ZOOM R20 Multi Track Recorder: Quick Review

welcome to power coat music in this presentation we're going to talk about the zoom r20 16 track digital recorder and we're going to do a quick review of that unit released in late 2021 at the time of this presentation the zoom r20 is the brand's newest and what zoom says is their most advanced digital multi-track recorder ever and that is no joke in a previous video called zoom r8 r16 and r24 differences explained i did a comparison of the current zoom r series models and the zoom r20 was not included in that list now this was because it had just been released and i wanted to take some extra time to analyze the unit separately now check out that video for detailed information on the other zoom r series line of products in this presentation we'll do an overview of the zoom r20 to see how it works and what makes it stand out from the rest of the r series line of products so we're going to cover the units features and functionality technical specifications as well as the unit's brand new lcd touch screen interface let's start with the zoom r20s features this is a 16-track digital multi-track recorder editor and mixing workstation it also has an lcd touch screen and none of the other zoom r series models have that it also has gain controls on each channel and the faders are color coded so if you look at the lcd display the channels on the lcd display those colors are the same as the trim knobs and the faders the unit has eight xlr channels and two channels include line inputs the units channel 1 offers high z and channels 5 to 8 offer 48v phantom power a built-in drum machine includes 150 rhythm and song formations in 30 genres and the unit features 18 onboard synthesizer sound so you can plug a usb mini keyboard into this device and be able to trigger synth sounds that way you can also import midi files to add pre-recorded bass lines effects and other audio parts to tracks so it makes it compatible with other hardware digital recorders as well that let you export tracks eq and compression are standard on the r20 and the unit records directly to sdhc and sdxc cards with up to one terabyte of storage again no other unit in the r series can record up to this amount of storage one terabyte is the highest and the r20 has it the unit also has an ac power adapter that's included and a bta1 is sold separately now this is a bluetooth adapter that allows the r20 to be controlled via the zoom wireless control app on an ios device let's move on to the zoom r20s functionality by analyzing the unit's top side and rear panel components and we'll start with the channel bus first we have the input jacks inputs one and two you would use that to connect things like guitars microphones and keyboards these support xlr and quarter inch unbalanced plugs now inputs three through eight you would use these to connect keyboards and microphones these support xlr plugs as well after that we have our hi-z switch that's what you would turn on and off for input one you would switch it as needed when connecting a guitar or base after that we have our input peak indicators and the gain knobs use the input gain knobs to of course adjust the input signals and adjust them so that the peak indicators of course don't light after that we have our track indicators these show whether the track inputs and the faders are connected to the tracks and that is tracks 1 through 8 or 9 through 16. what follows then are the track record buttons you would press these buttons to enable recording on the tracks and they're gonna like read when they're enabled after that we have of course our channel faders you would use these to make adjustments to the individual tracks and then we have our master fader now you would use this to adjust the signal levels of the master track which can be a stereo mix of individual tracks other front panel components include the phantom switches now these turn the plus 48v phantom power on and off use these when connecting condenser microphones that support phantom power to inputs 5 through 8. next we have our touchscreen this shows various types of information and is operated by touch after that we have the click button now this turns the metronome on and off and the indicator lights when it's on after that we have our rewind button press this to skip back one bar now if you press it and hold it you can search backwards after that we have our fast forward button you press this button to skip forward one bar press and hold this button to search forward after that we have our stop button of course you're going to press this to stop playback and recording and if you press it when it stop you will move the recording and playback position to the beginning of the project after that we have our play button of course you're going to press that to start the uh playback of your project and also to pause the playback and the indicator will light during playback after that we have a record button you press this to start recording and of course the indicator will light during recording to let you know that you're recording let's move on to the side panel components they include a remote input jack here you would connect a zoom bta1 or other dedicated wireless adapter after that we have our usb type-c port using this projects can be copied to and imported from usb flash drives usb midi keyboards can also be connected and used to play this on board synth sounds connecting to a computer also makes the following possible you can use the r20 as an audio interface you can use the r20 with a digital audio workstation or daw you can use the r20 as a card reader after that we have the sd card slot you would insert your sd cards and in this slot and they would need to meet the sdhc or sdxc specifications let's move on to the rear panel components now they include number one the power switch of course this turns the r20 on and off now when it's switched to off the current mixer settings are saved in the r20 and this is saved in the settings file in the projects folder on the sd card after that we have our dc 12 volt ac adapter connector after that we have our phones output volume knob which adjusts the headphone volume what follows is our phone's output jack now here you can connect your headphones last but not least are your output jacks now you would connect these to a pa system power amplifier powered monitor speakers or whatever you need to connect them to now we'll dive into the details of the r20s technical specifications first we have the inputs and we look at the mic line inputs connectors and also the xlr trs combo jack set up and the details for those specs so under the connectors we have everything the input gain input impedance uh maximum input level phantom power you name it so all of the details if you have any questions about it pause this video check them out we have the same for the outputs the technical specifications for the master outputs and the connectors maximum output level output impedance we have the same for the phones which would fall under outputs the connector maximum output level and output impedance moving on we have the track settings which include pan eq send effects stereo link comp limiter gate compressor limiter gate moving on to the recorder technical specifications the of course maximum simultaneous recording tracks are eight playback tracks are 16. we have the recording format for you in detail along with the recording media moving on we have the effects specifications the number of simultaneous effects and the patch memories for them we also have the tuner specs for you along with the metronome time signatures tempo range and then moving to the rhythm loops we have a sound source format of pulse code modulation and the number of loops there are 150 of course this is for your drum machine next we have the synth specifications on board this is an eight voice polyphony synth sound source format is frequency modulation and of course we have the number of sound types which is 18 plus the pcm drum kit moving on we have the display screen your full specs for that and next is what many of you will be interested into is your usb connection types which is a type c usb connection now this is gonna cover your audio interface operation your mass storage operation the guitar lab software application connection how that's going to work your usb midi keyboard connection should you connect a usb midi keyboard to it and of course your daw connection because this device can be used as a control surface so here's the functionality for that as well last but not least we have your miscellaneous section which is your remote power considerations and the weight of the unit this is a mobile unit at 2 pounds 14.9 ounces finally we'll do a high level overview of the r20s lcd touch screen interface here we'll take a look at some of the lcd touch screens operations on various screens so that you can get an idea of how the unit's display works so you would use the touchscreen to tap swipe slide and pinch in and out the following are some applied examples we'll start with the project screen here you would tap a value that you want to set the current setting value is then shown in blue you would touch the slider and then drag it horizontally to adjust a setting value double tap the slider to reset it to its initial value tap the plus or minus buttons at the ends of the slider to change the value by 1. let's jump over to the date time screen on this screen you would tap the up and down buttons to change the settings let's move to the rhythm loop screen here you would touch the display and slide your finger vertically to scroll let's move on to the track view screen here you would pinch in or out to zoom out or in on the timeline in regards to navigation to return to a previous screen or the home screen at the top left of the screen tap the left arrow button repeatedly until that specific screen opens in summary as you can see the r20 is by far the most advanced model of the zoom r series line of products it covers all features and functionality of its siblings and then some with superior preamps a full touchscreen lcd display and up to one terabyte of sd card storage the r20 has indeed thrown down the gauntlet now remember you can connect a usb keyboard to trigger the onboard synth sounds you can use the onboard drum machine to invoke rhythm patterns and you can operate the unit via the touch screen for navigation track editing data entry song mixing and much more lastly the other r series models just like those you can use this unit as either a standalone independent digital recorder or in conjunction with a digital audio workstation or daw of all the models in the r series at this time the r20 is the one to beat well that is a wrap if you like this video please give it the thumbs up and click the subscribe button on your screen now to join our group we have new videos coming out every 7 to 14 days we would love 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Channel: Powercoat Music

Views: 2,010

Keywords: ZOOM R20 16-Track Recorder, ZOOM, ZOOM R20, ZOOM R-20, R20, R-20, R20 multi-track recorder, R20 multi-track, r20 recorder, R20 16-Track, ZOOM multi-track recorders, Digital multitrack recorder, Zoom R20 tutorial, Zoom R20 review, Zoom R20 overview, Zoom r20 features, Zoom r20 technical specifications, ZOOM digital recorders, 16 track recorder

Id: Vkc8pgeJR_E

Length: 15min 28sec (928 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 15 2021