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Fostex MR8 MKII 8-Track Digital Recorder
8 tracks of recording and playback using CompactFlash cards. 2 track simultaneous recording.
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Manufacturer's Description for Fostex MR8 MKII 8-Track Digital Recorder
The ultimate record-anywhere multitrack. Capture inspiration whenever and wherever you are. The new MR-8 Mk II is the easiest to use digital multitrack ever. If you can operate a tape recorder, you'll be recording and multitracking within minutes of opening the box.
By putting all the major controls and functions right there on the top panel instead of buried in a confusing menu system, the MR-8 Mk II, unlike some other recorders, actually aids you in capturing your musical ideas. In addition there's great sounding built-in digital effects, guitar amp and mic simulators, handy mix-down effects, plus the ability to hook up to a PC for data editing, and backing up your songs. You create. Fostex records.
New for the Mk II is the USB host feature which allows for the easy connection of an 'off-the-shelf' CD-R burner via USB. Making CD masters has never been more simple.
Recording time Recording time in normal mode (16bit/44.1kHz) is approx. 25 track-minutes on the supplied 128MB CF card and 50 track-minutes on a 256MB card. Extended mode (16bit/22.05kHz) doubles the recording time. Note that recording time varies depending on recorded source, punch in/out, undo/redo status, etc.
Features 8 tracks of recording and playback using CompactFlash cards
2 track simultaneous recording
Superb in-built digital effects inc Mic and Amp simulations
USB Host function for CD burning with 'off-the-shelf' CD burner
2 mic inputs with +48V Phantom Power
Details 8-track recording onto CompactFlash Card.
High quality sound recording and playback with uncompressed linear 16-bit/44.1 kHz digital audio (normal mode) with 2 track simultaneous recording and 8 track playback.
LP Mode (16-bit/22.05 kHz) doubles the recording time.
Physical knobs and buttons for intuitive operations. A new dial knob for menu selection.
Newly added +48V Phantom Power on all two Mic Inputs for wider choice of microphones.
USB Host function ready for CD burning on an off-the-shelf external CD-R drive.
Improved 132 x 64 dot-matrix LCD and self illuminating keys visually show the current status.
Improved built-in digital effects including Reverb, Delay as well as Guitar Amp and Microphone simulations
Black colored top panel design
Analog guitar distortion with the dedicated knob on Input A.
Full-track (8-track) bouncing to a "New Song (track 7/8) for PC transfer and CD burning.
Mastering effects for stereo buss.
USB port for stereo WAV file transfer to and from PC
AC and Battery (6 x AA alkaline cells) operation. Approx. 4 hours maximum operation time with batteries. Includes AC adapter.
Built-in microphone for handy song memo.
Two headphones outputs.
Free "WAV Manager" software available for multiple mono files transfer to and from PC
zZounds is an authorized dealer of
Fostex products.
Recording / Playback Recording medium CompactFlash
Recording time approx. 6 minutes (8-track on 256MB CF) normal mode
Recording format FAT16
Sampling frequency 44.1 kHz (Normal Mode), 22.05 kHz (LP Mode)
Quantization 16-bit linear (non-compression)
A/D converter 24-bit Delta-Sigma
D/A converter 24-bit Delta-Sigma
No. of recording track 8 tracks maximum
No. of simultaneous rec. 2 tracks
Recording/reproduction frequency 20 Hz - 20 kHz (Normal Mode)
Dynamic range 87dB or more (typical) (Normal Mode)
T.H.D. 0.05% or less (typical) (Normal Mode)
Inputs / Outputs Analog in (input A/B)
Connector XLR-3-31 type (Pin2:hot) and 6mm TRS phone
Input level -48dBV (MIC) - +4dBV (LINE)
Input impedance 1.5k ohm or more 400k ohm or more (GUITAR on INPUT A)
Phantom power P48V (on/off selectable)
Stereo out (L, R)
Connector 6mm stereo phone
Output level -10dBV (unbalance)
Load impedance 10k ohm or more
Headphones (phone 1, 2)
Connector 2 x 6mm stereo phone
Max. output 30mW or more (at 32 ohm)
Load impedance 16 ohm or more
MIDI out
Connector DIN 5 pin
Format MIDI standard
Foot switch
Connector 6mm phone
Level TTL level
USB 2.0 HI-SPEED
Connector B type
USB 1.1
Connector A type
General Dimensions 286(W) x 220(D) x 65(H) mm
Weight approx. approx. 1.6kgs
Power requirement DC12V, 400mA
Fostex WarrantyFostex Warranty
Fostex offers a warranty of 1 year for parts and 90 days labor.
If you have additional warranty questions,
please call the manufacturer at 800-994-4984
zZounds is an authorized Fostex dealer
Our extended 30-Day 100% Satisfaction Guarantee applies on
this product.Buy it, and if it isn't just right for you, return it!
What Our Customers Are Saying About zZounds
"My shipment included a defective unit. After getting nowhere with the manufacturer, zZounds offered me free shipping and a discount on my next order as compensation. This is a classy operation." - customer on February 6th, 2012
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"Great value for a highly capable recorder!"
Sound:
Sound is comparable to most other 44.1kHz, 16-bit recorders, nothing too special. The mic preamps have limited gain however (haven't tried the phantom power yet) and I would put them a little below the level of something like the Mackie 1202VLZ I used to have. If you are recording acoustic guitars with a dynamic mic, you have to turn the gain nearly all the way up to get reasonable signal levels, which adds to the noise. The headphone amps sound okay and get plently loud without distorting. Internal effects sound okay (only if they are used sparingly), and can be used for input monitoring without printing them to the track.
The sound starts to shine when the MR-8 is fed by an external preamp. I use my Gordon Model 5, which kills the internal preamps, and the unit pretty much records the sound that you give it. In this situation, professional-quality results can be achieved.
Feature:
My main gripe is the lack of any type of effects loop and no EQ. The only solution I have found to this so far is to pan a channel to one side, send the signal to the unbalanced output and effects unit, then record the incoming signal to a different channel. This works fine, but makes it impossible to monitor the effects with headphones before recording, since the dry signal is always on one side. Fostex could have solved this by having an option to send a channel's signal to the output but not to the headphones. I guess the headphones and output are on the same circuit, though.
As far as the lack of EQ, I'm not sure what Fostex was thinking on this one. In most cases, it is simply not possible to get a good production unless some type of corrective EQ is added. If they just had a simple effects loop, I would be alright with the exclusion of the EQ, but they make it extremely tough (but possible) on you to add EQ, unless you export the files to your computer. Since I bought the unit to get around computer mixing, this lowers their score a little bit.
2-channels is obviously not enough to record a full-featured demo, since drums need more than 2 channels. Therefore, I recommend doing drum tracks on your computer, then importing them to the MR-8 with the .wav manager provided by Fostex. Other than that, 2 tracks is really all you need. Just forget doing a quality live-band recording, unless you are feeding off of another mixer's output.
The battery capability is awesome, and allows for easy concert-taping and location recording. Metronome button on the front is a nice addition over the previous version. The operating system is intuitive and responds fairly fast to commands. The 3 mastering effects they provide are a complete joke!
Ease of Use:
If you have any idea of what you are doing, you will be recording within a few minutes of opening the box. In my opinion, this is one of the major selling points of the unit. I have more expensive, much higher-quality equipment, but will likely use this more since it is so simple.
Quality:
Buttons seem a little bit fragile. I haven't had it that long, but I am predicting the buttons will be the first thing to go. Seems a little bit cheaply made, but should work fine as long as it's taken care of. Hopefully, if any of the buttons break, it is one of the 3 mastering effect buttons, since those will never be used again.
Manufacturer Support:
n/a
The Wow Factor:
Looks a lot better than the red one. Easily small enough to fit this, some batteries, and a couple of mics inside of a backpack, then you are carrying a functional recording studio.
Overall:
I bought this mainly as a scratchpad to record ideas, but I may end up using this for demos, due to the simplicity of use. It will be great for location recording, then dumping the files to my computer for mixing and
Style of Music: Acoustic, Rock, Alternative, Country, some Jazz
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"Nice unit but could have used a bit more thought in the design"
Sound:
I don't claim a golden ear, so this is based more on technical: the specified distortion performance is decent but certainly far from state-of-the-art, and you can only record at 44.1 or 22.05 ks/s, and at 16 bit depth.
Feature:
My biggest disappointment is that, in this age of 4, 8 and even 16GB Compact Flash cards at reasonable prices, this puppy only will format in FAT16, which enforces a 2GB limit to the size you get, even if you put in a larger card. Also, only WAV recording is supported, no compressed formats such as MP3, OGG-Vorbis or one of the lossless compressions. Also, although you can record "stereo," it doesn't directly make a stereo wave file; you have to perform another operation to merge the two mono wave files into a single stereo one.
Ease of Use:
It has taken a bit of getting used to, but the human interface is OK. Something I long for: a bit smarter entry of song names (my simple cell phone has much easier text entry). The back-lit (red for recording-related, green for playback and general) pushbuttons give good visual cues about what state things are in, and the feel of the controls is better than I expected for a low-end unit. A confusing bit: when I'm recording two channels, the remaining-time display shows the total mono track time available, which is confusing. I have to divide by two to get the remaining stereo time.
Quality:
For the price, I feel like the external hardware quality is quite good. I like the pushbuttons with a positive feel, and the small sliders have a smooth feel to me. It's not my 24 channel Mackie board, but it has a good feel, to me.
Value:
In spite of my complaints, I feel this unit is a reasonable value. It has a lot of features for musicians looking to do their own mixes at a price less than a month's rent (at least anywhere around here).
Manufacturer Support:
A few days ago (after a few days of use) I emailed support asking about software upgrades: is there a way to do it from a computer or a flash card file? Do they have plans to support larger cards fully? Haven't heard a peep out of them yet.
The Wow Factor:
Thank god they dropped the bright red on this MkII version! I'll be using it a lot to record the output of a board that's mainly used for sound reinforcement of live performances, and I don't want something too flashy.
Overall:
I'm giving it a 7 for what it does, not for what I really want. So far, my searches have not turned up what I _really_ want: a unit about this size for recording stereo, or even better, 4-track or more, files to large memory cards; ability to do compressed files a plus. Ability to do timed (start and duration) recordings a plus. I don't need all the mixing capability the Fostex has, but I would like large, light-emitting level metering like I have on my large board. The M-Audio microtracker is too small; I want some weight and controls I can more easily use with one hand.
Style of Music: Many--mainly classical and Celtic--and whatever is performed on our stage
38 of 41 people
(92.68%) found this review helpful. Did you?
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Really. It's not a problem for us. In fact, we'll thank you
for the chance to live up to our lowest price guarantee!
It's fast and easy
Just tell us where you saw the lower price - another
website, an email offer, your local store - and we'll send
you our lowest price offer in a matter of hours.
Simply click the Seen it for less? link
Next to the item you want, or give us a
call at 800-zZounds (800-996-8637).
A temporary customer reference number is assigned to each customer only while they are shopping on zZounds.com. If you call our customer service department for assistance, this number makes it easier for us to answer any questions you have about products, services or purchases.
