well, i've been goofing around with this unit a little bit this weekend, and my first piece of advice is:
if you are a guitar player who is a novice at digital home recording, GET A JOHNSON J-STATION!!!!!!!
i didn't have this little wonder box last week and i made some mediocre recordings...but they sounded "fake". i was going through a boss digital effects unit into the dps16.
then, mr. UPS man brought me the j-station today..and what a difference! i know there are those of you probably cringing right now who make real good real recordings without this, but i repeat, for the novice home recorder,this little baby does it. it has digital out that can go direct and sounds remain in the digital domain...not to mention multiple effects and amps...it even made my bass sound good! o.k. i'm done selling the johnson.
the akai is really quite easy to use for straight forward stuff....one evening of learning curve and i am jumping around it like a pro....the screen OFTEN has on-screen instructions that help guide you to what you might want to do next...the "mode" buttons make the decision process quite easy....i put down drums (machine) , bass, and guitar for a song tonight in about 1&1/2 hours.
i'm still trying to figure out the EQ section..it seems there might be separate EQ capabilities for each of the 16 tracks...but i'm not sure on that piece yet.....i still don't have the EFX card, so i can't comment on it..BUT..(now the bad news) i put my EFX unit on an AUX send patch and tried to work it that way, and i was quickly in over my head and gave up....i got lost...send busses and inserts and pres and posts and lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
maybe after a fresh start on that piece it'll make more sense...but i really would rather wait and learn the EFX card first.
i haven't tried mixdown yet...but i don't think i'll need to...with 16 track playback and 16 (count 'em 16) individual faders and pans, i should be able to mix directly down to CD for immediate playback....thanks to the tascam. I think one of the big selling points of this machine is the 16 separate faders and pans...it's just a more "hands on" machine than the VS1680 that i have used earlier this year in another band........
o.k. sorry so long winded...but that's the impression after about 4 hours total dps time....more to follow...
if you are a guitar player who is a novice at digital home recording, GET A JOHNSON J-STATION!!!!!!!
i didn't have this little wonder box last week and i made some mediocre recordings...but they sounded "fake". i was going through a boss digital effects unit into the dps16.
then, mr. UPS man brought me the j-station today..and what a difference! i know there are those of you probably cringing right now who make real good real recordings without this, but i repeat, for the novice home recorder,this little baby does it. it has digital out that can go direct and sounds remain in the digital domain...not to mention multiple effects and amps...it even made my bass sound good! o.k. i'm done selling the johnson.
the akai is really quite easy to use for straight forward stuff....one evening of learning curve and i am jumping around it like a pro....the screen OFTEN has on-screen instructions that help guide you to what you might want to do next...the "mode" buttons make the decision process quite easy....i put down drums (machine) , bass, and guitar for a song tonight in about 1&1/2 hours.
i'm still trying to figure out the EQ section..it seems there might be separate EQ capabilities for each of the 16 tracks...but i'm not sure on that piece yet.....i still don't have the EFX card, so i can't comment on it..BUT..(now the bad news) i put my EFX unit on an AUX send patch and tried to work it that way, and i was quickly in over my head and gave up....i got lost...send busses and inserts and pres and posts and lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
maybe after a fresh start on that piece it'll make more sense...but i really would rather wait and learn the EFX card first.
i haven't tried mixdown yet...but i don't think i'll need to...with 16 track playback and 16 (count 'em 16) individual faders and pans, i should be able to mix directly down to CD for immediate playback....thanks to the tascam. I think one of the big selling points of this machine is the 16 separate faders and pans...it's just a more "hands on" machine than the VS1680 that i have used earlier this year in another band........
o.k. sorry so long winded...but that's the impression after about 4 hours total dps time....more to follow...
