Fostex, Korg, Tascam, Boss??

[billisa]

I think I want to get a standalone digital muti-track recorder, spending anywhere from $300. to $600. Each of the companies listed in my subject line has entry/mid level units. My primary concerns are: sound quality (16bit/44.1khz is fine), build quality, and ease of use. I only need to import music beds in stereo, make voice overs, record 2 tracks at a time max, plus a few other things, but nothing that complicated... Any thoughts on which brand you like best, given my concerns? Thanks!

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Billisa:

Looks like you don't want a big BILL for your recording unit.

I don't know if any of the units are "easy" to operate. Some are easier than others but the manuals are something you have to learn to read and read and read.

Best bet for you is to go to a vendor and get your hands on some units and let the "demo" be your guide. Or start searching this site and absorb the comments made by our astute crew.

Or, sign up for a course at Blue Bear University. [He may not be accepting students at this time though.]


Green Hornet

[Garry Sharp]

Hi Billisa. (Will you upgrade to billpci soon?)

Take a look at the Fostex VF80. Lots of talk about it and its big bro' the 160 on the Fostex forum - I've been delighted with mine.

G

[buck78]

I own a Boss BR-532. It's a 4-track unit with 8 v-tracks per track. Ity record to smartmedia card and runs at 44.1/16 bit. It sounds great and IS very easy to use. As long as your stereo music beds are .wav files you can import them directly to the recorder. Voice-overs should be a snap with the v-tracks allowing you to make several versions of a take without erasing the previous ones. It's compact, allowing easy transportation. But it's not too smal that it's difficult to physically operate. Out of all the lower end DAWs, this one has the best mix of features.

This of course is all my opinion. If you have questions, let me know.

[billisa]

hey Buck... How would I convert a music CD (or a small portion of a music CD) into a wav file? Thanks for your insight into the Boss. You're getting at just what I need to know. Thanks! I guess too that what I'm looking for is the "between the lines" info on brands or specific items that have problems or glitches. I don't find salesmen being all that informed or honest, so a forun like this is valuable. Thanks.

[buck78]

There are a ton of programs that will rip CD tracks to .wav files. They tend to run in the $20-30 range. Pretty cheap. They rip the tracks as fast as your CD-ROM can read the disk (ie 12x, 24x, 48x) and produce a .wav file. With a utility you can get from Boss for free, you can import these into any Song file on the recorder.

Things that pushed me towards the Boss unit:
- 44.1k/16-bit resolution
- Good sized faders and buttons (much easier than those little ones on the Tascam and Korg)
- Nice selection of effects.
- MIDI sync capabilities
- Line-In can be recorded or simply monitored.
- XLR input.

The smaller units are small. The limited real estate reduces the number of ports you can have going in and out. It also limits the number of actual physical controls the unit can have (ie lots of tedious menus). I view the 532 like a Palm PDA. It is a simple device. But what it does do, it does very well.

If you serious about doing voice overs, you'll want to buy a better mic pre-amp. The 532 does not supply the phantom power that large diaphram condenser mics need. If you also need a LD condenser the Studio Projects B1 is a great mic for the money...$79.

Hope that helps.

[billisa]

I've also heard good things about a Samson condensor $69., and also one from Oktava (Russian)$99. If the Boss has line inputs, can I also import CD tracks using line outs on the player?

[buck78]

Yes...you can record the CD material through the Line-In. Depending on how "critical" you are about the quality, it should be fine. You just have to set the levels right to get a good strong signal. The ripping software does a digital copy, so you get exactly what's on the CD.

As for mics, I have heard good things about the Oktava SD condensers. Haven't heard anything on the Samson though. Check out the Mic forum here. If you pose a direct question about voice over mics, you should get a few quality replies. They hate vauge questions though

Good luck.

[Mitchmusicman]

I have the Boss, and it is great. Very easy to learn and use. Some of the on board effects are a little cheesey (is that a word??) but all in all, it is a great DAW. I even got the Boss 532 video from Roland/Boss ($19.95) that is basically a summary of the operating manual and shows you how to do things like bounce tracks etc. I highly recommend it! Peace,
Mitch

[blewispunk]

Hey Billisa,

In case you hadn't already thought about where you would be getting your multitracker from, I thought I'd recommend checking out harmonycentral.com classifieds section or ebay. If you're interested in the Fostex FD-8, I do have one on ebay at: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=2501229179

You can find out alot about these in the Fostex forum, people tend to think very highly of them. The nice thing for beginners is that they have a analog mixing console with real knobs, so you can adjust everything right in front of you and not have to deal with doing it on a little screen. If you decide to go with anything off of ebay, I'd check out http://www.prepal.com . It's a site that shows the "average" selling price of different music equipment on ebay. Best of luck in choosing!