Not as expected , Iphone does the same and you need a DAW after recording . Found a better microphone set up

Tyler Schultz, is the greatest sales technician there is. Remember this name. It seems no matter the situation, along with you and research, he's the best. I buy a lot of equipment from Sweetwater and any musician that purchases here, knows the most trustworthy business in the world. Thank you Sweetwater, and tyler_schultz@sweetwater.com

Works great for the music I record for fun at home. Simple to use and good quality.

I've been looking for a very simple and convenient portable recorder to quickly get down musical ideas. The iPhone works, but you are either limited to pretty bad quality voice memo recordings or you have to hook up a small audio interface, which creates a lot of friction when you're in the moment. Another specific challenge I needed to address is that I am visually impaired and have trouble seeing the small LCD screens on most portable recorders.
Well, the Zoom H4 Essential solves everything and continues to surprise me with its flexibility. First, it has a spoken menus feature so I can fully operate it without having to see the screen, something extraordinarily rare in most small consumer electronics. I really appreciate them for going out of their way to make this tool so inclusive. As far as being simple and easy to use, it couldn't get much better. You just push the button for what you want to record – the microphone, input one or two, or any combination there have, and hit record. You don't have to worry about setting input levels because it uses 32 bit floating point recording, which means Very low noise floor and very high tolerance for loud signals. The built-in microphone is great for capturing acoustic guitar, vocals or a jam/practice session, and I love that you can plug in or stereo line inputs or external microphones for capturing things like guitar modelers, keyboards, drum machines, mixers etc.
As for the Swiss Army knife aspect, this is also a great portable audio storage drive. You can freely move files to and from it when it's connected to PC or phone. It can also be used as an audio interface, and it works really well. Going back to what I said about hooking up an audio interface to your iPhone, this is actually a good use case when you want to do a more structured recording session in something like GarageBand. Just all in all, this is a fantastic little tool, For less than the price of many guitar pedals these days. I really can't think of a reason not to buy this if you're somebody who wants to quickly capture your ideas, have a flexible music storage/playback device or a basic but totally capable audio interface that you can toss in your gig bag.

Only used as a rehearsal and live mix unit. Does what it says it will do. As far as a mix down to daw, not so much unless there is no bleed, which is highly unlikely. Best use is to see how you sound raw. Which is the point I think. Recommended unit for that purpose.

This portable digital recorder was meant to replace an old Tascam DR 40, which did everything I needed it to do before it finally died after about 10 years of service. I was wooed by Zoom's talk about 32 bit float technology- how nice to not have to spend time setting levels. Great idea, but I have since learned this: users should be made aware that if you record something with extreme volume changes [think about an orchestra, or even a soloist playing sections of a piece that goes from pianissimo (very quiet) to double forte (very loud)], you will probably need to tweak or normalize in post production. You will need to do this on a computer with appropriate software.

Another thing to note- the ZOOM Corp. refuses to support android users, even after many years of hoping for this change. The only way to use their portable recorders with a remote controller is to buy added hardware & download an app that works ONLY WITH iPhones or iPads. I have 2 older Zoom portable recorders, so I should have known better, hoping this changed. It did not.

Finally, this is the real heart of the matter & main reason for returning this recorder:

1. The ZOOM H4 Essential CANNOT PAUSE A RECORDING once it is started (it stops the recording & then begins a new one). You end up with a lot of files instead of one file with added markers to quickly show the location of pauses.

2. YOU CANNOT OVERDUB WITH THIS RECORDER! Really??? Come on! So if you want to record a piece while playing one instrument, then add additional tracks playing additional instruments, then finally merge them together into one piece, you are out of luck. The Zoom H4e cannot do it. You will have to do that on a computer with appropriate software. The H4e will record up to 4 tracks simultaneously, but that won't help someone who is a one-person-band.

In summary, this is an easy to use portable recorder that will satisfy a user that just wants to record him/herself without pausing, or record up to 4 tracks simultaneously without fussing with recording levels (band rehearsal/performance). However, if you want to play multiple instruments on separate tracks & mix to a single track without having to do this on a computer, look elsewhere- this recorder is not for you. If you are on a tight budget, consider looking at the Tascam DR-40x. I just ordered one.

I really like it a lot the sound quality is excellent you all at Sweetwater have a great holiday

Amazing sound quality, easy to use, 32bit recording, and durable. Another quality zoom product.

I did a test record and the audio from my PC speakers during a meeting sounded exactly the same after paying through.
Even small details such as sitting a door, the creak in my seat, everything was picked up. This is a really good piece of equipment!

I Worked with Rob Heck and he was very knowledgable and aided me to find the right fit for my needs. Been using this Zoom H4essential is the perfect device for recording upright and grand pianos on the fly. Highly recommend.

Thanks Rob!

-Matt

After using the Zoom H4E a few times, I am having mixed feelings. I enjoy the idea of hitting record and not having to worry about monitoring it, so that's great. But, with Zoom products there seems to a higher than normal self noise (hissing in my case). I am unsure of what I will do with my H4E. With a regular 16/24-Bit recorder, I tend to set my levels in the middle so as to avoid clipping. But, that also introduces noise when adding gain in post, so I am unsure there would be a difference. I have until the middle of Nov. to return it, so I'm going to try to do some comparing in exact same situations, and hopefully get a more accurate comparison.

I've owned a lot of Zoom portable recorders (H1, H4n, H4n Pro) and none of them have quite done it for me, it's always a hassle getting the levels right, there's just never enough headroom on the units. The H4n Pro was an obvious improvement but I was still severely let down by constantly clipping my recordings.

Zoom announces this thing and I bought it immediately. No need to adjust gain on this thing? Plug it in and you're good to go? My god, it's too good to believe.

Well, I've got to say, this thing works! I perform a lot of live techno and have quite a hot signal coming from my mixer, the H4n's could never handle my signal so I'd have to get a DI box, pad it...it was a pain. This thing can handle my hot signal. It was a bit scary at first putting the direct audio waveform into the DAW because it was a black brick! However, I found that if you just reduce the volume (a LOT), I had a perfectly normal waveform that sounds GREAT! Actually, I think the low end comes through clearer and crisper than the H4n Pro (even at 44.1kbps).

I wrote this review mostly because of that one guy who gave this product 2 stars. Yeah, it's a bit lighter than the last version and you can't spin the mics. Whoopdie-doo. This thing actually works and is HANDY, unlike the other Zoom products (in my opinion). The fact I can now just plug this thing in and not worry about levels is probably the most handy thing I can think of.

Now, that doesn't mean this thing is invincible. I got cocky at a wedding and had the outputs of a mixer CRANKED going into the H4 essential...I ruined about 8 hours worth I awesome live music because I thought this unit could handle molten lava. It can't, but it can definitely handle reasonably loud outputs with ease. :)

I'm disappointed. I really want to like this recorder because 32bit Float for $ is a phenomenal deal. However, there is a serious loss of quality from its predecessor. The entire unit is 2 halves of plastic. The old metal capsule carriage on top is now also plastic, as are the XY capsule covers which don't rotate between 90 and 120 degrees anymore. The unit is very lightweight, unlike the tank of a device the H4n Pro is. Any movement in your hand introduces a wealth of noise to the built-in XY mics. The wheels and buttons have a gummy, slow feel to them and there is an additional ENTER button instead of the rotary wheel acting as both navigation and selection.

Now for the good parts. The UI is a nice improvement. Everything is visible and it's intuitive to use. The buttons have a softer actuation and rotation which don't translate to noise in the recordings like the H4n Pro. And again, if you have $ and want to see what all the hype is with 32bit float, it's a decent price for an introductory device.