Hi guys. I have the opportunity to acquirine an AW4416, which would be a significant upgrade in technology from my current tape based 8 track set up. verything I've read suggest that (even now) its a great machine, but there's a steep learning curve and perhaps its operation is less than intuitive.

any advice/ opinions would be much appreciated.

Hi - I've had an AW4416 for about 6months and it's a very useful bit of kit, v stable and some great features. However, my major gripe is that there's no way to directly transfer the data to and from PC (no USB). There are various ways to get around this though:
buying a SDPIF out - MY8-AT card which'll set you back about £200 and then recording 8 tracks at a time onto your PC (which will also need a SDPIF interface).
Burning a backup of your song onto CD (which takes aaaaaages) and then using a handy little (free) app called AWXtract to import the backup files.
OR you could buy a SCSI hard drive or zip drive, back the songs up onto there and then xfer them onto PC. I think there may be an issue with different file systems when using a SCSI HD though **anyone know any more about this??***
I hear it's still better than the newer AW series of workstations in terms of features, but they have a USB output which, for me at any rate, is sorely lacking on the AW4416. I guess it really depends whether or not you need the connectivity.

Thanks for that. At this stage, I have no plans to connect to my PC, so the connectivity issue is not ...well 'an issue' for me!

I just want to get my music in (whilst still inspired!), mixed and back out on a CD that can be used as a master.

Hi Phil

Having had one for several years now, I can safely say that it is a fantastic machine. I wouldn't say the learning curve is that step, but they would depending on your background and prior knowledge. There was a instructional video floating around somewhere, sure it is on you-tube by now

Rock solid in its operation and a whole recording unit in one machine.

As mentioned, it can be a bit of a pain to transfer wav files to a PC/Mac....if you need to do that. You can edit effectively on the machine itself, but it isn't the most intuative...well went compared to Computer based editing. But once you master it, it can be done very quickly.

One slight con for me was the fan noise, I have mentioned this before....i think it is just because I am attunted to any external noise in my studio, but the unit is no louder than your average PC

All the best

Neil

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Neil S. Bruce - www.spencerbruce.com

If you get one I would recommend you try to get one with the waves expansion board - adds a lot to the unit.

Use AwExtract if you need to transfer files. Get it and all the help you will need from the unofficial site at http://socialentropy.com/aw4416

I evangelise the benefits of the AW fairly frequently. See some of my posts for further info.

In a nutshell:

Pros -

Stable/reliable
Good ergonomics
Excellent faclilities/features
Configurable I/O
Intuitive & fast to use, once the basics of operation have been mastered

Cons -

No direct connection to PC (mentioned above). Bear in mind this product is from 2000, when USB was 'new stuff' in the PC music market!

Relatively uninspiring preamps. Not dreadful, and can make OK recordings, but not wonderful. Having a channel strip or alternative preamps will give you a better range of options.

Hope this helps.

Mike

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www.ehsound.co.uk - Live Sound Hire & Services

Quote summit_monkey:

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However, my major gripe is that there's no way to directly transfer the data to and from PC (no USB). There are various ways to get around this though:
buying a SDPIF out - MY8-AT card which'll set you back about £200 and then recording 8 tracks at a time onto your PC (which will also need a SDPIF interface).

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I think you may mean the ADAT card. The AW has S/PDIF built in, but this only does 2 channels. The ADAT cards do 8 channels each - I have 2 installed for 32-track mixing.

Mike

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www.ehsound.co.uk - Live Sound Hire & Services

I agree about the AW4416's stability and it has worked very well in live tracking situations. I have synched two together through Word Clock for 32 channels for live recordings. The ability to quickly swith fader settings between input levels and monitoring levels is very helpful in the middle of a live show recording. A couple of its on-board effects are great. (I've liked the "compander" on lots of things). Its hard drive meters are also very, very helpful for staying on top of levels when recording lots of channels at once. Surprising how useful the sample pads are on occasion, too.

Yes, file transfer is a bear. Yes, I found the learning curve steep but like all comuter programs, once you get used to it, you will fly through its functions.

I also heartily agree that the Waves card is the best add-on possible for the 4416 taking it to a whole different level.

I have moved more to a PC DAW system but still sometimes use the two together and keep the 4416 for small remote tracking jobs.

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always learning

Thanks for all the useful info guys. I think I'll go for it, so expect plenty of dumb questions over the next few months.