Good day to all. My buddy has asked if I know of any really-simplistic 8 channel audio=20 recorders. Its a mobile application and he needs to record 8=20 channels of communications-grade audio (200Hz - 3500Hz). I've been=20 looking around and, although I have found many people who can supply=20 systems intended for recording Emergency Dispatch communications,=20 those systems are far too complex for the end users to deal with. The audio needs to be recorded to both internal hard drive *and* an=20 external USB stick. The controls on the unit must be as simple as=20 possible: two buttons is ideal: a "Record" button (with indicator)=20 and a "Stop" button (also with a power / ready indicator). Maybe a=20 simple LCD display that asks if it's OK to format the USB key if the=20 file format on the key they insert isn't suitable. But that's about it. There can be other smarts that can be accessible by a tech if needed=20 - things like setting audio levels and such. But the user interface=20 for the end user MUST be as simple as possible. Like I said: two=20 buttons (Record & Stop) with indicators would be ideal. I asked about "pre-trigger record", where the buffer is continuously=20 acquiring audio data and writes the previous X number of minutes of=20 audio that had occurred BEFORE the "Record" button was pressed. He=20 is quite emphatic: pre-record is NOT desired. The users of this device are going to be as non-technical as can=20 possibly imagine. I figure that I'm going to have a hard time=20 convincing them that they have to hit the Stop button before they=20 yank the USB stick from the connector. You get the idea. Other data items: 12Vdc power is preferred but we can accommodate whatever is required. Audio inputs can be balanced or unbalanced. Nominal level is=20 -10dBu. Again - we can adjust as required. I might prefer to have=20 the input electronics accept unbalanced audio, then add balancing /=20 isolation audio transformers to the inputs. It will be easier to=20 keep RFI out of the box that way, as well as ensuring that I don't=20 have any grounding issues. Small size is preferred. Preferably a cube that is not much larger=20 than 6 or 8 inches on a side. Space is tight and a rack-mount unit=20 is going to be pretty hard to fit. I'd prefer that the audio is encoded as MP3 files if=20 possible. Ideally, each input channel records to its own MP3 file,=20 meaning that 8 files are being created simultaneously. I'd also=20 accept 4- stereo MP3 files but 8- separate mono files is probably better. I'm guessing that the hard drive within the unit will act as a=20 continuous buffer, where the oldest audio is over-written when the=20 hard drive becomes full. That would hopefully be several days or=20 weeks worth of audio. The hard drive is intended only as a backup,=20 in case a USB stick gets lost or whatever. It might also be worth considering that the internal hard drive also=20 be USB connected, to allow easy swapping in and out. I'm also=20 guessing that USB Host might be easier to implement than SATA. So: does anyone have something similar to the above that can be=20 easily modified or extended to meet those requirements? Alternatively, is anyone interested in developing this for me? I=20 *really* don't have time but this a niche market that I'd like to get into. I'm leaning in the direction of an embedded solution using a PIC or=20 other microcontroller rather than grabbing an off-the-shelf Windows=20 or Linux box. PIC, ARM, Raspberry Pi, whatever is easy and *reliable*. Many thanks! dwayne --=20 Dwayne Reid Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA (780) 489-3199 voice (780) 487-6397 fax www.trinity-electronics.com Custom Electronics Design and Manufacturing --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .