Putting wav files onto MR8

cardiff jon

cardiff jon

Member
Excuse my ignorance, but does anyone know any way of taking wav files off a PC and putting them onto an MR8? I've always done it by making a CD and recording off that, but I'm sure there's a better way.
 
You should be able to do this by using a piece of free software called WavManager. This is available from the FostexInternational site. Do download the instruction .pdf file as well as naming the files, to load into the MR8, is critical.
You will need to split a stereo file into two tracks. Example tr01.wav and tr02.wav.
 
so you mean..i can take the beats my dude makes of the cpu..n put em on the mr-8..n then lay a verse down overtop of em?
 
Yes, also long as you can reformat the files to fit the specs needed for the export to the MR8. 44.1khz, 16bit, mono, wav named tr??.wav where ?? is the track number (tr05.wav). The you will need to get Wavmanager from fostex (its free) to do the transfer over USB.
 
related question

For copying files from the MR8's CF card to the computer, is it necessary to use the Wav Manager software, or can I simply use a card reader to copy files from the CF card?

What value is the software adding beyond the transfer of files?

Generally speaking, I'm only interested in using tracks 1 & 2 to record stereo images of acoustic or electronic drums. (I just resurrected the MR8 from the basement where it had taken a several year vacation; never got around to doing much with it).
 
DrummerCT1 said:
For copying files from the MR8's CF card to the computer, is it necessary to use the Wav Manager software, or can I simply use a card reader to copy files from the CF card?

What value is the software adding beyond the transfer of files?

Generally speaking, I'm only interested in using tracks 1 & 2 to record stereo images of acoustic or electronic drums. (I just resurrected the MR8 from the basement where it had taken a several year vacation; never got around to doing much with it).
Click to expand...

As I understand it - the MR8 track files can be transferred to be a source for an audio editor and a stereo song file can be transferred across just as if the source were a CD. WavManager is used for USB transfer from the MR8/HD series.
But if you want to put files back onto the MR8 you will need to ensure that the file format is correct and the name convention is also kept to. (See enwewn's note)
 
Thanks for the info!

Is there other value add of Wav Manager, other than maintaining the file-naming convention? What about when multiple tracks (more than tracks 1 and 2) are used? Does it store other "meta" information?

A sidebar comment: another gadget I use is one of the Zoom hand held recorders - the H2. I always use a card reader to transfer files from the Zoom to a computer (I never have reason to go Computer to Zoom). It seems to be much more user friendly than the Fostex unit - am I missing something?

I'm thinking probably just to use MR8 for, hmmm, well, not sure.... maybe as an experimental gizmo. I've got all kinds of other recording tools so this isn't my main piece - more of a curiosity, can I do something useful with it?
 
On the MR8 none HD there is little as when you record over a track it writes it to that file. (there is a setting that effects this, has to do with how much undo you have) On the HD models each recording is a new file, so to get the final track off you need to use Wavmanager, so it will piece in the rerecorded parts, also using Wavmanager it will add slience to the start of a track that starts part way through so they will line up when opening in something else, so you are not trying to find the spot with just a short file.

example: I record a guitar track on 4 but I fulb a small part 75 seconds in and a record over that short part, then a vocal on 3, I have drummer record on to 1 and 2. The vocal and drums don't start until after a 30 second intro from the guitar, so I started there recording at 25.

If I just copied the files over I would have 5 files.
The guitar with the flub
the guitar fix
the vocals
drum 1
drum 2

The guitar file would be 25 seconds longer then the vocal and drum tracks and I would have this short 15 second file thats the fixed guitar part.

With wavmanager I would have 4 files all the same length. ( they my be a bit short as it doesn't add to the end of tracks) So when I opened them in my software they would all line up on the zero mark and the flub would be fixed.

Do remember that with the CF units you can use a cardreader to move the files around, there is nothing special about the MR8 when it comes to this. The data is all on the card.

Hope this helps.
 
thanks; yes this is helpful.
Here's my takeaway...

(1) I can use a CF reader to move the files off of the MR8, and if all tracks for a given song happened to start at the same time, and if there were no overdubs or punch-ins, then the tracks will be time-aligned without me having to manually adjust their starting point; nor would I necessarily need WavManager.

(2) in the above example, if however, there are edits to a given track, or silences at the start, I would need WavManager to insert the proper "silences" and/or to not end up with "extra" tracks (i.e., an overdub for a flub)

Is this correct?
 
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