Fostex VF160 Ex Vs. My Laptop Computer For Recording: Advice??

[Mike Freze]

Thanks, everyone, for all your help for this newbee. You've been very helpful so far.

I use Cubase LE and Cakewalk for my computer-based, home recording software. I also have a SIAB (Fostex VF160Ex, 16-track, mixer built in) that I play around with, too.

Here's two questions. Outside of the portability of my Fostex stand-alone digital recorder, is there any advantage to using it if I have a laptop computer with my Cubas LE program to work with? That can be portable, too. Any advantage to ever using my Fostex instead of my laptop to record, edit, and mix with? Both are portable, so I'm not sure.

Here's a big question: If I record a multi-track project in Cubase LE (say, 8 tracks), I can save that as a Cubase file and call it up and can edit each track again and again if I choose. When I export it out after mixing as a wav file on my hardrive, ifr I call it up that way back into the Cubase program, it swounds exactly the same except it's all one wav file: no separate tracks to work with unless I call up the original Cubase project; then I can have all the original tracks show up like when I first recorded to edit.

Is there a way to save a recording project with multiple tracks that becomes a wav file (for, say, copying to a CD or playing through your Windows Media player on your computer) so that you still have the separate tracks there (like on a CD) that you could copy to another system, computer, etc. to re-edit or mic later on?

This is an important question because I've had people want to make more elaborate demos of their music (say, a singer/songwriter sending me a CD with only one voice, one instrument). But when I get it, the voice and the single instrument show up as one audio file in my computer (there aren't separate tracks for the vocals and guitar) to call up and edit individually; it's everything on one wav or mp3 file (one track, in other words).
Sure, you can add other tracks later for other instruments or add some effects to what they sent you, but you don't have separate tracks to work with on what THEY recorded.

When I record something in my SIAB Fostex digital recorder, I can record up to 16 tracks there and save it internally in the Fostex system. I can then burn a CD of what I've recorded from my Fostex CD drive. BUT!!!! Can I save my 16 separate tracks as a wav recording, burn it to a CD from my Fostex, and have the recording on that CD be all separate 16 tracks so it could be imported to my computer later and show up in Cabase with all 16 tracks separated like I saved it originally? Or can you only save a recording to a wav format as one final, single track recording with no breakdown of the tracks like before? I know when you "mix down" a recording in Cubase or Cakewalk and then export it as a wav file to your hard drive, you get one final file: no separate tracks to work with.


Any advice you can give me would really be appreciated. I know that on an CD recording in my computer from a famous band (say, the Eagles), whether or not it's from the origianl CD I bought or an mp3 download, both will call up into Cubase and play fine, but it shows up as one file (track); nothing shows up as separate tracks that the artist used to begin with when they made their recording. Therefore, I can't experiment and play around with editing on those songs because it's all mixed down to one mastered file.

Is there any program out there that will "unlock" a final recorded wav file (track) and separate it back to individual tracks for all the instruments like ot was when they originally recorded it before it got mixede down and mastered as a single, wav file on CD?


Mike Freze

 

[enwewn]

You can, but you can't do it that way.

Once a track is mixed out to a wav the data for each track is gone and its a lump, no going back.

If you wanted to have a finial mix and then have the tracks to play with, you would need to do a hybrid disk of data and audio. Most CD burning programs that are not audio editors will do this. (Some audio programs will also.) With this you would have the final mix in the audio format, and the track files as data. Then on a computer you would be able to use that data for editing.

If you need to go pure audio, you can export each track as a wav. (All effects are there to stay) the have each track as a "song" on the CD. In this way you could rip that data back off the CD and remix the levels or add more effects, then send it out as a new mix all together.

I know there is a way of having the fostex write out each track as a wav, but I am no sure how to make it do it. Just remember you only have so much time on a CD (74-80 min) so a 6 min song with 8 tracks is 48 min on the CD.

When getting music from others, if you can ask for them to send you each track they have, not a mix. Now much of the time when its just guitar and vocal acoustic they only record with one microphone so one is it, but if its vocals and electric they should have two tracks some how. One cheat that you can have people try who don't have milti-track systems or only want to send one file is to have them pan hard left on one part (vocals) and hard right on the other (guitar) this way they can send one file and you still get two tracks really. Though many programs (mp3 compressors) and editors will still bleed a little through, you have more a chance to do something this way.

 

[Paj]

The lasting advantage of the VF is its ability to simultaneously record up to 16 tracks with the addition of an ADAT peripheral (10 channels right out of the box if you are using an S\PDIF peripheral). I said lasting advantage because the thing is durable.

(1) Yes, you can save your entire project to CD-R/RW as WAV files. Each track will be a separate WAV file. You can save the entire project, a single track, or a range of contiguous tracks---either entirely or as a section of each track. Up to 24 tracks are saved. The highest numbered unrecorded (empty) tracks are ignored and not saved.

(2) You have 24 tracks to record on the VF160, with 16 available for mixdown at any one time.

(3) Go to the Fostex support site knowledge base for particulars.
http://www.fostexsupport.com/

(4) You can save "Internal Mixdown" tracks either as CD-DA or WAV files. Generally, with minor manipulation (setting Clip In/Out times), you can save Tracks 1&2 of any program/project as CD-DA.

(5) If you want to unscramble the egg (separate the mix components), expect to spend money and time. You might want to look into Melodyne.

Paj
8^)