Zoom R20 Touchscreen Editing: Trim, Split, Copy, Time Stretch, Custom Effects...featuring an OP-Z
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- In this tutorial video I demonstrate how to use the Zoom R20 multitracker touchscreen to edit your audio tracks. The R20's touchscreen is what separates it from the multitracker competition and these editing features will allow some users to bypass needing a DAW. I also provide some thoughts and opinions on the utility of the touchscreen at the end.
All original music created on an OP-Z by Gaz Rendar.
Part 1: Stereo recording tips
Part 2: Trim audio files
Part 3: Split, copy and paste, apply custom effects and double-up your tracks
Part 4: Time stretch
Part 5: Thoughts and opinions on the usefulness of the touchscreen
![[Eng Sub] Zoom R20 multi-track recorder](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rGzhgW8HA1o/mqdefault.jpg)
I’d really like to see a fade in/out feature on the edit view.
But I love the r20 all the same.
It would be nice, but I don't know if I see them creating that in a firmware update anytime soon. You can sort of artificially add a fade in/fade out to an audio track by mixing down that single audio track and manually adjusting the fader to recreate the fade in/out, so those fades would be incorporated into that new mixed down audio file. But to easily add it in the edit screen....sadly, no.
My new r20 is no longer recording the instrument when I play. It shows a colored bar but no wave file or sound coming through headphones or speakers. What happened
Hmmmm....I'm not sure. I haven't had that happen to me before. I can suggest a couple things:
1) Could be your SD card is full, or is formatted incorrectly. You could try to format the SD card using the R20's settings, or try a new SD card and see if you have the same problem. Here is a video about that ua-cam.com/video/JLi4zeggbq4/v-deo.html
2) There were some recording bugs on v1.00 of the firmware. The R20 ships on v1.00, but you should upgrade the firmware to it's current version (right now, v3.00). Here's a video demonstrating how to update the firmware ua-cam.com/video/TBNtkzht09o/v-deo.html
3) If you are still having problems, I would try a factory reset. In the project settings menu you can scroll down the very bottom and there is a FACTORY RESET option. Click that and then click Execute. After that, I would update the firmware to the current version and then try to record and see if you still have the same problems.
I hope that helps...
I'm having luck with toggling "snap to grid" on and off when editing. The default setting is grid on. I *think* most of the user criticism about editing are from the grid being on. Although it's still a bit difficult to "nudge," I have been able to nudge by turning grid off, and rolling my fingertip ever so slightly over a highlighted region.
Currently experimenting with the decimal points of tempo in order to align regions to the grid.
One thing I noticed about alignment is that the grid sets the waveforms slightly behind the beat marks in order to keep the count bar from laying over the audio.
Been geekin' on this. Expect some prattling replies.😃
Yes, you're spot on correct. The default is snap to grid is on, but sometimes you can get better results if you turn it off. I haven't really made a video showcasing that. It feels like even with the snap to grid off, though, the smallest you can effectively nudge is still about a 32nd note. Instead of the fingertip roll I have more consistent success using one of those disc capacitive stylus thingies, but that probably depends on touch and even the size of your fingertip.
Your video's are so nice....I have try to time stretch but the audio sounds so bad ....in your video I don't here any quality los or that your sounds is sounds bad at all ...Am I doing something wrong maby ???? Greatings ...Jay from Holland
Is there a way to create effects edits such as panning to individual tracks? For example I want to be able to pan a track from left to right after its been recorded, or increase or decrease reverb/delay. Thank you!
Sort of...but sadly, not in an automated way.
What you'll need to do is solo the track in question and then Mix Down (on the fader view screen). Essentially, you start at the beginning of the song and hit record, and then make adjustments in real time regarding panning and effect levels. That will mix the track down into a stereo track that ends up in your AUDIO folder. Or in one case I kept splitting a single, long track into smaller regions and then moved those regions to separate tracks, I set the pans for the separate tracks, and then did a Mix Down of 16 tracks (with staggered regions) into a single stereo track. Then I imported that single stereo track with the built in panning effects into a new track of a fresh project and layered some extra melodies on top of that. That's how I created the panning effects for the scales that play in the background of this Final Fantasy theme song cover:
ua-cam.com/video/4aY3Cpcza5s/v-deo.html
@GazRendar Thank you for the reply. Its too bad there isnt a simple bounce feature on here that would make it much easier
Does the editor have fade in fade out function, or when you split a clip can you fade those clips?
Like in an automated way? No. At least, no, you cannot do that with v3.3 of the system. Maybe in a future update, but I'm doubtful that's something that's on Zoom's radar. Most multitracker units don't have a constant power or exponential crossfade as a software option, everything is controlled by the physical faders.
If you opt to Mix Down, however you move the faders in real time during the playback for the individual tracks will be captured during that mix down recording, though.
Hello, can I use effects in real time while playing the guitar for example?
Yes, you can plug in a guitar and flip through the settings while strumming to find a patch that you like. And when you do find a patch you like, you can keep strumming while tweaking the settings.
However, if you were recording a 4 minute song and were planning on playing a continuous rhythm guitar part for the whole 4 minutes and switch from a delay patch during the verses, and then an overdrive distortion during the chorus sections -- that will be difficult to pull off because of the menu diving you'd need to do. If someone was sitting at the R20 and going through the menus while you were playing guitar, they could potentially switch effects for you, but there is no easy way to do that with like a footswitch control or anything. Sadly.
is there anyone who can tell me if you can copy and paste multiple regions ?
No, I don't think so. Not on v2.40 at least...
Hi anyone know how to undo R20s Code Index Full. Completely froze a track.
Hello, do you have a video tutorial on using the compressor or limiter and what parameters to use, thank you very much.
Sorry, no. I haven't made a specific video on those channel effects. It's been on the to-do list for awhile. Work has been crazy lately but I'm planning on having the time to make several videos this fall and hope to address some of the top questions people have had - this one included.
@@GazRendar Thanks 👌
Someone help me! All I want to do is sing my songs, add harmony and several instruments. One video to show me that. I used to dub over my songs with an old dual cassette player.....very easy. They are a thing of the past.....I'm really struggling!
Hi Jane. I also do live music recording rather than using virtual instruments, MIDI, or samples.
You may not find that one video that covers everything you want to do, because making music from scratch is not the most common approach.
Think of your R20 as 8 tape recorders that share one set of play/stop/ rewind/ fast forward controls. Each track on the R20 is one of the recorders, and each has its own record button, but also a main record button near the play/stop button. The inputs are each linked to one of the tracks, and the record button on each track controls whether or not that track will record when you push the main record button.
Connect a mic to input 3 or 4 if it is a dynamic mic (needs no phantom power) or to input 5,6,7, or 8 if it's a condensor mic that needs phantom power. Enable recording for that track/channel by pushing the channel record button. Adjust the main and track faders until you can hear yourself through the mic and from your headphones or monitor speakers. Once you can hear the sound you're putting into the mic, you're ready to record a track. It can be your main vocal or an acoustic instrument or anything whose sound can be picked up through your mic. Click the main record button, and record a part 1. Click "stop" when you're finished with part 1.
Now rewind (click "stop" a 2nd time while the player is stopped, and it will return to zero) and set a different track/ channel to record. Check by listening to the input, and adjust faders as needed.
The next time you click the main record button, you should hear your previous recording along with your new input. If you can hear both, you're ready to record a 2nd part. If you can't hear the previous recording, no worries. Adjust the level until you can hear it, then click "stop" twice to go back to the beginning of the recording. Record part 2, then continue setting up each part into its own track until you have all the parts recorded. Play them back, adjusting the volume of each track with the channel faders/ sliders until it sounds right.
That's multitrack recording 101. All multitrack recoders will work in roughly this same way.
Kudos to you for making live music. Be beautiful and creative. The technology cannot stop you. It's only tools to use. The musical artist is YOU.
@@1oolabob my version was 1.0 and one video i watched said that it doesn't have the capabilities of the 2.0 or higher versions. So i returned it. I will record my own songs and music somehow.
@@1oolabob thank you
Just got one more question can I record into the machine and loop the track I recorded? I have seen videos where I know it loops its own piano sounds but does it do it with sounds I record in to it? I am looking to see if I can use it as a sampler.
Yes, sort of.
Say you record 20 seconds of audio into a stereo-linked track onto Tracks #7 and #8. If you go back to the beginning of what you recorded and hit Play, it will play the 20 seconds and the timeline will just keep going. It won't automatically loop back to beginning. However, this is an easy manual fix. You would just tap the 20 second stereo audio recording, which highlights it. There will be a white tab at the end of the audio region once it's selected. You simply touch and drag that white tab out across the timeline and the R20 will copy and paste the same 20 seconds over and over again for as long as you want. If you drag that audio region out to create 5 more regions, next time you go back and hit Play it will now play the 20 seconds and then repeat that 20 seconds 5 more times for a total of a 6 time loop. So yes, it will work like a looper with recorded audio.
Additionally, you can record short samples onto whatever tracks and use the touchscreen to trim things up. If you record samples to separate tracks it's easy then to take the SD card out, insert it into your computer, and you can grab all those samples as track-specific .WAV files to use them for whatever.
Thanks for helping me out with this. Last question I have is does the r12 do all this as well? I should I stick to the r20?
Another great video in your R20 series! Thanks so much for your efforts.
My DAW setup is located in another area of my home, so it's very nice to be able to plug a flash drive into the USB-C port (using a USB-C to USB adapter cable) and transfer all project files to the drive. I then pull the flash drive to move the audio files to my PC DAW setup for editing. I suspect that many users will be using the R20 in a similar manner. The USB-C is an odd choice for the R20 since most flash drives are standard USB, but I suppose they are looking toward the future standard.
Yep....USB-C is a little odd today for using thumb drives, but I'm actually personally glad that Zoom went with USB-C. Especially if they plan on selling and supporting this device for the next 10 years, like they did with the previous generation of R-multitrackers. In 2030 I hope everything is standardized to USB-C. I think the majority of people are using the SD card slot to save their music, but it is nice that Zoom also gave users the flexibility to save via the USB port. USB-C is nice in that it works with a lot of recent MIDI controllers, and it's convenient when you want to plug the R20 into a computer to use the faders as controllers for a DAW. Sure, it's a little clunky right now for thumb drives, but I think for the long-game, it's better to be USB-C.
Thanks for your kind words and thanks for watching!
If it was only that easy editing on it is a nightmare
It's definitely no where near using a mouse and a large monitor. But I still think it's better for editing than using a tiny monochrome LCD display with contextual menu select buttons and placing markers everywhere from the previous generation of multitrackers. Not ideal by any means, and there is plenty of room for improvement and innovation, but it's at least something between old multitrackers and a DAW.
How can I do fade out and fade in
There is no automated fade in and fade out where you can touch the region and select an option.
You have to use the faders in real time to fade in and fade out, like a mixing board.
Stupid question, but how do you simply save a project? I can't seem to find a save function anywhere?
Ah, no worries, there's no stupid questions. But it's an easy answer, it just automatically saves as you go. You can test it out for yourself....if you are working on Project #1, and back out to the main Projects screen to select Project #3 and you start working on that for awhile, well, then you can just back out again to the Project screen to select Project #1 and everything should be right where you left it. Manual saves are not required. But when you shut it off, you have to give it a couple seconds to save everything automatically as it is telling you "Goodbye." Don't unplug it during the Goodbye.
Apparently there are some bugs with saving. I haven't run into them, but I think some of them were fixed in firmware v2.0. So be sure to update your firmware (you can watch my quick video on the R20 firmware update, if needed).
@@GazRendar Thanks for the quick reply! I was playing around with it for the first time last night...i thought it saved automatically but didn't realize i had to jump back to the project menu in order for it to do that.. take man! 🍻
@@nathanluna7392 Oh, no...sorry for being confusing...jumping back to the main Project Menu was just an example of how you can test and see for yourself that it's autosaving. But you don't even need to do that. It does auto-save. Other than not unplugging it during that 2 second window when you turn the power off, there is nothing you have to do. It's all auto-save. nothing manual at all.
@@GazRendar Also, I'm wondering if there's a way to bounce a couple tracks into one within the zoom?
Not as an official feature. But you can choose to mute certain tracks and leave the tracks you want to bounce together on...then goto fader view and select Mix Down. Hit record and you can use the faders to create a bounced track that will be saved as a Mix Down. Once you have that, you can import it as a stereo .WAV file into any stereo paired track within your project. It's especially useful for when you record live drums using 5-8 tracks, and when you are happy with the recording you mix all the drums down to stereo track. If I ever get the time I hope to make a video to demonstrate this.
Since faders are not automated, does this device save fader positions on screen?
Yes they do!!
Hey Gaz, me again ~ I hope you’re doing well! Had a question regarding compression. I have a somg where I applied the built in compression to the drums (trks. 11 thru 16), but have found that the unit won’t allow me to apply them to the companion tracks (trks. 3 thru 8) without turning off the compression for the drum tracks. Any way around this?
Yes, that's a limitation. You can only use the compressor/noise gate/limiter on 1-8 OR 9-16 at any given time.
There are two things you can do. You have your drums on Tracks 11-16 already. For the other tracks that you want to apply compression to, you can try to move them to Tracks 9, 10, 17, and 18. Just drag the Tracks by the Track numbers on the left side of the screen to move them. This way you can get compression on most of the tracks that need it.
The other thing you can do is use a compressor in a send effect patch. When you select that send effect, you can choose which Tracks will use it. That might be able to help cover all the tracks that you need compression on. Unfortunately, if you wanted to apply a distortion or a reverb with your send effect instead, this will be a problem since you can only have one send effect patch active at a time.
So yeah, no perfect solution for what you were hoping for. But hopefully you can get something close with those work-arounds....
Hi Gaz. I recently bought me a zoom r20 and I really like it, however the only thing I don't like about it is that you can't bounce tracks with it. I saw in a video where you can get around that but it's a lot of work and inconvenient. I suppose if you have 16 tracks that should be enough but it's just the idea that any multitrack deck should have that function. Just wanted to throw in my two cents worth.
I think that's a fair comment. Every multitracker I've owned and known of has a dedicated bounce track feature. The Mix Down feature (while muting all non-bouncing tracks) for the R20 will essentially accomplish the same thing, but it will create an audio file that you then have to import onto an open track. I'm guessing Zoom felt that 16 mono tracks were going to be enough for most people so they didn't bother with a bounce feature. I'm also guessing that it's probably low on Zoom's to-do list for new firmware updates too. But we'll see if Zoom hears enough people asking about it, maybe they will incorporate it into an update?
Effects problems
I am having a terrible time making any sense out of the effects section of my new Zoom R20
Either there is a problem with the unit itself or it works differently than any mixer/recorder that I've seen.
Here are the main issues I'm having:
When I add an effect to a track using the effects send menu in the Tradk Settings menu it seems to work. It displays the 50 place effect menu detailed in the downloaded pdf. When I select one, it seems to add it and I can hear it.
If I then use the same method to add a different effect to a different track, it works, however it also changes the effect on the first track to the one added on the second track. That would only allow a single effect per project and it would be the same on every track. I can't believe that is correct!
Te next issue is when I open the page with the 3 slot graphics, I don't see any way to add the effect to the slots. Instead when you click on the graphic for any of the 3 slots, it presents a totally different menu of effects that is over 70 effects long and all the effects are completley different that the ones on the 50 effect menu.
When you move to the right, it appears that every slot is full of preloaded effects??? I didn't set these up.
I don't understand any way to operate this.
I have searched the operations manual and found no clear description or instructions.
All I want to do is to be able to add different effects to different tracks. It would be nice to be able to stack different effects on one track if that is possible.
I'm on firmware 3.3
Any help or simple how to instructions would be hugely appreciated!
It is not possible to apply different effects to different tracks. Only 1 effect at a time, or 3 effects in a slot. Alas, the limitation of the recorder. If you want more effects, take turns rendering the track with the effect, and import it back into the project. Deleting the old one. This way you can take turns processing all tracks with different effects.
Cheers for another video! I got my R20 two weeks ago and it is great!!I’ve seen people morning about build quality and the touch screen. I think for the price it’s a great bit of recording gear. It sounds great too! The only thing I miss is being able to listen to a mix down! I am guessing but as it’s saved to the audio file do you have to import the master into an available track to listen to it or did I miss something! Thanks again
Thank you!
You are absolutely correct that when put in the context of its price, the R20 is a good budget multitracker. But, you're also correct that you cannot listen to your mix-down master track in an easy way. You essentially have to create a stereo track inside of a project and import it into that slot to hear it. On the earlier R-series (R8, R16, R24) you could turn the master track into a little green light and hear the recent mix down. That feels like something that could be addressed in a firmware update, but right now, you cannot easily listen to that fresh mix-down master.
@@GazRendar thanks for the reply. I could also listen to the master on the Livetrak 8! But ultimately it’s still great and sounds great thanks👍👍
Hi, just bought the R20, i was wondering after you trim a rythm track lets say upto 8 bars in track 1, how do you put that track on a loop in playback so that you can work on a solo on track 2. This was easy possible on the R8 by selecting loop in settings of a particular track and it would keep playing on a loop and i would be able to practice a solo over it until i had it perfected. I don't see this option on the R20. Thank you for these extremely useful videos.
Sadly, there is no true auto-loop feature like you are probably looking for. That feels like something that could be added in a firmware update, but I have no idea if Zoom is working on that. As an alternative, you have two sort of ok-ish (?) work-arounds:
A) Once you trimmed up your audio region, you can copy and paste it over and over. So if you have a rhythm guitar on Track #4, you can touch that 8-bar region, then grab the white tab on the right side, and simply drag it out for whatever...an extra 3 minutes. Then when you hit Play you can keep practicing your solo part on, say, Track #1. Once you record a good solo, it's pretty easy to go back, touch the audio regions, and delete what you don't need. If you have a bunch of other stuff recorded, you can copy and paste the entire project to a new project, quickly delete backing sections you don't need and do this so you can figure out that solo. This is usually what I do.
B) Put markers at the start and end of that 8-bar region, or more ideally, a marker that is 1-2 seconds before the beginning of that 8-bar region. Then you can quickly go back and forth to the beginning and end to keep practicing your solo. Unfortunately, this will require you to hit the STOP button each time to go back. This is what I do if I just need to like, figure out something simple in the background, such as 2 or 3 chords --not a long complex solo melody. For more examples using markers, I made this video:
ua-cam.com/video/UpKxt5DFidY/v-deo.html
It's interesting how so many companies dealing with music in one way or another are completely garbage at designing UI's. Just hire a UX designer and don't let the neckbeards anywhere near the Ui, please!
What are neckbeards? and what do they do to uis?
I love the idea of editing with touchscreen. Only problem is I have a lot of vsts in my laptop. Is it possible to record the sound in Ableton coming from my laptop onto the zoom. Also is it possible to hear the vst programs coming from my laptop with my headphones plugged into the zoom? Like a hardware synth plugged in.
Sure, you can do that - you just need the right cables. You could just run a 3.5mm stereo TRS cable out of your laptop, or use a USB-headphone adapter, and then run that stereo audio cable into a 3.5mm TRS female to 1/4" mono breakout cables. Plug those cables into inputs 1 & 2 on the Zoom R20 and simply hit record on the Zoom and play in Ableton. It will record that, no problem.
The question is, do you need it? If you already have the middle Ableton or the high-end Ableton package, you really just need a good user interface and you can record and edit everything in Ableton. That is more powerful than what the R20 can do.
But if you are looking to be able to record things away from the computer, but then also use your vsts with your computer too, then the R20 could make sense for you.
Losing recorded files. Twice I've lost track recordings that were added to an existing project. The recording plays back perfectly then I turn the R20 off (the only way I'm aware to save) and back on again. Now the tracks are gone. When I go to retrieve them from 'add audio file>project' , it says 'cannot add files may be damaged. Would the firmware update remedy this glitch, or am I missing something?
I'm not sure which firmware version you are on, but I do know that several recording bugs were fixed with the v2.4, v3.1 and v3.3 updates. If you are not on v3.3, I highly recommend you update the R20 to that. Hopefully that fixes the bugs you've been encountering...?
Here's a short video that demonstrates how to update the firmware on the R20
ua-cam.com/video/TBNtkzht09o/v-deo.html
Thanks! Mine is 3.1 and your video about the 3.3 update mentions the random file damage that seems to be the issue. So grateful for your sharing of knowledge. I'd be lost without it!
As always, great video, Gaz! I did not realize that once you create 50 "regions" in audio or rhythm modes (80 in midi), you lose the ability to copy/paste/split!! I made a rhythm track from the on-board drum patches (2 measure regions of verse/intro/outro/chorus/bridge) to create a drum track for a project (say 30 regions on each of the paired tracks, =60 regions), and found I could not copy/paste from a separate guitar track I recorded. Any way around this?
Yeah, 50 regions is the audio limit. Seems like a lot when you read about it in the manual...but then in real life it's surprisingly not a lot if you keep looping short patterns. What I do is if I get my loops and regions all set in a happy place on a mono track or on a stereo track, I render the audio or convert to an audio file. It's in the track settings. That will convert everything to a single audio file so you don't max out your audio regions. Obviously you'll lose the ability to easily move around regions, but it does work. For finer control you could also choose to Mix Down and just mix the stereo track that has all the regions into a single stereo track audio file.
This is actually one of the next videos I hope to make so people can work around this limitation.
Great Video! Could you tell me, how to create a "mastering"-effect?
I haven't perfected a mastering effect patch yet, but I've been experimenting with a couple options within a single patch. For any mix-down with mastering, you'll either want to apply a good compressor, or even a limiter. Then I've been adding a sonic exciter to create sound that just has..."more," and from there I've been finishing up with a a subtle reverb. I've been meaning to make a video about it, but new things keep popping up that I feel I need to address first, like firmware updates. Hopefully some time soon I can make an R20 mastering video. It's definitely on my to-do list.
Thank you for sharing your helpful knowledge. 👍👍👍
Always happy to help!
another great vid...thanks for sharing these!!!
Of course! Thanks for watching
Hi, great video. Can you tell me if the zoom r20 has vesa mounting holes? thanks.
For like a TV mount? No, there isn't really anything on the back of the unit that would allow you to mount it to a TV wall mount or a audio rack. If you wanted to lift it off like, a desk, you would get those clamp arms that hold laptops. That might work, but otherwise there are no holes anywhere to mount it to anything with screws.
A couple of years ago I began noticing some people ocassionally say Touchcreen instead of Touchscreen. I guess it's safe to say it's officially Touchcreen by now.
Second vid I viewed and, as near as I can tell, the only limitations are a problem if your process is based more on cut and paste than my old school *play it in* method.
I think the R20 works well for a lot of people...especially guitar/bass/drums/vocal musicians or bands. You can work around the limitations of the unit. The synth people who rely on MIDI and sync clocks have more limitations to contend with. But for recording with light editing it really it the best non-DAW solution out there, I think.
Is it possible to change the pitch and tune of the audio file after recording?
Sadly, no.
2 Questions:
Is there a time length recording limit?
Can you record without the bars (so in sec/min)?
There is a recording limit, but it's in bars. 1350 max bars. If you don't care about the R20's bars and you are more worried about time, you can set the project tempo low, to like 60bpm, which will give you more recording time because the bars will be longer compared to the default 120bpm setting.
When you are in Track View it shows you the bars because that's how the timeline is organized for editing purposes. If you are mostly interested in time and don't really care about bars, I recommend you switch over to Fader View because you'll have bars and time visible up at the top.
@@GazRendar Thank you 🙏😊
As always very insightful tutorial. I have a question, how to adjust the volume/gain AFTER recording a track. I understand you can adjust the gain before recording a track. I am not able adjust the volume after recording a track. Appreciate any help!
It depends a little on what you are trying to accomplish. When you run an instrument into say, channel #1, you'll turn the Gain knob to essentially adjust how much volume is used to record the instrument onto Track #1. Then during playback of Track #1, the Gain knob does nothing. Everything during playback is adjusted through the fader for Track #1. So if you recorded very quietly onto Track #1, and you leave the Track #1 fader at 0 db, and the red master fader at 0 db, that's the exact volume you recorded your instrument onto Track #1. That only leaves you a little room to move the Track #1 fader up to +10 to add volume to what you already recorded.
I will say that a couple times I had a weird bug where the fader didn't adjust the volume during playback. To fix it I just dragged the fader all the way down to the bottom for a couple seconds then pushed it back up to "unstick" it. That quickly fixed that. Also make sure you updated the firmware to v2.0 (I made a video how to update it, it's easy to do).
But ultimately, for volume control I've learned that the best thing to do is try to RECORD at the maximum volume that you can without any clipping. That gives you the most freedom during playback and mix down to add or subtract volume via the faders.
I hope that answered your question...?
@@GazRendar yes, you answered my question. I am very new to these equipment, hence these dumb questions :-) I did notice the faders having an effect on the output volume but adjusting the fader did not change the waveform in the timeline, so I assumed the faders are just for playback and would not affect rendering. But based on your answer it appears the faders and the master volume affects the output volume and rendering, correct? Thank you for patiently answering my questions. Cheers, Mike
?hy not put a 4 or 8 beat count off on track 1 and then stereo 2 and 3 with your beat, starting after the count off?
I can, and I do variations of count-ins when I'm trying to record a "real" project vs. these quick demonstrations for UA-cam videos. The R20 does have a metronome count in option if that's what you prefer to use. A lot of times when I'm recording something "for real" I keep the first measure blank and use that as my count in.
Question Please: Is it possible to change the tempo of the entire track after selecting a drum pattern and adding it to a track? - Thank You!
Yes, you can change the tempo at that point, but all it will do is change the spacing of the timeline grid. Which is probably not as useful as you want it to be. What you can do then is time stretch your tracks to fit the new tempo...that's ok if you maybe have less than 4 tracks. But more than that and it becomes cumbersome and impractical. That's why it's far more beneficial to jam a little bit, test out some tempos and settle on a tempo that you like before you really start to record. If you have 12 tracks down and want to slow down your song by maybe 8bpm, the R20 doesn't have the processing power that a computer does, so it can't time stretch all those audio regions like most DAWs can do.
I discuss some of that in this video:
ua-cam.com/video/BD5LXVWbdqU/v-deo.html
@@GazRendar Thank You Very Much!!
Why cant we join regions. Frustrating to me that I am limited to 50 audio regions across all 16 tracks.
Yeah, I don't know what the deal is there. I'm guessing they imposed that hard cap to not tax the processor and RAM? I haven't seen any slow down with a bunch of regions in a song, so maybe they installed the hard 50 region cap with regions to spare so the R20 will never get close to a slow down? Not sure.
Your one work-around is to export a track that is heavy in regions. It will turn it into a single audio file to import back into a track and that will act as 1 region then. The obvious downside is you lose the ability to cleanly edit your original loops/regions.
@@GazRendar That's good thinking. Thanks! Just need to make sure the track is as complete as possible. Thanks for the thought!
Seems the time stretch changes the tempo big time tho.
It should change it proportionally to the amount you pull it on the touchscreen. So if you really try to stretch it out a lot (by 1.5 times) on the touchscreen, it will really slow it down. The time stretch feature works, but I only recommend using it sparingly...for small fixes when you can't go back and re-record.
Hello again
Your video’s a very helpful
I haven’t pulled the trigger
On the purchase of the r20
Although I hope to do so sometime
In the near future
My question today is as follows
I’m not seeing any obvious
EQ functions
for dialing in
Your
High’s * Mid’s & Low’s
You do have High/Mid/Low EQ settings that you can adjust per track. It's in the track settings. You have to adjust the EQ levels with a touchscreen slider, which isn't my favorite, but it's there and it does work. If I get the chance I'll try to make a video showcasing that. I'm totally back-logged on video requests for more R20 tutorials and just haven't had as much time as I would like for making UA-cam content. I hope I can catch up soon! Thanks for watching!
Keep up the good work
Your videos are very helpful
Look forward to future updates
Maybe
This just a suggestion
Just maybe
You could
Cover the
Low/mid/high EQ
And include
Compression
As always thanks
Respectfully
Retro Rodney
Working on it! Thanks for the suggestion!
Will it not punch in and out using the rec transport button? Or maybe using the track arm buttons to punch? It seems crazy that any multitrack recorder wouldn’t let you do it somehow.
No, sadly the R20 (at least up to firmware 2.40) does not have punch in/punch out capabilities like most other multitrackers do. I used the footswitch input on my R8 all the time to punch in and out.
After working with the R20 for 7-8 months, I don't miss the punch in/punch out too much. Do I wish the R20 had a footswitch? Yes, for sure. But I can say that you don't "need' punch in and punch out for 2 reasons. The first is that with 16 mono tracks, you usually have a free track to simply move your timeline to 1 or 2 measures before you want to punch in say...a short guitar fill....hit record while listening to playback and then simply record your short guitar solo. When you are done stop recording. The second reason is that you can then just go in and trim up that audio region and either leave it in that track, or copy and paste it into another track. You can create clean audio regions and stick them where ever you want with the R20. So it does work and I've used it a decent amount. All that said...it still would be nice if the R20 had a footswitch....maybe with the bluetooth app, whenever that arrives...
@@GazRendar Actually, this is a pretty great solution and so easy! What's the best/easiest way we could paste it over a previous track?
Hi! I have a question. Is there a way to record a singer with effects but than send it to the Mix engeneer flat without the effects? Or do you need to record flat??
You want to record it flat for maximum flexibility going forward. However, if you had any way to split the microphone signal first, like through a mixing board, you could run the singer's voice though 2 separate channels at the same time. Then put the effect (reverb or whatever) on one track and have that be the monitor playback. Then for the other track do not apply any effects and mute it so it doesn't route back to your headphones. You can just keep that flat track for later if you want to add other effects to it.
@@GazRendar Thank you for that. Still a little difficult for me to understand. That's why I was asking if you would consider giving me a class, to explain to me everything. I am kinda lost and want to master this recorder
Trying to decide: do I replace my 4 track cassette (MF-P01) and my 4 track minidisc (Sony MDM-X4) multitrack recorders with the R20, or is there an easier and more simple multitrack recorder with a “user screen” as useful as the R20?
That Portastudio was a classic...and I loved that Sony 4-track minidisc, especially the jog dial. The minidiscs were sleeker and way cooler than the bulky ZIP disks I had to use on my Roland VS-880.
There are plenty of multitrackers out there that will be significant upgrades to your older devices. However, nothing else will be as easy to use with a color touchscreen. The R20 is the only thing on the market like that. If you only use 4 tracks and 2 inputs and if you want portability and budget pricing, you might want to look at the Zoom R8. I love that thing and still use it today. After reading some stuff and experimenting, you can get the hang of using it quickly. You can also copy and paste and edit tracks on the R8, but it's a lot harder to do compared to the R20. It has decent built-in effects, though.
If you want to go more expensive with more inputs, you could also look at the Tascam Model 12. I was highly intrigued by that device before deciding to go with the cheaper R20....mostly because I wanted the touchscreen.
@@GazRendar Yeah, fell down that Tascam rabbit hole, think that would be a better fit. I already have Cubase elements 12 on a 2019 MacBook Pro with 16 mic pre’s (via Arturia) for the long & deep ‘serious’ projects. The Tascam 12 would solve the “record my band’s rehearsals” needs. The R20 is a bit pedestrian. And being as old as I am, I was brought up on mixing boards, not touch screens. Old dog/new tricks, etc.
Thanks for the input. Tascam 12: here I come.
Based on what you are saying, I have to agree with you that the Tascam 12 is likely the better fit for you and will have more flexible inputs. And it truly feels like a mixing board since everything is there in physical knobs instead of having to dive through touchscreen menus. If you have the extra $200-300 in your budget, sounds like the right buy. Have fun!
Hey Gaz, I’m assuming you can only use one built in effect for the tracks - there’s no way to select different effects for different tracks. Correct?
That is correct. You can only apply one universal Send Effect that will work across all tracks. But if you select, say a Hall Reverb, you can choose to apply it to only, say...Tracks, 1, 3, 7, and 8...and for those Tracks you can choose how much of the effect you want. The other tracks you can leave the Send Effect off.
I've been doing a little traveling lately, but I'm hoping to get back soon and want to make a couple different videos focused on effects based tutorials with some tips and tricks. Stay tuned!
Thanks again and happy trails! Zoom should pay you 😅👍
I want punch in punch out too! Great vid
Yeah, I get by without it, but if it was there I would still use it once in awhile.
How see full list off effect? In manual not write
The number of effects listed in the manual is limited. There are far more effects available if you side load them into the R20 with a computer using Zoom's free Guitar Lab software:
ua-cam.com/video/PUaVJpqfWz8/v-deo.html
Does the zoom r20 have a compression function. If so do you have a video on that process?
I haven't made a video about it yet....but it is on my do to list. Yes, the R20 has compression and you can apply it a couple different ways. You can use an effect. Or you can use the compression, noise gate, and limiter that are built-in to each track. You can access those through the track settings. I've been experimenting with different amounts of compression effects to try to get optimal settings that I like for mastering. I have some parameters that I like, but I haven''t settled on anything I love yet where I would make a tutorial about it.
@@GazRendar
Thanks for your prompt reply
I will be looking forward to your future video on compression
I actually use a zoom r8
However I will be upgrading to the zoom r20 soon
Your videos have been of great value
thanks
Respectfully
Retro Rodney
I continue to use my R8 that is 10 years old. It's still hard to beat if you want a portable multitracker that has a lot of features for a budget price.
Great summary and tips
Thanks! Glad it was helpful.
Do you do persolized / private tutorials? I really need to learn how to use it. Thanks
I haven't up to this point. I just haven't had time for extra stuff like that. I try to post videos that I think will be helpful to everyone as I use the device more and more. I'm hoping to continue to do that every week or two. Anything in particular you need to learn?
@@GazRendar I would like to have a class with you if possible, on a video call where you help me figure out everything. I can pay you for the class through PayPal.
That's a very flattering offer, but I'm afraid I have to decline on account that I simply don't have enough free time for consulting/teaching work. I'm very sorry.
Great Group
Thanks!
This is more of a general mixing question, but I’ve found with the Tascam DP-008 EX and the Zoom R20 that the more instruments I have in the mix, the more murky/indistinct the mix becomes, and the harder it is to make out certain instruments. I thought maybe because the Zoom R20 was 24 bit, it would improve the situation, but unfortunately it persists. I try to utilize different EQs for each track, which helps slightly, but not enough. Noticed standalone EQ units are bloody expensive, but maybe that’s what I need to provide more clarity? Or should I just surrender and go the DAW/laptop route?
24 bit helps coming from a 16 bit device because you'll have more dynamic volume range to separate tracks/instruments. However, yes, that's true of any recording on any device - it can become cluttered. An EQ with more bands can help, but it's more about what instruments you are using and what kind of sound they produce. If all your instruments (with whatever effects you are using) just kinda fall within the mids, like 800Hz to 1400Hz, then there won't be much separation between those sounds. Mixes fall into place better when your drums cover the spectrum of sounds and you have bass that stays away from whatever your rhythms and melodies are.
That's the kind of problems I'll run into sometimes. My kick drum isn't totally at the bottom and my bass guitar creeps way into the mids and high-mids and winds up near frequencies that my rhythm guitar stays in. Once that starts happening, all your sounds are in the same area of the EQ. It'll just be muddy. The challenge is when you are recording solo. I never had problems trying to record my rock band back in the day because I would be playing bass or keys while the guitar player was playing and the drumming playing. We would all establish our sounds relative to each other in real time before we ever plugged into a multitrack, so the sounds were chosen as a "kit." Now, when I record solo I tend to just find drums that I like. Then I find a distortion guitar that I like for a rhythm. Then a bass guitar sound. Then something for melody. But I'm doing all that 1 instrument at a time. They all sound good by themselves, but I didn't chose those sounds together as one big blend. I'm more likely to get a muddy mix then once I have 7-8 tracks going.
@@GazRendar Yeh, I guess it’s just a matter of trying to have each instrument occupy a separate frequency. Thanks for your prompt response Gaz!
Yeah, it's not easy. I wish there was a better, magical answer that the R20 could solve, but it's mostly trying to get nice separation between your instruments so they all come out sounding clear.
The only other trick that sometimes works is if you have a great software EQ that allows you to not only set dB levels for 9+ bands, but also allows you to give certain tracks and bands a dynamic range as well. That can create more separation, or like, make mid-range vocals stand out a little bit on top of similar mid-range instruments. But those are plug-ins for DAWs that sometimes work, sometimes don't do much. It's a trial and error process for that stuff.