KORG D1600 DIGITAL RECORDING STUDIO

review
multitrack
recorder
KORG D1600
licence
I
to thrill
KORG D1600
DIGITAL RECORDING STUDIO
f you were one of the many musicians who read
Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser’s round-up in
SOS March 2001 with a mind to making a
purchasing decision, then hold back on signing
that credit card slip for one moment more, because
there’s a new unit now in the running: the Korg
D1600. As an upgraded version of the D16,
originally reviewed in February 2000 by Derek and
Debbie themselves, there is much already in its
favour — the reviewers’ reaction was
overwhelmingly positive, with particular praise
attracted by the large touchscreen display, the
absence of data compression and the range of
built-in digital effects. Of the minor criticisms, the
lack of dynamic mix automation via MIDI and the
inability to backup data to CD-RW were subsequently
addressed in a major software update from Korg,
though phantom power and multitrack digital output
were things that the user still had to live without.
Like the D16, the D1600 features 16 tracks of
uncompressed 16-bit recording (or eight tracks in
a high-resolution 24-bit mode) with virtual tracks,
three-band EQ, built-in Insert, Master and Final
Effects processors, rhythm patterns, and snapshot
mix automation. But to this it adds significantly
updated cosmetics and hardware, including an
optional built-in internal CD-RW drive, as well as
incorporating all the software updates which
appeared in the D16’s software revision.
Shiny & New
Physically, the D1600 is not only in a different livery
to its forebear, it’s also a more substantial beast,
being a little larger and a little heavier, and is
therefore not quite as portable. However, part of the
extra weight is thankfully attributable to the newly
internalised power supply.
The D1600 is shipped with a 20Gb internal hard
drive as standard and a CD-RW drive is available as
an option — not only can you use a Korg own-brand
device for the latter, but you can also use a number
of others which are compatible. Both drives appear
to be standard IDE-type devices. For songs using the
full 16 tracks, the 20Gb drive would give a little
under four hours of playback time; more than
enough to complete all but the most ambitious
album project! As both drive types were pre-installed
in the review unit, I didn’t get to see how easy they
were to install. The manual suggests this is
straightforward, so you could possibly swap drives
for different recording projects — though using an
external drive connected to the rear-panel SCSI port
would probably be a more elegant solution.
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SOUND ON SOUND • may 2001
Korg have seriously upgraded their original
D16, adding a ‘double O’ for good measure.
John Walden is both shaken and stirred...
Almost all the D1600’s connections are located
on the back panel. Of the eight analogue inputs, four
are on balanced XLRs with individually switchable
48V phantom power (at last!) and four are on
balanced quarter-inch TRS jacks, though these also
accept unbalanced signals. Input eight is also linked
to a dedicated high-impedance instrument input
located on the front panel, which allows electric
guitars to be DI’ed easily. Trim pots situated above
the LCD screen give plenty of scope for managing
input signal levels, with the help of clip LED’s and
more extensive on-screen metering.
On the output side, there are pairs of analogue
outputs for master and monitor feeds respectively,
with a single jack output for an auxiliary output. The
signal arriving at the monitor outputs is also sent to
the phones output, which is located on the D1600’s
front panel next to the guitar input. S/PDIF optical
digital I/O is provided, with the digital output
mirroring the signal arriving at the master outputs.
Sadly, multi-channel digital output is still not
provided, which may prove frustrating to those
wishing to transfer projects from other digital
multitracks, nor is it available as an option.
All Mixed Up
Like the D16, the D1600’s control surface is
essentially split into two parts. The left-hand section
houses the input trim pots, the LCD and the channel
strips for each track. The right-hand third is
dominated by a collection of buttons for controlling
the recorder’s various functions, including dedicated
transport buttons, a data wheel and four cursor
keys.
The internal mixer provides 24 channels, each
with EQ, insert, pan, level and routing controls. Eight
of these channels deal with input signals, while the
remaining sixteen handle signals from the playback
tracks — auxiliary sends are only available from the
latter. Because the input channels can be routed
directly to the main mix if desired, this setup also
KORG D1600 £1399
pros
• Capable of high-quality 16-track
recordings.
• Excellent user interface via the
touchscreen.
• From click track to CD master in a
single box.
• Excellent value for money, and
facilities targeted for cost-cutting
well chosen.
cons
• No multitrack digital output.
• Insert Effect assignment not as
flexible as it could be.
• No auxiliary sends or dynamic
MIDI automation available for input
channels.
• Manual could be improved (but
that’s getting very picky!)
summary
The D1600 is an excellent all-in-one
digital studio which improves on the
D16’s already impressive specs at a
very competitive price.
Instrument input and headphone output
sockets are located on the front panel.
Photos: Mike Cameron
Though each physical channel strip
offers only fader and pan control, there
are many more mixing functions
available to each via a bank of buttons at
the right-hand side of the LCD.
has 15dB of cut/boost. The LCD displays the four
available parameters as on-screen knobs — stabbing
a finger at the appropriate knob on the screen selects
it and the data wheel can then be used for
adjustment. This system is also used for many other
parameters on the D1600 and, though not as nice as
real physical controls, is certainly one of the easiest
‘virtual’ mixing systems I’ve used.
Other channel facilities include phase reverse,
access to the internal Insert Effects, sends to the two
onboard Master Effects and the send to the single
physical aux output. As with the D16, there are no
physical insert points, which obviously helps
account for the D1600’s competitive price. So, if you
wished to compress a microphone signal in the
analogue domain, for example, you’d have to use an
external microphone preamplifier to feed a
compressor connected to the relevant D1600 input.
A maximum of 100 mixer Scenes can be
specified per song, each of which stores not only the
usual track volume and pan position data, but also
effect, send and EQ information for each channel, as
well as the setup of every one of the effects
processors. These Scenes can be named and can be
set internally to recall automatically at specific times
in the arrangement — they can also be recalled
during playback under MIDI control using Program
Change messages. Korg still haven’t implemented
any smoothing of the transitions between Scenes,
useful though this would be.
In addition to the Scene automation, any of the
▲
allows you to incorporate external sequenced MIDI
sound sources into your mix, with access to Insert
Effects and EQ. Audio from the digital input or from
the internal CD drive can be routed independently of
the audio inputs, but there is no signal processing
available for these inputs.
A considerable improvement over the D16 is that
all of the 16 recorder tracks are mono by default
(though the option exists to set any of them up as
stereo pairs if you wish) and they all now have
individual monitor faders. In fact, the size of these
faders has also been increased slightly as well, to a
60mm design — an extra 10mm over the D16 which
makes all the difference! Individual faders are also
assigned automatically to control the input channel
levels when tracks are in record mode.
Above the faders is a corresponding row of
hardware pan controls, though these controls are
not assignable to different parameters, as on some
more expensive workstations. The only other
physical control on each channel is the single
selection button. This button allows you to
record-enable tracks and also allows you to toggle
between input, playback and muted monitoring
modes — soloing functions also are available, but
from a dedicated touchscreen view. All the other
playback channel facilities, such as sends and EQ,
are accessed via the various control buttons on the
right-hand side of the LCD.
The input channel facilities are accessed
separately from their own display screen, where they
are assigned to recorder channels or to the main
mix. Tabs at the base of the input assignment screen
also provide access to a useful tuner facility and to
each input channel’s equaliser. The equalisers in both
input and playback channels are identical and offer a
high band fixed at 10kHz, a low band fixed at
100Hz, and a mid-band which is variable between
100Hz and 20kHz, with fixed bandwidth. Each band
D1600 mixer parameters are selected by touching them in the
display, and can then be adjusted using the data dial.
may 2001 • SOUND ON SOUND
133
review
multitrack
recorder
KORG D1600
▲
settings associated with each playback channel can
be automated more flexibly via MIDI. All the
playback channels send and receive MIDI data, each
with its own MIDI channel, and I had no problem
sync’ing Logic on my PC to record and play back mix
automation in this way. However, the input channels
cannot be automated, which could be annoying if
you were running sequenced MIDI sound sources
alongside your audio tracks.
Given that the physical faders provided are not
motorised, Scene or MIDI automation can create a
mismatch between the fader/pan control positions
and the actual parameter values. The D1600 helps to
avoid confusion here by providing an LCD display
mode which shows the virtual positions of faders
and pan pots in real time.
Red Light District
The recording process starts with the creation and
naming of a new song. Once this is done, you
connect your sound source to the most appropriate
input and assign that input to the track on which you
wish to record. Level adjustment is fairly
straightforward, using the Trim pots and their
associated LEDs, though both pre- and post-fader
metering options are also available for finer level
management from the LCD by pressing the
Meter/Track View button. (This can also provide
a number of arrangement views, where recorded
audio is represented as blocks scrolling across the
LCD.) A user-definable peak hold function makes
sure you notice any sneaky little overloads.
The D1600’s internal cooling fan is quite noisy
and can therefore be a little distracting when
working in the same room as the machine — though
it sensibly disengages when you’re recording.
However, it can easily be switched to a
thermostatically controlled mode, and I found this to
be a much better option, as the unit never seemed to
get warm enough to switch the fan on!
Once you’ve got a good signal level, you can
apply EQ and an Insert Effect in order to get the
exact sound you’re after. If you need a separate cue
mix for overdubbing, then this can be set up via the
Solo/Monitor button, allowing you to have a
different mix via the monitor and headphone
outputs to the one arriving at the master outputs. To
get the inspirational juices flowing, you can then
choose from a selection of the 215 rhythm or 96
metronome patterns to which you can play or sing
along. The drum patterns range from rock to jungle,
and in each case a small selection of main patterns is
provided, as well as intros, fills and endings —
though the selection becomes much more limited if
you wish to go beyond a four/four time signature.
Patterns can be chained to produce a complete
rhythm track if required and can also be recorded to
audio tracks for inclusion in your finished song if
you want. Most people using the D1600 are likely to
have access to other, more sophisticated drum
sound sources (or maybe even a real drummer!), but
the built-in drum sounds are fine if you just want to
get some basic ideas down.
All that then remains is to arm the required track
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SOUND ON SOUND • may 2001
and hit record. If you want more handsfree operation, then punching in can be
automated or can be triggered by a
footswitch connected to the requisite
rear-panel socket. A useful loop mode is
also provided, for doing multiple retakes
or a specific drop-in, for example. The
eight virtual tracks per playback track
allow considerable flexibility. Not only can
source tracks be kept when bouncing
down, but you can also keep multiple
versions of lead vocals or instrumental
solos for comping using the onboard
audio editing functions — see the ‘Cut
& Paste’ box for more details of these.
Recording with the D1600 was an
absolute pleasure. It copes admirably with
a wide variety of sound sources, either
directly or via a selection of different
microphones. Setting levels was a breeze
and the resulting recordings were reproduced very
faithfully — the bottom line is that the D1600 is
capable of capturing audio at very high quality, and
you ought to be able to do serious recording work
with this multitracker.
Effects
Given the lack of physical insert points and the
single aux output, a consideration of the D1600’s
internal effects processing becomes particularly
important. All the effects are based around REMS
(Resonant structure and Electronic circuit Modelling
System) technology, which is Korg’s slant on the
digital modelling of reverbs, delays, and so forth, as
well as instrument bodies, guitar amps, speakers
and microphones. As mentioned earlier, the effects
fall into three groups: Insert, Master and Final. These
are provided with 128, 32 and 32 preset patches
respectively (plus an equal number of user patches),
D1600 Features In Brief
• 240 x 64-pixel backlit LCD touchscreen.
• 16-bit or 24-bit uncompressed recording
at 44.1kHz.
• 16-track playback at 16-bit (eight at 24-bit).
• Eight tracks of simultaneous recording at
16-bit (four at 24-bit).
• Recording time with suppied 20Gb hard
drive: 62 track hours at 16-bit or 41 track
hours at 24-bit.
• 100 songs per drive.
• CD-RW support for song copy, data backup
and import/export of WAV files.
• Track-at-a-time audio CD creation using
non-consumer CD-R discs.
• SCSI interface for connection of external
drives.
• Eight analogue inputs: one with
high-impedance guitar jack, four with 48V
phantom-powered XLRs, four with
quarter-inch balanced TRS jacks.
• Master Output: two quarter-inch unbalanced
jacks at -10dBu nominal level.
• Monitor Output: two quarter-inch unbalanced
jacks at -10dBu nominal level.
• Aux Output: single unbalanced
quarter-inch jack at -10dBu nominal level.
• A-D conversion: 24-bit, 64x oversampling.
• D-A conversion: 24-bit, 128x oversampling.
• Optical 24-bit S/PDIF I/O with sample-rate
conversion of 32kHz and 48kHz sources
to 44.1kHz.
• 24-channel digital mixer (eight input
channels and 16 playback channels), with
32-bit/44.1kHz internal processing.
• Three-band EQ on every channel: outer bands
fixed shelving, mid-band sweepable.
• Onboard Scene automation (with 100 scenes
per song) and dynamic automation via MIDI.
• Effects: Maximum of eight Insert, two
Master and one Final Effect simultaneously,
with 44-bit/44.1kHz internal processing.
• MTC and MMC transmitted and received;
MIDI Clock transmitted.
• Tempo map with 200 points per song.
• 96 metronome patterns and 215 rhythm
patterns.
• Four locate points per song and 100 mark
points per song.
Cut & Paste
Audio editing with the D1600 is a simple affair. Tracks or sections
of tracks can be copied, deleted, moved, reversed, normalised,
swapped, faded and have space inserted within them. Tracks can
also be time compressed or expanded (with or without pitch shift)
and a track-optimisation routine can reorganise file storage on the
hard disk to reduce the possibility of playback errors if many small
fragments of audio are being used.
Most of these editing options would usually be performed on
small sections of tracks, and these can be easily defined using the
In/Loc 1 and Out/Loc 2 locator buttons. A very useful audio scrub
facility displays the audio waveform on the LCD and makes setting
these locators a simple task. With a little patience, you could
easily comp a vocal from several takes using the audio editing
facilities. While anyone who has done such editing on a
computer based system would probably find the process a little
time consuming on the D1600, this will doubtless be an acceptable
trade-off for those who value the reliability and simplicity of a
dedicated recording workstation.
▲
based upon some 98 algorithms and 106 different effect types.
The Insert Effects are perhaps the most complex, as the
available processing power can be configured in a number of
different ways. In their simplest configuration, the Inserts can
be used as eight mono-in/mono-out effects, but options also
exist for four more complex mono-in/mono-out processors,
two mono-in/stereo-out processors, or two stereo-in/stereo-out
processors. Obviously, when eight individual processors are
used, the algorithms available tend to contain only a single
process, such as a noise gate or compressor. The other insert
configurations allow more complex effects and chains of
effects, which cover all the bases you’d expect — reverb,
delays, modulation, dynamics and more powerful equalisation.
In addition, there are a number of guitar-friendly algorithms
including various overdrives, distortions and amp/speaker
simulations. These are fine for getting basic guitar or bass
tracks recorded with a minimum of fuss, and the cleaner
sounds are very usable. However, the more overdriven sounds
are not up to the high standards available from something like
a Pod or J Station. There is also mic simulation, which can be
used to make recordings done with a cheaper mic sound a little
more ‘expensive’. Realistically, it will not turn a Shure SM58 into
something like a Neumann M49, but that doesn’t mean that the
tonal changes available aren’t interesting and usable in their
own right.
There is one problem with the Insert Effects, which has been
inherited from the D16 — even though there can be eight
available, they cannot be used on input channels and playback
channels simultaneously. Moreover, switching to input-channel
use from playback-channel use clears all the effects settings
made for playback, so that these are not restored when you
return to using these effects on the playback channels. While
this is easily resolved by using a Scene to store and recall such
settings, this useful workaround is not discussed in the
D1600’s documentation.
The two Master effects are fed from two dedicated auxiliary
sends, and are returned to the mix via individual level and
balance controls. There is a good selection of effects types on
offer, including 15 different reverbs (plates, rooms, halls and a
few other spaces) and a smaller number of delay and
modulation patches. The reverbs sound smooth enough and
would certainly compete with most mid-priced rack units. Four
special-effect algorithms are also available: Stereo Ring
Modulator; Doppler, which creates movement in the sound with
changing pitch, sort of like an extreme chorus; Analog Record,
review
multitrack
recorder
KORG D1600
▲
which adds the sort of crackle and flutter
you’d expect from old vinyl; and Talking
Modulator, which manipulates the
frequency spectrum of the sound to
create vowel-like effects.
As with the D16, the D1600 also
includes a Final Effect. This is essentially a
stereo process that can be inserted into
the mix buss. There are some really
useful treatments included in the 32 presets — many
of these are based around compression and limiting,
but the selection using the stereo multi-band limiter
is particularly effective. Again, while the Final Effect
might not replace a dedicated mastering processor
(or a mastering engineer’s ears), it can certainly help
to beef up and even out a final mix.
The degree of control over each effect is good,
but I found myself having to dip into the manual
quite a lot to work out what some of the individual
parameters did. However, that said, the touchscreen
made effects editing pretty painless, compared to
the usual page scrolling and cursor-button work
needed on some effect units.
Mixing Down
Once you have recorded all the required parts, the
D1600’s bounce functions make it easy to record
effects (to free up processors for other uses) and to
put together a final mix. A number of options are
available, but probably the most useful mode
bounces all 16 tracks down to two of the virtual
tracks. This allows you to bounce down a complete
mix while preserving all the original material if you
need to repeat it or if you wish to try an alternative
version.
Aside from providing a useful data backup facility
(see the ‘Import & Export Duties’ box), the optional
CD-RW drive allows finished mixes to be burnt to an
audio CD one at a time, though you have to bounce
down to stereo first in order to do this. Because of
the way the CD burner works, you get a gap of
about two seconds in between each track, and this
prevents certain types of CD playlist from being
created. To have this integrated into the D1600
provides an extremely neat all-in-one solution: from
songwriting to finished audio CD. Using even cheap
and cheerful CD-R disks, I had no problem playing
back audio mixes created using the D1600 internal
CD-RW drive on a variety of audio CD players.
Conclusion
I like the D1600 a lot! Having all this functionality
integrated into a single box makes the whole audio
recording process an exceptionally easy task. Those
moving up from a more modest multitrack
environment ought to find the transition a painless
one, although the impressive specification of the
D1600 means there is plenty to learn during those
first few sessions. It is difficult to overemphasise the
usefulness of the touchscreen facility; this speeds up
many of the operations involved in using the unit.
There is no doubt that the D1600 is capable of
excellent audio quality, and with a little care and
attention it is easy to imagine producing recordings
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SOUND ON SOUND • may 2001
worthy of commercial release. Add in some MIDI
sequencing, a decent mic, your choice of ‘POD-a-like’
(for the guitarists) and the only other things you
would need for a hit would be time, talent and a bit
of luck! The D1600 certainly won’t get in your way.
In working with the D1600 I found myself
occasionally wondering which screen I needed to call
up to make a particular setting. This is perhaps
inevitable given that much of the functionality is
accessed on-screen rather than through physical
controls. The manual does a reasonable job of
explaining most of the D1600’s many functions, but
some things could have been explained more
clearly. For example, I would like to have been told
how to do a simple track-to-track bounce when none
of the preset modes caters specifically for this. It
would also have been nice to see a clearer
acknowledgement of some of the things the unit
can’t do, together with ways in which to work
around these deficiencies — particularly regarding
the limitations of the Insert Effects assignment.
However, Korg’s latest offering is an awful lot of
studio for a very modest sum of money. Like many
of the current crop of digital multitrackers, it
undoubtedly forces some compromises upon the
user in terms of the recording process, but these
compromises are limited in extent and have been
sensibly chosen to keep the cost down and quality
up. If you are in the market for a 16-track digital
studio in a single box then the D1600 comes highly
recommended.
Almost all the D1600’s socketry resides
on its back panel, including the new
phantom-powered XLR mic inputs.
information
£
T
F
E
W
W
D1600 with 20Gb hard drive,
£1399; internal CD-RW drive,
£199. Prices include VAT.
Korg UK Brochure Line
+44 (0)1908 857150.
+44 (0)1908 857199.
[email protected]
www.korg.co.uk
www.korg.co.jp
Import & Export Duties
The original D16 added the facility to back up
data to CD-RW as a software update. As is to
be expected, this backup function is provided
on the D1600 as standard. Data can be
backed up to any drive attached to the unit
(either the internal CD-RW or any drives
attached to the SCSI interface. Two modes
are possible; backup or copy. The latter
essentially copies the data to an alternative
drive, from where it can be directly played
back by the D1600. The former is a full
backup routine — data backups need to be
restored to the internal drive before they can
be worked with. Both backup and copy can
work with single or multiple songs. In
addition, the backup procedure can deal with
multiple disks, so if you wished to backup a
large project containing several songs, you
could do so across a number of CD-Rs.
A particularly useful feature of the D1600
is that its files can easily be exported to other
D-series multitrackers. For example, songs
created on the D1600 and then backed up to
CD-R can be
restored to the
forthcoming
D12 12-track
— the D12
simply ignores
any material on tracks 13 to 16. As Korg had
kindly provided me with a D12 for review
alongside the D1600, I was able to
experiment a little with this, and everything
I tried worked a treat.
Many potential purchasers of the D1600
will be glad to know that it can both import
and export files in the popular WAV format.
Sample loops could therefore be imported into
the D1600 for use in your song, for example, or
each of the 16 audio tracks of a D1600 song
could be exported to a computer-based
multitrack system for further processing and
arrangement. The process works well enough,
but, as files are imported or exported
individually, it would be a little time consuming
to transfer large numbers of audio fragments.