Zoom HD-16

great solid sturdy recording unit. if you want pro results, i think the best way to use this is record with the unit then import tracks via usb to your computer audio software and mix / tweek / master on the computer. the unit's own effects are fun but sound kinda cheezy to me. the drum machine for me is a pain in the butt and takes to much fiddling to be usefull when i'm in the creative moment and need things to happen as soon as i can think them up and lay them down. that's ok... i don't like how it sounds (the drum machine) so i'm fine with that. this unit sounds flat out great for recording and is dependable and solid, and it's nice to not stare at a computer screen when you are trying to create music.

great connectivity, if you have usb-2 on your pc, the file transfers are super fast and come in as wave files that are where they should be on the time line when all tracks are imported on your daw software.

I/O... great pre's.. better to my ears then my mackie onyx (yeah really) and my electro harmonix high voltage tube mic preamp (the 12ay7).

no sends really, so that's kind of a pain. one headphone output, but that works for me.

midi connectivity is good too and you can use it in a variety of ways, including as a controller for your daw computer software

power, as in AC power, is the catagory here and this is where my unit sucks... here's the whole story:

for the first 6 months i've had this thing i kept getting this crazy interference (rf, hard drive noise, and everything else that is normally shunted to ground). this noise only occurred when i hooked the unit to another mixer or my monitor speakers. the noise was quite loud and bothersome and unacceptable. i'll start out by saying I know that i don't have ground loop problems with the wiring in my house. i have plenty of other gear, including other recording units, mic pres, mixers, etc... and they ALL work fine.

anyway... i called up tech support at samson and the guy was cool and responsive but didn't seem to have any idea what was wrong and suggested i send the unit back for testing and repair. not an option for me as i can't go without the unit for 6 plus weeks... i might as well buy something else, right? i mean it was new at the time. since the interference was not being recorded and was not present in the earphones i decided to hold on to the unit and see if i could figure it out myself... it finally occurred to me that it was the external power supply that was bad which i was able to verify through some testing. so i called up samson again, and this time spoke to someone who knew what he was talking about. we were able to verify that it was my powersupply, and were able to fix the problem by using a ground lift between the wall outlet and the powersupply plug. tech support then told me that the first few hundred of these units sold did have power supply's with grounding issues so they shipped them with ground lift connectors and instructions to use the lift if you get a ground problem (which i would guess everyone would get everytime they hooked it up to monitor speakers or mixer or the like)... so the good news, the unit did not get shipped off to tech support and it's working perfectly and i love it. the bad news is samson is so cheap that they won't give me a good powersupply without first shipping in my bad one which means downtime that i can't afford right now...and then there's the whole thing about how they sold the first batch of them in the first place with known bad powersupplies. bad move samson. sorta dishonest, don't you think?

having said the bad stuff... i do recommend this unit because it's better then any other stand alone unit currently on the market. if you've got buzz and irritating noise on the outputs... you now know why and you can fix it but you should really bug the sh*& out of samson tech support and demand a new powersupply. you deserve it...you paid for it already! that's what i'm doing, and i don't plan to send mine back and wait for a new one... come on, i paid $700 for this unit.. show some initiative and real support and send us owners who got bum power supplies new one's with out the downtime... why should we be penalized for samson's bad decision to ship these units out with known defective components? i guess this is no longer a problem as long as you aren't buying an older model that's sat around on a shelf since these first came out.

this is a portable desktop digital recorder/mixer
it has very good l.e.d. indicators for all 16 of its channels and for the master out as well. it has clip indicators for each seperate channel, to warn of volume too high and a master clip indicator for the lot !
i think it has got a soft limiter cos even when you record too high it dont distort - this fing is brill !
it has built in effects but i aint tried them yet, i only owned it couple of month an just use it so far to nab songs off the internet radio-ing stations !
it is in a metal case and by todays standards is quite attractive, i like it anyway cos it shoulda cost 4 or 5 times more than it did.
volume is easy by way of sliders for each channel
dont know much bout mix down cool processes yet, only use it for nabbin` songs so far !
built in cd recorder too !

usb port, 1 stereo digital out, midi in and out and a control in for a foot switch or expression pedal
i like the midi connection cos you can play your song in cubase on your comp and record it, then if you want to add another track onto your recorded song days later, its all still there and in time !
you can press play on the super zoomy and cubase goes as well - it great !

i think pre amps are good - well, signal is nice an loud an clear anyways !
there is a hi-gain thingy for connecting in guitars an the like and it got the 48 volt extra power buttons too !
it only got the hi-z buttons on the 1st two channels though
i say before, 1 didgy out, also midi in and out
it has options for sends and returns
not sure bout cue/mix options but you can mark your tracks in places wherever you wish and set cue points
1 headphone out, how many do you want ?

nope - it is powered through my plug in the wall
it does have extra power of 48 volts for more louding recorders

it records in 16 bit, 44 khz, an it sound good enough to me !
it got something on it call sub out for monitoring purposes
i not too good with tech specs can only say it sound great an lots of nice bright buttons on it so look good in the dark ...
in the dark it look like you got control of the local power station with all the jacks plugged in(lol)
got built in sequencer too and built in drums and bass - but me hasnt used them yet and to be honest, i probably prefer to use external sequencer an drums an bass, but i will try them an if they are brill i will write back on here an say they are brill, ok

you dont have to have this connected to your computer all the time,
it is a 16 track digital mixer with an 80 gig hard drive
you could go and record your band playing live with this
i not sayin this mixer is good or anything - its just that i thought i wouldnt own something like this till i was workin at radio norwich (lol)
serious though, i very happy with mine - it supa brill all good (yaff to say that right)

this mixer costed me ??499 (brand new) and it should have costed somewhere between 2 and 3 thousand pounds. i like zoom, they are kind ! (do they need any help with their pricing) (lol)
it is alot better than i thought it would be, i would recommend it but please no forget, i relatively inexperienced really, but i still think it cool good mixer/digital recorder
if someone is pinching it, i giv plenty of feet leaving the floor styles, i wouldnt hit them with the mixer though-i just hit them with a hammer or a housebrick or something,(lol) an if they did be winning me, i would go an get better first, then go an buy another one...an do the same all over again... oh what a wonderful world lol lol lol