D90

[MickB]

I have, and still use, my Foxtex D90 hard disk recorder.

Made in 1997, it was a rackmount box with detachable display which recorded 8 tracks at 16bit, 44.1/48khz. It also had two MIDI tracks (used only for sync' with other Fostexes) with optional balanced i/os and SCSI connections for upgraders.

When I used to record with it I found I had to use two hard disks - not just for space but also because the Fostex acted as an oven, cooking the hard drives causing jitter and dropout after just 2 hours of constant use.

My mates didn't care too much for having to take breaks to let the hard drives cool on the window ledges, ********** pie style!

To top that off, the analogue outputs were muddy and ill defined, though the analogue ins were absolutely sweet. That was alright for getting a decent track down and rough-monitoring it, but backing up for mixing and editing meant running the tracks through the SPDIF out to a CD recorder, two by two.

And on top of that, the PROMS came loose on the board, causing malfunction. The PROMS are now discontinued I believe, so I bent the pins and re-seated them. By sheer luck, full contact was made again. Probably the heat making the board connectors warp.

To fix the cooking problem (no real ventilation or heat extraction), I keep the lid off and have the hard disk work from outside the holding cradle.

But despite that, I love it. Even though I've since got myself a PC setup with an M-AUDIO Delta 66 (I wanted a Multi or Fire Face but funds didn't stretch) for 24 bit fun, I still couldn't do without my Fostex. I wouldn't feel quite safe digitally recording anything 'proper' without a second machine to take a duplicate of the session in the background.

These days, hard disk recorders are vastly superior in every respect, but mine was an early one with all those lovely teething problems to cope with.

Anyone else with some nice (well, nice now) Fostex memories?

[A Reel Person]

Originally Posted by MickB

But despite that, I love it.

That seems like a lot of headaches, but okay.

My "Fostex memories" are pretty limited, being mainly a Tascam guy myself, but I did 2 pretty nice productions on the FD-4. It was with the removable media setup at the time, but I liked it so much that I later purchased another FD-4 and FD-8 with internal hard disks. I thought the analog mixer section with digital recording hybrid idea was a pretty good one, fwiw, when considering the all-in-one design, [Portastudio format].

Although I have a moderate stable of Fostexes, I don't have a long track record or history of use with them. I wouldn't have 'em if I didn't like 'em, though. That's my 2¢!

PS: the FD-4's external disc [Syquest Ez Flyer 230/SCSI] made mechanical sounds, so I had to put it in a small box lined with foam. Then the hard disc tended to skip a little when it heated up, which was irritating. I managed to slave the FD-4 to a Tascam 564 MD Portastudio, which worked okay but the skipping phenomenon then seemed to go in tandem, which was double-irritating. I never understood that, 'cause the 564 was MTC master, & it never skipped on it's own. Anyway, go figure. I don't think the FD-4 or 8 with internal HD ever skipped on me, for whatever minimal test recordings I ever did on them.

[MickB]

"But despite that, I love it."

Well I've solved the problems, so can now rest on my laurels.

FOSTEX D90:

http://www.fostex.com/support/pdf/fo...0_brochure.pdf

http://www.fostex.com/support/pdf/fostex/d90/d90_owners_manual(small).pdf

http://www.fostex.com/index.php?file=support/documents