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[Swingin' Ryan]

Can anybody offer any advice on Digital Multi-Track recorders. I'm looking for an 8-track recorder in the £200-250 region. I've had a look at the Fostex MR8-MKII and the Zoom MRS-8. The Zoom seems a very fair price with a lot of features, so I'm instantly suspicous that there's something dodgy with it, does anyone own/ever owned one?

[jon]

Buy A Boss BR1180, I can't recommend them highly enough. If you're interested, all of the following songs have been recorded on mine:

www.myspace.com/totherescueuk
www.myspace.com/jondeadenstereo
www.myspace.com/themildhearts
SoundClick artist: Jon Dick - Rockandrollacousticpopfolkpunkmelodicawesomosityin demoform

I know that seems like a plugathon, but it is a seriously excellent machine, and incredibly user friendly. Although anyone buying an 8 track should remember that you'll only get out what you put in, or to put it another way, no machine will polish a turd!

[jon]

eBay.co.uk: Boss BR1180 Guitar Digital Recording Studio (Not CD) (item 290085989591 end time 27-Feb-07 16:35:49 GMT)

That one doesn't have the cd burner, but if you've got a PC, it shouldn't be a problem.

[Swingin' Ryan]

Cheers for the help, sounds exactly like what I'm after. Particularly liked the song 'Radio' on the first band link and the acoustic cover of "I Wanna Go Where The People Go".

What kind of price should I be looking to pay for the Non-CD version?

[jon]

Cheers! You can pick them up new for about £300 on eBay, so if you've got £200+ to spend I shouldn't think you'll have any bother.

It's also worth pointing out that the onboard compressors and effects are very good (Boss quailty) and mixing is really easy too. It records to a harddrive which is pretty enormous - I've had 70+ full tracks stored on it before now.

What I like most is that if you wan a really expansive recording, record your first 8 tracks, mix them and then burn them as a cd. You can then import that stereo track back in over 2channels and free up another 6 - that's how I did all the To The Rescue tracks.

[jon]

This one is the exact same as mine: eBay.co.uk: BOSS BR-1180 CD Recording studio with CD burner 10 trk (item 140086883873 end time 26-Feb-07 14:14:33 GMT)

EDIT - Just noticed that the guy listing it claims he can't understand how to work it. This is seriously easy to get into, he's probably just useless...

I used a Zoom 1044 to record "The Player":

www.myspace.com/emmaformananddustyvalentino

Came out pretty well, easy enough to use and I'm sure I could get better results after using it for a while.

[Jan Deal]

I've got a Tascam DP-01, which I think is very good. The next model up has loads of in built effects, but they're probably all gash.

Studiospares - TASCAM DP-01 DIG.PORTASTUDIO

[Swingin' Ryan]

Originally Posted by Jan Deal

I've got a Tascam DP-01, which I think is very good. The next model up has loads of in built effects, but they're probably all gash.

Studiospares - TASCAM DP-01 DIG.PORTASTUDIO

My band has used the next Tascam model up to record a lot of demo's, but we've never really extensively used any of the FX, although they are OK. Some of them are very cheesy Flange type sounds, but the vocal and drum effects are particularly good.

[HairyScaryMark]

If your looking for something to be upgradable in the future, i'd concidering saving up for a computer-based setup. Otherwise i'd go for the Boss unit. Jon's recordings support that recommendation.