Anyone know of a Yamaha AW16G discussion group?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jeffree
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I'm downloading phpBB right now. It looks to be a free version of the bbs used here...visually it seems better though. Anyways, I'm deciding on a domain name right now. I'm going to get the bbs up and running at my current domain: owlstretchingtime.com (nothing there right now), and then transfer it to whatever site I end up setting up. It shouldn't take too long to get things going. I'll let guys know when it's up. Do you think I should setup an entire Yamaha discussion group, and then have sections for the AW16G, AW4416 and AW2816, or what?
 
Awesome Dinsdale!Very much looking forward to the 16G forum.Since that other group for the AW44 and AW28 is pretty much established(they had a two year headstart) I think you should have the dibs on the first AW16G forum.Maybe Yamaha will like it and support you by sending you cool free stuff :) Check out www.motifator.com for an example. www.aw16g.com comes up empty on the web.
 
Dinsdale, with MULTIPLE boards discussing the AW4416 and AW2816 i think you might have more of a "niche" if you stuck straight with the AW16G. although it is still new,..there will be MANY new owners very soon. ALL will be looking for a forum to call HOME (and not be a "tag-a-long" to a larger group discussing PRIMARILY the larger AW machines). just my 2 drachmas. cheers.:)

oh,..and RIP James Coburn,...one of my favorite Hollywood tough guys. i hope Jack Palance sticks around awhile. :( ;)
 
I agree--a dedicated 16g site should get some action since I'm hearing that these units are really flying out of stores right now.

Even a small but dedicated group of users could really save us all some headaches through our shared knowledge. Oh, I love the sound of that! In fact, I'm wondering now why Yamaha doesn't set up such a site and then advertise it to increase sales and reduce the volume of user questions on their support lines. Hmmm. Maybe I'll call my techie at Yamaha.

Thanks for your efforts on the site,
J.
 
Another example-there's a Zoom MRS1044 users group on Yahoo.com that is attracting all the MRS1044 users.I guess anyone can setup a yahoo group but the AD pop thrus drive me nuts.I hope Dinsdale scores his own domain for us.
 
The registration for aw16g.com is going through right now. Until it's actually up, I'll be setting up the sql database for the BBS. Does anyone have any suggestions for discussion categories?

Thanks
 
Some off the top of my head.Catagories: (1) Working with Sonar (2)Editing (3)Working With Effects (4)Mixing (5) Mic placement Techniques,etc. My 16G came today.It came with the Quick Start DVD-way cool ! After I watch it I'm sure I will come up with more suggestions. Peace
 
AW16G and PC/Mac music software

Perhaps a general "working with PC based music software" discussion would be good.
I spent some time (and plan to do more) playing with a Wav file exported from the AW16G, and loading it into
the Sonic Audio Acid Pro demo (free download). I plan do try more, but here's what I was up to:

1 - set up the AW16G tempo and click track for a song.
2 - recorded an acoustic guitar track using the AW's click track
Now I have a wav file with a "normalized" tempo, altho I found it hard to keep tight to the click track - next time I'll put more of a drum track on for a click track
3 - export my guitar track out as a wav file to CDRW
4 - wrote a midi drum track on the PC (I use power chords pro to sequence drums on windows, a little different interface but I know it)
5 - import the wav file into Acid Pro Demo - Acid pro helps match the music to a tempo map
6 - once Acid pro understands the guitar track tempo, Import the midi drum track.
7 -fought the program to align these two - haven't won this fight yet
8 I got close enough for the test,
so let Acid Pro use the windows "synth" dll file to "render" the drums
9. Export the drums as a wav file and take it back to the AW16 for the drum track.

Note: all this fun is free in the Acid Pro demo.

Why do all this? Why not run my Midi drum track thru my soundcard, slave the midi sequencer to the AW16G and record the results on the AW16?

1) My music PC is old, so it doesn't track the midi sync from the AW16 all that well - good enough to do the sequencing work, but not good enough for production quality. Acid Pro does its final "render" in non real time, so timing wise it ought to be perfect(assuming I can solve the tiimeline differences between the midi track and my acoustic guitar wav file!!)

2) Acid Pro uses the newer "dll" software synth module software found in windows, opening up the oportunity to expand the available drum instuments beyound my cheapo sound card.

3) I may decide to purchase Acid pro later, I want to know if it really works or will just give me an ulcer to work with it. Acid pro now offers dolby 5.1 mixdown (not in the demo?) so you could export a multichannel mix from the AW to acid pro and make a 5.1 release.. Whee!

You're right, I should spend more time writing music than playing technonerd...
 
I'm picking up my AW16G today! The registration for aw16g.com is finalized. One of the linux admins I work with is going to try to get mysql going on our webserver (we currently only use mysql for interal stuff, not on our webservers because none of the customers used it) for me...if he can't get it going by Sunday I'll just setup mysql on my home linux server and have it going through that until he gets it going on the big bad server. One way or another, I hope to have atleast the forum up by the middle of next week.

Once I get some more suggestions and get my unit and play around with it, I'll figure out what categories to setup.
 
Good job Dinsdale.Gordwait,have you tried to work with Sonar yet?
 
Sonar with AW16

No, I don't have Sonar, all I have is
an older rev of Cakewalk Home Studio,
and my main midi PC is a Pentium 166 in my music room on ugly old win95.
The "house PC" is a nice AMD 1.2 gig,
(where I play with the Acid Pro Demo) but that PC is in the family room, and I have to wrestle with Kids to get time on it!
I don't want that kind of activity in my music room, so that's why I'm stuck with the P166 for midi work. (Kind of like throwing a raw steak for the wolves to fight over so I can get away!)
My experiences over the years with using windows software for music drove me to buy the Aw16 - no more bluescreens, device driver updates, and real time jitter /latency problems!
I'll only let the PC's in the process for peripheral tasks like this attempt at improving midi drum tracks. Nothing like a PC crash to roast your creativity while trying to write a song..
Cheers,
Gord
 
Most excellent info GordWait.I am going to look into working with Acid Pro. .I am also going to try out Sonar 2 since the AW16G has built in support for it.I have an AMD 1800 Athlon XP and plenty of ram but I will hope it all works seamlessly( fingers crossed).Until Dinsdale gets www.aw16g.com up this is our forum for the 16G AFAIK.Keep it coming...
 
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Basic help. This is my first try at home recording. I have had some success in multiple tracking but I difficulty in getting the songs to the cd. I look forward to seeing the disscusion on your new site. Congratulations and thanks!
 
A few questions on the Yamaha AW16G.

Hi,

I was wondering if any of you AW16G owners would mind answering a few questions for me. Yesterday, I went out looking at Digital Multitrackers, and there were two that initially appealed to me: The Korg D1200, and the Yamaha AW16G. I didn't hear the Yamaha, but the worker did put the Korg through some paces, and I was indeed impressed. However, for about the same amount of $$ (with the Korg being outfitted with an internal burner) I grew of the feeling that the Yamaha might be the better way to go. Though it only had half (20 Gigs) the stortage capacity of the Korg, it had 16-tracks as opposed to the Korg's 12. Also, I handled both units, and the Yamaha felt considerably beefier. I'll be ready to buy within the next two weeks, and would really like to get the Yamaha, but need a few answers first:

(1) Is there any "fan-noise" interference to be concerned about, or does it disengage whenever the unit is in record/playback mode?

(2) I read somewhere that - with some multitrackers w/CD burners - you can't copy the master disk (some type of copyright protection feature incorporated into certain units, which would - naturally - prevent one from from copying their own disks). Does the Yamaha AW16G fall into this problematic area?

(3) Another concern, from that same article, was that some units did not allow for the defragging of their hard-drives, meaning that if there was an insurmountable problem (by all other efforts to correct) the hard-drive would have to reformatted.

(4) I have been hearing that the sound quality of works done on these digital multitrackers are indeed "radio-quality". Is this correct?

Responses to these questions would be greatly appreciated.

Blessings,

Nathan.
 
Since I just got mine I can't answer all of your questions; but I can tell you the 16G is built like a tank and it's dead silent.I have to put my ear on the unit to hear the slight ticking of the hard drive.
 
Fuzzy Dice,

I know that you must be BIG TIME happy with your new machine, and I do hope that the unit will shine very favorably above the four concerns of my above post. I whole-heartedly agree with you when you say that the Yamaha is built like a tank. I absolutely loved the feel of that baby. Also, I have been the owner of a Yamaha QY700 for nearly four years, now, and have been very happy with it. I felt that if they put the same workmanship into the AW16G, as they did into the QY700 - then that multitracker would REALLY be something, indeed.

At any rate, I can't wait.

Blessings,

Nate.
 
Also interested in an AW16G user's forum

I have recently purchased an AW16G and I am brand new to home recording, so I am interested in sharing what I find out and learning from others. So far, all I have done is laid down some tracks with acoustic guitar and added a couple vocal tracks. I was quite happy with the sound of the acoustic guitar for my first try. I recorded using 1 condensor mic to one input and the pickup on the guitar to another input and the sound was good. The pickup track tended to lack low end so I placed the mic near the body of the guitar and the 2 seemed to make a nice balance. I recorded the acoustic using the finger cut effect that is in the effects library. I was not as pleased with the vocal track but that can probably be chalked up to not being used to hearing my voice recorded. It may take some getting used to or I may have to "doctor" it up a bit with effects or EQ. Anyways I hope Dinsdale gets his forum off the ground and we can share what we learn. The AW16G seems like a great unit to me, and fairly easy to learn. But once again I am new to this and have no experience with other DAWs.
Thanks.
 
AW16 questions - a couple more answers

Yep, it's a very quiet machine, no problems there!
Unfortunately, the Yamaha doesn't have a defrag utility, you are expected to back up all your work, then reformat!
Ah well, this will make sure I do make backups all the time so this is a mere nuisance, not a show stopper.
Having to pay the Canadian music piracy fine (oh, I mean levy) on blank CD's for my AW really burns me, but hey NSYNC needs more money..(oh, right, the recording company gets it all,
argg don't get me started!)

The Yamaha does let you disable the copy protection bits, but it re-enables it every time you turn it on, so it can remind you not to pirate other peoples stuff.

As for quality, I suspect most of the modern digital units (and even the older tape units) easily exceed the audio quality of the hardware used to record say Dark Side of the Moon.
The big issue is your mic's, gear, and
your ability to become as good a recording engineer as Alan Parsons etc. These issues have far more effect on the results than the finer details of the recording machine specs..

My first demo attempt a couple years back on a Roland VS machine almost failed miserably till I asked a freind of mine to help me mix it down. It's real easy to make a wall of mush with a 16 channel machine!
I never noticed this on my old tape 4 track, not enough channels to mess up the overall mix.

It's all great fun tho, so dig in and enjoy!

Gord
 
It sounds like there is a lot of enthusiasm here on the AW16G!

I have a question though.....

The 2816 is the one I have been wishing for but it is about twice as much as the AW16G and I may get a $1,000 referral bonus (before taxes) that would net me the AW16G.

What are the trade offs with the 2816 versus the AW16G?

I have a brochure on the 2816 but could not find one on the AW16G although they do carry both at the local GC. What do they leave out of the AW16g to cut the price in half?

I have noticed the "screen/display" is smaller on the 16G and the 2816 looks nicer but other than that what the deal?

Both are 16 track 24bit with optional built in CD burner.

Both have built in effects.

The 2816 I know has mix automation but I don't know about the 16G.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
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