Originally posted by The Green Hornet
I don't work for Yamaha but I should. I'm a retired English Composition teacher and I'm sure I could do a much better job on the manuals. I just believe that Yamaha believes the only folks who buy these units are engineers!
Yes, Yamaha's manuals could use some help. IMO, they certainly would benefit from having more extensive "how to" sections for the people to whom recording is fairly new.
Hope you read page 12 in the "thick" instruction manual for the 2816 -- REQUIRES THAT YOU SHUT DOWN THE UNIT IN A SEQUENCE OF STEPS OR YOU MIGHT DAMAGE THE HARD DRIVE.
I hadn't heard this. A lot of AW4416 users had requested that Yamaha add a option to the shut down page that would allow you to shut down
without saving the current song. This way, if you had made changes that you didn't want to keep, you had the option. The solution (at least on the AW4416) is to just get to the shutdown screen, make sure the HDD red LED indicator isn't flashing, and just hit the power switch - no harm comes to the unit. The AW machines are VERY similar in most fundemental and functional aspects. I own two AW4416's - I had one of the first 50 in the USA. I was also the first person in the world (according to Yamaha's knowledge, and from reports on the unofficial AW4416 / AW2816 users group) to digitally cascade and sync two units. I was also a beta tester for
the Waves Y56K card and the AW4416 version 2.0 software.... I don't have a AW2816, but John Schauer from Yamaha USA brought one over to the studio for me to check out about two weeks before they started shipping them out to the stores. I have written articles on disabling the CD-RW drive fan to reduce noise that Yamaha referrs customers to. I've written sync articles on hooking the AW series machines to your computer. IOW, I know a
little bit about these machines...
When I got my unit, the vendor was hot to sell me the "upgrade" 4416. Harder unit to run and I don't think for most purposes it can do any more than the 2816, especially as far as sound quality.
As far as sound quality, they're identical. As far as functionality and user interface, they're dang near to identical, as long as the 4416 has the 2.0 software. If you're comfortable on one, you can easily use the other. The "new features" of the 2816 are all on the 4416 with the new software. IOW, the 4416 isn't any more difficult to operate... unless you consider it to be so because it has an extra card slot and two additional aux sends and the extra routing that corresponds with those features.
The differences:
The AW2816 uses a new DSP chip - no difference in sound and the two different DSP chips are transparent to the user.
The AW4416 has 8 aux sends -
the AW2816 has 6
The 4416 has the sample pads - the 2816 doesn't (no real loss there IMO)
The 4416 has a mouse port, while the 2816 does not.
The AW4416 has 44 mixer channels (16 recorder playback, and
24 which are user selectable from the 8 analog inputs, two card slots, sample pads, S/PDIF digital input etc.) as well as two stereo effects returns.
The AW2816 has 28 mixer channels (16 recorder playback, and
8 which are user selectable from the 8 analog inputs, one card slot, S/PDIF digital input etc.) as well as two stereo effects returns.
The effects returns on the 4416 are on linear faders... on the 2816, they're on rotary pots.
SUMMARY: Both units are very capable machines that are capable of doing first class recordings if the operator does his / her part. The 4416 is the better choice if you need more simultaneous mixer channels - say, for those with a lot of MIDI modules they want to plug in, or for people who need to mic up a lot of instruments simultaneously (such as tracking an entire rhythm section all at one with multiple drum mics, guitar, bass, jeyboards, whatever). If you want to use a ADAT, external hard disk recorder or your computer for more simultaneous tracks, the extra card slot on the AW4416 means you can get a maximum of 32 tracks - 16 internal and 16 incoming via lightpipe or TDIF cards - You can only get 24 tracks with a AW2816.
Also, if you wish to transfer all the tracks at one into your computer DAW for editing (and computer DAW editing is MUCH more powerful than the onboard editing of ANY stand alone "studio in a box" hard disk recorder) you can transfer all 16 tracks in a single pass with the 4416 - you'd have to transfer twice to do so with the 2816 - it can only do 8 tracks at a time because of the card slot limitation.
Both are great machines... your needs insofar as mixer channels should be the main determining factor in deciding which one to get. That, and finances - the 4416 runs about $500 more in the USA than the 2816. Are the extra features important enough to you to justify that extra cost? Only you can decide.
Here's a couple of links you may want to check out:
http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/aw4416 The unofficial AW4416 / AW2816 mail group
http://www.socialentropy.com/aw4416 The unofficial AW user's site
Phil O'Keefe
Sound Sanctuary Recording
Riverside CA
http://www.ssrstudio.com
pokeefe777@ssrstudio.com