Fostex FD-4 Review

The FD-4 was a budget digital multi-track recorder for the budding guitarist / songwriter in the mid 90's and was my first acquisition when I decided to move into home recording. Although, the FD-4 is no longer in production (maybe available on ebay) some of the principles discussed in this review maybe of relevance to current products on the market today.

I would recommend anybody who is starting out in home recording, and maybe on a tight budget to seriously consider a 4-track digital recorder.

It provides a sound training ground for recording and allows an output to your musical ideas. To listen to music samples recorded on the FD-4 click the music samples section (left) for wma.

BASIC OVERVIEW

The FD-4 is a 4-track digital multi-tracker that is equipped with 2 addtional virtual tracks. It uses a SCSI disk, such as a zip or ezflyer disk as recording media to perform 6 track recording and 4 track playback.

The virtual tracks on the FD-4 offer certain advantages, for example, alternative guitar versions can be stored here and exchanged with any playback channel, if a different mix is required. This may only be a small benefit but it does allow for experimentation so therefore, maybe a useful feature to look for when purchasing other multi-track recorders.

FD-4 DIGITAL MULTI-TRACKER

Two of the 4 channels on the FD-4 support line level input and the other two channels support line level and mic level input. All input channels have three point equilization, which I feel is very important as it allows additional control over the recorded sound and should be looked for when purchasing similar types of machine. There are also 2 AUX sends and returns allowing for flexible sound processing.

The sample rates offered by the FD-4 are 32kHz and 44.1kHz with 16 bit quantisation, which means it offers CD qualitiy recording.

The music storage device that came with my FD-4 was the SyQuest ezflyer that allowed for 230MB worth of recorded music (approx 2 songs with multiple tracks 3 to 4 mins long). This is low for today's standards and it would have been nice to have had a lot more storage capacity - therefore I feel this is an important consideration when buying similar machines. Being able to store a large number of songs allows the musician to be able to come back at a later date and make fine adjustments.

The editing facilities offered by the FD-4 are extremely useful and include copy & paste, move and paste, erase, auto punch In/Out and auto locate. The music samples offered with this review have used the editing facilities extensively and, I think you'll agree, have produced seamless results.

IN OPERATION

The FD-4 is fairly easy to use, you could plug in a mic or guitar and be ready to record in less than a minute. It is excellent for novice users and an excellent learning ground but the more experienced may find the FD-4 a little restrictive, for example in the number of tracks.

The sound quality I feel is excellent and there is no data compression to reduce the quality of the 16/44.1 sound. Although, bouncing sound backwards and forwards to generate more complicated mixes does deteriate the sound quality ever so slightly, the use of the EQ is able to compensate to a certain degree.

The FD-4 is a fairly quiet machine and so won't be readily picked up by sensitive mics if used in the same room as the recording.

Although, you can plug a guitar straight into the FD-4, some of the atmosphere of this instrument, I have found, maybe lost. For recording the guitar, I have found it best to mic up an amp or acoustic guitar to get the sound desired.

The overall operation of the FD-4 (recording, playback, editing of tracks, MIDI use, etc..) is very easy to execute and navigation around the hardware is straight forward using a simple layout and flashing LEDs. In addition, the manual is very easy to understand and takes you through all the functions of the FD-4 step by step.

MIXING

As mentioned previously, each of the 4 tracks has a 3 band EQ and an AUX send/return for external FX units. In addition, there are also 2 insert points (one on track 3 and one on track 4) that can be used to insert extra FXs such as compression or vocal harmonies etc (as used on my sample tracks) thus allowing you to build a more complicated sounding demo.

Mix down is possible to the 2 pseudo tracks on the FD-4, or (my preferred method) to an external device such as a CD or Minidisc recorder - to produce your demo song. If you wish to add additional musical parts to your demo song then simply record the demo song back onto tracks 1 and 2 of the FD-4 (using the digital In/Out). Additional music can then be recorded to tracks 3 and 4, creating a more complicated recording. When I used this method I always recorded back onto tracks 1 and 2 as I was then able to pan these tracks accordingly to create the desired stereo effect. This is a process that I have carreid out a number of times and is exactly how I produced the samples that are available with this review.

CONCLUSION

The FD-4 is an excellent digital multi-track recorder for the novice guitarist / songwriter. It certainly is a step up from the old 4-track recorders and procudes excellent quality demos. There are some limitations, such as no internal CD recorder, although there is digital In/Out that allows mix down to an external CD recorder. Also, there are only 4 playback tracks available which can be very restrictive if you want more complicated sounding demos.

The FD-4 is no longer in production, but the manufacturers (Fostex) still do a great range of multi-trackers that aim to give recording muscians all the facilities they need to produce great sounding demos.

ASSESSMENT

Build Quality

Value for Money

Ease of Use

INFO TABLE

Sound / Results

Overall

Name
FD-4

Tracks
4

Mixer
4 Channel Analogue
3 Point EQ on Inputs

Sample Rates
32 kHz and 44.1 kHz
16 Bit Quantisation

Storage
SyQuest EZ flyer -
230MB
or
Iomega Zip - 100MB
or
2.5 inch Internal HD

Song Samples

1. Let Me Be - wma

2. Tell Me - wma

An excellent machine during the 90's for the budding bedroom singer/songwriter on a budget, but now has since been surpassed.

Functions

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