about md8

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vivien

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Hi everybody!
I am an amateur musician , I 'd like to equip seriously. Can you tell me about your bad or good experiences with the md8? Do you think it is a good machine to begin the multitrack recording? What do you advise me?(Do I need necessarily a mixer or just the md8?).I have little experience of recording but I think I must begin, I am thinking deeply about it.
Thanks for your advice.
 
I had my MD8 since August 2000. I've found it exteremely easy to use and it gets good sound quality. I like being able to record 8 tracks at once. With my band, no one has any time to sit down and do track by track recording. The MD can be set to four, two and one track modes also. As the number of tracks decrease, the more time is available on the data minidisc. Group recording can be done with MD8. Signals from any channel can be directed to a praticular track. I use a Sony CDRW33 to mixdown to. The MD8 can use the cheaper two track recordable minidiscs too. It also has two effect sends.

Here's a link to my first "studio" recording of a band I used to play in. The "Havre De Grace Song" is the only one in the list that is an MD8 recording. I used a DBX 266XL compressor and an Lexicon MPX-100 for mixdown effects/signal processing.

http://www.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Callians_Dream/
 
Yo Vivien:]

The ROCKER OF THE GRAVE is 100% right. The MD8 is very easy to use right out of the box. Oh, yes, there are some complications in the manual but that is standard operating procedure for any recording gear.

You will get good sound out of the MD8 but not quite as good as a unit with 24 bit processing. I also have a Lexicom reverb unit and it processes in 24 bit and it is very nice.

You can burn to a CDRW box from the MD8 via the RCA out plugs. I've never had to record 8 tracks at once but, as Graverocker says, the box can do that.

I like to do overdub recordings which amounts to putting down the drum track and, maybe, keys/chords first; then, I add the bass, horns, etc. via my synthesizer.

For some neat vocal work, you can put CD background music into the MD8 right out of the headphone plug from an amp, or your CD unit; then, Voila, just play back the great background music and sing. I've done this neat trick many times for clients and friends.

If you're just getting your feet wet, go for an MD8; the price on the unit hasn't dropped much in a couple of years because it is a pretty good unit; however, remember, there are better units out there. Depends on what you want to do and how much you want to spend.

Have fun,
Green Hornet
 
thanks for your answers but..

Did you noticed any flaws? Were you disappointed? Do you think i can use the md8 as a simple mixer(if i don't want to record)? Is the rca out able to keep the quality of the sound(like a digital out)?
 
It can be used as a mixer but it has just two XLR inputs. The sound isn't digital, it's stored on minidisc digitally. The output is analog, a very good quality analog. Generally speaking, Yamaha products are well made. I have no complaints about mine so far. I've heard of drive failures occassionally. Mine locked up once when the disc was full. Another unit to look into is the Fostex VF-16 for $999 plus you get a condenser mic or the Tascam 788 Portastudio for $899 at Mars . They struck me as being more complex to operate but have user groups for support. The VF-16 and the 788 are digital units. I would have bought the VF-16, but I picked up the MD8 used at a good price.
 
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