Fostex D-5

[gerry]

I am thinking of purchasing a D-5 to use as my master recorder from my Md8 in my humble litte studio. The info got from my local music store seems impressive enough and the price is in my budjet ($1000.00 canadian loonies). It would be great if anyone out there could comment on this machine (good or bad) or sugest another.
Thanks aye
Gerry

[Conrad Josepi]

It's a great machine!

I own one. I don't have much experience with other DAT machines, but my D-5 has served me well.

It has optical in and out, thats a plus.

The only analog ins and outs are XLR connections, which I find to be cumbersome at best, but I rarley use analog ins or outs.

My only other complaint is that it wont accept MIDI sync info from my PC or my Fostex DMT-8.

It has some sort of sync input jack, but I have no idea what kind of device it's designed to work with. (Fostex wasn't very helpful)

One more last thing, Fostex owners manuals are TERRIBLY written.

Conrad Josepi

[gerry]

Hey Conrad;
Thanks for your reply.
As for the Sync input you are talking about, if you are refering to the GPI input it states in the D-5 brocher i have that it - "Supports fader start. Because the D-5 is equiped with DIN 5PIN GPI IN connector, PLAY, STOP, S-IS search>> and S-IDsearch<< operations can be implemented through commands from an external device" what ever that means. I hope this helps. One more question if you don't mind and before the sun goes away: is there an over all sound difference from recording in the SP mode vs the LP mode or is something only a dogs ears will notice. OK realy one more question: what is optical in/out mean and what is it's purpose in life.
Thanks,
Gerry up in loonie land

[PJ]

Have you considered mastering onto MiniDisc? I am also an MD8 user and I recently traded in a cassette deck (while I could still get something for it) and bought a Sony MiniDisc recorder (MDS-JE510). The unit I bought has already been replaced by a newer model which sells for about $450. I was able to get mine for a reduced price because it was a store demo ($250 CDN). I am VERY pleased with the unit.