With today’s smartphones, capturing audio on the go is as easy as ever. Problem is, they don’t exactly produce the best-sounding audio captures. If you want something that will let you make high-quality recordings any time you want, something like the Roland R-07 should offer a better alternative.
A portable audio recorder, the device is designed to sit in your pocket, ready to be whipped out any time you have a brilliant idea, a clever quip, or a catchy hook come up in your head. Bring it to a lecture so you never miss a lesson, to a jam session so you never forget a riff, and everywhere else so you never lose an idea that sneaks into your head during unexpected moments.
The Roland R-07 has an internal stereo mic setup that can capture high-resolution audio, which it saves in either MP3 (up to 320kbps) or WAV (96kHz, 24-bit) format. It comes with hybrid-limiting capabilities that should help keep your recordings from overloading or clipping, as well as a dual-recording function that makes two simultaneous recordings, one at full level and another at a lower level. When there’s unexpected clipping at the full-level recording, the device can automatically patch the section from the lower-level backup.
A “scene” function allows you to bring up pre-programmed settings, automatically adjusting the recording’s sample rate, record mode, limiter, low-cut, and level to the account for the specific needs of the situation. Whether you’re interviewing a subject in a busy restaurant, practicing vocal harmonies in the bedroom, or capturing your ideas while walking down the street, this thing lets you set the recorder just by pushing one button. If the pre-programmed settings don’t work for you, by the way, you can alter the settings for any scene to tune it to your exact preferred conditions.
The Roland R-07 comes with built-in Bluetooth, allowing you to operate it remotely using apps on a smartphone or a smartwatch. We know, that means it will be using your mobile device’s puny microphone for the audio pickup, but it’s still a nice option to have if you want all your recordings to be stored in one place. And, yes, playback can be done on the device or over Bluetooth, so you can manage all recordings using your phone for a larger-screen interface.
As far as its appearance goes, the device looks slightly bigger and more complicated than your standard audio recorder, complete with multiple buttons out front and a small 128 x 64 pixel display. It records everything on the loaded microSD card, so you can give it as much storage as you want, all while quickly swapping in a fresh card once the one you got is filled up. Features include a mic input (if you want better recording hardware), up to 15 hours of recording on two fresh AA batteries, and a mono speaker for playback. It measures 2.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches (width x height x depth).
Slated to come out in April, the Roland R-07 is priced at $229.99.