the manual and other documents on their R20 support page. That helped a lot but, unfortunately, it didn't include a list of the effects that are included with the R20. They provided a list of patches, but there's no list of the effects that make up those patches. There is still nothing today and I could find no information about the effects anywhere on the web. So, since I now own a Zoom R20, I decided to make my own list of the included effects for the benefit of anyone else who's considering an R20 and wants to know what effects are included.

The R20 includes 77 effects (well, 76 really because effect #1 is a simple Bypass. ie; no effect at all). That's quite a large number of effects. For comparison, the Boss BR-800 includes 34 insert effects and 3 loop effects, for a total of 37. So the Zoom R20 includes twice as many effects as the BR-800. The Boss Micro BR-80 has a total of 23 effects. So the Zoom R20 has more than three times as many effects as the BR-80.

But that's not all! Using Zoom's free Guitar Lab software, you can install over 160 additional effects directly into your R20's internal memory. Of course, that memory has a limit, so you might not have room for all of the available effects, but you can add quite a lot. For example, when I got my R20, the Guitar Lab software reported that the included 77 effects were occupying 67% of the available memory. I used the Guitar Lab software to install 18 additional effects and the total amount of memory used in my R20 rose to only 69%; a measly 2% increase for 18 effects. At that rate of memory consumption, I could add a lot more effects before running out of memory; possibly all of them.

The R20 doesn't distinguish between loop effects and insert effects like the Boss recorders do. With the R20, any effect can be used as either an insert effect or a loop effect. However, you can't use insert effects and loop effects simultaneously; you have to choose one or the other. But that's okay because loop effects are usually only used when mixing your tracks, and insert effects are usually only used when recording your individual tracks.

One limitation that's harder to dismiss is that you can only use a maximum of three effects at a time. For vocals, and perhaps a lot of other things, that might be okay. But for electric guitar, three effects doesn't go very far, since you'll usually want one of those three effects to be an amp sim, and another to be a cabinet sim. That means there's only one slot left for another effect such as a phase shifter or delay. If you needed to use a flanger and a reverb, for example, you'd have to be willing to give up the amp sim and/or cabinet sim.

Anyway, I'm attaching my list of Zoom R20 effects as a 13-page pdf file. For effects that model or simulate a known hardware effect, amp, or cabinet, I've included a picture of the device which I found on the web. For all other effects, I've included a picture of the effect's controls from the Guitar Lab software.

Have a look:   Zoom R20 - Included Effects - by 64Guitars - v1.00 - 2022-09-09.pdf


By the way, I'm still working on my review of the Zoom R20. It's currently 6 pages long. I hope to finish it and post it in a few days. If you're thinking of getting an R20, I'd recommend waiting until I've posted my review because the R20 has several fairly serious shortcomings that you should be aware of before deciding to buy one.

 

[des0free]

I don't own a Zoom R20, but I was curious enough to look at the document you made.  It is very nicely done; zoom should hire you as part of their documentation and advertising team. Now I have GAS for one of these units.  I have a R24 which is an earlier Zoom unit that seems to have less functions.  But on the other hand, I'm mostly using Reaper DAW nowadays.
   

[64Guitars]

Review of the Zoom R20 by 64Guitars



I finally finished my review of the Zoom R20 today. It's 7 pages long so I'm attaching it to this message in pdf format. Here's a link to it:

Zoom R20 Review by 64Guitars - v1.00 - 2022-09-12.pdf

The R20 could have been a great recorder. Unfortunately, it's disappointing for several reasons; the top two being that the HiZ input can only be recorded to tracks 1 and 9, and there's no way to export a track to a USB stick. It's possible that Zoom could fix these serious flaws in a firmware update but I don't know if they plan to do so. Unless and until these flaws are fixed, I can't recommend the R20 for most people. I'd suggest looking at the TASCAM DP-24SD or the Boss BR-800 instead. However, if Zoom decides to fix those two major flaws, then I'd recommend the R20. It's a cool recorder with some great features and loads of good effects.

[des0free]

the HiZ input can only be recorded to tracks 1 and 9,

This is also the case on the R24.  The way I eventually figured out to deal with it is that I record a guitar/bass track on input 1, and then immediately afterwards assign the recorded file to a different track (e.g., track 2).  Then record another guitar/bass on input 1, and repeat the procedure (e.g., assign the file to track 3), etc.  I don't know if the same procedure can be used on the R20?  On the R24, a list of all the WAV files that get recorded on any input can be picked from to be assigned to any track fairly quickly (it is not a copy-paste procedure, just an instant "assignment").

[64Guitars]

the HiZ input can only be recorded to tracks 1 and 9,

This is also the case on the R24.  The way I eventually figured out to deal with it is that I record a guitar/bass track on input 1, and then immediately afterwards assign the recorded file to a different track (e.g., track 2).  Then record another guitar/bass on input 1, and repeat the procedure (e.g., assign the file to track 3), etc.  I don't know if the same procedure can be used on the R20?  On the R24, a list of all the WAV files that get recorded on any input can be picked from to be assigned to any track fairly quickly (it is not a copy-paste procedure, just an instant "assignment").

The R20 has no Track Swap function nor a WAV file assignment function. It does, however, have an "Add Audio File" function which can load WAV files from the SD card, a USB stick, or the current project folder. So you could copy the file from track 1 to an empty track by selecting the empty track and choosing "Add Audio File", then "Project", then selecting the file from track 1. This part is a bit tricky though since all of the track files have very similar names in the format RECxx_yy.WAV where xx is the track that the file was recorded on and the yy is the recording number. And when you move track 1 to another track, the WAV file doesn't get renamed. For example, if you start a new project and record rhythm guitar on track 1, the WAV file will be named REC01_01.WAV. If we move this track to track 2, we can now record some bass on track 1 and it will be named REC01_02.WAV. We'll move this to track 3 and record some lead guitar on track 1, then move it to track 4 and record something else on track 1.

Now, suppose we want to copy the bass track to track 5. We go to track 5, select Add Audio File and Project, and we're presented with the following list of project track files:

REC01_01.WAV
REC01_02.WAV
REC01_03.WAV
REC01_04.WAV

So which of these files has the bass?

Notice that the filenames give no indication of which track they're currently on. They only tell you which track they were originally recorded on. In this case, they were all recorded on track 1, so they all start with "REC01_". If you happen to remember that the bass track was the second thing you recorded on track 1, then you could guess that the bass is in REC01_02.WAV. And, in this case, you'd be right. But it gets more complicated. I actually tried this example on my R20 by plugging a mic into input 1 and recording myself speaking the words "rhythm", "bass", "lead guitar", and "something else" on the four tracks. But when I did the lead guitar track, I didn't notice that the track wasn't armed, so it just recorded an empty region. I deleted this region, armed the track, and recorded "lead guitar" again. When I went to move this track to track 4, I saw the following list of filenames to choose from:

REC01_01.WAV
REC01_02.WAV
REC01_04.WAV

Notice that there's no REC01_03.WAV because that file was deleted. So the lead guitar is in REC01_04.WAV.

I then recorded another track speaking "something else" on track 1. To my surprise, the filename for this track became REC01_03.WAV, not REC01_05.WAV as I expected. This means that the recording number part of the filename is not a reliable indicator of the order in which the tracks were recorded. In this example, REC01_03.WAV is the 4th track I recorded and REC01_04.WAV is the 3rd track I recorded, which is the opposite of what you'd expect based on the recording number part of the filename.

Obviously, what's needed to make this track moving procedure practical is a way to rename the tracks to something more recognizable like "Rhythm_Guitar_01.wav", "Bass_01.wav", "Lead_Gtr_01.wav", etc. The number is to help distinguish multiple takes. For example, if you recorded three takes of the lead guitar, you could name them "Lead_Gtr_01.wav", "Lead_Gtr_02.wav", and "Lead_Gtr_03.wav". Unfortunately, the R20 has no such rename feature. I would like to see the addition of file management features in a future firmware update, including a file rename function. That would solve a couple of problems with the R20.

Unless and until Zoom adds a rename function, the best way I've found to move track 1 is to first export it to the /AUDIO folder of the SD card. This allows you to give the exported track a meaningful name like "Bass_01.wav". Then, when you go to an empty track and select "Add Audio File", then "SD Card", it will be easy to see which track has your bass. A bonus to using this method is that when you later export your project to a USB stick, all of the tracks recorded on track 1 and moved to another track will have meaningful filenames, making them much easier to identify. For example, when I used this method to repeat the test above, then exported the project to a USB stick, I found the following files in the project folder on the USB stick:

Bass_01.wav
Lead_Gtr_01.wav
R20PRJDATA.r20prj
REC01_02.wav
Rhythm_Guitar_01.wav

"REC01_02.WAV" is the "something else" track. Since I recorded it last, it doesn't have a meaningful filename because I never exported it. "R20PRJDATA.r20prj" is the project file which contains various settings for the project. The remaining files are very easy to identify because I gave them meaningful names when I exported them from track 1.

There is one flaw in this export/import method of copying track 1. If track 1 has multiple regions, then exporting the track will merge them all into a single region. So, when you import it into an empty track, it will be one big region and you will no longer be able to loop or time-stretch the individual sections that were in the original track. So, for tracks containing multiple regions, it might be best to use copy and paste of each region rather than export and import of the whole track.

[StephenM]

I love my R24!!!!  It took some time for me to get all I can do with it... it looks to me as though this is a major step backwards for Zoom... I dunno, the only thing I kind of like is the screen is bigger, just from the photos and the like.  Your review is very extensive... kudo's on that.  I have no experience with the Tascam but I wouldn't hesitate to get one if needed.... I might try and find a used one at some point just because I like trying new things... but only if I could get it on the cheap as really I don't need it...The inability to move files to a thumbdrive (usb) would be a deal breaker for me...

[des0free]

the HiZ input can only be recorded to tracks 1 and 9,

This is also the case on the R24.  The way I eventually figured out to deal with it is that I record a guitar/bass track on input 1, and then immediately afterwards assign the recorded file to a different track (e.g., track 2).  Then record another guitar/bass on input 1, and repeat the procedure (e.g., assign the file to track 3), etc.  I don't know if the same procedure can be used on the R20?  On the R24, a list of all the WAV files that get recorded on any input can be picked from to be assigned to any track fairly quickly (it is not a copy-paste procedure, just an instant "assignment").

The R20 has no Track Swap function nor a WAV file assignment function. It does, however, have an "Add Audio File" function which can load WAV files from the SD card, a USB stick, or the current project folder. So you could copy the file from track 1 to an empty track by selecting the empty track and choosing "Add Audio File", then "Project", then selecting the file from track 1. This part is a bit tricky though since all of the track files have very similar names in the format RECxx_yy.WAV where xx is the track that the file was recorded on and the yy is the recording number. And when you move track 1 to another track, the WAV file doesn't get renamed. For example, if you start a new project and record rhythm guitar on track 1, the WAV file will be named REC01_01.WAV. If we move this track to track 2, we can now record some bass on track 1 and it will be named REC01_02.WAV. We'll move this to track 3 and record some lead guitar on track 1, then move it to track 4 and record something else on track 1.

Now, suppose we want to copy the bass track to track 5. We go to track 5, select Add Audio File and Project, and we're presented with the following list of project track files:

REC01_01.WAV
REC01_02.WAV
REC01_03.WAV
REC01_04.WAV

So which of these files has the bass?

Notice that the filenames give no indication of which track they're currently on. They only tell you which track they were originally recorded on. In this case, they were all recorded on track 1, so they all start with "REC01_". If you happen to remember that the bass track was the second thing you recorded on track 1, then you could guess that the bass is in REC01_02.WAV. And, in this case, you'd be right. But it gets more complicated. I actually tried this example on my R20 by plugging a mic into input 1 and recording myself speaking the words "rhythm", "bass", "lead guitar", and "something else" on the four tracks. But when I did the lead guitar track, I didn't notice that the track wasn't armed, so it just recorded an empty region. I deleted this region, armed the track, and recorded "lead guitar" again. When I went to move this track to track 4, I saw the following list of filenames to choose from:

REC01_01.WAV
REC01_02.WAV
REC01_04.WAV

Notice that there's no REC01_03.WAV because that file was deleted. So the lead guitar is in REC01_04.WAV.

I then recorded another track speaking "something else" on track 1. To my surprise, the filename for this track became REC01_03.WAV, not REC01_05.WAV as I expected. This means that the recording number part of the filename is not a reliable indicator of the order in which the tracks were recorded. In this example, REC01_03.WAV is the 4th track I recorded and REC01_04.WAV is the 3rd track I recorded, which is the opposite of what you'd expect based on the recording number part of the filename.

Obviously, what's needed to make this track moving procedure practical is a way to rename the tracks to something more recognizable like "Rhythm_Guitar_01.wav", "Bass_01.wav", "Lead_Gtr_01.wav", etc. The number is to help distinguish multiple takes. For example, if you recorded three takes of the lead guitar, you could name them "Lead_Gtr_01.wav", "Lead_Gtr_02.wav", and "Lead_Gtr_03.wav". Unfortunately, the R20 has no such rename feature. I would like to see the addition of file management features in a future firmware update, including a file rename function. That would solve a couple of problems with the R20.

Unless and until Zoom adds a rename function, the best way I've found to move track 1 is to first export it to the /AUDIO folder of the SD card. This allows you to give the exported track a meaningful name like "Bass_01.wav". Then, when you go to an empty track and select "Add Audio File", then "SD Card", it will be easy to see which track has your bass. A bonus to using this method is that when you later export your project to a USB stick, all of the tracks recorded on track 1 and moved to another track will have meaningful filenames, making them much easier to identify. For example, when I used this method to repeat the test above, then exported the project to a USB stick, I found the following files in the project folder on the USB stick:

Bass_01.wav
Lead_Gtr_01.wav
R20PRJDATA.r20prj
REC01_02.wav
Rhythm_Guitar_01.wav

"REC01_02.WAV" is the "something else" track. Since I recorded it last, it doesn't have a meaningful filename because I never exported it. "R20PRJDATA.r20prj" is the project file which contains various settings for the project. The remaining files are very easy to identify because I gave them meaningful names when I exported them from track 1.

There is one flaw in this export/import method of copying track 1. If track 1 has multiple regions, then exporting the track will merge them all into a single region. So, when you import it into an empty track, it will be one big region and you will no longer be able to loop or time-stretch the individual sections that were in the original track. So, for tracks containing multiple regions, it might be best to use copy and paste of each region rather than export and import of the whole track.

Oh, I see.  That's a shame.  Maybe what you wrote about it not mattering much about using or not using the "high z" input is the way to go then.  I've noticed the same thing on my R24 - sometimes I forgot to switch the "high z" on and recorded my guitar. I thought about re-recording, but it sounded just find, so I would usually just keep it.

[64Guitars]

Zoom has announced the new R12 multitrack recorder. It has most of the features of the R20 but only 8 tracks and 2 inputs. It's much smaller than the R20 and, unlike the R20, it can run on batteries (4xAA). It has an Input Routing feature that lets you assign either of the two inputs to any of the 8 tracks. I hope Zoom will add that feature to a firmware update for the R20!

https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/digital-mixer-multi-track-recorders/multi-track-recorders/r12/

Here's the operation manual: https://zoomcorp.com/media/documents/E_R12.pdf

The R12 can be pre-ordered for $299.99 at Sweetwater or $324.99 with the AC adapter.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-QAc80cv2Q




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQbubU2sAEA

[Ted]

Zoom has announced the new R12 multitrack recorder. It has most of the features of the R20 but only 8 tracks and 2 inputs. It's much smaller than the R20 and, unlike the R20, it can run on batteries (4xAA).

I've been about to pull the trigger on the BR 800 for freakin' years now, and this makes it even less likely that I ever will. The R20 is overkill for my scenarios, and the R12 seems like it could meet my needs: Do what the Micro BR can do and more, portability, and I ultimately want to ditch GarageBand when/if my Mac dies. (I don't want to buy/use Apple or Microsoft again once this computer dies – and I prefer to not use a computer at all when making music.) Plus the R12 appeals to my vague aspirations to maybe do some live recording with others.

Do you know if this has something like "virtual tracks?" I looked in the manual, and I didn't see it. Maybe they are called something else in Zoom terminology.

[StephenM]

Zoom has announced the new R12 multitrack recorder. It has most of the features of the R20 but only 8 tracks and 2 inputs. It's much smaller than the R20 and, unlike the R20, it can run on batteries (4xAA).

I've been about to pull the trigger on the BR 800 for freakin' years now, and this makes it even less likely that I ever will. The R20 is overkill for my scenarios, and the R12 seems like it could meet my needs: Do what the Micro BR can do and more, portability, and I ultimately want to ditch GarageBand when/if my Mac dies. (I don't want to buy/use Apple or Microsoft again once this computer dies – and I prefer to not use a computer at all when making music.) Plus the R12 appeals to my vague aspirations to maybe do some live recording with others.

Do you know if this has something like "virtual tracks?" I looked in the manual, and I didn't see it. Maybe they are called something else in Zoom terminology.

what you call virtual tracks they don't have...but, as 64 commented on, you can keep a take and it can be hidden and available to use on any track.  Its fairly simple once you see how to do it.  So on the R24 I select "track" and then the channel, and select file, then all the available recorded files show on the screen, along with "new take".  If I select new take, then the track that I just recorded stays on the project but hidden until I select it somewhere to use.  so in essence, this is the same as virtual tracks.  I am sure the new Zoom we are talking about has a bit different method...but the idea is the same... at around 350 with the power supply this is a great recorder... I would also say that I love zoom's guitar sounds that are available and some of the others for vocals, etc are awesome too... and the fact it is so portable is very handy, for people like me... 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, unless you just want to record stereo mix and then someone has to make sure that the mix going into the recorder is right... I would consider getting one of these... but I don't really need it as my R24 is still very useful...more and more I use it.  I almost gave up on it because I was using it all wrong...but now I love it.