The fostex was Tab's lab experiment, and I consider that to still be the correct status of it, a lab experiment. I'm not sure of the details of what tab did to modify it, but 2 Q8 heads have been mounted in place of the playback and sync heads on the unit, with one head outputting on outputs 1-4, the other on outputs 5-8. This allows 1-4 to playback fl, fr, rl, rr of program 1, and 5-8 to playback program 2. While the flywheel was adjusted to slow down the tape playback speed, nothing had been modified to adjust the EQ curve on the unit itself, which required either outboard EQ or software EQ to adjust the EQ curve. I believe Tab had played around with both, and had landed on using outboard EQ, he suggested I may want to acquire EQ units as he preferred the results with that, but my methods had already included software EQing, so I started with that. My first few conversions used the software EQing, and I wasn't completely satisfied with the method or results.
I decided, if I really wanted to get desirable results, further modifications would be necessary. After thinking it over, and talking with a tech, to me it seemed the only real way to get the EQ right, would be to bypass the preamplification in the fostex, so that the output of the fostex would be straight off the head, and then use an external pre-amp to get from head level to line level. Of course, that 2nd part, easier said than done. The idea came to me by thinking back to hearing of older amplifiers that would have a head input in them. However, that type of input is far from standard. I had a reel deck that I was having some work done on, and is a reel deck that I wouldn't ever need to be able to use for recording purposes, so I had it further modified to have the inputs wired as head inputs, so I could use it as a pre-amp. Since this reel deck did 3 3/4, that put me in the right range for an EQ curve.
And the experiment continues on. I'm still not sure on this, the pre-amp isn't what I consider to be the best, although I've gotten positive feedback on the latest work I've done with this setup. But, the reel deck was never meant to be modified in that way, and has a slight hum to it, that I cannot eliminate. This is the risk that my method took on, dealing with keeping the audio at low level further into the process. The hum is low enough that I've been able to do a pass of NR targeted specifically towards the hum before my normal pass of NR, and have gotten results that I felt were acceptable enough to release, and I've not gotten feedback about the hum.....although now that I've commented on this, I suppose some people out there are going to start checking those recent conversions and listen for it.
I do know that it's the reel deck that is adding the hum, the signal is clean coming off of the fostex, so that gives me hope to be able to further this project by creating a better pre-amp for this. I'm thinking that if I were to get a decent Q8 deck, rip the head out, and wire in some inputs onto that, I could convert a Q8 deck into a Q8 pre-amp, without having to do major work that would result in low level signal running past areas that will cause hum issues. But....after years of head adjustments, I've run into a problem when I was cuing up a tape that one of the heads came off as I was adjusting the screw, and I can't get the screw to catch again at the right point. When I get the screw to catch, it's past the point the head should be at now....so.....yeah....I may need a slightly longer screw to replace that. Luckily I got the batch of loaners recorded in before this problem developed, so I have many files to work on before worrying about that issue, but it will be a while before I'll be recording in more Q8s. Also...the heads on the unit, are very different heads, one is noticeably brighter than the other, which has me wondering if I could find another head identical to the brighter of the 2, to get a matching pair.
So.....really.....something like this is very much a DIY project....there's no real plans or official methods for doing things like this. All very experimental stuff, that will be maddening at times, rewarding at other times.
I decided, if I really wanted to get desirable results, further modifications would be necessary. After thinking it over, and talking with a tech, to me it seemed the only real way to get the EQ right, would be to bypass the preamplification in the fostex, so that the output of the fostex would be straight off the head, and then use an external pre-amp to get from head level to line level. Of course, that 2nd part, easier said than done. The idea came to me by thinking back to hearing of older amplifiers that would have a head input in them. However, that type of input is far from standard. I had a reel deck that I was having some work done on, and is a reel deck that I wouldn't ever need to be able to use for recording purposes, so I had it further modified to have the inputs wired as head inputs, so I could use it as a pre-amp. Since this reel deck did 3 3/4, that put me in the right range for an EQ curve.
And the experiment continues on. I'm still not sure on this, the pre-amp isn't what I consider to be the best, although I've gotten positive feedback on the latest work I've done with this setup. But, the reel deck was never meant to be modified in that way, and has a slight hum to it, that I cannot eliminate. This is the risk that my method took on, dealing with keeping the audio at low level further into the process. The hum is low enough that I've been able to do a pass of NR targeted specifically towards the hum before my normal pass of NR, and have gotten results that I felt were acceptable enough to release, and I've not gotten feedback about the hum.....although now that I've commented on this, I suppose some people out there are going to start checking those recent conversions and listen for it.
I do know that it's the reel deck that is adding the hum, the signal is clean coming off of the fostex, so that gives me hope to be able to further this project by creating a better pre-amp for this. I'm thinking that if I were to get a decent Q8 deck, rip the head out, and wire in some inputs onto that, I could convert a Q8 deck into a Q8 pre-amp, without having to do major work that would result in low level signal running past areas that will cause hum issues. But....after years of head adjustments, I've run into a problem when I was cuing up a tape that one of the heads came off as I was adjusting the screw, and I can't get the screw to catch again at the right point. When I get the screw to catch, it's past the point the head should be at now....so.....yeah....I may need a slightly longer screw to replace that. Luckily I got the batch of loaners recorded in before this problem developed, so I have many files to work on before worrying about that issue, but it will be a while before I'll be recording in more Q8s. Also...the heads on the unit, are very different heads, one is noticeably brighter than the other, which has me wondering if I could find another head identical to the brighter of the 2, to get a matching pair.
So.....really.....something like this is very much a DIY project....there's no real plans or official methods for doing things like this. All very experimental stuff, that will be maddening at times, rewarding at other times.
