FD-8 Simultaneous and Separate Track Recording?

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blewispunk

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Hello All,

My band just got all our gear ripped off on Christmas and in rebuilding our stock of gear I came across a fostex fd-8 that was sold out of the box for $199. I used to have a tascam 424 mk III, and I thought going digital would be a nice jump and I couldn't pass it up for the price. The thing I really liked about my tascam 4-track was the ability to record all 4 tracks at once, onto separate tracks. Can I do this with the fd-8, only with 8 tracks? The manual is huge and I won't be able to actually mess around with it until we replace some more gear, but the anticipation is killing me. My band records really well when we are all playing together but not so well when recording one thing at a time, so I would really love if I could mic everything and send it all to the 8 inputs and get 8 separate tracks so that the levels could be adjusted post recording. Any other insights into the fd-8 would also be much appreciated. Oh yeah, another thing, when I got it the people didn't know much about it and said I would need to get a Jazz or Zip or other SCSI to record to. I have a 100mb zip drive at home but I don't think I would be able to fit much on a disk if recording 8 tracks. Much to my surprise, I turned the thing on when I got home before attaching it to a zip disk and it lit up saying "IDE" under hard drive, I looked into it and was stoked to find out that it can take a 2.5" drive and that mine had one in it. My question on this is, when I changed the display to remaining it said I had like 6 hours but only 27 MB. Can that be right? The display doesn't look like it goes over 2 digits for the MB remaining, so is this just how the display ends up when you have over 99MB, going back around?


Thanks so much,
Brent
 
Hey. I have an FD-8 and might have some useful info for you.

The internal hard drive is a good catch. Much more practical and convenient than external zip or other drives. The remaining recording time displayed is a grand total of hours and minutes you would have if you recorded on 1 track. That amount is divided between the overall number of tracks you record on, so a 2 track recording would have half as much time, a four track recording would have one fourth as much time, and so on.

The unit is mainly set up to only record on 2 tracks simultaneously. You can record all of the inputs as a stereo mix to a pair of odd/even tracks (1+2, 3+4, etc.) or record one channel directly to a track. You can then listen to tracks that are already recorded and add more tracks 1 or 2 at a time.

To record on more than 2 tracks at once, you need a device that can convert an analog signal to digital. The digital input on the back can accept either a stereo spdif signal, for a total of up to 4 tracks (2 analog + 2 digital), or an 8 channel adat signal, which will record on all 8 tracks. An analog to adat converter (such as the Fostex VC-8) or digital mixer with adat/lightpipe (like fostex vm-88 or vm-200) will allow you to record 8 inputs directly to 8 tracks.

Hope all that is not too confusing. Good thing you got a manual with it-there is much more detailed info. Great buy for $199, by the way.

-K
 
Analog - digital converter...

Thanks sb7 bass, that is some very useful info. If I were to pick up an analog-digital converter and connect it to my fd-8 then do I lose control of my eq on those tracks or does the signal go from the converter, to the input of each channel and route through the eq? I'm new at this so tell me if I'm not making any sense.

Thanks again,
Brent
 
Analog-digital converter

B:

Glad I could help.

Anything you connect to the digital input thru a converter or mixer bypasses the fader and eq on the FD-8 and goes directly to the track(s) on the recorder.

Your best bet to control the sound that is being recorded would probably be either to use a digital mixer, which will allow you to control the level, eq, effects etc. before the sound hits the recorder, or an analog mixer with the main output or direct outputs connected to the input(s) of the analog-digital converter.


-K
 
I use the vm200 digital mixer to get 8 tracks simultaniously in and out of my FD8 via ADAT. The vm88 is similar, but lacks the automation and MIDI ports.

You can find the vm200 on ebay in the $300-$400 range. The stand alone converter (forget the name) is nice, but you'd need a seperate mixer for it to get the most mileage.
 
Trying the minimum = shooting foot?

Does anyone know if I were to go with something like the Fostex VC-8 converter alone how well it would work with mic'd instruments that are all playing about the same level (fairly loud)? Would this possibly get in the range where it can be recorded decently, and then mixed better afterwards? If I'm understanding this correctly, I could use something like the fostex vc-8 to get 8 tracks to record at once but wouldn't have control over the level. However, after recording, I should still be able to use each channels eq/pan/level controls to dial them in (if the level is somewhat close to start). I like the idea of the VM88 or VM200, but I don't like that the VM-88 only has 2 XLR inputs (using 4 of the 8 channels). I haven't been ablefind much so far on the VM200, does it have 8 XLR inputs? I'm debating on this one now... It would be so cool, but a little hard on the checkbook. I was also planning on picking up a PA/speaker system (<$500), but I do have an old stereo amplifier and a couple 12" boston acoustic speakers. Anyone know if I could run the mixer to that for monitoring as our "PA" and thus cut the need for me to buy a PA so I could focus on the recording.

Thanks so much, already I have learned a ton.

-Brent
 
Like I said before, if you use an external converter, you'll need a mixer... preferably one that can output 8 channels. Mic's and instruments don't run at line level.

The VM200 has 4 XLR inputs, 8 line inputs, and 8 channels of ADAT i/o. You could theoritically use the the 2 xlr's on the fd8, the 4 on the vm200 and instead of using the adat i/o, use a combiniation of spdif and analog i/o to get more simultationous tracks plus 6 xlr channels. It would be easier to pick up a couple of used ART Tube MP's to get more xlr inputs. Those are going in the $30-$50 range on ebay.

Here is a superb review on the VM200
http://www.sospubs.co.uk/sos/oct99/articles/fostexvs.htm
 
It's all making sense... sorta

JR#97 said:
You could theoritically use the the 2 xlr's on the fd8, the 4 on the vm200 and instead of using the adat i/o, use a combiniation of spdif and analog i/o to get more simultationous tracks plus 6 xlr channels. It would be easier to pick up a couple of used ART Tube MP's to get more xlr inputs. Those are going in the $30-$50 range on ebay.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips JR, this is some good stuff.

I'm really liking the sound of this VM200, but I think I may have lost you a bit about using the xlr's from both consoles. Let me take baby steps as far as I can and maybe you can show me the rest of the way... If I use the xlr's on the fd-8 (Inputs 7 and 8) I can have those go to two tracks (say 1 and 2). I can also use the 4 xlr's from the vm200, connect the vm200 to the fd-8 through both the spdif and analog i/o and end up with 6 simulataneous and separate tracks, all from xlr ports? Going the adat route I could use the 4 xlr's on the vm200 and another 4 1/4" inputs to record 8 tracks simultaneous and separate? Instead of going with the ART Tube MP's (I don't know too much about, but will look into) could also get a few of those xlr -> 1/4" converters to plug mics into the other plugs (1/4"). I think those work alright... don't they? This sounds like the way to go, I think I can get by without a PA for a while...

Thanks again,
Brent
 
T-DIF Tascam compatable with ADAT?

This may be a totally stupid question, but I'm not noticing too many vm200's out there these days, but there are a ton of the tascam tm-d1000 mixers. Would this work? Can I use the T-DIF out on the tascam to the ADAT in on the FD-8 to record 8 tracks simultaneously?

Thanks again,
Brent
 
Getting there...

OK, I think I figured out that the tascam interface would not work with the ADAT input... Scratch that idea.

I'm still not sure if I've got the XLR concept right with the fd-8 and the vm200 (2 posts up I stated my understanding of it). JR, if you're still out there could you let me know if I'm on the right track?

Thanks,
Brent
 
well, my thinking was flawed... you could only do 4 tracks at a time combining the 2 xlr's with 2 external(ie vm200). However, you could mixdown on the vm200 to utilize the 4 xlr's.

I still think it would be easier to use vm200 adat optical plus an external pre. At $30-$50 a pop for a use ART Tube MP, you're in good shape. Or even a new Presonus stereo pre, or something similar. If you're really scraping pennies and don't need phantom power, you could use a balanced cable with xlr at one end and TRS 1/4" jack at the other. I'd use one of those before I used an inline transformer.

I've tried the Tascam mixer and it sucked. no automation, not easy to navigate.. however, it does have onboard dynamics which is cool.
 
Thanks JR, I think I finally understand what I need and the direction to go. I'll stick with the VM200.

Thanks,
Brent
 
Best of luck! Did I mention that the vm200 makes a great PC DAW controller? That alone is worth the money. You can effectively get over 100 moving faders!
 
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