Most likely, yes. It first comes down to the inputs. If you are ok with only needing two 1/4" jacks and the rest can be XLR, then you're ok with the R20. Second, if each set is only about 50 minutes, and you create a new project for each set, you should be ok. But the R20 has recording some recording region and timing limits, so you can't just set it up, hit record, and let it go for hours. The recording limit details are here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6DCqGeObdiSpa8 As other options, if you mostly need 1/4" jacks, you could potentially go with an L-6. Or if you need a true mixing board with maximum flexibility of all combo jacks, you might want to look at the L-8. Or...you might be able to get away with a H6 essential with a capsule on top. I made a video about matching your recording needs to the right type of multitrack recorder here. It might be helpful and it has chapters so you can skip around, if needed... kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKTSkqSAicRqmck

No automated punch I/O. You can hit the REC button while a track is playing to start overwriting the moment you hit REC and stop overwriting when you hit STOP. But obviously that doesn't work if you play guitar or something else where you need two hands. The work around I use is to record the new part on a fresh track. Then use the touchscreen to cut out the bad part within the original track, then drag the newly recorded part into the gap of audio that I excised. End result is the same. But yeah...it would be nice if they just added some kind of automated punch I/O to the marker menu in a firmware update.

@ I’m thinking for vocals , sometimes it could be a single word etc

@ I suppose if you catch it immediately, you could catch the next bar and correct it then move it to the timeline ?

You can hit the REC button and the STOP button for overwriting punch in and out. But I still think it's best to record your vocal "fix" to a separate track. If you get the take that you like, then use the touchscreen to splice out the one or two words that are off key in the original track. From there you can either leave the "fix" in the new track and just adjust your faders accordingly to smooth it out as it plays, or trim up the fix tightly and use the touchscreen to drag it into the spliced-out space on the original track.

Yes, it should work. The R20 outputs to the headphones and the master L/R outs. The headphone out is amplified whereas the master L/R signals that only respond to the master fader level. You'll need to amplify/boost that signal before you can hear anything from speakers.

@GazRendar gotcha

Thanks so much! Just trying to help out other folks who also prefer to record with stand alone multitracker devices.

Glad you found it helpful. Happy recording!

I get the impression Tascam is perfectly fine and could care less about the L-6. They are instead going high-end with their new Sonicview line.

@ imo they will have a similar unit out before end of year

I'd be excited to see some healthy competition in this space

Thank you. And not at all. I'm very comfortable with the L-6, but I didn't buy it to be an overdubbing song building device for me. I bought it to be a nice compact mixer with simple multitrack recording features, largely because I already have the R12 and R20 for song building. If you want more of a song building device you'll have to move up to the L-8, at the very least. But it's all about what you need. I made a video about trying to identify the best type of budget multitrack recorder for your needs: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKTSkqSAicRqmck

@ very helpful! Thank you for your response

Happy to help. Enjoy the L-6!

You're welcome!

Wow! Thank you so much! Very much appreciated!

Thank you. This one was a lot of work to put together. Happy to hear the content makes sense. The R20 has it's highs and lows. I've personally learned to appreciate and lean into the highs as much as I can, and I need more inputs than the two on the R8 for my own specific needs. I don't care if Zoom sticks to 24-bit devices, but I do wish they would truly make a flagship multitrack recorder that is a real successor to the R24 (the R28?). Something that builds off the R20's touchscreen, but offers more CPU horsepower, all combo jacks, and some kind of MIDI clock and sync support.

The L-6 does NOT generate a master MIDI clock. You can only send MIDI clock tempo signals to the L-6 to modulate the L-6's echo and delay effects. The L-6 is quite a bit different from the R16 and the whole R-line in general. The R-line are designed to be multitrack recorders and song building machines. The L-line devices are first and foremost mixers, and recorders as a secondary feature. I made a video for people who are shopping for a new budget multitrack recorder. I think the main goal is to make sure what TYPE of recorder you should buy for YOUR specific needs, and then settle on a model. If you haven't, feel free to take a look and skip around on the chapters if you need to: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKTSkqSAicRqmck

With the L-6 that isn't going to be easy. You can feed a click into any of the inputs, but everything goes to the master out/headphone out. You can do one of two things. First, feed a click into one of the inputs, and then play whatever instruments you want through the other inputs of the L-6. You'll hear the click in your headphones or the master out. When you are done recording, take out the SD card and just use the individual tracks and mix them elsewhere....simply don't include the click track that was recorded. Or if you want a master out that is without a click, you can feed a click into one of the inputs as above. That will go to the master out and headphone out again so you can hear it as you record other things. Send your other instruments to AUX 1 and/or AUX 2. Run AUX 1 and/or AUX 2 to another recording device to record your instruments minus whatever is generating your click. Note that AUX 1 and AUX 2 are summed mono outs, though.

Yes. That's how you can power the R12 and whatever else (a MIDI controller) simultaneously. I've had pretty good success with most powered USB hubs working, but not every hub will necessarily work with the R12.

@GazRendar And if the hub has an additional input for a USB memory, will I be able to use this memory with Zoom R12 connected to a power socket at the same time?

Usually yes. But sometimes you cannot connect both a USB stick and a MIDI controller to the same hub and have them work at the same time. Again, this somewhat depends on the USB hub and how great it's compatibility is with the R12. Unfortunately, you don't know until you try it out. Zoom has some hubs listed on their support webpages now.

I don't know, the more I use it the more I like it for my specific needs. It definitely is a compact mixer, though. But it all depends on what your needs are. If you need more multitrack recording flexibility, or more song-building capability, or a few more XLR inputs, you'll want to get something else. At least an L-8, if not something from the R-series. I made a video about first making sure you know what TYPE of multitrack recorder to get for yourself, then going on to find a specific model from there. Feel free to give it a look if you want and jump around with the chapters: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKTSkqSAicRqmck

Ha...I dunno...I'm more partial to Metal Man....or once the Bubble Man stage gets going a few seconds in it's a pretty good tune

You cannot. I touch on it a little bit here and in my First Impressions video, but the L-6 doesn't have a LCD screen. There is no way to see and select past projects, so it will only playback your most recent recording.

Artiphon had good customer service. They sent me another Orba 2 and it arrived in an acceptable timeframe. That second unit worked fine. I made a short follow up video that explains their customer service: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6jCi4l5jpWGrNE

@ there’s the Orba 3. Does Orba 2 allow panning, adding EFX and altering volumes on individual tracks i e drum, base et cetera?

Not really. You can do some more with the connected app, but you mostly control the master volume with the volume rocker button on the side. You can add expression and modulation while playing notes by using your fingers on the capacitive and reactive surface, but that's the closest you'll get to what you are looking for. The Orba 3's primary difference is that you can sample directly with the Orba itself. The Orba 2 needed you to sample with your phone's mics, and then transfer that sample to the Orba 2 via Bluetooth.

@@GazRendar panning meaning being able to set recorded tracks left right giving a stereo eft.

I mean, I'm pretty positive I know what you are asking....and that answer is No. I haven't seen anything in the app where you can like, set the chords to pan 50 to the left and the lead to pan 28 to the right. For starters, you don't really record what I would truly call "tracks." You can create a loop of drums, and then while the looped drums are playing you can play a loop of chords, then a loop of bass, and then a loop of lead. But you can't go back and like, make anything longer like you could with a true track in a multitrack recorder. Instead, if you originally played 4 bars of a drum loop, then you can only play 4 bar loops of chords, bass and leads. Second, you can sometimes get something akin to panning control, depending on the settings and what you are using the Orba for. While you are playing a loop for like, the lead part, you can play a note pad and slide your finger up and down that pad to give it some modulation that might briefly also come across as panning. Or sometimes you can tilt the Orba while playing something and that tilt will give it a mod-wheel like effect that will also sort of add some panning effect in there. But you can't tilt the Orba a perfect 45 degrees and expect to get a "45" pan to the right or something. You might not get anything that truly sounds like it panned at all. It's a little unpredictable. If you use the Orba as a MIDI controller you can assign some of the gestures to mod effects in your DAW, so a tilt there could give you something that resembles panning. But if you are asking, does the Orba have tight, true panning controls like how you precisely turn a dial on a mixing board? No.

It's kind of a "DIY" mic I made myself for about $20. It's nothing special, but it can work in a pinch. Here's the details: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3y0Z6Oifbqpg80

Happy to help!

Thanks. For some people, the $599 price tag on the Model 12 is still absolutely worth it. The downsides are the footprint and some of the menu structure in that small screen, but having all those knobs for immediate controls in every channel is necessary for some people. The Model 12 can be great if those are the features you really need.

Absolutely. The L6 works great for Volcas or compact Airas or pocket operators....it's easy to record on the L-6 and then take all those WAV files to a computer to polish them up. If you need more L-6 specific content, you can start with my First Impressions video that goes through the basics: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIHan55jZ95rrNk

Thanks, I use my Scene "C" setting all the time!

@@GazRendar Its so usefull ,I am using this too.

Thank you so much. Happy to hear that they help!

You're most welcome. Thanks for the kind feedback.

It's a small DIY kit for a spectral analyzer that I got a couple years ago. Shortly after I bought it the listing disappeared from the internet otherwise I would have made a video about it.

Thank you!

Thank you! The po-128 is hard to find these days since TE stopped making them. I’m glad I got my two awhile back. I have most of POs, but the mega man is my favorite.

@ recently got a case from beatmakers boutique highly recommend especially for the KO it makes the bare circuitboard into an actual instrument with good economics

Yeah, I have that standard silicone case from TE for the one PO-128 that I have. It's not bad, but I wouldn't mind getting one of those more custom cases...

Yeah, it's not bad as a straightforward multitrack recorder. No set up or settings to manage. Just hit REC and go. And then you have to work with the tracks on a computer later...if that's all you need, then it's great. But you can't build songs one track or one instrument at a time on this device. You'll have to at least move up to the L-8 for that, or consider the R12 or R20 instead.

As always, thanks Wigges! Have a happy new year!

Thank you!

Thanks for watching and best wishes for a happy new year in Scotland for ya!

Like...trigger the playback of a sample with a MIDI controller? No. But you can load any WAV file into any track as an audio region so it plays precisely when you want it to play.

The L-6 can't really replace the R24. The R24 is a song building machine. You can create songs one instrument at a time, or even one small section at a time and keep building things up. The L-6 only lets you record whatever audio is being fed into the mixer at that time. There is no overdubbing with the L-6, so it really just functions as a mixing board with a no frills multitrack recording function. The MIDI on the L-6 is fine for what it is, but it is rather limited, in my opinion. You can use MIDI CC signals with a MIDI controller to adjust the EQ and Pan settings for the L-6's channels, but you can't use the L-6 to set a master MIDI clock or a click sync.

That's great to hear that the videos helped...that's all I'm trying to do. Based on the way you describe your set up, it sounds like the L-6 was a really good choice for you. Happy mixing and recording!

@@GazRendar really, the best choice. Ultimately my goal is to record all into Ableton and mix in there. I’ve been messing around with that all week. I love that I don’t need to unplug and re-plug things with this mixer in my setup now. All groove boxes are turned on and plugged in, it’s a no-brainer. I still have some learning to do with it as far as the audio interface part but I’m just trying different things and learning by trial and error. Again thank you for the detailed videos, I’m subbed, and rewatch them. They’re my manual haha

I think this device can definitely work for podcasting, but it's not necessarily ideal for it because there are only 2 XLR inputs and only one headphone out. I think it's best suited to synth musicians who have several instruments that feature 1/4" outputs who want an easy way to multitrack record and actually get dry individual tracks that they can mix and edit later on a computer, along with the full stereo master WAV file for reference.

@GazRendar yeah you are probably right given there are so many line level inputs and just one headphone out. In my case I'd like to use it to multitrack record dj sets. So it's perfect 👌

Yeah, I've used Cubase and several other DAWs. They are great if you can invest the time in getting to learn them. But to me, nothing beats the immediately accessible and "fun" way of recording with these dedicated, stand alone devices.

Definitely not for everyone. But for a specific subset of people it can be 4 or 5 stars. Just depends on what your needs are.

@ I spoke too soon. I bought it the day after I left the comment. AND… I love it. LOL I binged your videos, truly appreciate the effort you put into explaining it.