iKey Plus portable USB recorder
Connect iPod, press Record
Review For budding DJs, or musicians who want to record live sets or gigs, the new iKey Plus portable USB recorder could be just what the beat doctor ordered. Designed to work with - yes, you've guessed it - the iPod, or any other external USB storage device, the iKey Plus can record live audio in MP3 or WAV format without the need for a PC...
Portable digital audio recorders are nothing new. DAT and MiniDisc have both been around for years but neither format records directly to MP3 or WAV. This normally means you have to replay the audio back out in real time while recording it to a PC in the format you want. Alternatively, many of today's personal MP3 players offer direct encoding to MP3 from any line-level source, such as a CD player. However, few let you manually control the record level and many limit recordings to low bit rates. This, though, is where the iKey Plus steps in, at a reasonable £145.
Able to record audio in uncompressed WAV format or as MP3s encoded up to 320Kbps, the iKey Plus is the higher specced version of two similar products from iKey-Audio, a division of GCI Technologies. Compared to the standard iKey recorder, the 'Plus' model features additional inputs, a VU meter display and a headphone monitor output.
Measuring a compact 13.8 x 8.3 x 2.8cm, the main body is constructed of gloss black plastic and feels sturdy enough in the hand. A full metal construction would have been preferable, but the snazzy aluminium faceplate-cum-battery cover should keep the metal junkies happy. Alongside this is a row of seven multi-function LEDs, as well as the main Record and Select buttons. More on these later.
Batteries are not included but if four rechargeable AAs are fitted, the iKey Plus will operate as a charger. Of course, regular alkalines are fine but, as the manual mentions, don't connect the power adaptor at the same time - there's a risk the batteries will explode. As for battery life, a set of 2000mAh rechargeables lasted just over five hours with constant use. Included in the box is a mini stereo microphone, stereo phono connector lead and a soft carry pouch, as well as two additional faceplates finished in red and black.
COMMENTS
RockBox not necessarily that good
For the Archos recorders, Rockbox doesn't support bitrates above 160/170kbps, and doesn't support CBR or uncompressed WAVs (well, more accurately the archos recorders don't support it).
It may be free but much of the hardware out there is not really designed for making professional recordings, etc. Some of the iriver's don't offer manual record levels either do they?
other digital recorders
There are several alternative small digital recorders with inbuilt microphones to record music, or as an executive toy.
Edirol's R-09 is a neat package http://www.rolandus.com/products/productlist.aspx?ParentId=114
and M-Audio offers an alternative
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack2496-main.html
Essentially, the iKey uses the disk and power supply of the iPod, making it a bit cheaper but a clumsier plug-in.
Or use RockBox on your mp3 player and save the money
Why not run RockBox on your mp3 player (if it's supported)?
(recording works on some Archos, iriver and iaudio players, ipod recording is just around the corner).
Rockbox has following recording features:
- live peakmeters with
- configurable dB scale
- on the fly gain adjust
- pre-recording (never miss the beginning of the set)
- record as WAV/AIFF/WV/MP3 (many bitrates and frequencies)
- split into new file based on time
- split into new file based on filesize
- split into new file by keypress
- ...
see http://www.rockbox.org/
Best of all it's free. No need to carry the extra hardware too.
Who's its target?
I'm struggling to see any real point to this device.
First up -- why does it include MP3 encoding? No-one serious about their music will take their master recording in MP3 format. After all, you would have to uncompress and recompress to do even the simplest of corrections or adjustments. Would anyone who would use this feature find any benefit over using an MP3 player's record function? I'm not convinced.
I don't think this is really for bands, we have the problem of "house mix" vs "record mix". Your average gigging band normally has most of its performance volume coming directly from the guitar and bass amps and the drum kit, with the PA carrying the full volume of the vocals with only some "reinforcement" of the instruments. This means that you cannot record from the house mix -- the balance is biased to the vocals. To run two mixes from the inputs requires two mixing desks, naturally, so why not buy/hire a desk with built-in recording facilities -- multitracking even?
The other option is to take the so-called "room mix" -- just plug in a mic and hear what the audience hears. But the quality on that is generally so poor that, again, you may as well just record directly on your MP3 player.
This device is so close to useful: what musicians need now is a dedicated multitrack recorder. One with the bare minimum of knobs, bells and whistles that just saves the raw data and lets us mix down on a PC with the sort of software most of us use anyway.
There are already plenty of ways of recording two tracks -- we don't need this new one.
