Hello Gaz, I talked to a technician today and he suggested I insert a new, compatible SDHC/SDXC card and then do a firmware update (and then formatting the card) and it worked ! Yippee !! I really appreciate knowing you are available to field my questions. Keep those great videos coming ! Cheers, Dan.
W😎W...this is probably "THE BEST" most informative, well covered in full detail video from someone who knows how to work with these amazing porta-studios, THANK YOU so MUCH sir, God bless!! ☮️
You are most welcome. And I've always been drawn to portable multitrackers over DAWs because I prefer to have that tangible piece of hardware right in front of me, ya'know? Thanks for watching and happy to hear the video helped!
Thanks for the demo. My R20 arrives tomorrow and the "I hope it does what I *think* it does" anxiety had crept in. It'll work for me. Spent the 90s with DA88s, just need enough editing to scrub silences and cut and paste a clam away. I still play entire takes start to finish. Too old to change to the DAW way. Thanks again.
Oh man, you had one of those old Tascam boxes? Yeah, if you are coming from that and you mostly record your tracks start to finish (which is how I often did it too, years ago), then the R20 will be easy for you to record with. And the accessibility of the editing features will really help streamline your recording workflow once you get the hang of the icons and processes. I still like recording into a box, rather than using a computer with a mouse.
@@GazRendar Yep. Two DA88s, digi board, stands, bag of mics... Took a van to haul. I did jazz recordings at UNT for many years. Duos up to full jazz orchestra... Now I'm a mid lifer jamming into an R16. Spoiling myself with this upgrade. Really appreciate the demo vids.Your concise manner was easy for a 52yo to understand.
I just ordered a new Zoom R8, and it's comforting to hear that they can last 10 years. I started out on a Tascam Porta-Studio back in the 90's. I main a DAW setup, but the Zoom appealed to my sense of nostalgia. I like that it has the built in drum machine/sampler and the amp models/FX. It'll be nice to jam quietly on my guitars or synth without having to fire up my PC. And if my noodling leads to a 'fire beat' I'll have the ability to quickly capture it. It's great to live in an age where quality recordings can be created at any price point, no matter what your work flow. Enjoy your new toy, and thanks for the content :)
Thank you. The Zoom R8 is still great. Even though I've had the R20 for a few months now, I still enjoy the portability of the R8 because it can run off batteries or standard USB power. For what you are describing, it should suit your needs perfectly. I posted a how-to R8 firmware update video as well, because I think they are still shipping with v1.00 out of the box when you get it.
Good demo. I like the possibilities this machine affords. I also love the editing features. Workflow will flourish with this nice little recorder. Thanks
I corresponded with Caitlin at Zoom this morning and cleared up a VERY important point- The INPUT 1 Hi-Z setting ALSO works for INPUT 9! So, you CAN record both passive pickup guitar AND bass with the R20. Of course, you can also drag and drop what you record to INPUT 1 to another track, freeing up INPUT 1 and it's Hi-Z setting.
Yep. That's absolutely true. However, if you want to lay down, say 3 or 4 guitar tracks using a guitar going straight into the R20, you can just record a track to Track 1, then when you are done, simply drag that whole track to like...Track 5 using the touchscreen. Takes 2 seconds. Then you can record a fresh guitar track to the now-open Track 1. So it's pretty easy to lay down multiple tracks using the Hi-Z input. You just can't lay them all down simultaneously.
I learned another thing about the Hi-Z setting: my electronic keyboard--even though it is a powered/ plugged into a wall outlet instrument--also needs Hi-Z to sound right through the R20. The Quick Tour guide says a keyboard won't need Hi-Z, but the sound says it needs it. Caitlin suggested that I try it, and BINGO, issue solved.
@@GazRendar, electric guitar through an amp that is mic-ed into the recorder can be used to simultaneously record multiple guitar tracks, as long as it's one guitar>one amp>one mic> one input, each guitar can have its own track. To record bass this way, you of course need a bass amp.
I received my R20 and at your recommendation first thing I did was update the firmware from version 1.00 to 3.00 then started a project and imported a .wav that I already had drums and guitar and piano and bass mixed on. Now I will record my vocals onto it into the R20 though I know I will import the vocals into Ableton in order to use the Howard Benson vocals plug in strip then import them back into the R20 and hopefully be able to get the mixdown done on the unit. I use disc makers soundlab for mastering though but this is an exciting endeavor.
You can totally use that type of work flow. Just know that if you make something in Ableton and then export it with the intention of bringing it into the R20, you need to save the .WAV files as 24-bit / 44.1kHz. I think Ableton might default to 24-bit / 48kHz when you export .WAV files (I can't remember, it's been awhile).
I would’ve given my right arm to have this type of technology in the 80s. I was working out of those Tascam porta studio 4 track recorders. Although this needs a little a few more improvements it is the first of its kind when it comes down to working without a computer. I wish you could loop sections with markers while you’re recording takes. I also connected a couple of microphones and the vocal quality is not that great. My next test is going to be recording 8 tracks at the same time.
I had that old Fostex 4-track cassette multitrack recorder that I showed in the video. You had to nail things on the first or second take, and then after you recorded two tracks you always had to bounce them into 1 track so you could record something else. I did tons of on-board editing with my Roland VS-880 trying to place markers and use copy and paste. I got it to work, but man was it cumbersome. The touchscreen here is a big step up from that to be computer-free. That's why I bought it and overall I'm happy with it for the price. I'm still hopeful ZOOM keeps offering firmware updates and improvements over time, though. I haven't noticed poor mic quality. It seems "fine" to me and what I had with my R8. I've been using an AKG condenser mic with phantom power, and then I've also run a mic through a pre-amp first...then into the R20. I don't think it's the best sound ever, but totally on par with the R8 and other
@@GazRendar My VS880EX has been sitting on the shelf for around 20 years now. I am also interested in "computer free" recording. A mouse kills my creativity for some reason. How does the R20 compare sonically to the VS880EX? What do you think about a setup of audio interface and iPad with DAW (e.g. full fledged Cubasis or more focused Multitrack DAW)? Btw is it possible to switch the timeline to measures and beats on the R20? And to do operations (cut, copy, paste, split) on beats not seconds?
Very good and useful video and explanations. I ordered mine today. I will use it for some ideas on the guitar, vocals, a bass add on and some drums (not from inside R20). And then to play with all tracks to mix them down. It is annoying to use the DAW (Cubase) as I must go to connect and switch on a lot of gear. I bought this machine for simplicity.
Yep, that's exactly what a multitracker like this excels at, and is the primary reason why I use them. It's not going to be anywhere near as powerful as your DAW, but the fact that you can be recording within 20-30 seconds of turning it on by simply plugging in a guitar or a mic or a synth makes it much more accessible than a computer with some kind of interface. Hope the R20 works out well for you. Happy recording!
I got quite a bit of useful info from this video, even though I haven't gotten the answer to my specific question. I'm wondering about the clipboard functions, and specifically if I can copy a big multitrack section from one project, then paste that copy into a new project. Straight out of the box, I used my R20 to record my 3-piece band playing live, and I did 45 minutes of my band's music as one project. Now I want to cut that one project into separate songs, either as all of the tracks for each song (we used 7 of the 8 inputs, and recorded live onto 7 tracks) or after mixing the whole 45 minutes to one stereo track before cutting into song-pieces. The short version of my story is that I'm using my R20 exclusively to record live-created sound. I don't use MIDI, a grid or snap-to-grid, a click/ metronome, or many of the most common DAW-style production techniques. I think you will answer the question I have, possibly in one of the videos you've made on the R20 after you made this one. I'm sure you discovered other things about the R20 since January. So I'm subscribing to your channel, and looking through the rest of your videos. I like your approach to understanding this machine. It's a very practical approach, and even though I'm somewhat crazy as a musician and recordist, I'm also really practical in my methods, and I appreciate your practical explanations. For my first time out with a new recorder, this R20 captured really good sound. To my ears, that means it's a good recorder, worth investing some time to learn my way around the controls.
Right now, on firmware v3.00, you cannot copy and paste multiple tracks at the same time. You can only copy and paste one region at a time by clicking on it and then using the white tab at the end of the region to perform various functions. And that's only within the same project. If you want to take recorded tracks (mono or stereo) from one project and import them into a totally different project, you can do it, but you'll need to use some of the R20's audio import features. I made a demonstration video for that: ua-cam.com/video/JMmjrkenS8s/v-deo.html If you want to split and splice longer audio recordings into shorter audio regions using touchscreen editing features, I made a demonstration video on the basics for that too: ua-cam.com/video/vHLHkb5ZFD8/v-deo.html If you are recording a multi-piece band live with the R20, it does a good job with that. And I think it excels for guitar/bass/drums/vocals type of bands, although it'll work for any type of band. And you are correct that if you want to continuously record long live sessions, you should turn the bpm down on the R20 and don't use the metronome to get maximum recording time. You can then go back and split and trim up audio regions you want to keep...move those to open tracks of the current project, and then take those trimmed tracks and import them into a new project to work them and polish them up. Thanks for that sub! Hope the videos help you on your recording adventures
Gaz this is extremely helpful but you are killing me by not using a click countoff before activating record. It has a click count off correct? Without it how can you get the project to start at zero on the timeline? I know I am the stupid one likely but why is the countoff not activated?
I responded to one of your similar comments in another video, but briefly, yes, you can set a precount click-in by going into the metronome menus. Also of note, this was literally the very first time I was every using the R20 in this particular video, so I wasn't as well-versed with all the features yet. But in general, I don't use the precount option. I like to leave the first measure open and I start all my "real" song recordings (not my quick tutorial recordings for youtube videos) on the 1st beat of the second measure, which essentially has the first measure acting as my precount.
That's what I'm going to try to do. I want to use it a little bit over the next week or two and then figure out what's the best way to post useful content for people considering buying the R20, or who just bought it and want to use some of the features. So far I'm thinking about making short, separate videos about: effects, mix-down and mastering, drum track, synth track...in addition to a review. Stay tuned!
@@GazRendar very need. we want to know more. like right now just make videos dont need to know how it works first. even as you are trying messing make a video even a 30 minutes people will watch. believe me
Hi there, thanks for all the awesome videos.😊 I’m really into it. I have just a very basic question about the r20. If I buy it I will use it for recording off course, but also for practice guitar + singing + backing tracks and then recording. The question is, for example, I’m practicing with the guitar mic and backings, it’s possible the listening all the mix through the headphones before pressing the rec button right? Or we have to record to listen? Just to have sure 😂, Thanks
Yes, you can hear sounds going through the inputs into Tracks without having to actually hit the REC button. So you can plug a guitar into Input 1, which will route the sound into Track #1. If you want to hear your guitar, just "arm" the track for recording by hitting that plastic button on top of the Track #1 fader. It'll turn that button red. That essentially allows sound to flow from the Input 1 into Track #1. At that point you can now use the Track #1 fader to adjust the volume that will route to the headphone or monitor outs. Optional: you can assign Insert or Send effects to Track #1 at this point and also test out delays, reverbs, distortions, etc on your guitar. You don't have to hit REC. You can hear everything, including those effects to test them out and get your levels right before you want to actually record something. Also...if you already recorded something on say, Tracks #1-8, you could plug the guitar into Input #1, have it go to Track #9, arm the Track #9, and hit PLAY....this would allow you to hear everything that was on Tracks #1-8 but also hear your guitar on Track #9 without recording anything so you can play along to practice or to workshop out a guitar solo or something. Hope that explanation helps. Thanks for watching!
When you pulled down the fader on track 2 the levels did not decrease at all on track to yet you said the fader is pretty responsive. I don't understand that. Im still looking into why you have to slide the fader higher first for it to latch on so you have true control over the volume of the track while also seeing the LED respond to your volume increase or decrease.
This was my unboxing video and what you are seeing is my literal first attempt to use the R20 without any preparations. This is also my very first UA-cam video I made where I attempt to talk viewers through any tutorial process. So overall, I didn't fully understand everything I was attempting to do. The physical faders work for tracks 1-8...or...9-16. When you set a physical fader at a position for say, Track 2, and then briefly toggle over to 9-16 and then move the fader for track 10 slightly, a software ghost fader is set on the LCD screen for the track 2 position. When you toggle back to track 1-8 you need to first move the physical fader up to ghost fader before the physical fader will move volume up and down. If you are working with a stereo track, either fader as part of the stereo pair can trigger a ghost fader set point or "catch" back to working with the physical fader again. Having the ghost faders there is actually a good thing and something I didn't appreciate until I started using the device regularly. I can say that I think the faders, while cheap plastic, are absolutely acceptable for finely controlling volume adjustments during recording and mix down for a budget multitracker device. What I was also trying to convey in the video is that the physical sliding feel of the faders is responsive. I have no problems with the faders. By comparison, here are my general thoughts after 18 months of using the R20: ua-cam.com/video/_p6zOWiXefc/v-deo.html
So you can multitrack your live band's performance, use it as a mixer and computer interface, multi effect pedal board, midi and wav editor, and even a sound source. They should call it a portable studio.
Ha...all very true, however, I think if Zoom tried to call it that they would be sued by Tascam with their trademarked "Portastudio" line of multitrack recorders.
@@GazRendar yes I was referring to that, sort of a bad joke. What I need is the R20 integrated into a weighted keyboard, more internal sounds, pads and sampling, and no limits on how many Midi instruments you can have without rendering. No limits on sound effects, internal hard drive and battery. Like an MPC Keys but with R20. Bigger screen would be great. I think a lot of people might pay 1500 for something like that
I hear ya...and I agree with you. A true stand-alone multitrack recorder that provides more real DAW studio features would be awesome and I think people would pay a premium for that. I'm holding out hope that Zoom is developing a true flagship multitracker as a successor to the R24 (the R28?) that isn't just an R20 with more tracks, but really expands on the functionality that they started with the touchscreen/MIDI potential of the R20 and kicks it up several notches, even if the price tag goes well north of $600. A 5-pin MIDI input with MIDI sync would be very welcome as well...
It seems a step further than the R24 that I own but the big downside are the 2 jack imputs; I think this limitation will cut a lot of potential buyers ( me in that number).
Yeah, if you already have an R24 and really like it, you might want to hold onto your R24 still. I think the R20 sounds a little better than the decade-old R8, 16, 24 series, but it might not be enough to invest in the new unit. If you are still thinking about the R20, though, check out Floyd Steinberg's channel. He made a nice R24 vs R20 comparison video that's worth the time.
Thanks for the review Gaz. Does it have automation, for example using a fader to print automation input signals so that a track changes volume automaically in the composition?
Sadly, no. You can't print automation to the faders. You can move the faders and it will save the last fader position as a "ghost fader." So if you moved the fader on Track #4 to say...-4 dB and then you backed out and went to another project and starting moving the Track #4 fader to like, -8dB for the new project...and then two days later you went back first project you would find that the ghost fader for that first project would still be at -4dB and that's where the level would be until you "unlocked" it by moving the physical fader on Track #4 to that -4dB position to "grab" onto the ghost fader so you can start to adjust levels again. But it won't save your fader movements throughout a song as part of playback...which is what I believe you are asking.
@@GazRendar Hey Gaz, thanks for the response! I understand your description of the ghost faders which suggests the digital mixer interface holds the faders where the they were last locked. Yes you’ve interpreted my question correctly, I was hoping that for example on a track with strings you could hit playback / record and use a fader as midi to bring the strings from silence to a crescendo on the fly. I’m assuming the alternative to this is to track the strings in from another machine (ie sampler) and use the faders to control velocity as the input signal is being recorded? If not the last resort is to use volume control of the primary source or to have most of one’s parameters (dynamic volume | panning) set already before recording to the R20..
I’ve been debating about wether to get one or something like this, or to invest in a used portastudio, the ones that can do everyting and burn you a cd right at the end too. Do you think if I had a small portable cd burner that there would be an easy way to use that in conjunction with this machine to get the best of both worlds? I like the idea of a one piece machine for everything, but this is pretty small as it is and some of those were pretty clunky so...
It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. You can get an old Portastudio, but just be careful because some of them max out at 16-bit. I find it difficult to record rock music with real drums, bass, distortion guitar, and vocals with only 16-bit. It can be done, but it's a challenge due to the limited dynamic range. I greatly prefer 24-bit. So that's one thing to watch for. Some of the older Portastudios have features that are not on the R20, or are not quite the same. On on older Portastudios or like a Zoom R8 or R24, you could set markers at A and B points and have the the machine loop that over and over again (like while you work out a guitar solo). With an R20, you'll have to use the touchscreen to copy and past sections over and over to created a copy-and-paste loop for a determined amount of time to workshop that guitar solo. There is a convenience factor to recording everything on your multitracker and then immediately burning to CD there. It's totally fine. I've done it before. But those machines are 12-15 years old now. In 2024 it's really easy to take an SD card out of my R20, pop it into my computer, and do a quick mastering there and convert it into anything I want. I don't even own a CD player anymore, and in 5 years will anyone you know own a CD player? With the R20, you can master/mix down directly on the R20 and turn your song into a stereo .WAV file that can be played by anything these days. If you are going to buy a Portastudio model that is maybe pushing 15 years old, you probably want to still use it for until 2030, right? How often are you going to use burned CDs? If the answer is "a lot," then you should totally buy one. If the answer is..."I probably won't use CDs soon," then be sure to buy a multitracker that is going to work for your specific needs for a good 5-10 year run into the future.
Great job. As always!!! I was asking myself, with regards to the copy/ paste /split functions : how precise can I be if I need my copied (audio) section to be pasted exactly on the right beat I've targeted ? In other words is it (in your opinion) possible / easy to handle these copy /paste functions while keeping the whole audio drums or bass track or rhythm guitar smooth and regular to anybody's ear after these manipulations ? ( I hope my question was clear and correct enough, since I'm not a native English speaker 🙁
You can cut/splice/copy/paste/trim regions and make them sound seamless in your songs, however, it depends on a couple things. If you are playing notes that are all note-tied where you continuously glide up from say a A to a B to a C without making them individual notes with a clear start for each note, that's almost impossible to chop up cleanly to separate audio regions that you can move around. That's even hard in a DAW. You do some things to give you more resolution to move your trimmed up audio regions more precisely, though. You can turn off "Snap to Grid" in the menus which allows you to move things a little more freehand. You can also temporarily move the tempo up really fast to give you more gradations to snap audio regions to. I explain it in a little more detail in this video: ua-cam.com/video/vHLHkb5ZFD8/v-deo.html
@@GazRendar Thank you for this accurate reply. You are always very helpful to all of us . I think that recording a click line on one of the tracks of the r20 ( a track dedicated for that purpose only) would significantly help me gain in precision by showing me where to slice the song. Theoretically, that should work. I haven't tried yet.
I love this because I REALLY hate using computers and have no interest in it, but my Tascam tape 8-track isnt easy or cheap to use anymore, and I think the colour coded screen tracks and ability to edit visually is the best part about computer setups, so I like that I can get the best of both worlds here, and if I’m going to give up and go digital after all this time, why not at least make it easy.
How does one attached tracks on the same Channel as one? Say if I'm sharing the wav files for someone else to edit. If I have no recording at the start of the project on one track. But the desired sound starts half way throigh. it'll start the wav file not in sequence. Any tips would be appreciated
You can probably try a couple different things, depending on your situation. A) If you have say, 8 tracks of .WAV files and only one of them starts halfway through, you can simply go to your timeline and write down what bar it starts at or what time it starts (in the fader view). That's sometimes the easiest thing to do if you only have one track that starts later. B) You can choose to solo that track and Mix Down, which will play the whole project and let you adjust the fader(s) for the track in real time. But you can start at 00:00 with empty audio and allow the R20 to continue through, even if your audio region doesn't start until 1:00 or something. That will give you a track that starts at 00:00, just like the other tracks in your project. C) You can take a look at how many bars that track is from the 00:00 start all the way through the completion of that audio region, or all the way through to the end of the song. Then export or render the track in the track view screen. It will ask you how many bars you want to export during that process. If it gives you problems you can first add an audio region (an empty region that has no sound in it) from 00:00 to the exact start of your actual audio on that track. Hopefully one of those solutions works for you...
It depends on how much you've done, but there is a chance you may have overwritten your original tracks. I'm sorry! The R20 essentially works like Auto-Save on Word or Excel, which most of the time is a good thing. Every time you do something new it saves that operation. But you can only go back one step. And sometimes, especially when you start to do serious editing, you can make mistakes. I made a video with some of my suggestions of how to work with the auto-save-like feature: ua-cam.com/video/JLi4zeggbq4/v-deo.html
@@GazRendar once i got the sd card mounted on the mac i found all the original wav files are contained in the project folder. I copied them over to the AUDIO folder and then imported them for a fresh start.... phew! All the many data files act as signposts to the original wav recordings . I don't understand why i couldn't "reveal" the missing audio by dragging out the region. It seems to prefer creating loops! Anyway, that was only day 1.....
I'm glad you still had the original files stored in there. I know when I've gone back after working on a song for awhile those original files eventually get manipulated and changed from their first, freshly recorded version. I'm not entirely sure what you have to do with the editing features for it to be overwritten, but it does happen after awhile. Glad you were lucky on that one!
Yeah, no SD card in the box but luckily they are pretty cheap these days. If you can, I probably recommend using at least a 64GB card. Some people have commented in my other videos that they are occasionally run into recording bugs when using smaller sized cards, like 8GB and less.
@@GazRendar Thanks for that. Better safe than sorry. I no doubt would've grabbed an 8 or 16GB and ended up being another example of someone running into issues.
You do a great job with info on this device . I was wondering if you can give me a definitive answer to this. So you want to re-record a portion of a track. Can you or can you not hit play and when you reach the right spot, manually hit record and do a punchin ? I keep reading that there’s no punch in on the machine. But maybe they’re talking about automatic punch in. I only care about doing a manual one
There is no auto-punch in. Like on many multitrackers, you can set it to record at one marker and then stop recording at the next. Or you can use a footswitch for punch in and punch out. The R20 does not have those features (at least not as of firmware v2.40). However, yes, you can still manually punch in and out and record over something. You can hit Play...and then when the timeline gets right to the start of your second verse for example, you can hit Record and then re-do a guitar solo or something on say Track 5, then hit the record button again to stop recording. It will record your new guitar solo take on Track 5, just in that spot during the second verse. A lot of times you'll manually stop the record and get this spinning wheel as you wait for the record to finalize, but it's not a long wait. Additionally, you can just record your second take of the guitar solo on an open track...say Track 12...and then trim it with the touch screen, cut out the old guitar solo on Track 5 with the touchscreen, and insert the new guitar solo from Track 12 into that second verse of Track 5. So even though there is no footswitch control for punch in and punch out, I haven't missed it that much. Do I still wish there was a footswitch input? Absolutely. But the omission of it isn't as bad as I initially feared.
For me is important, that the Multitrack can Audio Quantize, Midi to record Synthesizer and has got enough Prozessorpower to use Effects on every Single Track. Is this possible with R20? Further more I need the possibility to import Midi and Audiotracks from extern to practice Guitar or play (record in clean) with Amp Models like Boss BR 80 and continue working in DAW. Is this possible here?
The R20 is probably not going to do what you would like it to do. The multitracker cannot audio quantize. I'm almost positive there isn't a single dedicated multitracker on the market that can do that - like how Ableton can. You can only use the R20's limited number of built-in synth sounds on a single synth track per project. So two tracks cannot be MIDI. You can import a MIDI .SMF file into the R20, though. However, as of v3.00, you can still only run that MIDI file through the 19 different synth sounds the R20 has. If you record one track at a time, you can apply an different insert effect patch to each track. You can apply a send effect patch to all the tracks, but only one send effect patch can be selected at a time. So if your effect patch is EQ+Compressor+Delay, that patch would be applied to all 16 tracks. You can't pick that patch for Tracks 1-4 and then have a distortion patch on Track 5 and have them work at the same time during a mix down. In my video on R20 effects, I demonstrate that you can record your guitar from the input onto the track as clean, but then apply a send effect after the track to hear what it would sound like if that clean track went through distortion or chorus or something. There are a variety of amp/speaker modeling effects to choose from. Check out my R20 Guitar Lab video for some details. The R20 will record all your tracks as separate .WAV files onto your SD card. You can just take that card, pop it into your computer, and import those audio files into your DAW. That will work for any modern DAW. Hope that helped answer your questions...
yes you definitely can punch in. Excellent! Now another question--how can you copy and paste multiple tracks? I hope you don't have to do that to each track!! And you are definitely the go-to guy for this machine, and really appreciate the time you put into this thing
At this time I don't think you can copy and paste multiple tracks. I think if you want to copy tracks, it's only 1 track at a time. I don't think there is any way to select 8 of them at once and copy them all...to say, drop in a chorus 3 times into a song.
I just wanted to add that you can select multiple audio regions across multiple tracks. You just have to touch an open area on an open track. The context menu at the top will appear and one option is SELECT. Touch that. Then you can touch as many regions as you want and it will select all of them at once. Unfortunately, all you can do right now is delete them all. However, the fact that the multi-select tool has been already created gives me hope they could readily add a multiple region copy and paste system now through a firmware update.
Thanks for your info on this unit, as I'm considering purchasing one. But I understand that there are no onboard mastering options, as there are on the the Tascam side of things. I'm an old school guy (currently using a Neo 2488), hence the all in one unit desire. Is there a non-techy option for exporting your file or final mixdown where you can use prepackaged mastering tools on your project? What are my options here, and are there any youtube videos that will walk you though the process? Also considering the Tascam dp-24.
As of v3.00 there are no dedicated mastering effects patches to use for the R20. And I think it's one of my main complaints about the unit since the old R-series of multitrackers (R8, R16, and R24) had built-in mastering effects that were serviceable. You can do a couple things, though: You can make your own mastering effects patches. I've been experimenting with combinations of an EQ, a compressor or limiter, and then a reverb or an exciter typically. Mastering is mostly some combination of those types of effects. I apply my custom patch as the master send effect during mix down. I've gotten ok results with that, but nothing that I would describe as truly awesome. I know I should make a video about it, but I haven't fully mastered a mastering technique on the R20 yet. You could also mix down your song on the R20 in a final stereo file and then bring that file into a DAW and master it there. There are onboard effects plus VST plug-ins that you could experiment with, and you can find free compressor, limiter, EQ, and loudness imagers. Or you could mix down your final stereo file on the R20 and then just upload it to a service like LANDR or something. The A.I. will send back a mastered version that usually sounds much tighter and brighter. I think you get a couple uploads for free before you have to pay for an annual subscription. Finally, I think the Tascam DP24 is a good multitracker, it's just a decade old like the R8, R16, and R24. There are plenty of physical controls to work with that are nice, but performing tasks like copy, paste, trim, etc are harder to do on the DP24 compared to the R20. The DP24 will give you more 1/4" jacks, though. And if you are familiar with Tascam's work flow I'm sure you'll feel at home with the DP24. There is no perfect singular answer for everyone as every device as it's pros and cons. Just kinda depends on what pros are more important to you and which cons you can live with.
I would love to....sadly...at least as of v2.40, the R20 does not have MIDI sync or a MIDI clock feature. I really wish it did. I feel like this is something Zoom could address with a firmware update, but I have no idea if it's important to them.
Hi Gaz, your videos are very helpful. I'm on day #2 of trying to figure this thing out and I've run into a glitch. After clicking on Ch. 1 "REC" I then press the "REC" transport button and a grey box shows up on the screen that says "FILE INDEX FULL" and I am unable to proceed with recording. ???? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
I'm not entirely sure but my guesses are: 1) Something is up with your SD card. It might recognized as full. In the Project Menu, goto Settings and "SD Card." You should be able to select Size (or space, I can't remember) and it'll let you know how much free space it recognizes. 2) If the SD card is acting funky, it's good to format it. You can watch my video on importing Audio files...I demonstrate how to format an SD card ua-cam.com/video/JMmjrkenS8s/v-deo.html 3) You might have exceeded the limit of 50 audio regions per project? You can only have 50 regions total across all the tracks per project. I think that's the max that the device's RAM can handle. Those are my guesses....if none of them solve the problem let me know and I'll try to come up with something else...
There are no MIDI controls for the R24, so you can't use a MIDI keyboard with it. You'd have to use a hardware synth, and run it's audio out cables into one of the inputs of the R24 to record the sound coming from the hardware synth. The R20 (and soon the R12) each have one dedicated synth track built into the multitracker. You can use a MIDI controller to play the built-in synth sounds of the R20 or R12. However, those built-in synth sounds are not that exciting. So it really depends on your specific needs and what you want to record. If you have a MIDI controller and want to use it to control hundreds of different software-based synth engine sounds, you're going to need to go with a computer DAW. If you want to use a MIDI controller to sparingly record software-based sounds, but you are primarily recording audio sounds (guitars, drums, bass, vocals, hardware synths) then R20 or R12 are good bets for you. If you only need 8 tracks and 2 inputs, the R12 looks good. If you need 16 tracks and 8 simultaneous inputs (like to record acoustic drums) then the R20 is a better choice for you.
How are you getting the sound? I don’t see any monitors plugged in? Also. How would I plug this into my audio interface if I already am using the usb from A.I. into my MacBook Pro? Thank you
In these videos I'm running either a stereo cable from the headphone jack into a R8 recorder, or using the monitor out into an R8 recorder. On the R8 I just set the gains to not clip and I don't add any effects and I keep the EQ flat. This way listeners can hear the exact audio that the R20 is producing and outputting.
And it depends on how you want to route sound from the R20. You can do what I did and use the headphone jack or monitor outs, and run those cables to the inputs of your audio interface. Or remove your audio interface, and just run a USB cable from the R20 to a USB port on your MacBook Pro and use the R20 as an audio interface.
Hi Gaz, I wonder if you could investigate an issue I'm having whilst recording. When I arm a particular track for recording , I am getting a phaser/flanger sound. This happens with both q jack and XLR Aoutput from my amps emulates output. I haven't tried a condenser mic yet. Really annoying thoufh. Tganks dor doing these videos though, they help me so much! 👍😎
So....you are getting that phaser sound and you do NOT have an R20 phaser/flanger effect applied to those tracks? And you are listening to all of this through the headphone out of the R20? If you don't have an R20 effect patch applied, and you are getting some kind of sweeping phaser sound, my guess is that your amp's output is providing too much gain, or it's giving you a dry+wet mix of it's own effects/emulation, or something is going on in your cables. Your cables could have grounding issues with the amp. The amp might not be grounded well. Or you are using a TRS cable instead of a TS cable? Or the XLR cable is a balanced cable, but the signal coming out of the amp's XLR out is an unbalanced signal?
Hi Gaz, I might have solved my latest crisis with yet another SD card (Kingston SDCS2/32G - on the recommended list)) and it the recorder seems to be working (for now). It was suggested I let it run in record for a few hours to make sure. I have a new question for you if I may - I saved my original files onto my iMac and after purchasing a USB 3.1 cable I attempted to import the files back onto my R20 but I was not successful. Would you be so kind as to walk me through that procedure please. Thanks again, Dan.
Even though the R20 has a USB type C port, it's actually only USB 2.0 bus speeds. To import audio files back into projects, it works best to load up the mono or stereo .WAV files onto SD cards or USB type C flash drives. Here's a video I made on the process. Lemme know if this helps... ua-cam.com/video/JMmjrkenS8s/v-deo.html
There is line level monitor out as mono R and mono L as 1/4" jacks. There is a headphone out as a stereo 1/4" jack. I guess that could be interpreted as 4 mono outs if you use a stereo break out cable in the headphone jack. Additionally, you can send audio over the USB-C port if you connect the R20 to a DAW and use it as an audio interface. In that case, and depending on the settings and capabilities in your computer and DAW, you can use it as a 2 in/2 out or 8 in/4 out interface.
Ran into an issue with thr R20.........tried recording some pre-recorded music on one single track to see how long it would record.....turns out it stipped recording after 45-minutes (357 MB). Have you ever run into this situation. I was recording onto a 64GB SD card so I'm sure that wasn't the issue.
Hmmmm....I definitely haven't tried recording anything nearly that long. I've only recorded 3-4 minute songs and maybe 15 minutes of audio for a youtube video. I do know there are some limitations when it comes to size on the device. I think you can only have 50 audio regions per project. So it's entirely possible you can only have like, 999 measures or 45-minutes and the computer chip and RAM inside just can't handle anymore?
@@GazRendar Found out by reading the manual that a project is limited to 1350 bars. That's what mine turned out to be and lasted 45-minutes. I did it twice and both times it was the same. Wonder why the limited it.
I figured there had to be a bar limit, just like there is a region limit. I suspect that's just the max load that the CPU and RAM in the unit can handle. For songs, 45 minutes is more than enough. To record like, a live concert or something, I guess you're going to have to break it up into multiple projects somehow. Thanks for finding the exact maximum number on that, that's good to know.
@@GazRendar Received info from Zoom....They said that when you open a new project to you change the tempo to a slower tempo. This would increase the recording time. Son-of-a-gun......it worked! I chaged the tempo to the slowest (40 BPM) and was able to record an hour of live band music (total of 488 MB) with no problems! YES! Perfect for what I am doing!
Can you bounce tracks in place to for example consolidate a 4 track drum group into one track? Or could you (in a less direct way) do a regular bounce then import that file back into the project?
The R20 does not have a dedicated Bounce feature that you'll find in a lot of older 4 and 8 track recorders. With 16 tracks you don't always need it. However, you can effectively bounce tracks if you want to....like if you mic'd up acoustic drums with 4-6 different mics to 4-6 different tracks. You can choose to Mix Down those 4-6 tracks into a single stereo audio file, then import them back into the project onto a stereo linked track. Like import them and put them onto Tracks 15&16 and then work on the rest of your song. You could easily do that even though the R20 doesn't have feature called Bounce. But the Mix Down feature essentially lets you do just that.
What would it mean this complete with auto correction/ Auto-Tune and a full-on punch in and punch out feature last but not least dedicated noise reduction to get the fuzz out or back ground noise
Looping anything is pretty easy. You just select the audio file and drag it to the right for as long as you want and it'll just keep copying and pasting. Punch-ins I haven't figured out a good way to handle yet. The Zoom R8 had a port for the footswitch that made it easy to punch in and out for recording, or turn on effects. Here you can have the metronome count off a lead-in and then record, but I'm looking for better ways.
Hello Gaz. Today I've bought the R20 and was extremely surprised. The fact is that it is impossible to assign a specific input to a specific track. For example, I can't assign the input "1" to the track, let's say "5". Is it really true that the inputs to the R20 are tied only to certain tracks? If that's the case, then I'm extremely disappointed. Thank you.
You are correct, there is no track routing. You can only send Input 1 to either Track #1 or Track #9. Input 2 to either Track #2 or Track #10 and so on. That's how it was on the old R16. However, it's really not that big of a deal once you start using the touchscreen. After you record anything you can just move the track to whatever number you want it to be. The touchscreen makes it easy. Takes 2 seconds. For more details/examples, I cover it in this video: ua-cam.com/video/EuVe58WC-ZE/v-deo.html
Oh, for sure. I've recorded a full drum kit with less, like on a Roland VS-880. If you are running an electric drum kit you can just connect a pair of 1/4" cables into inputs 1&2 on the R20 and record a stereo track from a full electric kit. I've done that with multitrackers and it can work well if you spend a little time balancing your sound prior to recording. If you are mic'ing up an acoustic kit, I recommend running a dynamic kick mic into input 3, maybe a Shure SM57 or other dynamic mic on the toms into input 4, then you want a dynamic or condenser mic on the snare, with another 2-3 condenser mics on the high hat and cymbals. So you can run 6 separate mics directly into the XLR inputs of the R20 and get a well balanced acoustic drum recording. That would leave you with 10 tracks for guitars, bass, vocals, keys, etc. That's usually enough. But if not, you could mix down the 6 channel acoustic drum recording into a single stereo track if you needed to free up 4 more tracks for other stuff.
Ha, that depends. If you already have a bunch of Tascam multitrackers, you're in a good place. The only reason to get the R20 is because you want to do some light editing with the touchscreen. If you don't see yourself trimming a short audio recording into a region that you could then copy and paste into a repetitive loop, eh, this isn't going to be a great purchase for you. If you prefer the physical feel of a mixing board while recording, I think you might like the Tascam Model 12 better than this. But I will say the touchscreen editing has mostly been what I was hoping for when I bought this thing blindly last winter.
У меня есть вопрос. Допустим, я записал с клавишного инструмента две дорожки, и хочу далее дополнить мультитрек следующими дорожками с этого же клавишного инструмента. Мне для назначения одного и того же инструмента придётся подключать выходы к следующим входам соответственно? Или можно входы назначать на нужную дорожку?
Вы не можете маршрутизировать треки. Но вы можете легко перемещать треки после записи. Vy ne mozhete marshrutizirovat' treki. No vy mozhete legko peremeshchat' treki posle zapisi. Смотри. ua-cam.com/video/EuVe58WC-ZE/v-deo.html
Can you turn off snap to grid? thx , how's that responsiveness working with touch pad now that you've had it for a bit ? thanks for making this review , very good - billy btw , you can record using the two1/4 inch jacks then move those tracks to any other track then use 1& 2- 1/4 inch jack inputs again /rinse & repeat -lol
Yes, in the project settings there is an option called SNAP. Just turn that to off and you'll stop the snap to grid. A a little while ago I made a video demonstrating how to keep using the 1/4" jacks by recording and then moving the tracks to a different Track number. You can find that one on my channel if you're interested. Overall, I'm impressed with what the R20 brings to the table. It definitely has limitations and there is no way I would recommend it to everyone. However, for certain users, they can get a lot of functionality out of it.
I think the R20 is well suited to guitar players. Input 1 is Hi-Z, so you can plug a guitar in direct. I like it for electric guitars. I have a Washburn bass with active pick ups, and that works better with no Hi-Z. I also have plugged in an Ovation acoustic with built-in pick-ups and that kinda works with either the Hi-Z turned on or off, depending on how you set the gain. You can record a guitar track dry, and then play it through a send effect later. Or you can plug in an electric guitar with Hi-Z on and apply an insert effect to record with the effect onto the track. There are overdrives and distortions to choose from for this. There are also plenty of amp and cabinet modeling effects to apply. What's on-board isn't bad and you do have a decent amount of editing control over the effects. The R20 is also compatible with Guitar Lab software, which allows you to tweak effects on the computer and bring them over to the R20. There are several empty effect slots to save custom effect patches. For $399 as an all-in-one package, I think it's a good value for guitar players. To see some of the effects, check out my recent video on importing audio files. I apply effects to some of those tracks.
Depends on what kind of outputs your mixer has. If it has line level XLR outputs, you should be able to run those from the mixer out to one of the R20's inputs (#3-8) and adjust the gain on the R20's inputs. Or you could run a TRS 1/4" stereo to 1/4" TS breakout cable between the headphone jack of your mixing board to inputs #1 and 2 of the R20. And just adjust the headphone volume and the input gain on the R20. For a drum track you can record a drum machine or record live drums. Or you can use the internal drum loops, which I demonstrate here: ua-cam.com/video/Z2QVM103uFQ/v-deo.html
Thank you very much for your demonstration video's about the Zoom R20. I've been thinking to buy one. Is it possible to record all your tracks on track one and two and copied them to others tracks so you don't have to change your inputs like a keyboard, guitar and microphone?
I'm sorry, I'm not totally sure I completely understand your question, but: When you hit the record button, you will only record one input to one track. So if you are recording 6 different mics/instruments at one time, you will record to 6 different tracks. However, after recording, you can always mix down those 6 different tracks into a 2-track stereo mix. If you do that, the mixed levels will be set--so if you had track #1 fader at -12 db and track #4 fader at -8 db --that will be the levels set in that stereo mixed track. You won't be able to go back and play around levels after that mix down. I think that's useful if you wind up using 6-8 mics to record an acoustic drum kit. In the past I've recorded the drummer playing an entire song, and then I mix down those 8 drum tracks into a single stereo mix and then begin to record guitars, bass and vocals on their separate tracks. But on the R20, if you record an instrument on say....Track #5...you can always use the touchscreen to copy and paste or move that entire track (or cut up pieces of the track) to any other track. It's easy. You kinda saw me do it a little bit in this video. I hope that answers your question...?
@@GazRendar Thanks a lot for your answer. Because I'm Dutch maybe my english is sometimes not correct, I'm sorry for that. But I understand that when you record a track you always copied and past that to another one. My question was if you record on track 1 or 2 that after the recording you can copied the recording to 3 or 4, so you can clear track 1 and two for a new recording because of all the other 6 inputs are xlr inputs and I don't have xlr connecting instruments. I hope you ll understand the reason of my question now.
No worries! And yes, what you are asking is possible. Make a recording to track 1 and track 2. Then you simply touch to select the track 1 recording and then drag it with your finger to track 3. Then touch the track 2 recording and drag it to track 4. That's something that is very easy to do with the touchscreen. Only takes 5 seconds.
@@GazRendar Thank you. In Europa the Zoom R20 is sold out. I have to wait 4 to 8 weeks...I hope the built in synthesizer sounds good. Can you demonstrate some sounds in your next video? I' m looking forward to it :-)
@@GazRendar It works perfectly, the last recording is deleted. Thans a lot. "It is well-born to be grateful." This is a Spanish proverb, which doesn't sound the same in English because of the rhyme, but it helps me to give you my first mix with the R20. Without your invaluable help I would not have succeeded. I only send you the audio, I haven't edited the video yet. By the way please write me the details to correct. I hope you like it. Here you have it ua-cam.com/video/nHRidGrIjRg/v-deo.html. Friendly greetings
Hello again Gaz, after having a few hours of trouble free tracking, that dreaded grey box appeared again saying something similar to last time - "File Index Full ! Delete unnecessary files." So, I deleted a couple of tracks from my song but that did not make any difference. I then checked my new 32 GB SD card and it said 24.0 GB / 25.4 GB. Does that mean that I have 24.0 GB available space on the card or does it mean I have used up 24.0 GB already ! I am not enjoying my Zoom very much as it seems all uphill ! Also, I can't get a handle on editing, copying and pasting - might you have an tutorial (other than this one) for beginners like me ? Thanks for listening, Dan.
Sorry you're having a rough go of it. I'm not entirely sure what's going on with your SD card, but there are a couple things you can try: 1) The 24.0 / 24.4 means that you have 24.0 GB of free space. That will take a long time to fill that up. 2) If you recently got the R20, be sure to update it to the current firmware, v2.40. Here's a video to walk you through that process ua-cam.com/video/TBNtkzht09o/v-deo.html 3) You have 24.0 free GB on that SD card, but there could be one small faulty sector within the card that is causing write problems. In the program settings menu you can select SD card and then pick TEST. You can run a Quick Test or a Full Test. The full test will take a little while, but it will scan the card and if any individual sectors fail, the test will find them. You can also have the R20 format the card (back-up any recorded tracks first, as formatting will delete everything) so it's formatted for optimal R20 recording. 4) You might want to try out a different SD card, just to make sure the R20 works and you don't have a R20 unit with a faulty SD card port. 5) If you are looking for some tips about the R20, I made a tutorial playlist that you can browse through. You can find it on my channel, right now there are 21 videos as part of that playlist. Also, I made a video demonstrating some of the basic touchscreen editing options that are available: ua-cam.com/video/vHLHkb5ZFD8/v-deo.html
I'm on the fence with the R20. I have the R16 (since 2010), and has been my workhorse. Doing some research, there are a bunch of missing features not found on the R20. Doesn't seem like a fair upgrade to me.
It really depends on how much you value the touchscreen. I think the R20 is being sold as the upgrade replacement for the R16 more than their other devices because the R8 is ultra portable with sample pads, and the R24 has more tracks with those sample pads too. What you get with the R20 vs R16 is a touchscreen for better editing and four channels of phantom power compared to the R16s' two. But the R16 has 8 combo jacks. I suppose the R20 can also use SD cards up to 1TB, whereas the R16 caps out on 32GB cards, I think. Bottom line for you...if you don't need the touchscreen for editing, the R16 might be better for you because of those combo jacks.
@@GazRendar I agree with what your saying... also noticed that Sweetwater no longer carries the R16. I have a feeling it will be discontinued soon. It's ashame since the R16 is a really good unit. Mine has been regularly used since it came out. I really don't care much for the touchscreen and editing features on the R20 as I use my device for recording and dumping files to my DAW. I'll keep reading up on the R20, might change my mind in the future. 2 things that really bother me: 1. The usb c port 2. The swap button for tracks
Based on what you're saying, and my experience with the unit for almost a week now, I wouldn't trade in your R16 for the R20. That R8, R16, and R24 series is still really good a decade later! Personally, I like the USB-C port. I feel like USB-C is more future proof for the next 10 years, and this thing does work with MIDI controllers through that USB-C port. I'm trying to get a video on that posted soon.
@@GazRendar Gentlemen, greetings, I follow all the ( still rare ) info on R 20 and I am sure that its potential is yet to open as soon as the app is out. Doing all the pinching in and out, trimming and so fort on a tiny - yet lovely - screen is imprecise and a bit laggy ( as far as I noticed ). But iPad editing will surely be something!
I have the R16, and I upgraded to the R20 because it's much easier to import wav files and assign them to tracks. I'm mostly using this device as a backing track unit for electronic instruments I can't play live, samples, etc. Th R16 is nice, but the touch screen on the R20 just makes everything easier to navigate and organize.
Hi! How about to use different effects at the same time on different channels while playing/recording? ch1 echo ch2 flanger etc ... Is that true thats not possible to achieve? Lack of that holds me off from buying this unit at this moment. Do they plan an update to fix that issue? (If its possible to fix that with just an update ...) thanks
I haven't totally figured out the limitations on the effects just yet. What I know is that if you want to insert an effect, like Overdrive, into channel one where you have a guitar plugged in, that's all you can do. You can only apply one effect patch to one channel if you want to record that effect into the track. So, channel 1 has a guitar with overdrive and it will record that into track one, but if you are playing a bass with active pick-ups at the same time in channel 2, you can't add chorus to the bass during the record. You can do a little more with send effects after you record, but I haven't fully tested how many simultaneous effects I can apply at once. I do know you can set up all the tracks to goto the same send effect during mix-down to finalize a song. I've tried that and it works for mastering. I'm not sure if that kind of effects expansion is possible because it's going to be directly tied into how things are hardwired, and how much processing power is in the unit. At $399, I doubt it has the hardware inside to offer multiple insert effects channels. I'm testing it a little more and will try to put together a dedicated video on effects.
@@GazRendar I understand, and I appreciate your try to answer from what you know already about this device. I've just subscribed - can't wait for your video about how to use effects, maybe your next video will put some light on that 🤞👍
I am researching the ZOOM R-20 because I am a visually impaired musician who is looking for a voice controlled mult track recorder to record my music on. I was told this R-20 is capable of voice control recording. Maybe with an additional app? I'm wondering if this is true and if anybody has had experience with this.
The ZOOM R20 with the BTA-1 adapter and iPad app offers some voice control over recording, fader control, and mixing. I'm not as familiar with the accessibility functions Apple has created for the iPad, as the R20 Control app relies on those iOS settings, but I'm trying to test out these features. As soon as I understand the features well enough I'll post a video about it. I've had quite a few visually impaired musicians ask me questions about it, so I want to try to help out if I can.
For the most part, yes. But it will depend on your computer and DAW software. You can use the R20 as an interface for your DAW or a control surface if the DAW supports Mackie control. You'll have to download drivers from the Zoom website first and then play around with the settings in your DAW. I've had it working on Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices. I haven't tested it on Mac.
Technically, you cannot. At least for firmware v1.00. Input 1 goes to either Track 1 or Track 9. Input 2 goes to Track 2 or Track 10. However, with the touchscreen it's really not a big deal. Say you want to lay down 3 guitar tracks by going in direct to the Hi-Z input #1. Well, just lay down your rhythm track onto Track 1, then after you record that simply use the touchscreen to drag it to ....Track 5 (or whatever). Then record lead guitar from input #1 to the now open Track 1 and then use the touchscreen to move to...Track 6. Lay down your final guitar fills track from input #1 to the newly open Track 1 and then again, touchscreen move it to Track 7.
I only tested trimming briefly so far. It works, and I think it's going to ultimately be better than the R8 simply because you don't have to rely on markers as much and you can pinch to zoom-in, so you can visually see where you want to split your tracks easier. However, after using the R20 for a week, I'm not going to trade in my R8. The R8 still does some things better - it's portability, battery power, and built-in mics still make it a keeper.
The unit I bought has a USA specific power plug. So if you bought a USA version, you'll probably need to either buy a separate power adapter, or you'll have to use the supplied AC plug with a USA --> UK conversion adapter.
There is an icon in the menu at the top while in Fader View that toggles between tracks 1-8 and tracks 9-16. That's for the physical faders. You can control all 16 faders on the touchscreen without having to use the toggle button.
The JOG WHEEL Missing is a Big Miss. because the Zoom r8 has and most all dawless recorders have a jog wheel to quick forward or rewind to where you want. Pressing the forward or rewind button to do this all the time would be tiring and just doesn't feel right. I mean if the tiny has R8 the jog wheel why not this. I really want to hear the beats or drum machine is it the same in R8 or better. Then would be very nice. I found a way to make my R8 sound FANTASTIC. And the deal was for to return my R8 and get the ZOOM R20 but it seem like maybe one just keeps the R8 there is so many things I need in the R8. There is volume knob for the master out and knob for the headphone this is a lifesaver. With my many stuffs connected together working as you know with Dawless you usually connect many things to it. because its only recording mostly. And I am still thinking if I should giveback the R8 or just keep and get this on top. But interesting this VIDEO is helping to see more about This ZOOM R20 Thanks But please lets hear the beat or drum machine because this is the most important aspect of this machine to keep time and record ideas with a beat to build ideas up and change drums later if you want. So that is really important. Thanks
Thanks for the feedback. At the moment, I'm almost positive I'm going to keep my R8 and the R20. The R8 is still really good, and it has a role as a very portable multi-track recorder. I can tell you that the touchscreen is better than I thought it would be, but I am suffering from some touchscreen fatigue. I wish they included a jog dial, even if it was redundant with the touchscreen. I am also testing things out to do a R8 vs. R20 comparison video at some point in the near future.
It does have the ability to place markers so that you can work between two spots. Good for not accidentally jumping all the way back to the start while working 3/4 of the way to end end of your project.
Yeah, the Tascam 24SD has been around for a long time, like the ZOOM R8, R16, and R24 series. I was debating the R20 vs that newer Tascam 12 track. I opted for the ZOOM because I've really liked my experience with the R8 plus the R20 seems a lot smaller than the new Tascam 12 track. But I had a Roland VS880 back in the day and at the time I thought it was awesome. Made a whole album with my band on it back then.
@@GazRendar I still have the VS 1680 Roland is missing out where people really need these things as computers get too time wasting and not ready to go as these things and Akai seem to have taken over. Although there is not enough tracks to record with the Akai I never even bothered I got the R8 ZOOM instead and its a God-sent. Very interesting
Nice review Gaz! I have an MPC LIVE i program and sequence all my music on it. I usually explode all my tracks to wav files after im done sequencing & programming my track. Would i be able to drag my MPC LIVE wave files into the Zoom R 20 to create a new project and of course to record vocals over the track. Im hoping everything would line up perfectly. Thanks!
You can easily bring .WAV files into the R20. You just double touch the track you want to use, then select Add Audio File, and then select the .WAV file you want. It'll drop it in. If you have everything perfectly sync'd from somewhere else, all the imported tracks will be aligned. If they are not perfectly aligned, you can use the touch screen to drag in the imported tracks to exactly where you want them, to keep everything set up with perfect timing. That is a strength of the R20. Doing that on other stand alone multitrackers is a chore. Or impossible.
Nice Gaz thats all I need the R 20 to do and to do it well. I mainly do everything on the MPC LIVE however being able to drag the wav files into the R 20 to wq mix and do vocals is priceless! Thank you for clarifying that for me. I will be ordering the R 20 next week! You got a new Sub from me!
Thanks for the sub! One other thing to consider though....in order to bring .WAV files into a R20 project they need to match the bit depth and sample rate. So you'll want to import files that are 24-bit and 44.1kHz sample rate.
Nice little Nintendo peace there you made. If you were ever to use a DAW however know that this recorder can sirve as an interface or as a controll surface to controll the DAW. Don't know if it does boath at once or not. One of the real interesting things about this machine to me is that the app for it apparently was written with help from Apple. I say this because Zoom is claming that this recorder is real accessible to us the blind. They say it's their first truely accessable recorder. So I find that interesting. I'm also no musician and also this thing only records at 44.1 KHZ 24 Bits. Where as the F6 can do 192 KHZ 32 Bits. Also only some of the XLRs spit phantom power.
All true. You can definitely use this as an audio in and out interface for a DAW. I haven't tried it yet, but I will test it out. And it will act as a controller for a DAW as well, so you can use the physical faders instead of doing everything on-screen with a mouse. However, yes, this thing maxes out at 24bit depth and 44.1kHz sample rate. The Zoom F6 is designed to be a professional field recorder, and it's several hundred dollars more expensive to get 32 bit depth at a high sample rate. The R series can't compete with that, but I have been impressed with the way 24 bit 44.1 kHz sounds for everything I've been creating for the past 15+ years. I don't know about the app yet. You definitely have to buy that $40 bluetooth adapter for it. I'm hoping to buy one in the future, but it's not high on my list. Interesting that it could help visually impaired musicians...I didn't think about that. That's exciting. And yes, only half the inputs support phantom power, but I'm ok with that. I just wish the other four inputs were combo 1/4" and XLR jacks.
@@GazRendar Ah yes that's a catch too the adaptor. But it's a catch for all of them. Well if all 8 XLRs did spit phantom then meh I could get this and just use as is. Cause it would be 7.1 surround sound of corse at 44.1 24 bits. Which is fine nothing against that.I've heard songs in 44.1 24 on HD Tracks. As a matter of fact I have Eminem's newest album from there and Avril Lavigne's second to newest album and they are 44.1 KHZ 24 bits and yeah they are more open and stuff then CDDA. So yeah but the 32 bits float thing sounds epic! But then with their H8 which is the new upgrade to the H6 you can do up to 9.1 surround sound because with the H8 you have 6 XLRs and then the EX H8 peace gives you 4 more and plug it into the wall and or the PC and bam 10 XLRs all spit phantom. I wish they'd upgrade their F8N to something like the H8 so that way you get the F pro quality.
This is worth subscribing for. Thank God UA-cam suggested this. I have watched all the videos out there nothing real real like this video here. Please release another video. PLEASE PLEASE. Connect a midi keyboard and play those sounds and especially the rhythm drum I want to hear and see it . you should have just done that here too a little at least. But anyways thanks am waiting for my to arrive at the store and go see. But I can know much if you show us here.
Thanks! I'm trying out the drum and synth tracks now and hope to post some examples soon. I've only had the R20 for less than a week, so I'm still learning.
Well, it has 8 input jacks and 8 channels simultaneous recording. It's just that only 2 of them are combo 1/4" plus XLR. Inputs 3-8 are XLR only. It's not too big of a deal, I have most of the XLR cords I need, but I would have liked to have seen inputs 1-4 be combo jacks.
I love mine. However I only use mine for when ideas hit and inspiration strikes. It's great for putting together ideas when writing music in my BR. For any large projects, I have my Zoom L12 that I use in my basement studio. I do like that it can be used as an interface. Just wish it was MIDI capable, but that wasn't a deal breaker for me. I did an experiment with a recording trying to move tracks to other channels and ended up deleting them somehow. I still don't know how but that is what experimenting is for. I'll figure it out.
I was really debating the L8 vs the R20. Coming from an R8, I needed the ability to record more than 2 channels simultaneously. I settled on the R20 over the L8 because of the touchscreen and the promise of being able to do some copying and pasting right on the device (better than you can with the R8) and because I think the effects are better and more varied on the R20 vs the L8. The thinking is that I'll have more options when I plug a guitar straight into the R20. But if I was recording with a band again, especially a band with an acoustic drummer, I would have bought the L12 over the R20.
I agree. If they at least had 4 combo jacks I would feel much better about it. I can still work around it for my needs, but that's going to be a deal breaker for some people.
Max amount of minutes of recording time/tracks is dependent on what size SD card you put in there. Max amount of continuous recording time is about 2.5 hrs, but you need to adjust the bpm to get there. I explain it in this video: ua-cam.com/video/Io_w4X8s_oM/v-deo.html
Sorry. This was my unboxing video for the R20, and honestly it was my first demonstration video with talking of any kind on UA-cam. You are also literally seeing me use the functions of the multitracker for the very first time without reading any instruction manuals as I took it out of the box. I anticipated the video getting like...100 views...back when I had 200 subscribers. Since then I've made over 30 tutorial videos with more details about the R20. You can check out the playlist here: ua-cam.com/play/PLJfZ2yw2Bc7apzujemOKk8aiTRfJvZfmR.html
Can I use Superior Drummer 3 out of my Mac Pro through USB somehow? I love the studio quality sounds of the software but getting real tried of playing the upgrade game between Apple & Avid every year! Want to get off the Protools train, really hope they come out with a bigger version with 16/32 tracks and a bigger display maybe even some midi ports?!?!?!?!?!
Eh, maybe you can, but it's not going to be what you want. You could probably sequence your drums in Superior Drummer and then use a USB cable as MIDI out and then MIDI in to the R20. But at best that will just trigger the synth track drum kit with the built-in drum sounds of the R20 (which are nothing special). Instead, you'd probably want to sequence your drums in Superior Drummer and use an audio cable - 3.5mm stereo in the headphone jack of the Mac to two mono 1/4" plugs that go into inputs 1&2 of the R20. Hit record on the R20 and then hit play on the Mac and let it lay down an audio track that is your drums. Then you could layer more tracks on top of that on the R20 whether you are a guitar, vocal, or synth type of player. I think if the R20 sells well Zoom might make a bigger unit. Right now I think they stopped selling the R16 because the R20 replaced it. But they still sell the R24, which is like 15 years old. If they made an R24 replacement with more combo inputs, a big touchscreen and like 5-pin MIDI ports I have to believe it would start at $699, or higher, though.
@@GazRendar Yeah, I’ve got a 3.5mm to stereo RCAs Monster Cable. Sounds promising, OS X 12.3.1 and latest Protools version tilted my computer 2 days ago which left a bad taste in my mouth for this setup. Really would like to get off the $299 yearly Protools train. Been using it since Digidesign came out, but this newer tech coming out it seems like a good time to jump off. I have a UA LA610, 1st Gen Baby Blue Bottle, 20 guitars, 10 amps and my Nord Stage 2 (medical billing for 14 years). Superior Drummer is my go to cause I have a Roland TD-12 but also have a lot of midi expansions as well. Was looking at Tascam, but I’m drawn to the touchscreen display and 1TB of memory. I’ll keeping on the lookout, hopefully they make the updated unit you’re mentioning. I’d get off the train for $699 easily. Thanks for your reply🎸👍🏽.
The newer Tascam Model 12 has a lot of attractive features, but ultimately you're probably still going to want to use the Tascam with some kind of DAW for editing. The touchscreen of the R20 is unique in that regard. Your needs are a little specialized, though, because you're going with a computer and DAW to create your drums, but then wouldn't mind a stand-alone multitracker to record synths and guitars. The R20 would sort of help. You might actually want to look at an AKAI MPC One. It doesn't a great job as a stand-alone recorder, namely for MIDI. But it does audio tracks as well. The biggest downside is the limited inputs. It has 5-pin MIDI, but only two 1/4" jacks in and two out. Still...for your specialized needs, might be worth a look.
@@GazRendar Tryin to resuscitate my MacPro, but it’s not getting off the black screen on startup no matter how many times I’m trying the SMC reset. My USB isn’t powering my keyboard to give the key commands. Might have to start digging a grave for it. Everything was fine on 12.3 but soon as I went to 12.3.1 this started happening. Just saw Pete Thorn’s Tascam Model 12 video and wow, it’s perfect. Model 24 would be ideal for multi-instrument tracking, I think I’m going to look towards the 24.
I'm managing working with only 2 combo jacks, but I would have greatly preferred to have inputs 1-4 be combo inputs. However, MIDI is there...check out my video on using the synth track and my other video using the R20 as an instrument...you'll see a fully editable MIDI grid there.
@@GazRendar hmm didn't know, thanks. So it has MIDI clock obviously...that's good. I've got the R24 and a reel to reel with 8 1/4" in and 8 out going into my R24 with 8 1/4" inputs. So 2 is a big downgrade for me as I never use XLR inputs.
Yeah, that's a bummer for you about the inputs. But the R24 is still awesome, even though it's been Zoom's flagship multitracker for over a decade. The only thing you're really missing is the touchscreen for light editing, otherwise the R24 still holds it's own.
I returned it. There is no drum track - just loops. No drum kits. 18 FM synth sounds - that cannot be edited, added to or deleted. 1 MIDI track only. For now, too many limitations. I will wait to pick one up again when the app is available (not ready yet), no search so looking through tons of loops is a pain (the touch screen is not very responsive, so it takes serious effort to scroll in any direction and no dedicated buttons or scroll wheels to help) - no folders so organization is impossible. Right now, a R24 is way better, at least until the app is available - then this becomes Acid Pro in a box. For now, it's too early to be of any use.
If you already have an R24, I would tell you to keep it vs the R20. At least right now. I'm still going to keep my R8. I'm hoping ZOOM provides more functionality for the R20 over time and the effects with Guitar Lab have lots of future-proof promise. I do have touchscreen fatigue at times and wish they also included a jog wheel, even if it was mostly redundant with the touchscreen. The rhythm track is just loops, yes. You can use the synth track to make a beat with the stock drum kit if you have a MIDI controller, but then you just burned your one synth track on drums. I just posted a video about the rhythm track if you want to see that in a little more detail. But yeah, this thing is not for everyone. For me, I needed something that would record more than 2 tracks at a time, and I was hoping to get something that would allow me to do minor editing in the multitrack box without having to drop .WAV files into a DAW and edit them there. If that's what you are looking for, then the R20 works. But for everyone else, especially if you want to build your beats and rhythms directly on the multitracker (instead of through a drum machine or groovebox), you'd be better off between the R8 or R24.
Yep, I agree. If it's only $50 or $100 more, then the R20 is the better value. The main selling point for the R12 is that it's truly portable. You can power it with AA's or a USB power bank.
I began with a Teac 144 cassette 4 track in 1981, then an ADAT/Mackie recording mixer setup, on to the Boss BRs. Never even once when using those did I encounter the retarded things that DAWs do. I never had "latency", I never had a big sign come up all snowflaking, "YOU'VE COMMITTED A 'FATAL ERROR', ALL OF YOUR WORK IS LOST NOW. THIS WILL BE REPORTED TO MARK ZUCKERBERG", etc. Not even when I used 1981 technology. Really, at the end of the day, I'm a fan of plugins, but most definitely not a fan of DAWs.
That's why I've always gravitated toward multitrackers. Once you figure out the workflow, they just work. No latency. Immediacy of being able to record. Tactile buttons. DAWs give you limitless possibilities, sure, but most of the time I just want to lay down a track as soon as an idea pops into my head.
This is a joke . it does not do anything they say it do and it dont even come with the USB-C cable . how you gonna sell a new unit and dont include the cable . that proves it dont work
The lack of a USB-C cable doesn't bother me at all, to be honest. I have a bunch of those laying around. If it was powered through USB-C then I would expect a cord, but since power comes through the included adapter. No big deal. The unit is primarily designed to function on it's own as a stand-alone unit. That's why I bought it. Sure, it can act as an audio I/O and controller for a computer-based DAW, but I definitely wouldn't buy it to do that. I also don't think ZOOM is marketing it to do that. If anything, an included SD card would have been nice? But even there, the 64GB class 10 card that I bought was only $6.99. So, no big deal. At the moment, I'm fine with what's in the box. You can do all the primary functions with the device, right out of the box.
@@GazRendar long as it works for you but I just returned one last week And picked up the Dp 32Sd and it works for me. i only bought the zoom cause the screen arranger looks like my Akai force. but I couldn't get the USB C to work properly with my Mac M1 and it did not do a lot of things they said it can do. and I was looking forward to the daw control. I figure if I'm not using it for daw control. I should get the 32 track instead of just 16. and I still can route back to the daw through my interface
If you want it to interface with your Mac M1 right now, then I totally agree with you that you should return the R20. By comparison, the ZOOM R8 was also sold as being able to control a DAW, but it didn't work well until a firmware update. I suspect the R20 will become better at acting as an I/O and controller for a DAW after some firmware updates as well, but I at this time I wouldn't recommend anyone buy the R20 if that's their primary purpose. I had the Tascam 24SD for awhile and I liked it. That unit, and the 32 track version you just bought have been out for several years now, so you should have a stable experience with it controlling your DAW software. I was looking at the new Tascam 12 track recorder as a possible purchase vs. the R20, but I liked the R20's smaller footprint. Good luck with your Tascam!
It actually records at 44.1kHz, 24-bit. I think the sound quality is good. You have to put it in context for what you are getting at this price ($399). Zoom offers 32-bit 96kHz recording on their pro-level F series of field recorders, but those things start around $700. If you want a somewhat budget friend multitrack recorder that gives you built in effects, some rhythm and synth capabilities, and a touchscreen for light track editing, you won't notice the 24-bit 44.1kHz recording unless you recorded the exact same thing on a 32-bit, 96kHz device and were able to go back and forth to compare. And even then, it's mostly only going to be noticeable if you have some mic'd up string instruments like a violin and cello. For guitars and synths...really, it's fine for the money.
@@GazRendar I already notice the difference and owned the 16 channel older one and the effects were terrible. Some people have good ears... Have a higher end tascam and easily hear the difference over 44.1.or 48khz with my synthesizers and guitars recording. F6 is only 24bit max but up to 192khz..
Yeah, if the quality is going to bother you then I definitely cannot recommend the R20 to you. My personal opinion is that at this price point...eh...you get decent amount for your money IF you want the touchscreen for light track editing. That's the bottom line. I could see ZOOM making a "super" version of the R20, but I have no doubt they would charge at least $200 extra, if not more, if it offered 24-bit/192kHz or 32-bit/96kHz recording options.
No, you're right. I thought the Zoom F series and H8 had 32-bit depth along with the newer Tascam Model 12...but I was wrong. Both Zoom and Tascam recorders max out at 24-bit depth, but some models do give you much faster sample rates than the R20's 44.1kHz.
![[Eng Sub] Zoom R20 multi-track recorder](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rGzhgW8HA1o/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Eng Sub] ZOOM R12 multi-track recording](/img/n.gif)
I just opened mine today and I have a feeling your channel will be a valuable resource for me, so thanks in advance.
Hello Gaz, I talked to a technician today and he suggested I insert a new, compatible SDHC/SDXC card and then do a firmware update (and then formatting the card) and it worked ! Yippee !! I really appreciate knowing you are available to field my questions. Keep those great videos coming ! Cheers, Dan.
Glad you were able to get it all worked out. Happy recording!
Great video! I just got mine today.... it gives a great preview and solid taste of what will be the journey with my R20! Thank you !
You're welcome!
W😎W...this is probably "THE BEST" most informative, well covered in full detail video from someone who knows how to work with these amazing porta-studios, THANK YOU so MUCH sir, God bless!! ☮️
You are most welcome. And I've always been drawn to portable multitrackers over DAWs because I prefer to have that tangible piece of hardware right in front of me, ya'know? Thanks for watching and happy to hear the video helped!
@@GazRendar her there. There is a guy on UA-cam that taught me how to operate the Zoom R16 and he is really thorough. It’s Steve K on bass.
Thanks for the demo. My R20 arrives tomorrow and the "I hope it does what I *think* it does" anxiety had crept in. It'll work for me. Spent the 90s with DA88s, just need enough editing to scrub silences and cut and paste a clam away.
I still play entire takes start to finish. Too old to change to the DAW way. Thanks again.
Oh man, you had one of those old Tascam boxes? Yeah, if you are coming from that and you mostly record your tracks start to finish (which is how I often did it too, years ago), then the R20 will be easy for you to record with. And the accessibility of the editing features will really help streamline your recording workflow once you get the hang of the icons and processes. I still like recording into a box, rather than using a computer with a mouse.
@@GazRendar Yep. Two DA88s, digi board, stands, bag of mics... Took a van to haul. I did jazz recordings at UNT for many years. Duos up to full jazz orchestra... Now I'm a mid lifer jamming into an R16. Spoiling myself with this upgrade.
Really appreciate the demo vids.Your concise manner was easy for a 52yo to understand.
I just ordered a new Zoom R8, and it's comforting to hear that they can last 10 years.
I started out on a Tascam Porta-Studio back in the 90's. I main a DAW setup, but the Zoom appealed to my sense of nostalgia. I like that it has the built in drum machine/sampler and the amp models/FX. It'll be nice to jam quietly on my guitars or synth without having to fire up my PC. And if my noodling leads to a 'fire beat' I'll have the ability to quickly capture it.
It's great to live in an age where quality recordings can be created at any price point, no matter what your work flow. Enjoy your new toy, and thanks for the content :)
Thank you.
The Zoom R8 is still great. Even though I've had the R20 for a few months now, I still enjoy the portability of the R8 because it can run off batteries or standard USB power. For what you are describing, it should suit your needs perfectly. I posted a how-to R8 firmware update video as well, because I think they are still shipping with v1.00 out of the box when you get it.
Good demo. I like the possibilities this machine affords. I also love the editing features. Workflow will flourish with this nice little recorder. Thanks
Glad to hear you found the video helpful. Happy recording!
@@GazRendar yes. I own the Zoom R16. It’s a great machine.
I corresponded with Caitlin at Zoom this morning and cleared up a VERY important point- The INPUT 1 Hi-Z setting ALSO works for INPUT 9! So, you CAN record both passive pickup guitar AND bass with the R20. Of course, you can also drag and drop what you record to INPUT 1 to another track, freeing up INPUT 1 and it's Hi-Z setting.
Yep. That's absolutely true. However, if you want to lay down, say 3 or 4 guitar tracks using a guitar going straight into the R20, you can just record a track to Track 1, then when you are done, simply drag that whole track to like...Track 5 using the touchscreen. Takes 2 seconds. Then you can record a fresh guitar track to the now-open Track 1. So it's pretty easy to lay down multiple tracks using the Hi-Z input. You just can't lay them all down simultaneously.
I learned another thing about the Hi-Z setting: my electronic keyboard--even though it is a powered/ plugged into a wall outlet instrument--also needs Hi-Z to sound right through the R20. The Quick Tour guide says a keyboard won't need Hi-Z, but the sound says it needs it. Caitlin suggested that I try it, and BINGO, issue solved.
@@GazRendar, electric guitar through an amp that is mic-ed into the recorder can be used to simultaneously record multiple guitar tracks, as long as it's one guitar>one amp>one mic> one input, each guitar can have its own track. To record bass this way, you of course need a bass amp.
I received my R20 and at your recommendation first thing I did was update the firmware from version 1.00 to 3.00 then started a project and imported a .wav that I already had drums and guitar and piano and bass mixed on. Now I will record my vocals onto it into the R20 though I know I will import the vocals into Ableton in order to use the Howard Benson vocals plug in strip then import them back into the R20 and hopefully be able to get the mixdown done on the unit. I use disc makers soundlab for mastering though but this is an exciting endeavor.
You can totally use that type of work flow. Just know that if you make something in Ableton and then export it with the intention of bringing it into the R20, you need to save the .WAV files as 24-bit / 44.1kHz. I think Ableton might default to 24-bit / 48kHz when you export .WAV files (I can't remember, it's been awhile).
FANTASTIC first impression video , just all I needed to go for it! THank you!!
I would’ve given my right arm to have this type of technology in the 80s. I was working out of those Tascam porta studio 4 track recorders. Although this needs a little a few more improvements it is the first of its kind when it comes down to working without a computer. I wish you could loop sections with markers while you’re recording takes. I also connected a couple of microphones and the vocal quality is not that great. My next test is going to be recording 8 tracks at the same time.
I had that old Fostex 4-track cassette multitrack recorder that I showed in the video. You had to nail things on the first or second take, and then after you recorded two tracks you always had to bounce them into 1 track so you could record something else. I did tons of on-board editing with my Roland VS-880 trying to place markers and use copy and paste. I got it to work, but man was it cumbersome. The touchscreen here is a big step up from that to be computer-free. That's why I bought it and overall I'm happy with it for the price. I'm still hopeful ZOOM keeps offering firmware updates and improvements over time, though.
I haven't noticed poor mic quality. It seems "fine" to me and what I had with my R8. I've been using an AKG condenser mic with phantom power, and then I've also run a mic through a pre-amp first...then into the R20. I don't think it's the best sound ever, but totally on par with the R8 and other
@@GazRendar My VS880EX has been sitting on the shelf for around 20 years now. I am also interested in "computer free" recording. A mouse kills my creativity for some reason. How does the R20 compare sonically to the VS880EX? What do you think about a setup of audio interface and iPad with DAW (e.g. full fledged Cubasis or more focused Multitrack DAW)? Btw is it possible to switch the timeline to measures and beats on the R20? And to do operations (cut, copy, paste, split) on beats not seconds?
You're beats is 🔥 "white play that funky music"
Wow, you already have one! Congrats, and thanks for making this video. I've got one on preorder, can't wait to get my hands on it. Subscribed!
Thanks for the sub! I hope you get your R20 delivered soon
Very good and useful video and explanations. I ordered mine today. I will use it for some ideas on the guitar, vocals, a bass add on and some drums (not from inside R20). And then to play with all tracks to mix them down. It is annoying to use the DAW (Cubase) as I must go to connect and switch on a lot of gear. I bought this machine for simplicity.
Yep, that's exactly what a multitracker like this excels at, and is the primary reason why I use them. It's not going to be anywhere near as powerful as your DAW, but the fact that you can be recording within 20-30 seconds of turning it on by simply plugging in a guitar or a mic or a synth makes it much more accessible than a computer with some kind of interface. Hope the R20 works out well for you. Happy recording!
I got quite a bit of useful info from this video, even though I haven't gotten the answer to my specific question. I'm wondering about the clipboard functions, and specifically if I can copy a big multitrack section from one project, then paste that copy into a new project. Straight out of the box, I used my R20 to record my 3-piece band playing live, and I did 45 minutes of my band's music as one project. Now I want to cut that one project into separate songs, either as all of the tracks for each song (we used 7 of the 8 inputs, and recorded live onto 7 tracks) or after mixing the whole 45 minutes to one stereo track before cutting into song-pieces.
The short version of my story is that I'm using my R20 exclusively to record live-created sound. I don't use MIDI, a grid or snap-to-grid, a click/ metronome, or many of the most common DAW-style production techniques.
I think you will answer the question I have, possibly in one of the videos you've made on the R20 after you made this one. I'm sure you discovered other things about the R20 since January.
So I'm subscribing to your channel, and looking through the rest of your videos. I like your approach to understanding this machine. It's a very practical approach, and even though I'm somewhat crazy as a musician and recordist, I'm also really practical in my methods, and I appreciate your practical explanations.
For my first time out with a new recorder, this R20 captured really good sound. To my ears, that means it's a good recorder, worth investing some time to learn my way around the controls.
Right now, on firmware v3.00, you cannot copy and paste multiple tracks at the same time. You can only copy and paste one region at a time by clicking on it and then using the white tab at the end of the region to perform various functions. And that's only within the same project.
If you want to take recorded tracks (mono or stereo) from one project and import them into a totally different project, you can do it, but you'll need to use some of the R20's audio import features. I made a demonstration video for that:
ua-cam.com/video/JMmjrkenS8s/v-deo.html
If you want to split and splice longer audio recordings into shorter audio regions using touchscreen editing features, I made a demonstration video on the basics for that too:
ua-cam.com/video/vHLHkb5ZFD8/v-deo.html
If you are recording a multi-piece band live with the R20, it does a good job with that. And I think it excels for guitar/bass/drums/vocals type of bands, although it'll work for any type of band. And you are correct that if you want to continuously record long live sessions, you should turn the bpm down on the R20 and don't use the metronome to get maximum recording time. You can then go back and split and trim up audio regions you want to keep...move those to open tracks of the current project, and then take those trimmed tracks and import them into a new project to work them and polish them up.
Thanks for that sub! Hope the videos help you on your recording adventures
love your work GAZMAN🙃
thank you brother.
I appreciate that. Thanks!
@@GazRendar peace love & analog
This is exactly what I want.
Gaz this is extremely helpful but you are killing me by not using a click countoff before activating record. It has a click count off correct? Without it how can you get the project to start at zero on the timeline? I know I am the stupid one likely but why is the countoff not activated?
I responded to one of your similar comments in another video, but briefly, yes, you can set a precount click-in by going into the metronome menus.
Also of note, this was literally the very first time I was every using the R20 in this particular video, so I wasn't as well-versed with all the features yet. But in general, I don't use the precount option. I like to leave the first measure open and I start all my "real" song recordings (not my quick tutorial recordings for youtube videos) on the 1st beat of the second measure, which essentially has the first measure acting as my precount.
Great! There are few tutorials and reviews of the ZOOM R20 yet. Please do more.
That's what I'm going to try to do. I want to use it a little bit over the next week or two and then figure out what's the best way to post useful content for people considering buying the R20, or who just bought it and want to use some of the features. So far I'm thinking about making short, separate videos about: effects, mix-down and mastering, drum track, synth track...in addition to a review. Stay tuned!
@@GazRendar OK. Thanks! I've already had a ZOOM R8. Now I'm very excited to get a ZOOM R20 as well.
@@GazRendar very need. we want to know more. like right now just make videos dont need to know how it works first. even as you are trying messing make a video even a 30 minutes people will watch. believe me
Hi there, thanks for all the awesome videos.😊 I’m really into it. I have just a very basic question about the r20. If I buy it I will use it for recording off course, but also for practice guitar + singing + backing tracks and then recording. The question is, for example, I’m practicing with the guitar mic and backings, it’s possible the listening all the mix through the headphones before pressing the rec button right? Or we have to record to listen? Just to have sure 😂, Thanks
Yes, you can hear sounds going through the inputs into Tracks without having to actually hit the REC button.
So you can plug a guitar into Input 1, which will route the sound into Track #1. If you want to hear your guitar, just "arm" the track for recording by hitting that plastic button on top of the Track #1 fader. It'll turn that button red. That essentially allows sound to flow from the Input 1 into Track #1. At that point you can now use the Track #1 fader to adjust the volume that will route to the headphone or monitor outs. Optional: you can assign Insert or Send effects to Track #1 at this point and also test out delays, reverbs, distortions, etc on your guitar. You don't have to hit REC. You can hear everything, including those effects to test them out and get your levels right before you want to actually record something.
Also...if you already recorded something on say, Tracks #1-8, you could plug the guitar into Input #1, have it go to Track #9, arm the Track #9, and hit PLAY....this would allow you to hear everything that was on Tracks #1-8 but also hear your guitar on Track #9 without recording anything so you can play along to practice or to workshop out a guitar solo or something.
Hope that explanation helps. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for your quick and complete answer. That was like gold for me. Cheers
When you pulled down the fader on track 2 the levels did not decrease at all on track to yet you said the fader is pretty responsive. I don't understand that. Im still looking into why you have to slide the fader higher first for it to latch on so you have true control over the volume of the track while also seeing the LED respond to your volume increase or decrease.
This was my unboxing video and what you are seeing is my literal first attempt to use the R20 without any preparations. This is also my very first UA-cam video I made where I attempt to talk viewers through any tutorial process. So overall, I didn't fully understand everything I was attempting to do.
The physical faders work for tracks 1-8...or...9-16. When you set a physical fader at a position for say, Track 2, and then briefly toggle over to 9-16 and then move the fader for track 10 slightly, a software ghost fader is set on the LCD screen for the track 2 position. When you toggle back to track 1-8 you need to first move the physical fader up to ghost fader before the physical fader will move volume up and down. If you are working with a stereo track, either fader as part of the stereo pair can trigger a ghost fader set point or "catch" back to working with the physical fader again. Having the ghost faders there is actually a good thing and something I didn't appreciate until I started using the device regularly.
I can say that I think the faders, while cheap plastic, are absolutely acceptable for finely controlling volume adjustments during recording and mix down for a budget multitracker device. What I was also trying to convey in the video is that the physical sliding feel of the faders is responsive. I have no problems with the faders. By comparison, here are my general thoughts after 18 months of using the R20:
ua-cam.com/video/_p6zOWiXefc/v-deo.html
So you can multitrack your live band's performance, use it as a mixer and computer interface, multi effect pedal board, midi and wav editor, and even a sound source. They should call it a portable studio.
Ha...all very true, however, I think if Zoom tried to call it that they would be sued by Tascam with their trademarked "Portastudio" line of multitrack recorders.
@@GazRendar yes I was referring to that, sort of a bad joke. What I need is the R20 integrated into a weighted keyboard, more internal sounds, pads and sampling, and no limits on how many Midi instruments you can have without rendering. No limits on sound effects, internal hard drive and battery. Like an MPC Keys but with R20. Bigger screen would be great. I think a lot of people might pay 1500 for something like that
I hear ya...and I agree with you. A true stand-alone multitrack recorder that provides more real DAW studio features would be awesome and I think people would pay a premium for that. I'm holding out hope that Zoom is developing a true flagship multitracker as a successor to the R24 (the R28?) that isn't just an R20 with more tracks, but really expands on the functionality that they started with the touchscreen/MIDI potential of the R20 and kicks it up several notches, even if the price tag goes well north of $600. A 5-pin MIDI input with MIDI sync would be very welcome as well...
It seems a step further than the R24 that I own but the big downside are the 2 jack imputs; I think this limitation will cut a lot of potential buyers ( me in that number).
Yeah, if you already have an R24 and really like it, you might want to hold onto your R24 still. I think the R20 sounds a little better than the decade-old R8, 16, 24 series, but it might not be enough to invest in the new unit. If you are still thinking about the R20, though, check out Floyd Steinberg's channel. He made a nice R24 vs R20 comparison video that's worth the time.
Thanks for the review Gaz. Does it have automation, for example using a fader to print automation input signals so that a track changes volume automaically in the composition?
Sadly, no. You can't print automation to the faders. You can move the faders and it will save the last fader position as a "ghost fader." So if you moved the fader on Track #4 to say...-4 dB and then you backed out and went to another project and starting moving the Track #4 fader to like, -8dB for the new project...and then two days later you went back first project you would find that the ghost fader for that first project would still be at -4dB and that's where the level would be until you "unlocked" it by moving the physical fader on Track #4 to that -4dB position to "grab" onto the ghost fader so you can start to adjust levels again.
But it won't save your fader movements throughout a song as part of playback...which is what I believe you are asking.
@@GazRendar Hey Gaz, thanks for the response! I understand your description of the ghost faders which suggests the digital mixer interface holds the faders where the they were last locked. Yes you’ve interpreted my question correctly, I was hoping that for example on a track with strings you could hit playback / record and use a fader as midi to bring the strings from silence to a crescendo on the fly. I’m assuming the alternative to this is to track the strings in from another machine (ie sampler) and use the faders to control velocity as the input signal is being recorded? If not the last resort is to use volume control of the primary source or to have most of one’s parameters (dynamic volume | panning) set already before recording to the R20..
I’ve been debating about wether to get one or something like this, or to invest in a used portastudio, the ones that can do everyting and burn you a cd right at the end too. Do you think if I had a small portable cd burner that there would be an easy way to use that in conjunction with this machine to get the best of both worlds? I like the idea of a one piece machine for everything, but this is pretty small as it is and some of those were pretty clunky so...
It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. You can get an old Portastudio, but just be careful because some of them max out at 16-bit. I find it difficult to record rock music with real drums, bass, distortion guitar, and vocals with only 16-bit. It can be done, but it's a challenge due to the limited dynamic range. I greatly prefer 24-bit. So that's one thing to watch for.
Some of the older Portastudios have features that are not on the R20, or are not quite the same. On on older Portastudios or like a Zoom R8 or R24, you could set markers at A and B points and have the the machine loop that over and over again (like while you work out a guitar solo). With an R20, you'll have to use the touchscreen to copy and past sections over and over to created a copy-and-paste loop for a determined amount of time to workshop that guitar solo.
There is a convenience factor to recording everything on your multitracker and then immediately burning to CD there. It's totally fine. I've done it before. But those machines are 12-15 years old now. In 2024 it's really easy to take an SD card out of my R20, pop it into my computer, and do a quick mastering there and convert it into anything I want. I don't even own a CD player anymore, and in 5 years will anyone you know own a CD player? With the R20, you can master/mix down directly on the R20 and turn your song into a stereo .WAV file that can be played by anything these days. If you are going to buy a Portastudio model that is maybe pushing 15 years old, you probably want to still use it for until 2030, right? How often are you going to use burned CDs? If the answer is "a lot," then you should totally buy one. If the answer is..."I probably won't use CDs soon," then be sure to buy a multitracker that is going to work for your specific needs for a good 5-10 year run into the future.
... Gaz Rendar? Is that you? Dash's long-lost cousin???
Shhhhhh....don't tell Xizor
Great job. As always!!! I was asking myself, with regards to the copy/ paste /split functions : how precise can I be if I need my copied (audio) section to be pasted exactly on the right beat I've targeted ? In other words is it (in your opinion) possible / easy to handle these copy /paste functions while keeping the whole audio drums or bass track or rhythm guitar smooth and regular to anybody's ear after these manipulations ? ( I hope my question was clear and correct enough, since I'm not a native English speaker 🙁
I've recorded just one song on Zoom r20 so far, without using any of the copy paste split functions : hence my question
You can cut/splice/copy/paste/trim regions and make them sound seamless in your songs, however, it depends on a couple things. If you are playing notes that are all note-tied where you continuously glide up from say a A to a B to a C without making them individual notes with a clear start for each note, that's almost impossible to chop up cleanly to separate audio regions that you can move around. That's even hard in a DAW.
You do some things to give you more resolution to move your trimmed up audio regions more precisely, though. You can turn off "Snap to Grid" in the menus which allows you to move things a little more freehand. You can also temporarily move the tempo up really fast to give you more gradations to snap audio regions to. I explain it in a little more detail in this video:
ua-cam.com/video/vHLHkb5ZFD8/v-deo.html
@@GazRendar Thank you for this accurate reply. You are always very helpful to all of us . I think that recording a click line on one of the tracks of the r20 ( a track dedicated for that purpose only) would significantly help me gain in precision by showing me where to slice the song. Theoretically, that should work. I haven't tried yet.
I love this because I REALLY hate using computers and have no interest in it, but my Tascam tape 8-track isnt easy or cheap to use anymore, and I think the colour coded screen tracks and ability to edit visually is the best part about computer setups, so I like that I can get the best of both worlds here, and if I’m going to give up and go digital after all this time, why not at least make it easy.
How does one attached tracks on the same Channel as one? Say if I'm sharing the wav files for someone else to edit. If I have no recording at the start of the project on one track. But the desired sound starts half way throigh. it'll start the wav file not in sequence. Any tips would be appreciated
You can probably try a couple different things, depending on your situation.
A) If you have say, 8 tracks of .WAV files and only one of them starts halfway through, you can simply go to your timeline and write down what bar it starts at or what time it starts (in the fader view). That's sometimes the easiest thing to do if you only have one track that starts later.
B) You can choose to solo that track and Mix Down, which will play the whole project and let you adjust the fader(s) for the track in real time. But you can start at 00:00 with empty audio and allow the R20 to continue through, even if your audio region doesn't start until 1:00 or something. That will give you a track that starts at 00:00, just like the other tracks in your project.
C) You can take a look at how many bars that track is from the 00:00 start all the way through the completion of that audio region, or all the way through to the end of the song. Then export or render the track in the track view screen. It will ask you how many bars you want to export during that process. If it gives you problems you can first add an audio region (an empty region that has no sound in it) from 00:00 to the exact start of your actual audio on that track.
Hopefully one of those solutions works for you...
@@GazRendar thank you so much! I think the mix down option is probably the best bet. Thanks a lot!
I've messed up the regions with editing. How can i reload the whole original recordings into the tracks? I can't find them!
It depends on how much you've done, but there is a chance you may have overwritten your original tracks. I'm sorry!
The R20 essentially works like Auto-Save on Word or Excel, which most of the time is a good thing. Every time you do something new it saves that operation. But you can only go back one step. And sometimes, especially when you start to do serious editing, you can make mistakes. I made a video with some of my suggestions of how to work with the auto-save-like feature:
ua-cam.com/video/JLi4zeggbq4/v-deo.html
@@GazRendar once i got the sd card mounted on the mac i found all the original wav files are contained in the project folder. I copied them over to the AUDIO folder and then imported them for a fresh start.... phew! All the many data files act as signposts to the original wav recordings .
I don't understand why i couldn't "reveal" the missing audio by dragging out the region. It seems to prefer creating loops!
Anyway, that was only day 1.....
I'm glad you still had the original files stored in there. I know when I've gone back after working on a song for awhile those original files eventually get manipulated and changed from their first, freshly recorded version. I'm not entirely sure what you have to do with the editing features for it to be overwritten, but it does happen after awhile. Glad you were lucky on that one!
Ordered one today on sale for $520 CND $(380 USD).
Glad I checked to see if it came with an SD card, which it doesn't.
Yeah, no SD card in the box but luckily they are pretty cheap these days. If you can, I probably recommend using at least a 64GB card. Some people have commented in my other videos that they are occasionally run into recording bugs when using smaller sized cards, like 8GB and less.
@@GazRendar Thanks for that. Better safe than sorry. I no doubt would've grabbed an 8 or 16GB and ended up being another example of someone running into issues.
You do a great job with info on this device . I was wondering if you can give me a definitive answer to this. So you want to re-record a portion of a track. Can you or can you not hit play and when you reach the right spot, manually hit record and do a punchin ? I keep reading that there’s no punch in on the machine. But maybe they’re talking about automatic punch in. I only care about doing a manual one
There is no auto-punch in. Like on many multitrackers, you can set it to record at one marker and then stop recording at the next. Or you can use a footswitch for punch in and punch out. The R20 does not have those features (at least not as of firmware v2.40).
However, yes, you can still manually punch in and out and record over something. You can hit Play...and then when the timeline gets right to the start of your second verse for example, you can hit Record and then re-do a guitar solo or something on say Track 5, then hit the record button again to stop recording. It will record your new guitar solo take on Track 5, just in that spot during the second verse. A lot of times you'll manually stop the record and get this spinning wheel as you wait for the record to finalize, but it's not a long wait.
Additionally, you can just record your second take of the guitar solo on an open track...say Track 12...and then trim it with the touch screen, cut out the old guitar solo on Track 5 with the touchscreen, and insert the new guitar solo from Track 12 into that second verse of Track 5.
So even though there is no footswitch control for punch in and punch out, I haven't missed it that much. Do I still wish there was a footswitch input? Absolutely. But the omission of it isn't as bad as I initially feared.
THANKS VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!
@@Rhyminrichie I was wondering about this myself.
For me is important, that the Multitrack can Audio Quantize, Midi to record Synthesizer and has got enough Prozessorpower to use Effects on every Single Track. Is this possible with R20?
Further more I need the possibility to import Midi and Audiotracks from extern to practice Guitar or play (record in clean) with Amp Models like Boss BR 80 and continue working in DAW. Is this possible here?
The R20 is probably not going to do what you would like it to do.
The multitracker cannot audio quantize. I'm almost positive there isn't a single dedicated multitracker on the market that can do that - like how Ableton can.
You can only use the R20's limited number of built-in synth sounds on a single synth track per project. So two tracks cannot be MIDI. You can import a MIDI .SMF file into the R20, though. However, as of v3.00, you can still only run that MIDI file through the 19 different synth sounds the R20 has.
If you record one track at a time, you can apply an different insert effect patch to each track. You can apply a send effect patch to all the tracks, but only one send effect patch can be selected at a time. So if your effect patch is EQ+Compressor+Delay, that patch would be applied to all 16 tracks. You can't pick that patch for Tracks 1-4 and then have a distortion patch on Track 5 and have them work at the same time during a mix down.
In my video on R20 effects, I demonstrate that you can record your guitar from the input onto the track as clean, but then apply a send effect after the track to hear what it would sound like if that clean track went through distortion or chorus or something.
There are a variety of amp/speaker modeling effects to choose from. Check out my R20 Guitar Lab video for some details.
The R20 will record all your tracks as separate .WAV files onto your SD card. You can just take that card, pop it into your computer, and import those audio files into your DAW. That will work for any modern DAW.
Hope that helped answer your questions...
yes you definitely can punch in. Excellent! Now another question--how can you copy and paste multiple tracks? I hope you don't have to do that to each track!! And you are definitely the go-to guy for this machine, and really appreciate the time you put into this thing
At this time I don't think you can copy and paste multiple tracks. I think if you want to copy tracks, it's only 1 track at a time. I don't think there is any way to select 8 of them at once and copy them all...to say, drop in a chorus 3 times into a song.
I just wanted to add that you can select multiple audio regions across multiple tracks. You just have to touch an open area on an open track. The context menu at the top will appear and one option is SELECT. Touch that. Then you can touch as many regions as you want and it will select all of them at once.
Unfortunately, all you can do right now is delete them all. However, the fact that the multi-select tool has been already created gives me hope they could readily add a multiple region copy and paste system now through a firmware update.
Thanks for your info on this unit, as I'm considering purchasing one. But I understand that there are no onboard mastering options, as there are on the the Tascam side of things. I'm an old school guy (currently using a Neo 2488), hence the all in one unit desire. Is there a non-techy option for exporting your file or final mixdown where you can use prepackaged mastering tools on your project? What are my options here, and are there any youtube videos that will walk you though the process? Also considering the Tascam dp-24.
As of v3.00 there are no dedicated mastering effects patches to use for the R20. And I think it's one of my main complaints about the unit since the old R-series of multitrackers (R8, R16, and R24) had built-in mastering effects that were serviceable. You can do a couple things, though:
You can make your own mastering effects patches. I've been experimenting with combinations of an EQ, a compressor or limiter, and then a reverb or an exciter typically. Mastering is mostly some combination of those types of effects. I apply my custom patch as the master send effect during mix down. I've gotten ok results with that, but nothing that I would describe as truly awesome. I know I should make a video about it, but I haven't fully mastered a mastering technique on the R20 yet.
You could also mix down your song on the R20 in a final stereo file and then bring that file into a DAW and master it there. There are onboard effects plus VST plug-ins that you could experiment with, and you can find free compressor, limiter, EQ, and loudness imagers.
Or you could mix down your final stereo file on the R20 and then just upload it to a service like LANDR or something. The A.I. will send back a mastered version that usually sounds much tighter and brighter. I think you get a couple uploads for free before you have to pay for an annual subscription.
Finally, I think the Tascam DP24 is a good multitracker, it's just a decade old like the R8, R16, and R24. There are plenty of physical controls to work with that are nice, but performing tasks like copy, paste, trim, etc are harder to do on the DP24 compared to the R20. The DP24 will give you more 1/4" jacks, though. And if you are familiar with Tascam's work flow I'm sure you'll feel at home with the DP24.
There is no perfect singular answer for everyone as every device as it's pros and cons. Just kinda depends on what pros are more important to you and which cons you can live with.
Could you please cover the midi sync functions, if r20 has midi synchronizer
I would love to....sadly...at least as of v2.40, the R20 does not have MIDI sync or a MIDI clock feature. I really wish it did. I feel like this is something Zoom could address with a firmware update, but I have no idea if it's important to them.
Hi Gaz, your videos are very helpful. I'm on day #2 of trying to figure this thing out and I've run into a glitch. After clicking on Ch. 1 "REC" I then press the "REC" transport button and a grey box shows up on the screen that says "FILE INDEX FULL" and I am unable to proceed with recording. ???? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
I'm not entirely sure but my guesses are:
1) Something is up with your SD card. It might recognized as full. In the Project Menu, goto Settings and "SD Card." You should be able to select Size (or space, I can't remember) and it'll let you know how much free space it recognizes.
2) If the SD card is acting funky, it's good to format it. You can watch my video on importing Audio files...I demonstrate how to format an SD card
ua-cam.com/video/JMmjrkenS8s/v-deo.html
3) You might have exceeded the limit of 50 audio regions per project? You can only have 50 regions total across all the tracks per project. I think that's the max that the device's RAM can handle.
Those are my guesses....if none of them solve the problem let me know and I'll try to come up with something else...
Hi
Can I use a Midi Keyboard with R24
What cable do I need
Or best to get the new R20
There are no MIDI controls for the R24, so you can't use a MIDI keyboard with it. You'd have to use a hardware synth, and run it's audio out cables into one of the inputs of the R24 to record the sound coming from the hardware synth.
The R20 (and soon the R12) each have one dedicated synth track built into the multitracker. You can use a MIDI controller to play the built-in synth sounds of the R20 or R12. However, those built-in synth sounds are not that exciting.
So it really depends on your specific needs and what you want to record. If you have a MIDI controller and want to use it to control hundreds of different software-based synth engine sounds, you're going to need to go with a computer DAW. If you want to use a MIDI controller to sparingly record software-based sounds, but you are primarily recording audio sounds (guitars, drums, bass, vocals, hardware synths) then R20 or R12 are good bets for you. If you only need 8 tracks and 2 inputs, the R12 looks good. If you need 16 tracks and 8 simultaneous inputs (like to record acoustic drums) then the R20 is a better choice for you.
How are you getting the sound? I don’t see any monitors plugged in? Also. How would I plug this into my audio interface if I already am using the usb from A.I. into my MacBook Pro? Thank you
In these videos I'm running either a stereo cable from the headphone jack into a R8 recorder, or using the monitor out into an R8 recorder. On the R8 I just set the gains to not clip and I don't add any effects and I keep the EQ flat. This way listeners can hear the exact audio that the R20 is producing and outputting.
And it depends on how you want to route sound from the R20. You can do what I did and use the headphone jack or monitor outs, and run those cables to the inputs of your audio interface. Or remove your audio interface, and just run a USB cable from the R20 to a USB port on your MacBook Pro and use the R20 as an audio interface.
Hi Gaz,
I wonder if you could investigate an issue I'm having whilst recording. When I arm a particular track for recording , I am getting a phaser/flanger sound. This happens with both q jack and XLR Aoutput from my amps emulates output. I haven't tried a condenser mic yet. Really annoying thoufh. Tganks dor doing these videos though, they help me so much! 👍😎
So....you are getting that phaser sound and you do NOT have an R20 phaser/flanger effect applied to those tracks? And you are listening to all of this through the headphone out of the R20?
If you don't have an R20 effect patch applied, and you are getting some kind of sweeping phaser sound, my guess is that your amp's output is providing too much gain, or it's giving you a dry+wet mix of it's own effects/emulation, or something is going on in your cables. Your cables could have grounding issues with the amp. The amp might not be grounded well. Or you are using a TRS cable instead of a TS cable? Or the XLR cable is a balanced cable, but the signal coming out of the amp's XLR out is an unbalanced signal?
@@GazRendar some great advise there Gaz, I'll investigate cables first - I need new ones anyway! I'll update once I've tried them out 😎👍
Hi Gaz, I might have solved my latest crisis with yet another SD card (Kingston SDCS2/32G - on the recommended list)) and it the recorder seems to be working (for now). It was suggested I let it run in record for a few hours to make sure.
I have a new question for you if I may - I saved my original files onto my iMac and after purchasing a USB 3.1 cable I attempted to import the files back onto my R20 but I was not successful. Would you be so kind as to walk me through that procedure please. Thanks again, Dan.
Even though the R20 has a USB type C port, it's actually only USB 2.0 bus speeds. To import audio files back into projects, it works best to load up the mono or stereo .WAV files onto SD cards or USB type C flash drives. Here's a video I made on the process. Lemme know if this helps...
ua-cam.com/video/JMmjrkenS8s/v-deo.html
How many outputs does the R20 - its says it has 4 - but I only see 2?
There is line level monitor out as mono R and mono L as 1/4" jacks. There is a headphone out as a stereo 1/4" jack. I guess that could be interpreted as 4 mono outs if you use a stereo break out cable in the headphone jack. Additionally, you can send audio over the USB-C port if you connect the R20 to a DAW and use it as an audio interface. In that case, and depending on the settings and capabilities in your computer and DAW, you can use it as a 2 in/2 out or 8 in/4 out interface.
Ran into an issue with thr R20.........tried recording some pre-recorded music on one single track to see how long it would record.....turns out it stipped recording after 45-minutes (357 MB). Have you ever run into this situation. I was recording onto a 64GB SD card so I'm sure that wasn't the issue.
Hmmmm....I definitely haven't tried recording anything nearly that long. I've only recorded 3-4 minute songs and maybe 15 minutes of audio for a youtube video. I do know there are some limitations when it comes to size on the device. I think you can only have 50 audio regions per project. So it's entirely possible you can only have like, 999 measures or 45-minutes and the computer chip and RAM inside just can't handle anymore?
@@GazRendar Found out by reading the manual that a project is limited to 1350 bars. That's what mine turned out to be and lasted 45-minutes. I did it twice and both times it was the same. Wonder why the limited it.
I figured there had to be a bar limit, just like there is a region limit. I suspect that's just the max load that the CPU and RAM in the unit can handle. For songs, 45 minutes is more than enough. To record like, a live concert or something, I guess you're going to have to break it up into multiple projects somehow. Thanks for finding the exact maximum number on that, that's good to know.
@@GazRendar Received info from Zoom....They said that when you open a new project to you change the tempo to a slower tempo. This would increase the recording time. Son-of-a-gun......it worked! I chaged the tempo to the slowest (40 BPM) and was able to record an hour of live band music (total of 488 MB) with no problems! YES! Perfect for what I am doing!
@@witchesbru67 Ah...so the limitation is truly with the number of bars, not with the time. Good to know. Thanks for the info and happy recording!
Can you bounce tracks in place to for example consolidate a 4 track drum group into one track? Or could you (in a less direct way) do a regular bounce then import that file back into the project?
The R20 does not have a dedicated Bounce feature that you'll find in a lot of older 4 and 8 track recorders. With 16 tracks you don't always need it. However, you can effectively bounce tracks if you want to....like if you mic'd up acoustic drums with 4-6 different mics to 4-6 different tracks. You can choose to Mix Down those 4-6 tracks into a single stereo audio file, then import them back into the project onto a stereo linked track. Like import them and put them onto Tracks 15&16 and then work on the rest of your song. You could easily do that even though the R20 doesn't have feature called Bounce. But the Mix Down feature essentially lets you do just that.
What would it mean this complete with auto correction/ Auto-Tune and a full-on punch in and punch out feature last but not least dedicated noise reduction to get the fuzz out or back ground noise
1 can you punch in even if I have to press record at the punching point
2 does it loop
Looping anything is pretty easy. You just select the audio file and drag it to the right for as long as you want and it'll just keep copying and pasting.
Punch-ins I haven't figured out a good way to handle yet. The Zoom R8 had a port for the footswitch that made it easy to punch in and out for recording, or turn on effects. Here you can have the metronome count off a lead-in and then record, but I'm looking for better ways.
Hello Gaz. Today I've bought the R20 and was extremely surprised. The fact is that it is impossible to assign a specific input to a specific track. For example, I can't assign the input "1" to the track, let's say "5". Is it really true that the inputs to the R20 are tied only to certain tracks? If that's the case, then I'm extremely disappointed. Thank you.
You are correct, there is no track routing. You can only send Input 1 to either Track #1 or Track #9. Input 2 to either Track #2 or Track #10 and so on. That's how it was on the old R16.
However, it's really not that big of a deal once you start using the touchscreen. After you record anything you can just move the track to whatever number you want it to be. The touchscreen makes it easy. Takes 2 seconds. For more details/examples, I cover it in this video:
ua-cam.com/video/EuVe58WC-ZE/v-deo.html
@@GazRendar Thank you Gas, you helped me a lot!
Would you say you’d be able to record a full drum kit no problem with one of these ? For covers, streaming etc?
Oh, for sure. I've recorded a full drum kit with less, like on a Roland VS-880. If you are running an electric drum kit you can just connect a pair of 1/4" cables into inputs 1&2 on the R20 and record a stereo track from a full electric kit. I've done that with multitrackers and it can work well if you spend a little time balancing your sound prior to recording.
If you are mic'ing up an acoustic kit, I recommend running a dynamic kick mic into input 3, maybe a Shure SM57 or other dynamic mic on the toms into input 4, then you want a dynamic or condenser mic on the snare, with another 2-3 condenser mics on the high hat and cymbals. So you can run 6 separate mics directly into the XLR inputs of the R20 and get a well balanced acoustic drum recording. That would leave you with 10 tracks for guitars, bass, vocals, keys, etc. That's usually enough. But if not, you could mix down the 6 channel acoustic drum recording into a single stereo track if you needed to free up 4 more tracks for other stuff.
Is it worth getting this if I already have every Tascam multitrack known to man?
Ha, that depends. If you already have a bunch of Tascam multitrackers, you're in a good place. The only reason to get the R20 is because you want to do some light editing with the touchscreen. If you don't see yourself trimming a short audio recording into a region that you could then copy and paste into a repetitive loop, eh, this isn't going to be a great purchase for you. If you prefer the physical feel of a mixing board while recording, I think you might like the Tascam Model 12 better than this. But I will say the touchscreen editing has mostly been what I was hoping for when I bought this thing blindly last winter.
У меня есть вопрос.
Допустим, я записал с клавишного инструмента две дорожки, и хочу далее дополнить мультитрек следующими дорожками с этого же клавишного инструмента. Мне для назначения одного и того же инструмента придётся подключать выходы к следующим входам соответственно? Или можно входы назначать на нужную дорожку?
Вы не можете маршрутизировать треки. Но вы можете легко перемещать треки после записи.
Vy ne mozhete marshrutizirovat' treki. No vy mozhete legko peremeshchat' treki posle zapisi. Смотри.
ua-cam.com/video/EuVe58WC-ZE/v-deo.html
Can you turn off snap to grid? thx , how's that responsiveness working with touch pad
now that you've had it for a bit ? thanks for making this review , very good -
billy
btw , you can record using the two1/4 inch jacks then move those tracks to any other track then use 1& 2- 1/4 inch jack inputs again /rinse & repeat -lol
Yes, in the project settings there is an option called SNAP. Just turn that to off and you'll stop the snap to grid.
A a little while ago I made a video demonstrating how to keep using the 1/4" jacks by recording and then moving the tracks to a different Track number. You can find that one on my channel if you're interested.
Overall, I'm impressed with what the R20 brings to the table. It definitely has limitations and there is no way I would recommend it to everyone. However, for certain users, they can get a lot of functionality out of it.
Hi
Love Zoom wonder how much you can do with this and Guitar. Any patches built in to the Zoom R20
I think the R20 is well suited to guitar players. Input 1 is Hi-Z, so you can plug a guitar in direct. I like it for electric guitars. I have a Washburn bass with active pick ups, and that works better with no Hi-Z. I also have plugged in an Ovation acoustic with built-in pick-ups and that kinda works with either the Hi-Z turned on or off, depending on how you set the gain.
You can record a guitar track dry, and then play it through a send effect later. Or you can plug in an electric guitar with Hi-Z on and apply an insert effect to record with the effect onto the track. There are overdrives and distortions to choose from for this. There are also plenty of amp and cabinet modeling effects to apply. What's on-board isn't bad and you do have a decent amount of editing control over the effects. The R20 is also compatible with Guitar Lab software, which allows you to tweak effects on the computer and bring them over to the R20. There are several empty effect slots to save custom effect patches. For $399 as an all-in-one package, I think it's a good value for guitar players.
To see some of the effects, check out my recent video on importing audio files. I apply effects to some of those tracks.
How do you connect a mixer into R20? I cant even get any sound with this thing. How do you add a drum track?
Depends on what kind of outputs your mixer has. If it has line level XLR outputs, you should be able to run those from the mixer out to one of the R20's inputs (#3-8) and adjust the gain on the R20's inputs. Or you could run a TRS 1/4" stereo to 1/4" TS breakout cable between the headphone jack of your mixing board to inputs #1 and 2 of the R20. And just adjust the headphone volume and the input gain on the R20.
For a drum track you can record a drum machine or record live drums. Or you can use the internal drum loops, which I demonstrate here:
ua-cam.com/video/Z2QVM103uFQ/v-deo.html
Thank you very much for your demonstration video's about the Zoom R20. I've been thinking to buy one. Is it possible to record all your tracks on track one and two and copied them to others tracks so you don't have to change your inputs like a keyboard, guitar and microphone?
I'm sorry, I'm not totally sure I completely understand your question, but:
When you hit the record button, you will only record one input to one track. So if you are recording 6 different mics/instruments at one time, you will record to 6 different tracks. However, after recording, you can always mix down those 6 different tracks into a 2-track stereo mix. If you do that, the mixed levels will be set--so if you had track #1 fader at -12 db and track #4 fader at -8 db --that will be the levels set in that stereo mixed track. You won't be able to go back and play around levels after that mix down.
I think that's useful if you wind up using 6-8 mics to record an acoustic drum kit. In the past I've recorded the drummer playing an entire song, and then I mix down those 8 drum tracks into a single stereo mix and then begin to record guitars, bass and vocals on their separate tracks.
But on the R20, if you record an instrument on say....Track #5...you can always use the touchscreen to copy and paste or move that entire track (or cut up pieces of the track) to any other track. It's easy. You kinda saw me do it a little bit in this video.
I hope that answers your question...?
@@GazRendar Thanks a lot for your answer. Because I'm Dutch maybe my english is sometimes not correct, I'm sorry for that. But I understand that when you record a track you always copied and past that to another one. My question was if you record on track 1 or 2 that after the recording you can copied the recording to 3 or 4, so you can clear track 1 and two for a new recording because of all the other 6 inputs are xlr inputs and I don't have xlr connecting instruments. I hope you ll understand the reason of my question now.
No worries! And yes, what you are asking is possible. Make a recording to track 1 and track 2. Then you simply touch to select the track 1 recording and then drag it with your finger to track 3. Then touch the track 2 recording and drag it to track 4. That's something that is very easy to do with the touchscreen. Only takes 5 seconds.
@@GazRendar Thank you. In Europa the Zoom R20 is sold out. I have to wait 4 to 8 weeks...I hope the built in synthesizer sounds good. Can you demonstrate some sounds in your next video? I' m looking forward to it :-)
Hi Gaz. I've a question. It is possible to undo a recording and recover the previous record on the R20? I can't find it. Many thanks
It depends. When you are in the Track View Screen, there is a redo.
@@GazRendar many thanks my friend. I'll try.
@@GazRendar It works perfectly, the last recording is deleted. Thans a lot. "It is well-born to be grateful." This is a Spanish proverb, which doesn't sound the same in English because of the rhyme, but it helps me to give you my first mix with the R20. Without your invaluable help I would not have succeeded. I only send you the audio, I haven't edited the video yet. By the way please write me the details to correct. I hope you like it. Here you have it ua-cam.com/video/nHRidGrIjRg/v-deo.html.
Friendly greetings
Hello again Gaz, after having a few hours of trouble free tracking, that dreaded grey box appeared again saying something similar to last time - "File Index Full ! Delete unnecessary files."
So, I deleted a couple of tracks from my song but that did not make any difference. I then checked my new 32 GB SD card and it said 24.0 GB / 25.4 GB. Does that mean that I have 24.0 GB available space on the card or does it mean I have used up 24.0 GB already !
I am not enjoying my Zoom very much as it seems all uphill !
Also, I can't get a handle on editing, copying and pasting - might you have an tutorial (other than this one) for beginners like me ? Thanks for listening, Dan.
Sorry you're having a rough go of it. I'm not entirely sure what's going on with your SD card, but there are a couple things you can try:
1) The 24.0 / 24.4 means that you have 24.0 GB of free space. That will take a long time to fill that up.
2) If you recently got the R20, be sure to update it to the current firmware, v2.40. Here's a video to walk you through that process
ua-cam.com/video/TBNtkzht09o/v-deo.html
3) You have 24.0 free GB on that SD card, but there could be one small faulty sector within the card that is causing write problems. In the program settings menu you can select SD card and then pick TEST. You can run a Quick Test or a Full Test. The full test will take a little while, but it will scan the card and if any individual sectors fail, the test will find them. You can also have the R20 format the card (back-up any recorded tracks first, as formatting will delete everything) so it's formatted for optimal R20 recording.
4) You might want to try out a different SD card, just to make sure the R20 works and you don't have a R20 unit with a faulty SD card port.
5) If you are looking for some tips about the R20, I made a tutorial playlist that you can browse through. You can find it on my channel, right now there are 21 videos as part of that playlist. Also, I made a video demonstrating some of the basic touchscreen editing options that are available:
ua-cam.com/video/vHLHkb5ZFD8/v-deo.html
I'm on the fence with the R20. I have the R16 (since 2010), and has been my workhorse. Doing some research, there are a bunch of missing features not found on the R20. Doesn't seem like a fair upgrade to me.
It really depends on how much you value the touchscreen. I think the R20 is being sold as the upgrade replacement for the R16 more than their other devices because the R8 is ultra portable with sample pads, and the R24 has more tracks with those sample pads too. What you get with the R20 vs R16 is a touchscreen for better editing and four channels of phantom power compared to the R16s' two. But the R16 has 8 combo jacks. I suppose the R20 can also use SD cards up to 1TB, whereas the R16 caps out on 32GB cards, I think. Bottom line for you...if you don't need the touchscreen for editing, the R16 might be better for you because of those combo jacks.
@@GazRendar I agree with what your saying... also noticed that Sweetwater no longer carries the R16. I have a feeling it will be discontinued soon. It's ashame since the R16 is a really good unit. Mine has been regularly used since it came out.
I really don't care much for the touchscreen and editing features on the R20 as I use my device for recording and dumping files to my DAW. I'll keep reading up on the R20, might change my mind in the future.
2 things that really bother me:
1. The usb c port
2. The swap button for tracks
Based on what you're saying, and my experience with the unit for almost a week now, I wouldn't trade in your R16 for the R20. That R8, R16, and R24 series is still really good a decade later! Personally, I like the USB-C port. I feel like USB-C is more future proof for the next 10 years, and this thing does work with MIDI controllers through that USB-C port. I'm trying to get a video on that posted soon.
@@GazRendar Gentlemen, greetings, I follow all the ( still rare ) info on R 20 and I am sure that its potential is yet to open as soon as the app is out. Doing all the pinching in and out, trimming and so fort on a tiny - yet lovely - screen is imprecise and a bit laggy ( as far as I noticed ). But iPad editing will surely be something!
I have the R16, and I upgraded to the R20 because it's much easier to import wav files and assign them to tracks. I'm mostly using this device as a backing track unit for electronic instruments I can't play live, samples, etc. Th R16 is nice, but the touch screen on the R20 just makes everything easier to navigate and organize.
Hi! How about to use different effects at the same time on different channels while playing/recording? ch1 echo ch2 flanger etc ... Is that true thats not possible to achieve? Lack of that holds me off from buying this unit at this moment.
Do they plan an update to fix that issue?
(If its possible to fix that with just an update ...)
thanks
I haven't totally figured out the limitations on the effects just yet. What I know is that if you want to insert an effect, like Overdrive, into channel one where you have a guitar plugged in, that's all you can do. You can only apply one effect patch to one channel if you want to record that effect into the track. So, channel 1 has a guitar with overdrive and it will record that into track one, but if you are playing a bass with active pick-ups at the same time in channel 2, you can't add chorus to the bass during the record.
You can do a little more with send effects after you record, but I haven't fully tested how many simultaneous effects I can apply at once. I do know you can set up all the tracks to goto the same send effect during mix-down to finalize a song. I've tried that and it works for mastering.
I'm not sure if that kind of effects expansion is possible because it's going to be directly tied into how things are hardwired, and how much processing power is in the unit. At $399, I doubt it has the hardware inside to offer multiple insert effects channels. I'm testing it a little more and will try to put together a dedicated video on effects.
@@GazRendar I understand, and I appreciate your try to answer from what you know already about this device. I've just subscribed - can't wait for your video about how to use effects, maybe your next video will put some light on that 🤞👍
Thanks for the sub! I'm planning on posting some more content on the R20 in February.
I am researching the ZOOM R-20 because I am a visually impaired musician who is looking for a voice controlled mult track recorder to record my music on. I was told this R-20 is capable of voice control recording. Maybe with an additional app? I'm wondering if this is true and if anybody has had experience with this.
The ZOOM R20 with the BTA-1 adapter and iPad app offers some voice control over recording, fader control, and mixing. I'm not as familiar with the accessibility functions Apple has created for the iPad, as the R20 Control app relies on those iOS settings, but I'm trying to test out these features. As soon as I understand the features well enough I'll post a video about it. I've had quite a few visually impaired musicians ask me questions about it, so I want to try to help out if I can.
Hi I have a question about the Adapter : is it accept V220 ? thank you
can it connect with daw?
For the most part, yes. But it will depend on your computer and DAW software. You can use the R20 as an interface for your DAW or a control surface if the DAW supports Mackie control. You'll have to download drivers from the Zoom website first and then play around with the settings in your DAW. I've had it working on Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices. I haven't tested it on Mac.
i use fruity loops. cubase, studio one, can it be connected to the daw?
How do you record different tracks from the same input? Thanks.
Technically, you cannot. At least for firmware v1.00.
Input 1 goes to either Track 1 or Track 9. Input 2 goes to Track 2 or Track 10.
However, with the touchscreen it's really not a big deal. Say you want to lay down 3 guitar tracks by going in direct to the Hi-Z input #1. Well, just lay down your rhythm track onto Track 1, then after you record that simply use the touchscreen to drag it to ....Track 5 (or whatever). Then record lead guitar from input #1 to the now open Track 1 and then use the touchscreen to move to...Track 6. Lay down your final guitar fills track from input #1 to the newly open Track 1 and then again, touchscreen move it to Track 7.
@@GazRendar Thanks!
Nice Review. How is the trim function? Is it like on the R8 or can you fine tune it better?
I only tested trimming briefly so far. It works, and I think it's going to ultimately be better than the R8 simply because you don't have to rely on markers as much and you can pinch to zoom-in, so you can visually see where you want to split your tracks easier. However, after using the R20 for a week, I'm not going to trade in my R8. The R8 still does some things better - it's portability, battery power, and built-in mics still make it a keeper.
Wow dude we be looking at the same stuff.
@@madzpanda always haha
Hi I've ordered one from the USA here to the UK ... now I'm concerned it hasn't got a UK 3 pin plug on it ! Can you help
The unit I bought has a USA specific power plug. So if you bought a USA version, you'll probably need to either buy a separate power adapter, or you'll have to use the supplied AC plug with a USA --> UK conversion adapter.
how to use 16 channels ? while in its hadwere available 8 channels
There is an icon in the menu at the top while in Fader View that toggles between tracks 1-8 and tracks 9-16. That's for the physical faders. You can control all 16 faders on the touchscreen without having to use the toggle button.
The JOG WHEEL Missing is a Big Miss. because the Zoom r8 has and most all dawless recorders have a jog wheel to quick forward or rewind to where you want. Pressing the forward or rewind button to do this all the time would be tiring and just doesn't feel right.
I mean if the tiny has R8 the jog wheel why not this. I really want to hear the beats or drum machine is it the same in R8 or better. Then would be very nice.
I found a way to make my R8 sound FANTASTIC. And the deal was for to return my R8 and get the ZOOM R20 but it seem like maybe one just keeps the R8 there is so many things I need in the R8.
There is volume knob for the master out and knob for the headphone this is a lifesaver. With my many stuffs connected together working as you know with Dawless you usually connect many things to it.
because its only recording mostly. And I am still thinking if I should giveback the R8 or just keep and get this on top. But interesting this VIDEO is helping to see more about This ZOOM R20 Thanks
But please lets hear the beat or drum machine because this is the most important aspect of this machine to keep time and record ideas with a beat to build ideas up and change drums later if you want. So that is really important.
Thanks
Thanks for the feedback. At the moment, I'm almost positive I'm going to keep my R8 and the R20. The R8 is still really good, and it has a role as a very portable multi-track recorder. I can tell you that the touchscreen is better than I thought it would be, but I am suffering from some touchscreen fatigue. I wish they included a jog dial, even if it was redundant with the touchscreen.
I am also testing things out to do a R8 vs. R20 comparison video at some point in the near future.
It does have the ability to place markers so that you can work between two spots. Good for not accidentally jumping all the way back to the start while working 3/4 of the way to end end of your project.
@@GazRendar that's a great idea with the comparison!
Have a Tascam 24 will be selling to get this rig, reminds me of the Roland VS2400
Yeah, the Tascam 24SD has been around for a long time, like the ZOOM R8, R16, and R24 series. I was debating the R20 vs that newer Tascam 12 track. I opted for the ZOOM because I've really liked my experience with the R8 plus the R20 seems a lot smaller than the new Tascam 12 track. But I had a Roland VS880 back in the day and at the time I thought it was awesome. Made a whole album with my band on it back then.
@@GazRendar I still have the VS 1680 Roland is missing out where people really need these things as computers get too time wasting and not ready to go as these things and Akai seem to have taken over.
Although there is not enough tracks to record with the Akai I never even bothered I got the R8 ZOOM instead and its a God-sent. Very interesting
Nice review Gaz! I have an MPC LIVE i program and sequence all my music on it. I usually explode all my tracks to wav files after im done sequencing & programming my track. Would i be able to drag my MPC LIVE wave files into the Zoom R 20 to create a new project and of course to record vocals over the track. Im hoping everything would line up perfectly. Thanks!
You can easily bring .WAV files into the R20. You just double touch the track you want to use, then select Add Audio File, and then select the .WAV file you want. It'll drop it in. If you have everything perfectly sync'd from somewhere else, all the imported tracks will be aligned. If they are not perfectly aligned, you can use the touch screen to drag in the imported tracks to exactly where you want them, to keep everything set up with perfect timing. That is a strength of the R20. Doing that on other stand alone multitrackers is a chore. Or impossible.
Nice Gaz thats all I need the R 20 to do and to do it well. I mainly do everything on the MPC LIVE however being able to drag the wav files into the R 20 to wq mix and do vocals is priceless! Thank you for clarifying that for me. I will be ordering the R 20 next week! You got a new Sub from me!
Thanks for the sub! One other thing to consider though....in order to bring .WAV files into a R20 project they need to match the bit depth and sample rate. So you'll want to import files that are 24-bit and 44.1kHz sample rate.
Yes of course 16 bit or 24 bit I did see that on the Zoom site as well. Thanks again!
Nice little Nintendo peace there you made. If you were ever to use a DAW however know that this recorder can sirve as an interface or as a controll surface to controll the DAW. Don't know if it does boath at once or not. One of the real interesting things about this machine to me is that the app for it apparently was written with help from Apple. I say this because Zoom is claming that this recorder is real accessible to us the blind. They say it's their first truely accessable recorder. So I find that interesting. I'm also no musician and also this thing only records at 44.1 KHZ 24 Bits. Where as the F6 can do 192 KHZ 32 Bits. Also only some of the XLRs spit phantom power.
All true. You can definitely use this as an audio in and out interface for a DAW. I haven't tried it yet, but I will test it out. And it will act as a controller for a DAW as well, so you can use the physical faders instead of doing everything on-screen with a mouse. However, yes, this thing maxes out at 24bit depth and 44.1kHz sample rate. The Zoom F6 is designed to be a professional field recorder, and it's several hundred dollars more expensive to get 32 bit depth at a high sample rate. The R series can't compete with that, but I have been impressed with the way 24 bit 44.1 kHz sounds for everything I've been creating for the past 15+ years. I don't know about the app yet. You definitely have to buy that $40 bluetooth adapter for it. I'm hoping to buy one in the future, but it's not high on my list. Interesting that it could help visually impaired musicians...I didn't think about that. That's exciting. And yes, only half the inputs support phantom power, but I'm ok with that. I just wish the other four inputs were combo 1/4" and XLR jacks.
@@GazRendar Ah yes that's a catch too the adaptor. But it's a catch for all of them. Well if all 8 XLRs did spit phantom then meh I could get this and just use as is. Cause it would be 7.1 surround sound of corse at 44.1 24 bits. Which is fine nothing against that.I've heard songs in 44.1 24 on HD Tracks. As a matter of fact I have Eminem's newest album from there and Avril Lavigne's second to newest album and they are 44.1 KHZ 24 bits and yeah they are more open and stuff then CDDA. So yeah but the 32 bits float thing sounds epic! But then with their H8 which is the new upgrade to the H6 you can do up to 9.1 surround sound because with the H8 you have 6 XLRs and then the EX H8 peace gives you 4 more and plug it into the wall and or the PC and bam 10 XLRs all spit phantom. I wish they'd upgrade their F8N to something like the H8 so that way you get the F pro quality.
How to Connect a Handy to record Playalongs?
This is worth subscribing for. Thank God UA-cam suggested this. I have watched all the videos out there nothing real real like this video here. Please release another video. PLEASE PLEASE. Connect a midi keyboard and play those sounds and especially the rhythm drum I want to hear and see it . you should have just done that here too a little at least. But anyways thanks am waiting for my to arrive at the store and go see. But I can know much if you show us here.
Thanks! I'm trying out the drum and synth tracks now and hope to post some examples soon. I've only had the R20 for less than a week, so I'm still learning.
Don’t understand why only 2 Input jack 😕
Well, it has 8 input jacks and 8 channels simultaneous recording. It's just that only 2 of them are combo 1/4" plus XLR. Inputs 3-8 are XLR only. It's not too big of a deal, I have most of the XLR cords I need, but I would have liked to have seen inputs 1-4 be combo jacks.
I love mine. However I only use mine for when ideas hit and inspiration strikes. It's great for putting together ideas when writing music in my BR. For any large projects, I have my Zoom L12 that I use in my basement studio. I do like that it can be used as an interface. Just wish it was MIDI capable, but that wasn't a deal breaker for me. I did an experiment with a recording trying to move tracks to other channels and ended up deleting them somehow. I still don't know how but that is what experimenting is for. I'll figure it out.
I was really debating the L8 vs the R20. Coming from an R8, I needed the ability to record more than 2 channels simultaneously. I settled on the R20 over the L8 because of the touchscreen and the promise of being able to do some copying and pasting right on the device (better than you can with the R8) and because I think the effects are better and more varied on the R20 vs the L8. The thinking is that I'll have more options when I plug a guitar straight into the R20. But if I was recording with a band again, especially a band with an acoustic drummer, I would have bought the L12 over the R20.
I wish they had the same double inputs or at least 2 more of them. Very bad decision for mainly using XLR.
I agree. If they at least had 4 combo jacks I would feel much better about it. I can still work around it for my needs, but that's going to be a deal breaker for some people.
Is max recording time 2.5hrs?
Max amount of minutes of recording time/tracks is dependent on what size SD card you put in there.
Max amount of continuous recording time is about 2.5 hrs, but you need to adjust the bpm to get there. I explain it in this video:
ua-cam.com/video/Io_w4X8s_oM/v-deo.html
You didn't show how the individual Projects/Songs are labeled on screen.
Sorry. This was my unboxing video for the R20, and honestly it was my first demonstration video with talking of any kind on UA-cam. You are also literally seeing me use the functions of the multitracker for the very first time without reading any instruction manuals as I took it out of the box. I anticipated the video getting like...100 views...back when I had 200 subscribers.
Since then I've made over 30 tutorial videos with more details about the R20. You can check out the playlist here:
ua-cam.com/play/PLJfZ2yw2Bc7apzujemOKk8aiTRfJvZfmR.html
Can I use Superior Drummer 3 out of my Mac Pro through USB somehow? I love the studio quality sounds of the software but getting real tried of playing the upgrade game between Apple & Avid every year! Want to get off the Protools train, really hope they come out with a bigger version with 16/32 tracks and a bigger display maybe even some midi ports?!?!?!?!?!
Eh, maybe you can, but it's not going to be what you want. You could probably sequence your drums in Superior Drummer and then use a USB cable as MIDI out and then MIDI in to the R20. But at best that will just trigger the synth track drum kit with the built-in drum sounds of the R20 (which are nothing special). Instead, you'd probably want to sequence your drums in Superior Drummer and use an audio cable - 3.5mm stereo in the headphone jack of the Mac to two mono 1/4" plugs that go into inputs 1&2 of the R20. Hit record on the R20 and then hit play on the Mac and let it lay down an audio track that is your drums. Then you could layer more tracks on top of that on the R20 whether you are a guitar, vocal, or synth type of player.
I think if the R20 sells well Zoom might make a bigger unit. Right now I think they stopped selling the R16 because the R20 replaced it. But they still sell the R24, which is like 15 years old. If they made an R24 replacement with more combo inputs, a big touchscreen and like 5-pin MIDI ports I have to believe it would start at $699, or higher, though.
@@GazRendar Yeah, I’ve got a 3.5mm to stereo RCAs Monster Cable. Sounds promising, OS X 12.3.1 and latest Protools version tilted my computer 2 days ago which left a bad taste in my mouth for this setup. Really would like to get off the $299 yearly Protools train. Been using it since Digidesign came out, but this newer tech coming out it seems like a good time to jump off. I have a UA LA610, 1st Gen Baby Blue Bottle, 20 guitars, 10 amps and my Nord Stage 2 (medical billing for 14 years). Superior Drummer is my go to cause I have a Roland TD-12 but also have a lot of midi expansions as well. Was looking at Tascam, but I’m drawn to the touchscreen display and 1TB of memory. I’ll keeping on the lookout, hopefully they make the updated unit you’re mentioning. I’d get off the train for $699 easily. Thanks for your reply🎸👍🏽.
The newer Tascam Model 12 has a lot of attractive features, but ultimately you're probably still going to want to use the Tascam with some kind of DAW for editing. The touchscreen of the R20 is unique in that regard.
Your needs are a little specialized, though, because you're going with a computer and DAW to create your drums, but then wouldn't mind a stand-alone multitracker to record synths and guitars. The R20 would sort of help. You might actually want to look at an AKAI MPC One. It doesn't a great job as a stand-alone recorder, namely for MIDI. But it does audio tracks as well. The biggest downside is the limited inputs. It has 5-pin MIDI, but only two 1/4" jacks in and two out. Still...for your specialized needs, might be worth a look.
@@GazRendar Tryin to resuscitate my MacPro, but it’s not getting off the black screen on startup no matter how many times I’m trying the SMC reset. My USB isn’t powering my keyboard to give the key commands. Might have to start digging a grave for it. Everything was fine on 12.3 but soon as I went to 12.3.1 this started happening. Just saw Pete Thorn’s Tascam Model 12 video and wow, it’s perfect. Model 24 would be ideal for multi-instrument tracking, I think I’m going to look towards the 24.
First we lost MIDI now we lose 1/4" inputs. Who are they listening to?
I'm managing working with only 2 combo jacks, but I would have greatly preferred to have inputs 1-4 be combo inputs. However, MIDI is there...check out my video on using the synth track and my other video using the R20 as an instrument...you'll see a fully editable MIDI grid there.
@@GazRendar hmm didn't know, thanks. So it has MIDI clock obviously...that's good. I've got the R24 and a reel to reel with 8 1/4" in and 8 out going into my R24 with 8 1/4" inputs. So 2 is a big downgrade for me as I never use XLR inputs.
Yeah, that's a bummer for you about the inputs. But the R24 is still awesome, even though it's been Zoom's flagship multitracker for over a decade. The only thing you're really missing is the touchscreen for light editing, otherwise the R24 still holds it's own.
Subbed.
Also good video
Ha, thank you
I returned it. There is no drum track - just loops. No drum kits. 18 FM synth sounds - that cannot be edited, added to or deleted. 1 MIDI track only. For now, too many limitations. I will wait to pick one up again when the app is available (not ready yet), no search so looking through tons of loops is a pain (the touch screen is not very responsive, so it takes serious effort to scroll in any direction and no dedicated buttons or scroll wheels to help) - no folders so organization is impossible. Right now, a R24 is way better, at least until the app is available - then this becomes Acid Pro in a box. For now, it's too early to be of any use.
If you already have an R24, I would tell you to keep it vs the R20. At least right now. I'm still going to keep my R8. I'm hoping ZOOM provides more functionality for the R20 over time and the effects with Guitar Lab have lots of future-proof promise. I do have touchscreen fatigue at times and wish they also included a jog wheel, even if it was mostly redundant with the touchscreen.
The rhythm track is just loops, yes. You can use the synth track to make a beat with the stock drum kit if you have a MIDI controller, but then you just burned your one synth track on drums. I just posted a video about the rhythm track if you want to see that in a little more detail. But yeah, this thing is not for everyone. For me, I needed something that would record more than 2 tracks at a time, and I was hoping to get something that would allow me to do minor editing in the multitrack box without having to drop .WAV files into a DAW and edit them there. If that's what you are looking for, then the R20 works. But for everyone else, especially if you want to build your beats and rhythms directly on the multitracker (instead of through a drum machine or groovebox), you'd be better off between the R8 or R24.
Think The R20 is better value than the r12
Yep, I agree. If it's only $50 or $100 more, then the R20 is the better value. The main selling point for the R12 is that it's truly portable. You can power it with AA's or a USB power bank.
I know you're gonna use that to the max, tear it up brother !!!
I'll do my best...hoping to use it to put together some new fun stuff this year
@@GazRendar Am very surprised your R8 looks new how you do that.
I began with a Teac 144 cassette 4 track in 1981, then an ADAT/Mackie recording mixer setup, on to the Boss BRs. Never even once when using those did I encounter the retarded things that DAWs do. I never had "latency", I never had a big sign come up all snowflaking, "YOU'VE COMMITTED A 'FATAL ERROR', ALL OF YOUR WORK IS LOST NOW. THIS WILL BE REPORTED TO MARK ZUCKERBERG", etc. Not even when I used 1981 technology. Really, at the end of the day, I'm a fan of plugins, but most definitely not a fan of DAWs.
That's why I've always gravitated toward multitrackers. Once you figure out the workflow, they just work. No latency. Immediacy of being able to record. Tactile buttons. DAWs give you limitless possibilities, sure, but most of the time I just want to lay down a track as soon as an idea pops into my head.
It also should include a jog will I'm not complaining I'm just saying
The more I use the R20, the more I think that is probably going to be my top complaint. I love the jog wheel on the R8, and I miss it here on the R20.
This is a joke . it does not do anything they say it do and it dont even come with the USB-C cable . how you gonna sell a new unit and dont include the cable . that proves it dont work
The lack of a USB-C cable doesn't bother me at all, to be honest. I have a bunch of those laying around. If it was powered through USB-C then I would expect a cord, but since power comes through the included adapter. No big deal.
The unit is primarily designed to function on it's own as a stand-alone unit. That's why I bought it. Sure, it can act as an audio I/O and controller for a computer-based DAW, but I definitely wouldn't buy it to do that. I also don't think ZOOM is marketing it to do that.
If anything, an included SD card would have been nice? But even there, the 64GB class 10 card that I bought was only $6.99. So, no big deal. At the moment, I'm fine with what's in the box. You can do all the primary functions with the device, right out of the box.
@@GazRendar long as it works for you but I just returned one last week And picked up the Dp 32Sd and it works for me. i only bought the zoom cause the screen arranger looks like my Akai force. but I couldn't get the USB C to work properly with my Mac M1 and it did not do a lot of things they said it can do. and I was looking forward to the daw control. I figure if I'm not using it for daw control. I should get the 32 track instead of just 16. and I still can route back to the daw through my interface
If you want it to interface with your Mac M1 right now, then I totally agree with you that you should return the R20. By comparison, the ZOOM R8 was also sold as being able to control a DAW, but it didn't work well until a firmware update. I suspect the R20 will become better at acting as an I/O and controller for a DAW after some firmware updates as well, but I at this time I wouldn't recommend anyone buy the R20 if that's their primary purpose. I had the Tascam 24SD for awhile and I liked it. That unit, and the 32 track version you just bought have been out for several years now, so you should have a stable experience with it controlling your DAW software. I was looking at the new Tascam 12 track recorder as a possible purchase vs. the R20, but I liked the R20's smaller footprint.
Good luck with your Tascam!
What doesn t it do that they say it does? Maybe you dont know how to do it is more likely
Should have better recording by now than 48KHZ...
It actually records at 44.1kHz, 24-bit. I think the sound quality is good. You have to put it in context for what you are getting at this price ($399). Zoom offers 32-bit 96kHz recording on their pro-level F series of field recorders, but those things start around $700. If you want a somewhat budget friend multitrack recorder that gives you built in effects, some rhythm and synth capabilities, and a touchscreen for light track editing, you won't notice the 24-bit 44.1kHz recording unless you recorded the exact same thing on a 32-bit, 96kHz device and were able to go back and forth to compare. And even then, it's mostly only going to be noticeable if you have some mic'd up string instruments like a violin and cello. For guitars and synths...really, it's fine for the money.
@@GazRendar I already notice the difference and owned the 16 channel older one and the effects were terrible. Some people have good ears... Have a higher end tascam and easily hear the difference over 44.1.or 48khz with my synthesizers and guitars recording. F6 is only 24bit max but up to 192khz..
Yeah, if the quality is going to bother you then I definitely cannot recommend the R20 to you. My personal opinion is that at this price point...eh...you get decent amount for your money IF you want the touchscreen for light track editing. That's the bottom line. I could see ZOOM making a "super" version of the R20, but I have no doubt they would charge at least $200 extra, if not more, if it offered 24-bit/192kHz or 32-bit/96kHz recording options.
@@GazRendar have never seen 32bit anywhere... maybe give a link to that?
No, you're right. I thought the Zoom F series and H8 had 32-bit depth along with the newer Tascam Model 12...but I was wrong. Both Zoom and Tascam recorders max out at 24-bit depth, but some models do give you much faster sample rates than the R20's 44.1kHz.
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