Akai, Korg, XLRs, S/PDIF, and putting ten quarts of shit in an 8 quart bucket

  • Thread starter Thread starter Vurt
  • Start date Start date
V

Vurt

New member
I've decided not to put another dime into ADAT and instead move in the direction of workstations like the Akai dps16 and Korg d1600. One thing that jumps right out are the lack of XLR inputs on these things. The Korg has 4, which is okay, but why would Akai (and the Yamaha AW2816 for that matter) only provide 2? With so many qualities on these units, including simultaneous 8trk recording, why skimp on this??? Hell, one of my 4 tracks has four of them!

And how can the Akai record 10 trks simult. with only 8 imputs? Hmmm...

Right now I'm leaning toward the Akai. I don't doubt the quality of both units, but the metal chasis, rca outs, and mulitiple aux sends of the Akai are especially attractive. Any reason why I should give the Korg more consideration?

And finally, both units have S/PDIF I/O's, but I'm not completely clear on how this works. If I export tracks to pc with it, will it be preserved as individual tracks like LightPipe, or no?

Lots of questions, I know, but I'd really appreciate the help.

thanks!
 
You can record two tracks through SP/DIF plus the 8 analog inputs on the DPS16, giving you 10 simultaneous.
 
I am no expert but I did do a lot of research and decided on the Korg. I've only had it about 2 weeks, overall I'm happy with it with some mild reservations. Nothing serious enough to make me regret my decision.

The D1600 allows you to do a full mixdown of all 16 tracks to 2 virtual tracks internally. The Akai system only allows an internal mixdown of no more than 14 tracks. This is probably the strongest point for me deciding on the Korg.

Other advantages to the Korg: The bay for an internal CD burner; no muss, no fuss.
A nice set of internal rhythm patterns which can be recorded.
The interactive touch screen.

Advantages to the Akai: 250 virtual tracks unlinked to any main track, you can use as many as you need on any track. The Korg has only 128 virtuals and they are linked, 8 virtuals for each recording track.

The Akai q Link system of real time control is very cool, better than the Korg touch screen IMO (tho now that I have it, I find the touch screen is more responsive and intuitive than I expected.)

In most other respects the 2 units come out about even. I'd say if there is a feature that sticks out as being particularly good or bad for what you want to do, you can let that tip the scales....both units will deliver the goods.
 
i have the korg...it has aux sends for all 16 chanels. It has 1/4 inch outs...but a couple of rca to 1/4 adapters allow you to to go to rca. I am very happy with it....its very simple to operate and sounds fantastic. One of the deciding factors for me was the quality of the onboard effects...the effects on the korg sound very good.....better than onboard effects i have heard on yamaha machines.
 
Well I went to Mars yesterday to get my hands on the two before ordering the Akai, and ended up leaving with a Korg. After playing with each for about 1/2 hour, there was no question about it - it's the better of the two. The design is well thought, the effects are good, and it's not half as noisy as the Akai. It just felt right - like putting on a baseball glove you just know won't take long to break in. The Akai sounded good and was easily enough navigated, but far inferior to the Korg in my book.

Jimi, the effect sends you mention are for internal effects - only 1 outboard box can be used. I had the salesperson at Mars to call Korg and clarify that while I was fingering around both units.

I spent some time last night messing around and am extremely satisfied so far...

thanks for all the comments and suggestions fellas.

So, where's the d1600 forum?
 
Korg D1600 owners,

Have you purchased a CD unit for your Korgs? It appears that most any CD unit that will record at at least 8x will do the trick. Am I right in this? I have ordered the Korg and am waiting to buy the CD at some local Store as many internal CD R/W's are advertised for under $100. A lot better than the $350 for the Korg unit. I know that Korg lists some units that they know will work but finding those exact units looks like a challange. Any input on this one?

I am glad to see others making the same decison that I made between the Akai/Yamaha/Roland.

Thanks, MarkU
 
i ordered my d-1600 and the cd unit from korg. I had to wait (like everyone who ordered for the 1st ship date) for 3 months on my d-1600...i wasn't gonna take any chances on not being able to find a compatible unit.....I WAS READY TO RECORD!! a cheaper unit would probably work, but don't know if a cheaper cd unit will be as good as the korg unit.
 
Ive had the Korg now for a month or so and I think its great as well. It has the OEM CDR/W. The store I bought it from said they have just been ordering all units with the CDR/W. I wanted one that would work right out of the box without having to install anything.

I think the Korg units are pretty new, but I also wonder if there is enough interest now to create a Korg forum here.
 
Alas...

We tried to get a forum hosted for a while, but I think the general consensus is that www.korgboards.com is pretty dang good. It's a lot like this site, and a lot of the Korg users over there are over hear too. Check it out.

Pete
 
Thanks for the CD R/W info and thanks for the address for the Korg site. I did not know it exists. (I guess that's why we have these boards - to share information). I'll check there for CD R/W info.

MarkU
 
Yeah, thanks!

Just posted a thread on this very subject elsewhere on this site, then I find you guys! (I shouldn't've jumped the gun). Thanks for the site, I'm headed there! (Had my Korg D1600 now for a couple weeks and still get goosebumps turning the thing on).
 
Just keep in mind those PortaStudio unit A/D converters don't even come close to those on the ADAT XT20s - and then there's the M20.... no contest!

Bruce
 
the converters in the korg sound very good to my ears. A good friend of mine has been using adat's for years he wishes he had a hard drive recorder...now that he has seen what the d1600 is capible of and what it sounds like. One of the main reasons for this is head wear....your only gonna get a certain number of hours out of adat heads (he has 2 sitting to the side in his studio, that ain't worth fixing)....also if you do alot of punching in, overdubbing, and re-recording parts on a song the tape basically wears out and then the adat eats it. Then theres tape storage...seems like they deteriate kind of rapidly if you don't ....like... keep them in a germ free, climate controlled test tube bubble (LOL...maybe thats an exageration...but not far from the truth). Then theres the track editing capabilities on hard drive recorders...record a vocal on track 1...push a button and *boom* its on track 4...or on track 2,3,4,5,6,7,8, and 9...what ever you want. I realize you can do this with an adat and a pc...but its nice to be able to set things up for recording on one track and push a button and send it somewhere else instantly and record another. then theres the cost difference. To do what these new stand alone recorders like the korg d1600 can do, with adat you would need: a pretty powerful PC and some not so cheap software, 2 adat 8 track machines, a digital board, a cd burner, a drum machine, and about 3 or 4 grand worth of outboard effects. So, ballpark we're looking at 12 to 13 grand (not counting all the cords to hook it all up)....versus.....2 grand for all in one hard drive recorder.
 
off topic

Help me understand the difference in AD/DA converters?

As I think I understand it, the "quality" of your converters really boils down to one simple factor: the accuracy of the clock that keeps them in sync. Is there more to it? Are converters like hi-fi speakers, in that any given brand adds it's own "flavor" to the conversion? Are there other factors I'm not considering?

Thanks for any info....

-Shaz
 
Also, my TEAC CDRW54e installed and performs flawlessly. It's a 4X I believe, but It can be had at TEAC.com for under $70 with S&H inc. Check it out.

www.teac.com

Pete
 
BTW, Teac is a Korg-approved CDRW. Iguess that means that if it doesn't work, they'll back it up:confused:

Pete
 
Clock accuracy is a factor, circuit design is another, oversampling rate (not the same as sampling rate), the anti-aliasing filtering....

There is a great deal to consider as far as converter quality.

It's real easy to think that everything is equal just because it's digital.... that's NOT the case. These all-in-one, digital portastudios do a lot, but they've also cut corners a lot - and it ends up resulting in poorer sound quality in favour of more features.

So while it may take 12-13 grand (as in someone's example above) to get the functionality of a digital portastudio via ADATs and computers, the sound quality potential of the ADATs and computers is MUCH higher...

Bruce
 
Last edited:
Bruce,

Thanks for the information!

Although I consider myself an audiophile I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with my Akai DPS-16 once I get the hang of using it. One of these days maybe I'll have more of a $20k studio (or better) than a $5k studio, but for now what I have will just have to do. (Although she hasn't said much so far, I'm not sure how my wife would react if I put in a couple racks and some ADATs, etc... hehehe...)

Like I was saying (in another thread) recording wasn't even possible 100 years ago. What I can do with my $5000 investment today is also leaps beyond what I could have done just 10 years ago on a similar budget. It's all fun though, and that's they key for me -- maybe some day I'll do this professionally but for now it's all about the fun.

-Shaz
 
I do attest to the sound quality of ADAT. It's wonderful, but I'm still happy as a pig in shit over my recent D1600 purchase. For my situation, it's nearly perfect.

Blue Bear Sound said:
It's real easy to think that everything is equal just because it's digital.... that's NOT the case. Bruce
Click to expand...

Bruce, I'm dripping behind the ears regarding digital recording, but one major question mark in my setup just won't go away. I'm mixing down from the D1600 to wavelab via S/PDIF (SB Live Drive)(thanks Gidge & Track Rat!). Now, I've been of the understanding that this bypassing of converters maintains the integrity of the Korg's original audio. Two questions:

1. Is that true, or should I get a better sound card? (Assume I will be working primarily with 16 bit)

2. If it is true, should I dither before burning to cd?
 
Yes... to both......

- Using the digital out of the KORG bypasses the soundcard's converters.

- You DEFINITELY want to dither when going from 24-bit to 16-bit word sizes. 99% of the time, truncation, (which will occur if you don't dither), will sound like ca-ca....

Bruce
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top