First Impressons of a Zoom R16

My Zoom R16, ready to go!

Pros:

• Lightweight and portable
• Built-in Stereo Mics, Tuner and Metronome and lots of effects
• 24Bit 8 channel simultaneous recording XLR
• Control Surface and Interface
• 6 AA Battery power.
• Price

Cons:

• Preamps are average
• Workflow is fiddly
• Only 2 channels have 48Volts
• Only 1 HI-Z Channel

The R16 is a digital recorder, audio interface and control surface. When I opened the box it reminded me, bizarrely, of an old Commodore Amiga. It's nice to see that Zoom don’t waste time (or materials) on excessive packaging; the box neatly fits the unit, USB cable and power pack. For this reason, the box remains useful for storing and transporting the recorder. The difference between something being lightweight and feeling cheap is a fine line but I think Zoom got it just right. The sliders and gain controls are sturdy enough to hold their position even if the unit is knocked. Once out of the box you can simply turn on, plug-in, select a track and hit record. In fact, thanks to the built-in microphones, you don't even have to plug-in. Tracks seven and eight, when armed, record directly from the two built-in microphones which, I can report, are surprisingly good. These are perfect for capturing those spontaneous song ideas as they happen.

Channel 1 features a Hi-Z switch to handle high impedance for DI-ing passive electric or bass guitars and channels 5 and 6 have a phantom power supply for use with condenser microphones. This means you'll likely be using dynamic microphones for the other channels. Strangely enough, I actually prefer the sound of a dynamic microphone over a condenser but unfortunately the preamps in R16 are its weak point. They are unable to provide enough clean gain to work effectively with dynamic mics in the way Soundcraft and Mackie Onyx can. Even with condenser microphones the sound is clear but generally unflattering. An acoustic guitar and vocal recorded with, for example, two SM58s would have all the sonic glory of a demo cassette tape being recorded as it played through a speaker on a ribbon mic wrapped in a sweaty sock ! Or in two words: DULL + HISSY. Nevertheless, in a band setting, with high sound pressure levels from drum kits and amplified guitars I have no doubt that this will do the job. A small desk with decent preamps could be used to enhance the recording quality.

On a more positive note, the R16 can record 24 bit with all the channels recording simultaneously. I was surprised to find that they have a built in tuner and metronome. Of course, being in tune and in time makes overdubbing so much easier. It also has an array of effects, EQ and panning which can be assigned to any track. Recorded tracks can be swapped and bounced, which is essential as only channels 5 and 6 can accommodate condenser microphones. As you can imagine, with a machine capable of so many functions and yet furnished with so few controls, the workflow is quite fiddly and takes some getting used to. The instruction manual is packed with flowcharts, diagrams and hints and so, on first glance, many people will probably flip from back to front, exhale heavily, close the manual and sling it back in the box until they have a spare three months to figure it all out. Actually, it’s not that difficult; it’s pretty intuitive. The more finer points of setting up ‘markers’ and ‘punching in’ I’ll probably leave for a later date but the majority of it, I’m pleased to say, looks more complicated that it actually is! The other great thing about this recorder is that it will run on six AA batteries so you can take it anywhere - no need for a bulky power pack and extension cables.

I don’t think it’s going to put any recording studios out of business but this is an extremely useful piece of kit for recording at different locations. It also works as an interface for your DAW and a control surface so that the physical sliders will control the virtual ones in Logic or Cubase. Recordings made on this will need moderate post production to bring them up to scratch, but if you have some nice preamps and mics to hand it will serve you very well. I picked this up with a 16GB SD card, plus the 2GB card that comes with it for £290, not bad when you consider that the early Fostex DMT8VL harddisk recorder cost £999 back in 1996. You can link two of these together so you’d have a 16 track recorder for under £600, but apparently there is some latency on the second unit when linked. This could easily be rectified in your DAW. I think you get a lot for your money with the R16 convenience is the key this is a perfect tool for the singer songwriter and band member. I'd recommend this.