Yamaha AW1600

There are reviews here that have certainly done a great job of describing this units' capabilities, I would just like to contribute
a few things that are hopefully helpful. The unit has a fairly high learning curve, and while the manual is fairly well laid out to get you up and going, there have been a few things I've found that are simply not covered, and I'm writing this as a producer of radio commercials, which have all been tracked with this unit, mastered with Izotope Ozone 4. If you're willing to delve into the fundamentals, the Yamaha will give you exactly what you put into it.
The strengths are four band parametric EQ and Compression on each channel, and the unit is simply bullet proof.

The sound is nothing less than perfect. Depending on what style you're into, the effects are also good.

Totally bullet proof.

Never had to deal with them.

For what it's worth to anyone, I've been producing and
selling full blown radio jingles with this unit.

I upgraded from the AW16G to the AW1600 simply for the USB interface and the 24-bit recording capabilities. Don't get me wrong, the AW16G was a bad a$$ recorder. I recorded and mastered 5 CDs using it and was happy with every one of them. Manual is written well and understandable. The menus do take some getting used to, but well worth the time and effort to go through! The jog wheel data entry seems clunky at times, but hey, this kind of sound quality for under $900? I'll take the sometimes clunky jog wheel!

I use this unit for mainly recording my band's acoustic instruments. That is, acoustic guitars, Irish bouzouki, flutes, whistles, violins, hand and drum sets, keyboard inputs. However, I haven't worked with the MIDI features at all. I wouldn't be surprised if they're top notch. Mic input preamps are very low noise. Don't crank 'em too high. A suggestion: use good mics and cables with a decent preamp and you won't BELIEVE the difference! (But isn't that true for any recorder, though?) Onboard effects are awesome. Compressors and Parametric EQ for ALL channels. Combo XLR-1/4" inputs fop ALL 8 channels! Excellent move, Yamaha! This is another reason I upgraded from the G. Though you're limited to 8 tracks for 24-bit recording, the sound quality is amazing! And you can offload the 24-bit files to your PC and use ProTools, CakeWalk, Sonar, etc., for final mix and mastering. So the 8-channel limitation at 24-biut is minor, IMHO.

I've only had the AW1600 for a little while, so I can't attest to it's reliability. However, I owned it's predecessor, the AW16G for over 5 years and it NEVER gave me an ounce of trouble. I look forward to, and expect, the same reliability from this unit.

Never had to use 'em.

Because of my experience with it's predecessor and my expoerience so far with the AW1600, I gotta rate it an Overall 10. You CANNOT beat this class of 16-track, 24-bit digital recorder for $899 new! Impossible. As one ex-Sony recording engineer put it, "If it was an analog board, it would be 12-feet wide by 6-feet deep!" Oh, and I keep forgetting . . .IT'S PORTABLE! You can take this bad boy out to your live gigs and drop up to 8 simultaneous line outs from your mixer into the unit and mix it down later. Been there, done it . . .it's cool. I also do on-location video shoots for my work and at times place several mics to record audience and ambient sounds as well as talent. Guess which audio recorder I use in the field? :)

This is straightforward to use. Obviously the wider the breadth of features, the more complicated the proceedures, but the interface is well thought out.

Sound is excellent. I use it with an external preamp, though. The effects are credible.

Seems reliable.

N/A

I was looking for a device to provide independance from my computer, for more immediate, spontaneous improvising and composing. I use it with a Focusrite Voicemaster Pro, a consenser mic, an acoustic guitar and an MPC1000. Sometimes too an Akai Headrush pedal and Microkorg synth. I tried cheaper multitrackers (the Fostex MR-8HD and the Boss BR600) but this is in another league for design, solidity and sound.

The aw-1600 is very easy to get started recording,but you can go much deeper if you want to.Editing is easy, the manual walks you thru everything.I was worried when i first got this home,because it's my first digital recorder.(I used an Alesis ADAT for many years, and loved it)But I was quickly able to do basic multitrack recording.With the "selected channel feature,your'e able to control the 4 band EQ,FX,and dynamic processing with good old fashsioned knobs!

The AW-1600 produces very nice clean recordings,with minimal effort,just make sure your'e input levels aren't too hot or you will get some really ugly digital distortion (cracking and poping noises)The onboard FX are nice, and you have lots of control over them. there are 2 seperate FX units,plus libraries of other EQ, compression,amp models and drums.THe drum sounds on the quik loop sample pads are excellant!From an overall sound standpoint, everthing is first class, with no complaints.

Have only had this about 6 months, no trouble so far.

No contact

I use this in my home studio,and record original music,in the rock, blues,jazz,pop styles.It does a great job.Iv'e been playing 32 YRS, and own to much equipment to list, but have been doing home recordings for about 25 yrs.This machine is also great for live recordings,very easy to set up and go live,with minimal fuss.I love it's ease of use, great FX, and other features at my disposal, the 4 band EQ rocks, if you can't dial in your tone with it, somethings wrong!I compared this to all the competition,and it had way more features than the others in this price range.This machine has many,many features that i'm just starting to use, and more that Iv'e never used yet,but plan on using down the line

I bought this unit 3 weeks ago and have already recorded 34 guitar samples on it and posted them to my web site www.gregcutshaw.com. Have also created 4 full songs with drums, pedal steel guitar, lead guitar, rhythm and mandolin. I spent a good 10 hours studying the manual before purchasing this unit, expecially studying the block diagram. After receiving it, I had recorded my first sample a few minutes after setup. It has a lot of capability and with that comes some complexity in terms of options. It can be used in a very basic mode and then more advanced features can be learned on the fly. It was easy to upgrade to the latest software revision by downloading it to a CD form the Yamaha website and inserting the CD into the AW1600. I have been able to copy, paste, delete, erase, bounce and insert space into tracks with ease and precision after only a weeks of use. With this machine I see no need for a PC for anything, even for backup, as the AW1600 can do backups to a CD/R or multiple Cd/r's in a row if their is a lot of data to save.

The only downside on this unit for me has been the preamp gain/noise. I run all my mics into a Yamaha MG 10/2 mixer first which gives me tons of totally hiss free gain and crystal clear recording. My Shure SM-57 direct into the AW1600 is noisy with the gain set to a decent level. I patch a drum machine in direct and record mandolin, lead guitar, steel guitar and accoustic guitar via microphones. I use a Behringer MXL 992 condenser mic with the accoustic instruments and a Shure SM-57 with the lead and steel amps. 24 bit mode is all I use and the sound is as good as any studio, even in my living room. The built in effects are very good. EVERY track and input channel has EQ/Dynamics/Compression and they work as well as advertised. You can also use the built in effects as insert effects on any input or track channel. This allows you to add effects to a previously recorded channel and bounce it to another channel, then back to the original channel. For steel guitar I use a Fender Steel King and BOss RV-5 reverb, for standard guitar I use a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe with reverb. All other effects are from the Yamaha AW1600. The mastering tools are simple to use and burning a CD is a snap. The results I got onto the CD sound IDENTICAL to the final mix as monitored on the AW1600. You will want both headphones and monitor speakers. The headphones are needed for monitoring pre-recorded tracks while adding new ones for anything that is mic'ed and you will need monitor speakers to have any idea of what the final sound will be on a real audio system. I got the KRK 8" 2 way monitor speakers for $500 a pair.

I have no experiece with this and it's too early for me to rate this unit on reliability.

I have had no direct dealing with Yamaha yet.

I play mostly country and some 50's rock and jazz. Been playing for 30 years. Definitely I would buy another one of these in a heartbeat. I did look at Boss, Korg, Tascam and Fostex. In fact I downloaded and read all the manuals for these other fine units and read all the reviews. The selling points for the AW1600 were 24 bit recording, great user manual, EQ/Dynamics on all input and track channels, easy to master and burn a CD, simple hookup to computer via USB with drag and drop file transfer, powerful but intuitive operating system, quick clip recording and a focus on what is needed to record and less emphasis on trying to be an all in one recorder/drum machine/sampler/ amp emulator. The AW1600 does have a lot of these features but it is first and foremost a high quality recording and mastering machine machine.