The overview:
I took it out of the box and was impressed with it's sleak organized appearance. It is not very heavy, yet feels sturdy. I plugged it in and hit the power button. The hard drive immediately loads one demo song. The hard drive is quiet. You just hit play and you can listen to the demo and adjust faders, mute tracks, etc. Now comes the important part: You must read the Introductory Chapter in the manual to get anything to work, because there is one main button that needs addressing in order to put everything into motion. That button is the "Project/Utility" button located just to the top right of the display screen. This button loads your work from the hard drive, creates new projects, save (called "store") your new(latest) work. It is suggested that you store frequently to avoid loss of data in case of a power outage or incorrectly turning the power off. You must use the power button. Do not pull the plug, flick the light switch, etc., or you will lose unstored data and possibly damage the drive(Looks like using a temp power device(in case of accidental power outage) is best for those doing serious recording. Or just to protect your equipment.

One feature unique to this recorder is the Rhythm section which consists of a functional drum machine with preset kits and patterns with a seperate bassline. This can also be programmed for original patterns using the sequencer... complete with realtime quantization and scoop erase. That's the good news.

In Use:
The bad news is, the drum and bass sounds are not too inspiring. They are lesser in quality than the ones that come with the PS-02... so are the patterns. This is a real downer. I tried programming my own patterns with the bass line and the results were not acceptable. If you can find preset patterns to help you write a song quickly, fine. But you will replace them with a REAL drum machine when you want to record a demo worth posting on the net. It is not worth the time programming patterns. You may as well spend the time on a quality drum machine instead of doing it twice.

POSTING TO AVOID TIMEOUT-continue below

[This message was edited by erik on 12 September 2001 at 03:13 PM.]

I say add drums later because the manual says the ZOOM transmits Midi Time Clock. Yes, that's right, Midi Time "Clock". What does that mean? I hope it means Midi Time Code. If it doesn't than i see this claim as misleading. I have not tried it yet but my drum machine syncs to MTC. Still you are better off recording your drums onto stereo tracks 7/8 before recording your song. So in summary, i find the complete rhythm section feature useless.

Let's move on to happier functions:
The mixer has faders and mutes/record for the drum and bass tracks, plus 1-6 monaural, and 7/8 9/10 stereo tracks. Then finally a master stereo fader. Tracks 7 and 8 can be monaural. You can also record stereo tracks onto 1/2 3/4 5/6. This would give you one fader per channel. You can only record two tracks at a time. This is good for the self musician, NOT FOR A LIVE BAND without a mixer in front.

Recording:
You can only work on one "Project" at a time which is loaded/created from the hard drive. Each project comes preset with all the effects chains, rhythm patterns, etc. that you get when first powering up. Also, whatever project you were working on before powering off is the one that will load by default... assuming you stored it before turning off.

Recording is easy. Two XLRs w/phantom(easy to access switch), two unbalanced, one dedicated guitar/bass input. You then have to trim pots with on/off switches to adjust then another record level knob to adjust. Recording is as simple as activating a track and doing your standard hit record then play. You can record through the various preset effect modules or bypass effects altogether. All effects can be fully programmed and saved to patches. There are also seperate global Chorus/Delay and Reverb that goes to the entire mix with send levels for each track.

BTW, the effects are not only effects but models of amps and such. They all sound excellent. Very crisp and clean. No analog type warmth to be found on a ZOOM effect. It's their sound. Anyways, the effect/modeling chains are very easy to navigate and program.

The recorder inludes all your professional editing except time comp/expan. - nor is there a pitch adjustment(all, plus phrase trainer would be a function of a compression algorithem which this recorder does not possess). You can bounce all the tracks to 9/10 with the effects and mix settings. One great feature is the ability to use scenes. Effect patch changes can be controlled by scenes. There is a Master effects insert that works in front of the gobal chorus reverb. It is capable of altering the mix dramatically.

There is a 2 band EQ sytem that is adjustable for all tracks, as well as pan. All part of the scene memory. There are 99 scenes, i think. Remember, this applies to every "project" you work on. You will never run out of scenes, markers, effect patches, rhythm patterns, etc.

So how does it sound:
BEAUTIFUL! I did some recording with high levels. When i play the tracks back i had them at ear drum splitting levels and there was no breakup, no digital distortion. I did notice that if you have a mix using all the tracks that you can push the headroom easily causing mild digital clipping. This can be demonstrated with the demo that loads in when you first power up. push all the faders a smidge above 0 and you get some clipping. It also happens if you try to dramatically alter the Lo EQ. I don't see this as a problem just normal stuff with all digital multitracks.

I found the ZOOM recorders do not track bass guitar well, even with the models. So, i used another device to preamp and bypassed the effects. This worked better. BTW, the effect bypass is a button. You can quickly bypass for your recording needs.

What i did:
I took a stereo mixed song out of my PS-02 and recorded it into the 1044 on stereo tracks 9/10 bypassing the effects. This inlcuded a pre-effected vocal. I also ran a live bass into the mix. This is quite humorous. I plugged my bass into my cheap Boss TM-7 guitar monitor, then sent it to the ZOOM PS-02, bypassed it's effects, then mixed it with the outgoing song into the 1044 bypassing it's effects. I did this because the song i recorded had guitars with pre-effected verb. As i mentioned before there is no reverb applied to recording inputs of the 1044. While the effects in the 1044 are almost indentical to the PS-02, i find it easier to get the sound i want using the PS-02. So there is my dilema. I won't be using the rhythm section. I already like the effect chains in my PS-02, so is this recorder worth keeping?

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[This message was edited by erik on 12 September 2001 at 04:17 PM.]

The ZOOM 1044 is an outstanding recorder. It is easy to use, and sounds GREAT! A 15 gig HD will keep you busy for a while. Which brings us to mixdown or storage. There is a optical/digital out for MD or DAT. I don't know how well it works i can't test it. They will be offering in the future a USB/SCSI output card. Price not disclosed.

I paid $699 for this recorder and i believe it is very much worth it. I believe it easily surpasses the Boss BR-8 and the Fostex FD-8. However, i do not know if the Korg D12 is a better deal even at $200 more. I just might exchange this 1044 for the D12 because i already know i won't use the rhythm section and there is no time comp/exp like the Korg has, AND i find the effects in the PS-02 acceptable for my needs (The PS-02 stays. I love that thing.). I don't think the D12 has phantom power. I know i don't need it as i own a condensor mic. So i am, as of yet, undecided.

In any case, i highly recommend the ZOOM 1044 for if it suits your needs. If they had ommited the rhythm section and took $100 off the price it would be an amazing deal. Hey, it's already an amazing deal. Try one for yourself.