MR-8 Potential tracks underrated?

A

a12stringer

New member
I was looking at the owner's manual and had a flash of inspiration: If one is directly mastering to CD using a stand-alone unit, one could theoretically record twelve tracks.
The procedure would be:
1: Record tracks 1-4 or 1-6 and bounce to 7/8
2: Erase tracks 1-6.
3: Record tracks 1-4 and bounce to 5/6.
4: Erase tracks 1-4.
5: Record tracks 1-4.
6: Mix and burn.

Of course there are drawbacks in that one will lose some flexibility. Fortunately, blank CD's are fairly cheap and getting cheaper every week. Plus, pushing the boundaries of the technology one has access to is fun. Just remember, the Beatles recorded the Sgt. Pepper album in 4-track analog with equipment that is primitive compared to what the starting home studio has available today.
 
Even better, if you have software on your pc that allows you to multitrack, you are only limited by the software, if it lets you mix 64 tracks, you can do it with the MR 8, just keep loading the wav files as you record them, this way there is no loss of flexibility when you're mixing and adding effects.
 
True. But that assumes one has a large enough hard drive on his or her computer to do that kind of work. I'm thinking in terms of how can I maximize what I have without purchasing more hardware and software.

To borrow the name of John Sebastian's old management company, I'd like to name my record label Cheapo-Cheapo Productions.
 
Actually, Sgt. Pepper was recorded on a 3-track.

The Beatles Recording Sessions is a fine book, and your point is well taken. I think the quality we have in our hands today is astounding. Mapleshade puts out some beaut recordings that are only two-channel, straight to the master tape (analogue, 15ips). So I think it's good to keep it all in perspective. Having more or less tracks isn't necessarily going to automatically affect the final product.
 
I agree with you guys that pushing techology to its limits is fun but OTOH making life unneccessarily complicated to save a few hundred dollars is not my idea of fun.

I've been reading the posts about MR8 with slight amusement and a bit of sadness also. You guys buy MR8 and then you buy memory carsd and memory card readers and external mixers and all that stuff (I do know you don't need a memorycard reader if you have win98se or later, the exact gear is not the poin here) to overcome the limitations of MR8 or to move tracks over to computer to mix it all down using multitrack software while I can do this all on my VF16 that can be had used for a couple of hundred more than the MR8. Is it really worth all that hassle when you can do it much easier with gear that let's you concentrate in making music and not in messing with underpowered gear.

I'm not against any particular piece of gear but sometimes it might be wise to spend a little bit more to make life a whole lot easier.
 
A lot depends on one's intended purpose. I've looked at the owner's manuals for the VF-80 and the VF-160, both of which are over twice the length of the owner's manual for the MR-8. It seems to me that those machines require a steeper learning curve and I for one would prefer to be spending the time concentrating on the music itself rather than the technology.

In addition, the MR-8 has some features the VF-80/160 lack. Being battery powered and having a built-microphone mean it can function as a take-anywhere sonic sketchbook. In addition, the two headphone jacks mean that if I'm working with someone else, they can listen to the tracks as their being laid down without having to spend extra money on an external headphone amplifier.

I stick to my basic point: the potential of the MR-8 is underrated. I would also add that all the technology in the world is not going to make a work of art out of a poorly composed and/or performed piece of music. Conversely, a really good piece of music or its performance is not dependent upon the technology for its power to connect.
 
a12stringer said:
I stick to my basic point: the potential of the MR-8 is underrated. I would also add that all the technology in the world is not going to make a work of art out of a poorly composed and/or performed piece of music. Conversely, a really good piece of music or its performance is not dependent upon the technology for its power to connect. [/B]
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As we say where I'm from, AMEN, BROTHER!!
 
The basic use of VF160 so simple that anyone can learn it in ten minutes. All you have to know is how to plug in your instrument or mic, push direct rec and that green blinking light at the top end of the cahnnel fader to make it ready for recording and press the rec and play buttons together to start record. One plug in, press 4 buttons and you're recording. How much easier should it be? After you've recorded the first track you press edit and select the Track exchange function that let's you exchange the recorded track with some of the unrecorded tracks in a second so you wouldn't even have to move your mic to another jack to be able to record the next track. How many steps and tricks would that take on MR8?
 
PeteHalo said:

I've been reading the posts about MR8 with slight amusement and a bit of sadness also.
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Pete man! You have some gems of knowledge, but you have to get off this ‘high horse’ of yours! I’ve used/own all the equipment you speak of – and sometimes I still read your post’s with slight amusement and a bit of sadness! Really, what is with the ‘father knows best’ motif you wear on your shoulder? Maybe it’s unintended, and if so I apologise…..but damn!


PeteHalo said:
Is it really worth all that hassle when you can do it much easier with gear that let's you concentrate in making music and not in messing with underpowered gear.
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Yes, it is absolutely really worth all the hassle. And not just from the premise of making the most of what you have and learning because of it. I can still remember my teenage years when the only recording equipment I had was a realistic tape deck, a radioshack 3 or 4 channel mixer, garbage can mics, and a bunch of wires/splitters/connectors from here to the ceiling! And it was GREAT!!!! When you are immersed in new equipment (as long as it works: a couple of hard smacks to the tapedeck usually set it right when it started acting up), the equipment really becomes secondary…the experience of it all usually takes over…and if anything adds it’s own particular colour to what you record. It was DIFFERENT from what I can do now – but often with maturity and experience comes the knowledge that DIFFERENT does not necessarily equate BETTER on all accounts. This does not mean that I would go back to that equipment if given the choice now – but everything has it’s right place – at least it did for me. The hypothesis that working with ‘underpowered’ gear detracts from the music making process is overwhelmingly rejected by the legions of cassette tapes now stored in peoples drawers and desks and shoe boxes across the world that still cause them to feel all warm and fuzzy inside when they listen to them.

Pete, your cost/analysis/efficiency equations of optimum gear selection just doesn’t hold water in the real world for a lot of people. If you CANT understand that, then maybe you just had different experiences with your equipment prior to the VF, or maybe your current priorities are just different…and you need to respect those differences (but I guess you cant really do that if you don’t really understand why they exist in the first place, eh?)

T
 
PeteHalo said:
I ....complicated to save a few hundred dollars is not my idea of fun. ......................wise to spend a little bit more to make life a whole lot easier.
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Pete,

I have spent the extra few hundred dollars since I have purchased the MR-8. With the same money that would have bought me a VF16, I was able to purchase a nice condenser mic, tube pre amp, vocal effects processor as well as assorted cables and what not.

What I am all about is making my money go as far as it can for me. The MR-8 has allowed me to do that. And trust me, the MR-8 is not a hassle to use, especially once you learn it's capabilities.

AND I have got 3 letters for you: U S B :)


clif
 
I may be wrong about this, but I would guess, from the comments made on this and other threads, that money is not an object with Pete. Pete, if you buy me a VF-160, I'll gladly use it. Otherwise I'll have to wait on my MR-8.
 
From what I've read on this forum people have been selling their used VF16 for $450 which compared to the $300 for a new MR8 is a bargain, almost a gift. Maybe I'm just too used to local gear prices here in EU but that $150 difference is nothing. Here I can hardly get one Behringer B1 for $150. Even at the $700 price of new VF160 that I've seen mentioned here it's one hell of a bargain considering what you get for your money. I wouldn't even trade my Vf16 for 4 MR8s. And looking at the number of posts about all kinds problems and little annoyances with MR8 I sure don't need those because I've got so used to the trouble free operation of my Vf16 during the 18 months that I've had it.
 
PeteHalo said:
From what I've read on this forum people have been selling their used VF16 for $450 which compared to the $300 for a new MR8 is a bargain, almost a gift. Maybe I'm just too used to local gear prices here in EU but that $150 difference is nothing. Here I can hardly get one Behringer B1 for $150. Even at the $700 price of new VF160 that I've seen mentioned here it's one hell of a bargain considering what you get for your money. I wouldn't even trade my Vf16 for 4 MR8s. And looking at the number of posts about all kinds problems and little annoyances with MR8 I sure don't need those because I've got so used to the trouble free operation of my Vf16 during the 18 months that I've had it.
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Perhaps some one has sold theirs for 450.00 (a real bargain) but from what I see right now on EBAY they are up to 700.00 with no reserve. If all of us could have purchased the VF16 for 450.00 some of us would might have, but then again it comes down to the question of "what do I want". I do not know about the memory capabilities of the VF16, but I store all my MR-8 songs on my computer and I can burn a compilation CD anytime I want and throw other songs from artists in as well. My condenser mic and pre amp cost me about 150.00. SO, to humor you, If I had purchsed the VF16 for 450.00, I wouldnt have any money left to buy a mic to record with, the VF16 would sit around until I had enough money to purchase gear to support it thus resulting in me not writing recording having fun etc. What good is that?

The MR-8 is not the best digital recorder out there, I feel that we are not making that claim. AND, depite some of the problems we have been having, I feel that all of us MR-8 owners have banded together to figure them out and we HAVE. This forum is fun and alive because of the MR-8. (hop on over to the boss forum if you don't believe me.)

Pete, I always appreciate your contributions to the discussions. They further justify whay I am happy with the MR-8.


clif
 
PeteHalo said:
After you've recorded the first track you press edit and select the Track exchange function that let's you exchange the recorded track with some of the unrecorded tracks in a second so you wouldn't even have to move your mic to another jack to be able to record the next track. How many steps and tricks would that take on MR8?
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Uh, none. Simply arm "track 2" and go to town. So the VF series doesn't route inputs? Now THAT sounds like a hassle. And having to dig through a menu to pan a track would soon have the thing serving as a door stop.

And as for not trading your VF for "4 MR-8's" - I wonder how many people would trade their VF for one MR-8 and a computer...
 
Not to mention the fact that the VF-16 has terrible low end eqproblems...unless you are willing to pay extra for an external eq unit, your tracks sound like they are coming through an am radio (this should get some people hacked off)........

approx. one week till she (mr8) arrives!

b
 
Pete,
I don't quite understand your going on about how the MR 8 is a mistake. You have no idea what what works for other people. First, I'm 44 and recently diagnosed with kidney failure, guess what, I'm not spending any more than I have to to play around with recording. Ok, you say I need all kinds of extra stuff, I already had a decent mic to begin with, as for a mixer, I could use my 244 mixer in and outs if I needed one (which I don't, because it is only myself I'm recording, in mono) I will never sell a recording I make, and i will never sign a recording contract, I am doing this just because it is fun. The MR 8 is a fun machine, although it does have it's quirks (and every multi track has quirks). I can sit on my bed, plug the machine in and just go to town, working on all sorts of things. Pete, all I'm recording is an ukulele, guitar washboard, and (with a little luck), a bass. Thats it, I'm playing all the instruments, so I don't need any more than 1 input at a time. As far as time on the flashcard, I havent recorded any more than 3 minutes or so, on a total of maybe 4 tracks. It's really no problem to dump the unused stuff, and since I got the card reader, it is very easy to just grab the card and load the wav file onto the computer.
One thing I like about this forum is real people are using the MR 8, and we are learning from each other what is good and not so good about the machine. We are trying to learn in an evironment that is conducive to learning, and you're not helping. All you do is smugly point out how stupid we are for enjoying the equipment we have. I spent over us$1000.00 on recording eqipment in 1986, and then I didn't have half the fun that I'm having now. I'm only doing this because it's fun, I don't want to keep buying more and more stuff (you should see my hospital bill from last summer), and even though you say that it looks like we have to keep buying stuff to get to where you're at, that's where your logic fails you. I don't want to be where you are at, I am happy right where I am.
Pete, there is no perfect system, the system has to fit the individual who is using it. The MR 8 fits me and my needs very well, and it seems to the needs of others as well.
I get e mails about the MR 8 from people in another group I'm in. I tell them the good and the bad. I direct them to this group as well, because I feel that with as much knowledge that is out here, people can then make a rational decision on what to buy. And for some people, the right thing is the MR 8.
If you want to warn people away from the MR 8, just start your own threads, and stay out of these, because you are not contributing anything at all.
 
Do any of you guys have songs posted on the net that you recorded with the MR-8?Im curious as to what kind of results have been achieved with it.If you do could you post a link to the songs.

Thanks,
Kramer
 
Like I said, I am an amatuer, just getting back into playing and recording again, so don't laugh too much....

http://www.onlinerock.com/musicians/dyuob

only 2 tracks used, vocals and ukulele on one track, guitar on the other, mixed etc. in Clubtracks. Mic used was the cheapy nady that came with the MR 8 kit musicians friend is offering.
This was recorded sitting on my bed, and no edits were used.
The mic was simply plugged straight into a transformer, and that was plugged atraight into the MR8, no cables were used, and I was about a foot or two away from the mic.
I was just trying to work out the guitar bass parts when this sort of fell together.
Like i said, I do this all for myself, for fun.
 
dyuob,

That was so cool! Between this and Clif's bass thing it's great to hear something other than the same old 80's techno-pop that permeates the forums of "other" products. I can't wait to post some results - my singers are coming over tonight, so with any luck...
 
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