Fostex FR-2 Field Memory Recorder John Willett MIBS
There have been few devices that have excited me before their release as much as the new Fostex FR-2 portable recorder, and I managed to get my hands on one of the first units out of the factory. Until now, affordable high bit-rate recording has been an impossibility; the only options being expensive multi-track portables (such as the HHB Portadrive, Deva or Aaton Cantar-X) or going out with a laptop computer. However, the FR-2 – a stereo “field memory recorder”– is compact and battery powered, and capable of recording at 16 or 24 bits in any sampling rate from 22.05kHz up to and including 192kHz. This new machine is the right size for comfortable working – not too large, not too small (front panel 250 x 77mm and 220mm deep) and is nicely lightweight at only 1.5kg (without batteries).
Unusually, instead of recording onto an internal hard drive, the FR-2 uses removable media. There are two slots: one for a Compact Flash card and the other for one of the new PCMCIA mini hard drives. Currently the largest CF card generally available is 1GB (I have heard that 4GB and 8GB cards have just become available – although they are very expensive at the moment) and the largest PCMCIA is 5GB – however, knowing the computer industry, this capacity is likely to increase exponentially (I have heard that the plan is to have small flash memory cards up to 16 or 32GB within about three years!).
In practical terms, a radio reporter recording in 16bit, 48kHz mono can get three hours recording time on a 1GB Compact Flash card, and almost six and a half hours with a 22.05kHz sampling rate which would be fine for speech-only recordings. Also, since CF is solid state memory, the recorder is totally silent.
A 5GB PCMCIA drive could store 15 hours of material, and if recording high quality stereo, this is probably the format to use (until high capacity CF drives become available in a couple of years time, that is). Recording capacity drops to 30 minutes on a 1GB CF card or two and a half hours on a 5GB PCMCIA drive at 24bit, 96kHz stereo. A further limitation is that the 176.4 and 192kHz rates are not available when recording to the PCMCIA drives due to access time issues. All files are recorded as Broadcast Wave Format BWF).
Practical Issues
I must say how helpful I have found both Fostex Japan and their UK agent (SCV London) in writing this review. I found a few things of concern while investigating the machine and reported them all directly back to Fostex. In nearly every case my comments were taken on board and corrected, or had already been spotted and acted upon – in which case updating to the latest firmware addressed the issue.
One example of this was when I was horrified to see in the manual that the maximum size of a recording file was only 2GB! Although OK for reporting work and short takes, this is far too small for recording live concert performances. However, I am glad to say that having raised this issue, the limit has been raised to 4GB, which is the maximum file size allowed in the BWF format. 4GB equates to two hours uninterrupted recording at 24/96, which should be enough for recording even the longest half of a concert (just swap drives for the second half).
The FR-2 is powered by eight AA size internal batteries or by an external DC power supply. The battery life is 1h:20m with 2300mAh alkaline batteries, or 2h:30m with 2300mAh Ni-MH batteries. It did concern me that this time was rather short for a working day, even with Ni-MH batteries and a spare set (Hähnel do four 2350mA Ni-MH batteries complete with a nice little fan-cooled charger – two of these and two spare sets of batteries give you 16 batteries and two 4-way chargers).
However, the boffins at Fostex had already thought more about this themselves and are currently designing an optional battery plate (replacing the battery cover at the bottom of the recorder) to which you will be able to attach a high capacity rechargeable battery. This should be available shortly.
To minimise power consumption the headphone/monitor speaker volume control has an integral On-Off switch so the amplifier is not powered if monitoring is not required. The knob also pushes in flush with the front panel when not being used.
User Interface
The layout of the recorder is a little unusual, but nonetheless practical. The front panel “working surface” contains (left to right) the headphone socket and Volume control, a large backlit LCD screen, a bank of keys and a rotary menu control with a push to select facility. On the right are the Record Standby and Record buttons (both with lights) and, below them, a dual-concentric record level control.
The top panel contains a small monitoring loudspeaker, the controls for setting record parameters (eg: bit rate, sample rate, mic/line, gain “trim”, high-pass filter, pre-record on/off, etc.) and the replay transport controls. The battery compartment is at the back and there is nothing on the base of the unit.
The right-hand side of the FR-2 contains two XLR-3F input connectors and a pair of line-out phono connectors. This side also has the main power switch, the phantom power switch and two bays for the Compact Flash and PCMCIA cards. The opposite side panel carries two XLR-3 connectors for AES digital in and out, two USB sockets for a keyboard and computer link, and a DC socket for the power supply. It also has a blanking plate, which conceals out the space allocated for an optional time-code board (due later this year).
The FR-2 is delivered with only a carrying strap and manual and without CF or PCMCIA cards. The mains power supply is an optional extra. Bespoke carrying bags should be available from various bag companies in the near future – PortaBrace and KT Systems both have these ready to ship now.
On Trial
After eagerly unpacking the machine I connected it up to the digital output of my computer and recorded a section of music I had previously recorded and edited, dropping in a few cue markers on the way. Pressing the record standby key gives a maximum 20 seconds pre-record buffer in memory – this can be changed manually, but also changes automatically with sample rate (eg: max. 5s in 24/96 operation). Pressing Record starts the machine instantly and also causes the display to list the contents of the memory. To stop recording you press the “Record Standby” key again (not the Stop button), which is slightly unusual, but it keeps the important record buttons together on the main working surface.
You have to wait a few seconds while the balance of the memory is written to the card. I tried to switch the power off while recording but, sensibly, the power button is inactive while the CF/PCMCIA card is being accessed (in both record and play), so there is no possibility of accidentally switching off the machine while recording or playing back – a good safety feature. Also, the On-Off switch is tucked away almost behind the carrying strap lug and is virtually impossible to switch by accident.
I then played the recorded file back on the FR-2. It is easy to jump to cue points and the file can be played forward at double-speed or backwards at normal speed. One minor issue, though, is that during my tests I discovered that the cue point flag was written direct to the CF/PCMCIA card without taking into account the audio delay caused by the buffer memory. This means that when recording with the pre-record buffer memory switched on, any cue points are effectively recorded with a built-in pre-roll time equal to the length of the pre-record buffer memory. Recording at 24/96 at maximum pre-record, this amounts to five seconds. After discussing this with Fostex, it turned out that this was actually a bug. Fostex have now corrected this discrepancy with firmware version 1.05 (which should be standard on all current machines and downloadable from the Fostex website for earlier machines) so that the cue marks are coincident with the audio, regardless of the buffer memory status.
Next, I connected the FR-2 to the computer via USB and transferred the recording back to the computer. The file imported quickly and easily into my editing program. I also tried opening the files on the FR-2 and the computer and copy/pasting them into a file on the computer’s hard drive. Both methods worked perfectly. A pity, though, that the USB connection is USB1 rather than USB2 as that would make for a faster transfer.
It is also possible to transfer by recording in real time from the digital output or by removing the CF/PCMCIA card and plugging it directly into your computer – so several very versatile options.
On Location
The FR-2 is designed as a location-recording machine – so next was to try out the analogue inputs. Mike Skeet popped over with one of his (in)famous dummy head mic arrays. Before we started recording we decided to test the machine’s phantom power supply by plugging a condenser microphone into one channel and using a special phantom supply tester (by Sch…. you know who). This handy device only lights up if there is at least 4mA available – and this it duly did, showing that the FR-2 has plenty of phantom power available for even the most current-hungry microphones.
We recorded a short piece with the dummy head but this exercise, unfortunately, showed up my only unresolved gripe with the FR-2 – the record level knob. The record level control is a dual-concentric knob. Controlling the level with this type of knob is normally fine, but we found that the knob was a bit small and fiddly to use when the machine was slung over a shoulder. My personal feeling is that if the central part of the knob was very slightly wider and about twice its current length, it would be perfect (Fostex please note). As it is, it does not put me off buying the machine, but it is a niggle.
The test recording itself was fine. I also recorded a committee meeting using the FR-2 by placing a boundary microphone on a table, recording the proceedings at 16bit, 22.05kHz mono. The results, even at this low resolution, were excellent and the two hours of recorded material were transferred into the computer via USB in a little under eight minutes (well, so the computer said, I did not wait around to watch).
The recording times at the various bit-rates and sampling rates are listed in the table (the 1GB figures are taken from the instruction manual and the 5GB figures are extrapolated from the 1GB figures). I have include all the figures, but I understand the maximum sampling rate the 5GB PCMCIA drives currently available can cope with is 96kHz (due to restricted disc access times).
When recording music in a static situation, my preferred method of operation is to use an external microphone pre-amp and A-D converter (I’ve been using the Audio & Design DMA-2), recording into the FR-2 using the digital input. However, for more mobile applications I would use the microphone inputs on the FR-2.
Headphone monitoring on the FR-2 is okay, but the quality and power of the headphone amplifier is compromised to keep battery consumption to a minimum. I managed to get it to distort quite easily with high impedance headphones – but it seemed fine with low impedance high efficiency headphones, such as Sennheiser HD 25s.
Menu on Display
The backlit LCD is easy to read and shows all of the necessary information (see picture). The recording time is clearly shown in hours, minutes and seconds, plus an icon for transport function (Record, Play, Stop, Fast-Forward, Rewind and Record Standby).
Each recording is automatically allocated a file number and title. The title can be either time of day or take number (selected in the menu), but can easily be overwritten with any name you choose (an optional mini USB keyboard can be useful here – but still easy with the menu jog wheel). Remaining storage capacity (in either time or MB) is shown just under the title. It is impossible to accidentally erase a recording as a new recording is always started with a new file name. Erasing a file requires a deliberate action and this can also be reversed if you have made a mistake, as the Erase process only changes the directory listing. To permanently remove a file you first delete it and then “Optimize” the CF/PCMCIA card, which then permanently erases all of the files marked for deletion.
The display also indicates the recording mode: mono/stereo, 16/24bit, and sample rate – this can all be seen clearly in the display so you do not have to go and look at the switches to see what mode is set. In playback the display shows the configuration of the recorded file.
Although I was a little apprehensive at first, I found that the bar graph meters are clear and easy to read, with a peak-hold function where the hold time is set in the menu. The bottom of the display shows the current the date and time; the type of memory card being accessed (“CF” for Compact Flash or “PC” for the PCMCIA drive) and the battery status indicator. New with firmware version 1.05, “PS” is also displayed if the new power save function is activated.
The display’s backlight is switched on at the touch of a button and automatically goes out after a few seconds to preserve battery life. Pressing and holding the button for a few seconds turns the light on permanently if power consumption is not critical (eg: when using the FR-2 with the mains adaptor).
Operating Software
The nice thing about the FR-2 is that the firmware can easily be updated over the Internet. The firmware in the first units available would only recognise the CF card, but a revision which can also accommodate the 5GB PCMCIA drive has been on the Fostex website since early March. This upgrade also includes the 4GB file size update. I must say that all machines delivered since April/May have had this upgrade pre-installed.
Upgrading the firmware is very simple. All you have to do is download the latest update file from the Fostex website into your computer. With the FR-2 connected to the computer via USB, the file can then be copied into the root directory of the FR-2’s Compact Flash card (nb: this does not work via the PCMCIA card – so if you record normally to PCMCIA it is best to get a cheap 64MB CF card just for this purpose). After disconnecting the USB, the FR-2 is switched off and then back on, at the same time pulling the record lever. The system then recognises the presence of the update file and prompts the user to activate the updating process. It is extremely simple to do and I updated the review machine in about two minutes.
Although the review model was only supplied with a CF card I also obtained a 5GB Toshiba PCMCIA drive and tested the machine with this drive (after installing the firmware described above). I gather I was one of the first users to employ this drive outside Fostex’s Lab.. I bought the PCMCIA card over the internet for £114.05 +VAT from dabs.com, which was a lot cheaper than a 1GB Compact Flash. The PCMCIA drive works in exactly the same way as the Compact Flash, and although there is a small amount of noise from the spinning drive, it is very quiet and perfectly usable even in the quietest of surroundings.
Conclusion
All my tests convinced me that this really is the replacement for DAT. Small, portable and capable of very high quality (up to 24/192) recording – and without the tape and dew problems associated with DAT. Even at 24/96 it has the same maximum uninterrupted recording time as DAT when using a 5GB PCMCIA drive, and in a few years, when high capacity CF cards come on the market it will truly be the machine to have – with no moving parts. The forthcoming time-code board makes this a machine with unique capabilities.
The FR-2 seems the ideal portable stereo recorder for high quality recording in the field and I could only really find one little thing to niggle about – the record level control, so I strongly suggest you go and try one for yourself. At last, 24/96 quality stereo becomes affordable! And if Fostex want this one back they are going to have to send round the heavies – I’m keeping it!
Software Updates
Software update v1.05 has been available for several weeks and corrects the cue point issue raised in this review. It also adds a “power save” function to help preserve the batteries. The maximum file size was raised to 4GB by an earlier upgrade.
All current machines should be pre-loaded with v1.05.
Owners of earlier machines can download the latest version of the software to update their machines free-of-charge from http://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/support/software_update_1.shtml
Or go to www.fostexinternational.com and follow the links
Fostex are distributed in Australia by Syntec: www.syntec.com.au
About the author
John Willett has been in the sound business for many years. He is currently Technical Applications Manager at Sennheiser UK and is also well known as a classical music recording engineer. He is the Chairman of the British Sound Recording Association and is on the executive committee of the Institute of Broadcast Sound. He is a member of the Audio Engineering Society.
