The H4 Handy Recorder is a handheld

digital audio recorder In digital recording, an audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is saved to a storage d ...

from

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, featuring built-in

condenser microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...

s in an X-Y stereo pattern, priced from around

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

280 depending upon memory capacity . Recordings are stored on an

SD card Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of portable consumer electronics, including dig ...

(128 MB supplied), or via a

USB cable Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an technical standard, industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in partic ...

to a computer running

digital audio workstation A digital audio workstation (DAW ) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pr ...

software (Cubase LE supplied).

Applications and recording formats

The H4 can record in stereo or four-track mode. In stereo mode WAV or compressed (MP3) files may be made. A 2 GB card will store 95 hours of speech-quality or 3 hours of CD-quality recording. With device firmware from version 2.0,

SDHC Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of portable consumer electronics, including digi ...

cards up to 32 GB in size are supported, storing 16 hours at the highest-quality setting (uncompressed PCM WAV, 24 bit, 96 kHz, stereo). Basic four-track recordings can be made in the field with the built-in microphones and two additional input ports which accept external signal sources via XLR or 1/4-inch connectors.

Stereo mode

In stereo mode, the user has a wide choice of sound quality, with lower quality requiring less storage space. Only 44.1 kHz 16-bit recordings can be imported into four-track mode. All stereo recordings share a single folder, and on playback are sequenced as one continuous output stream with no pause between files. Stereo recording can use the built-in microphones or external input via 1/4-inch or XLR plugs.

4-track mode

Four-track recordings can be made of one or two tracks at a time. When recording in stereo, only tracks 1 and 2, or 3 and 4, can be chosen. Four-track recordings are limited to 16-bit/44.1 kHz WAV files. WAV recordings made in stereo mode can be imported into a project folder. When recording on one or two tracks, the other tracks may be played back simultaneously (see

multi-track recording Multitrack recording (MTR), also known as multitracking, is a method of sound recording developed in 1955 that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources or of sound sources recorded at different times to create a cohesive who ...

). Each track can be individually panned, to create a stereo image. Any or all tracks can be mixed down to a stereo bounce file. This can be the last step in mixing, or an intermediate step to free up other tracks.

Effects

The H4 incorporates a 32-bit DSP that provides various effects as well as modelling of different types of microphone and guitar amplifiers. Up to 60 effects patches can be stored.

Internal clock issue

It has been reported that all H4 recorders have a serious flaw: the internal clock is not precise, with a typical error of a few seconds per hour. As a result, recorded audio is out of sync with other devices (e.g., camcorders) and has to be stretched in order to achieve synchronizatio

References

External links

*
Pro Audio Review
by Bruce Bartlett, November 2005

by Mark Nelson, February 2007; the same reviewer also tested the Edirol R-09 and M-Audio MicroTrack recorders
Videomaker Review
by Brian Peterson, March 2007

The reviewer measures noise/frequency performance of the H4. {{Zoom Corporation Zoom Corporation Multitrack recording Digital audio recording