Happy to help! And no, Zoom doesn't want to even send me free gear to test out. I'm pretty sure they don't even know I exist. It's fine, though, this way I can call them out on stuff when I don't like their products.
I just wanted to thank you for making these videos. I just got an R20 myself and the machine is impressive, but the "manual" is a joke. Your videos have saved me a lot of headaches and guess work trying to figure the thing out - appreciated!!!
Thanks for the kind words. That's all I'm trying to do with these videos...help out people like me who prefer to record on multitrackers instead of computers with full-fledged DAWs. Happy to hear the videos are helping. Thanks for watching!
Gaz, I have an observation from experience, I want to share it. Firmware 3.3. We all lack punch in/out. There is an option to mitigate the situation. If you record a track and write to it again, enter and exit somewhere in the middle, then the new record will be on top of the old one. In this case, the file will remain alone. And the audio region will also remain alone. It's good. We save the number of regions, and there is no need to mess with fragments on other tracks to assemble them into one track with a common beginning. What you need to continue working on your computer. Actually, there is a technique for such work. If you need to enter small fragments in different places, and not have problems with synchronization. Either we write a track for the entire composition (even if it's empty), or we create a region (I haven't tried it, but it might work). Then we enter the fragments of the party in the right place. All.
Gas, thank you. I've watched all your R20 videos. They helped me a lot to sort out the details. A long time ago, I also started with a port studio, but went into the computer. Which was a mistake. He went from musician to sound engineer. Now I want to go back. I've been working in the old style for the last 5 years. And I'm even sorry that your videos ended. We are of the same blood). When I make some recordings using R20, I'll send you a link.
I recorded my first album on a Roland VS-800 series multitracker. It really taught me how to think about recording and how to game plan the recording process as I was also trying to write songs. Somehow when I moved to DAWs I lost that feeling of thinking about the construction of the music as tracks and how the tracks would overlay. With a DAW I think more in 1-bar patterns and somehow it loses feeling for me. I have more R20/R12 and Pocket Operator videos that I want to get to this summer. I've just been swamped with real life stuff, but I know I have more videos to make. They'll be up in the coming months. Have fun recording on your R20!
How about a video on file management of the multi-tracks, how the SD card is divided into projects etc.? And how about "bouncing" to record more than 8 tracks in the R12?
I do get a lot of questions about bouncing on the R12. I should probably make a full demonstration video about that. I do briefly discuss mixing down on the R12, and how the iterations of mixes get named on the SD card in this video: ua-cam.com/video/PkqoL7d35dw/v-deo.html It's around the 14-15 minute mark.
@@GazRendar Thanks for the reply. You're one of the few that explains how to use R12 extensively. My excuses for the long reply, but maybe it'll help you for the follow up video's. Maybe I should describe my use-case and what I (try to) use now. I like to record DAW-less. Every instrument on it's own track. That way I can use good 'ol Audacity on a computer to do the necessary extra work like maybe adding an effect or two (reverb), mixing to stereo etc. Audacity is easy to use and does not take the fun out of producing music like a DAW does. At the moment I have a 4-track Tascam recorder. However, I *NEED* a click-track to keep all the hardware at the same tempo. The click-track is simply an audio track that I recorded from a drum computer or synth that outputs a sync signal (which the synth can even convert to Midi!). That's pretty difficult to do w/ the Tascam (possible via a workaround). Some of the Zoom multi-track recorders have a separate output for the click-track just like the cassette based Portastudio's from the 80's and 90's. Now for problem nr. 2. The Tascam uses some sort of incomprehensible way to divide the SD card into a hidden partition and a partition with a folder named "WAVE" where the multi-tracks are "exported" to. However, they always have the same name and are not placed in separate sub-folders with the project name. That is: you can export _only_ the 4 tracks from one single project/song to the the hidden partition and they are always named "track001.wav" to "track004.wav". If you "bounced" tracks to another project to record more than 4 instruments to separate tracks then you have to fiddle with renaming the "track00x.wav" files, exporting another project, etc, etc. So how does bouncing and file management exactly work on an R12? I see that you made some very good and informative video's on how to do basic editing on the R12 (and R20). But that's not the only thing that people might want to use a multi-track recorder for. I, for instance, plan on doing no editing whatsoever on the R12. I want to synchronize devices via a click-track and I want to separately record (dry) instruments and the wet signal from an effect pedal (reverb etc.). Like they did in the seventies on multi-track tape. Best of luck w/ you channel!
Yeah...you can pretty much do all that with the R20 or R12 if you are creative. There is no MIDI clock to keep synths or drum machines in sync, but as you eluded to, you can record a click track to the R20 and use that to keep other devices in sync. You have to get the recording at just the right levels where the sync click is clipping, but not too high/not too quiet. With some trial and error it's doable. I've been working on a project with 5 Pocket Operators that has taken over a month so far and I'm filming it. If I can figure out how to finish this tough transition part in the song I hope to edit together a how-to video to work with a sync track. Although I didn't film the how-to, I used that kind of technique to sync 3 Pocket Operators and record to the R20 in this short video a year ago with a stereo panning effect in the bass line and I like the way the music turned out: ua-cam.com/video/kjK_vrp8TnU/v-deo.html When you record on the R12 or R20, the tracks are stored as 24-bit/44.1kHz .WAV files in the project folder. They have the track names. You can simply bring those to computer and do your mixing and mastering there. It usually works seamlessly, but some oddball stuff can happen if you string a bunch of audio regions onto a single track. Occasionally it sounds fine on the R20, but then you bring it over to a computer and the timing of the .WAV files from the separate tracks is off. This also can happen if you wind up doing many takes on a track over and over. In that case, you can use to render/export feature on the R12/20 for each track. That tends to clean it up with multiple takes or regions on a single track. I often find mastering on the R20 or R12 is the most consistent way to handle any kind of export. You can only mix down/master to a stereo file, though. But I like the real time control over the faders and I can apply an effect during the mix down if I want. Any mix down file or export file ends up in the AUDIO folder of the SD card with the project name and a 01, 02, 03 sequence applied to the end of it. You can't name those .WAV files on the R20 itself, but it's still easy to take the SD card out, put it into your computer, and figure out how to work with the .WAV files there for editing and mixing.
I just broke this thing. It froze up so bad, I turned it off, and it stayed on. I guess the next step is unplugging. I'm trying so hard to like this thing. I've never had this many issues with the old 4 track cassette recorders, lol
hi there, i watched heaps of your r20 vids and i noticed that you never really mentioned if you can run outboard gear... it has an intern aux/fx send... is there a way to use any outboard gear as fx/aux sends? rock-on man!!!!
It does not have a dedicated send effects loop for external gear. You can use Guitar Lab to load more effects and effect patches into the R20/R12, but as you stated, those are for internal send effects. Obviously, you can always like, plug a guitar into an effects pedal, and then plug that into an R20 input and record that way. Another thing you can do, although its a subpar work around, is that say you recorded things on tracks 1-8. And now you want to apply an external effect for what you recorded only on Track 4. Well, you could first mute all tracks except Track 4, then pan Track 4 all the way to the left. Run a 1/4" cable from the Left monitor out of the R20 into your effects pedal, then run a 1/4" cable from the effects pedal out into Input 1. Record Input 1 to Track 9. Except pan Track 9 all the way to the Right. Monitor things in your headphones. When you hit record, you'll essentially route Track 4 into Track 9 with the new external effect applied. In your ears, you'll hear the dry (track 4) audio in your left ear and hear the wet (effect signal) in your right ear. After you are done recording you can now unmute the other tracks and move the pans back to center, and then use the faders on Tracks 4 and 9 to create the appropriate dry/wet mix to that audio sound. You have to play with the levels during this recording process, but you can get it to work.
Yes. You can apply an effect patch across the tracks (like an EQ+Compressor+Sonic Exciter) and then choose Mix Down from the fader view screen. Hit record and adjust the faders for the tracks in real time for your song. Hit stop when you are done and it will create a single mixed down stereo .WAV file in the AUDIO folder of your SD card. It works just fine. However, realistically note that it isn't as good as a dedicated mastering plug-in for a DAW.
Hi Gaz, do you know what 'file index full' means? I've got 4 tracks so far in a 4 minute song, and I keep getting that alert when I hit record to add a track.
Help! I think I asked this before but cannot find the response anywhere! I needed to move a previously recorded track down in order to use the 1/4 inch input. There are 9 recorded tracks so I had to drop the track on top of another recorded track then scroll down to move again. It seems that it deleted and replaced that other track! Is this the case?
Gaz, I just purchased a Zoom R12 and I am having a difficult time trying to figure out how to Mixdown, Master and Export WAV file like I do on my Tascam DP-008ex after recording. Can you help me? 🙏🏿 Thanks 👍🏿
I probably need to make some dedicated videos about it. Briefly... Choosing Mix Down from the Fader View screen will mix down whichever tracks you have active into a single stereo .WAV file that will be placed in your AUDIO folder of your SD card. To master, you will want to create an effect patch for yourself first....you'll probably want some combination of a compressor+EQ+reverb or sonic exciter. You'll apply that effect to all or most of the tracks and then mix down. If you have a track that is loaded with short audio regions, you might want to Render that track. In the track settings you can pick Render and then choose how many bars you'll need to Render. That will then convert a track with a bunch of regions into a single continuous audio file.
Pretty much any disc-based capacitive stylus will work. I personally like this brand called "Mixoo." Here's a video with the details: ua-cam.com/video/lwf71awiqmg/v-deo.html
You can only set one tempo and one time signature per project. If you have a bridge or something that has a different tempo, you cannot truly set that in the R20/R12. There are sort of work around depending on what you need to do. Setting the signature and tempo for the project simply establishes how the timeline looks at the top. That makes it a little easier to chop up sections precisely by measures if you want to. But if you have a 3 minute song, and there is 20 second middle part with a different timing, you could just lay down your drum track however you want (with a drum machine or play real drums) and set it up for the whole song. When you get to that 20 second bridge the audio just won't perfectly align with the R20's timeline grid, that's all. But if your drum track is in place, that will serve as your metronome for the rest of the instruments you need to record. If your song is like, 4 minutes long and the first 1 minute is an intro with one time signature/tempo, followed by 3 minutes of song with a different time sig/tempo, then you could just record that first 1 minute as a project, and the second part that is 3 minutes long as a separate project. Once you finish both projects mix then down separately. Then create a 3rd project, and import the first 1 minute mix down followed by the second 3 minute mix down and splice them together. It could work depending on how the first part ends and the second part comes in.
It might be one of two things. Your thumb drive might not be formatted in a compatible way. You might have a rare thumb drive that isn't fully compatible with the R20 or R12. Here are some things I encounter while using flash media: ua-cam.com/video/Pp2Y3QMj20w/v-deo.html
It can be. But the R12 and R20 are still budget multitrackers, so they are not designed to be full one-for-one replacements with a decent computer and a DAW. However, context is everything. With older multitrackers you didn't even have true audio "regions" that you could visualize. The units just blended everything together on the track as a single file/track, or as a "virtual track." Being able to see, split, copy, paste, and move your audio regions on the R12 and R20 is a nice upgrade in my opinion. I've just gotten into a habit of exporting or rendering a track with multiple regions on it so it all converts into a single audio region and then move forward from there. So it's not so bad, but yeah, with a budget recording device, you'll have to work with some of the limitations.
I agree. It sucks. I'd throw good money at a modern portable DAW replacement solution that was fully powered, but there's just not a product out there.
I have to keep the lighting totally dark so my camera can pick up the screen so you can't really see my hands and fingers. I thought the silhouette of the capacitive stylus acting as a pointer would help the explanations...sorry.
This is super helpful, didn't know you could swap tracks around so easily. Zoom should definitely employ you! Thankyou.
Happy to help! And no, Zoom doesn't want to even send me free gear to test out. I'm pretty sure they don't even know I exist. It's fine, though, this way I can call them out on stuff when I don't like their products.
Thanks for taking the time to make this - really thorough discussion on how things in work, much appreciated.
You're most welcome and thank you for watching and providing some positive, motivational feedback
I just wanted to thank you for making these videos. I just got an R20 myself and the machine is impressive, but the "manual" is a joke. Your videos have saved me a lot of headaches and guess work trying to figure the thing out - appreciated!!!
Thanks for the kind words. That's all I'm trying to do with these videos...help out people like me who prefer to record on multitrackers instead of computers with full-fledged DAWs. Happy to hear the videos are helping. Thanks for watching!
Excelente explicación para aprender a editar regiones en el Zoom R-12 que acabo de adquirir. Me está ayudando mucho con sus enseñanzas. Thank you.
Gaz, I have an observation from experience, I want to share it. Firmware 3.3.
We all lack punch in/out. There is an option to mitigate the situation.
If you record a track and write to it again, enter and exit somewhere in the middle, then the new record will be on top of the old one. In this case, the file will remain alone. And the audio region will also remain alone.
It's good. We save the number of regions, and there is no need to mess with fragments on other tracks to
assemble them into one track with a common beginning. What you need to continue working on your computer.
Actually, there is a technique for such work. If you need to enter small fragments in different places,
and not have problems with synchronization. Either we write a track for the entire composition (even if it's empty), or we create a region (I haven't tried it, but it might work). Then we enter the fragments of the party in the right place. All.
Gas, thank you. I've watched all your R20 videos. They helped me a lot to sort out the details. A long time ago, I also started with a port studio, but went into the computer. Which was a mistake. He went from musician to sound engineer. Now I want to go back. I've been working in the old style for the last 5 years. And I'm even sorry that your videos ended. We are of the same blood). When I make some recordings using R20, I'll send you a link.
I recorded my first album on a Roland VS-800 series multitracker. It really taught me how to think about recording and how to game plan the recording process as I was also trying to write songs. Somehow when I moved to DAWs I lost that feeling of thinking about the construction of the music as tracks and how the tracks would overlay. With a DAW I think more in 1-bar patterns and somehow it loses feeling for me.
I have more R20/R12 and Pocket Operator videos that I want to get to this summer. I've just been swamped with real life stuff, but I know I have more videos to make. They'll be up in the coming months. Have fun recording on your R20!
Very very helpful. Thank you❤
You're welcome!
How about a video on file management of the multi-tracks, how the SD card is divided into projects etc.? And how about "bouncing" to record more than 8 tracks in the R12?
I do get a lot of questions about bouncing on the R12. I should probably make a full demonstration video about that. I do briefly discuss mixing down on the R12, and how the iterations of mixes get named on the SD card in this video:
ua-cam.com/video/PkqoL7d35dw/v-deo.html
It's around the 14-15 minute mark.
@@GazRendar Thanks for the reply. You're one of the few that explains how to use R12 extensively. My excuses for the long reply, but maybe it'll help you for the follow up video's.
Maybe I should describe my use-case and what I (try to) use now. I like to record DAW-less. Every instrument on it's own track. That way I can use good 'ol Audacity on a computer to do the necessary extra work like maybe adding an effect or two (reverb), mixing to stereo etc. Audacity is easy to use and does not take the fun out of producing music like a DAW does.
At the moment I have a 4-track Tascam recorder. However, I *NEED* a click-track to keep all the hardware at the same tempo. The click-track is simply an audio track that I recorded from a drum computer or synth that outputs a sync signal (which the synth can even convert to Midi!). That's pretty difficult to do w/ the Tascam (possible via a workaround). Some of the Zoom multi-track recorders have a separate output for the click-track just like the cassette based Portastudio's from the 80's and 90's.
Now for problem nr. 2. The Tascam uses some sort of incomprehensible way to divide the SD card into a hidden partition and a partition with a folder named "WAVE" where the multi-tracks are "exported" to. However, they always have the same name and are not placed in separate sub-folders with the project name. That is: you can export _only_ the 4 tracks from one single project/song to the the hidden partition and they are always named "track001.wav" to "track004.wav". If you "bounced" tracks to another project to record more than 4 instruments to separate tracks then you have to fiddle with renaming the "track00x.wav" files, exporting another project, etc, etc. So how does bouncing and file management exactly work on an R12?
I see that you made some very good and informative video's on how to do basic editing on the R12 (and R20). But that's not the only thing that people might want to use a multi-track recorder for. I, for instance, plan on doing no editing whatsoever on the R12. I want to synchronize devices via a click-track and I want to separately record (dry) instruments and the wet signal from an effect pedal (reverb etc.). Like they did in the seventies on multi-track tape.
Best of luck w/ you channel!
Yeah...you can pretty much do all that with the R20 or R12 if you are creative.
There is no MIDI clock to keep synths or drum machines in sync, but as you eluded to, you can record a click track to the R20 and use that to keep other devices in sync. You have to get the recording at just the right levels where the sync click is clipping, but not too high/not too quiet. With some trial and error it's doable. I've been working on a project with 5 Pocket Operators that has taken over a month so far and I'm filming it. If I can figure out how to finish this tough transition part in the song I hope to edit together a how-to video to work with a sync track. Although I didn't film the how-to, I used that kind of technique to sync 3 Pocket Operators and record to the R20 in this short video a year ago with a stereo panning effect in the bass line and I like the way the music turned out:
ua-cam.com/video/kjK_vrp8TnU/v-deo.html
When you record on the R12 or R20, the tracks are stored as 24-bit/44.1kHz .WAV files in the project folder. They have the track names. You can simply bring those to computer and do your mixing and mastering there. It usually works seamlessly, but some oddball stuff can happen if you string a bunch of audio regions onto a single track. Occasionally it sounds fine on the R20, but then you bring it over to a computer and the timing of the .WAV files from the separate tracks is off. This also can happen if you wind up doing many takes on a track over and over. In that case, you can use to render/export feature on the R12/20 for each track. That tends to clean it up with multiple takes or regions on a single track.
I often find mastering on the R20 or R12 is the most consistent way to handle any kind of export. You can only mix down/master to a stereo file, though. But I like the real time control over the faders and I can apply an effect during the mix down if I want. Any mix down file or export file ends up in the AUDIO folder of the SD card with the project name and a 01, 02, 03 sequence applied to the end of it. You can't name those .WAV files on the R20 itself, but it's still easy to take the SD card out, put it into your computer, and figure out how to work with the .WAV files there for editing and mixing.
I just broke this thing. It froze up so bad, I turned it off, and it stayed on. I guess the next step is unplugging.
I'm trying so hard to like this thing. I've never had this many issues with the old 4 track cassette recorders, lol
hi there, i watched heaps of your r20 vids and i noticed that you never really mentioned if you can run outboard gear...
it has an intern aux/fx send... is there a way to use any outboard gear as fx/aux sends?
rock-on man!!!!
It does not have a dedicated send effects loop for external gear. You can use Guitar Lab to load more effects and effect patches into the R20/R12, but as you stated, those are for internal send effects.
Obviously, you can always like, plug a guitar into an effects pedal, and then plug that into an R20 input and record that way.
Another thing you can do, although its a subpar work around, is that say you recorded things on tracks 1-8. And now you want to apply an external effect for what you recorded only on Track 4. Well, you could first mute all tracks except Track 4, then pan Track 4 all the way to the left. Run a 1/4" cable from the Left monitor out of the R20 into your effects pedal, then run a 1/4" cable from the effects pedal out into Input 1. Record Input 1 to Track 9. Except pan Track 9 all the way to the Right. Monitor things in your headphones. When you hit record, you'll essentially route Track 4 into Track 9 with the new external effect applied. In your ears, you'll hear the dry (track 4) audio in your left ear and hear the wet (effect signal) in your right ear. After you are done recording you can now unmute the other tracks and move the pans back to center, and then use the faders on Tracks 4 and 9 to create the appropriate dry/wet mix to that audio sound. You have to play with the levels during this recording process, but you can get it to work.
Nice video!
As always, thanks!
When you are done, recording a piece of music does this thing have mix down and mastering capabilities?
Yes. You can apply an effect patch across the tracks (like an EQ+Compressor+Sonic Exciter) and then choose Mix Down from the fader view screen. Hit record and adjust the faders for the tracks in real time for your song. Hit stop when you are done and it will create a single mixed down stereo .WAV file in the AUDIO folder of your SD card. It works just fine. However, realistically note that it isn't as good as a dedicated mastering plug-in for a DAW.
@@GazRendar got it, thank you.
Hi Gaz, do you know what 'file index full' means? I've got 4 tracks so far in a 4 minute song, and I keep getting that alert when I hit record to add a track.
Help! I think I asked this before but cannot find the response anywhere! I needed to move a previously recorded track down in order to use the 1/4 inch input. There are 9 recorded tracks so I had to drop the track on top of another recorded track then scroll down to move again. It seems that it deleted and replaced that other track! Is this the case?
Gaz, I just purchased a Zoom R12 and I am having a difficult time trying to figure out how to Mixdown, Master and Export WAV file like I do on my Tascam DP-008ex after recording. Can you help me? 🙏🏿 Thanks 👍🏿
I probably need to make some dedicated videos about it. Briefly...
Choosing Mix Down from the Fader View screen will mix down whichever tracks you have active into a single stereo .WAV file that will be placed in your AUDIO folder of your SD card. To master, you will want to create an effect patch for yourself first....you'll probably want some combination of a compressor+EQ+reverb or sonic exciter. You'll apply that effect to all or most of the tracks and then mix down.
If you have a track that is loaded with short audio regions, you might want to Render that track. In the track settings you can pick Render and then choose how many bars you'll need to Render. That will then convert a track with a bunch of regions into a single continuous audio file.
What pen are you using? I found that using my finger wasn't very precise.
Pretty much any disc-based capacitive stylus will work. I personally like this brand called "Mixoo." Here's a video with the details:
ua-cam.com/video/lwf71awiqmg/v-deo.html
@@GazRendar Much thanks!
What if I need to use a different tempo and/or time signature within the same project?
You can only set one tempo and one time signature per project. If you have a bridge or something that has a different tempo, you cannot truly set that in the R20/R12.
There are sort of work around depending on what you need to do. Setting the signature and tempo for the project simply establishes how the timeline looks at the top. That makes it a little easier to chop up sections precisely by measures if you want to. But if you have a 3 minute song, and there is 20 second middle part with a different timing, you could just lay down your drum track however you want (with a drum machine or play real drums) and set it up for the whole song. When you get to that 20 second bridge the audio just won't perfectly align with the R20's timeline grid, that's all. But if your drum track is in place, that will serve as your metronome for the rest of the instruments you need to record.
If your song is like, 4 minutes long and the first 1 minute is an intro with one time signature/tempo, followed by 3 minutes of song with a different time sig/tempo, then you could just record that first 1 minute as a project, and the second part that is 3 minutes long as a separate project. Once you finish both projects mix then down separately. Then create a 3rd project, and import the first 1 minute mix down followed by the second 3 minute mix down and splice them together. It could work depending on how the first part ends and the second part comes in.
Someone please help. I try to export to usb and it keeps saying it is full... it's a thumb drive.
It might be one of two things.
Your thumb drive might not be formatted in a compatible way.
You might have a rare thumb drive that isn't fully compatible with the R20 or R12.
Here are some things I encounter while using flash media:
ua-cam.com/video/Pp2Y3QMj20w/v-deo.html
Bagaimana kualitas preamp r20 ? ,dan saya ingin tahu hasil projek musik r20
Menurut saya preampnya memuaskan.
ua-cam.com/video/2FkFBGq7Oiw/v-deo.html
Terimakasih atas informasinya 🙏
mines is in the mail
Hope it suits your needs well. Happy recording!
50 regions per project sucks...it's a limitation.
It can be. But the R12 and R20 are still budget multitrackers, so they are not designed to be full one-for-one replacements with a decent computer and a DAW. However, context is everything. With older multitrackers you didn't even have true audio "regions" that you could visualize. The units just blended everything together on the track as a single file/track, or as a "virtual track." Being able to see, split, copy, paste, and move your audio regions on the R12 and R20 is a nice upgrade in my opinion.
I've just gotten into a habit of exporting or rendering a track with multiple regions on it so it all converts into a single audio region and then move forward from there. So it's not so bad, but yeah, with a budget recording device, you'll have to work with some of the limitations.
I agree. It sucks. I'd throw good money at a modern portable DAW replacement solution that was fully powered, but there's just not a product out there.
-1 that disc on pencil is distracting
I have to keep the lighting totally dark so my camera can pick up the screen so you can't really see my hands and fingers. I thought the silhouette of the capacitive stylus acting as a pointer would help the explanations...sorry.
@@GazRendarYou are fine! I love it.