What is the REAL recording time of the Fostex MR8?

[wow]

The Fostex web site speaks of 25 "track minutes" but I'm hearing guys complain that they cannot record 3 minute songs using four tracks.

What is the real recording time of the Fostex MR8 with the included 128 mb card in high-quality mode?

[dfutrell]

Not much.

I just got mine last weekend and recorded a 3 1/2 minute song with just one guitar track and one vocal track. I bounced these to 5/6 before reading the manual thoroughly and realizing that I had to have the tracks on 7/8 to create an output .wav file.

I then attempted to bounce from 5/6 to 7/8 (with tracks 1 & 2 still intact) and ran out of room before I finished. I then deleted 5/6 and was able to bounce from 1 & 2 to 7/8 and craeted the .wav file without problem.

This supports what others have said: about 3 minutes of high quality on 4 tracks. This isn't enough, and they shouldn't even ship the thing with less than a 256Mb card.

I ordered a 512 card, and am working in extended mode until it arrives.

[dave in toledo]

after bouncing and all you will get one 3 min song on the card in high quality mode

most people dump the track files onto the computer and mix from there, giving you all the time you need

[dave in toledo]

dont forget to use the delete unused function or you will run out of time.....

[Ed Dixon]

A standard 128 MB card will do 24 total minutes at 44 KHz. For 8 tracks, that's 3 minutes per track.

As you record and re-record, you use up these minutes unless you delete data and un-do memory. You can delete specific tracks and delete song-level memory used to support un-do functions.

A 512 MB card handles 96 minutes spread the same way.

Ed

[JeffB83]

Just wanted to let you know that if you ever accidentally do that again, that you can go to Track and move tracks 5/6 to tracks 7/8. That doesn't take up any recording time.

Originally posted by dfutrell
Not much.

I just got mine last weekend and recorded a 3 1/2 minute song with just one guitar track and one vocal track. I bounced these to 5/6 before reading the manual thoroughly and realizing that I had to have the tracks on 7/8 to create an output .wav file.

I then attempted to bounce from 5/6 to 7/8 (with tracks 1 & 2 still intact) and ran out of room before I finished. I then deleted 5/6 and was able to bounce from 1 & 2 to 7/8 and craeted the .wav file without problem.

This supports what others have said: about 3 minutes of high quality on 4 tracks. This isn't enough, and they shouldn't even ship the thing with less than a 256Mb card.

I ordered a 512 card, and am working in extended mode until it arrives.

[dfutrell]

Yes, I suppose that would have worked (and been smarter!).

Thanks!