Whenever I buy anything that's over twenty bucks, I research like crazy before I spend my money. I can say with certainty that if you are interested in becoming a better songwriter, this Zoom r8 is the very best choice. Here's why I am so sure.1. The simplicity of the r8 is awesome and it's clear that Zoom took their time in designing the button layout and inputs so that everything feels natural. Watch a YouTube video or two and you are going to be happy with how quickly you are able to operate the r8. I can arm a track, set levels and be recording in under a minute; overdubbing is even faster.2. The sound quality is clear and warm on playback. The sliders move with the right amount of weight so that you can dial in your levels without worrying about knocking the ... MoreWhenever I buy anything that's over twenty bucks, I research like crazy before I spend my money. I can say with certainty that if you are interested in becoming a better songwriter, this Zoom r8 is the very best choice. Here's why I am so sure.1. The simplicity of the r8 is awesome and it's clear that Zoom took their time in designing the button layout and inputs so that everything feels natural. Watch a YouTube video or two and you are going to be happy with how quickly you are able to operate the r8. I can arm a track, set levels and be recording in under a minute; overdubbing is even faster.2. The sound quality is clear and warm on playback. The sliders move with the right amount of weight so that you can dial in your levels without worrying about knocking the other sliders up or down.3. This recorder is capable of doing a whole dang album if you wanted to! Its drum program actually sound surprisingly solid and full of punch. What really grabbed my attention and impressed me was how cool the distorted tones were on this! Clean is easy, it has all that from straight forward to ambient, but I was actually digging the onboard tone for my guitar. 4. This is so much more fun than I thought it would be. I have improved my vocals, vastly improved my timing, and most importantly I am writing better than I ever have. This truly is worth the price and you can never go wrong with the free shipping, no sales tax and the piece of mind that after the 1yr manufacturers warranty runs out, AMS gives you an extra year long warranty that begins when the manufacturer warranty ends.

Difficult UI

This device is highly functional - indeed it perhaps tries to do to much and be too clever. This results in it being difficult to learn and to remember bow to complete the more complex tasks. Far from being intuitive.I am sure I will master it eventually but a review of the user interface is needed to help buyers over the steep learning curve.I have used several Zoom products over the years. All have worked fine and been reliable but others have certainly ben easier to get to grips with.

Life before Zoom & life WITH Zoom

Overall:First let me say that I'm that guy that never reads the instructions. I'm that dude that plows head first into projects and then gets frustrated because everything didn't go smooth. So with this in mind, I was a TAD apprehensive about buying something that I perceived as needing time to LEARN to use. I can't tell you how many times Ive added it to the cart only to delete it later. We all do that, right? lolAnyway, I couldn't have been more surprised. Don't get me wrong, you'll need to use the instruction manual but Zoom actually includes a hard copy with the unit! And, it's full of those pictures that simplify everything. You know the ones, right? They show a picture of the button and say "press this". lol. Overall, I was amazed at how simple it was to use ... MoreOverall:First let me say that I'm that guy that never reads the instructions. I'm that dude that plows head first into projects and then gets frustrated because everything didn't go smooth. So with this in mind, I was a TAD apprehensive about buying something that I perceived as needing time to LEARN to use. I can't tell you how many times Ive added it to the cart only to delete it later. We all do that, right? lolAnyway, I couldn't have been more surprised. Don't get me wrong, you'll need to use the instruction manual but Zoom actually includes a hard copy with the unit! And, it's full of those pictures that simplify everything. You know the ones, right? They show a picture of the button and say "press this". lol. Overall, I was amazed at how simple it was to use and how intuitive it was when it came to learning more complicated tasks. The recording is amazing. Well, I really don't have anything to compare it to but that's a great thing right? I don't need anything else.It comes with tons of effects too. My pedal is currently down, uuugggg, and it has a NICE EVH distortion sound that I found. Plus, I have used the onboard Mic's to record acoustic guitar and they sound great too. I love mine. absolutely LOVE it.

Nice recorder

I'm a longtime guitar player (42 years) and recorded quite a bit with a Tascam 4 track cassette years back. The Zoom R8 seems like a good product so far. For the money, it is very versatile. I just completed a recording using only my electric guitar in conjunction with the R8. There is a decent amount of sounds to be had with the built in processor. You could get away with just an inexpensive guitar and the R8 and come away with a nice recording. I used a Squire strat with GFS pickups, tweaked a few of the internal sound algorithms, used the bass simulator and internal drum loop and came up with a recording using no other external gear, amps, mics or processors. Just plugged into the unit direct. I'll post the recording on y-tube for those that may wonder about ... MoreI'm a longtime guitar player (42 years) and recorded quite a bit with a Tascam 4 track cassette years back. The Zoom R8 seems like a good product so far. For the money, it is very versatile. I just completed a recording using only my electric guitar in conjunction with the R8. There is a decent amount of sounds to be had with the built in processor. You could get away with just an inexpensive guitar and the R8 and come away with a nice recording. I used a Squire strat with GFS pickups, tweaked a few of the internal sound algorithms, used the bass simulator and internal drum loop and came up with a recording using no other external gear, amps, mics or processors. Just plugged into the unit direct. I'll post the recording on y-tube for those that may wonder about recording direct in. Guess I'll title it Zoom R8 Funky Daze first recording.I've read the manual and its OK. It should be physically larger with a large font and it could be more concise and clear in a few areas. There are over 500 drum patterns, numerous kits, and you can load individual patterns into songs. I believe this will be the most difficult task for most. You have compression, chorus, reverb, and a number of other effects available. I haven't used the on board mics but I'll be trying them with my acoustic soon. I haven't downloaded Cubase yet. I ran the outs into Audacity. Bottom line, you get a huge bang for your buck and I think this is a fantastic unit.

Pretty much does it all...

As a semi-professional musician and someone who works in location recording I'm hugely impressed with this product and the price.It's almost a decade old and there's still nothing like it... a soundcard, a sampler, a portable 8 track recorder that can run on batteries, a sampler with built in drum samples and effects - this is just amazing considering you can spend the same amount on a standard audio-interface. It also comes with the latest version of Cubase LE so if you're looking to get into recording or audio production, this is your first stop.**Audio Interface**Plug this into your computer with a USB, add speakers and you have a ready-made sound card that can re-amp your clean guitar or line signal or record vocals with 2 XLR / jack combo inputs that can ... MoreAs a semi-professional musician and someone who works in location recording I'm hugely impressed with this product and the price.It's almost a decade old and there's still nothing like it... a soundcard, a sampler, a portable 8 track recorder that can run on batteries, a sampler with built in drum samples and effects - this is just amazing considering you can spend the same amount on a standard audio-interface. It also comes with the latest version of Cubase LE so if you're looking to get into recording or audio production, this is your first stop.**Audio Interface**Plug this into your computer with a USB, add speakers and you have a ready-made sound card that can re-amp your clean guitar or line signal or record vocals with 2 XLR / jack combo inputs that can record simultaneously.**Sampler**The R8 ships with ready-made drum samples and loops that can be assigned to 9 sample pads, allowing you to make your own drum track or program your own beats directly into the device with a MIDI mapper. This is a fun feature, but can't be used when the device is in Audio Interface mode, so it's more of a portable function. The R8 no longer ships with a pre-loaded SD card full of additional loops, but you are able to load your own onto an SD card and play them back using your device.**Recorder**If you're not familiar with using an 8-track recorder, there's a steep learning curve and a fat manual ahead of you, but the rewards are great! The R8 runs from the mains or on 4 AA Batteries which means you have a portable, mini-recording studio at your disposal. You can record two tracks simultaneously and have most of the capabilities of a DAW if you can tolerate the small screen and limited controls. It also has a built in metronome, equalizer and effects, plus phantom power for a condenser mic.As a musician, you can take it anywhere... plug in a mic or a guitar and let your ideas flow. If you work in film, you have a portable workstation for capturing location audio. For any purpose, this is a great piece of kit considering its size, weight and versatility. It is made of plastic, so probably not as durable as some others but you'll be hard-pressed to find anything like it for the same price.*Controller*Another cool feature is that you can also use the R8 as a Mackie control in Cubase and use the transport keys on your R8 to record, play, scrub, punch in or program any function you choose. This really helps if you don't want to sit right at your computer while recording or prefer using keys for functions instead of a mouse.Overall, fantastic product for the price. The R8 tries to please everybody and succeeds.

Review of Zoom R8 Recorder, Interface and Sampler

This is a great device for the price. I got it because I didn't want to spend my music time in front of a computer (I already do that for work). It's not as powerful or flexible as a DAW, but you don't have to sit in front of a screen, worry about latency, compatibility or software updates.The device is not so intuitive that I could have worked it out without a manual - on the other hand I only had to read the manual once. Once you know how things work it's logical and you don't need to go back to the manual.You can record up to two tracks at once, and play back 8 tracks. You get 3 band eq, reverb and chorus for each of the 8 tracks. Other effects (e.g. distort) can only be applied to one track at a time, typically you'd use it on your input, though you can use ... MoreThis is a great device for the price. I got it because I didn't want to spend my music time in front of a computer (I already do that for work). It's not as powerful or flexible as a DAW, but you don't have to sit in front of a screen, worry about latency, compatibility or software updates.The device is not so intuitive that I could have worked it out without a manual - on the other hand I only had to read the manual once. Once you know how things work it's logical and you don't need to go back to the manual.You can record up to two tracks at once, and play back 8 tracks. You get 3 band eq, reverb and chorus for each of the 8 tracks. Other effects (e.g. distort) can only be applied to one track at a time, typically you'd use it on your input, though you can use it on a track then mix it down.The sequencer is very usable given the small screen size ! Very practical if you only want to record your bass line for the chorus once for example. I wouldn't use it for anything finer grained than that, though you can sequence down to bar level if you really want too.I've not used it as a sampler or audio interface. I've not used the in-build drum machine, so can't comment on those features.

Total Package Even For Full Blown Pro Production

The Zoom R8 is unbelievable. I was expecting an easy and portable solution to record quick song ideas down on tape before I would lose them. But I found myself actually getting far more than I bargained for and the ideas were much more than a reference and in many instances the flavor of the mini takes became the heart and soul of the song ideas. Since sound plays a very important role in what draws a listener into a song, the production level begins to take on a life of its own. Even cooler is how you can have many virtual takes which run in a parallel sub track. In other words you can have for instance 8 different vocal tracks under track 2, serving as sub takes and play back any instance of them or bounce them around with no quality loss whatsoever. You can ... MoreThe Zoom R8 is unbelievable. I was expecting an easy and portable solution to record quick song ideas down on tape before I would lose them. But I found myself actually getting far more than I bargained for and the ideas were much more than a reference and in many instances the flavor of the mini takes became the heart and soul of the song ideas. Since sound plays a very important role in what draws a listener into a song, the production level begins to take on a life of its own. Even cooler is how you can have many virtual takes which run in a parallel sub track. In other words you can have for instance 8 different vocal tracks under track 2, serving as sub takes and play back any instance of them or bounce them around with no quality loss whatsoever. You can record your guitar clean while hearing a distortion mix that does not get recorded so you can keep playing with different fx and fine tuning the guitar mix. Can be done with vocals as well. Drums can be a used as a sync without actually recording them so they can be edited later to add fills or change completely. You just cannot find a better production tool for writing that is more complete than Zoom recorders. The built in mics are just fantastic and I recorded a live band and there was not one bit of distortion recorded. Singing and playing guitar 3 feet from the recorder and then adding fx sounded like a studio recording. This a seriously well thought out unit and a must have for every musician that feels the need to be productive on the fly or for full blown mastering. I like to bounce 8 tracks to the master stereo track and then copy the original tracks to sub tracks and then free up 6 more tracks now I have 14 tracks to again master to stereo 2 track. All tracks having full blown fx processing. Tight short gate reverb is the key to lively tight mixing. The fx are not to be outdone and the compressors and excites are as good as any I've used. Hands down best recording fx for the money.

ZOOM R8

Great bit of kit. Surprised how much it actually does. Very easy to start using, and the manual definitely helps. Some really good drum patterns included, with a variety of music genres, and you can change the tempo of them to suit your needs. Was really impressed with the guitar effects too, there's some great distortion and also clean tones. Nice interface too. The quality of the product is great too, from the switches and sliders to the material itself. Has a good chromatic tuner also. I use a pair of headphones with a 1/4 jack to plug in and create the music. Alternatively I think you can use speakers with an amp. Batteries don't last that long in the unit, but I've been using the power supply that was included. No memory card was included, but 32gb SD cards are ... MoreGreat bit of kit. Surprised how much it actually does. Very easy to start using, and the manual definitely helps. Some really good drum patterns included, with a variety of music genres, and you can change the tempo of them to suit your needs. Was really impressed with the guitar effects too, there's some great distortion and also clean tones. Nice interface too. The quality of the product is great too, from the switches and sliders to the material itself. Has a good chromatic tuner also. I use a pair of headphones with a 1/4 jack to plug in and create the music. Alternatively I think you can use speakers with an amp. Batteries don't last that long in the unit, but I've been using the power supply that was included. No memory card was included, but 32gb SD cards are cheap online. Still haven't done over 50% of its features, but I am blown away with it so far.Very responsive unit, great sound quality, easy to use if familiar with sound recording. But even if you're new to this, it won't be too difficult.