Gizmodo: audio recording

Alesis ProTrack Converts Your iPod Into a Pro-Quality Digital Recorder

Sean Fallon — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:30:00 EDT

This isn't the first product to come down the pipeline offering portable audio recording capabilities for the iPod, but the new ProTrack from Alesis is definitely the most feature-rich. According to the press release, the ProTrack is "the world’s first professional handheld digital stereo recorder for iPod" with two built-in high-quality condenser microphones, a pair of combination XLR - 1/4-inch inputs and a 1/8-inch stereo output. The device should be available sometime in Q3 for iPod (Classic or 5th Generation), or iPod nano (2nd or 3rd Generation)—but a price has yet to be determined.

Feature List:

• Integrated iPod design
• Records to iPod (Classic or 5th Generation), or iPod nano (2nd or 3rd Generation)
• Professional connectors: two combination XLR - 1/4-inch inputs, 1/8-inch stereo output
• Supplies 48V phantom power to inputs when wall-powered
• Records 16-Bit, 44.1kHz or 22kHz stereo
• Two built-in condenser microphones for detailed recording
• Built-in microphones in XY configuration for optimum stereo image
• Switchable limiter ensures overload-free recordings even in unpredictable aural situations
• AC power adapter included
• Four AAA batteries provide up to five hours of operation
• Tripod stand mount for placing into ideal recording conditions

[Alesis via Brad Linder's Blog]

Bangai-O Spirits For DS Uses Old Timey Audio Recordings To Share Levels

Jason Chen — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:20:00 EDT

The Nintendo DS remake of the old Dreamcast favorite Bangai-O Spirits has one very notable feature that we haven't seen in years. Kotaku found out that instead of using Nintendo's local Wi-Fi or over-the-net DS codes, you share levels via audio recording. Once you've designed something you want your friends to see, it'll play back that level as an audio recording that you can record it as an audio file on your computer, then send however you send files normally.

To get the levels back on another DS, just play it back over your computer's speakers and hold up the DS mic to it—the mic will grab the sound and the game will change it back into level code. If only Nintendo didn't make their online system so horrible to use, the developers wouldn't have to resort to archaic methods that are pretty much on par with tin cans and strings. [Kotaku]

Plastic Cup Gramophone Kit: Edison's Invention Reproduced

Kit Eaton — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:51:35 EDT

Those of you amused by the Edison recording outrage will love this: a toy gramophone kit that lets you record and play back your voice from a plastic cup. Made by Gekken, a Japanese company that produces educational toys, it uses exactly the same principle as Edison's, with the neat use of a plastic cup as the audio horn. Apparently the kit's available in limited quanities, since MAKE magazine brought some back from Japan and Gekken no longer make it. But once you've seen the video of a Japanese guy singing Hey Jude into one and playing it back, you'll be wanting one.

Awesome, no? Teach your kids about real audio recording, not this MP3 digital nonsense, for just $35. [MAKE via Gadget Lab]

Earliest Audio Recording Resurrected, Scares the Genitals Off Us

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:35:00 EDT

Audio historian David Giovannoni and scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered and brought back to life the first audio recording ever made, 17 years before Edison's patent. The ten-second snippet was made on a phonoautograph, a device that only recorded sounds but didn't play them back, so they had to do some voodoo to resurrect it and play it back. And after you hear it, you will agree on the voodoo part.

The audio recording, a verse of "Au Clair de la Lune" sung by a woman/zombie/spirit/ghostard, was made by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. Scott was a Parisian typesetter and inventor who invented the phonoautograph, and died thinking Edison stole his idea for recording sound (just like he stole and ran Méliès out of the movie business).

However, while the fact is that Edison stole many things, this is not one of them, according to Giovannoni: "Edison is not diminished whatsoever by this discovery." Another scholar, Paul Israel, director of the Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers University remarked that "what made Edison different from Scott was that he was trying to reproduce sound and he succeeded."

The phonoautograph is a device that only prints the sound it captures, but it can't reproduce it. Giovannoni and his team had to digitally process the recording, made on April 9, 1860, to create the version you can listen to here. [NYT]

MicroTrack Killer? Edirol's R-09 Portable SD Audio Recorder

Travis Hudson — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 22:51:52 EST

"Make it the size of an iPod, but let me record high-quality audio." It's a simple request, but so far the closest we've gotten is the $500 MicroTrack from M-Audio. Edirol's new R-09, shown last week at California's NAMM music show, improves on the portable recording formula a bit: it's got the silvery "Remington electric razor" looks, and an integrated mic. Instead of CF, it records onto the more compact SD, and it runs on AA batteries instead of lithium ion. All of this for about $400. And since the PR materials don't mention the word "podcast," we can avoid our powerful gag reflex. P. Kirn

NAMM: Edirol's R-09—SD-based, Portable USB Recorder, Hands-on [Create Digital Music]

M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 Reviewed

Travis Hudson — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 18:42:58 EST

Listen up, podcast junkies. Go get $500, buy one of these, and make me a podcast worthy of listening to. The MicroTrack 24/96 is a pocket digital recorder that is the cat's pajamas and more. Field recording is a dime-a-dozen in less-professional media outlets, and this gadget will hopefully solve that problem. The 24/96 uses flash memory and can record in both WAV and MP3 formats. It comes with a micro mic that does an exceptional job for its size and also has the ability to use many different professional mics. It can dock and charge easily via USB, but unfortunately the battery lasts only 3-5 hours. Line in, line out, S/PDIF—this does it all, and it's small enough to easily carry around and sneak into concerts. Recording junkie? This is a must-have.

Review: M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 Pocket Digital Recorder [O'Reilly Digital Media]

Pricing: M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 [Amazon]