I’d like to bite the
bullet and buy a really good stand-alone recorder. I’d like it to be
capable of recording eight to 12 tracks and be able to burn to CD. I
want to get my hands on something really good and have a healthy budget
of around £2000/$3300 to achieve that. What are my options?
Mark Binney via email
SOS contributor Tom Flint replies:
The
sort of stand-alone recorder you seem to be thinking of has died a bit
of a death. Indeed, there have been no semi‑pro products released in
years, due largely to the cost-effectiveness and capability of modern
computer-based DAW systems. But despite this competition, when the cost
of a computer, LCD, software, plug‑ins, preamp/interface and control
surface/mixer are added together, stand‑alone studios can still seem
like pretty good value.
Although
it may seem daunting to brave the second-hand market when looking to
spend a couple of thousand pounds, you can find excellent quality
stand-alone recorders that are no longer manufactured. The Akai DPS24
MkII and Korg D32XD are both good choices.
Sadly, though, the multitrack Portastudio-style recorders currently on
sale lack the professional interfacing, expansion-board slots, large
screens, flying faders, sophisticated effects, dynamic processing,
flexible routing and fader automation of older products. On the plus
side, USB connectivity is pretty much standard today; the latest
products are less prone to crashing, use stable solid‑state media cards
of a size equal to the noisy hard drives of old, and also offer more
tracks for less money.
There are also several
high-end recorder-only products, such as the JoeCo Black Box Recorder,
Fostex’s D2424LV MkII and the Alesis HD24XR, all well-specified
professional machines. But while they’re great for recording and
playback, they include neither mic preamps and faders, nor mixing,
editing and CD-burning facilities.
Of the manufacturers who once dominated the
multitracker market, Yamaha, Korg and Akai have ceased to create new
products. Roland manufacture a range of Boss‑branded recorders,
including the BR800, BR900CD, BR1200CD and BR1600CD but their VS‑series
recorders are no more. Tascam are one of the few companies keeping the
faith, with their 2488neo. This is a 24‑track recorder which doesn’t
provide professional interfacing and mixer tools, but is easy to use,
has an impressive 18 channel faders and includes an 80GB hard drive and
USB 2 interface. Zoom are also still making multitrackers, although
they’ve given their latest baby, the R24, the ability to function as
a computer interface and control surface. It includes a rhythm machine
and sequencer, records eight tracks simultaneously and plays back up to
24, but its mixer isn’t particularly sophisticated, it doesn’t record to
CD, and it relies on the user shifting data to a computer with a drive.
Normally,
there’d be no point in me recommending discontinued products, but this
may be your best option. Probably the best way to answer your question,
then, is to offer a mini buyer’s guide to discontinued recorders that
you can buy second-hand, or possibly as ‘B-stock’ from former
distributors.
The good news is that even fully
expanded flagship products go for modest prices. Akai’s DPS24 was years
in the making, and its research and development costs spiralled out of
control, but the result, particularly the MkII, was very good. Most of
its competitors could only carry out one command at a time, but this
24‑tracker offered real‑time multi‑tasking; it pleased those who cut
their teeth operating professional tape machines, with a scrub control
functioning a lot like those of its analogue forbears; and was credited
for having fine quality on‑board preamps. Not content with providing
motorised faders, Akai made them touch-sensitive too! In the same range
was the DPS16, but although it recorded well, it wasn’t in the same
league. When the DPS24 came out it cost a bomb, but now your budget
should be enough to buy even the MkII.
The
DPS24’s only real limitations were its mixer’s routing, EQ and effects
options — areas in which Yamaha led the way with their AW4416. It didn’t
have the best preamps in the world, but by using Yamaha’s 0‑series
digital mixers as a template, it trounced the competition, providing
dynamics on every channel, along with very flexible EQ and routing. Its
faders were motorised, and, impressively, the I/O spec included word
clock and two card slots into which a range of Yamaha’s Mini YGDAI I/O
cards could be installed. The card slots were also compatible with
Waves’ Y56K board, which added eight channels of ADAT I/O and
a selection of the company’s best effects, EQs and compressors. The
processors on the board could be patched just about anywhere in the
AW4416’s signal path, and were totally recallable. A few years later,
Yamaha’s AW2400 provided better faders, preamps and compressors, but it
lacked some of its predecessor’s professional interfacing options. Gone
was word clock and the second card slot, but, worst of all, its routing
design hampered the way the Waves card could be used.
Roland’s
VS range proved very popular, and culminated with the VS1824CD and
VS2000CD. Each year, Roland improved introduced new OS versions and
add‑on peripherals, before abandoning the professional end of the
market, leaving Boss to make products with amp simulators and rhythm
machines, for guitarists wanting to produce demos.
Korg
also made a wide range of products, and their flagship D32XD sounded
great. Its key strength was a facility for installing analogue preamp
and compressor expansion boards, but it quickly disappeared off the
shelves, to be replaced by the cheaper, but less capable D3200.
You
should be able to create release‑quality recordings and mixes using any
of the aforementioned products, but if you’re used to working on a fast
PC or Mac running modern DAW software, you’ll probably find them
relatively slow and clunky in many respects, not least when it comes to
resource allocation and file backup.
If I had
your budget and had to make a choice now, I’d opt for the Akai DPS24
MkII, and would chalk in the analogue‑expanded Korg D32XD as a possible
alternative. The Yamaha AW2416 comes top in both the mixing and
processing department — particularly if you can find one with the Waves
card installed — but I find that it has a rather ‘clinical’ sound, which
isn’t to my taste.
Of those products that are
still manufactured, the BR1600CD and Tascam 2488neo are the best
equipped, but you do need to bear in mind that they are streamlined for
demo work, at the expense of professional flexibility and quality.
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