The songs were captured by the BBC in the Autumn of 1951 during a visit to the University of Manchester.

The recording has been unveiled as part of the 60th Anniversary of “Baby”, the forerunner of all modern computers.

The tunes were played on a Ferranti Mark 1 computer, a commercial version of the Baby Machine.

I also like the way he did the video, looks straight out of ‘84

Big Ideas (Don’t get any) from 1030 on Vimeo.

The Nord Modular was the first major synth hardware with required software for programming it. It was extremely powerful. I own two! It was also the gear that soured me on the whole idea. Why?  Because, Clavia never upgraded the editor to work with OS X. There was a beta release, but it didn’t work that well. So now, that very expensive hardware is mostly worthless.

Luckily, some bright hackers decided not to let it lie: Nomad is nord editing software written in Java for OS X, PC and Linux.

What would have been better would have been if Clavia had released their software as open source, so that folks didn’t have to reverse engineer it.

This is why I won’t ever buy a Nord Modular G2, by the way.

Overall, I’m pretty happy. There are some good points and some bad points, but around this price point ($200), you can’t really do too much better for the features. I’ll cover those in a moment, but I do need to make on caveat: I’m using this for a bunch of different things, but mostly for doing ambiance recording and this review is based around that use case. I haven’t tried using the H2 to record a band or an instrument or anything like that. I did use it to record my talk at MAX and also a coaching session for that talk, so I can speak to it as a lecture recorder or something similar (and I will). This is also not an exhaustive review. For that I recommend the review on meefedia, which was recorded on the H2.

Now onto the good stuff.

First off: The size

The H2 next to a 80GB IPod.

The H2 on top of the 80GB IPod.

The H2 is a bit longer, a bit more narrow and double or triple the width of an IPod. This is pretty reasonable and is totally jacket-pocketable. It is also quite light weight-wise. It feels lighter than the IPod, which would make sense since it doesn’t contain a hard-drive. You can put the H2 on a bench or a chair or something and not attract a lot of attention (which I like).

Secondly: Recording Quality

With options for both compressed and uncompressed recording with sampling rates up to 96 KHz and depth up to 24 bits, you are well covered in the output area, what about the DACs themselves? I found them pretty good, reasonably flat and clean. You are obviously making a trade off in cost vs quality here, but the technology overall has improved so much over the years that the H2 sounds pretty good. Amazing, actually, for something so small. For all the sound samples below, I used the built in mics: both the front and rear mics. The mics were also decent. I have external mics that would work with the H2, but I haven’t tried them yet.

Below are some samples from some recordings I made at Millenium Park in Chicago. Unfortunately, when I made these clips in Soundtrack, it converted them all to 32bit float instead of preserving them at 24bit integer as they were recorded. Rather than convert them back to 24bit (introducing any processing that might alter their character), I deliver them as 32bit float (which is not supported by the H2). There has been no processing to them beyond the 32bit conversion.

All of these were recorded at 48KHz/24 bit using the rear microphones (120 degrees) with the exception of the 4 channel recording, all of them were also recorded with the H2 on a small tripod (not the included one).

• A maintenance cart pulls up about 10 feet away (notice the panning): 3.5MB AIFF File
• I flip the microphone from Medium sensitivity to High sensitivity as the maintenance worker is pressure washing the sidewalk: 4MB AIFF File
• A longer excerpt near the video screens/fountains near Michigan Ave: 14MB AIFF File
• A 4 channel recording made near the cafe: 4.4MB front AIFF file | 4.4MB rear AIFF file

Thirdly: REPLACEABLE BATTERIES

I don’t care if your batteries last 14 hours. If I can’t go to a store and buy some new ones when the batteries die, I’m going to seriously consider your device disadvantaged. My camera takes AAs and the H2 does as well. When I ran down the batteries right before my trip to Millenium park, I went to a corner store and bought some more. EASY. IT SHOULD ALWAYS BE THAT EASY. The lack of replaceable batteries was a disadvantage in my mind to all of the other portable recorders on the market, including the H4.

Now for the not so great stuff…

Firstly: Build Quality

At this price, you can’t ask for too much, I guess, but the plastic case and chicklet keys do not convey a sense that this device was built for durability or long life. On mine, the USB port doesn’t completely line up with the hold in the case for it. It isn’t a problem, but it isn’t screaming “quality control” either.

Secondly: The inputs and outputs are on the side of the device

This isn’t an issue unless you are someone who likes to carry the recorder around in your pocket while monitoring with earbuds and recording with an external microphone like I do. For me, it is a serious design flaw. The headphone jack is on the left side of the unit, the external mic jack is on the right side of the unit. This means that unless your headphones and your microphone have right-bend jacks (which few do), this thing will take a bunch more space in your pocket and you’ll risk damaging the jacks any time you try to remove the device or insert it into your pocket. Given the size of the thing, I don’t know what other options they had, but it is an issue anyway.

Thirdly: Usability

Contrary to other reviews, I don’t think the usability on this is that horrible. It certainly could be better, but it isn’t that hard to change settings and do typical things. A couple exceptions: the first press of record puts you into monitor mode, not record mode. This messed me up a few times as I was first using the device. I’m used to monitor mode being the weird thing. This is just a matter of training yourself. The second issue is that the startup time is a bit slow. It could be worse, but if you are carrying your H2 around and then you hear the clock start to chime and you really want to get a recording of it, you better hope that it is pretty late in the morning or night, because otherwise the H2 starts up too slow.

In summary

I’ve been looking for a while for something to replace my mini-disc as my dedicated field recorder. The H2 gives me the quality I need with the features I like at a great price. I’m keeping it.

[via CreateDigitalMusic]

Zoom H2 Recorder Review - mefeedia

[link]

When I’ve done Intonarumori shows for the last couple of years, I’ve relied on my PowerBook and some external processing gear, mostly so I can run Live. I always fret over this, wondering if it makes for a boring show (it does) and worrying about a reboot or crash (hasn’t happened yet, but I’ve seen it happen to others). For the decade or so before I switched to my laptop, I’d used all gear to produce similar stuff live. Periodically, I think about being able to do that again. I’ve been following the Roland SP series for years, but haven’t plunked down the money yet. This one looks like it could be the one to make me switch back… [via Harmony-central]

This doesn’t come from NAMM, CDM posted about it. Trinity are working on a portable DAW based on linux and with a bunch of audio apps included. This is a kind of neat idea. I could see it useful for some folks, but for me the platform itself is more interesting than the DAW. It could also become my laptop replacement. A computer customized for audio that was really portable could be a game changer for musicians. Now, with a touch screen, and softsynths and a reaktor-like thing (Pd or whatever)… drool. The next step would be a similar device for VJs…

Apple - Pro - Profiles - Alan Pollard

These Apple profiles are usually interesting reads, even if they are the web equivalent of infomercials. I’m always a fan of reading about some of the interesting setups that the big-time musicians use. Bjork’s set-up isn’t too goofy, but it is interesting that she is integrating the more abstract UIs from the various tools that her band is using to make the electronic stuff more compelling to her audience. Also, it must be nice to be able to borrow one of the two react-tables in extistance and then bring it on a tour.

Over 140 pots, pans, kettles, lids, bowls, containers and more

More unique than conventional drum samples

Multiple hits: bottoms, sides, rims with mallet and light stick

Recorded with a Marantz EC-335 split-stereo microphone