Fostex MR-8 8-Track Digital Recorder

 A Great Place to Start
The Fostex MR-8 has it's ups and downs, luckily it has more ups than downs. What the greatest perks of the MR-8 is that it's one of the cheapest digital recorders around and doesn't feel cheap. For just three hundred dollars you get a digital recorder, and the fact that it is a digital recorder offers enough flexibility to get around it's shortcomings.
The MR-8 records onto a Smart Card reader. It has a couple of onboard effect options and mastering effects. The recorder has a simple menu screen to work from and it's also backlit so it's easy to see. You have eight tracks to work from and the first four of these you are allowed to add effects from the actual MR-8. This isn't necessary if you already have an effects pedal, but it's a nice thought. It's very easy to record onto this thing and within minutes after scanning the manual I was able to start recording. Within a day of reading the manual I was able to almost fully use every function on the MR-8. The MR-8 also allows you to bounce tracks one though four onto tracks five and six and then you can bounce tracks one through six onto tracks seven and eight, you can than master these two tracks into a wav file so your completed song can be exported onto your computer. This is the MR-8's strongest feature, the ability to transfer tracks and songs back and forth from the computer. It makes the fact that the Smart Card has only a little amount of memory easier to digest. If you use a USB cable to transfer songs you might run into some problems, as I did. Every now and then, about one in every twenty transfers, a file would become corrupted and unusable. But I just bought a Smart Card reader and use that now to transfer songs and I have yet to have a problem.
I have found after having this product for over a year, it best works as a recording device instead of a recording/mastering device. If you just use the product to record and than a computer to handle the mixing and mastering you will soon discover you have a powerful combination in your hands. For it's price it is a nice place to start a budding recording carrier.

 A very BASIC recorder...
I picked this up hoping for more than it offers. Here are some....

pros:
Low cost for a digital recorder
Card based memory system
Easy to use
USB interface

cons:
Horrible sounding amp simulator
Horrible effects
No tone control
No solo/mute buttons

I may a bit hard on the product in regards to some of the cons as the majority of my experience is actually with a 24 track Analog system and various midi recording devices (hardware and software). It's great as a sketchpad but for anything more, it falls a bit short.

 Exactly What I wanted
I recently began writing and recording, and I am the definition of technologically impaired. My brother who is an electronic music major recommended this unit because I am a beginner, and he was right. It is perfect for what I want. Extremely easy to use, but the recording quality is amazing. I have only had it for a month and have already recorded 10 songs in my spare time. It may not have effects and extras, but if you are like me and want to get started, this will be perfect for you.

 Great-Easy!
This is my first piece of recording equpiment. It was really easy to learn how to use. I found it to be very "non-frustrating", so I could concentrate on my music instead of getting the damn thing to work. The final sound quality is quite good-sounds great on my ipod although I have yet to burn my recordings to cd. The only thing is it comes with a crappy memory card that holds like, 3 songs at most. So you'll probably have to buy an additional one with more memory. Don't start a long project on the original memory card. Overall I love my MR-8.

 Junk
Avoid at all cost. Hit record and all your hear is noise - even with nothing (mic, instrument) plugged in you get this horrible noise on the track you are recording too. Piece of junk.

 Simplicity and clarity - perfection no doubt.
I'm an independent artist publishing under the name "Alpha Terminus" and "Dancing Baptists." The genre is electronic/synthpop/new wave. I tried recording vocals on the computer soundcard and a mic and it was in essence, horrible. On someones advice I bought the Fostex MR-8 and a good mic (Sure SM58) and it was remarkable.
Simple to use, I never read the manual. I don't use any of the effects as I'm just using it for vocals. Any professional could use this to get identical "big studio sound." But the incredibly cheap price is great for amatures.
The CF format is cheap. You can easily add a 1 Gbyte card for under 100 dollars and have hours of recording time.
Transfer it to your computer, enhance it, edit it, and you can have studio quality perfection. The best and most important equipment I use (But get a good mic too!)

 Terrible Product
This could be the worst buying choice I've ever made!
I researched this product and others for over 5 months and finally bought it off of Amazon. When it finally arrived I was thrilled to get recording. After about two hours of recording time the card, a card error message appeared! I could no longer record anything on the card. Whenever i turned on the machine the card error message appeared and the machine froze. After doing extensive research on the fostex site i learned that the SOFTWARE HAS A FLAW IN IT!!! You actually have to update the software through the internet, which i couldn't do because the machine froze. I tried contacting customer service but they don't accept phone calls and were closed for vacation. TERRIBLE!
I need to return this product ASAP. !!!!!WARNING DO NOT BUY!!!!!!