2005 Zoom MRS-1608 Digital "Multitrak" Studio Recorder Repair

Very nearly gave up on this one - a combination of red herrings throughout, and almost missing software. I've put this up to share info with anyone else in a similar situation and decided to archive the software I was able to get, to preserve it. People still like using these machines, and they're of an age where the drives will start to fail!
Resources:
Zoom MRS-1608 User's Manual
zoomcorp.com/m...
MRS-1608 Recovery CD ISO (open directly for the files or burn your own disc)
archive.org/de...
GUIFormat - format 32GB or larger drives to FAT32
ridgecrop.co.uk...
KVR Audio forum post, covering a different model but with relevant info
www.kvraudio.c...

[@wallpurgesnight8209]

Cheers! Great info!
I've one of these (non functional) my friend gave me moons ago. I'm going to try this... Thank you 🙏

[@derekf9]

Great video James, very interesting.

[@alanorange9376]

Thats a really useful machine. The last great Zoom product made from Japan.

[@krg1965]

Behemoth is right :-) I've had my MRS-1608 about 18 years and it's still going strong doing anything from home studio to recording live bands - recording 8 channels at once is a great feature. I've pondered what I'd do if/when the hard disk gives up the ghost, and now I've seen your brilliant video, I'm a lot happier about going inside and doing maintenance. The tips about the ribbon cables and the front pots on the board are especially appreciated.
I've just seen a playlist of your other videos, I'll having a browse and subscribing - you've got an excellent way of describing your fault finding process, combined with excellent camera setup.
Thanks for an excellent informative video.

[@jamesbennettmusic]

thank you, much appreciated - that's the aim, to document this stuff to give back and help people out!

[@deltic17]

Watching... ⏰️ 😊

[@Jimonjitou]

Huge

[@deltic17]

I hereby promise NOT to bring you any more relics, landfill, 18th century boot scrapers or electrical dinosaurs... if I'd known it was going to be such an Ass I would have given it a Hawaiian funeral.. Great vid tho and a preservation document 😊👍

[@losnativospillarenos-ofici4205]

COMO LA CONECTAS A UNA PC

[@jamesbennettmusic]

you need to install the optional USB interface card - they are very hard to find nowadays

[@losnativospillarenos-ofici4205]

@@jamesbennettmusic, oops, thanks

[@losnativospillarenos-ofici4205]

@@jamesbennettmusic Does it have digital audio output?

[@jamesbennettmusic]

@@losnativospillarenos-ofici4205 optical but only stereo I think

[@losnativospillarenos-ofici4205]

@@jamesbennettmusic How do you record your projects?