Graham, as to the Pocket 5:
"Unfortunately, the aforementioned input effects and amp models cannot be applied to prerecorded material, but hopefully, this feature will be added in future upgrades."
Serious drawback if you ask me. Unless they've recently implemented those features in an OS update. If not, you'll have to be aware of its limitations.
I think Donny's suggestion is more suitable not only in the feature list but price wise too.
Here are some User reviews of the Zoom MRS-4:
18 out of 19 people found this review helpful.
Great recording unit
by Chris Walker (stickman@acs-isp.com) posted, 2/3/2003 10:05:18 AM
Musical experience:, Style of music:Progressive Rock, Home town:Roanoke Al.
There is NO recorder on the market that's this cheap that sounds this good.Do not be afraid to go ahead and buy the 128mb smart media card for more memory.Me and my other guitarist both plugged in our Line6 POD's and recorded a song at the same time,I then started the playback.. wow.. it sound's exactly like we were still playing the song.No compression,fuzziness,drop offs.We play VERY low ended White Zombie to Dream Theater type music and it needed absolutely no outside eqing or effect to make it sound better.I've had the Boss BR-8 and the Disclab this sounds better than the Br-8 and is about 1000 bucks lower than the Disclab and sounds just as good.Be sucre to get the MRt3 drum machine.Music 123 had it ten bucks off(89 bucks for a drum machine!!)It's sounds very realistic.....I'm very picky with my tone.This recorder is GOOD!!
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11 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
Excellent
by Wurka posted, 1/24/2003 3:01:03 PM
Musical experience:, Style of music:rock/electronika, Home town:OSIDE CA USA
i've had the mrs-4 for less than a week, and after playing with it, it's got me convinced that there is nothing even remotely as good for the price. I've been recording in lo fi mode to save recording time (yes, 32 megs is small), but i've found that the sound quality is still very good; i cant hear any problems (16khz... could be worse). As for the tracks themselves, the bounce function is really what makes digital worthwhile... you can record 4 tracks, bounce them to 2 vtakes on two adjacent tracks, turn stereo link on, and use the other two tracks to add more to the mix. You can do this an infinite number of times, adding basically as many tracks as you want. Drawbacks: if you dont have an effects processor (i have an rp100), your tone will be limited. 32 megs is kinda small, i'd suggest getting at least 64 (and a smartmedia card reader for your comp to further the audio possibilites). I dont see anything wrong with the fact that it's plastic, unless you are prone to stomping, crunching, or dropping expensive desktop equipment from heights
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94 out of 104 people found this review helpful.
A lot of bang for the buck.
by Al Olsen (aolsen2001@yahoo.com) posted, 4/5/2002 1:03:43 AM
Musical experience:, Style of music:Blues, jazz, folk,, Home town:Colchester, VT.
The MRS-4 is an incredible recording device for the money. I am very happy with the options and ease of use. I have been recording with a Tascam analog tape deck, so this was an upgrade for me. There may be better digital recorders out there, but the price of the MRS-4 is very nice. There are some downfalls of the MRS-4, however. One is the fact that it does not come with an AC adapter, and it eats batteries reasonably fast. The second is the included memory card. It's rather small,(32MB)so I purchased a 128MB card for about $60. It is still limiting as to how many songs I can fit on the machine, But I expected that. The last, is the plastic housing. I personally am very careful with all of my gear, and the housing will never be a problem for me(seems sturdy enough). But others may not be so gentle with their gear so, consider that when you make your purchase.
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8 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Best in its class!
by Squeaky_D (squeakybeats25@hotmail.com) posted, 3/25/2003 2:50:33 PM
Musical experience:, Style of music:Blues, Jazz, Hip Hop, Trip Hop, Acid Jazz, Home town:West Virginia
I've had this for a month now and man what a great buy.. For $219.00 this thing has to be the best in its class as far as price, and features. Honestly after using this I don't see how anyone can want to use a 4 track tape in the same price range.. With digital you have no moving parts, much better sound quality, much easier editing, because you're not messing with the typical fast forward and rewind of a cassette. This Zoom has so many features too. 4 tracks with 8 virtual tracks per track (trust me when you're using a 128mb card, those virtual tracks are very handy), it has good effects, each track has its own Hi and Lo Eq settings, I also have the drum machine that goes with it (ZOOM MRT-3), and together they're are amazing.. I'm a pianists, guitarist, and a drummer, and with this little box I can record great sounding demos.... Plus you get the added feature of a built in guitar tuner (it's nice to have something like that built into the unit)..... It also has 45mm long throw faders, which are much nicer to put your hands on (many other makes have smaller faders...) It has 2 recording grades.. The highest is at 32KHz (which sounds great), and the lowest Grade is at 16 KHz (sounds slightly better than cassette) With the lower grade you'll get about twice the record time as you would in the highest recording mode. For $219.00 you can't go wrong.. Even with a 64mb card you can do so much because Zoom has free software on their website for this unit that allows you to transfer your recordings to your computer (using a smart media card reader which is like $25.00 at WalMart...) Then from there you can burn to CD... This little unit is worth looking at.. However don't let anyone try to sell it to you for more than $219.00 One of our local music stores has this thing stickered for $350.00 --He didn't like what I had to say about his asking price after I saw it either...
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41 out of 49 people found this review helpful.
The new standard in multitrack recording.
by TheMusicMan41 posted, 7/8/2002 6:59:46 PM
Musical experience:, Style of music:Rock, Country, Bluegrass, Home town:Marshall, VA.
No analog multitrack even twice as expensive as the MRS4 has the capabilities this box has. I generally record electric guitar or mic my acoustic without even thinking about using my amplifier. This machine has compression, limiting, 3-band equalizer boost, stack and combo amp reproduction, hall and room effects, vocal boosts, and so much more that a footswitch would come in handy. If you get the chance, however, buy the wall adapter. I was only able to squeeze about three hours of life out of new batteries before they gave up on me. I had the backlight on about half the time, so I think that might have done some unnecessary draining. Also, be aware that you might need to get a higher-capacity card if you or your band perform long songs (in Hi-Fi mode you can record a maximum of about four minutes if you use all four tracks).
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11 out of 14 people found this review helpful.
Great buy!
by Ricky posted, 10/22/2002 12:24:05 PM
Musical experience:, Style of music:Christian, Home town:Atlanta, GA USA
Why use a cassette recorder again? The MRS-4 is small, easy to use, and not that much more than a cassette recorder. The sound is so much cleaner too. About the only negative things I found in other reviews are: • Plastic housing - I guess if you are extremely clumsy or like to abuse your equipment, you might want to buy another brand. • 32 MB card - I agree, a 128 MB is the way to go. At least 64 MB. This is my first time buying from Music123, I will buy here again and will also be recommending them to friends. I searched for several days to find a lower price. The next closest I found was $10 more, most were at least $20 more. My local music store sells it for $130 more (Yikes!). Save your time and buy here.
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6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
A Great Portable Small Application Tracker
by Classical Guitarist posted, 2/5/2003 10:09:32 PM
Musical experience:, Style of music:Classical, Folk, Home town:Texas
I can honestly say that I am pleasantly surprised by this recorder. I'm a classical guitarist and got an opportunity to travel England recently. I wanted to find a recorder that was quite portable that I could take with me to capture my playing inspired by my visit to the old world. All I took with me was my guitar, this MRS-4 and a pair of Audio Technical mics. I had no idea that I would be getting the quality of recording that I would. And the functionally of of the MRS-4 is very good for the price. If I had any complaints it would be the delays I get waiting for a song to rewind after I have recorded a few tracks. Also, the build in drum machine is quite annoying, they really should have just put a simple click-track function in and left it at that. But over all, this recorder is well worth the price I paid.
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11 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
Good needs adapter
by Charlie posted, 11/20/2002 5:02:32 PM
Musical experience:, Style of music:Folk, Home town:Austin
The MRS-4 is easy to use and does what it says it will do, but for the price I think that Zoom could throw in the adapter. I am constantly running out of batteries.
Best regards,
Mike
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