Zoom H4n USB Audio Interface

In this video, I demonstrate how to use the Zoom H4n handheld recorder as an USB audio interface on a Windows 7 64-bit system. I will show you how I use it with Camtasia, Audacity, Sound Forge and Sony Vegas.

Make sure that you have the latest firmware and driver.

I received many questions about using the Zoom H4n as an audio interface on 64-bit machine. It did not worked on the past but since the release of the latest driver it works fine.

As you will see in the video, it is not simply a matter of pluging in the recorder. You need to make sure that there are a couple of settings are set properly. On my system (an HP laptop) I did not have to latency, I only set the right bit rate (I use 48KHz). Your system might be different and you might have to play with the settings.

You will see the setup I’m using. This video was recorded with my video camera because I can’t record my screen and use the H4n as my microphone at the same time as I’m showing you how to connect it! Also, If I’m recording with Camtasia and the H4n and I record at the same time with Audacity, when I try to playback what I just recorded in Audacity, it just crashes Audacity

The easiest software to use configure with the Zoom H4n is the Camtasia by TechSmith. Is simply a matter of selecting the Zoom H4n as the input device. For Audacity, you can setup the Zoom H4n recorder only for recording and leave the default Windows playback device. For Sound Forge, you have no choice. If you select the Zoom H4n as the audio device, it will be for input and output. With Sony Vegas (I’m actually using Vegas Movie Studio HD), it’s the same as with Sound Forge. I also use Cubase and it also works (I have forgotten to show the settings for Cubase in the video but it is similar to the other programs).

If you have not seen it, I wrote a complete review of the Zoom H4n

Hope this video help you out!

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