Customer Reviews

Fostex MR8 8-Track Digital Recorder with Built-In FX

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Fostex MR-8 has it's ups and downs, luckily it has more ups than downs. What the greatest perks of the MR-8 is that it's one of the cheapest digital recorders around and doesn't feel cheap. For just three hundred dollars you get a digital recorder, and the fact that it is a digital recorder offers enough flexibility to get around it's shortcomings.
The MR-8 records onto a Smart Card reader. It has a couple of onboard effect options and mastering effects. The recorder has a simple menu screen to work from and it's also backlit so it's easy to see. You have eight tracks to work from and the first four of these you are allowed to add effects from the actual MR-8. This isn't necessary if you already have an effects pedal, but it's a nice thought. It's very easy to record onto this thing and within minutes after scanning the manual I was able to start recording. Within a day of reading the manual I was able to almost fully use every function on the MR-8. The MR-8 also allows you to bounce tracks one though four onto tracks five and six and then you can bounce tracks one through six onto tracks seven and eight, you can than master these two tracks into a wav file so your completed song can be exported onto your computer. This is the MR-8's strongest feature, the ability to transfer tracks and songs back and forth from the computer. It makes the fact that the Smart Card has only a little amount of memory easier to digest. If you use a USB cable to transfer songs you might run into some problems, as I did. Every now and then, about one in every twenty transfers, a file would become corrupted and unusable. But I just bought a Smart Card reader and use that now to transfer songs and I have yet to have a problem.
I have found after having this product for over a year, it best works as a recording device instead of a recording/mastering device. If you just use the product to record and than a computer to handle the mixing and mastering you will soon discover you have a powerful combination in your hands. For it's price it is a nice place to start a budding recording carrier.

I'm an independent artist publishing under the name "Alpha Terminus" and "Dancing Baptists." The genre is electronic/synthpop/new wave. I tried recording vocals on the computer soundcard and a mic and it was in essence, horrible. On someones advice I bought the Fostex MR-8 and a good mic (Sure SM58) and it was remarkable.
Simple to use, I never read the manual. I don't use any of the effects as I'm just using it for vocals. Any professional could use this to get identical "big studio sound." But the incredibly cheap price is great for amatures.
The CF format is cheap. You can easily add a 1 Gbyte card for under 100 dollars and have hours of recording time.
Transfer it to your computer, enhance it, edit it, and you can have studio quality perfection. The best and most important equipment I use (But get a good mic too!)

I recently began writing and recording, and I am the definition of technologically impaired. My brother who is an electronic music major recommended this unit because I am a beginner, and he was right. It is perfect for what I want. Extremely easy to use, but the recording quality is amazing. I have only had it for a month and have already recorded 10 songs in my spare time. It may not have effects and extras, but if you are like me and want to get started, this will be perfect for you.

This is my first piece of recording equpiment. It was really easy to learn how to use. I found it to be very "non-frustrating", so I could concentrate on my music instead of getting the damn thing to work. The final sound quality is quite good-sounds great on my ipod although I have yet to burn my recordings to cd. The only thing is it comes with a crappy memory card that holds like, 3 songs at most. So you'll probably have to buy an additional one with more memory. Don't start a long project on the original memory card. Overall I love my MR-8.

I just have to chime in and say my brother and I have been using this product for years now and it is great. To the two complaints below: For the one who hears noise when pushing rec, I am guessing you have the ext mic on (or would it be internal? At any rate, the built-in mic). To the one whose card doesn't work ..... Well, I don't know honestly. I've never had that problem and have never had to update it online. I didn't even know you could.

At any rate, compared to the insane prices of most of this type of equipment, this is a great deal. It may not be quite "professional" quality but it's really not bad at all. A great product that I would recommend.

I have an MR-8 and have had it since new. I use it for field recording and live recording of concerts. It works very well and files transfer to my Mac quite easily. I know that I could edit and mix internally but I can't imagine ever doing so -- I use this to bring outside sounds to my studio. For this reason, I will never use most of the functionality. It can be used with CF cards up to 2 Gig -- the web site has a list of cards that have been tested and are known to work (interestingly, the SanDisk cards that I use are not recommended but I have had no problems).

The manual and web site do not mention that all of the file transfer functions and systerm updates can be done on a Macintosh but it's easy and intuative using the USB port.

Tech support is inadequate but there is a good user forum that is up to date and knowledgable. The Mr-8 comes in two colors: red and black. The black one was later but updating the firmware makes both identical.

If I had my way, there would be support for more than 2 tracks of simultaneous record and phantom power would be available (it is on the MkII). Using a mixer bypasses the adequate (but not great) mic pre-amps. For what I use it for, I am happy with the job it does.

I've had my MR-8 for 5 years now and, although I haven't used it a whole lot during that time, when I have recorded tracks with it, I've always been amazed at the results. Back in the 80's when those 4-track Teac cassette multitrackers came out, I wanted one pretty bad but never did get one, so when this "new toy" came out, I held out no longer. I decided to go with this unit due to being overwhelmed & frustrated with computer recording programs and, let me tell you, the day I brought the MR-8 home I was recording multitracks as easily as recording on a cassette machine. While you're obviously not going to get a polished studio sound out of this, you can get a pretty darn good recording out of it, if everything else is done right along the way (proper miking, good room acoustics...the basics of good recording). The main reasons you should get an MR-8 - especially if you're starting out and want to learn multitracking basics- is that it's easy to use, sounds more than good enough to post music recorded on it to MySpace and similar sites, and is just plain fun!

I will record initial trax to the MR-8 and then transfer them to Sonar an make more trax...very nice.

I've had this for over 5 years now and have recorded many a tune. When I purchased this, I had absolutely no clue about recording music, but the controls are simple enough to get anyone off the ground. After using it for about a year, I finally started messing around with punch in/out. It seems like this little machine can do it all. I've plugged in guitars, vocal mics, condenser mics (with phantom power) and amps. I would recommend upgrading to the 2GB flash card since the 128MB card it comes with can fill up fast. There is a list of compatible flash cards here:

http://www.fostexusa.com/support/pdf/fostex/mr8/mr8_confirmed_media_list.pdf

The faders respond beautifully and have a great feel. Overall, I consider this a great start for anyone looking to mess around with 8-track digital recording, especially for the price!

It's a simple digital interface, no really intuitive, but easy enough to learn quickly. There isn't a lot of glam on this unit, just basic digital recording, but it made it easy. I sold the unit to make a move towards computer based recording, but I miss the ease at which this unit did it. Plus, you can easily connect this unit with USB (or use the flash card) to your computer and make final edits there.

Overall, this unit is very much worth the $150 in the 2011 market.