Fostex R8 Review and Demo

[@achtungmark]

Thanks for taking the time to explain this machine. It was a great video, I like your guitar too.!

[@TwinCreekAudio]

Thank you!! The Fostex R8 It's a great machine and a lot of fun to record with.

[@BrazillianFOsho]

Such a charming sound. Love the way that melody compliments the tape sound. Just got myself an R8, all I had to do was replace the belt!

[@TwinCreekAudio]

They are really cool machines. The one I had needed some other repairs but it works great now and it sounds way better than I expected. I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

[@aleksejkolesnikov7610]

Great mix! I bet it does sound warmer than the digital. Keep up the good work.

[@TwinCreekAudio]

Thank you! I have 2 analog tape machines now. I've been using the Tascam MSR-16 more lately the Fostex R8 sounds great and that tape cost is cheaper.

[@SupraTompan]

Brilliant video about a brilliant small machine.

[@TwinCreekAudio]

Thank you! The R8 is one of the coolest little tape machines ever. It was extremely advanced for its time.

[@oceansiderecordingstudio]

Sounds great Grady. Thanks for that. I use the Tasman 38 that I rebuilt myself. Cheers

[@TwinCreekAudio]

I like those too. The 38 is a little wider format and they sound really good. I'm sure you're making some great recordings with it

[@MrHachasGonzalezDjAndre]

Excelente!! Saludos desde Uruguay!!

[@TwinCreekAudio]

Thank you!

[@BluesBrethrenofPolishPeoplesR]

I agree with you 100%. Myself got me a simpler version of it: Fostex M80. Thank you for your great video. Very inspiring.

[@TwinCreekAudio]

Thank you! The Model 80 is a cool machine too. The narrow gauge Fostex machines sound better than I remember. Maybe it's the newer tape formulation but the R8 sounds great with low noise and no Dolby.

[@anthonyman8008]

Beautiful!

[@TwinCreekAudio]

It's a cool little tape machine. I love it. It's so much fun!

[@leotroy9877]

I have my R8 still in it's box for past 7-8 years, but think I should pull it out and see how it is behaving. It did have a lovely sound. Once I started with Tascam DP24, I just never looked back.

[@TwinCreekAudio]

I've really been enjoying the R8. It's such a cool little machine and the transport is snappy with very accurate autolocate

[@dubcatalyst]

you selling ? :)

[@TwinCreekAudio]

@@dubcatalyst I'm not planning on selling the R8 or any of my tape machines. They are getting too hard to find and I already did all the work to restore this one. I'll let you know if I see one for sale. There are usually a few on eBay and Reverb. Be prepared to replace the capstan belt and the reel pulleys but ones that's done, it's a great little machine.

[@dubcatalyst]

i meant the other guys hehe whos has sat in the box :) :)

[@leotroy9877]

@@dubcatalyst Hi there. I pulled the R8 out of the box today for my podcast. I will keep it for longer, but will need to re-watch the video on pully upgrade.

[@joesalyers]

I mixed down to an Ortari MX5050 1/4 inch 2 track for years from a Fostex & Tascam 24 Track One Inch Machines. I swear it seems all of these quote "budget" machines are so much quieter than I remember them being. I did just do a record on my MCI JH24 with a band on tape and it was SUPER Quiet also I used no Noise reduction at all. I have plugins with built in noise that is louder than most of the budget tape machines from the late 90s and early 2000s. 😄 I'm looking at you Plugin alliance with your V-Gain

[@TwinCreekAudio]

I completely agree with you. I'm not sure if it's the more modern tape formulations with these machines or the fact I have a far better front end for them than I would have back then. This little R8 has led me to question a lot of things like this including the bad press the narrow gauge multitracks get on forums like GS. I used to have a JH-16 24 track and although it sounded great, I'm not sure it was that much better as a capture device than the E-16 I had before it. I guess I believed the bad press somewhat and only bought this R8 as kind of a toy only to find out it's completely capable of professional sounding work. I'm working on an MSR-16 next so that going to be another good example of what these narrow gauge analog machines sound like against digital. I have an MX5050 8 and used to have a 2 track MX5050 that I never got working and sold. That was years ago now though.