Zoom r16 vs r24

Clinton Zimmerman · Post by **Clinton Zimmerman** » 10 Mar 2017 7:00 am

Getting ready to purchase a multitrack recorder does the zoom r24 have any advantage over the r16. Thanks Clint

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 10 Mar 2017 12:30 pm

if $100 won't break the bank the R24 would be a nice choice as it comes with an on board sampler, drum programmer and 24 available tracks . They both record 8 tracks at a time, they both record in wav files , they both have the same recording feature set.

If you are dead set on only 16 available tracks and never will need a sampler or drum programmer , save $100 and go for the R16!

The key to these machines is 8 tracks recording at the same time to an SD card and each track is a separate wav file which is a standard format.

Clinton Zimmerman · Post by **Clinton Zimmerman** » 10 Mar 2017 12:37 pm

Hi Tony the drum sampler is what I Was looking at on the r24,it seems like a good chioce to me. Thanks

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 10 Mar 2017 1:32 pm

I have the R24. The drum programming interface is tedious and at best as good as programming a drum machine. The R16 and R24 can both have a zillion tracks per song but you can only play back 16 or 24 at a time. I went from years of programming a few different drum machines to a combo of EZDrummer and BIAB for drums. Programming the drums on a PC is so much easier and faster. This all assume you end up editing your tracks on the PC or Mac as well. The Zooms do an awesome job of capturing and transferring tracks. They sort of suck at drums, editing and mastering. I had to add a preamp to my R24 inputs to get the noise levels down with a Shure SM-57 mic. Very happy with the Zoom R24 for the way I use it!

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 11 Mar 2017 3:28 am

reflecting back , several years back I did have a small Zoom drum programmer, I think an MRT 3. I found it to be like Greg says, tedious plus the one thing I was looking for, 3/4's were at best like kiddie drums.

This shouldn't deflect from the R24 as it is a great machine but you may at a later time want to upgrade the drummer.

The R16 has the same input preamps, they are very workable , on par with a $399 multi-track recorder workstation. Adding an external preamp is always a good thing for more versatility down the road. Again, not a deal killer.

You can't go wrong with either the R16 or the R24. I happen to think they are the best bargain out there in the price range.

ajm · Post by **ajm** » 11 Mar 2017 8:58 am

What are you going to be using it for?
Live recordings?
Recording at home by yourself, piecing together a song one track at a time?

Drums: Make sure to do your research. If you plan on using an external stand alone drum machine, you'll probably want to sync it to the recorder using MIDI. Do either of these machines have MIDI? Many of the more recent ones strangely do not. Tascam no longer offers a porta studio with MIDI, which is baffling to me.

Depending upon your intended use, I'd seriously consider going the computer based route. Tascam and Zoom and others are phasing out of the stand alone porta studio market.