Zoom H1: anybody got one yet?

[Steve Maller]

The Zoom H1 is listed as in stock at B&H.
Anybody got their hands on one yet?
Desperate to pick one up ASAP.

[Jay West]

Not desperate, but still curious about these things. So, has anybody used one enough to be be able to comment?

[David Twelves]

I'm curious as well - I've heard they're as good or better than my beloved H2. It'd make the perfect "wireless" microphone for street interviews (with the Pluraleyes plugin for audio sync). Although I'll probably wait until they have a Redhead Windscreen available for the H1 before picking one up...that made such a huge difference on my H2.

I bet it'd make a great pocket mic for weddings, too - you could slide the H1 in the groom's pocket and run a lav from the minijack input through the tie for nice, clean recordings of the vows. It'd probably beat out a lot of those mini recorders currently on the market!

[Claire Buckley]

Originally Posted by Steve Maller

The Zoom H1 is listed as in stock at B&H.
Anybody got their hands on one yet?
Desperate to pick one up ASAP.

Have a look at the Marantz PMD661 first - more money but better quality IMHO.

[Robert Turchick]

LOL...Hi Claire... I hope you're saying "more money" in reference to the H4n which is $300. The Marantz is $600 and definitely a better piece than the H4n. This thing's $99 which is not even in the same league. For a quick, almost disposable recorder, who knows might be great! Certainly looks funky! Like a taser!

[Claire Buckley]

Like a Taiser? But you're the one being zapped. Come on, if it's a throw-away price then all you need to do is throw it away (or complain about its quality) five times and you've almost bought the real thing.

But I take your point gracefully :)

[Robert Turchick]

Ha! and I thought I was being funny...good stuff! (oooops! are we hijacking this thread?)
Sorry! I'll stop now!

Actually I have used the H2 and own an H4n. (needed the 4 track record capability) The H4n is significantly nicer than the H2. If they just stripped off the bells and whistles of the H4n but kept it's mic's/pre's, it will be a decent recorder for that price. My only real concern is the battery life. The H4n as it uses two AA is terrible. With one AA, that could be a major flaw unless they found a way to prolong it.

[David Twelves]

Originally Posted by Claire Buckley

Have a look at the Marantz PMD661 first - more money but better quality IMHO.

I think Marantz needs to intro a Zoom H1 competitor...recorder-on-a-stick with a single XLR input. $149.99 :D

[Tim Akin]

Originally Posted by Steve Maller

The Zoom H1 is listed as in stock at B&H.
Anybody got their hands on one yet?
Desperate to pick one up ASAP.

Got it yesterday. The first thing I wanted to check was how well it would keep sync with video. The Yamaha Pocketrak CX keeps almost perfect sync with video and I'm happy to say the H1 keeps perfect sync with the CX after a 30 minute test run.

Another important feature for me is the 'auto level' with 'line in'. Seems to work ok....not smooth but rather abrupt increments.....but it will work for my needs.

[Chris Barcellos]

I have a Tascam DR-07 which I guess is very similar to this unit. The Zoom H1 is few bucks cheaper. First, I use the DR-07 as a recorder out of my ENG44 for double system sound with my Canon DSLRs. In that configuration, the recorder's preamps are not a big issue, and it seems you could do the same with this recorder. With the DR-07, I just use velcro to physically attach it to the ENG44 for the boom operator to have everything at his finger tips. With mic input to this recorder, you should be able to do the same here.

[Jay West]

Tim:

Good news about maintaining audio synch.

I was looking at maybe getting one or two of these for occasional use with some of my odder jobs where I wind up needing more mikes than I can easily place. For example, once in a while I get a wedding --- and lately, funerals, too --- in one of the very large local churches that are as much amphitheater as sanctuary. The service may include cantors, choirs, instrumentalists and readers who are scattered all over the place. When they are miked to the house sound system, sometimes I can get a decent feed from the system and sometimes the mix is just too weird to use. Sometimes, it is so bad that the audience can hardly decipher it. In those cases, I can usually mike the choir/musicians and put my wireless lavaliers on the groom and officiant, but for the other point sources -- the readers and speakers who speak from a podium --- it would be nice to put a mike on the podium. I have used an mp3 recorder for speakers and readers which has been better than what the audience heard in the venue even if it is not great sound. I get these kinds of jobs just often enough that I have thought about getting some H4s and the Marantz that Claire mentioned but it has not been often enough that I was comfortable spending so much money particularly when a lot of these jobs have to be done on very limited budgets.

So, when you said the line-in was adequate for your needs, I was hoping you could be a bit more specific. Are you, say, shooting weddings? Church video? In-house corporate stuff? Interviews? Are you recording speech or music? (I'd guess that the tiny H1 is best for speech Also, if you were you using an external mike with the H1, could you identify it? When you tested the line-in recording, was that with a mike plugged into it or with a line-level feed? Maybe you tested it with both? I've read that the auto gain control on the Zoom devices can be a bit flaky and that several people have recommended setting the audio gain manually and rather low. Did you have a chance to try this? If you did, can you comment on the noise level in the recording?

[Tim Akin]

I'm shooting weddings Jay. I will be using the H1's line in to plug into the house mixer to capture live music, vocalist and most important the pastors mic. I also use the Pocketrak CX in the grooms pocket and the H4n were needed.

At last weeks wedding I had the H4n's line in connected to the church mixer headphone jack. The mics the vocalist were using were very hot, but the pastors mic was very weak. Once setup I couldn't get to the H4n to monitor and change the levels.....that's when I new I needed something with auto level control.

I tested the H1 this way: I connected the H1 'line in' to the H4n 'line out'. Set the onboard H4n mics to peak at -10db and SM57 xlr to peak at -30db. When switching between the two, the H1 would lower the H4n onboard mics to safe levels -12/-10 and raise the SM57 to -14/-12.

[Jay West]

Thanks, that was helpful. I think I'm going to try one, too.

[Tim Akin]

At that price you really can't go wrong with it, if it holds up. If you get it from Sweetwater you get a two year warranty.......so I'm sure I can get my $99 out of it.