Which 8 track should I get?

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:14 am

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and to the world of home recording in general.
I 'm looking to get an 8 track recorder.I'm a song writer and have been in a band for years.
The main purpose of it would be make demos of songs as I write them.
The ones I've come across and am interested in are - Korg D888, Tascam DP-02, Fostex MR-8 HD/CD.
As I said I dont really know to much about the tecnical side of this world and whatever I get I'm gonna be doing a whole lot of learning.
They all seem to have advantages and disadvantages.
The Korg can record all 8 tracks at once which would be useful for full band demos. The Tascam and Fostex have CD burners built in. As I'm gonna be without a computer for a while this could be handy but then again there all portable and your never to far away from a computer are you.
Anyway I'm basically looking for the best sounding 8 track I can get, and one thats good to learn on whether it be one of these models or something else I haven't thought of.
Any advise would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:12 pm

Hi Alman; what's you're budget?

gb

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:18 pm

Hi guitarbill,

Thanks for the reply.
The budget I was thinking would be around 600 or 700 hundred euro which would be around 1000 dollars I think.
The Korg is about hitting on this and the other 2 are a bit under.
I'm not afraid to go a bit over if its worth it however.
I am going to need lot of extras like pre amps for guitars and a decent and fairly well priced drum machine. Along with a few mikes and stuff obviously.
Any advise on any of this would be great would be great thanks.

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:48 am

Have you looked at the Yamaha AW1600?

If you don't need an all-in-one unit, I would go with an 8-channel FireWire pre-amp and a laptop. It doesn't need to be a high-spec laptop (although an external disk drive for audio would be a good idea), but you get a lot of flexibility with this approach, and you get a CD/DVD burner for free.

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:13 am

Yeah I have looked at the Yamaha.
Would this be a good unit to learn on?
I hadn't really properly considered going down the laptop route a I thought it would be to expensive. I must look into it.

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:20 pm

alman, you might want to look at a used Fostex VM200 and the matching VR800. They are sometimes coming on ebay for about $350 to $400 for both. That would give you enough left for a cd burner and an extra hard drive or two for storage. BTW that's the only affordable fully automated (with flying faders too) 8 track at once combination out in the used world that's under $1000. The AW1600 as Boswell said is also a good match and should sound good and hold it's value.

Another legacy unit you may want consider is the fostex VF16CD. The fostex units including the VR800 are persnickety about which hard drives they like but when you find some that work with them they are fine.

As Boswell said the AW1600 is probably you're best bet for new other than the Tascam 2488MKII. I would hazard saying the AW1600 probably sounds better as a guess.

As far as learning- they all have a fairly steep curve; so just get one and go!

good luck
gb

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:21 pm

I used to work on the dp-01, it's very easy to use it's sound is...sterile, but if you're looking to just learn it's great. But if you're really interested in doing recording in the modern age and want serious results I would also suggest getting a laptop with probably a presonus firewire unit or something similar. It's going to run you a little bit more but you won't be able to beat the quality.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:50 pm

Yeah I need to have a think about it.
Is there a reason why the Korg is more expensive then the others?
Is the sound quality better?
The Yamaha AW1600 is only about 180 euro more expensive then the Korg DP888 and it's a 16 track and the DP888 is about 200 euro more expensive then the other 8 tracks like the Tascam DP2 and the Fostex.
Any one have any experience with them?
I am leaning towards getting an all in one rather then a laptop as if I'm getting a laptop I'd like to get a good one.
What kind of price would I be looking at for a laptop and Firewire 8 channel recorder?
Thanks for all the advice so far guys.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:09 pm

I'd say around 1100, but you would need to get a digital audio workstation, mackie makes a fairly easy to use one; actually when it comes to daw's there's countless possibilities and it's very difficult to get the same kind of flexibility in a recorder.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:02 pm

Take a look at the Zoom stuff, new and used. The new units work as standalone or with a computer,
I have an older MRS1608 and it's great for just sitting down and working up or arranging songs, the sound quality is as good as any. It's a pretty solid piece of gear, guitar/amp/mastering effects, pitch correction/hamony, programable bass, 8 inputs, dah dah dah...loads of stuff, look it up online. The onboard drum machine has stock patterns but is also programable, and a programable bass or bass simulator if you need it.
The more you learn about recording and how to use those units the better results you'll get, I've had mine a couple years and I'm still find ways to make it (me) sound better.

Check 'em out their probably the best bang for the buck, and you can probably afford the 16 track ones.
There's a couple Zoom online forums too.

Be carefull some of those other 8 tracks don't have Eqs for mixing, you want at least a 3 band parametric Eq. And for the couple hundred $ price diff - go for the 16 tracks, you'll use 'em.

Yea, everyone mostly is doing the PC recording thing, and I've been starting to do some of that too.....but those self units with guitar effects, drums, etc...are great for putting the headphones on and making some music, writting tunes, arranging, build practice tracks, and even making some pretty good demos or better. For me there is something about not having to deal with a computer when I wanna make music. Plus a couple times when my computer broke or got a virus I didn't have to worry about my music, or getting all that software going again.
good luck

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:36 am

There are a lot of options, as there is in anything to do with music.
I will have a look at the Zoom stuff.
At the moment it's kind of between the Korg D888 and the Yamaha AW1600. I 'm kind of swinging towards the Korg as looking at both manuals the Korg seems like it would be easier to learn on.
And as I said I've been writing music for years but when it comes to recording, someone else has always done it for me.
One of the things that attracted me to the Korg in the first place was that it seems quite user friendly. Also it's very "analog" in it's layout and almost resembles a rehearsal PA. It's got full EQ bands and you can record 8 tracks at once.
It does lack a few things though.
I want something that wont be to confusing for a newbie.
I know I'll have changed my mind tomorrow.
16 tracks is very tempting, not completely necessary at the moment but could be useful in the future.
I need to look into it a bit more and just make a decision and hope for the best I guess.

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