Interesting, and I wonder about that buzziness; found that more often with cheaper class AD/DA converters in synthesizers and especially an internal master clock timing signal of lesser quality can cause distortion in the high frequencies; makes quite a difference on sound quality. Maybe Roland cut corners on using lesser converters, and we'd have to wait for an FR-18 MKII or XL version. The same happened with other Roland equipment in the past, this way these guys can resell their "junk" once again to the same customers; you'd want the best model if you're a serious musician. PS i have an old Akai DR8 8 track recorder, only 16bit, bit it sounds great when it's slaved to an external wordclock from another source like an Alesis masterlink or other. Maybe there is a modification possible for the FR 18? Alas my hearing is not as good anymore, but maybe some of you young-ones can share an opinion on this subject. Test the FR 18 through a HiFi PA, thus not a budget Mackie or Peavey or even a Yamaha digital desk system. - Nout

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