the fostex mr8/home recording...

[Scott Hansen <scott-a-hansen@uiowa.edu>]

chris-i'd recommend reading the harmony central reviews of the
mr8 (i posted mine there, and felt i was honest).
quick review: if you want digital recording, it is very good.
it's provides more than 4 tracks, although i wouldn't say
its an 8-track. to me 8 tracks means you can manipulate levels
of 8 tracks of material, but w/ bouncing it can give you more than
8 tracks and w/ digital the sound is good. so from that
i would say it's a good, inexpensive route for intro to digital
recording.
the bad: the amp simulator sucks! i never use it. my rack gear/setup
gives me all the flexible sounds i need, so i don't use the built-in stuff.
since it records to smart media cards (128mb included), recording time
is limited. w/ the 128 card and using standard recording mode you only
get 25 minutes of track recording, so if you record 8 tracks for a song,
it can be about 3 minutes long. i thought this would be a problem, but
for me i record, then mix down variations to my cd recorder, and move on.
so the bad is: it's not meant for storage of songs (unless you have a 
million
smart media cards). you can use 256 and 512mb cards, but not all work.
the 256mb card i had, didn't work. so i sent it back, and am going to
wait awhile til they drop a bit in price more. so it does have it's 
limitations, but i think the limitations can be worked around. for me 
it's good, it forces me
to work on one song at a time. my semi-quick 2 cents....
s---
ps-oh, the reason i don't use the economy recording is that in 
economy mode, you can't send a digital signal out, hence i only use 
standard. oh, and it
does have some editing ability (like pro tools i suppose),but i 
haven't used them, i use it like i used my 4-track tape recorder. but 
the sound is good!
and lastly, it does have the ability to loop things, i just haven't 
used that feature yet, from what i've read, it has a bit of a glitch 
when looping parts, from what i've read. but it does give you that 
option.


>Say, I wanted to ask if anyone has had any
>experience with the Fostex MR-8 8track digital
>recorder. I notice that Sam Ash is selling them
>for $299. I'm in the market to buy some recording
>gear, and initial plan was to buy a 4 track, but
>it looks like for a little bit more than what I'd
>pay for the 4 track, I can get an 8 track digital
>with built in effects, I think the Sam Ash
>website said it even has a guitar amp emulator
>(yeah, I know nothing is quite like plugging into
>a real tube amp, right now, I don't have that
>luxury as the only amp I have is this crappy
>Crate practice amp that I've had for over a
>decade). Any comments/opinions/suggestions? What
>say ye? 
>

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