Fostex CMC-24
A semi-automated desk that promised computerised routing for under £3,000. The brand badge is the most confusing thing about it.
Overview
The name on the archive page and the name in the period press don't match. The only substantive contemporary coverage of a "CMC 24" desk is a review by Mark Jenkins in Studio Sound (July 1985, p.128). It labels the console "AHB CMC 24," and every other trace of the product follows that AHB attribution, including parts listings and a French database entry filed under Allen & Heath's AHB series. No source independently confirms the archive's assignment of the model to Fostex. A "Fostex CMC-24" may simply not exist under that badge. This page documents the AHB CMC 24 desk that the archive has filed here, not a Fostex product.
The sources do establish a semi-automated mixing desk of the mid-1980s. The period literature describes it as one of the first in-line mixing consoles aimed at the personal multitrack market. It was built for the project studio that wanted console-style routing and automated muting without stepping up to a full professional board. The automation came in under £3,000 in the UK in 1985. Jenkins used that figure to frame the whole review.
Beyond that, the record is thin. The manufacturer documents describe a 24-input console with 16 outputs, 16 tape returns, six auxiliary outputs, and a frequency response of 20Hz to 30kHz (+0/-1dB). No dimensions or weight survive in the research. There is no full spec sheet here, and filling the gaps with numbers from a sibling model or a later revision would be dishonest. What follows is what the period coverage and the surviving parts market actually say.
Key Features
Computerised Routing and Muting
The CMC 24's headline capability was computerised routing and muting — the "semi-automated" part of the description. This is the feature that separates the desk from a conventional in-line console of the period: routing and mute patterns could be handled by the console's control system rather than set by hand at every pass. Jenkins took the desk seriously precisely because that kind of control was being offered at a price well below what automated consoles had previously commanded, and he treated the sub-£3,000 figure as the real story. The desk's in-line topology — the layout that lets a channel serve both as an input and as a monitor return — is what made it attractive to the personal multitrack user, who needed to track and monitor through the same strip.
Internal Harness and Per-Channel PCBs
Inside, the CMC 24 used an internal harness wiring system rather than a fully modular card cage, and each channel sat on its own individual PCB. Jenkins noted both details. Individual channel boards make servicing a single strip easier than a monolithic board would. Harness wiring is the cheaper, less reconfigurable approach. The same review observed that the desk was less modular than the "System 8" mixers it was being measured against. That is a fair criticism if you wanted to swap or expand sections, and it fits a desk built to hit a price.
Fader Knobs and the Parts Trail
The most concrete physical detail comes from the secondhand market, not the review. Parts listings describe the faders as sliding knobs on an 8mm shaft. One UK seller offered a complete set of 26 original sliding knobs for the CMC24, described as in good condition. That count of 26 is the closest thing to a physical specification the archive has. Read it as a parts description, not a channel count. The manufacturer documents describe the console as a 24-input desk with 16 full-feature channels and eight tape/line return channels.
Historical Context
The CMC 24 sits at the point where in-line console design moved down-market into the personal multitrack studio. The period coverage calls it one of the first in-line mixing consoles aimed at that market, and the automation-for-under-£3,000 pitch is the clearest evidence of where it was positioned. Studio Sound (July 1985, p.128) treated the desk as a genuine step toward affordable automation rather than a gimmick. A separate contemporary notice, by Paul White in HSR in May 1985, reached for the word "revolutionary," with the usual caveat that the term gets overused, and concluded that the new AHB product appeared to warrant it. That May 1985 date is a publication date, not a production year. The archive has no confirmed production run for the desk at all.
Audiofanzine files the CMC 24 under the AHB CMC series and categorizes it as an analog console, and the parts market sells it as AHB. Nothing in the research supports a Fostex origin. Collectors chasing a "Fostex CMC-24" should expect to find an AHB CMC 24 at the end of the search.
Collectibility & Value
There is no confirmed current market price for the desk, and no exact Fostex CMC-24 listings were live at the time of research. What does surface is parts: the UK set of 26 original sliding knobs for the CMC24, and an Australian seller offering a full set of 26 AHB CMC24 8mm sliding knobs as genuine console parts. A separate listing for Matsushita HB2E-DC24V relays appears alongside that seller's CMC24 parts. It does not explicitly state fitment to this console, so don't assume it applies.
No common failures, maintenance routines, repair procedures, or spare-parts availability are documented anywhere in the research. On the service side the desk is an unknown quantity. The per-channel PCB construction is at least a point in its favor for a repair, but that is inference from the design, not a documented track record. Given the identity confusion, confirm the badge on the actual unit before paying anything like a collector premium.
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