Zoom R20 Multi Track Tabletop Recorder, with Touchscreen, Onboard Editing, 16 Tracks, 6 XLR Inputs, 2 Combo Inputs, Effects, Synth, Drum Loops, and USB Audio Interface.

Awesome
This is my third Zoom multitrack recorder. The R20 has many bells and whistles that are very handy and the touch screen is quick and easy to use. Very pleased that I purchased another Zoom awesome stuff

Basically an Updated Version of the Zoom R16
I am a musician/producer who normally records at home but recently got an offer to play bass in a local punk band. We started talking about how we would record. I suggested we DIY it as opposed to going to a studio in town as it would save money and I’d do the engineering/production. While doing research on portable 8-16 track recorders I noticed Zoom had put out what looked like an updated version of their R16 unit. Because I had previously owned an R16, I decided to try this one out as $400 didn’t seem like a bad price for what it could do.The biggest update is the multi-color touch screen. The previous model had a single color screen displaying only words stating commands. I definitely appreciate they added a grid interface as it makes it far easier to cut, copy, paste and delete. Also, the multi-color gain knobs and faders coordinating with the color of the stems is aesthetic and practical.Another big change is the inputs themselves. The R20 now has only 2 1/4 jack/XLR inputs with the other 6 being strictly XLR whereas the R16 had all 8 as 1/4 jack/XLR. Also, phantom power can now be run on inputs 5-8. I would consider this a good but not necessarily great change.It should be noted that the power supply has a fastener that attaches between the plug and the power port so the power won’t be easily unplugged from the device.The software itself offers templates featuring drum loops for different genres and various sound settings for guitar, bass and vocals. This is all well and good but unneeded for me as I will end up transferring the files to my desktop and editing in FL Studio. Truth be told, there are a lot of features in the Zoom software I will likely not use for the aforementioned reason.The only real problem I have with this device is how lightweight it is. Some people might find that to be a good thing but for me, light plastic is far less durable than metal. That means you have to be EXTRA CAREFUL with it so no open drinks or placing it somewhere it can be stepped on or knocked over. Otherwise, game over.If you don’t own a laptop but still want to record your practice sessions with your band, the R20 pretty much fills that need. Just keep it away from your clumsy bandmates (unless you’re the clumsy one).EDIT: I forgot to point out that unlike the Zoom R16, the R20 has NO BATTERY OPTION so that ad they show of the bass player making the goofy face playing outside in the middle of a park where power outlets are not easily found may be misleading. Despite this, I’m still mostly good with this product.EDIT as of 12/24/21: I have run into a rather annoying issue with the multi-track interface of the Zoom R20. Previous to what I am about to describe which is happening, the R20 and FL Studio were working great with no problems. A few days ago when arming one of the channels on the virtual mixing board in FL Studio with any of the inputs for the R20, the sound automatically muted itself – when I disarm the channel, the sound comes back on. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the R20 drivers, shutting off all of my sound drivers except the R20 one and checking my settings on FL Studio. I am highly certain this is an issue with the R20 or it’s drivers as I plugged in my Focusrite Scarlett Solo with FL and had no problems whatsoever. I’ve sent an email to Zoom regarding this issue and hope we can figure out a solution because this will affect the rating of this review.Update as of 5/10/22: No word from Zoom, no firmware updates on the Zoom company website regarding the aforementioned issue as far as I can tell so… we go from 4 to 2 stars.Update as of 12/14/22: Lost my power adapter so I called the company and asked if I could buy one. The person I talked to said they’d send one for free which to their credit they delivered. I’m improving the rating to 4 stars because at least their customer service was accomodating.

Cumbersome user interface
I bought a used unit which had two bad channels so returned it – but if the channels were good I probably would have kept it.I was upgrading from an older style Zoom R8 8 track which has more physical buttons and a selection “wheel”. Not perfect but usable.The newer touch screen requires more button presses and swipes than the old version and some common things like reverb almost seem to be missing. Instead they have an effects chain, which is nice (the R8 is limited to one effect per channel) but it is a pain to program and has no reverb option. There are some echo and room effects and some things which might be amps. Seem to be far fewer effects than the R8.Also the canned drums are different for some reason and very convoluted to set up. With the R8 it was easy to select drums and go. I normally recorded with canned drums then replaced with real. The R20 has drum intro, verse and outro (or whatever they call it). I tried a number of verse drums but couldn’t find the simple beat I usually used.They could have greatly improved the interface but instead did some cost cutting (fewer buttons) and made it very difficult to use. Must have been designed by engineers, not musicians.

My zoom R20
I’m pleased with its sound quality, easy to understand and use. Fun!

Fait exactement ce que j’en attends. Une fois mes pistes enregistré je dump le tout sur la clé et je termine le mix dans REAPER. J’adore cet enregistreur, simple, rapide d’utilisation et nul besoin de lire le manuel tellement c’est simple. Avec de bons vieux bouton pression c’est tellement visuel ! Je le recommande cet enregisteur. Son preamp est de bonne qualité.