Akai DPS24

[Biff]

Has anyone had a chance to check out Akai's DPS24, and if so, what was your reaction? I am trying to choose between the DPS 24 and Roland's 2480. Comments?

[Echomancer]

Ok, here's the deal in this decision...

I currently own the DPS16 and LOVE the thing. It is very full featured for my needs. However, I am growing at a pretty good rate, and about three months ago, I was faced with this very decision, and through MUCH research, I finally came up with the following conclusion.

There is one overwhelmingly great feature the DPS24 has over the Roland unit. You can manually set the bit depth and the sampling rate for your recordings! This is simply great. The Roland has several "modes" and best I can tell, even the top quality one still uses compression of some kind...

Now, the good news. If the Roland does use compression, you can't tell. This unit is SO powerful. The mastering toolbox alone makes this unit scream ahead of the Akai. The number one feature though that has this thing beat the DPS24 is the inclusion of the RBUS ports. Roland sells an 8ch RBUS mic preamp/line input AD converter. This means that you could have all 24 channels to record to using the Roland. 24 simultaneous channels if I remember correctly. The only problem is that those interfaces are around $800 each. Plus, you'll probably want to upgrade the unit to a full 4 FX cards.

If it were me, and I had an unlimited budget, I go and get the Roland, three extra FX cards, and the two RBus AD converters. You'd be set!

So, even though in the 16 channel market, I think the Akai beats the VS1880, in the 24 channel 24/96 market, I think the Roland is the CLEAR winner.

Best of luck!

[stpaul]

AW4416... is a beast! best 2200 you'll ever spend.

[iqi616]

But it's only 16 track...

[stpaul]

The Mixer
44 input channels, 20 mix buses.
Motor faders and full mix automation.
Advanced channel functions
(inherited from the industry-leading O2R Digital Mixer).
Two powerful effect processors.

The Hard-disk Recorder
16 or 24-bit recording (uncompressed).
Up to 130 tracks (16 tracks x 8 virtual tracks + STEREO TRACK).
Precision editing and location.
Accepts a wide range of 2.5" IDE hard disk drives
- up to 64 gigabytes


Click here (http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/DsplyModel/?gDAW00008AW4416) for more info.

[Echomancer]

stpaul,

you sound like you work for Yamaha!

The number of virtual tracks you have does not help you whatsoever during mixdown! If there are only 16 tracks, then there only 16 tracks can be played back simultaneously, period!

Companies like to take these numbers (virtual tracks, inputs, busses, etc) and make them sound much larger than they really are.

The fact of the matter is that the original poster asked about two 24 track machines, which makes me believe that he needs 24 track recording.

I still stand by the Roland!

[stpaul]

nah... don't work for Yamaha.
But I do work on the 4416.
It seems like biff is long gone anyway.
I'm sure the Roland is Sweet also.
Whatever, It never hurts to look into a number of different boxes before you take the plunge.

[bugstone]

I am also interested in the Akai. Forget the Roland - Data compression sucks. I find it amazing that people can't hear the difference. I had a 1680 a few years back and found the data compression unacceptable so I had to buy a second 1680 to have 16 tracks. I hated working with two machines so I got a Yamaha 4416-it is absolutely beautiful except it has only 16 tracks. I may get the Akai.

[havlicek]

I'm not sure how anyone that has seen and used both machines (say at a retail outlet) could ever think about the Roland over the Akai. I just bought the Akai and the comparison is almost unfair in favor of the Akai. Actually, when I went to demo the units, I brought some stuff I had recorded on a Korg D1600 and it sounded as good or better than material they had that was recorded on a 2480 and sent out for mastering. This is besides the fact of the obviously better build quality on the DPS24, the fact that it is a true 24bit machine (at still 24 tracks), better mic pres, easily just as good effects (56 bit) and there are four buss effects processing standard. Finally, the user interface on the Akai blows away the 2480. Anyone with multitrack experience should feel right at home after a short learning curve. Everything starts to make sense very quickly. Even the monitor screen on the Akai is better, beautifully crisp and clear with seemingly just the right information available all the time. If you want to use a PC screen, no problem as they include the software and Akai is working on VST plugins running on the PC host via Akai systems software. Also, of course the Akai records with no data compression. As base units, the Akai is somewhat more expensive, but is much more complete than the Roland. I urge anyone that is thinking about this kind of purchase to actually go and compare them in a store before making the plunge. They're both great units, but the choice will become clear very quickly. The Yamaha AW4416 is a really beautiful unit, but the waves effects expansion board is like $800, AUDIO IS MUTED WHEN SCRUBBING, and the interface is alot more convoluted and difficult than I think it needs to be (although the last part is obviously purely subjective). If 16 tracks were all that was needed, there's no question that I'd get the Korg D1600, save a bunch of dough and make great recordings. Sometimes you get what you pay for, sometimes you don't and the D1600 just works and SOUNDS great.

[paris]

hi,

any idea how do I reset my AKAI DPS 24??

[havlicek]

Not sure what you mean by "reset". There is an option when you open a new project to either keep the current mixer settings or restore the factory defaults. Of course...you get a TOTALLY BLANK SLATE when you format the drive as well (warning...this will wipe any audio or mixer data from the drive). For more info, you should visit the DPS24 forum at DPS World here:

http://dpsworld.vibestudio.net/viewforum.php?f=1

-john

[Byll]

This is interesting. My studio uses two AW2816 Yamahas, cascaded for 32 channels. There has never been any problem with the interface between the two machines. Machine control is from one machine, and the sync lock is quick and has never failed. We use a third 2816 in the field. The 4416's will cascade, also. There are a number of used ones on this board...
Best.
Byll

[Andrew_Malloy]

Forget the Roland - Data compression sucks. I find it amazing that people can't hear the difference. I had a 1680 a few years back and found the data compression unacceptable so I had to buy a second 1680 to have 16 tracks.


The compression on the 1680 was a major complaint about the system. The VS2480 and VS2400 both record as uncompressed PCM. I think that for you, it just comes down to a preference of workflow and features.

[John Bamber]

Akai units are extremely hard to come by. I had someone wait 8+ months for a DPS24, in fact they came out with the mkII before his unit even showed up. They make amazing products, but they don't make enough of them!

Easy solution, just get Pro Tools. :-)

John Bamber
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[Vicho]

The Mixer
44 input channels, 20 mix buses.
Motor faders and full mix automation.
Advanced channel functions
(inherited from the industry-leading O2R Digital Mixer).
Two powerful effect processors.

The Hard-disk Recorder
16 or 24-bit recording (uncompressed).
Up to 130 tracks (16 tracks x 8 virtual tracks + STEREO TRACK).
Precision editing and location.
Accepts a wide range of 2.5" IDE hard disk drives
- up to 64 gigabytes


Click here (http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/DsplyModel/?gDAW00008AW4416) for more info.

I also own a aw4416 in which I am getting a little fustrated, I'm wondering if you can help me. I am trying to use a post external EQ on my kick track using the OMNI outputs, as I go through all the steps I can see where the signal is passing through EQ but, I get no sound on my monitor.
I would be more that glad to exchange any knowedge that I might have on this machine .
Thanks
Vicho