You can import from an SD card, or from a thumb drive connected to the USB-C port. You cannot import while the R20 is connected to a computer via USB, or while it's connected to an iPad via bluetooth. For more on importing mono and stereo .WAV files: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gLOdndWcytS3aKc.html

It's a $7 stylus from amazon. Any disc based stylus for capacitive screens should work. More details here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ot2WapSS3M_VnZs.html

@@GazRendar Thank you!

I could probably do like, a general preamp test with dynamic vs. condenser mics video...? In my experience everything sounds...fine. I've used noisier mixing boards by comparison, by Behringer in particular. If I pick up noise hum it's usually somewhere in my cords. I use an AKG CS1000S with it as my go-to all-purpose condenser mic and it's fine for me with phantom power or without phantom power if I use a 9V battery instead. If I have a very little bit of hum I can apply the noise gate in the track settings. It's not powerful, but it does clean up small stuff in the background. There is no MIDI output for the R20. The MIDI input over USB-C is really just for note input via a keyboard or drum pad controller. There is no MIDI sync for timing. I actually haven't tried this, but if you had a sequencer keyboard, like an Arturia KeyStep (I don't have one), you could probably sequence something into the KeyStep, run it through USB to the R20, hit record on the R20 for a synth track and hit Play on the KeyStep and it would likely record the notes. You could edit the piano scroll on the R20 for any small misses. I bet that would work. If you are looking for a clock sync, there is no MIDI clock on the R20. However, as a work around I can record a click track for sync, like 8th notes for Pocket Operators/Volcas, and use the R20 essentially as a sync track master. I have to really play around with the settings and get creative with it, but it does work.

It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. You can get an old Portastudio, but just be careful because some of them max out at 16-bit. I find it difficult to record rock music with real drums, bass, distortion guitar, and vocals with only 16-bit. It can be done, but it's a challenge due to the limited dynamic range. I greatly prefer 24-bit. So that's one thing to watch for. Some of the older Portastudios have features that are not on the R20, or are not quite the same. On on older Portastudios or like a Zoom R8 or R24, you could set markers at A and B points and have the the machine loop that over and over again (like while you work out a guitar solo). With an R20, you'll have to use the touchscreen to copy and past sections over and over to created a copy-and-paste loop for a determined amount of time to workshop that guitar solo. There is a convenience factor to recording everything on your multitracker and then immediately burning to CD there. It's totally fine. I've done it before. But those machines are 12-15 years old now. In 2024 it's really easy to take an SD card out of my R20, pop it into my computer, and do a quick mastering there and convert it into anything I want. I don't even own a CD player anymore, and in 5 years will anyone you know own a CD player? With the R20, you can master/mix down directly on the R20 and turn your song into a stereo .WAV file that can be played by anything these days. If you are going to buy a Portastudio model that is maybe pushing 15 years old, you probably want to still use it for until 2030, right? How often are you going to use burned CDs? If the answer is "a lot," then you should totally buy one. If the answer is..."I probably won't use CDs soon," then be sure to buy a multitracker that is going to work for your specific needs for a good 5-10 year run into the future.

You can follow along, but you manually have hit the Portamento/Page buttons to change the pages to go to steps 17-32, then 33-48, then 49-64.

You know, I haven't compared side-by-side exactly, but yes, I'm pretty sure they are the same drum loops. I'll have to do an extensive comparison and get back...

So this is something that only happens when you have a send effect patch applied? Is this the case for all of your send effect patches? If it's just one patch, you might have a modulator in your effect patch that somehow has a wet/dry mix linked to panning in one of the effects?

You're welcome! Good luck with the live shows!

Sorry, I have no insider knowledge as to what Zoom might be working on. I tried to contact Zoom one time when they first came out with the R12, and they never wrote back to me. Pretty sure they could care less about me. It would be nice to see Zoom build on their touchscreen multitrackers and create a true flagship model that is designed to be the successor to the R24. But I have no idea if Zoom is working on that. They definitely spent a lot of time working to update their Handy recorder line recently, along with the weird multitracker/handy recorder hybrid, the R4. I'm not sure what they are planning to work on next, but it's almost been 2 years since they released the R12. So maybe something will be on the horizon in the next year? I don't know.

No. The drum loops are stock pre-recorded wav files. You can time stretch them to your tempo when you first load them, but you can't edit them. You can also choose to use a Synth track and then use synth sound #19, which are drum kits. From there you can use the piano roll to enter kicks and snares and toms (etc) as MIDI notes. You can edit that, but you have a very limited number of drum sounds to choose from.

I greatly prefer to record with multitrackers due to their straightforward nature. I've used plenty of interfaces and DAWs over the years, but I just can't get into a groove with them, not to mention they are much more complicated to use than a stand-alone multitracker. These multitrackers sound pretty good, but a great interface and DAW will always sound better. However, the ease of use makes recording much more fun on multitrackers. To me, anyway. They are not for everyone...but the best recording gear is the gear that you always use. If you have an expensive DAW and a $600 interface, but rarely use it, how good is it then? A budget multitracker that you always use will beat that in my opinion.

@@GazRendar I mostly want a multitracker to record my drumset but the more I look into them i'm tempted to challenge myself to cut some full tracks without loading up Ableton

It's a DIY unit that I bought for about $50 over a year ago. Has a small rechargeable battery inside. Obviously has plenty of limitations, but for the price, works well for my needs. Shortly after I bought it the thing disappeared from online listings. I haven't seen it anywhere for awhile. If it pops back up as something you can buy I'll link it in my descriptions.

Just go into the Track Settings (touch the number 1 on Track 1 to see the contextual menu at the top of the screen) and then scroll down to where it says Stereo Link. Turn it on and Track 1 should become Track 1/2 as a stereo pair. You can stereo link any two tracks that are next to each other.

Within the R20 or R12 you cannot. It's just one tempo per project. Now, that really only pertains to the grid of the timeline and the metronome. So if you are playing your song at 120bpm, and you have a break down bridge at 95 bpm....you could create your own drum track that stays at 120 for the whole song except that short 95 part. As long as you have your drum track go between 120 and 95, you can use that as a metronome for all your other instruments. Your grid will be mess up a little bit during the bridge area, but you can turn off snap to grid and still work with your audio regions there. Not ideal by any means, but still doable. Alternatively, it would be nice if Zoom just incorporated that functionality into a new firmware update.

You're welcome!

It has obvious limitations, but it works in a pinch. Details here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r7GBadOdrbvafZ8.html

Thanks! Yeah, I totally know. I get asked a lot to show more demonstrations of editing examples with the touchscreen, and then...what to do when finished recording. I need to get to it!

You're welcome!

I looked at page 85 in the PDF version and it describes how to create an empty synth region. Which I demonstrate in my R20 synth videos. In regards to a loop, though, that's the best you can do on version 3.3 of the R20 software. You can tap the region, grab the white tab at the end, and then drag it out to the right for as long as you want to keep that region repeating. What I typically do is drag out a region for about 30-45 seconds. Then I put markers at the start and stop points, and use it to play a 30-45 second loop, hit stop, and then go back to the beginning using the markers. I use that for laying down a rhythm guitar track, have it repeat for 30-45 seconds at a time, and then workshop a guitar solo over it. But can you simply have a short audio region, mark the beginning and end of it, and designate it as an endless loop? As of v3.3, you cannot. I don't see why Zoom can't fix that with a firmware update to the marker menu, but I have no idea if they are working on that or not.

There is no automated fade in and fade out where you can touch the region and select an option. You have to use the faders in real time to fade in and fade out, like a mixing board.

For the faders....is it a true processing delay using the faders? I personally haven't experienced that. However, when you are in a project (song) and you set the physical faders where ever....say Track #1 fader is at -2dB...and then you go to the next song and you move Track #1 fader to -6dB and back out to the main R12 menu...when you return to the first song either through the project or through Seq Play playlist the volume for Track #1 will be saved at -2dB and a ghost fader will be at that mark in the Fader View even though your physical fader is down at -6dB from the second song. In order to adjust the volume, you need to move the physical fader up to -2dB where it "grabs" the ghost fader and THEN you can adjust the volume on Track #1 on that first song to something different. Is that the delay you are experiencing? For the playlist...you do have to pay attention to how much dead space you leave at the end of individual projects. If you have one region on one track that goes a little longer than anything else in the song, even if it's quiet and has nothing in that region, that will be there as one song moves to the next in the Seq Play. If you do have a lot of songs in the playlist, that can cause the processor to slow down as it gets a little warm. Sadly, there is no mute button, but at least you could put some kind of footswitch in between the monitor or headphone out and whatever speakers you are using to mute it. For more Seq Play explanations you could check out this video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qNd2h6R6qMm1kqM.html

@@GazRendar Thanks for taking the time to post such a comprehensive reply, Gaz. Yep - that's the issue. Looking in the touchscreen, I can see the ghost faders. That makes perfect sense. My playlist now only contains stereo mixes so I'll trim any silence... and not expect lightning-fast transitions, as the whole thing is approx 1 hour long. I'll check out the video now 🙂

I'm pretty sure that's the only way. That's how I do it. Copy and paste the whole pattern (which will include all patch parameters) into a new slot and then tweak it. You can back up the patterns to a computer too, but that's kinda cumbersome.

You have it correct. You can record a guitar dry onto the Track, and then apply the effect between the track and the headphones out so you can hear it. This way you can wait until later to decide what to do. Maybe at first the rhythm guitar sounds awesome with a distortion plus heavy reverb patch. But then you lay down the bass, another guitar track, two synth tracks, a lead vocal and two backup vocals, not to mention your drum track. Now the song is a lot busier and has more stuff going on. It's possible that when you listen to that guitar with the distortion plus heavy reverb, the reverb is just way too much when you have all those other tracks present. That allows you to apply a new send effect to the rhythm guitar track that has distortion with toned down reverb. You can apply that stuff in final mix down, or just mix down a single track with the new distortion + mild reverb applied once you understand how much sonic stuff is going to be packed into your song.

So....you are getting that phaser sound and you do NOT have an R20 phaser/flanger effect applied to those tracks? And you are listening to all of this through the headphone out of the R20? If you don't have an R20 effect patch applied, and you are getting some kind of sweeping phaser sound, my guess is that your amp's output is providing too much gain, or it's giving you a dry+wet mix of it's own effects/emulation, or something is going on in your cables. Your cables could have grounding issues with the amp. The amp might not be grounded well. Or you are using a TRS cable instead of a TS cable? Or the XLR cable is a balanced cable, but the signal coming out of the amp's XLR out is an unbalanced signal?

@@GazRendar some great advise there Gaz, I'll investigate cables first - I need new ones anyway! I'll update once I've tried them out 😎👍

No. There is a meta data file stored on the SD card. You might be able to open that up in a text editor and rewrite the code, but I haven't tried that. So maybe you can do something on the computer to rewrite the seq file, but there isn't a straightforward easy way to do it when a dedicated Zoom program or anything.

Yes. You can use the R12 as an audio interface and take advantage of both combo jacks. It runs through the USB-C port. I've used with a windows computer, an iPhone and an iPad.

For the most part, yes. You can set up a Seq Play playlist and control the routing of tracks for the R12's outputs. But you would need to adjust the timing of beginnings and endings of your recorded songs on the R12 for timing purposes while playing live. There would be some trial and error needed there.

Thanks! I think this video turned out to be one of my best retro Pocket Operator cover tunes. The PO-128 is definitely my personal favorite. They are harder to find these days, awesome that you were able to score one. Have fun!

The R12 doesn't have a feature that is called "bounce" like so many multitrackers of the past have. However, you can essentially bounce tracks. Let's say you filled up all 8 tracks and need to open up some space. You can use the Mix Down option in the fader view. Select that. Then pick which tracks you want to bounce....so say you want to bounce Tracks 1- 4 together. Start by muting Tracks 5-8. Go to the beginning of the song and hit Record. Use the faders to adjust the volume of tracks 1-4 in real time. Stop when done. That mixed down file will be stored in the AUDIO folder of your SD card. Then I recommend copying the whole project into a brand new project -- this way you'll retain all your original content. Within your copied project, now delete Tracks 1-4. After you delete them, then import your mixed down "bounced" track that contains the original content from Tracks 1-4. Your Mix Down track will be a stereo track, however, so you'll need to import it to say, Track 3+4. However, that will free up Tracks 1 and 2 now for you to add new instruments and stuff.

Keep at it buddy. I’ve had mine a couple weeks and I love it. It’s not intuitive to everyone, you just gotta keep learning by using. You’ll get there.

Yeah, the R20 was built first, so I don't think they were considering using a USB hub when designing it. However, you cannot power the R20 through USB-C. The R20 needs to be powered through it's own 12V connection with unique power supply. Therefore, the USB-C port on the R20 is always available and you don't really need a hub for it. By contrast, if you do not use AA batteries, the R12 has to be powered through the USB-C port. I suspect that's why Zoom made the R12 to be compatible with power-delivery USB hubs. It allows you to simultaneously power the R12 while also allowing you to hook up a MIDI controller.

Sorry. This was my unboxing video for the R20, and honestly it was my first demonstration video with talking of any kind on KZfaq. You are also literally seeing me use the functions of the multitracker for the very first time without reading any instruction manuals as I took it out of the box. I anticipated the video getting like...100 views...back when I had 200 subscribers. Since then I've made over 30 tutorial videos with more details about the R20. You can check out the playlist here: kzfaq.info/sun/PLJfZ2yw2Bc7apzujemOKk8aiTRfJvZfmR

Thanks! Glad to hear it helped.

Yes, but it depends on what your expectations are. I haven't used a Beat Buddy, but I've seen it before. If you are playing guitar with the Beat Buddy, I recommend you run the guitar into Input 1 of the R20 and then run a cable from the Beat Buddy to Input 2 of the R20. There is no way to run a MIDI sync clock out of the R20 to automatically sync with the Beat Buddy. So you'll want to set the tempo on the Beat Buddy to match the tempo of the project in the R20. Then set the metronome on the R20 (with a count in). Run your headphones out of the R20 to hear everything. You'll just need to play along with the metronome like you normally would with a guitar, but you'll have to hit the stomp pedal of the Beat Buddy to activate it in time with the metronome. Just do that one time to lay down a drum track on Track #2 for yourself on the R20. If you lay down your drum track for the whole song, you don't need the beat buddy for that song any more and you can just lay down 15 other tracks of guitars, bass, vocals, etc. I do that all the time with a PO-32 Tonic. I just set up my song's drum track on that pocket operator, get the tempos to match, and hit record. Once my drum track is down, then the backbone of my song is made and it's easy to start to fill in the tracks from there.

Thank you for the info. I was planning on connecting the beatbuddy separately and lay down the whole track so that I don't have to worry about the drums for the rest of the song. Thanks again, and thank you for the awesome tutorials. They've helped so much!

Thanks!

That's all true, and if those features are good for your workflow, then your device works for you. None of the budget multitrackers that are out there are perfect. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. In my opinion, the 15+ year old DP-008EX sounds a little rough when you are using 5 or more tracks because it's only 16-bit. It's a bigger challenge to record parts of songs with sweeping dynamics between multiple instruments.

@@GazRendar true regarding the 16bit but these machines are meant to record demos...not having a simple thing as a foot switch or auto-punch is a no-no for me when quickly putting something together. What I also love about the 008 is the fact that I can quickly adjust reverb send without first having to tap through menu pages.

Ha....you're not alone! I've had other people post comments saying their instruments in Inputs 1 and 2 don't sound right or have low level fuzz because of that very issue. I don't know why they didn't use better quality combo jacks.

You're welcome!

You can only set one tempo and one time signature per project. If you have a bridge or something that has a different tempo, you cannot truly set that in the R20/R12. There are sort of work around depending on what you need to do. Setting the signature and tempo for the project simply establishes how the timeline looks at the top. That makes it a little easier to chop up sections precisely by measures if you want to. But if you have a 3 minute song, and there is 20 second middle part with a different timing, you could just lay down your drum track however you want (with a drum machine or play real drums) and set it up for the whole song. When you get to that 20 second bridge the audio just won't perfectly align with the R20's timeline grid, that's all. But if your drum track is in place, that will serve as your metronome for the rest of the instruments you need to record. If your song is like, 4 minutes long and the first 1 minute is an intro with one time signature/tempo, followed by 3 minutes of song with a different time sig/tempo, then you could just record that first 1 minute as a project, and the second part that is 3 minutes long as a separate project. Once you finish both projects mix then down separately. Then create a 3rd project, and import the first 1 minute mix down followed by the second 3 minute mix down and splice them together. It could work depending on how the first part ends and the second part comes in.

The R16 has plenty of recording features, but the tiny screen and multiple hard and soft buttons can make it a challenge to navigate. I find the R20's touchscreen to be far easier to use for light editing functions. I think the advantage of the R20 is if you want to trim, copy, paste and splice your recordings directly on the R20. If you don't want to edit your tracks directly on the R20, then I recommend you look elsewhere. Instead, if your primary needs are: A) Need to be able to record multiple things at once to separate tracks B) Want to be able to record directly to the device C) Also want the device to work as an interface for your computer and DAW D) Will do any track editing on a computer E) Don't really care about effects Then I recommend you just get a hybrid mixing board. Something that is straightforward to use because it's a mixing board, but still allows you to hit a Record button to record your tracks to an SD card. And you can use it as an audio interface through a USB port. The downside of those hybrid mixing boards is that the barely have any effects, but you don't seem to care about that. So maybe you want to check out a ZOOM L-8 or L-12 (depending on how many inputs you need) or a Tascam Model 12.