[net.music.synth] Fostek 4-track cassette recorder ... Should I buy one?

tim@fisher.UUCP (Tim Snyder) (05/12/86)

> ... Is the
> Fostek a good machine?  I've heard from a co-worker that not too long ago
> some problems with them were reported in the net.  Am I going to be sorry
> if I buy it?  Please repply (by mail or net article) ... I need the wisdom
> and experience of our group.
> 					Dan Vanevic

When I was shopping for such toys, I repeatedly heard from
several sources that the Fostex was a wonderful machine, but
still had a few bugs.

TEAC's porta-one ministudio, on the other hand, is one of the
most brilliantly designed units on the market.  In terms of
quality to price ratio, ...monster.  The spec. sheets tell 
most of the story.  Moreover, it is quite compact and more portable 
than the Fostex, and the prices are in the same ballpark (Fenway:
less than $500).

So, by all means, gander all over the TEAC before buying.

  The most amazing coincidence is that we die exactly at the ends of our lives.
       Tim Snyder
       princeton!fisher!tim

mohan@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (Sunil Mohan) (05/16/86)

In article <1424@fisher.UUCP>, tim@fisher.UUCP (Tim Snyder) writes:
> > ... Is the
> > Fostek a good machine?
> 
> TEAC's porta-one ministudio, on the other hand, is one of the
> most brilliantly designed units on the market.  In terms of
> quality to price ratio, ...monster.  The spec. sheets tell 
> most of the story.  Moreover, it is quite compact and more portable 
> than the Fostex, and the prices are in the same ballpark (Fenway:
> less than $500).

What about the new Yamaha MT1X portable 4-track ?  It has features
pretty similar to the MiniStudio, except can record on all 4 channels
at once. Sells for about $450. Any comments/opinions ?

Also, does anyone have any experience with the Tascam 234 4-track deck
sans mixer-board? It runs at 3-3/4 ips, and sells for about $700.

They all, of course, have dbx.
-- 
Sunil

UUCP:   ...{harvard, seismo, ut-sally, sri-iu, ihnp4!packard}!topaz!mohan
ARPA:   Mohan@RUTGERS

chris@bullwinkle.UUCP (05/19/86)

>What about the new Yamaha MT1X portable 4-track ?  It has features
>pretty similar to the MiniStudio, except can record on all 4 channels
>at once. Sells for about $450. Any comments/opinions ?

Sure. The MT1X is a sound engineer's nightmare. Aside from the obvious
fact that the controls and indicators are a jumbled, illogical mess(especially
if you happen to be a trained studio engineer and are used to various
brands of equipment at least attempting to exhibit some form of a standard
controls and indicators setup), the compensation for various forms of audio
inputs is very poor. 
    My experience relates from a weekend video, where most of our time was
wasted on trying to get our levels to compensate for various mic's. I'll admit
that the final out to the vcr was a little touchy, but we had very few problems
working around that. The dealer who rented this fresh-off-the-shelf garbage
assured me that it was very easy for an experienced engineer to setup and
record with it. We proceeded to spend the next 26 hours trying to reveal
the well-hidden secrets to recording with it. By Sunday afternoon we had
declared the project a flop, and all due to one simple compensation problem.
And yes, we did everything from preamping to line-mic diddling, with no 
avail.
    Of course, actual mileage varies with the engineer and conditions,
but in my opinion, you get what you pay for.

roger@esquire.UUCP (Roger Reid) (05/22/86)

I bought a Fostex X-15, the old model, not the new model. The bottom 
line is this: for $295. at Alex Music on 48th street in NYC, I got myself
something I've lusted after for almost 20 years. The Tascam does
look like a better machine, it ran for $500 at Sam Ash. If you 
want to lay down one track at a time (fostex will only record
up to two at any one time) and can live with Dolby B (I can) and
money is a major consideration, by all means get the Fostex, 
especially now that the new model is out ($350 at Alex, they
say it has "better electronics" (??!!)) and they have to drop
the price on the old model to clear them out. For ama
amatuer synth work, get the Fostex, save 200 - 800 bucks, and
blow the remains (if you had it in the first place) on a reverb
or some such toy! Also nice for music concrete field recordings,
it's light, comes with a battery pack and even some cheap
batteries and a carrying strap. Gosh...hang some big speakers
and an amp off it and you'd have one HECK of a boom box ;-)
					Roger Reid