16 TRACK showdown!!

T

tws

New member
Hey guys. Im looking to upgrade from my BR-8 to a powerful 16 track unit that sounds excellent. I was thinking about pc recording for a while but it just seemed too complicated (and expensive...i was gonna buy a new comp). Im looking for something that will give me a professional great sounding recording. Here is what ive been looking at.
Fostex VF160
Korg D1600
AND
YAMAHA AW16G

I wanted to korg for a while but the fostex seems like a good deal. Any pros and cons would be great, thanks. Also, if this has already been covered on any website, if you could point me to them that would be great.
 
Hi.

All 3 of those recorders are capable of recording 8 tracks at a time (the Fostex even 16 with ADAT), and playing back 16 tracks at a time. The Yamaha only has 12 faders for the channels though, meaning instead of being a true 16 track, it becomes more like a "8 mono + 4 stereo track" machine. Therefore I would rule out the Yamaha.
That leaves us with the d1600 and the Fostex. Here the Korg wins, hands down, because of :
1) Superior effects (Great effects!!!!!)
2) Way more virtual tracks (8 x 16)
3) Ease of use (Touchscreen and everything...)

I'd say go with the Korg (and I'd say that even if the Yamaha was still in the race at this point)!!

Read more here :
http://www.sospubs.co.uk/sos/may01/articles/korgd1600.asp

...and you could read up on the Korg d1200 as well, if you could get by with only 12 tracks, and 4 inputs :
http://www.sospubs.co.uk/sos/jan03/articles/korgd1200.asp

Dime...
 
I think that those units are fine but you'll be limiting yourself when you get to the point where you wanna do more. No matter what you think right now 16 tracks is not much to work with. I made the mistake of jumping from my 4-track to a Roland 8-track. For the price I paid at the time I could've got a comp. that was good enough to handle more than 8 tracks and MUCH more fexability. I would look into comp recording a little bit more. Its worth it in the long run and the short run.

keith

http://www.keithray.net
 
I really did look into comp recording for awhile. I was gonna buy a new emac with 60 gigs and 550 megs of ram and the tascam 122 usb thing and cubase SL. However, i have read things from people about how their comps lag and I dont know if i would like using a mouse to turn a fake nob.
 
I've never had any problems with lag or anything like that. As far as the fake knobs your on your own there. I am a one man bad so I use Sonic Foundrys Acid to do all of my tracks. I can control all of the volume changes so when it comes time to mix I dont have to turn knobs. Its already done! My buddy sends all of his tracks out of his PC and through a mixer and controls things that way. I just hate to see people spend their hard earned money on something thats a dead end street.

keith


http://www.keithray.net
 
To be honest, I hate do-all boxes. I have worked with some of them and found them to be very limiting. "Virtual Tracks" are a hoax, and I just didn't like the idea of "On-Board" everything. I found them to be a pain to use. I run a computer based system, but my advice would be to stay away from a USB interface. Go with at least a firewire interface or something that has a hardware card that plugins into your PCI buss. USB is slow, always has been and always will be. Even the newer USB 2.0 and up isn't very fast. I am running a P4 clocked at 2.74G with 1G RAM and I use SF Acid. With one song I have around 84 tracks with real-time effects on all of them and I don't experience glitching. For me, Computer recording is the absolute best.

A lot of people say "Eh, I'll never use more than 16 tracks!" and I used to say that, till I got SF Acid... Believe me, you can use more than 16 tracks... I have 1 part in a song that has almost that in just guitar! Save your money, go Computer.
 
Hey TWS,

Use the search icon and any of the DAWs you mentioned--lots has been written about this showdown, and definitely with very mixed opinions. Then, find and visit some of the dedicated websites for each unit (e.g., www.aw16g.com for the yamaha), and do a search there for comparisions. You can even send out a message to folks there--why should I buy this unit? Research, baby.

Good luck,
J.
 
If you can't manage a modern rock or dance production on 16 tracks you are doing something very wrong IMO. 16 is a lot of room to work...too much sometimes.

If you are looking for the hands down best sounding 16 track recorder for the money you should be looking for something like this here...$1000 and it will literally blow your dulled digital sonic senses away.
 

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tws said:
Well guys thanks for the replies. i think im gonna go the adat route.
Click to expand...

If you've already decided on ADAT then obviously the Korg/Yamaha/Fostex self-contained DAW question is moot. I was going to put a plug in for the Fostex VF160. These machines are very well built and have a very quiet 3.5" hard drive. If you can, check out the "feel" of each of these machines -- they are not all the same.

While PC's are great, there are a few advantages with standalone DAW's. One is portability. The other is less crashability. A DAW that's designed to be only that will tend to be VERY stable. If my experience with Fostex is indicative of other DAW's, the error rate on the DAW based CD burners is VERY low. I've done 50+ discs on my VF80, with NO ERRORS. My PC is not nearly as consistent. (Naturally, you could make sure the burner on the PC is a good one).

Editing on a PC is a snap, and obviously plug-ins are readily available. If you were going to be recording in one location and your PC would be set up for audio only, then the PC might be the way to go.

Othjerwise, for the money, given the choices of the DAW's you mentioned, take a very long look at the Fostex. In any event, you should be able to come up with a fine product any way you go...
 
Thanks for the replies. The PC is now defiantely out for me. Standalones are still a possibility.

I plan on investigating the ADAT route much more before taking action. I am friends with a guy here in town who has a great studio and he uses adats, so I'll talk to him about it.
My plan as of right now is to first buy a cd recorder. I'm thinking about either the Tascam CD-RW700 or the HHB Burnit , and im leaning toward the HHB. The recorder will benefit my BR-8 as of right now until I have enough money for a mixer and the adats.
For the mixer im looking at an alesis studio 32, but will probably go with a used MACKIE 1604.

As far as adats go, I will probably get a used Alesis XT20 or LX20. If anyone has any recommendations for any of these things that would be great. Im trying to keep it as low cost as possible as I'm still a student. Thanks, William
 
jake-owa said:
Well, anything will be better than your BR8...*shudder*
Click to expand...

Oh come on.The br-8 is awesome,right? I mean,any recording device with a built in guitar preamp has got to be good. Not to mention on board effects. You'll never need any REAL eqiupment with this bad boy at your finger tips......
 
I would wait...

tws said:
Thanks for the replies. The PC is now defiantely out for me. Standalones are still a possibility.

I plan on investigating the ADAT route much more before taking action. I am friends with a guy here in town who has a great studio and he uses adats, so I'll talk to him about it.
My plan as of right now is to first buy a cd recorder. I'm thinking about either the Tascam CD-RW700 or the HHB Burnit , and im leaning toward the HHB. The recorder will benefit my BR-8 as of right now until I have enough money for a mixer and the adats.
For the mixer im looking at an alesis studio 32, but will probably go with a used MACKIE 1604.

As far as adats go, I will probably get a used Alesis XT20 or LX20. If anyone has any recommendations for any of these things that would be great. Im trying to keep it as low cost as possible as I'm still a student. Thanks, William
Click to expand...

Wait and think before you buy anything... Adats are great for recording 16, 24 tracks at once, but editing is something else again. Yes, you can make a great recording on an ADAT, but that's a given across the board. Why buy a burner now? If you get a DAW it'll have a burner -- same thing if you get a PC. Why not hold onto your cash and savour this decision for a while. Then buy what you really want and need.
 
Formating Adats are a pain in the ass, and theres no product support and they break down all the time. The HD24 is good though.
 
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