The FD-8 is an eight-track hard disk recorder/mixer where you connect your own choice of external hard drive such as a SyQuest SyJet or Iomega Jaz. In "Mastering" mode, the FD-8 provides uncompressed, 44.1kHz, 16-bit linear, CD quality sound. The unit has 16 virtual tracks besides the first eight tracks for a total of 24. Any eight tracks of the 24 can be mixed down. For increased recording time, you can also use Fostex's Advanced Digital Audio Acoustic Coding or ADAC for as much as 20 minutes of eight-track recording or 80 minutes of stereo audio recording on a 230Mb drive.

The FD-8's Copy Paste/Move Paste/Erase function can be applied to eight tracks together and can be executed via MIDI Bar/Time Signature/Clock, ABS time or MTC references. The built-in tempo map allows external sequencers to chase the machine without using up a recording track for SMPTE. There are: an eight in and two out on-board mixer with three-band EQ, three step mic trims and stereo sub-mix capability. Other features are scrub wheel editing, balanced XLR I/O, two aux sends and a pair of stereo returns.