Recorders

It started in 88, dropped to 38, now rises to 98... no, it's not the chart performance of the new Spice Girls album, but Tascam's rather strange way of numbering the models in their respected DA series of digital multitrack recorders. Hugh Robjohns checks out the new flagship in the range.

Pioneered by Fostex, the concept of the 'personal' digital multitrack — a stand-alone digital recorder with a simple, cassette multitracker-like interface — has been around for two years now. But the new D160 is the first of the bunch to offer 16-track capabilities.

Taking a compact DAT machine out and about can gain you some unique recordings, but can also present you with some unique problems.

Layla, Darla and Gina are the eagerly awaited multi-channel PCI soundcards from Event Electronics, which promise a complete audio solution featuring eight independent outputs. Martin Walker interfaces with Gina — and falls in love.

Are you hanging up your stocking on the wall? Are you making your own re-recordable CD masters on a stand-alone CD writer for under £500? Paul White is...

Yamaha's new CD-ROM burner comes with the option of a cut-price copy of Toast 3.5, allowing you to create backups, burn CDs, and even make your own CD-ROMs. Paul White tries out the combination.

If you don't fancy struggling to get a 'PC plus soundcard' hard disk recording setup working reliably, you might be interested in a system where pre-configured external hardware shoulders all the complex processing, while your PC just stays in charge. Martin Walker explores the Soundscape solution.

Paul White checks over TSC's latest Mac-clone-based music studio package and sees red.

The Masterport system consists of dedicated multitrack software and a high-quality card, allowing you to avoid the compatibility problems that can arise when software and hardware from different manufacturers are run together. Janet Harniman-Cook thinks it's the cream of the crop.

Is the X14 cheap and cheerful, or just cheap? Derek Johnson finds out.

If you're in a situation where your DAT machine gets heavy use, it's probably worth considering a pro model rather than a domestic one. Hugh Robjohns studio-tests a new, moderately priced professional DAT from Sony.

Fostex take their stand-alone 8-track hard disk concept onward and upward, turning the well-received D80 into the D90 with some useful and welcome enhancements. Paul White is d-lighted...

Paul White gets a feel for the on-off CD business using HHB's new stand-alone CD recorder.

Although it also forms part of the all-encompassing digital SoundLink system, Korg's 1212 PCI card offers a standalone, cost-effective option for getting multitrack digital audio in and out of your Mac. Paul White discovers that digital audio recording relies on going through the proper channels...

Digital audio recording on computers has been possible for several years now, but without expensive multi-channel I/O units, the inputs and outputs from computer-based systems have been limited to simple stereo jacks. Now, several inexpensive multi-output PCI I/O cards are coming onto the market. Paul White looks at Emagic's solution, and decides he knows what he likes...

This mid-priced DAT shares some rather higher-class innards with its more expensive siblings, and is also equipped with Sony's Super Bit Mapping technology for improved noise performance. Hugh Robjohns checks it out.

Take an Atari Falcon, strip away the outer casing, add some major circuitry and a host of external connections and package in a sturdy rackmount box. Stir in a copy of Cubase Audio, connect up a CD recorder, and the result is the new Sunrise Audio Workstation. Dominic Hawken checks out this unique new recipe.

The price remains the same, but Roland's VS880 is now different in many ways. Original 880 owner Paul Nagle's movin' on up...

Mac CD-writing has a head start over the PC, but recent arrivals like the TEAC CD-R50S come with both Mac and PC CD software as standard. Martin Walker plugs one in to see if writing your own CD is as easy as people make out.

Despite the increasing popularity of digital recording and MIDI + Audio sequencing, the cassette multitrack is far from being dead, and many a newcomer to recording still starts his or her recording career with some form of 4-track, cassette-based studio system. Paul White and Debbie Poyser discuss the features a potential buyer should be looking for, and round up the models currently available.

If you're looking for 8-track hard disk recording in a hardware unit that behaves just like a tape recorder, but with all the benefits of digital recording, you owe it to yourself to check out the Vestax HDRV8. Paul Wiffen reminds you that you should never judge a book by its title.