Alec Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Anyone tried either of the cheap-ish USB/SD recorders from CPC? Pulse DMP-200 £129.50 + VAT records to SD & USBPulse DPM-300 £164.50 + VAT records to SD, USB and CD Having used an Gemini iKey Plus for a couple of years, I'm keen to move on to something better & more reliable, while keeping the budget down. These two are both rack mountable, have some kind of display and what look like a reasonable number of buttons (though it looks like they're using the same DMP-300 pic for both...). So, interface wise, they may well cut the mustard. This is just for voice, so audio quality is not mission critical for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundspider Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Haven't tried either of them, but regularly use the American Audio PocketRecord (http://cpc.farnell.com/american-audio/pocket-record/portable-recorder-stereo/dp/DP3028615?Ntt=dp3028615), which I think is excellent. Its still a portable job though, rather than rackmount, so if that's important, it's not so good. It is a big step up from the ikey though - really hated those! So many corrupted files from not pressing and holding the record button.... Happy memories! Hope that helps, while not actually answering your question! Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revbobuk Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 We have the iKey rackmount (the RM-3), and are not having any problems with it in terms of reliability. One or two niggles have been sorted with firmware updates - but it still doesn't do a date/time stamp on recorded files, which is a pain. Otherwise quite a decent piece of budget kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec Posted April 4, 2011 Author Share Posted April 4, 2011 We have the iKey rackmount (the RM-3), and are not having any problems with it in terms of reliability. One or two niggles have been sorted with firmware updates - but it still doesn't do a date/time stamp on recorded files, which is a pain. Otherwise quite a decent piece of budget kit. Hmmm, did wonder about that one, but felt so let down by the iKey Pro that I didn't really want to go there again. And does seem a funny device with that little screen. Have found it amazing for years that there isn't a budget flash/sd/usb 1u recorder around. Amazed Behringer haven't had a stab at this market. In churches alone, there's surely a reasonable sized market...? Let alone lower end theatre and conference stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revbobuk Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Agree completely, and I said as much to behringer a while ago. Should be something they would jump at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Beesley Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 <SNIP>Pulse DPM-300 £164.50 + VAT records to SD, USB and CD <SNIP>The DMP-300 records to USB/SD - it doenst have a CD writer, CD is playback only. Any questions give me a shout guys... I will answer all I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 The DMP-300 records to USB/SD - it doenst have a CD writer, CD is playback only. Any questions give me a shout guys... I will answer all I can. OK, appreciate the clarification - I simply drew what I could from "MEDIA PLAYER/RECORDER, CD/SD/USB"! Any chance of a) the right photos, and with a bit more detail, and b) user manuals? Otherwise, it's more than a bit sight unseen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 OK, so have taken a punt and ordered a Pulse DMP-200, with the current CPC 10% off deal. Will give an initial report back next week, and see if it looks like being a keeper or a turkey... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Initial reports on the DPM-300 are ok for recording and playback - copying is a little troublesome.There are some design quirks, in that the record levels from the aux in are fixed, and the manual is a little vague. Audio output is specified as being 1.2V - just about +4dB. Input wise, you need to be careful. An indicated 0dB on the meters is ok, giving a record level of around -4dB, but any increase in level above this soon exceeds the maximum. On my desk, it's quite easy to go above this, and distort the recording. Recording a test track to SD card (I went from the Alan Parsons CD) gives a digital level of around -14dB on the meters in Sound forge - as a copy - BUT while recording to the card, the CD output and recorded audio has some obvious digital artefacts - crackles and slight fuzzyness. These are not present on ordinary CD playback. http://www.earsmedia.co.uk/cpcrecorder.jpgThere is no indication on the unit that audio is present on the aux input, which means you can't be certain it's actually recording, and during record and monitoring of the aux input, ready for recording - there is no output, so with no monitoring at all, you have to trust the machine. An SD card in the SD card socket was accepted, an SD card in a USB adaptor was not - no files on the card were visible. CD player wise, it's fine, as is the file playing side. There are no extra playback facilities such as cueing, or autostop/pause between tracks. The back panel has mains in, XLR L/R in and out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 Initial reports on the DPM-300 are ok for recording and playback....There is no indication on the unit that audio is present on the aux input, which means you can't be certain it's actually recording. Oh dear... If there really is no metering at all on the recorder, then I think mine will be going back unused (it arrived today, but won't get to open it this evening). Surely it can't be true, a recorder without any metering...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Nope - no metering of any kind. Just 'rec' in the display. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 Nope - no metering of any kind. Just 'rec' in the display. Hmmm, I'll resist the temptation to outpour my thoughts on whoever designed that product then... Should be a short & disappointing unwrapping tonight, followed by a call to CPC to return goods unfit for purpose! What a shame, as the Pulse own brand stuff is normally fantastic value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Well they sort of do what they're intended for - line in, line out - and probably just make the assumption that you are using them in a system where levels are constant. fixed input levels are always tricky when they are on a master output as the levels aren't fixed. For my needs, I'm going to wire them via a compressor limiter, which I'll preset to just stop it going over level into distortion. The snag is simple you have to do it by trial and error. Until you get maximum. Just awkward. I need to try a few things to see if the record interference is a constant and on both sd and usb. I'll report back. Results on further testing are not too hot. Connecting the inputs to the output of a Tascam 301 MD recorder set to monitor allowed me to record some material at different peak levels on the meter. I tried -3,-6,-9 on the meter and playing back the track it still peaked - setting the peak level on the MD to -12 was just under maximum when viewed in Soundforge. The other odd thing is that the crosstalk is pretty poor. The manual states >60dB, yet with one input unplugged, Soundforge shows half scale crosstalk at -45dB on the meter. Enough for 'real' output, but hidden in normal stereo use. The manual also states that recording can be stopped by pressing stop - this on mine doesn't work, the only way to stop recording seems to be to change the input, this stops it. Recording onto USB stick also takes around 10 seconds to start. Having balanced audio inputs on XLR suggests it's configured for professional +4dB input levels, but it's too sensitive. Lack of any method of checking makes it a difficult recorder to use. There's also the fact that every file generated has a 2006 date/time stamp on it. Now THAT is annoying! Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Beesley Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Hmmm (tm - Ynot)... this isnt good. Thanks to Paul for highlighting this - I will get our tech's onto this asap. All I can say for the moment is we will of course offer a refund/credit to those who have purchased these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revbobuk Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 While the iKey doesn't suffer from many of these problems - and does have metering - it, too, fails to timestamp properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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