iPod Recorder

[Colin]

I came accross this eariler:

 

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/08/belkin_tune_studio/

 

Looks like an interesting little toy.

[WiLL]

I think the word 'toy' sums it up quite nicely ;)

[Bryson]

Especially as the pic is a render, not a real product....

[WillW]

A portable recording studio for around $180 sound good though (already have an iPod, a little more expensive if you have to include that). Could make recording sound effects in the middle of a field a whole lot easier - I currently have to lug around a Folio Notepad, bodged battery solution and portable HiMD, not the most elegant of solutions.

[the kid]

I have not looked in to it but I have heard you are ment to be able to record anyway on a ipod, have any mic and go down to mini jack and put in the phones.

 

**Pure rumour and I have not tried this yet.**

 

Link 1

 

Link 2

 

Apple link

 

Thought I better just check it out.

[Colin]

The older iPods (I think up to 4th Gen) allow a mic to be plug straight in (appartentaly never tested myself) but limited it to 8KHz you could then get a dock adapter to record upto 44KHz. With the 5 Gens you need a dock adapter leading to really silly looking things like this:

 

http://shop.ipodworld.co.uk/iPodWorldSite/...io_Recorder.htm

[Bobbsy]

Probably only a toy but we'll have to see the finished product. A few things that come to mind are:

 

Will it have phantom power? Without phantom, it definitely falls into the "toy" department, but with it, it might get interesting. The rendering shows a button that COULD be phantom, but my eyes can't make it out.

 

How good will the mic pre-amps be?

 

"The unit processes the stereo signal to keep recording levels within the iPod's sound spectrum, " imples a built in limiter. Again, how good will this be and can it be bypassed. Cheap limiters can really mess up your sound.

 

Three band EQ (none swept) is a toy. You're better to record flat and EQ later. Look at the space that could be saved without the extra knobs.

 

For real pro use, 16 bit/44.1 sampling isn't often used anymore...higher bit depths and sampling are the norm.

 

..and so on.

 

We'll see.

 

Bob

[Bryson]

My Ctrl-Scroll wheel zoom function says: Looks a lot like phantom. It has a little line from the button to an LED and then to the two mic inputs.

[DavidLee]

My Ctrl-Scroll wheel zoom function says: Looks a lot like phantom. It has a little line from the button to an LED and then to the two mic inputs.

Another report of the announcement confirms phantom power.

 

David

[Colin]

For real pro use, 16 bit/44.1 sampling isn't often used anymore...higher bit depths and sampling are the norm.

 

From looks of things that sampling rate is as high as an iPod can record to so cant expect anything better there. Found another article, it does have Phantom power:

 

http://crunchgear.com/2007/01/07/belkin%E2...mixer-for-ipod/

 

For about £100 I might well be tempted by it for all those times you want something recorded quickly and easily.

[colebrooke]

It looks great to me... as a consumer rather than pro device, obviously. Boy I wish I had one of these back in the 80's rather than a Yam MT4x (remember those?). I can really see this selling in droves to garage band folks. Dead handy for rehearsal recordings etc, when you don't want the vulnerability of a laptop + interface. £100 sounds like a bargain!

Justin

[kennah]

I wouldn't mind one for doing board feeds and basic recordings. At $180 the price is pretty good (already have an iPod). Considering I was thinking of dropping almost that much on a minidisc and microphone.