The H6's front panel is ergonomically arranged with its most essential and commonly used controls--transport buttons for record, play/pause, stop, back, and forward operations, individual record-arm buttons that double as mute switches during playback, large gain knobs, and pad switches. For added safety, a hold switch disables all front-panel buttons to prevent accidental operation during recording.
Each H6 input has its own dedicated gain control knob. There's no track selection or button pressing required to optimize your recording levels; just turn the dials (clearly labeled from 0 to 10) anytime you need to adjust the gain. If your XLR-1/4" input sources are so loud that you need even less gain than the preamps provide at the "0" setting, use four front-panel pad switches to attenuate the combo inputs by 20 dB.
Leave your external mics at home and travel light; the H6 includes two interchangeable stereo microphone capsules. With nothing more than the H6, you're set to record speech, practice sessions, concerts, or ambient and environmental sounds, even ear-rattling ones up to 136 dB (via the X/Y capsule)
The XYH-6 capsule provides clear, phase-accurate capture in two different X/Y positions--90? for a tight stereo image or 120? for a wider perspective. Just twist the capsules to their premarked positions to switch between the two configurations.
Switch to the MSH-6 capsule to record in a mid-side configuration. Its front-facing directional element picks up direct signal while the side-facing bidirectional element captures ambience. The H6's integrated MS decoder allows adjustment to the perceived width of the stereo image, which is beneficial for sound design, broadcasting, or general stereo-to-mono compatibility.
The Zoom mic capsule input on the H6 accommodates Zoom's line of separately available interchangeable capsules, which can be swapped out as easily as the lenses of a camera. With shock-mounted X/Y and mono or stereo shotgun mic capsules to choose from, you can be ready to record music, dialog, or sound effects without carting an external microphone setup. Opt for the EXH-6 combo input capsule to accept two additional mic/line signals via XLR-1/4" jacks.