Korg D-1600

comparisons

I was in the maket for a digital workstations also, and I looked at a few before I decided on the Korg D1600. One other workstation I looked at was the Roland VS 1880. From what I know of, the Roland stations can be pretty good although they can be harder the learn how to use even with the instruction manuel.

The Kong D1600 is a lot user friendly with built in effects while the Roland requires you to buy separate effect boards. What also turned me off from the Roland is the fact that no other cd recorder can be used with it exept the Roland cdr that costs around 500 dollers which mean you would not be able to utilize one of the less expensive cdr that are just as good as the Roland.
Hope I was able to give you some answers you were looking for.
 
16 tracks uncompressed
24 bit d/a converters
ability to be synced to another unit (buy 2 get 32 tracks)
Buy two for less than yamaha 16, Roland 24, akai 24.
Pan pots you can touch like god intended.

I reccomend this unit over all the other 16's
 
D1600

I've owned my D1600 for a couple of months now and absolutely love it. For the money, it simply can't be beat. Nice FX, clean layout and pretty easy to learn (it took about a week to get comfortable and then about another 2 weeks to get around with ease). If you buy one, you won't be disappointed.
 
I have a d16 and use it alot for remote location recording. The d1600 has the same major problem that the d16 has - no adat in/out. If Korg added this feature, they would really open up the market for those, like me, who like to record remotely and then dump eight tracks at a time to a computer (I use protools le). I ended up buying a 16 track fostex d160 rackmounted ($799 from musicians friend) unit that will dump 16 tracks at a time via adat lightpipe.

Otherwise, these are great units.
 
I spent the better part of two years searching, reading, demo'ng, and finally decided on the D1600, for all the reasons stated by everyone here. For under $1700, I got a unit with 16 separate faders (no grouping like Roland), 20 gig harddrive, built-in cd burner (for $77, versus WHAT? for Roland), built-in effects which are very good, touch screen (no friggin shift keys) which makes navigating a cinch. etc. etc. I cant believe how good it is for the money!
 
O.K., so now you know what I like about the D1600. If I had to point out any negatives, they would be:

1) No port to attach a monitor. This is probably due to the touchscreen technology, but it would be way cool to have touch-screen capability on a "normal" sized monitor.

2) They should have made the touch screen a little bigger- it's easy to hit the wrong icon on such a small screen

However, I knew that going into my purchase. Bottom line- for 1600 bucks, it's amazing!
 
More Questions.

Thanks for all the help, so far. It's been great. I did find out, however, that the Korg D1600 doesn't have a pitch corrector, and cannot be connected to any personal outboard effects source. I wonder if this will change on any future models? Competition is fierce in the DAW market. I'd just like to know what is coming down the pipe next. The new Yamaha 2816 is an attractive piece of gear, but I still have a $2000 budget, and would rather put any extra coin into a couple of good recording mics, and mic pre-amp, if required. I guess I should say a $3000 budget, (cost for a Korg D1600 in Canada, with burner, hard drive etc.)
I basically need the unit for pre-production, as I have access to 3 professional studios locally. But I would also like to eventually use it to mix and master professional quality sounding C.D.'s. Is that something that can be accomplished with this set up?
What is the next best unit in comparisson to the Korg D1600? How do the Akai's rate, or any others for that matter? Just asking, so I can make a conscious decision. Appreciate your input.
 
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The salesman at Guitar Center said that the Akai doesn't have anywhere near the service centers that the Korg does and because of that, it is a lot harder to get service if you'd need it. I haven't tried the Akai, but the Korg is one fine machine. I think you'd have no problem making CD quality recordings with the D1600, since it already sounds like you have the recording engineering know-how under your belt. It's got great sounding f/x and I've gone from not knowing squat about getting a gound sound recorded to sounding pretty good with this machine. I don't think you'd be disappointed. The touch screen is indispensible in my opinion. I really liked the Roland VS2480 option of the Monitor, but I would have had to wait another year to save up enough money.
 
i don't know who told you that outboard effects can't be patched in...they are wrong...this i know. i haven't used it, but im pretty sure i saw a mention in the manual for pith correction. i got my d1600 as soon as they began shipping and its a hoss!
 
I am glad you asked!!!

I am also looking to buy a Korg or Roland. (See post i put in before reading this one).

I called Roland and Korg today directly to ask a few questions and i found, In my humble opinion that the Korg is much more upgradable in the future than the Roland.

One thing that puzzles me is... the guy from roland i talked to said that "Roland can copy in "Red Book" " meaning that the burnt CD is already mastered and ready for direct duplication without any post production work by another facility.

Has anyone heard of this term and can you let me know what this means. Roland refered to "Red Book" and "Orange Book".

I look forward to seeing more info and responces to this burning Question.

Howlin' Dog
 
Red Book is the standard for burning an audio CD. I don't think it's all that big of a deal, it just means you can burn them so they can be read by a standard home CD player. The Korg can do it too and most any of the current DAW's with a CD burn option will. Maybe he is talking about some futher refinement of "Red Book" specifically for mastering...anyone??
 
I owned a vs880ex roland. Sold it and bought an Akia dps16. Love it. I bought mine the week after they came out. Paid 1900. Now you can buy at www.shreveaudio.com for 1500. This includes 30gig hd, all the new software upgrades, (mastering tools for red book standard), cd burner, and a marshall condenser mic. You can't beat it. Large screen. Easy to use. Full 16 tracks. 24/96. Check it out. The best deal I've found.
 
Before this thread gets tooooooo worn out, I would like to hear from anyone who uses a D1600. I've heard most of the merits of the Korg D1600 but haven't got much feedback about any shortcomings. Maybe there aren't any. Hmmmmm. Also, what would've been your second choice if you hadn't gotten the Korg.
 
2nd choice

my 2nd choice would have been the akai 16 track.
d1600 shortcomings? ...to rewind a song you hit "stop" and "rewind" at the same time...if your not paying attention and your song is already at the begining hitting these buttons again takes you to the previous song. picture yourself tweaking settings....getting a mix to sound just right....you rewind it to listen one more time and...boom...to the previous song which just made you loose all the damn settings you tweaked on for hours...THAT SUCKS! (one of those learned it the hard way things)
you just have to remember to lock in every little tweak...then if you go to the previous song, your right back where you were when you come back to the song you were working on....that is the only shortcoming i know of. but, i haven't finished a cd yet...so, if i run into any more glitches i'll let you know
 
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