The FD-4 is a 4-track digital multi-tracker that is equipped with 2 addtional virtual tracks. It uses a SCSI disk, such as a zip or ezflyer disk as recording media to perform 6 track recording and 4 track playback.

The virtual tracks on the FD-4 offer certain advantages, for example, alternative guitar versions can be stored here and exchanged with any playback channel, if a different mix is required. This may only be a small benefit but it does allow for experimentation so therefore, maybe a useful feature to look for when purchasing other multi-track recorders.

FD-4 DIGITAL MULTI-TRACKER Two of the 4 channels on the FD-4 support line level input and the other two channels support line level and mic level input. All input channels have three point equilization, which I feel is very important as it allows additional control over the recorded sound and should be looked for when purchasing similar types of machine. There are also 2 AUX sends and returns allowing for flexible sound processing.

The sample rates offered by the FD-4 are 32kHz and 44.1kHz with 16 bit quantisation, which means it offers CD qualitiy recording.

The music storage device that came with my FD-4 was the SyQuest ezflyer that allowed for 230MB worth of recorded music (approx 2 songs with multiple tracks 3 to 4 mins long). This is low for today's standards and it would have been nice to have had a lot more storage capacity - therefore I feel this is an important consideration when buying similar machines. Being able to store a large number of songs allows the musician to be able to come back at a later date and make fine adjustments.

The editing facilities offered by the FD-4 are extremely useful and include copy & paste, move and paste, erase, auto punch In/Out and auto locate. The music samples offered with this review have used the editing facilities extensively and, I think you'll agree, have produced seamless results.