singer/composer/this is a great unit for the price 
by Dan from New Concord,ky, December 2007
Music Background:  pro musican

had a roland 2480 liked it,got a korg d3200 and like it as well the 3200 has more track count but the effects are limited so I use out board stuff more with the 3200 the sound is better on the korg not as dark as the roland for the price the korg is the way to go, and if it took sound cards it would be the best recorder I ever used,you put all the cards in a roland2480 you spend around $5000.00 so there is no contest buy the korg3200 for $1395.00 then buy outboard geer for 3or 4 hundred and you got a first class recorder.

  where is the precount 
by allan robertson from u.k, September 2007
Music Background:  i invented it

its totally amazing ...but i cant find a pre-count 4 the drums ( if anybody knows of a pre-count ( it would be good to hear back .

its pointless without a precount( p.s it might be there i just cant find it

  Great features, easy to use, great price 
by Bob Lichty from Elkhart, IN, May 2007
Music Background:  Recording Engineer, Live Sound Engineer, Musician, Producer, Songwriter

After years of working in major rooms (including Sweetwater's studio at one time)I was ready to get something at home for quick songwriting demos. Greg Baum, my sales engineer, and Mitch Gallagher, my good friend, both said the Korg would be a good choice. They were right.

Out of the box, a quick review of the manual to guide me through the screen and I was recording. The built in drums sound very good and are great for demo purposes. The built in guitar tuner is also a nice feature.

A couple limitations - the monitor is small. It would be nice if there were a way to hook up an external monitor. The effects sound very good, but I wish you could stack more per channel.

Otherwise this is a phenomenal unit for the price, and is very, very easy to use for an old school guy like me.

  Great Value, but only average quality 
by Mike @ Rhythm Records from Maryland, February 2007
Music Background:  Recording Engineer, Session Drummer

I am building a serious home studio, and I need to have 24 tracks within reach so I can track my drums, but also for tracking live bands. This unit has an amazing set of features for the price range. But, the screen is very very small and will take getting used to. This unit SHOULD have a larger screen, or a VGA output.

However, I was easily able to track my drums and test out mics, etc. and manipulate the machine. It does not take long to figure out the features, and most of this machine is well thought out and funtionable.

However, I soon noticed that the trim pots were noisy, and the noise floor of this machine is pretty high. With 8-12 tracks armed for recording and the pots all the way off, the noise floor is very very obvious. Also, the machine has occasional pops and hissing that gets recorded as well. I have it hooked up to a quality power conditioner with noise filter. So, I assume it is just very low quality pre-amps and internal circuitry issues, or a flawed unit. Even using decent outboard pre-amps and sending line levels in, I still was having problem.

By the way, the pre-amps on this thing are marginal at best. Using the PreSonus TubePRE ($100) the improvement in recording quality was significant.

If it were not for the poor quality pre-amps, and all the noise problems, and the small screen, I would probably stick with this unit. However, I am planning to open my studio for business, and even if I kept it just to track my drums and purchased a different recorder package for my control room, this Korg unit has major problems that just won't cut it for me.

I am trading up (twice the price of the Korg) for the Akai DPS24 MKII, which has glowing reviews and is more in line with the type of proffesional grade quality I am looking for. The Akai unit will be the flagship of my studio and I will use it and a small computer for tracking purposes, remote recording, hands reach drum recording, and control room recording. I will then import the recorded audio files into Pro Tools LE for editing, mixing and mastering work.

I was really dissappointed with the KORG product after reading a lot of good reviews. I suppose that they must have cut too many corners to get a 24 track unit into this low price range.

  korg d3200 best buy 
by Sonny from Nashville TN, September 2006
Music Background:  Musician

Hands down the best stand alone machine
for the money!For anyone looking to make quick,
easy, good quality home recordings I highly recomend
this one. I could easily point out the negatives
with any of the stand alone DAWS, But if your gonna be that nit picky don't bother buying this machine,
go ahead and spend your money in a high end professional studio. With that said, i luv my 3200!

Comprehensive Studio on a budget 
by Lee Rothman from Salt Lake City, Utah, October 2005

I ordered one of these recently as after extensive research found this model to offer higher bit rate processing and a heck of a lot better intuitive operation. I especially like the "analog like" design in the execution of the effects with their "Knob Matrix" design. Indeed it makes access and adjustment of the effects a whole other level of easy compared to the competition.

I was immediately struck with how much utterly quiet gain the phantom powered mic pre amps offered. I have 3 top Rode mics and they all sound superb. The list of effects at ones disposal is dizzying to say the least. The Reverbs knocked me out as they were easily the quality and versatility of a upper level outboard unit.

While I'm not likely to work extensively with the onboard "Session Drums" setup, the sounds are about as good as it gets, which also surprised me. Throughout the functionality of this unit one thing becomes immediately apparent.....it's says "Quality" all over the place. The knobs, sliders, display and inputs and outputs are quality made and NOT the typical cheap feel you'd expect for less than 2 grand.

Operation was surprisingly intuitive and I was able to get a channel with a mic up and running with effects added and adjusted within minutes. About the ONLY thing they might have improved upon is the display. It doesn't have quite the level of contrast I'm used to, but it's still replete with information.

Speaking of information this unit has adjustments for settings I never even dreamed of. It's like having a full blown studio in a box with ALL the adjustability and versatility you could imagine and more. I especially liked the reassuring METAL frame and top as opposed to the competitions plastic all over the place. The wood trim sides are also a nice quality touch. I fully realize that it's the sound that matters, and in that regard this unit delivers in spades, but it's also a nice touch when the product is also packaged in quality materials as this one IS. Highly recommended as I feel for under $2000 this unit has NO competition........

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