Review: Zoom R4 MultiTrak

It’s not that Zoom can do no wrong, it’s more like it isn’t afraid of making a mistake. I’ll admit it, when Zoom’s original handheld mic/recorder combo, the H2, came out, I didn’t really get it. I understood it, I just didn’t quite get it. I mean, it wasn’t going to cut it as a location recorder, really. And I couldn’t see how it would be of much use to a musician. The fact it looked like a retro Philishave made the proposition even stranger. Of course, history will attest to the fact the H2 was crazy-successful and begat generations of portable recorders from Zoom (and others).

Which brings us to the present, and the Zoom R4 MultiTrak – a four-track portable recorder. And, again, I’ll admit it: I don’t quite get it.

The R4 provides four tracks of recording, with effects and a mini drum machine on board. I mean, in 1990, musicians would have trampled over each other for this thing, but now? Doesn’t everyone have a laptop and a USB interface? Doesn’t that allow for unlimited tracks on-the-go? Hundreds of top notch plug-ins in your DAW? In what circumstance does the Zoom R4 step in and assert itself as Plan A for a recording?

Trust me, I’m making a contention without any real conviction. I was really, really wrong about the H2 so I’m guessing I’m probably wrong about the R4. Let’s dive deeper into the features just to get a better sense of what we’re working with.

TWO TIMER

The headline features start with four tracks of recording. Two tracks can be recorded at once, either via the combo inputs or the integrated omni condenser mic and Input 2. Four tracks can turn into a whole lot more with the unlimited bounce feature, which allows you to continue to layer tracks, undo the bounce if you don’t like it, and go find the original iso track if you have any regrets. This is all in glorious 32 bit. It’s something Zoom pioneered and is ideal for a product like this – no input gain knob required thanks to the gazillion dB of dynamic range available. A micro SD card handle the storage, up to 64GB.

As you can see from the front panel, there are four mini faders to allow you to mix your tracks and bounce down various tracks with the desired balance. These aren’t P&G long-throw faders but they work just fine.

There’s a generous DSP offering. Each track has three-band EQ, delay (Echo) and reverb available. Two additional input effects engines provide plenty of options for guitarists, along with compression, and modulation effects.

The R4 has a rhythm section preloaded with over 80 different drum patterns to play along with featuring genres such as rock, hip hop, funk, heavy metal, and more.

UI & MONITORING

The UI is based around the colour LCD and enough buttons to ensure you don’t feel miles away from settings – nothing’s more than a few button pushes away.

Monitoring is via the headphone minijack. Or you can use the USB-C socket to connect the R4 to your computer as a two-in/two-out USB2 interface. My only thought here is just how useful it would be to have two headphone outputs.