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Vesta's Hot Multitracker

Article from Home & Studio Recording, March 1986

This budget cassette multitracker should give the competition a run for its money.


Over the last few years Vesta Fire have acquired a reputation for producing budget gear of a quality which belies its price. With this in mind one of their latest products, the MR10 4-track cassette-based recording system comes under the investigative eye of the H&SR hacks.


Firstly, Vesta Fire live up to their reputation in terms of price; the MR10 retails for around £280, a little more expensive than its nearest competitor, the Fostex X-15, and a good deal less than units like the Tascam Porta One. In common with both these recorders you can only record on two tracks at once, but that's only to be expected in this price range. However, the MR10 also has some surprises in what it has to offer, so have Vesta Fire made their mark on the bottom end of the recording market without burning a hole in your pocket? Read on...

Controls



The MR10, like many budget machines, has several controls which have more than one function, with switches to select which function is required. This is a little confusing at first, even if you have the block diagram in front of you (which I have), but is doubtless necessary in order to keep costs down without imposing too many limitations. I'll start with the easy bits! The front panel contains four jack sockets; one labelled Phones for stereo headphones, two marked Input and one for an optional remote pedal labelled Punch In/Out. This allows you to perform drop-ins by engaging and disengaging record mode while the tape is playing. All the other sockets and the controls are on the top face of the unit. From left to right along the top edge there is the power on/off switch with illuminating LED, and a DC In socket for use with either an AC adaptor or a battery pack (that you have to buy separately as neither is supplied with the unit and it has no inbuilt power source or battery compartment). Also there are no fewer than fourteen RCA-type pin sockets (phonos) comprising four Tape Outs, (one for each track), two Line Outs (left and right), four Line Ins marked 1 to 4, two Aux ins (left and right), two RIAA Phono Ins (left and right), and a 5-pin DIN socket. This particular socket is for use with an expander mixer which Shiino corporation are ostensibly working on at present. The Tape Outs are four direct outputs for use with an external mixer and the Line Outs are the stereo output for mixdown. The Line Ins are for use with line level inputs such as keyboards and drum machines, while those marked Aux In are intended for use with stereo line levels such as tape decks or CD players, or instruments with a stereo output.

The tape deck (which runs at 4.8cm/s 1⅞ips) has two heads (erase and record/reproduce) and the usual transport controls (record, play, rewind, fast forward, stop and pause) which in this case are of the mechanical latching variety. Access to the tape deck for inserting the cassette or cleaning the heads is via a hinged tinted perspex lid. To the right of the deck is a mechanical tape counter (with reset button) and two 3-position Rec Function switches which select the track onto which you wish to record. The left switch (L) selects either track 1 or track 3, while the right (R) selects track 2 or 4, the centre position on both switches being marked Safe (ie. no recording can take place). Below the switches is a LED which flashes when the unit is in record standby and stays lit when in record. There are four illuminating VU meters positioned above the tape deck labelled Trk 1-4. Meters 1 and 2 are dual purpose and are also labelled Pgm L and Pgm R respectively. These are what you'd use when setting input levels. The VU meters' function is controlled by a 2-way switch (labelled VU) situated to the right of the Rec Function switches; when this switch is set to Trk they show the Line In 1-4 input levels (on record standby) or the playback levels (on playback), and when set to Pgm meters 1 and 2 show the outputs of the L and R busses (the levels you are sending to tape when recording).

To the right of the VUs is a section labelled Line/Trk Mixer which has four controls marked Level/Line and four marked Pan. This section is dual purpose; when using the Line In sockets the Level/Line knobs control the input levels while the Pans select tracks 1 and 3 (left) or tracks 2 and 4 (right); on playback they become the output level and pan controls for each track.

Below this section is a knob marked Pitch Cont. allowing you to increase or decrease tape speed by up to 15% (2½ semitones), and a knob for the headphone socket output level marked Phones. Below this is a switch for turning off the DBX so you can play tapes recorded on machines without this noise reduction system.




"...this little recorder is impressively quiet, reasonably so even when the DBX is not switched on."


Next to the Mixer section is a switch marked Remix Pgm/Trk which is generally set to Pgm when recording unless you are using the Line Ins in which case it has to be set to Trk. It's also set to Trk for bouncing or mixdown. Below this switch is a section marked Aux/Phono which has a Balance and a Level control for when you're using the Aux In and Phono In sockets. These enable you to alter the overall input level from these sockets, and also the balance between the left and right sockets.

The MR10 has a total of ten input sockets (excluding the 5-pin DIN), all but two of which are located along the top of the unit, the exceptions being the two ¼" jacks on the front panel. For most purposes you would use these as they are the ones over which you have most control and they will accept anything from mic to line level. Input 1 is used when you're recording on tracks 1 or 3, and Input 2 routes the signal to tracks 2 and 4. Two knobs designated Trim adjust the levels of the incoming signals from these sockets (anti-clockwise for line levels, up to -10dB and clockwise for mic levels, down to -50dB). There are two faders labelled Input 1 and Input 2 to adjust level onto tape.

The EQ section (which can only be used on these inputs) is situated above the Trim controls, comprising High (10kHz) and Low (100Hz) sections. To the left of the input sliders is a Master slider which controls overall level onto tape from all the inputs combined.

Many of the aforementioned knobs have a centre detente, namely the Pans, the Pitch Cont the Aux/Phono Balance, and the four EQ controls which is a nice touch and unexpected on such a moderately priced unit.



"It would be nice to have a small external mixer to use with the MR10 when mixing down because the EQ can only be used in initial record, and live overdub situations..."


In Use



First of all, this little recorder is impressively quiet, reasonably so even when the DBX is not switched on. While we're on the subject of noise reduction, although DBX is not everybody's cup of tea it performs well in this unit. The usual 'breathing' problems when recording cymbals, synth bell sounds, and other sounds of a transient nature are evident, but acceptably unobtrusive. Another benefit of this system is the almost total lack of crosstalk between tracks when the DBX is used; a considerable achievement considering the width of tape and the track spacing!

The EQ section, although limited, is pretty useful, especially the High (10kHz) control which has obviously been chosen to boost the top end which you tend to lose when track bouncing. It would be nice to have a small external mixer to use with the MR10 when mixing down because the EQ can only be used in initial record, and live overdub situations, so the inclusion of the 4-track Tape Out section proves very useful.

The tape transport seems smooth enough and certainly operates with speed but the switches are quite stiff and have a heavy action. However, as you don't use these to drop in that's not such a problem. On this subject I was pleased to find out that you could drop in using the appropriate Rec Function switch with no annoying 'click' noise if you decide not to purchase the optional punch in/out footswitch.

For initial recording the availability of eight separate inputs is a really first class idea for people wanting to run drum machines with separate outputs interfaced with mega-sequencers and so forth. However, the drawbacks are that six of the inputs only operate at line level, so miking up an acoustic kit this way is out unless you have a separate mixer; and secondly, you only have limited control of input levels on the recorder itself. But even with these limitations this is a feature which some of its more expensive counterparts do not offer.




"The MR10 scores highly in the most important areas of sound quality and flexibility."


Once your basic track is on tape you tend to stick to the two jack inputs, but these are ample for overdubbing purposes, and the fully adjustable Trim control knob is a real bonus as it avoids the extra fiddle of having separate mic and line inputs. A rather odd thing about the MR10 when you're overdubbing is that you have to monitor through the headphone output in order to listen to what you've already recorded and your overdub simultaneously. It's a bit strange to find a separate monitor and 2-track output on a budget machine, but it's possible to run the headphone output straight into your amp with no problems if you want to monitor via speakers.

Track bouncing is simple on this machine, but as you can't use the EQ after initial recording (the 'bounce' is routed through the Master fader), it's advisable to allow for this and add a touch more treble to start with if you intend to indulge in 'ping-ponging'. However if you are bouncing and adding a 'live' overdub you can use the EQ section on the 'live' part because that will be routed through one or both of the two Input channels which have EQ available. Again, the quality was impressive for a recorder in this price range, even with transient sounds. I found that it was very important to watch the sound levels going onto tape carefully to obtain good results because needle VU meters react more slowly than their LED counterparts, so care is needed with instruments such as drums. However, you can get away with recording sounds at a lower level onto tape without worrying too much about the signal to noise ratio because of the effectiveness of the DBX.

There's no dedicated effects send system as such but, it is possible to connect an effects unit between the line output and line input of any channel to add an effect to that channel and that channel only. However, there are no send or return level controls and so you have to rely on the input and output controls on the effects unit to do the job for you. This precludes the use of pedal effects as these seldom if ever have level controls.

Conclusion



The MR10 scores highly in the two most important areas of sound quality and flexibility. Regarding the former, considering the cassette and normal tape speed format, it's nice to see that noise is kept to a minimum. There's virtually no crosstalk, and the DBX doesn't interfere too much in the recording of transient sounds providing you add a bit of extra top end before you start. As far as the latter is concerned Vesta Fire have obviously taken the trouble to give a fairly basic recorder some extra unexpected features, such as the fully adjustable input trim, the eight possible line inputs for initial recording, the phono inputs for connecting a record deck, and the simple Line/Track mixer. The Vesta Fire MR10 retails for approximately £280 which makes it comparable in price to the X-15 and to my mind offers a lot more in the way of facilities and sound quality. After all, the Fostex has dominated the bottom end of the recording market for a considerable time now, and a little healthy competition is always a good sign.

More information on the Vesta Fire MR10 is available from: MTR, (Contact Details).


Also featuring gear in this article



Previous Article in this issue

Alesis through the Looking Glass

Next article in this issue

Simon Bozwell


Publisher: Home & Studio Recording - Music Maker Publications (UK), Future Publishing.

The current copyright owner/s of this content may differ from the originally published copyright notice.
More details on copyright ownership...

 

Home & Studio Recording - Mar 1986

Donated & scanned by: Mike Gorman

Gear in this article:

Cassette 4-Track > Vesta Fire > MR-10


Gear Tags:

1⅞ ips (4.75cm/s)
4 Track

Previous article in this issue:

> Alesis through the Looking G...

Next article in this issue:

> Simon Bozwell


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