Hi,

I was planning to buy an AW1600 to record my songs from my Motif 8 classic, but when Turnkey in London went bust the price has shot up everywhere from £550 to £700.

As this is now out of budget, can anyone tell me if an AW16G can do the same thing I need, ie. record my Motif, stick some effects on, eg. chorus, reverb and digital delay, plus record my electro acoustic guitar parts, AND most importantly permit me to produce a finished audio CD for sending to publishers/record companies without the need for any other equipment.

AW16Gs are around £250 2nd hand so if I am not missing out too much on the AW1600 then cool. I guess in essence I am asking what does the AW1600 give that the AW16G doesn’t?

Many thanks

Re: AW1600 v AW16G

You can probably find some comparisons on-line somewhere, maybe try yamahasynth.com.

The 1600 is obviously the newer of the two machines and benefits from a newer generation of technology. The main benefit is probably in the effects section where a new chip is used and I believe type II eq is available - the original EQ was very useable, type II adds a bit more analogue type character. the other main benefit is a USB 2.0 connection which allows material recorded on the 1600 to be piped across to a PC for editing and then piped back for mixing.

However, on your basic question - can the 16g record a Motif (or similar) add acoustic, vocals, digeridoo and peruvian nose flute, then add the spangle of effects such as reverb and chorus or delay and mix down to CD, burn the CD to be playable on yours or anyone else’s hi-fi, the answer is a definite YES /forums/images/icons/smile.gif alt=

I am not sure whether it is still up and functioning but there was a website called [url=http://www.AW4416.com]http://www.AW4416.com [/url] which had pages for all three of the original AWs (the 4416, the 2816 and the 16g) You might have a try over there to see if it gives specs or similar.

Cheers

Re: AW1600 v AW16G

The aw4416.com is down. There is two places for information about AW-series:
[url=http://www.awinspire.com]http://www.awinspire.com [/url] and [url=http://forum.dijonstock.com]http://forum.dijonstock.com [/url], the later having more active user forum.

The main updates from AW16G to AW1600 are:

- ability to record in 24bit (8 channels only)
- 8 combo inputs with phantom power in each channel
- better preamps (signal to noise ratio is better)
- the pitch fix function
- USB 2.0 (the most important thing if you want to use PC to mix and master)
- bigger hard drive (20G vs. 40G)
- few minor updates + new outfit and better buttons etc.

I think there is no difference in effects, dynamics or EQ sections.
AW1600 don’t have type II EQ, to have that you need to buy AW2400.

I’d say AW16G is good for your task but AW1600 is even better :-)

Re: AW1600 v AW16G

Thanks guys, it sounds to me like the AW16G will suffice and checks in at about £250 on Ebay 2nd hand.

Considering at present I am having to save my songs on my Motif 8 and resample them to get them to Audio CD the AW16G will be like a fresh air I imagine.

As I will be looking to buy 2nd hand, are their any typical things that go wrong with AW16G that I need to check for when inspecting the machine prior to purcahse please?

Thanks again

Re: AW1600 v AW16G

The most usuall thing would be that some of the buttons and/or faders may have contact problems. At least check all the transport controllers and faders and if possible, with some test tone, check that all the mechanical buttons, faders, inputs, outputs etc. work. Good luck.

Re: AW1600 v AW16G

Thanks again for the replies guys. I am about to dive in and buy a 2nd hand AW16G on ebay.

Out of interest a seller on there claims it is possible to upgrade the original 40gb hard drive to say a 300gb one. Is that true and is it a simple computer hard drive you buy or a special one?

Cheers

Re: AW1600 v AW16G

There is a posting in the aw section of the keyfax forums which explains how someone replaced the disk drive of their 16g. It is not entirely straightforward, but it is possible. Check that post out before you proceed on the basis of being able to change it - in fact this is the thread

It is a tutorial on changing the drive.
My own thoughts are that a 40Gb drive is enough for what that unit can do and unless it is showing signs of ageing, it may well be best left alone - if it aint broke, don’t fix it /forums/images/icons/smile.gif alt= A bigger drive will not lead to an improvement of musical quality from the unit - it is what it is. You’ll just have more songs on it (to lose, when the ne HD crashes!!)

Cheers

Re: AW1600 v AW16G

Thanks again Wellie.

I guess from what you say even the most extensive and elaborate song will comfortably be contained within the existing HD, and if I find the space is running out with songs I have saved I simply transfer them to my PC for storage.

Re: AW1600 v AW16G

OK, to give you some idea, using the AW4416 to record up to 16 tracks (with some virtual takes too) of 24bit 44.1kHz recordings, I only rarely went over the 1Gb mark for a single finished recording and usually that figure fell in half when I ‘optimised’ the project. Most finished songs were of the order of 500Mb (or less). On a unit with a 12Gb drive, it was still very possible to have more than enough material on the unit;s drive for at least one complete album’s worth of material.

Bear in mind the 16g can only handle 16bit recording and playback so its memory needs are somewhat less anyway (A 24 bit file uses 1 1/2 times the memory of a 16 bit file) So a 40 Gb drive would hold more than enough for 4 album’s worth of song material at a guestimate (it’s actually likely to be more)

Also remember - digital data needs to be backed up. The stuff on the unit’s HD needs to be backed up to CD so that should the drive fail, or should you inadvertently wipe a song out, you can always retrieve it from your backup.

Hope these thoughts help

Cheers

PS there is a utility out there somewhere which can retrieve WAV files from AW backups.

Re: AW1600 v AW16G

Thanks Wellie - that’s really helpful - I dont think I will bother upgrading.

I go to collect the beast from the seller on Saturday so I am really excited. I have been promising myself one for about 12 years now, but kept finding excuses to spent my money on less worthwhile things! When I got my Motif in about 2002 I thought that would solve all my recording needs, and as I bought new it did knock me back financially - however as I guess most people on here have found there is only so much you can achieve without the need for a HD Recorder becoming obvious.

I have struggled through with your help and the other guys on here for which I am appreciative.

In fact, here is a link to my basic still to be finished when I get disciplined enough myspace page with a couple of the songs I managed to export from my Motif as wav’s using the Resample process [url=http://www.myspace.com/whileiraqbleeds]http://www.myspace.com/whileiraqbleeds. [/url]

I am sure with the AW in my armoury I will be able to get the production a lot better. Plus I will be able to record my electro acoustic guitar onto it as well!

Which now leads me onto another question - sorry! Presumably the AW will allow me to add the effects to the guitar sound during recording as opposed to waiting for the final mix?

Cheers again

Re: AW1600 v AW16G

Yes, you can add effects to the guitar whilst recording, you woudl need to makesure the output of the effect is routed to the recorder channel, but other than that it is possible.

I am not sure if the 16g offers you the ability to use its effects as inserts (It most likely does, and this woudl simplify the routing options) - certainly the 4416 can do that which then makes it possible to use the amp sims on electric guitar (using its Hi-z input)

Hope this helps