clueless!!

H

honey badger

New member
Hi all.

I'm brand new to the site and brand new to forums in general so first let me say hello to everyone and I'll apologise in advance for asking stupid questions!

I'm 50 years old and have been messing about with guitars and basses for years. My job has changed and I no longer work from home which means I can now turn my home-office into a home studio (I haven't told her indoors yet) which is something I've wanted to do years.

My problem is I have what I think is the equipment I want/need but have no idea how to hook it all together.

I don't want to use a computer, I'd rather use something else as my old head would prefer it. I bought a Fostex FD-8 (yes I know it's as old as I am) with a built-in hard-drive and want to use that. I assume my guitar goes through my effects pedals and into the Fostex and the speakers I haven't bought yet plug in at the other end. Now I have already apologised for asking stupid question but when you've all stopped laughing is there anything wrong with anything I just said?
 
Here's a link to the Fostex manual if you don't have it already. After scanning that manul, I think it would be as easy to learn computer recording!
Basically, you've got it figured out - plug your guitar into the recorder, plug some powered speakers into the output jacks on the back.
 
Plenty of people with older heads than you using whizzbang gadgetry like computers 'n stuff hereabouts... just sayin' ol' timer..:D

Welcome to the madhouse.

Essentially you're correct however read that manual about inputs and routing first to make sure you understand how to get input one to track 1, 2, 3 etc, so you're not continually replugging stuff into different inputs to match the tracks....
 
Hi H.B. and welcome.
I too have perused that manual and I have to say I agree with Mike!
My A&H mixer into a computer is child's play compared to that and an Audio Interface even simpler!

But if you got it, you got it. I dare say there will be someone here with experience of similar? However, from a technical point of view the Fostex is quite good. It is essentially a computer recording system in another box with a mixer built in and I would expect the converter performance to be at least as good as a $200 interface, i.e. very good indeed.

AFAIKT (Mike?) it lacks phantom power on the two mic inputs and that will seriously limit your microphone choice. You can however buy external phantom power units. Behringer make what is said to be a pretty good one for around £20.

One odd (to me!) inclusion on the multi-tracker is the provision of ADAT ports? You may not know this now but they give you the ability to "dump" all 8 tracks at once into a PC via a suitably equipped interface. However, such interfaces tend to be on the pricier side of things but you might spot a second hand unit.
N.B you want an USB interface. If perchance your computer is equipped with a Fire Wire port that could be very useful (in this instance) but get back to us with more info FCS before you splash any cash!

Dave.
 
honey badger said:
I look at speakers and I see 'passive' and 'active' what would I need?
Click to expand...

Active speakers have the power amp and any related processing inside. Passive speakers need a separate amp. Use whichever you like, but note that the amps and processing inside active speakers can be optimized better than separates.
 
Hi thanks for the help it's nice to be here. I don't have a major issue with PC's it's just that I don't have a decent one at present and I bought the Fostex in absolute 'like new' condition and I'd like to learn to use it. However I'm not going to drive myself potty so if does prove to be a nightmare I'll invest in a laptop or something. either way, it looks like I've got some learning to do!

---------- Update ----------

Thanks for that. It sounds like Active is the ones I'll be getting!
 
Hi Honey Badger.
People seem to have covered the connectivity side of things, but I just wondered if you'd considered miking up an amplifier instead of running pedals straight into your recorder.
I see you have a few mic preamps in that unit. Do you have a 57 and an amp?

honey badger said:
Thanks for that. It sounds like Active is the ones I'll be getting!
Click to expand...

What's your goal? Is it just a bit of personal fun or are you aiming to build to a fairly good sounding final recording of a band or whatever?
If you're taking it even remotely seriously then active monitors are a good idea, but right now you can just plug that thing into a hifi or use headphones if you simply need to hear what you're doing.
 
honey badger said:
Hi thanks for the help it's nice to be here. I don't have a major issue with PC's it's just that I don't have a decent one at present and I bought the Fostex in absolute 'like new' condition and I'd like to learn to use it. However I'm not going to drive myself potty so if does prove to be a nightmare I'll invest in a laptop or something. either way, it looks like I've got some learning to do!

---------- Update ----------

Thanks for that. It sounds like Active is the ones I'll be getting!
Click to expand...

Actives would be my choice, they will work with anything else you might get for recording in the future.

Don't be so quick to dismiss your present computer! I have just revamped a 7 year old PCWorld special E-ISytems P4 3.0G machine to Win 7 32 bits and it will run a basic interface and record 2 tracks all day long at 24bit/44.1kHz. The PC is intended for a non-musical grandson so I have not checked as to how many tracks it would play but easily 8 I would think.

And even if you DID want a new machine for audio work IMHO don't go for a laptop unless you REALLY need one for other purposes. $ for $ a desktop wins hands down for power, fixabilty, upgradability (note the old PCWorld jobby!) and connectivity, i.e. you rarely see more than 4 USB ports on a lappy and now express slots have gorn, no chance to expand.

Dave.
 
Hi, I'm just doing it for me for a bit of fun. I think I've got my work cut out learning all this stuff! But for me that's the fun of it. I'll use headphones for now as I don't have decent speakers yet, but from what you and the other guys are saying I reckon it'll be active speakers that I go for.

Thanks to everyone for your advice so far, it's really good to be here.
 
ecc83 said:
AFAIKT (Mike?) it lacks phantom power on the two mic inputs and that will seriously limit your microphone choice. You can however buy external phantom power units. Behringer make what is said to be a pretty good one for around £20.
Click to expand...

You're right, Dave, no phantom power provided by the recorder - not unusual on digital recorders from this era.
 
honey badger said:
Hi Mike, no idea what 'phantom power' means?
Click to expand...

And so the "edukashun" begins!
Phantom power* is a voltage output system found on the XLR mic connectors of all but the cheapest, crappiest kit.

By far the most common open circuit voltage is +48 and is present on pins 2 and 3 and referred to pin 1.
This allows the powering of capacitor (aka condenser) microphones. These have become vastly more popular and affordable in the last ten years or so, indeed, you can buy a passing very good cap' mic today for 1/2 the price of one of the old faithful Shure 57/58s.

Capacitor mics are characterised by a much wider, flatter frequency response than the dynamics like the SMs and vastly greater sensitivity, easily up to 10times that of the dynamics.

Don't sweat it tho'! For now if you just want to belt a number into a mic or record from a guitar amp/cab, a dynamic will serve you very well indeed. As I said before, should you need it phantom PSUs are available.

*AKA "Spook juice"!

Dave.
 
Hi all,
I've mentioned before I'm not going to use a PC, I've got the Fostex and I'd like to use that (call me old fashioned, or dumb) bearing that in mind, do I need a MIDI controller? From what I've been reading, apart from confusing myself, it seems to me they're just for use with PC's and I can get sounds from a keyboard plugged straight into the SIAB is that right?

Thanks in advance.
 
honey badger said:
Hi all,
I've mentioned before I'm not going to use a PC, I've got the Fostex and I'd like to use that (call me old fashioned, or dumb) bearing that in mind, do I need a MIDI controller? From what I've been reading, apart from confusing myself, it seems to me they're just for use with PC's and I can get sounds from a keyboard plugged straight into the SIAB is that right?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

A MIDI controller would be for controlling MIDI devices - keyboards, sound-generating devices or virtual instruments. So unless you are wanting to control multiple sound-generating devices wiht one controller, no you dont' need one.
 
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