mr-8 vs. vf-80

[travis16vp]

can someone convince me why I should wait a little more and get the vf-80 instead of the mr-8. I don't like the idea of bouncing tracks 1-4 of the mr-8 then I wouldn't have a lot of control over tracks 5 and 6. All I need is 6 tracks and I would like to stay away from my computer as much as possible and do everything on the vf-80. I have a line 6 pod and a soundcard with digital in/out and a cd burner on my computer. Can the fostex vf-80 make great sounding songs without the need of a computer for mastering?

[mrx]

I can only speak for the MR-8, and in that regard you really need a computer. The MR-8 should really be thought of as a couple analog/digital converters attached to a flash card. The effects on the MR-8 are minimal, and you can see from other posts that the mic sims do very little and the amp sims are so bad that you almost think the thing is broken. That being said, it's the easiest unit use with a computer, which makes it great in that setting. It also sounds great.

[travis16vp]

the funny thing is, I hate my computer. It always crashes even though I just got my memory to 256mb. The mr-8 might be good for me but I want to be able to control 6 tracks in real time rather than bouncing tracks 1-4 to 7&8. I only have wavelab lite for wave editing on my computer. As for the vf-80, how do the users find the reverb and compression on the unit? is it better or worse than the ones on wavelab lite? I must tell you that I like the presets on the vf-80 because I don't know anything about reverb and compression settings. what do you guys think?

[MessianicDreams]

if you don't want to use your computer, then i think that getting the MR-8 wouldnt be the best idea. there is only a limited amount of space available (128mb i do believe...unless you buy a bigger memory stick), whereas on the VF-80 you have a 20gig harddrive, which you can change and put a large HD in.

i was in the same position as you, with a wonky computer that gets VERY moody when i try to do...pretty much anything complicated with it, and was looking for a multitrack recorder....i went for the VF-80 ( i havent recieved it yet....i can't wait )

keep in mind that with the VF-80 i believe that trcks 7&8 are only for bouncing trcks 1-5, so you SHOULD be able to control trcks 1-5 in real time (note i'm not quite sure of this).

hope this helps ya,

MD

[Garry Sharp]

MD - not quite right about Tracks 7&8 on the VF80.

They are a fixed stereo pair, unlike 1-6, but you can record onto them and they are not just for bouncing. However they are the only tracks you can bounce to.

This is not a problem because you can easily move the tracks around once you've done that, so if you want the bounced stuff on, say 1&2 you just move it over afterwards.

Also the "virtual" tracks (9-24) are great for storing different takes, or warehousing stuff that would get in the way of 1-8.

I hope you enjoy the VF80 as much as I am; it's so easy to use once you've spent a day with it, the manual and a cold towel round your head. Should get 2003 off to a flying start for you music wise.

Garry