buy a vf-16??

[mutt]

I'm looking into moving up from my 4 track and I think I would be unhappy with only 8 tracks - so I'm looking into 16. I couldn't help but notice that the vf-16 is considerably cheaper than other 16 trackers by Roland and Yamaha. Any one out there with a vf-16 that has had a chance to compare it to the other brands?? How about some pros and cons (ease of use, etc.). ALso, if you had it to do over again, would you save up some more $$$$ and get a different higher priced brand??

ps - I already own an outboard cd burner (Sony CDR-W33) so having an onboard burner is not really a factor to me.


mutt

[gritzy]

I don't really have a basis for comparison to the Roland or Yamaha that you mentioned, but I have a vf-16 and it works well for me. The effects aren't great but that's not what I was looking for in a unit anyway. I just like the fact that it's an affordable mixer/multitracker with phantom power. Digital is so convenient and you really can't beat the price. I don't have any technical complaints so far, but as I mentioned before, I don't have anything else to compare to except a POS Fostex x-34 that I had for a couple of years. Digital is just so easy for bouncing and editing. You can practically do as many takes of a track as you want, save them all (well like 99 at least) as virtual tracks and use the one you think sounds best for your mixdown. Copying, pasting, all that is just such a simple thing in the digital domain. And of the digital units that I looked at, the vf-16 won out for me because it has phamtom power and a respectable number of tracks and inputs for the nice price. I got mine of eBay ten months ago for like $800 bucks brand new. And I just saw one on eBay today that was at $500 with one bid and a day left on the auction. Anyway, it's been a great deal for me. If you are recording a bunch of inputs with a sizable band or something you might run into limitations but if it's just you or a couple of people at a time, it'll do nicely. Good luck.

Oh...one thing...the manual sort of blows...its kind of like those foreign ads in english that Leno makes fun of sometimes on the Tonight Show, only its not all that funny. I get a lot more useful information off this site than from the manual.

[mutt]

Hey gritzy - thanks for the reply.

Couple of questions.
1. Are there enough stereo rca ins and outs to handle all my stuff (CD burner, CD player, cassette deck, computer line in)

2. Can you cut and paste only a part of one track? On my current digital 4 track (a Tascam 564) I can sopy a segment (say the chorus) and paste it but I have to cut and paste all the tracks together as a unit. With the vf-16 can you copy the chorus of one vocal track and paste it over where you already have the second chorus of instruments recorded?

mutt

[theglitch]

Originally posted by mutt
Hey gritzy - thanks for the reply.

Couple of questions.
1. Are there enough stereo rca ins and outs to handle all my stuff (CD burner, CD player, cassette deck, computer line in)

2. Can you cut and paste only a part of one track? On my current digital 4 track (a Tascam 564) I can sopy a segment (say the chorus) and paste it but I have to cut and paste all the tracks together as a unit. With the vf-16 can you copy the chorus of one vocal track and paste it over where you already have the second chorus of instruments recorded?

mutt

Couple of answers:
1. You will need some RCA to 1/4" connectors/cables

2. Absolutely

3. Two things to know:
1- New street price $799 (you can't go wrong here)
2- New software allows two ghost tracks for mastering purposes, so you waste no track or virtual tracks.

4. The VF16 is an awesome unit with good effects (for the price range), good converters (better than the Roland stuff), easy to use (even has a scrub mode for easy editing, or it can output .wav files) all for a super low price. Just do it. You won't be sorry.

[Davros]

Just Venting Frustration

The manual does Blow !

And at time like this I wish I lived in the USA cos I just paid £900 sterling (I live in Scotland) and that was with a £200 discount.

Thats a list price of approximately $1400 US

You lucky lucky people