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Prior to myself getting into paranormal investigating I had bought a digital audio recorder (DAR) from Wal-Mart. It's purpose was to record conversations with patients on the ambulance. It was only to protect myself in case one of them complained about something or accused me of something. I bought a RCA recorder model #RP5120-A for $30. It was a decent model and worked fine for this purpose.
Then I got into investigating and I decided to continue using this model. For Christmas one of my sisters got me another identical model. We conducted several investigations with them and never had a problem. Other people that used them had mixed reviews. Some said they worked great, others complained about data corruption. I never had a problem with them until we went to the Myrtles. I'm not going into detail about that since it's coming up in the next issue of PUG. You will have to wait, unless you are Karen and have already read it.
So now we are to the item of this thread. Recently I went and bought a Sony model #ICD-PX720, again at Wal-Mart. It had a little steeper price tag, coming in at $60. There are major differences with it that I didn't realize I was missing with the RCA model. First you can plug in head-phones and listen at the same time as you record. This can come in handy during an EVP session. Second the buttons are on the front and easier to use. All DARs that I own have USB capability so I can download the files onto the computer and run them through either Sound Forge or Audacity to analyze them further. Other than all that it's a simple DAR.
Now when I've recorded the audio does sound better. We haven't had much of a chance to use it yet, just one short session at our local cemetery training ground and we didn't get anything. I do like the Sony better and will look at getting another one so I can move the RCAs to back up duty.
I have not ever used an Olympus DAR but I hear great things about them as well. The price tag is a little higher than the Sonys but you get what you pay for these days.
So this concludes my review of the Sony DAR.
I give it 4 ghosts out of 5.
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I really like my Olympus voice recorders. They totally rock.
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Care to do a review on them?
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Care to do a review on them?
They pick up sound real good. /laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' />
Seriously – I think that they just do really well at picking up sound, and I like the fact that you can use them as a USB jump drive. And they are relatively easy to use.
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Well, that was in depth. /biggrin.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />
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Well, that was in depth.
/biggrin.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />
Jim is the techie geek….sadly I often choose things based on "ooooooo pretty!"
I let him figure out what tech equipment I need to use. If it was up to me, we'd still have a black and white TV, a hi fi and a rotary telephone. /laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' />
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Jim is the techie geek….sadly I often choose things based on "ooooooo pretty!"
I let him figure out what tech equipment I need to use. If it was up to me, we'd still have a black and white TV, a hi fi and a rotary telephone.
/laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':mellow:' />
I just bought an Olympus DS-40 in St. Marteen last week. The sound on this one is awesome with a detachable stereo
recording microphone, 3 levels of built in noise reduction and it came with sound software. Three levels of microphone sensitivity. The recorder also has a variable control voice actuator. The price there on the island was $130.00 with no tax. ( Duty Free ) I don't know what the price is back in the States. The recording time is: 8 hrs 40 min in Stereo XQ record mode
17 hrs 20 min in Stereo HQ record mode
34 hrs 20 min in HQ record mode
68 hrs 30 min in SP record mode
136 hrs 15 min in LP record mode
Battery Life is 20 hrs in stereo XQ mode to 32 hrs in LP mode.
Playback through speaker on battery is 12 hrs through speakers and 26 hrs through supplied earphones.
Recording format is WMA.
Memory is 512 MB built in flash memory.
The frequency response ranges from 50 Hz to 19,000 Hz. depending on the recording quality selected. Hope this helps?
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I just bought an Olympus DS-40 in St. Marteen last week. The sound on this one is awesome with a detachable stereo
recording microphone, 3 levels of built in noise reduction and it came with sound software. Three levels of microphone sensitivity. The recorder also has a variable control voice actuator. The price there on the island was $130.00 with no tax. ( Duty Free ) I don't know what the price is back in the States. The recording time is: 8 hrs 40 min in Stereo XQ record mode
17 hrs 20 min in Stereo HQ record mode
34 hrs 20 min in HQ record mode
68 hrs 30 min in SP record mode
136 hrs 15 min in LP record mode
Battery Life is 20 hrs in stereo XQ mode to 32 hrs in LP mode.
Playback through speaker on battery is 12 hrs through speakers and 26 hrs through supplied earphones.
Recording format is WMA.
Memory is 512 MB built in flash memory.
The frequency response ranges from 50 Hz to 19,000 Hz. depending on the recording quality selected. Hope this helps?
Sounds like a good one!
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Sounds like a good one!
Not quite a review but the information is there if anyone feels the need to
purchase a DAR. Even though it rocks pretty much sums it up!
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The problem with most of these is that they are stereo at best. Two channels, no waiting. This is fine if you're only looking to capture raw EVPs over the background noise (or your own conversations). If you have other para-gizmos hooked up (SpeakJet, Frank's Box, Spirit Mike etc), and you want to record them as well, you need extra channels. Easy enough to accomplish with additional recorders, but how do you synchronize them so that you know what was captured when? If you get a voice on something, wouldn't you want to hear what else was coming through all your other goodies at the same time?
Unfortunately, because multi-channel field recorders are a specialty niche market, they tend to be expensive (although very well made). I found a really nice 4-channel professional setup for under $900, but that's a little more overtime than I want to spend on something I have no ther use for. I'm hoping to find a low-cost multi-channel digital mixer that can import into a laptop via USB. That way the files are already native on the hard drive, and ready to be analyzed in audacity or sound forge. We have several cheap little netbook PCs that would be perfect if I can score the right hardware interface.
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The problem with most of these is that they are stereo at best. Two channels, no waiting. This is fine if you're only looking to capture raw EVPs over the background noise (or your own conversations). If you have other para-gizmos hooked up (SpeakJet, Frank's Box, Spirit Mike etc), and you want to record them as well, you need extra channels. Easy enough to accomplish with additional recorders, but how do you synchronize them so that you know what was captured when? If you get a voice on something, wouldn't you want to hear what else was coming through all your other goodies at the same time?
Unfortunately, because multi-channel field recorders are a specialty niche market, they tend to be expensive (although very well made). I found a really nice 4-channel professional setup for under $900, but that's a little more overtime than I want to spend on something I have no ther use for. I'm hoping to find a low-cost multi-channel digital mixer that can import into a laptop via USB. That way the files are already native on the hard drive, and ready to be analyzed in audacity or sound forge. We have several cheap little netbook PCs that would be perfect if I can score the right hardware interface.
TheJybian,
Because I downloaded the files from my DAR to my computer and then in a WAM file to the Audacity program would this cause the compression issue I am experiencing? After altering the speed of the project I still cannot stretch the file out long enough to cause it to play anywhere close to normal. Should I import the file straight from the DAR to the audacity program? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know everyone didn't want to listen to 11 min. plus of recording to hear one EVP. Also couldn't you use several DARs that are time synchronized prior to start up with each instrument? Still cheaper than $900 in OT. Another question if you haven't stopped reading by now….would Sound Forge be easier for me to learn than Audacity, or is their an even easier Jethro Bodine sound software set up somewhere?
Thanks for any and all the help you can throw my way, tell Karen thanks for me too.
Jon K. ( PooPerDooPer )
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TheJybian,
Because I downloaded the files from my DAR to my computer and then in a WAM file to the Audacity program would this cause the compression issue I am experiencing? After altering the speed of the project I still cannot stretch the file out long enough to cause it to play anywhere close to normal. Should I import the file straight from the DAR to the audacity program? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know everyone didn't want to listen to 11 min. plus of recording to hear one EVP. Also couldn't you use several DARs that are time synchronized prior to start up with each instrument? Still cheaper than $900 in OT. Another question if you haven't stopped reading by now….would Sound Forge be easier for me to learn than Audacity, or is their an even easier Jethro Bodine sound software set up somewhere?
Thanks for any and all the help you can throw my way, tell Karen thanks for me too.
Jon K. ( PooPerDooPer )
Jim's sleeping right now (he worked last night), but I will definitely have him take a look at this when he gets up and see if he can help. I am actually quite technologically stunted. Thank goodness I have him.
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TheJybian,
Because I downloaded the files from my DAR to my computer and then in a WAM file to the Audacity program would this cause the compression issue I am experiencing? After altering the speed of the project I still cannot stretch the file out long enough to cause it to play anywhere close to normal. Should I import the file straight from the DAR to the audacity program? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know everyone didn't want to listen to 11 min. plus of recording to hear one EVP. Also couldn't you use several DARs that are time synchronized prior to start up with each instrument? Still cheaper than $900 in OT. Another question if you haven't stopped reading by now….would Sound Forge be easier for me to learn than Audacity, or is their an even easier Jethro Bodine sound software set up somewhere?
Thanks for any and all the help you can throw my way, tell Karen thanks for me too.
Jon K. ( PooPerDooPer )
Jon,
Is it WAM or WMA? WMA is a common form of audio compression format that most windows media players will handle easily, but they aren't designed to be edited as is. You need to convert them to a WAV file, which is simple first-generation CD audio, naked and uncompressed. Every slice of time is treated equally, and thus can be easily parsed and edited. Big files though, I'd expect 11 minutes to be over 100 MB. Hope that helps.
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Jon,
Is it WAM or WMA? WMA is a common form of audio compression format that most windows media players will handle easily, but they aren't designed to be edited as is. You need to convert them to a WAV file, which is simple first-generation CD audio, naked and uncompressed. Every slice of time is treated equally, and thus can be easily parsed and edited. Big files though, I'd expect 11 minutes to be over 100 MB. Hope that helps.
TheJybian,
I am sure it is WMA…..my bad! Thanks for the help and I will convert that file when
I get home this evening. That answered my questions both ways since the DAR files are already WAV
and wheren't WMA until I downloaded them to my computer. I will pull the file straight from the DAR
and save the conversion route until I have no choice. Thanks again.
Jon K.
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TheJybian,
I am sure it is WMA…..my bad! Thanks for the help and I will convert that file when
I get home this evening. That answered my questions both ways since the DAR files are already WAV
and wheren't WMA until I downloaded them to my computer. I will pull the file straight from the DAR
and save the conversion route until I have no choice. Thanks again.
Jon K.
Glad to help. and call me Jim. That "nickname" is quickly becoming the bane of Karen's existence, even though it was entirely her doing.
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Glad to help. and call me Jim. That "nickname" is quickly becoming the bane of Karen's existence, even though it was entirely her doing.
I had nothing to do with it. I don't know what you're talking about. /rolleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' />
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Jim says that this handy little gadget is just the ticket for doing what he wants – which is inputting multiple devices in so if you get something, you can synchronize…
Even if it isn't – what a cool gadget!
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Jim says that this handy little gadget is just the ticket for doing what he wants – which is inputting multiple devices in so if you get something, you can synchronize…
Even if it isn't – what a cool gadget!
Now that was funy. The H4N recorder is really cool
but the first thing that you, or I, saw when I opened
the page was an advertisement for the new Trojan
prophylactics. I snorted tea and then found the review.
Thank you both once again for helping me through the
whole different files mess and for suggesting the Audacity
program. It seems to be easier to use when I import the right
files.
Jon K.
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That H4N or whatever it's called is pretty cool sounding. I've wanted one for a bit now but I don't think I'll get one till the price drops some.
Audacity is a good program. I also like Sound Forge but I'm using a very old version of it.
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Now that was funy. The H4N recorder is really cool
but the first thing that you, or I, saw when I opened
the page was an advertisement for the new Trojan
prophylactics. I snorted tea and then found the review.
Thank you both once again for helping me through the
whole different files mess and for suggesting the Audacity
program. It seems to be easier to use when I import the right
files.
Jon K.
Yeah – I saw the trojan slim ad, but by then it was just too late. Those look like handy little gadgets, too. Won't wear a ring-shaped spot in your wallet.
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