Fostex G24S Record/Playback

[rasmusbmusic]

Hi.
I'm a producer and musician from Denmark.
I just stumbled over and mint condition Fostex G24S, with 15 new tapes..
I've been flirting with the thought of getting' a tape machine for years, and now I think I'm going' for it.
But, I have one, probably silly question :-)
Can I record via my preamps, to the tape recorder, and directly into my daw?? Or is it not possible to record, and playback, with all the signature sound of a tape machine, at the same time..
To be precise :-) can I just use the tape machine, like any other outboard gear, and record directly on my DAW, and get the "tape" magic to my tracks??
Thanks for answering a probably dumb question :-)
All the best
Rasmus Bogelund

[minus-sounds.com]

High end tape cassette decks had separate record and playback heads (I think the erase head was always separate) so you could monitor what was recorded on the tape in real time (well with a slight latency).
If this machine could do that, yes you can use it for tape color in real time.

[rasmusbmusic]

Wow, thanks for the quick answer..
The guy who's selling it, tells me, that it has 24 I/O
But I was just thinking, that maybe the in's were sent directly to out (and of course also recorded) when recording, so that there would be no latency. So what you were monitoring during recording, was not the same "colored" signal, that you would have on tape, and listen to during playback..
Hmmm, I'm not being very clear here.. But I really hope you understand my question.
Thanks again.
Rasmus.

[minus-sounds.com]

If the sound is being send through the unit then it would be no latency.
But if you are monitoring what is being recorded on tape, by default you will have latency, as the tape moves from the recording head to the playback head. The greater the tape speed, the less the latency. This is how the old tape delays worked.
I hope you understand this principle.

[rasmusbmusic]

Yep, I understand the Principe.
But, if the sound is being send through the unit.. Then I'll have no coloration.. Then it would be pointless to set it up.
Do you know if this unit just send it through when monitoring, or play back the recorded material??
Cheers
Rasmus.

[minus-sounds.com]

Originally Posted by rasmusbmusic

Yep, I understand the Principe.
But, if the sound is being send through the unit.. Then I'll have no coloration.. Then it would be pointless to set it up.

Exactly

Originally Posted by rasmusbmusic

Do you know if this unit just send it through when monitoring, or play back the recorded material??
Cheers
Rasmus.

No I don't know, that's why I asked if you know in my first response.
Good luck.

[Han]

As I remember well, the G24S is a single head machine, so it has an erease head like any tape machine, but only one head for record/playback, so it won't work for you unless you record to the machine and transfer to digital later.

[Steffmo]

To recap....

If the machine is set to "repro" you will hear ther play head, and are hearing thr tape. There is no latency gor tracks previously recorded, but there will be latency for the tracks you are recording. Those tracks with latency WILL be the sound of tape however.

If you are in "Sync" you hear TAPE for tracks previously recorded, and INPUT (no tape) for the tracks in record. Also no latency.

If the machine is in "input" ....no tape anywhere. no latency.

I think a better solution is this: Record 22 tracks on the Fostex, stripe time code to 24. Sync the DAW and Fostex...dump all tracks into the DAW, as many at a time as you can. If you don't have 22 conversion, do in groups while locked up.

If you need more tracks, dump a stereo mix of 1-22 back into the DAW onto a new piece of tape, also synced to code however. (use the same start time as the first passes). Record 20 more tracks.....dump into DAW.

Repeat until done.

Truth be know, you usually can get away with visually and audibly lining up the tracks if you can't get sync working. The the above is the cleanest way.

[wineredno1]

As mentioned before theres no point in just sending it through the machine. If it has the sync card installed just lock it up to your DAW, record the tracks you want and dump them in there later for editing, vocals etc. I do this with my G24S and have no problems with sync and the tracks recorded on the G24S do sound good. Remember though its not a Studer 827 but I still think it sounds better than going strait into my MOTU 2408.

[ssaudio]

I agree.

I've a client with a G16S with the sync card and he does exactly the same with good results
and just to confirm, it has no repro head...

[rasmusbmusic]

Thanks guys!!
My purpose for it, was to record drums on it.
I'm almost 100% positive, that there's no sync card installed.
What's the cost for such a thing??
Hmmm, now I really don't know if I want to go through all the hassle.
I think my setup sounds great, but as you probably all know, we always wants MORE GEAR!!! :-)
Listen to some of my productions on:
http://www.myspace.com/rasmusbmusic
But again..
Thank you so much.. All of you..
Cheers
Rasmus

[ssaudio]

The sync cards are very hard to come by, but one of the lads at SCV London had a wee stock of them in his garage a year or so back, so it might be worth dropping them a line - probably £150, but I'm guessing

If it's just for recording drums it will be fine, but you'll need to run it as the master, which is a pain

If you really want the 'tape sound' it might be better waiting for an 8 or 16 track 1" or 2" machine with good sync facilities so you can run it as the slave - even then, it's usually better to record, dump to HD then, if you want to, use the tape again at mix down...

[wineredno1]

SCV London Ltd 8330 SYNC BOARD They do have one at SCV £135.

[ssaudio]

yes, but it's been out of stock for years; try buying it

things may have changed, of course, but the reason I knew about this in the first place was because of the efforts my client went through trying to get a card just over a year ago - like I say, worth trying anyway, because the guy did have a few at the time (via private sale)

[rasmusbmusic]

I've just heard that the Fostex G24S should sound very sweet.. That's why I got interested in the first place..
But, what 16 track machines should I be looking for, that has great sync, and would be easy to setup?
Rasmus.

[ssaudio]

it sounds fine, very good in fact, but it's 24 tracks across 25.4mm, so there's only so much it can do

I like MCI machines with Lynx TimeLine sync the 1" 8 tracks are fantastic - however, they aren't cheap and they do need setting up, often

the only black marks against the Fostex is that it doesn't have the sync card, if you can get one of them, it's a great machine and well worth the (little) money you'll pay for it

just remember it doesn't have a repro head, so you cannot hear what you are recording until after it's recorded

[rasmusbmusic]

Ok..
So what machines has a repro head??
Anyone you can recommend??
I need 16 tracks..
I think I what one with a repro head, cause the best solution for my use, would be to go through the machine, hearing the tape, and direct to my DAW..
So that the tape machine just becomes a part of my recording chain before the DAW.
And again. Thanks to everyone helping me out in here.
Cheers
Rasmus

[Roman]

effect?
IOW, I want to use a tape machine to record all my MIDI modules onto before the DAW. But I definitely want to turn the input levels up until I hear the tape compression on each instrument to tailor the levels.
How do you do this if you can't monitor the recorded sound?
I think you may be mistaken that no repro head means no monitoring to the tapes sound while recording.
Roman.

[rjethomas]

I have an immaculate Fostex G24S with 16 channel Synch Card, plus 1 new Tape, 8 used once tapes, and 9 used tapes. 24 Track Midi controlable, recently serviced.

Any reasonable offers in which the buyer can collect would be favourably considered (because it is not light and would be prohibitively expensive to ship, and is too delicate an instrument to entrust to carriers in any case.

I live in Scotland.

Bob Thomas.

[princeploppy]

Hey is that Fostex G24S still up for sale? I am very intrestedin it, i have a B-1 with autolocator, and a whole host of digital gear all midi synced and such, realy want to add another multitrack reel to reel to my set up. I also head over to Scotland on occasion to visit friends. Cheers Martin

[musicorey]

Originally Posted by rjethomas

I have an immaculate Fostex G24S with 16 channel Synch Card, plus 1 new Tape, 8 used once tapes, and 9 used tapes. 24 Track Midi controlable, recently serviced.

Any reasonable offers in which the buyer can collect would be favourably considered (because it is not light and would be prohibitively expensive to ship, and is too delicate an instrument to entrust to carriers in any case.

I live in Scotland.

Bob Thomas.

I need this bad