MR-8 (newb alert!) big help needed!

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Comet Mutation

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Ok guys, This is a lot of questioning, but I SERIORUSLY need help because I'm like desperate for a nice recorder in time to make some demo material for gigs and other promotion, because my Tascam 414mkII is slowly dying out on me (another story in itself!)Please give me some pointers!

You all seem very helpful and cool so I'm gonna shoot for it here.
Should I get the MR-8 this weekend? Here are some of the things I know may effect the idea of me getting one:

I play death/black metal. Even if you are not totally familiar with this style I can tell you that I know how to set my gear up but I just have midstream level gear. I use a randall 100 watt halfstack, metalzone for live stuff, korg ax100g for practice and playing around with effects and my guitars dont really matter but they do what they are supposed to :) . I'm planning on recording my entire band too so if there are any situations that arise with recording vocals or drums (we trigger and would probably go directly through a drum module, but use "air micing for the cymbols) please fill me in.

I know the MR-8 doesnt have phantom power, but I dont know what I'd need it for? I was talking to the guy at guitar center and he said I may need this for things like drums and vocals or to record live jams/practices.

I'm looking to use it as a band demoing device but mainly for molding guitar parts. Do you think it would be advisable to either go directly through my lower end processing pedal (korg ax100g) or just mic up my amp?

And finally this brings me to the EQ you guys mention doesnt exist on the MR-8. Even though it doesnt have EQ does it at least have High/Mid/Low or something like that? Or would I have to rely totally on computer progs? That's what I'm trying to stay clear of actually, using too many computer programs for mixing and all that.

I just want to be able to lay down some tracks on the thing, plug it in to the pc, and burn a nice sounding disc for what it's all worth without having to buy anything other than the unit and whatever nessecary items it needs (i.e. USB cords and memory cards).

Thanks a lot guys!
-Comet Mutation
 
The challenge is recording the entire band. While the MR8 has 8 tracks, it can only record 2 tracks at a time. This means that either the band does individual instruments, recording each separatly, or a mixer approach for the entire band.

With the mixer approach, your band members would have mics and sources that go into a mixer. It would then feed 1 or 2 tracks to the MR8 for recording.

The mixer would provide any EQ needed, and perhaps phantom power if requred.

Ed
 
mr 8

ed is right on, only other rproblem is the small compact flash card, not alot of room, but there are biger carda availabe, or you can save the files to your pc
 
I, for one, hope you do get it and contribute to the MP3 clinic! We need more black and death metal around here!
 
If you plan to record the entire band, the only way that you are gonna be able to do it is if you use a mixer first and set up a stereo drum mix so you can at least record 2 tracks at a time. Unfortunately, the MR-8 is not going to have enough memory for you guys to lay down tracks seperatley, you will run out of memory long before the lyrics even start in your songs:) Trust me.

The mr-8 may work for your entire band if:
1) you throw the entire band into the mixer and ALL of YOU record onto two tracks at once (set up the best mix you can using the mixer and just hope that none of you mess up since it is a live recording)


2) use the mixer to record drums, export your drum tracks to a PC to be used with a music editing/mixing program, delete one of the 2 drum tracks (L of R respectively) record your bass or guitar, send the tracks to PC, delete it off the mr-8 to free more room for another guitar etc. rinse and repeat.


The mr-8 has NO EQ abilities. The closest thing is the mastering buttons that only boost certian levels and frequencies if you use the MR-8 to mix your tracks.


The way that most of us use the MR-8 here is pretty much for "one man band" situations and mixing our tracks using PC software in order to avoid filing up the measly 128MB CF card that comes with the MR-8.


I am thinking that you may want to spend a little more and get a digital recorder that can accomadate at least 4 seperate inputs as well as having more memory.

hope this helps,

clif
 
I agree with Ed on this also. Our band goes onto a 12CH Mackie mixer into 2 Stereo Channels and then into the MR-8. The drums are triggers into 2CH and then we mic the cymbals,Guitar, and Vocals. The Bass is through a direct box (Although I would prefer to mic also). This works very well and our rehearsal recordings have been mistaken for studio by our Non-Musician friends. We play Heavy Aggressive Metal and this set up works very well for us so far. I then take the WAV files and copy them to the computer and burn them to CD. It will be interesting when we start recording separate tracks. So far my largest CF card is 256MB and I have yet to try it out. The Main limitation of the MR-8 is the puny,wimpy stock CF card you get but they are starting to confirm more 512MB cards and hopefully 1GB will be confirmed and readily available soon.
(Fingers,Arms, and Legs Crossed!!!!)
 
My eyes are crossed...

Do they have an updated list of confirmed cards yet???

I haven't seen one since I bought my 6 or so months ago...
 
realityflaw said:
\The Main limitation of the MR-8 is the puny,wimpy stock CF card you get but they are starting to confirm more 512MB cards and hopefully 1GB will be confirmed and readily available soon.
(Fingers,Arms, and Legs Crossed!!!!)
Click to expand...

Some users have already reported success using selected 1 GB cards. Don't remember which, but saw it here on this forum.

Ed
 
I was just looking at that thread, it's on the "CF upgrad card users experiences" thread in this forum. It was a Lexar 1Gig CF that supposedly works.

Why hasn't fostex confirmed any 1 gig cards?
 
So maybe I should look for something a bit bigger then eh?
Do you guys have any suggestions? The only problem is I'm sort of tight on the money stuff.

I guess my real question is: What would be the best one or MAYBE two steps up unit (any brand) to get that could pull off the whole band deal?

With the band thing I was planning on just recording one instrument at a time. I think I could manage using just the 2 channels at a time but having no EQ and basically being forced to spend extra money on certain things like computer progs and whatnot would just be a wasteful idea for me since I'm looking more for a unit that can at least handle a small amount of mixing on it's own.

I'm looking at the VF80 right now. Anything important you folks could fill me in on about this unit?


Thanks for the tips!
 
You might better check about how many tracks that the VF80 will record simultaneously. If my memory serves me correctly (and it may not?) the VF80 only records two tracks at a time also.
 
Yeah I believe it does but I think I'll be able to pull it off with two simultaneous. That should be just enough for drums, because we trigger all the toms and snare and run all the triggers into a modulator then just one patch cord from the mod into the recording unit for that, and hang a mic above the kit for the cymbols, and if more are needed I'll just sacrifice a little of the quality and use a patch cord splitter and run two mics down into one input.
Everything else only needs one, maybe at some points two, but it should be fine.

The thing that is making me drool is that the VF80 has the CD burner, the mastering stuff (They mean EQ right? I hope!) and the "possibly-needed" phantom power along with what is advertised as better simulators and effects too. Plus I can afford it. Hmmmmm I'm still waiting to hear a few more opinions from you guys as I'm and no good with keeping up in the recording world. I just know how to work what comes into my hands everything outside I dont mess with :)
 
The Vf80 is a fine machine, though it only record 2 tracks at once. It does a great job (if you use it right) in making a finished, quality CD. It has phantom power (if you plan to use condensor mics), and it can hold a lot of music on its 20gig hard drive.

If you get a VF80 take your time between each step, don't overuse the effects, and don't expect a high-speed CDburn. The burner isn't fast -- it's very accurate.
 
I'm really bummed out though because the VF80 is a lot more money. Like, I'm willing to do it if it's totally worth it but the MR-8 was within my range.

Well...actually, do the programs that Fostex offer for the MR-8 help you EQ your recordings any? If so I might still be game to pick the MR-8's up and just get a cheapo soundcard that works good cause my current one is jacked (the whole reason I wanted to avoid mixing on pc) and get some sort of free studio software from a download site or something, and still use the MR-8 idea.

That thing is just so incredibly cheap for a digital that there has to be all kinds of drawbacks and this makes me really grind the teeth. It's like anything that seems like a good deal can never do a standup job on it's own and you always have to throw down amounts of $$$ that would be equal to it's bigger brothers.






P.S.
Since a lot of you are saying the MR-8 would work with a mixer and more memory what FAIR PRICED (almost generic but still working) devices in these categories would you recommend?
I'm on a pretty tight budget but I really want to break into the digital realm very bad because tape recording just aint cutting it anymore.
 
I decided to buy the MR8 instead of a unit with more features and took a chance. I'm so glad I did. EQ'ing is done on a $50 Behringer mixer, effects are from an ancient Digitech effects unit, and my mics are well-abused dynamics. Tracks are mixed down to 2 track stereo, converted to .wav format (all in the MR8), then sent to the PC via usb for burning. You can get lots of creative ways to bounce/delete tracks by reading others posts in this forum that deal with managing the small amount of track minutes you get with the stock memory card. I elect to mix down in the MR8 instead of mixing with PC software because the songs aren't huge needing lots of memory. Many of the people who post here have much better setups than my super budget rig, but right now it works for me. If you get an MR8 I think you'd be happy with the sound and quality for the $.
 
Thanks for the tip man. I too have budget-assed gear but that stuff works out at least. I still am kinda boogered on what to do though cause I'm buying it for the main purpose of recording my band (each instrument at a time). What I was thinking was: I could do one instrument, dump the track to PC, delete it off the MR8 and record the next and repeat the process until the entire song is loaded on the computer. Then just get a stupid pirate of a some studio software (because I really dont have the money to spend on that totally overpriced crap) and mix it all up on the pc.

My only problem I think would be getting a nice inexpensive live mixing device like that Behringer (that price sounds nice!) and learning how to use it properly with the MR8, unless it's all pretty intuitive. Maybe a bigger memory card too, but those little buttheads are expensive as piss too.

Say I did buy that Behringer mixer, and used the idea of dumping each track to pc after recording. Would it work out as a whole band device then, and still be able to record a fairly top notch sounding effort?


P.S. With the mixer, do you just plug it into the inputs on the MR8 and let it take over as the main input?
 
I'm heavily restricted by a tight budget as well. I highly recommend N-track. If I remember correctly, it's only 40 bucks, and will probably more than serve your purposes to begin with.

Wander over to the N-track forum for more info, they also have their own forum.http://ntrack.com/ntrackforum/index.html
 
Righteous! 40 bucks?!?! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!!!
Is it pretty good?
 
Don't quote me, but yea I think it is around there.

Check out the link, you'll find more affirmative answers there than I can give you....

It's served my purposes so far, but I have no basis for comparison.

Can you go wrong for the money?
Check it out, the propietor is frequently coming out with upgrades also...

Go to the Ntrack forum here and ask some specific questions, or go to their forum in that link I gave you...
 
n track

for me n track rocks, i just move files to pc and use effects, eq, and even some mastering , its the best 49.00 ive spent in a long time,

but i heard flavio(owner) is selling out to a corp, so prices will go up soon im sure,

try the FREE demo and see if you like it

fasoft.com
 
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