[Mike Cesati]

This is my new setup for TOTM but it's not working out.
I had better luck with the XP but had latency issues.

NOW I get very poor recording off the zoom when it goes into Audacity ? ( it's not the zoom, on it's own it's great. ) It's like if you look at the signal it never goes higher or lower it just stays even on the waveform/ Make sense?

This seems to be some easy to use thing for a lot o the guys posting on TOTM but I can't for life of me get this all to gel???
I have been Googling aroung BUT If you know anything that would help please post , Thanks.

 

[Brendan]

Are you using Audacity 1.3.13 ?
Have you changed the output on the Zoom from storage to audio i/o ?

That's all I can think of ..

 

[Mike Cesati]

Thanks Brendan, I just downloaded the latest version so I will let you know. I needed the beta version for windows 7.
I hope it will work out.

 

[Bill Mecca]

Mike, check the volume settings both in Audacity and your windows mixer, and make sure you have the correct input selected, if there is a choice (there is on my soundcard and when I moved to Win7 the controls looked completely different than in XP)

 

[Mike Cesati]

Yeah Bill, I think I'm going to be ok with this now. Just did a "test pressing" and I got a good mix.

 

[minous]

Also, download the latest windows drivers off of the zoom site. I was having trouble when I changed to a new PC (from vista to win7) but the downloaded drivers fixed the problem right away.

 

[clarnibass]

Sometimes I remove the memory card from the Zoom and use a card reader to read it. There's the slight hassle of doing that but then reading is much faster.

 

[Mike Cesati]

working out pretty well but the input signal from the Zoom is peaking way high even with the Zoom on its lowest setting. So I have to mix the sax way down after and it seems it's a bit distorted because of this but just a little .

 

[ratracer]

Eh, sounds like an undocumented Windows feature to me! :bluewink:

 

[minous]

working out pretty well but the input signal from the Zoom is peaking way high even with the Zoom on its lowest setting. So I have to mix the sax way down after and it seems it's a bit distorted because of this but just a little .

Again, this is exactly the problem I was having. You need to download the latest software version from http://www.zoom.co.jp/downloads/. It will fix the problem you are having. Otherwise the recording quality will continue to sound like dung when you use the zoom as an audio interface.

 

[Mike Cesati]

Thanks Minous

 

[rhysonsax]

Again, this is exactly the problem I was having. You need to download the latest software version from http://www.zoom.co.jp/downloads/. It will fix the problem you are having. Otherwise the recording quality will continue to sound like dung when you use the zoom as an audio interface.

I have been having the same issue with my Zoom H2n into Audacity.

Nice recordings onto the memory card, with a decent sax sound, and a gain setting somewhere in the middle of the dial, say about 5 or 6.

But recording at the same distance, I have to set the Zoom gain to about 1 and the Audacity input volume to 0.1 to stop the input peaking too high. The sound quality is then not nearly as good as the Zoom can manage with direct recording.

I have updated the Zoom's system software to the latest version, which is supposed to make it support USB3.0, but I have the same volume and quality issues.

Rhys

PS Windows 7, Audacity 1.2.6, Zoom H2n and System Software 1.20

 

[EllSyd]

I believe the latest Audacity Version for Windows is 2.0.3. (just checked my version, and that's what it is) You should probably update. There are a bunch of settings in Edit/Preferences, including latency correction in the Edit/Preferences/Recording.

 

[Saxhound]

You might also try downloading the free ASIO4ALL driver for Windows. It's very stable and works well with all my audio programs.

 

[rhysonsax]

You might also try downloading the free ASIO4ALL driver for Windows. It's very stable and works well with all my audio programs.

I have updated to Audacity 2.0.5 and will play around over the weekend.

Had a look at the ASIO4ALL site but I must be dumb, because I don't understand what the driver is for. I need to do some more research.

Thanks

Rhys

 

[timobrien]

Can you transfer the files digitally via the memory card?

If so, that will give you high quality.

If you are going through the computer's built-in soundcard, that's your problem.

 

[Swaman]

I have pretty good results with the Zoom H4n/Audacity/Windows 7 but I found the ideal setting on the Zoom in I/O mode is .6 and going up to 1 was too high.
Something you should do is go to the Audacity help manual and perform a Latency test. I was wondering why I was coming in late all the time until I did this.

 

[rhysonsax]

Can you transfer the files digitally via the memory card?

If so, that will give you high quality.

If you are going through the computer's built-in soundcard, that's your problem.

The Zoom H2n can either record digitally to the memory card or act as a USB mic, effectively being its own digital interface. It doesn't use the computer soundcard at all. And the latency setting I use is fine.

Yesterday I managed to get the volume and sound quality working fine, using a gain level of 3 on the Zoom and 0.06 as the Audacity input level. To set that very low input level I had to go into the Windows control panel and set the microphone device properties level at 6/100.

Rhys