Hi there I have just been given a Yamaha aw 16G

[Keith songwriter]

I am a songwriter and want to record an EP - I have an aversion to manuals so wonder if any of you out there who still use one could show me the ropes in terms of the basics....I live in Darlington but would be willing to travel to get me going

 

[grimtraveller]

I am a songwriter and want to record an EP - I have an aversion to manuals so wonder if any of you out there who still use one could show me the ropes in terms of the basics....

I hope someone can help you but this may be just that time in your life where you have to take the plunge and get to grips with a manual.
Don't take this the wrong way, but in my opinion, aversion to manuals is a choice to continue in aversion......I get it {believe me, I do} that they are bloody difficult. And what with Yamaha being a Japanese company, the manual will seem like it was written in Japanese then translated into Russian then into French then English.....but take it really slowly and one step at a time. Don't be in a hurry to become an overnight expert.
Small steps mate, small steps.

 

[rob aylestone]

I have always had an aversion to manuals - it's because my preferred learning style is called kinaesthetic. Touchie-feely my teacher training lecturer called it. So I learn best from fiddling, only reverting to a manual for the "where is the hidden menu item to do X?" I discover 90% by experimenting. The snag with finding a person is that their preferred style might be different and then learning is a struggle. This is why youtube video are so divisive. Some people saying this one is great and then others saying rubbish!

The basic functions of the Yamaha are pretty generic - plug things in, route them, enable recording and hit record - pretty standard stuff in the 80s. The trickier things are the management style processes.

What progress have you actually made? What does it do easily, and what sort of things can you not work out? Maybe we can help?

Often our knowledgeable older members might remember basics, but we usually grab the manual to refresh where and how things happen - so for an old machine like this, finding a. somebody local and b. somebody local who still uses one - might be tricky? However, a tascam person with memory would usually be able to fathom out a Yamaha - as the basic premise is the same.

 

[ecc83]

In my 40 odd years as a TV service tech' my job became more and more installing TVs and especially VCRs. THEN of course I had to show the customer how to work it!
Now, the company I worked for wasn't a Sony agent, nor Philips, Hitachi, Sanyo, or Ferguson (basically JVC) but ALL of them and some I don't remember. Consequently I HAD to RTFM! Often parked up in the next street from the customer. I got bloody good at it.
Many customers would trot out the old "oh I am no good with instructions!" My ever so polite counter to that was "well that's the only way I learned how to work it madam/sir" My technique was, every time they asked me a question I would find it in the manual and point it out. Some people (always men) would WRITE DOWN what I was saying! "Why are you writing that down? It's THERE!"

THE best and quickest learners were lady nurses. Male doctors were arrogant and ****ing useless!

I, to this day do not like You Tube instructions. I want something to read.

Dave.

 

[ecc83]

Just to make y'all feel bad! The quickest learners were very often the blind! I would go through some basics but they were amazing at retaining what I told them.
One young man however was very challenging. Profoundly deaf. Great chap but he could only follow me if he could see my lips. He was buying a top of the range Philips VCR, the first to come out which could record subtitles*. I was struggling as I had not seen the machine before. I had to give up and ask him if I could take the VCR back and learn it and come back the next day? He was very happy for me to do that. I actually took it home and young son and I got to grips.
I actually spent over an hour of my own time with the chap next day. That was when SERVICE was the byword in this world! Not "cheap" or "quick as possible".

*And what a cluster****k they have made of that! Sometimes we have not progressed much at all.

Dave.

 

[Slouching Raymond]

I have an AW16G. You do really need the manual. On the plus side, the manual is friendly, with examples.
The limiting factor is the small screen.
Routing of signals is challenging at first.
Get used to switching between the screen contexts, and explore each screen.

 

[ecc83]

I have an AW16G. You do really need the manual. On the plus side, the manual is friendly, with examples.
The limiting factor is the small screen.
Routing of signals is challenging at first.
Get used to switching between the screen contexts, and explore each screen.

I am sure that is easily found as a download? And if I had it I would print it out and put it in a binder. Did that years ago with Cubase.

Dave.

 

[rob aylestone]

I sold an idiot a brand new aviation radio on ebay. He bombarded me with question after question bit in truth, the only time I had turned one on was for the photos. All my advice came from the manual. After 18 different topic emails, I got a return request, pre-approved by ebay. In this case the manual is actually really good (It's a Yaesu) but many people buy digital radios now and unless you really get computers, they are tricky to program. Some people struggle - and it has nothing to do with intelligence. Just how you work?

 

[TalismanRich]

I've got a 16G and an AW1600. The manuals are available in PDF format and it's searchable with Acrobat reader.

https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/4/318334/AW16GE.pdf

That makes it really easy to choose your topic (say... reverb), and put that in the search bar. Then you just go through the list until you find the answer you want. You no longer need to thumb through page after page of a dog-eared paper manual to find answers.

 

[ecc83]

I've got a 16G and an AW1600. The manuals are available in PDF format and it's searchable with Acrobat reader.

https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/4/318334/AW16GE.pdf

That makes it really easy to choose your topic (say... reverb), and put that in the search bar. Then you just go through the list until you find the answer you want. You no longer need to thumb through page after page of a dog-eared paper manual to find answers.

Yes, I get that Rich but I often found it difficult to follow a text AND operate the computer all on the same screen? You are constantly having to switch between the two. YMMV.

Dave.

 

[TalismanRich]

Ah... but you're NOT using the computer if you're recording on the AW16G. Everything is right there. Sit the laptop next to your recorder and step through the menus. The AW16G is actually a fairly simple unit to do basic recording. It just means understanding the logical setup. then it's quick and easy to operate. There are several videos on Youtube that might be helpful.

The 16G doesn't have USB (probably it's biggest shortcoming}. Backups are best done with CD-RWs. I had some long practice sessions that I wanted to transfer to PC for editing and additional tracking. I had to move each track individually via CD as a wav file. I took 3 CD-RWs, copy one track, move that to the computer while another track was writing on the 16G, Rinse and Repeat until I got everything off.

For single tracks, that shouldn't be so much of an issue. In this case, it was about 1 1/2 hour practice session, so a single mono track was close to 500MB.

When the AW1600 came out, it had USB, so it was easy to transfer files to a computer for backup.


The AW16G also only had 20GB. Some time back I bought an IDE to SD card adapter. One of these days, I'll take out the hard drive and try to use an SD card, so I can increase storage and even have removable storage.

Unfortunately, the Dijonstock forum that had lots of info on the Yamaha digital recorders appears to be offline. It was an excellent resource.

 

[ecc83]

Ok yes! In that SPECIFIC case you can have the PC copy on show!
OP might like to scan through this? https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/yamaha-aw16g

I am right in thinking the recorder has 8 line outputs? If so maybe tracks can be dumped to PC with a suitable interface? BTW Some years ago I bought a pack of CD RW and found you had to be incredibly careful with them or you only got two or three goes?

Dave.

 

[TalismanRich]

The AW16G only has stereo outputs, unfortunately.

Audio output section
MONITOR OUT 2 channels (stereo × 1)
PHONES 2 channels (stereo × 1)
STEREO/AUX OUT 2 channels (stereo × 1)
DIGITAL OUT 2 channels (optical stereo × 1)

I had hoped that the digital output would be ADAT type, but it was designed for use with something like MiniDisc, and limited to stereo. It was easier to just export single tracks to CD-RW. The drive will do a full erase and write to the disc, so you don't need to go through the erase process on the computer.

It has 8 mic/line inputs, Ch 1&2 have phantom power, so you can use condensers with those. 3-8 have balanced TRS, and Ch 8 can use unbalanced Hi-Z for guitar or bass direct. Channels are easily assigned to any of 16 tracks.

 

[grimtraveller]

I've got a 16G and an AW1600

When I first saw the question, I thought of you and I was hoping you'd chime in.

wonder if any of you out there who still use one could show me the ropes in terms of the basics

Keith, this is the guy {along with Slouching Raymond} that you want to be listening to primarily. The rest of us are the supporting cast.