Fostex MR8HD

[traidma]

Anybody tried? Seems to be 'in stock' at musiciansfriend...
Sounds like an awesome deal...

[pschaafs]

Just got mine and have been busy reading the 128 page manual - looks like it does it all. Quite a deal for the money, I think.

[vanishbox3]

i did my bands first demo on an MR8! it sounds surprisingly good...
here's the downsides:
1) the standard memory card (128mb) is too small to do any decent project. uprgrade to a compatible 512mb and you'll have plenty of harddrive space. but you really are still limited to 1 song at a time (depending on how long your songs are and how many tracks per song)
2) strange chirping noise can be heard in certain tracks. i don't know what it is... for a machine that has no moving parts, it seems odd to hear a rhythmic chirping but it's there and i can't explain it! it can only be heard in complete silence. as soon as music starts playing, you can't hear it anymore.
3) the onboard distortion is a joke
4) lacks phantom power

here's what i liked about it...
1) for a beginner machine, it's stupidly simple. i never EVER picked up the manual.
2) the computer connectability is fantastic. technically, you're supposed to start and finish each song on the machine. it has "mastering effects" that you slap on your finished track and that can be transfered to the computer via USB cable. however, i never finished the songs on the MR8. connect the unit to a computer and you can rummage through its harddrive. all sound files are wavs so you can export each raw track to a program such as Acid, Reason, Cakewalk, ProTools, Digital Performer, etc... i would then add all the appropriate filters and mix all the tracks on the computer. i found that it gave me tons more control and an overall better product.
3) super portable
4) dirt cheap

if i had it to do all over again, i don't think i would change a thing. it met my needs for a first time demo. i was frequently amazed by some of the sounds that came from this unit...

email me if you wanna hear some samples! i'd be happy to share!
aj_fritts@hotmail.com

[traidma]

Hey,
thanks for sharing.
Yea, the new MR8HD version actually comes with a 40 Gig hard drive
So, my next salary will have to suffer a little bit.. but it'll be great I hope.

pschaafs, when youre through and get your hands on this thing.. give us a little overview.

[pschaafs]

I made two recordings last night of solo acoustic guitar, using 2 condensers and the b-band pickup in the guitar, so 3 tracks recorded at once. I was very impressed with the tone I got on playback, very clear. Operation is pretty intuitive too, as another poster noted. Haven't yet tried to bounce or export to pc, but now that I'm on vacation I have plenty of time to play with it. Looking forward to recording some takes with my buddy tonight...

[drewz0r]

I also have this product, all I can say its amazing! For recording rookies (like myself) and/or smaller local bands that want to get some recordings out, this is your buy! For awhile Musician's Friend offered some sweet deals with it that included Mics and a nice set of headphones for like $300. Amazing deal for an amazing machine.

[YungRo$$]

Im dying to get my hands on one of these. I hear they have no phantom power so I guess Ill look into one of them condensers with their own 48V DC Phantom Power Supply. The only thing Im wondering is what type of cable do I need to connect it to my PC?

[jalbert]

Does this thing have phantom power or not? The spec sheet on it at Musician's Friend says that it has "4 inputs with balanced XLRs with phantom power, 1/4" unbalanced ins, trim pots, peak LEDs, and on/off buttons". Is Vanishbox talking about the MR8 not the MR8HD? I think he is. Does anybody who has this model have any complaints?

[McStyles]

Hello All: This is my first post on here. I just decided to go into digital recording and picked up the MR8-HD and so far it works really well, but I hope someone can help me with the looping. The problem is I cant do it...lol, in the manual it says to pick start point A and end point B using the A/B locate buttons, but all they do is start the track over again when pressed, they dont loop, is there some sort of trick that I am missing, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[ssscientist]

There's no charge for starting your own thread --- unless there's some reason to tack your post to an ancient tree...

And there's a Fostex forum here too - if you start your own thread there you'll probably find a fellow MR8HD owner or two.

[daav]

I've recently transitions from teh original MR8 to a DAW. The MR8 is a great place to start. Here is the thing (in my opinion) about it. It begs you to spend more money to get to the same place i am at now.

The pres are weak, and no phantom, so you pretty much need to buy an extrnal pre (with only 4 ins, you might as well skip the mixer and get decent budget pre's like the DMP3- it'll let you DI bass and get acceptable clean gain, that the MR8 won't be able top pull off).

The effects are total crap, so you either want to move to a computer to mix through software or i dunno buy a buttload of effects.

16 bit is really limiting, with a 24 bit system now i can be much more loose with gain staging, with the MR8 it seemed iw as always striggling between weak signals and clip. In 24 it is much more newbie-friendly.

The question is how comfortable are you with the MR8 as a stand alone unit,. if you like the recording quality and cna accept everyhting as is, great, carry on, but if you think that you are going to want to upgrade to a DAW, with pres, and external effects etc, you might as well just make the leap directly,. You can get a 4 input 24/96 USB interface for $200-300 these days, and it is not much more difficult to set up and use. You roughly triple the learning curve, but flexibility is huge, and scalablity will do you wonders as well.

Daav