The Hi-Minidisc and Core Sound Preamp. then the Denon-Marantz Handheld and now the Zoom F6:

A few years after I started using this setup, Sony came out with a "Hi-Minidisc".  It offered the ability to record uncompressed 16 bit audio and the associated software allowed digital transfer of the recorded files to a computer.  I quickly purchased one.  While the uncompressed storage was a feature, I discovered that the microphone preamplifiers built into the Sony recorder were not of a high quality, and I don't think the resulting recordings were as "pure" as the recordings on the Sharp recorder.

That fall, at an Audio Engineering Society convention in New York I saw an exhibit from a company called "Core Sound" of a microphone preamp with built-in analog-to-digital converter and digital optical output.  It was able to operate for several hours off a 9 volt battery or forever from a "wall wart".  Furthermore, it could be configured to properly power the DPA microphones, allowing me to get rid of my "battery box" microphone power supply.  The audio specifications were very good, so I purchased one. I ran performance tests in the lab where I worked, and indeed, the audio performance is superb.

At this point my setup used the DPA microphones connected to the Core Sound preamp and A to D converter.  The digital optical output of the Core Sound preamp was plugged into the digital input of the Sony Hi-Minidisc, which was now simply a digital storage device.  I did add a headphone amplifier for monitoring, also made by Core Sound.  I found this setup capable of making excellent recordings.

Around 2011, Sony stopped manufacturing the Hi-MD discs, forcing me to choose a different recorder.  After some research I purchased a Denon-Marantz (now rebranded Marantz Professional) DM661 handheld recorder.  This recorder uses SD cards as storage media.  I plug the digital output of the Core Sound mic preamp into the digital input of the recorder.  Essentially, the recorder serves as a digital storage device, similar to the HD-Minidics. 

That was my basic setup for some years, although I soon added a simple and relatively inexpensive multitrack recorder that allowed me to add "spot" microphones (for a vocalist or solo instrument) when used together with a small mixer, such as made by Mackie

As years went on, much of that equipment became obsolescent although still fully functional.  I have upgraded and added to my equipment recently.  Both the Denon handheld recorder and the Core Sound mic preamp are no longer available, although I still use mine, often as a backup recorder.  A few years ago I purchased a Zoom F6 portable 6-track recorder with built-in excellent mic preamps, pricey but recording excellent 32-bit floating point files, which is now my main recording device.  As mentioned on page 4 above, I have purchased a pair of an improved ruggedized version of the DPA 4061 mics with even better performance, their model 4661. 

For the last few years, I have been doing the live pickup of some of the Trinidad Panoramas for radio station WACK.  The audio is used for their live PPV stream and digital recordings of the events sold by Pan Trinbago.  To implement that, I acquired a number of more rugged long coaxial cables and some adapters to connect to the microphones.  I also built a box to "split" the outputs of the microphones, with copies to both the Marantz and Zoom recorders and a third copy to WACK's location mixer for their stream.  I leave the added cables in Trinidad with a friend.