recorder

Roger Francis · Post by **Roger Francis** » 24 Jan 2006 1:28 pm

I've been thinking about buying a multi track recorder for mainly recording along with a rythm track to make a CD for home use. I want one with a built in CD burner and is user friendly. I know the cost on these can get expensive so i'm going to have to buy used. I've already ckecked out ebay but i have'nt a clue at what i'm looking at (basicly).I know there are a lot of you here on the forum that has "been there done that" so i respect your opinions.I would apreciate any replies,thanks.
Roger[This message was edited by Roger Francis on 24 January 2006 at 07:46 PM.][This message was edited by Roger Francis on 24 January 2006 at 07:48 PM.]

Willie Crisel · Post by **Willie Crisel** » 24 Jan 2006 1:54 pm

I record myself on a 4 track then go to an older phillips burner, sounds good enough for me, under 300.00, or you could spend 150.00 for a decent 4 track,then 100.00 for a computer sound card with rca or 1/4 inputs and mixx to your hard drive, to burn cds,

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MId seventies Push Pull D10 8 and 4, Peavey LTD Peavey Session 400 Ibanez analog delay

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 24 Jan 2006 2:59 pm

I have a Fostex VF160, which is a 16 track (actually 8 tracks at a time) digital recorder with a built in CD burner. It's a great recorder but the CD Burner is almost useless as you can only burn one "session" (one song) to a CD. You can't record, for example 10 songs and burn all 10 songs to the same CD.

That is something to look out for on recorders.

John Daugherty · Post by **John Daugherty** » 24 Jan 2006 5:32 pm

Jack makes a very good point. CD burners can become obsolete in a short time. It is much better to mix the recorder tracks into a computer, as wav files, then burn CDs with the computer. If you can buy a multi track recorder without a burner, you will save money. By tomorrow, I should have some good recording equipment posted for sale on my website. You may want to check into that.

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www.phelpscountychoppers.com/steelguitar

Hook Moore · Post by **Hook Moore** » 24 Jan 2006 5:41 pm

I also have the VF 160, possibly a newer version than Jack`s. Mine will burn multiple programs to CD. I just did 11 tunes, about 45 minutes,just today. You can very often find this machine at musiciansfriend.com, on sale for about 700.00...Works great
Hook

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www.HookMoore.com

Roger Francis · Post by **Roger Francis** » 24 Jan 2006 8:22 pm

I guess i should have mentioned the price range i wanted to stay in, around 300.00 and i can probably forget about a CD burner for that price. I was just looking at fostex MR-8 8 track with a compact flash card 512mb, usb port for wave file transfers to windows PC, 249.00 new. Pros & cons on this one?
Thanks

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 25 Jan 2006 2:45 am

well, with my Yamaha AW 2816 system ..and also the AW4416 , both of which use the OS-2 operating system, you can burn as many projects or songs to CD as can fit on the disk, in a single burn session.

I also use different hard drives for different large projects...These AW systems do have a tad steep learning curve but at the end of the day well worth it...

The new Yamaha 24 track system..AW2400..in my opinion, with 4 on board assignable effects processors ,IS the unit for today...

One thing that has to be done with ALL of these workstations is to Optimize the HD during and at the end of your song project. This means to DELETE all the stuff that has been re-recorded and recorded over..if you don't it will remain on the HD and take up valuable free space.

With todays technology out there it is not realistic to get a machine that cannot burn all songs at one time in a single session. Many of these machines boast RED BOOK specs, if you don't not burn on board that is no longer a feature. If you don't care about it then burn direct to the PC..

I do both...

But when it is time to Master a project I do it on the Workstation....thats the Master CD that gets sent off for copies and such....

too many toys to choose from now-a-days..

Almsot all of them will accomplish what you want to do as well...

The $300 price range is pretty limiting though, I don't think it really matters what brand..they are all going to be about the same at that price.

t[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 25 January 2006 at 02:47 AM.]

Bob Martin · Post by **Bob Martin** » 25 Jan 2006 6:58 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Fostex MR-8 Digital Recorder

The Fostex MR-8 is the first solid-state memory recorder in the industry that offers 8-tracks of recording on the very popular CompactFlash card media. The MR-8 comes with a very competitive price point, especially compared to the current digital 4-track memory recorders already on the market.

Fostex's design goal for the MR-8 was to create a digital multitrack recorder with unprecedented ease of operation for musicians who want digital recording and superb sound quality, but also offers the simplicity of their favorite old analog machine. Nearly all the functions of the MR-8 are on the physical knobs and buttons of the top panel. User frustration caused by having to flip through pages and pages of LCD menus, is not an issue with the MR-8.

While the MR-8 may be simple to operate, all the features and functions expected from digital recorders in today's market are present: on-board digital effects, guitar amp/microphone simulators, digital bouncing, auto punch in/punch out, etc. Communication with a PC is provided via the MR-8's standard built-in USB port making it easy for data editing, CD-burning, and file backup.
FEATURES:

* 8 tracks recording & playback
* 128MB CF Included!
* No menus to navigate; Knob/Button for each function
* Full Timecode Capability Inc. 30df and Jam Sync.
* On-Board Effects
* Reverbs
* Delays
* Guitar FX
* Amp Simulator
* Mic Simulator
* Mastering
* USB Port
* WAV import/export
* Archiving
* CD Burning
* 2 XLR Mic Inputs
* 2 Guitar Inputs
* S/PDIF Digital Output
* Built-In Microphone<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi Roger I did some research on the Fostex and the quoted text is standard hype from musicians friend but it does tell the story.

This unit is the simplest of the simple and it should be very user friendly, but it does record to Compact Flash cards and It will not store much on one card unless you get a very big card say like 2 gb or so.

Then you will also have to deal with it's limitations as fars how many tracks can be recorded at one time but if you think you can live with it I'll bet this little recorder will put out some very nice demos.

Bob

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 25 Jan 2006 8:45 pm

A friend of mine just picked up the MR-8HD, with a 40 GB hard drive. 4 XLR/line inputs and 4 track simultaneous recording capability. I think they're $400 at the usual mail-order suspects instead of $300, but this gets around all the problems of the memory chip recorders. Its native format is apparently .wav files, a big advantage, IMO, for working with Windoze systems.

I think the built-in hard drive makes much more sense than the built-in CD burner. Practically any modern computer has a CD burner already - if it doesn't, it ain't hard to put one in. If it's simple to transfer the .wav files over (I think it is), then this makes much more sense. One mixes to tracks 7 and 8, from which one can convert to a stero .wav file and export to the computer to burn.

If this is as cool as it looks, I may have to have one.

Johnny Cunnyngham · Post by **Johnny Cunnyngham** » 26 Jan 2006 7:01 am

Roger, checy your email.

Roger Francis · Post by **Roger Francis** » 28 Jan 2006 10:04 am

Thanks,to every one that replied here and by email.
Roger