Digital recorder for sampling - input mainly

I was wondering what would be a good frugal option for a digital recorder if input (for sampling and the like) was more important than the mic. It's a pain to get out my MPC every time I want to grab a noise off the television or what I'm listening to; a one-button-press recorder would be much more practical.

So any thoughts on cheap options with decent sound quality, if having a mic isn't important? No tape recorders, I'd just lose the tapes.

TV Output -> Laptop Input

  On 4/8/2010 at 4:38 AM, goffer said:

TV Output -> Laptop Input

You could get an old MD player/recorder? But then you might lose those discs...

  On 4/8/2010 at 5:33 AM, Hautlle said:

You could get an old MD player/recorder? But then you might lose those discs...

why? just get a good cable/adapter from a store, record on the computer your using now like goffer said.. problem fuckin solved

  On 4/8/2010 at 5:52 AM, Blanket Fort Collapse said:

  On 4/8/2010 at 5:33 AM, Hautlle said:

You could get an old MD player/recorder? But then you might lose those discs...

 

why? just get a good cable/adapter from a store, record on the computer your using now like goffer said.. problem fuckin solved

I completely agree. Just offering another suggestion in case he didn't care for that.

IDK

sorry hautlle might have seemed hella annoyed (its cuz I was and am)((not with your answer or anything))... but with questions like this.. I don't really think its as much as the fact that the solution's are so obvious or that only takes like 10 minutes to research on teh interwebs and find solutions. Its more so just that Ive met so many peeps and have friends that are like this. They make things so seem so much more impossible and inconvenient that it is:when there's so many cheap or already available solutions for them sitting on their laps. it just seems silly and confusing as fuck the mindset some people have.

(I have barely slept properly the last 4 days btw)((but im not quite as frustrated tense as I seem))(((got a bitch making me chinese and ready to bone :) )))((((im content))))

Okay, maybe I didn't make myself entirely clear.

That point about doing research myself was fine I'll admit so I might just do that

but what I was really looking for (and I don't have a laptop incidentally) is something REALLY REALLY portable, like that could go in my pocket with the cables to connect it. Otherwise I'd just use my mpc as it is. Something of a one stop recording solution where I don't have to open Audacity or whatever, just press a button. Have it on me all the time at friend's houses or wherever. I ask lacking mic because I am a student cheapskate! something like the H2 probably would work but I am always one for finding the cheapest solution that will work for me.

I ask here because I don't much like reviews or press kits generally; bit biased towards the satisfied customer. WATMM generally has people arguing about what's good and what's not which adds more balance. I still do my own research as it is.

And I also ask in case people think of something I missed, like using some sort of digital 4-track.

.. I knew you were probably gonna say that and it was already adding to my frustration with question before it was there... you want to be a cheapskate about this and that's fine but.. do you really want rely on some fucking mega cheap recorder with a shotty internal mic to slip samples in your tracks, then not to mention the process of recording for the second time to get the sounds into your studio. having a 25-50 foot cable with a few different adapters to go into your dvd player/tv or whatever(you can sample shit that ends up being the main focus of a track and not some low quality after thought) that sure seems like fucking convenient to me... clicking on your daw/audicity or whatever pluggin in the cable and hitting record is going to be more efficient, high quality and dry to manipulate excessively than using some external recording device.

to get a high quality portable recorder with an attached good mic or good stereo mic's is not gonna be hella cheap for obvious reasons

if you really want a portable cheap recorder for voice samples and shit that would never be cranked up thick in the mix, there's hundreds of mp3 players for 20-50 bucks with mediocre internal microphones that can record a lot of audio then you plug the usb into your computer and extract the audio

but realize the potential of dry recording and be rational about your outlook on convenience.. sure aint that convenient to have to EQ, noisegate, filter out some shit from a sample you recorded with a cheap ass recorder with a mic.. dry direct recording is optimal for a lot of things.

we need a sampling sticky along with a headphone sticky...

as for a cheap device there are PMPs out there with stereo inputs:

Creative Zen V Plus (~$40)

Cowon iAudio7 (~$100)

TV Output -> RCA to mini cord -> PMP Input