Programmable Recorders? (1 Viewer)

[Dave Boyle]

Does anybody know if there's any decent quality recorders which you can set to come on at a certain time & record for a set duration?

I work a lot with seabirds & would like to be able to sometimes set a recorder up during the day to come on for a few hours at night, maybe for a few nights - the New Zealand Department of Conservation makes Audio Recording Devices which do the job perfectly, I think you can get about 100 hours recording from 4 AAs & can have two recording periods programmed - but they're not brilliant quality recordings & I was hoping there might be something better out there

Thanks in advance

 

[Mark Lew1s]

Audiomoth might be a decent solution for you?

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d97703_9ac305905bdd4cdfab6aee99767a56e6.pdf

 

[Ross McGregor]

What's your budget? A common device used for this type of work in acoustic research is the SM4 (Song Meter 4):
https://www.wildlifeacoustics.com/products/song-meter-sm4
But they are not cheap at £900:
https://www.nhbs.com/song-meter-sm4-acoustic-recorder

 

[Dave Boyle]

Thanks for the replies

I've got a couple of the DOC AR4s which do the same job as the Audiomoth & Songmeter - they're great for surveying & finding things in new areas but the quality of the recordings, at least the DOC AR4s, is good but not fantastic.

I've got an Olymus LS11 which is starting to show its age & was hoping one of the Zooms or Tascams would be programmable to get better quality recordings. I do sometimes just leave the LS11 out recording all night but most of the areas I'm looking at are 1.5-2 hour walk away so I can't get back every day & I only get one night's recording & quite often the birds don't come in that night or if they do they don't make any noise!

 

[iveljay]

Tascams etc., tend to be optimised for the music and news recording industries, you may find that people in the surveillance industry can come up with something. Alternatively the Rasberry Pi enthusiasts may be able to help.

 

[Dave Boyle]

Thanks for that, I'll look in to it!

 

[jring]

Hi,

Tascam recorders from the cheap and cheerful DR05X on can run on USB power and have an auto recording feature which will start a new recording if the noise level is above a configurable volume and stop when it stays below that for 5s.

So get one of those, an SD card and a big USB power bank... or even a solar panel with USB out to charge the powerbank over the day.

The same goes for all ZOOM recorders too... the smallest one is rated to go 10h at CD quality on a pair of AAAs and comes with a 5v 1A USB power supply and will probably take quite a bit less during most of the time of your use case with display of and not actually recording but just listening.

Joachim

 

[Dave Boyle]

Thanks for that Joachim, that might be a good solution!

 

[jring]

Thanks for that Joachim, that might be a good solution!

Glad to help, let us know how it works out!
Actually one could also use the LS11 with a USB power pack (it also has a function to only record when there is noise called V-Sync - see manual, p44) - all that is needed is a cable with a USB jack on one end and the GND and +5V leads connected to a round jack appropriate for your LS11... easily soldered...

Joachim

 

[buzzard12]

Hi Dave,

Hope you are well. For your work with petrels, I'm guessing the Audiomoth is an excellent option for the following reasons.

1. Pre programmable, can be set to record at the same time period on consecutive nights.

2. Battery life is excellent, can be left out for several nights, particularily if a lager SD card is used.

3. Waterproof casing now available

4. Portable, can be moved around

5. Relatively inexpensive

 

[Dave Boyle]

Thanks for that Alan, hope you're both safe & well!

Yeah, I was actually after something that made good quality recordings - I have a couple of Automatic Recording Devices that the Department of Conservation make, they do the same thing as the audiomoth I guess. They're brilliant, you can get about 100 hours of recordings on 4 AAs & an 8gb sd card & you can program them to record two different time periods, but they only record 128kbps & only up to 4000hz, so great for knowing what's around & trying to find new breeding areas but not amazing quality recordings. I can leave my Olympus LS11 out, just turn it on before dark & walk home & pick it up the next day, but its very hit or miss if anything comes in on a given night or calls at all

I'll look in to the audiomoth though, I've got my eye on a few remote areas where there must be birds so it would be great to have a few more recorders out