First post: Fostex MR8-HD or laptop

D

Dogband

New member
Objective: simple acoustic music recording, with ability to adjust levels of instrument/vocal tracks in final mix, also add 1-3 sound on sound channels with minimal investment in learning curve time.

Best case scenerio: Two acoustic guitar players w individual SM-94 instument mics, and two vocal mics onto four tracks. Add a fifth mandolin track, and sixth bass track, perhaps a 7th drum track, and mix to stereo track. Other scenerio: Record room of acoustic musicians thru two cardiod mics on two channels, plus two vocal mics on 3/4 channels, go back and add bass/mandolin tracks, and have ability to boost/lower vocal tracks [I know there will be some bleeding]

Currently I record the room thru cardiod mics, adjusting levels by distance to mics, recording onto a audio system CD burner. Either the vocals are overpowering or non-existant, but after recording and guys have gone, I have what I have......I just want some post recording options. Do not want tape hiss or drag, must have digital.

Equipment: have good mics, mix board with phantom power [required by my mics], also have a 5-6 year old ACER laptop that could be dedicated to this objective.

QUESTION: For $400-$600 could I do significantly better going the laptop route, or should I just stick with the MR8-HD and be done with it? Thank you.
 
I think it ultimately depends on how much editing you want to do. I felt horribly limited editing wise with a stand alone recorder (Yamaha AW16G). To me, you'll be happier in the long run with a laptop set up, providing your laptop is up to the task. I've got doubts about a 5 year old ACER being up to par though. What are your specs?

6
 
Acer specs

Thanks for reply, will check and note specs to you tomorrow, left it at office. I only want to do minimal mixing, record probably three tracks [two acoustics, vocal], then come back and add a bass &/or mandolin track at most, mix and burn to CD. Kind of an audio "picture" of the session. I'm just looking to improve on the two mics into mixer into burner, getting the room sound, with too much/too little guitar/vocal results that this gives me. To me the analogy is I have a point and click camera, I'm looking for a SLR camera.

Ultimately I would like to do 5 minutes worth of mic/recorder set up, play two hours for foundation tracks, add bass/mando to selected songs in another hour, then mix a maximum of an hour.
 
You'll probably be fine with a Stand Alone unit then. I would advise going over to www.zzounds.com/a--2676837 and reading various user reviews before making a purchase. There are a lot of different stand alone's out there, and you want to get a good one for sure.

6
 
Dogband,
FWIW,My first computer based solution for audio recording was a 1998 Packard Bell 366mhz celeron.
I was the happiest musician on earth being able to record maximum 8-tracks into Cakewalk professional 8.
No problems what so ever.
I have no doubt you can do what you want to with either of your options.
Try downloading one of the freeware programs like Audacity,not sure if it is multitrack, I only used it for it's noise removal a couple of times.
Keith
 
Laptop specs vs Fostex MR8

Laptop is an Acer, 64 Mb of RAM, an Intel Pentium II processor, with a 10 Gb hard drive.

Pursue laptop route or stand alone Fostex or similar unit?

Thanks to KT & Sixways for your advice so far. r
 
Dogband,
Check this outAudacity Its free,legal,good, and you can record up to 16 tracks simultaneously if your Laptop can handle that many.
If the Laptop and software seems to much of a hassle, you can always go ahead and buy the MR8-HD.
Either way will work and either way will have a learning curve.
Personally I think you will dig recording onto your Laptop more,but the standalone probably will have a better sound than your Laptops built-in soundcard.Given your Laptops age it will be tough to upgrade the soundcard.
Keith
 
if you already didn't have the mixer I would have said no to mr8. although it helps, it only helps a little. you don't have 8 dedicated outs on the original mr8, i doubt it on the hd - so that doesn't solve the missing eq problem, even tho you have a mixer w/ eq.

- probly too late for me to make sense....
 
I started my recording project with a recent model laptop, a Presonus preamp via firewire and Cakewalk Guitar Tracks 3 only to be disappointed with lousy recordings no matter what adjustments/drivers, etc. I tried. IMO a laptop as DAW just doesn't cut it. While many think PC recording is the way to go and have seemingly good experiences, the PCs many folks use are high performance models with mega memory and fastest processor. There is a price to pay for this sort of PC especially as a decidated DAW. It's fair to say it all depends on what sort of recording you'll be doing and how much time you plan to invest in your recordings.

I am ready to abandoning the laptop recording solution in favor of a dedicated, multitrack HD digital recorder. I spent alot of time and money trying to get a decent sounding recording from my current setup only to be totally frustrated. I want a straightforward means of recording what I play now. I want to spend more time playing my guitar, then fiddling farting around with a finicky PC, software program, and interfaces nor spending mega bucks for this and that item for the PC that is suppose to work well.

I suggest forgetting the laptop idea as a DAW. Using a PC is not out of the question if you have deep pocket for the right equipment and software IMO. My experience was a big bust and relatively speaking alot of money spent for nothing. Luckily the laptop can still be put to other uses as a consolation.
 
plygtar said:
I started my recording project with a recent model laptop, a Presonus preamp via firewire and Cakewalk Guitar Tracks 3 only to be disappointed with lousy recordings no matter what adjustments/drivers, etc. I tried. IMO a laptop as DAW just doesn't cut it. While many think PC recording is the way to go and have seemingly good experiences, the PCs many folks use are high performance models with mega memory and fastest processor. There is a price to pay for this sort of PC especially as a decidated DAW. It's fair to say it all depends on what sort of recording you'll be doing and how much time you plan to invest in your recordings.

I am ready to abandoning the laptop recording solution in favor of a dedicated, multitrack HD digital recorder. I spent alot of time and money trying to get a decent sounding recording from my current setup only to be totally frustrated. I want a straightforward means of recording what I play now. I want to spend more time playing my guitar, then fiddling farting around with a finicky PC, software program, and interfaces nor spending mega bucks for this and that item for the PC that is suppose to work well.

I suggest forgetting the laptop idea as a DAW. Using a PC is not out of the question if you have deep pocket for the right equipment and software IMO. My experience was a big bust and relatively speaking alot of money spent for nothing. Luckily the laptop can still be put to other uses as a consolation.
Click to expand...

how can you possibly give this advice when you don't even have a multitrack recorder yet?
personally, i've used an mr8, mr8hd, vf16, vf160ex, hd2424, a few older multitrack tape decks, an ollld computer with audacity recording from the default soundcard, and probably a few other setups. what i currently have is a firewire interface and a pc, and it is by far the easiest to setup and record and mix with. and its a 3 year old pc with 512m of ram.. hardly top of the line.
 
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