Korg D16 or Tascam 788

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RJandthefull

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Im interested in buying a digital hard-disk recorder. Im looking at the korg D16 and the Tascam 788. I've used both before and they both sound great, but I don't know which one has better features. I am usually recording drums (preferably 6 mics on the drums) and guitar/bass live. But, if there are only 6 inputs I could sub-mix some of the drums on a mixer. I would probably also be doing some of the final mixdown on a PC. If anyone can help I would appreciate it.

Also, whats the best place to purchase this stuff?
And I need $$$$, anyone need a website designed? haha

thanks
-RJ
 
Dawg, u have the advantage most non users don't have; the opportunity to have used both!

The Korg, street @ $899 features simultaneous 4 trk rec'ding with
12 trk simul playback @ 16 bit or 6 trk plybk @24 bits. It also offers 8 "virtual trks" for each of the 12 tracks. You also get a 4-busses with basic pre's for ea channel.

The Tascam provides you with 24 bit, 8 trk recd'ing with dual assignable efx processing. 250 "virt trks" per each jammie u
record plus editing, undo and re-do. Street @ $799.

My choice w/b the 788 as it provides 8 trk simul rec'ding @ 24 and
easy editing capabilities plus you can "stack" asstl 788's for more
tracks via midi time code. And most of all, it's cheaper the D-12.

Just my .000001 cents worth!
 
Im pretty sure the D16 records 8 tracks simultaneously. But, with the recordings that I previously did, the tascam ones ended up sounding bettier.
 
KORG D16

I have the D16 and I am very happy with it. Qcue, the specs you typed came from the Korg D12.

The D16 does record 8 tracks simultaneously, and plays back 16 (@ 16bit/44.1kHz)
It has nice internal effects, a touchscreen, very useable limiter-effects, sucky compressors ( :( ), decent reverbs....

There are 3 things that suck about this machine, well actually 4:
-It doesn't have any multi-track output (like 2x 8 track ADAT-lightpipe)
-It has only 1 (ONE) aux send
-Its harddisk is only 2,1Gb which is REALLY SMALL
-minor one: its S/P-DIF i/o is on optical plugs, rather than the more common coaxial.

If you need the extra tracks, I'd say go with the D16. But if you can find an Akai DPS16, I would check that one 2. It has 4 aux-sends and a 20gB hdd...(and s/p-dif i/o on coaxial plugs)
 
Korg's pre's....

Not great. I'm gonna add a Joemeek VC1Qcs and an Audiobuddy or DMP-3 probably.
Many D16 users say that adding a Joemeek M3Q or VC3Q ( i dunno its exact name) is a great improvement. The Korg pre's lack gain (and phantompower ofcourse)...
 
I've got a D16 too & I agree with speeddemon regarding the unit.
I bought a 20G drive and installed it myself (£65 ($100?) & 30 mins to install).
I'm happy with the D16 but remember to budget for a pre-amp as the D16s aren't very good.
8 track record, 16 playback @16 bit or 4/8 @24 bit.
 
5c0tt, did you ADD the 20Gb hdd, or did you replace the internal 2,1gb with it? What's the brand? Was it SCSI or IDE? I'm thinking of replacing the internal 2,1Gb hdd. It's already full now :(
 
Hi speed, I replaced the internal 2.1 gig with a fujitsu MHR2020AT. As well as having 20gig to play with, this drive is much quieter (something to do with fluid dynamic bearings apparently) & the latency is also improved a little.
I'm sure fujitsu also have a 30 & 40 gig version of the same drive but I don't know how much more they cost.
It's *fairly* easy to replace the internal drive but I must admit I was sweating a little as I reached for the power up button. All went well though and, as you can imagine, it's fantastic to have all that space available. The noise level & latency improvement was a nice little bonus too :)
 
Thanks for the help. How are the pres on the Tascam 788? It only has 6 inputs, but I could always sub-mix the overhead cymbals onto one track if I want to do it live.

thanks
 
The a/d converters on the 788 are great but the pres are so hot. I always use an outboard pre and compression anyway.

I got my 788 in Feb 2001 and it's worked without a hitch despite the high mileage.

Due out soon is v. 2.0 eprom for the 788 with many new features among which will be the ability to partition a 60 gig hard drive and allow far more storage than now. With the cost of hard drives going down, one can now consider just popping in a new one when it fills up rather than the painstakingly slow process of backing up to disc.
 
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