Fostex D-90 Hard Disk Recording System
July 11, 1997
Demonstrating its ability to design a single hard disk
recording and editing system that can meet the needs of both personal project studios and high
end recording facilities, Fostex Corporation of America today commenced delivery of its all-new
Fostex D-90 Hard Disk Recording System. The new D-90 system offers the professional audio
industry the broadest level of interface available in a platform that incorporates numerous
leading-edge digital audio recording, editing and mixing capabilities.
"The Fostex D-90 builds on the company's philosophy of offering the highest degree of functionality
at the most cost-effective price," explains Fostex Corporation of America Director of Sales Phil
Celia. "But rather than simply offer a successor to the highly successful Fostex D-80 hard disk recorder, we designed the Fostex D-90 to deliver an entirely new level of capability-and, hence,
performance value."
The D-90 comes standard with analog I/O ports, a stereo S/PDIF port and an ADAT Digital Interface
(Light Pipe) utilizing an optical data port that will accommodate eight tracks of ADAT digital data. In
addition, the Fostex model D-BOB offers D-sub 25-pin balanced I/O functionality. And the model
D-90BS offers both balanced I/O and SCSI capability, allowing a choice of user backup options.
Further, model D-9O can be upgraded to model D-BOB and both models can be upgraded to a
model D-90BS at any time. In short, the Fostex D-90 can easily be interfaced with any level of
facility, from personal ADAT-based project studios to the most complex post production facilities.
"What this means is that the Fostex D-90 is the first affordable platform to offer users the ability to
interface with many digital audio environments," Celia emphasizes. "At a time when it is routine to
have many projects shuttle back and forth between personal and commercial facilities, the Fostex
D-90 is now the first affordable platform of its type that can offer the ability to stay with a project all
the way through to completion. Thus, it is designed to be a productive tool for the project studio and
for the high end recording facility where a creative project may end up!"
In addition, the Fostex D-90 will be shipped with an internal, removable 2.55 GB hard drive, affording
users up to 60 minutes-one full hour-of uncompressed digital audio.
According to Celia, the high degree of interface that the D-90 offers means no more truncated
format conversions between systems-it can simply plug and play with any console, analog or
digital. As the other systems in the rapidly changing post industry change, the Fostex D-90 can
flexibly move with those changes.
Combined with its large removable storage capability and memory management systems, the
Fostex D-90 is the closest thing to having a platform for all seasons.
The Fostex D-90's interface capability is just the beginning, however. The D-90 offers a range of
other enhanced features that set it apart from other workstations, including:
- A Vari-pitch function allows for +/- 6-percent pitch variations in highly precise increments of
one-tenth of a percent steps.
- A selectable sampling rate of either 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz, which reflect the two most used
sampling rate standards in the industry. Furthermore, the sampling rate can be set and changed
independently for each of the D-90's nine dynamic "virtual reels."
- MTC Record Track Select Function Key is a new feature that allows external sequencers to arm
individual tracks on the D-90.
- The Fostex D-90 has significant synchronization capabilities, including an MTC-only Chase
Function allowing the D-90 to slave to any recorder/sequencer by feeding MTC data without word
clock data which, combined with the D-90's optional ADAT and SCSI interface capabilities, gives
the D-90 an unparalleled systems networking capability.
- Now up to three model D-9Os can be cascaded for up to 24 track recording, with the ability to
arm-track from one remote control.
The applications range for the Fostex D-90 is huge: With hundreds of thousands of ADAT tapes
now in circulation, users of that format can transfer data directly to the D-90 and use the D-90's
extensive editing capabilities to manipulate and continue working with the data.
Users of one of the numerous digital mixing consoles now available will be able to communicate directly with the Fostex D-90 via its ADAT interface. And since the D90 can chase-lock to any machine, users of analog consoles can use the D-90's synchronization capabilities to lock it with any analog recorder via MTC signal.
The Fostex D-90 is similar in appearance to the Fostex D-80, however its hardware and software is different. While Fostex D-80s can be used with D-90s in multimachine environments, the Fostex D-80 cannot be upgraded to a model D-90. For more information, visit their web site at www.fostex.com or email to info@fostex.com. | 
