Any Edirol R-09HR users here ? Advice/Guidance please

I'm attempting to digitise my stash of off-air recordings. I have bought a second-hand Edirol R-09HR to accomplish this task.

I'm having mixed results which is to be expected, as some of these cassettes are over 40 years old ! As I'm retired, it keeps me out of mischief & have even read through the manual !

I find that when I pause the R-09HR in order to turn over the tape, I am in advertently triggering its on-board editing facility (which seems overly complex for my usage) & inadvertently splitting the resultant file. Mostly related to age related eyesight issues I think.

Is there a fool proof way of pausing recording, turning the tape over, resuming recording and ending up with just one file?

T.I.A

 

Anyone ?

 

After you flip the tape, what happens when you release the R-09HR "pause" button? Does it return to recording?

 

Thanks for responding.

When I flip the tape it usually continues recording, but as a new file. I have to confess, I didn't notice at first, as I was like a kid with a new toy ! I will be more observant & keep notes !

I have tried not using the remote control (because the buttons are tiny & my 68yr old eyes can't really cope) and only using the controls on the R-09.

 

Unfortunately, the manual for the R-09HR provides no option to disable this functionality. On p. 81, however, it does describe how to use the R-09HR to combine multiple files into a single file.

Here's the manual:
Roland - Support - R-09HR - Owner’s Manuals

If you are in the habit of copying these recordings onto your PC, you could combine them there also.

 

This might be a dumb question… but is it such a bad thing to have a separate track for side one and side two of a tape?

 

I agree; but also will experiment with starting the R-09 recording & then enabling the hold button (which disables most of the controls) & when it comes time to flip the tape & then editing out the silence. Wish me luck!

 

Not really ! But quite a lot of my tapes are 60min concert broadcasts recorded on C90s. So I'd like to keep the original broadcasts intact as one file.

 

I hear ya! Maybe there is some way to combine them back into one track after you’re done recording them? At any rate good luck.

 

Of course you could leave the recorder running while you change sides and be left with some dead air. If you plan on editing the files down for cd or something you could use some audio editing software to remove the dead space later.

 

since it seems the issue is only operator technique, I would maybe build a "wall" between the top and bottom sets of controls on the device using self-adhesive foam or several layers of gaffer tape to try to better identify the play/pause button by feel. the "wall" should be in front of the finger tip to get the pause button. the "wall" under finger pad (middle of finger print) is too far.

 

I appreciate your thoughts, but I fear the small size of the controls on the R-09 mitigate against them. Thanks for the thoughts though.

 

Finally got round to doing some Googling & re-reading the manual.

A definitive answer (courtesy of Roland's knowledgebase)


The R-09HR and R-09 uses a FAT16 file system; this is a very common file system used in the computer, electronic and audio recording industries. The FAT16 file system has a maximum file size of 2GB; this is a limitation of the file system and not of the R-09HR/R-09. However, recording does not stop when the 2GB file size is reached. The recoreder will automatically create a new audio file when a recording reaches its 2GB maximum file size and recording continues.



NOTE: If you need to combine multiple audio files into one larger file, you can use audio editing software programs on your computer

 

First, I don't have an Edirol.
I'm not sure how big a problem it is to have the two cassette sides recorded as two files (although I can understand it may be a bit inconvenient for you). Most basic WAV audio editors will be able to join the two files. Furthermore, the editor will give you the ability to do some tidying up of the recording, such as trimming excess intro/outro time on the recording, and fade in/out theintro/outro, and for you to clean the transition between the two cassette sides. It's quite easy once you have gone through the learning curve for the program, and these are the easy functions to use in an editor.

 

I hear you man ! I already Googled " Audacity for dummies ". Loads of tutorials pop up.

 

are you recording at 24 bit 96 kHz? in stereo that's 35 MB per minute, so 2 GB is reached in 58 minutes. is that how long the first of two files per cassette is?

I didn't notice any other automatic splitting in the manual, such as the recorder starting a new file when it detects a certain amount of silence.

so if the issue is not operator technique pushing the wrong button at the wrong time due to eyesight, and it's actually the case that recordings are reaching 2 GB in size, to answer your original question:

yes there is: record at a low sampling rate so each cassette records to a file less than 2 GB.

CD spec stereo 16 bit 44.1 kHz is about 189 minutes in 2 GB.

or 24/48 for 118 minutes.

 

shadowhillway

Thanks for confirming what I think I deduced earlier this morning. Since then I have copied a 60 min concert broadcast (I dropped recording to 24/88.2) & it stayed as one file. Result ! No operator error!

 

congratulations. it seems an old dawg has learned a new trick

24/88.2 will be about 63 minutes for 2 GB, so make sure to pause/unpause correctly, or flip sides without delay.

 

I was faster than greased lightning !

 

Given that the source are old cassettes, nothing as far as "audio quality" would be lost by going to 16/44.1. Advantage is that files are 1/3 the size of 24/88.2 and several cassettes will fit on an SD card. You might give it a try sometime. Glad this worked out.