Roland, Yamaha, Korg or Mackie HDR?

B

BobO

New member
Hi all...

I'm thinking of "upgrading" from my eight track Boss BR-8 to a 16- or 24-track machine. I love the BR-8, but the prices for the higher end machines have come down so much lately, it's hard not to take notice.

I see that there are a lot of Roland 1680s to be had on eBay for $1,200 - $1,500. And, knowing that Victor Wooten (of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones fame) recorded his last cd on two of these machines makes me want to get one.

I also like the looks of the Korg D1600. And I've heard nothing but good things about the Yamaha machines. Mackie is out of my price range for now.

So....in your humble opinion....which machine actually SOUNDS best, with all other things being equal. My feeling is that you can't go wrong with a 1680 for $1,200.
 
any of those machines will sound good with the right signal fed into them. i have the korg d-1600 and i don't know if it sounds better than the others or not....i love it...its real simple to operate and sounds excellent to my ears
 
Yo BobOBob:

I'm guessing that the reason all of these HD boxes are dropping in price is because DVD recording quality stuff is in the oven or some other dramatic type of sound.

I just got the Yam 2816 and it will do what I need to do; but, there is a learning curve and I'm still slipping around it. I haven't unplugged my MD8 yet but I'll get there.

I've heard there is a learning curve on the Roland boxes too and their manuals are a vacuum just like Yamaha's are. I don't know what kind of thinking process these engineers have who write these manuals but even though they write in English, their thought process is of their homeland, wherever that may be.

If you can get to a "large" vendor and get a demo on the spot, as my friends have told me, that helps a great deal. But, all of the boxes you mentioned are probably good and the "price is right."

Enjoy your choice and Merry Christmas

Green Hornet





:D :D :p
 
$1,499... but you should be able to get one for $1,399 if you know how to work a deal. ;)
 
I had a 1680 until recently. Actually they were very easy to use, especially in light of the fact that video manuals are easy to come by. The thing I didn't like about them was the mic preamps and the fact that even fully expanded you can't have anywhere near the number of effects as on a PC setup.

I have never regreted moving to PC. It is so much faster, easier, and more powerful than any all-in-one box I've seen. I can't speak for the new Roland 2480 though.
 
I've been using the Korg D1600 for a while now...it is simply awesome for the $$$. It's touchscreen interface is defenitely a huge plus in getting around the system. Everything about this machine so far has been worth the money. It sounds excellent and the learning curve is pretty short. I found mine on ebay for $1500.00 with Korg CD burner already installed. I couldn't be happier with it. Hope this helps out. Good luck.
 
I've had the chance to record with an Akai 12 track, a roland 1680, and the korg d16 (previous version). Out of all of them, my least favorite is the roland. It just sounds dead compared to the other two. The korg is my choice (cause I own one), but the akai definitely takes the 1680 in sound quality. I couldn't tell a big sound difference between the korg and akai, but then again I didn't work with the akai for a long time. I suggest the korg though.

Mike
 
Thanks again to everyone for the replies. I'm not "against" computer-based recording, but the portability of the all-in-one-boxes is a big factor for me. I've used my BR-8 to do "live remote" recording a number of times in the past year.
 
Well, I am a happy Roland 2480 user. With 8 XLR inputs and 16 tracks simultanious recording (and a 30 gig hard drive), it is very hard to beat for live recording (that is what I use it for, by the way). With the optional compression modes, I can record 14 tracks or so for an hour and only use 1 gigabyte and not take any noticable hit on the sound quality. Yes, the original manual was a bear, but Roland has since re-written the thing and sent it out for free. The new manual is quite good. So far, there is nothing that I have asked of my 2480 that it couldn't do. Great machine. Check out www.vsplanet.com for more details and a dedicated 2480 forum.
 
Thanks, Chibi...

I am a constant visitor at the VSPlanet site. One of my songs even made it to the VSPlanet "Comp III" disk....

Thank you for the feedback on your machine of choice.
 
Went to Sam Ash in New York City today, and they're now selling the Akai DPS16 for $1,299. Hard NOT to buy one at that price! I'm going to think about it long and hard this weekend....hate to part with my BR-8!
 
wow, thats a good price on the akai....i was real tempted to go with the akai when i was shopping. I remember the akai reel to reels back in the 70's...they were top quality...and they stood the test of time. I went with the korg cause it had more bang for the buck, and also, I had heard that akai was having financial trouble. I didn't want to end up with a unit that it would be hard to get parts and service for in the future. but if i could have gotten that kind of price on the akai....i would probably bought that sucker.
 
this is a little off topic, but I had an akai single cassette deck...(old heavy sumbitch...mid 70's) back then akai ruled in the world of high end tape decks and reel to reels. It had the rca inputs on the back and also had 1/4 inch stereo inputs on the front and level controls. Our band used to record gigs and rehersals with it. I have some of those old tapes and it blows me away how good the tone is....just smooth as butter. It had real good mic pres on the front and most of the time we were recording the room sound with 2 sure 58's. The motor started dragging a bit and I junked it. Looking back im thinkin' " Man I wish i still had it....just for the mic pres! Oh well, one mans junk can be another mans treasure.
 
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PC based DAW can be portable. You just need to get the right case and put everything in a small rack.

First thing lose the bloody CRT get a 15" LCD montior, they are getting cheep these days.

Next get a rack mount computer chassie, these are getting cheep too, I seen one somewhere for like $130 with out a power supply.

Get a rack, a keyboard drawer and an extra rack drawer big enough to lay the lcd down into while moveing it. For this I would use something like a 10 space skb rack. 4 spaces for the computer, a space for the keyboard, another 2 for the montior and you have 3 left for soundcards or a mini mixer or something. With some racks you can mount stuff in the back where you have room, so stuff like the soundcards where you don't have any controls you need durning the gig.

It may cost a bit up front for the rack hardware but its all reuseable when you upgrade to the latest and best hardware.

With a all in one DAW like the ones above, 2 or 3 years down the road its out of date and no one is going to want to buy it off you. Atleast with the PC you can upgrade.
 
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