ZOOM R24 vs R20 comparison - which one is better for you?

hi you're watching flight steinberg's youtube channel while we took the zoom r24 and removed one third of its tracks and features well then you'd end up with a zoom r20 which has been available for some days here and i've got one here i bought this with my own money and today i'm going to compare these two devices so looking at the specifications a lot of features were removed and i'm going to list them in this video but which one is better for hobby musicians like me well that's not so easy to answer if you want to know more please follow me along in this video vr 24 was released in 2011. it's a 24 track recorder targeted at the semi-professional market it's still available in shops which speaks for its popularity the r20 was released in 2021 but appeared in retail stores in early 2022. like its predecessor it's targeted at a semi-professional audience so far reception has been a bit critical i'll do this video as a simple list in the first part i'll list all the features the r24 has that the r20 doesn't have in the second part i'll list the features the r20 has that the r24 doesn't have and then i'll record a short demo using three synthesizers at once on both machines and will then present a conclusion first let's take a look at what both machines have in common they're roughly the same size and both have eight audio xlr inputs and one 6.35 millimeter steerer output and headphone jack both can record up to eight other tracks simultaneously in standalone mode or as an audio interface tracks can be recorded in stereo or mono both have buttons knobs and faders such as preamp strength track volume and to arm or disarm a track for recording both machines can apply various insert and sound effects to your tracks tracks can also be eq'd and panned both machines have a built-in drum computer which can be used to accompany your music also your musical projects can be saved to usb stick or sd card both as a mix down or separate tracks for further processing in your digital audio workstation tracks can also be sequenced that means you can record a take and just repeat it in parts of your song for convenience you can also set markers in your project for quick navigation and you can set up loops for rehearsing specific parts of your song you'll also find various goodies like a guitar tuner and the metronome on both machines both machines have switches to turn on phantom power for microphones that need it and there are high sensitivity switches for connecting guitars directly to these recorders without needing an additional amplifier now let's take a look at what you lose if you decide to move from the r24 to the r20 most obviously you lose 8 audio tracks as this vr 20 despite its name is a 16 track recorder the r24 can record in up to 96 kilohertz in interface mode and up to 48 kilohertz in standalone mode but then you can't use the built-in effects the r24 has a set of microphones for stereo recordings which are not too shabby i frequently use them to record my piano the r24 can be powered by 6 aaa batteries which will typically last for three to four hours and that's enough time for recording a live concert the r24 can be linked by usb to another r24 so you can record 16 audio tracks synchronized there are drum pads so you can play and record drum tracks live and instead of only one drum kit you can choose from several drum kits which all sound quite good the r24 gives you several mastering insert effects you can apply to your master track while rendering a project there are eqs multiband compressors steer enhancers and more things at your disposal here here's a before after example [Music] on the mixer screen each track can have its cars and reverb adjusted separately on the eq screen you can set up the eq to be a filter to remove unwanted mud and noise the r24 can be powered by a usb cable only while using it as an audio interface or card reader instead of only two 6.35 millimeter audio inputs you get eight of them and due to its lack of a touch screen the r24 has a lot more buttons for navigating the menus and tracks and setting up things and here's the features that the r20 gives you that the r24 does not have the build quality of the r20 is better fader's knobs are tighter and buttons are more clicky overall design is better too with this nice color-coded user interface elements tracks can be recorded in 44.1 kilohertz 16-bit or 24-bit instead of two phantom powered audio in plugs you now get four instead of usb type 2 you now get a usb 3 socket there's also an extension slot for bluetooth connector that's only supported by ios devices at the moment then there's the touch screen obviously it's sufficiently big and bright and it's responsive enough tracks are now organized in a timeline like in the daw the sequencer is thus more easily understandable and flexible and audio editing like trimming stretching looping copying and pasting is much less of a hassle overall i'd say this is a big step up from what the r24 had on offer also the r20 has a built-in synthesizer which can provide one of 20 instruments per track one of them being a drum synth sounds can't be edited and the selection zoom provided is best labeled as glorious 80s cheese a project can only have one synth track but you can easily convert those into audio tracks and add more synth stuff later and you can uncheese the synth instruments by adding up to 5 effects of your choice per track tracks can now be rendered individually in place so you don't need to mix them down to a master track and then move them back to the original track like on the r24 overall i like the new user interface everything is a bit more intuitive and quicker in audio interface mode you can now choose between stereo mix down or eight track there's also a guitar lab mode which lets you use all the internal effects effects can be set up in an app running on your pc or on your phone there are some more details of phone for example in usb interface mode the headphone out and steering out now show up individually so you have four separate audio outputs at your disposal okay so far this doesn't look favorable for the r20 doesn't it a lot of features were removed in moving from the r24 to the newer r20 and the usability of the touchscreen is at least debatable so why is it hard to decide which one is the better one for hobby musicians i'll show you a short experiment and i'll explain my setup very clearly in order to not make any mistakes and then you can decide for yourself which of these two machines is the better one here we go okay so what i'm going to do is to create three musical sequences on my synths synthwave ambient and rock i'll use synthesizers because playing back synthesizer tracks will always get the same result i'll set all the preamps to the 12 o'clock position on both the r20 and the r24 and then i'll record half a minute of audio first on the r24 than on the r20 i'll then render a mix down on both machines load that mix down into audacity and normalize it so the volume is exactly the same on both takes and then i'll load both takes into my video editor and i will play back those tracks to you alternating between both takes every two seconds you will see which machine you're listening to at the moment on screen by the way if you like this video and content like this please consider subscribing seeing those numbers grow makes me happy and keeps me motivated to post stuff about gear like this and other things thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] as you can hear listening to recordings of the r20 compared to the r24 is quite like having eox removed everything is more clear and transparent and it has more body to it especially drums and bass recordings and this makes saying which device is the one you should get really hard obviously feature wise the older machine wipes the floor with the newer one and that's the thing that shouldn't be on the other hand there are 20 scores that really matters sound quality and usability still i wonder why zoom wasn't able to include all the good stuff found on the r24 in the r20 as well they improved the pattern editor greatly for example but removed all the drum kits but won and the built-in time stretch drum loops are really strange addition overall the lack of midi sync is quite baffling especially considering the r20 has a midi import now personally i'd like to see an editor for the synth sounds someday so here's hoping that zoom might provide some updates in the future seen as what it is the r20 certainly is good value for your money the thing is that the r24 was even better value for your money back when it was released yeah and that's it for today i hope you found this interesting and useful and if you did please consider subscribing to this channel and as always thanks for watching and see you again very very soon bye-bye

Channel: Floyd Steinberg

Views: 56,193

Keywords: electronic music, synthesizer, synth, music, lifestyle, bigsky, strymon, zoom, r24, demo, tutorial, novation peak, yamaha ex5, floyd_steinberg_synth_channel, zoom r24, zoom recorder, zoom r20, ZOOM R24 vs R20 comparison - which one is better for you?, zoom r20 vs r24, zoom r20 vs r16, digital multitrack recorder, zoom r24 review, zoom multitrack, zoom r20 multitrack review, zoom r20 review, mpc one, zoom r24 tutorial

Id: 2FkFBGq7Oiw

Length: 12min 31sec (751 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 05 2022