vf160ex vs. tascam 2488?

  • Thread starter Thread starter quadrajet
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quadrajet

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Hello,
I am interested in buying either a fostex vf160ex or a Tascam 2488 in the VERY near future and wanted some feedback on the machines from other owners. The VF160EX has plenty of what I need (wont ever use more than 16 tracks anyway), but I am concerned because I've heard about problems with the hard drives. Am I better off forking over an extra $400 for the tascam because it may be a more reliable machine?

Also, can you back up data from your hard drive onto CD's to reload the songs later if you do have a hard drive issue?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
 
I've owned VFs for about 4 years, firstly a VF16 then a 160. I haven't had a HD problem, and they don't come up with high frequency on the main forums (bearing in mind the forums cover Europe, N. America and Australia!).
Yes, the disks on a hard disk recorder do a lot of work and after some time they can fail, but any machine with a hard drive is likely to suffer this (including the Tascam).
Yes you can (and should!) backup your work on CDs, in two formats: either Fostex' own format or in WAV format, which lets you transfer to PC (or other recorders).
Finally, judging from posts in the Tascam forums, that machine is not trouble free.

You might have guessed: I like the VF!

Orc
 
Reliability would not be one of the issues steering me to a TASCAM 2488. Check out TASCAMFORUMS.COM It's pretty obvious that the 2488 has had it's share of not easily solved teething issues -- from a screeching powersupply (that someone took the time to actually post as an MP3), to a hum in input H, freezing up, display issues, etc.

I doubt that any machine is more stable/reliable than the VF160. As far as HardDrives go, the Maxtor brand is awfully good, and the Fostex machines probably accept a wider variety of HardDrives than most other machines, if not all.

I'm not saying the 2488 is a bad machine -- it sounds very capable (as is everything else out there). But at $799.00, the VF160 is a very well known, well understood, incredible bargain.
 
Wow - after spending some time at the Tascam forum, I am heavily leaning towards the fostex unit now. Just a few more quick questions, and thanks again to all of you for your input.........

What is the big deal between 16-bit and 24-bit recording? I thought all of these devices used uncompressed recording to avoid losing highest and lowest frequencies on recordings so what gives?

Also, the ads on this thing seem a little misleading - they say you can record 16 tracks simultaneously but my understanding is that out of the box, you can only do 8 at a time. It says you need an "ADAT light pipe" for 16 track simultaneous recording. At the risk of sounding like an idiot, what exactly is that (a mixer with an optical line out I suspect), and what does one cost?

I'm probably going to buy this thing, but it's too bad no one (and I mean NO ONE) stocks these as far as music stores go, but if I have to go with mail order, I guess that's what I need to do.
 
As regards the 16 track simultaneous recording you are correct: you need to use an additional 'box' to connect to the VF's optical input.
1. The favoured option in various forums at the moment seems to be the Behringer ADA8000, which provides good preamps and XLR or jack inputs. Street price in UK is about £150 (approx 300 USD?). This uses ADAT mode and gives you 8 additional inputs, total inputs = 16. I haven't used this unit, but this board and VF16.com are awash with foz-heads who have.
2. If you use the optical input in SPDIF mode you can get 2 additional inputs, total inputs = 10 (you can't use ADAT and SPDIF at the same time). You may already have audio kit with an SPDIF output which you could use as an AD convertor. E.g. I have used the SPDIF out of my J Station to record guitar, and my Lexicon MPX 200 to record vocals. I have also recorded my drum machine through SPDIF, using the outputs from my standalone CD recorder (while it's in record mode).

Orc
 
quadrajet said:
What is the big deal between 16-bit and 24-bit recording? I thought all of these devices used uncompressed recording to avoid losing highest and lowest frequencies on recordings so what gives?
Click to expand...

Some will say 24bit is clearly superior (though CD's are 16 bit.). 24bit gives you more "bottom room" than headroom, so you're more likely to hear the difference if you're recording VERY low sound sources (a praying mantis sitting on a cotton ball).

My shelves have plenty of CD's recorded digitally at 16bits (like James Taylor's "Hourglass") that are simply phenomenal, and better than many 24bit recordings I've heard.

All things being equal, 24bits should be better. Can you hear the difference? Maybe yes, maybe no.
 
Glad to see you checked out the Tascam forum for yourself - would probably be worse, but people who speak up over there get run out.

Regading the VF, I took it to record someone live a couple weeks back - just pluged into tape outs on his mixer and hit record - very cool to just let it run for 3 hours without worry!
 
I was just over at the Tascamforums.com site and followed a freeze up thread. Obviously there are some teething issues with the 2488. They seem to be all over the map, not just in one area, or well-known issues. The excuses people are giving go to show how loyal people want to be to their purchase, but the last 2 years of just turning on my VF and going to work are something I really appreciate.

The VF160 isn't perfect. But it's awfully good. And very predictable.
 
I can't thank you guys enough for the advice, I shelled out the cash for the VF160EX and my purchase is scheduled to arrive today. Can't wait to get into it to record my new CD! I used an MD4s and QY100 combo for my last one "Animosity in Human Form" (which you can check out at....) www.cdbaby.com/neilhess and I can't wait to compare the sound.

I'm sure I'll be back often asking stupid questions becuase I've heard the manual isn't very user friendly, but it seems like everyone on this site is very willing to help. Again, thanks!
 
quadrajet said:
I'm sure I'll be back often asking stupid questions becuase I've heard the manual isn't very user friendly, but it seems like everyone on this site is very willing to help. Again, thanks!
Click to expand...

There are no stupid questions. One tip. Keep in mind that the VF160 saves as you go -- no need to save before shut-down. When burning a CD, or moving/erasing large amounts of material during an edit, take your time, and let the machine finishe each step before pushing more buttons. This is the only way I've been able to get mine to freeze.

The beauty is, because the data is all saved, I just restart and keep going. In 2 years of constant use, I've never lost a second of data. Even so, when you get to a serious point in a song, and you're going to stop for the day, do a backup on CD (always). The wav format backup is a standard that can be read by non-Fostex PC's etc, the FDMS-3 backup is proprietart to Fostex, uses less CD space, and also saves any setting on the machine that you saved (levels, eq, effects). Wav saves only the actual recorded material, nothing else.

Have fun. These are great, and in my view, highly underrated machines.
 
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