Comments on: Reader Reviews: Edirol R-09 Pocket Recorder First Impressions

By: Guy Cruls

Guy Cruls — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:34:25 +0000

Build is very flimsy, which is unacceptable, especially since I paid £250 for this.
The lid to the batteries is VERY dodgy: if you don’t handle it with great care, you WILL break it - guaranteed.
Have been recording meetings, and it does the job.
I can confirm I experience hissing as well, despite using recommended settings.
I hope that when I start using it to record nature sounds or music I’ll get acceptable results.
Recommendation: don’t buy. Better something a bit bigger, but more sturdy and greater range of commands.

By: Michael Glover

Michael Glover — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:36:29 +0000

Hello
I record dialog for indie movi-makers, so I bought this R 09 - What
a Let-Down!
The Battery door lasted ONE day! I could never close the damned door,
so of course I was waiting for it to snap off—which took three more
days. I sent it to Edirol who fixed it and returned it to me. Lo and behold
on its next outing the door behaved the same way-would not close tight
so I lost my temper and rang the Company and gave them a tongue-
lashing. Where is it now? I’ll tell ya - sitting on a shelf over the Desktop
I just hate to see it, so I think one dark night I’ll finish it off - and to
Hell with it. I now have the Marantz PMD-660 a True Pro Recorder

By: the bert

the bert — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 15:32:48 +0000

Why don’t people just use mini-disc instead ?

It’s cheaper, probably smaller and i’ve never heard of any serious issues wuth them.

Plus, because you are using a disc to record to, you are creating a sort of back-up as you go. (Ie, stuff recorded to any kind of disc is less volatile than solid-state memory.)

By: Rose

Rose — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 22:25:48 +0000

I bought the R09 to record voice interviews for my radio class (journalism school). I have also bee using it with the SM58, and the levels are so low, I’ve been having to pump them while dubbing, leaving me with hissing. The record levels are pumped to full on the machine, and the level boost switch on the back is set to high… not sure what to do about this problem.

By: Shiv

Shiv — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 23:40:11 +0000

I recently got an R09 and used it to record choir practice. I had set the level fairly low and used only the built-in mics, but despite this the recording was very clean. No hiss and the quality was excellent. I was expecting to be disappointed by the built-in mics but was very pleasently surprised at the quality of my recording.

By: Syl

Syl — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 04:10:07 +0000

I bought the R09 to record voice interviews for my podcast.

The product is fantastic if it were not for the unacceptable level of hiss noise in the recordings. The level is particularly high with the built-in mics and still annoying using a high quality mic (SM58 or C1000S). Given the low level of complaint about this (searching for hiss + R09 on google), I presume most units are not as bad as mine (Serial AU99258). I’ve emailed Roland my recording samples and waiting to hear from them.

I also compared with my friend’s Microtrack and found his unit to be much cleaner. Another annoyance on the R09 is that it doesn’t have separate mic inputs, so I need some clunky adapters to plug in two mics for interview.

I love the R09 enough to give it a second chance if I can exchange it for a quieter one, otherwise I’ll exchange it for a desktop unit (hopefully better) or get the microtrack.

By: Enrico

Enrico — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 11:42:33 +0000

It seems very cheaply built. After using it for one day, the four switches on the back toggle back and forth themselves and thus became useless.

By: LÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Ã…â€™il de la MÃƒÂ©diathÃƒÂ¨que » Blog Archive » Meta Review: Edirol R-09 Portable USB Audio Recorder, Hands-on Test Round-Up

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 18:19:24 +0000

[...] Our first reader impressions have received a number of responses from other R-09 early-adopters, with sound samples linked from comments. (More impressions and sounds from the impromptu mini-blog r09.ocbka.org.) [...]

By: Create Digital Music » Meta Review: Edirol R-09 Portable USB Audio Recorder, Hands-on Test Round-Up

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 16:38:33 +0000

By: Jim Flannery

Jim Flannery — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 19:52:01 +0000

I’ve used mine for 3 days, recording nature sounds, interviews, “test” soundbytes of traffic, aircraft, sirens, and a live concert in the park. I am AMAZED at the quality, and the sensitivity of the internal mics. Only things I would change would be a better battery cover design, and I’d put the headset jack on the TOP rather than the side. The side jack is a nuissance in a shirt pocket. Note: I found that “low cut” sounds much better. It seems too bassy unless I cut the bass. I also use the AGC, which I find to be very smooth. It doesn’t “pump” like most AGC circuits.