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Portable Olympus Recorder Goes Up-Market, Targets Musicians

Center Valley, Pa. – Olympus America
continues to take its portable voice recorder selection up-market with the launch
this month of the company’s first portable stereo recorder with multi-tracking
capabilities.

At an estimated street price of $399,
the new LS-100 will expand the company’s LS series, which is the first series
of 96kHz 24-bit Linear PCM recorders in the Olympus lineup.

“The LS series is targeted to
musicians and music lovers, but the LS-100 is targeted specifically to working
musicians,” said Amy Leslie, senior marketing and business development manager.
The device can be used for recording songwriting sessions, band rehearsals, and
live performances or for broadcasting applications that require high-quality
stereo audio recording, she said.

In the LS
series, the LS-100 joins the $199 LS-7 and $299 LS-20M, both of which began
shipping in 2011. The latter features 30fps 1080p video capture.

The LS models store
audio as uncompressed WAV files or compressed MP3 files, and the LS-7 and
LS-20M adds storage in the compressed WMA format.

Olympus plans to
expand its portable stereo PCM recorder selection downward in price with the March
shipment of the $99 WS-802 and $149 WS-803. They’re positioned as “giving
consumers professional stereo sound quality at a price that appeals to the
masses,” a spokesman said. Though they would appeal to musicians and fans of
live music, he said, their price tags nonetheless make them attractive for
students, teachers, reporters, lawyers, nurses, policemen, and the like.

For musicians,
the LS-100 offers two-track recording and eight-track playback. Two combination
quarter-inch microphone jacks/balanced XLR inputs let users connect line-input
sources such as keyboards and guitars. Two 3.5mm input jacks support external
microphones. All inputs feature independent recording levels.

Users can run two
inputs into one track, edit and mix multiple tracks on the devices themselves,
then plug the recorder directly into a CD burner to burn a disc.

Two internal
90-degree directional stereo condenser microphones feature a frequency response
of 20Hz-20kHz to capture all audible low-bass frequencies, the company said. The
mics also capture a wide range of decibel levels, supporting sound pressure
levels up to 140 decibels to capture extremely loud sounds without clipping,
the company said.

Other features
include a switchable low-cut filter to eliminate low-frequency sounds below
100Hz or 300Hz to eliminate unwanted background noises such as talking or the sound
of a distant car.

Other features
include 4GB embedded memory, SDXC card slot for an additional 64GM of memory,
and lithium-ion battery good for 12.5 hours of 44.1kHz/16-bit recording.

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