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KORG 168RC DIGITAL MIXER Your first reaction when reading the headline is probably: "That's impossible! A digital mixer for under a grand?" It's not a misprint, folks. Right now - but only while supplies last - Sweetwater can ship the Korg 168RC Digital Mixer right to your door at the absolutely astonishing price of only $999! You read about this incredible studio tool in the Winter 1997 issue of Sweet Notes, and like everyone else you thought, "Hey, this is very cool!" Imagine: full automation, pro quality internal effects processing and 16 channels of ADAT digital inputs included as standard equipment. Wow! Who the heck wouldn't want one of these incredible machines?
Unfortunately the list price of $3200 may have been just a bit too steep for Okay, how can we do that? Simple: We bought every single one of these mixers that Korg had in its inventory at a mind-boggling price and we're passing the savings on to you. How can you pass up a deal like this? Answer's simple: You can't! Want automation in your studio? Of course you do. The 168RC features sophisticated internal snapshot automation along with full, real-time automation via any MIDI sequencer. It has 12 ultra-smooth faders, a dual 12-segment LED meter to augment the large 240x64 graphical display and a control room monitor section plus separate headphone control.
The unit looks deceptively simple, with a clean functional design and easy-to-identify knobs, faders and buttons. On the back, the 168RC has a total of 24 inputs and 16 outputs, all laid out thoughtfully with the ADAT studio in mind (the 168RC's designers assumed it was going to interface with ADATs, but it also works great with E-mu's Darwin and the Fostex CX-8). Inputs consist of two 8-channel ADAT optical ports and eight balanced TRS jacks, of which four have insert points and two have low impedance mic preamps with phantom power. The master output pair and the monitor outs are on unbalanced 1/4" jacks which, at first glance may seem odd. But considering the fact that this is a digital mixer, and that up to this point all your mixing has been done in the digital domain, you're going to use the unit's digital outs to go directly to the digital ins of your DAT recorder or even a CD recorder, so it's almost like those jacks are there as a convenience (think of them as a free bonus). You also get a word clock input and output, as well as full MIDI in/out/through connections. ADAT users will also appreciate the fact that the 168RC can take the place of an Alesis AI-1 (see Q&A on page 5 for more). Our own Clay Stahlka actually got his hands on the very first unit that arrived here at Sweetwater and reported: "I powered the unit up, revealing a good-looking backlit LCD display, and here's where I began to see the immense power that this mixer possesses. The 168RC has no multiple menu system to get used to. Each front panel selector button takes you to a single page containing all of the routing and setting information for each given section of the mixer. In most cases there are actually two choices of selector buttons for each mixer section. The first lays out the mixer (fully graphically, with representations of knobs and/or faders) while the second shows the corresponding routing table for quick and easy signal routing and recall. Although the graphic representation of knobs and faders can be controlled and automated via MIDI, there are eight honest-to-goodness knobs that you can grab to adjust any parameter on the screen. Listening to my completed, automated mix from my ADAT, I concluded the 168RC is well designed, extremely flexible, user-friendly in a big way and bottom line: It just sounds great. Why don't you call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer today and find out how easy it is to step up to the next level in mixers in your studio." Sounds good to us, but at just $999, you know you'd better hurry and get yours while supplies last! Master Index | Sweet Notes Index | Home | Back Page | Next Page |
you. But now, for a limited time, and for about the same price as a typical high quality analog board, you can have this 16-channel mixer with 24 inputs, 8-bus architecture, four Aux buses, 24-bit internal signal path, two discrete stereo digital effects processors, 3-band EQ with parametric mid-band and much more... for just $999!
There are also a pair of unbalanced tape returns here. The outputs include ADAT optical ports, plus a S/PDIF coaxial out (a nice touch).