vf160 ex or v16

[raven46]

hi, i was undecided on what multitrack to buy i have been asking in another thread but i have decided on the fostex vf160 ex, but now i have an opertunity to buy a v16 (2nd hand but as good as new), so now i'm undecided again, what are the main defference between the vf160 ex and the v16 apart from the vf160 ex havin a cd burner, would it not be the same to hook the v16 up to my computer and burn and edit from that, anyone got a v16 what software do ye use,
should i just fork out that extra couple of 100euro and go with the vf160 ex, but the money i'd save with the v16 could be well spent on mics and so on, but overall i want the better unit,
also i'd like to know has anyone recored drums through either of these units, how did it sound, how many chanels did ye use... ect,ect,
i play a little bit of everthing but mainly blues/rock, i'd like to know how we have faired out with these units whatever yer styles, any info would be a great help, tks

[BentRabbit]

I have two VF16's and record with them all the time...

I'm also a drummer and record up to 8 tracks but usually end up using only 4 (Two OH's/Snare/Kick) but I like the comfort zone of having the close mic toms if I need them in the mix...

My understanding of the 160 ex is that yes, there is an internal CDR/W, but there is no SCSI port...

I've never missed having an internal burner with my VF16's since I throw the tracks onto a 1 gig Jaz drive when I want to transfer to my computer and mix with Cubasis, Cakewalk or NTrack...

If I mix directly on the VF16, I then do a mixdown to stereo either directly to my computer or sometimes to my MR8.

For either the VF16 or the 160 ex you might want to look at a preamp that gives you more XLR inputs if you're going to record drums... I have a Behringer ADA8000 (which also does ADAT out so I can record 16 tracks) and a Nady PRA8...

Just some thoughts...

[raven46]

tks for the reply, i have a studiomaster powerpack 400, that has 6xlr inputs, could i use this as a pre-amp for the drums or whatever???

[BentRabbit]

Originally Posted by raven46

tks for the reply, i have a studiomaster powerpack 400, that has 6xlr inputs, could i use this as a pre-amp for the drums or whatever???

I'm not familiar with that board, but if it has direct outs or inserts on each of the channels, then you can seperate your tracks... Otherwise, it would prolly be fine to mix down to stereo

[raven46]

hey bentrabbit, i'm just about to go ahead and buy the vf16 just wanna know how exactly do you set it up to your computer to burn a cd, does it go straight via midi and use the software you mentioned earlier, i was looking at the manual on the net but as this is gonna be my first multitrack i just wanted to ask someone who has experience with the unit, and anymore info you can give me is greatly appreciated, nice one

[BentRabbit]

No, the midi is only good for tying in with a sequencer or another deck... Keepes them in synch...

To get the songs to the PC, I have three SCSI 1 gig JAZ drives... One connected to my laptop and one connected to each VF16 (via the SCSI port).

The VF16 allows you to backup your tracks as wav files to the JAZ cartridge (a 16 track song is usually arounf 400-500 megs so the 1 gig JAZ is perfect.

Once the tracks are on the cartridge, I just pop it out of the drive and slap it into the drive connected to the laptop and dump em in there...

I think I got each JAZ drive off Ebay for aound $10 each... They're all over the place...

You can also try and find the 'preferred' Plextor CDR/W that attaches to the SCSI port as well and burn right to the CD... This didn't works as well for me... A lot of media errors (I may have had a bad burner) so I went back to the JAZ drives...

Hope this helps!

[raven46]

nice one BR, slowly but surley i'm gettin my head around it, i was looking at the manual again and its a pain in the balls, worst manual ever, the 1 gig jaz is this a zip drive,
if i got an 8 channel pre-amp for the drums with no adat function would i be able to record those tracks simultaniously(pretty much playing them live and doing a bit of over dubbin later) and record all the other instruments and vocals on the 8 tracks(16/24) of the v16, meaning two seperate simultanious recordings and then mix/edit them together and forgeting about the 16 track simultaniously for now, coz for the moment i will be doing a lot of the playing and recording myself so no need for the 16 simultanious tracks right now, but i do need to add those extra xlr's for the drums, is the adat the only way to go. hope you can make some sense out of this,
i also read on a couple of reviews that the unit can be noisy and the effects poorish, whats your opinion on this, it seems that there is a lot of add on's/extras to be bought to turn this into a real decent unit, thanks again

[BentRabbit]

The cool thing about the VF16 is you can do 8 tracks simultaneous... So if you wanted to do your drums as 8 seperate tracks, and then overdub guitars, etc. later on the remaining tracks you're all set!

ADAT is only an issue when you want to go full on 16 tracks simultaneous... So if you're only worried about 8 for now, the VF16 and a way to plug in your mics will be fine.

Getting a Pre (or a mixer with direct outs) is the only way to do this since you're only given the two XLR's on the unit.

Jaz and ZIP drives are two different items... Although they both will do the job for you... The difference is a ZIP will hold only 100 or 250 megs of music (depending on which drive you get) and the Jaz will hold 1 or 2 GIGS (depending on the drive.) If you don't mind swapping 4 or 5 cartridges when saving/loading, the Zip works fine.

Yes, the onboard effects aren't anything to write home about... But that's not what we buy our recorders for is it? I haven't had any issues of 'noise' with mine.... Biggest roadblock is the Low End EQ.... You can't tweak anything under 400 Hz, which sucks when trying to dial in kick drums or low toms sometimes...

Not really an issue if your going to do mixing on your computer... Or you can use an outboard EQ with one of the VF16's Aux busses....

Other than that, they are great decks for the money....

I've upgraded both mine to 40 gig hard drives... I think they come stock with a 5 gig... Which was fine for recording our first CD... 12 songs with 10 to 16 tracks each fit on the 5 gig no problem....

[raven46]

hey bought the vf16 today, should have it next wk, even though its an old unit and whatever i cant wait its my first multitracker, its like knowin your gonna get laid for the first time all over again,
i still have a few questions for ye
i was talking to a guy and he was saying that with the vf16 you can only work on one song at a time, any truth in this or is it a load of B.S.
i was looking through the other threads and someone mentioned that you can upgrade the harddrive to 40gb, which one is the best coz i would like to do this a.s.a.p.

[timboZ]

Originally Posted by raven46

i was talking to a guy and he was saying that with the vf16 you can only work on one song at a time, .

What did he mean by only work on one song at a time?

You can have up to 99 projects (songs) on your unit.

[BentRabbit]

Originally Posted by raven46

hey bought the vf16 today, should have it next wk, even though its an old unit and whatever i cant wait its my first multitracker, its like knowin your gonna get laid for the first time all over again,
i still have a few questions for ye
i was talking to a guy and he was saying that with the vf16 you can only work on one song at a time, any truth in this or is it a load of B.S.
i was looking through the other threads and someone mentioned that you can upgrade the harddrive to 40gb, which one is the best coz i would like to do this a.s.a.p.

Here's a list of the approved media for Hard Drive upgrades...

http://www.fostex.com/support/op_con...edia/vf16.html

[raven46]

im not quiet sure what he meant by only working on one song at a time to be honest i dont think he did either, obviously a load of B.S.
i was looking at the plextors on ebay but i'm not sure which one to get,dose it have to be a cd/rw, all i know is it has to be external and have an scsi port, what do ye recommend

[raven46]

just had look at the attachment bentrabbit, nice one,
tks for all your help over the last few days, god only knows what i would have bought, if i hadnt had all that great advice

[DTBlalock]

i also have a vf-16.
is there a way to get the files to your computer if your computer doesnt have an scsi input?

[hairylarry]

Hi,

I have a VF160 and I transfer files to my computer by burning to CD and then copying them from the CD to the computer hard drive. I don't have scsi on this computer, just an ide CD drive.

I think the VF16 supports an external CD writer on the scsi port.

On my VF160 the BKP save feature writes each track out as a .wav file. These could be copied to the hard drive and read by your DAW software.

Thanks,

Hairy Larry

[BentRabbit]

Originally Posted by DTBlalock

i also have a vf-16.
is there a way to get the files to your computer if your computer doesnt have an scsi input?

You can get a SCSI ZIP or JAZ drive that hooks to your VF16 and a USB ZIP or JAZ to hook to your computer and swap out the files that way...

These are all over Ebay for $10-$20

[Kramer]

I've owned a VF 16 for the last four years. Go with the VF 160 with the built in CDRW. Trust me, you'll be saving yourself a world of trouble and headaches. I went through 2 jaz drives off e-bay in 2 months. They're not reliable and will break at any given moment, besides that, they're obsolete. I have Plextor 12/10/32 S burner hooked up to the SCSI port.

Another thing you should know is that both models of the vf only have a low end EQ of 400hz. That's unacceptable in my opinion. There are a lot of cuts and boosts neede below 400 Hz in recording.