Akai DPS16, Korg D1600 or Roland VS-1880HD DAW?

[Phreesoal]

Along with advancing myself as a DJ, I also want to produce and remix music.

I've been looking at the Akai DPS16, the Korg D1600 and the Roland VS-1880HD DAWs and want to ask, which one would you suggest I buy and why? Being a newbie to DAWs, I don't know what I should look for in one so, those of you experienced in and who use DAWs please offer your help. :)

I'm looking at units like these because of the great features they provide, they're portable and they are in the under $1,500 range, which is the most I wanna fork over as a start. The street price of all units are very close, within $100 of each other. I'll admit that I'm a fan of Roland products and have owned/currently own Roland products. However, I also know that Akai and Korg makes great audio products. So, I'm stumped! Furthermore, I've seen a comparison chart of all units but there are not many considerable differences between them. However, that may be a totally different story when it comes to functionality and using them extensively.

Any advice on these units would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks and Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS

[iqi616]

I don't know about the Roland (I couldn't track down a copy of their manual online and that is how I did my initial evaluation of these products) but I chose the D1600 over the DPS16 and the Yamaha AW2816 and have been very happy with my choice but it was a close run thing. The major differentiators were:

The D1600 lets you have all 16 tracks if you master to an internal or SCSI CD-R/W burner but you have to lose 2 tracks on the DPS16 if you master to a SCSI CD-R/W burner. The DPS16 only gives you all your tracks if you mix down to DAT or a stand-alone burner.

You can have an internal burner in the D1600 (though these days you are pretty well forced to buy the Korg unit because compatible burners from the list on the Korg website are outdated and hard to find).

The D1600 will convert incoming digital data from 48/32 kHz to 44.1 kHz. Very useful for burning old DAT masters to CD.

Akai don't seem to market their products very aggressively which makes me question their commitment to their products to some extent. Having said that Yamaha and Roland push their products harder than Korg do.

http://www.korgboards.com provides a good resource for talking to other owners (and Korg US monitors it).

[Phreesoal]

Hey there iqi616!

Thanks for your reply. I took a trip to the audio store to demo the Korg you mentioned, as well as the Roland, Akai and Yamaha products. Had a great time toying with them all and having a very knowledgeable sales rep showing me many options was a plus.

I have to say, I'm sold on the Yamaha units (2816 & 4416). :) So, I'm hoping to be able to get the 4416 sometime this year. However, second to the Yamaha units, I liked the Korg D1600. I was easier to navigate than the Roland and Akai units. I like the touch screen option, although if you have big fingers, you'd might touch the wrong options! Nevertheless, it was a great unit as well.

I have to agree that Akai doesn't seem to do well with marketing. I am very pleased though with the marketing tactics of Yamaha, especially given that they have audio samples of all products on their site(s). Nothing can beat that!!

Thanks again and feel free to post any feedback!

Phree

[iqi616]

The AW4416 was my second choice. The differentiators for me were the user friendliness of the Korg vs the connectivity of the AW4416.

I had been suffering because my old analogue+MIDI setup had become unusably complex and I often had to leave it configured for one song for weeks at a time until I had a satisfactory mix before I could work on anything else. That meant my output was grinding to a halt. So, I went for the user friendliness of the Korg because I want to get back to the fun I had when I got my Tascam 244 Portastudio in 1985 and I used to record anywhere and any time inspiration struck. I still attach the Korg to the MIDI gear but I record the audio straight to disk so that I'm not chained down.

If I was in the situation where I had to record more than 8 tracks at a time or interface with ADAT, I'd have gone for the AW4416. If I ever have to interwork with professional studios (for money obviously) I'd go straight out and buy the Yamaha and keep both of them.

I didn't like the AW2816 at all, it seemed to offer the worst of both worlds and I'd rather pay the extra to get the AW4416.

It's good you found a knowledgeable rep. I found that I knew far more than the reps once I'd downloaded and read the manuals.

I think these products are amazing value and they finally put everyday musicians in the situation where "If only I had a ..." is no longer a valid excuse. These recorders are definitely garbage in-garbage out devices. That is not to say they don't sound great, it's just that the equipment is no longer the weakest link in the chain - it's the people!