ZOOM R8 - Mini Multitracker/Sampler

[Ill Green]

http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/r8/features/

These things look real cool. Its a multitracker at heart but you can sample too and record your pad performance. Even includes drum kits to get you started. So far, all I know the sampler is 30 seconds, but I don't know if thats the entire memory or 30 seconds per pad. Info is still vague for this new guy but it has pitch (yes, like a turntable) and trim with waveforms.

On paper, this looks like a miniture MV 500.

[formal]

Yah it does look dope. I can't find a PDF manual to get more info. The price looks good too: $300. There's not many YouTube vids of it either. Next time I go to guitar center I'll have to check it out. It seems lame that they would put a 30 sec limit to samples, but it's zoom and I wouldn't put it past them. Excluding the mighty sampletrak of course!

[Ill Green]

Whats up formal! Yeah, the manual is not even out yet, I want to know more about the sampler section. But as someone who messed with limitations of old gear, I know that the multitrack side of the R8 can lift that 30 second sample time burden. The MS-1 and SP-202 are very limited in sample time but with a multitracker the possibilities are endless.

Also I see its an audio interface and controller, I'm just guessing but you can probably control the drum racks in Ableton and record them in the R8.

[a.D.]

I was gonna say-couldn't you probably just bounce shit to a track,then start over w/the sample time maybe? Regardless,this thing looks really dope!-never really seen anything like it..? imo zoom is a great company,innovative too- i got a feeling we might be seeing a new updated sampletrak sometime in the not so distant future...anyway,i'm gonna look more into this joint,thanks for the post ill...

[a.D.]

this thing looks sick,for real- might be getting ahead of myself...but i could possibly sell the br,cop this-which seems to have all the same features plus more,same sound quality(no cd burner though)..and still make a decent proffit--bet this shit is much simpler to use too--as an mc,it would me dope to be able to adjust bpms a couple slower or faster if needed without too much hassle. idk-maybe i'm overly hyped,but this looks like something along the lines of the st-people may be talking about how ill it is and how it got slept on in 5-10 years..

[Ill Green]

Its been confirmed that its 30 seconds of sample time for each pad and polyphony is 8 voices.

All I want to know is that do you sample traditionally thru its inputs or do you import wav files via USB? Its already out and for sale but no hands-on reviews or manual yet. Its got over a hundred effects too.

[formal]

I would think you can just sample directly and edit your WAVs in the machine to make them fit the 30 second limit. The machine does look really dope. I like that it's battery powered (4AAs) and it's also USB powered. IF I get the chance to mess with one I'll give you guys a run down. Hopefully somebody can make it before me.

[springwater]

Im hitting up the Guitar Center this weekend and if its a good as it sounds as of now, i might grab it up. 30 seconds per pad isnt that bad for a machine like this.
It does so many other things, usb audio interface, usb controller, sampler, multitrack recorder, batteries, 100 effects. If it actually sampled more than 30 seconds a pad id be suprised. Unless you need half an entire microwave beat to one pad then your screwed. But to lay your beat out in, lets say 4 bar parts, to each pad, thats pretty cool. Then if you can resample your main mix like you can with the 808 and put that to a pad, then this machine is a beats. Bang out 4 bars live in the 8track, then put it on a pad and continue from there. The 808 just sucks with the 4 voice poly. once your 4 tracks are full, your done.

[a.D.]

yea,i mean i'm not the most knowledgable person it the world when it comes to equipment-but i really never have seen something like this before-it looks very solid and easy to navigate as well-which is a problem w/ this br-they made it much more complex than neccessary to carry out certain functions,shit i still don't know how to do half of what it's cappable of doing--just too much damn work,lol.But 30 seconds per pad,8 pads,8 voices-that's a whole lot of time really..a dope way to do things would be to do all your drums on it,then lay down your chops on a few tracks from your sp,mp,st or whatever else..& your beat is instantly tracked out...wonder if it has varriable sample rates-if it has a simmilar setting to the the st's "standard" that would be crazy-that's about the closest you can get to the sp-1200 hardware wise.If filters are part of the efx that would be ill too,as well as a swing function.one of the things i like about zoom products is they create a lot of stuff that's pretty open ended as far as all the uses you can get out of something-it's kinda up to your immagination. And everyhtings extremely affordable,but not cheaply made,i.e. behrringer,art,etc...I'm seriously thinking about possibly getting one (300 bucks is a huge investment for me)..honestly with how dope the br is-it's still getting kinda dated.

[a.D.]

looks like the lowest u can go is 16 bit,40kHz...that's still pretty nice though-they might have a bit crusher effect or something too-i can't seem to find a listing of all the efx

[springwater]

I have a roland vs-840 ex, and it is very hard to do some of the simplest things. And how its set up to record makes no sense to me what-so-ever. Once you get the basics, then your cool to lay down tracks, but editing is something i have yet to do. Probably didnt put enough time into the specific functions of this machine, just do what i need to do to get the job done.
But this thing looks like its made to make your life easier. With all the computer connectivity and effects, it just makes this thing a beast in itself. Some usb audio interfaces cause about 200 bucks alone. I was happy as hell when i had the 555 because of the audio interface and the pads working as a midi controller. Having a machine that is good at doing what its meant to do is great, but when it can do a bunch of other things its amazing. I used to have a tascam dp 02 (without the effects) and it was like record, edit, thats it. Then i saw that there were multitrackers that could do those thing and a shit ton more. Its always cool to have a good machine that does multiple things because you less limited in your creativity. Those 8 pads will definitely come in hands but id just like to know how they connect with the rest of the machine. Like, how do you sample. Can you play the pads in a sequencer or just live while recording. Once you lay out 8 tracks, can you resample those tracks to the pads. Can you even resample at all (with all those effects). You can probably bounce your tracks but can you resample the pads. How many effects can you have on a track at a time, more than one would be cool, if not then you have to bounce all the time which i personally hate to do.
Other than that, this machine looks pretty promising for the price that it is going for. I hope guitar center has these cause their website doesnt.

[ellaguru]

It does so many other things, usb audio interface, usb controller, sampler, multitrack recorder, batteries, 100 effects. If it actually sampled more than 30 seconds a pad id be suprised. Unless you need half an entire microwave beat to one pad then your screwed.tracks .

cool, this very interesting!
so you could have a soundcard/controller/sampler at the same time...like a sort sp606/555 with faders...how the edit possibility are on this machine however?
...i heard that the r16 from zoom is very cool too...(but not on price)

...like on 606/555, you don't have dedicated Outs for monitors, for example on my m-audio FTP soundcard i have those...
but, for a price like this this is however ok.
(what i do with sp606 is to just substitute rca cable with monitors cable everytime, this is not very confortable, but it's ok)
-other questions: got it midi I/O? could internal FX be used to "filter" audio I/O?

[Ill Green]

It seems ZOOM released the R24, which is the big brother of the R8, and that has a 24 voice sampler. I think the manual of that can explain some features of the R8. Will get back with info. Been bugging the shit out of ZOOM with emails but if I'm gonna cop one, I wanna know, you know.

[springwater]

dam, guitar center doesnt even carry Zoom products. Or at least not on their website. This is 2011 right?

[boombapp28]

Ya'll should try Sam Ash. Sam Ash is a parent company of Zoom so you're likely to find it there.