Recorders

If you're looking to invest in a 16-track digital multitracker, their extensive feature set can make it very difficult to decide which to buy. Derek Johnson & Debbie Poyser round up the five current contenders and help you find the best models for your needs.

Paul White tests the baby of HHB's CD recorder range.

Paul White tests the latest Marantz CD writer, which combines simplicity of operation with technical sophistication.

Although there is a lot of interest in the idea of portable, silent PC-based recording, only one company has taken up the challenge of supplying and supporting laptop systems that are guaranteed to work well for music recording. Martin Walker tries one out.

Paul White finds out how Tascam have transferred their affordable Portastudio concept into the high-end world of 24-bit digital recording.

Do you write your song ideas on the back of a fag packet? Well, now that Zoom have made a studio the same size as a pack of 20, you can give up smoking! John Walden gets addicted to the PS02 Palm Studio.

Ego Sys' WaMi Box is one of very few comprehensive recording interfaces for laptop PCs, providing analogue, digital and MIDI I/O along with a synth/sampler, DSP effects and mixing and no fewer than six separate software control utilities. Martin Walker gets to grips with it. Eventually...

M Audio's Omni I/O interface allows 'Delta card' users to add mic amps, instrument inputs, insert points and monitoring capabilities to their existing systems. Martin Walker gets connected.

Derek Johnson & Debbie Poyser test Fostex's new hard disk 24-track. The D2424 may not have quite the feature set of its two main rivals, but the facilities it does have may be very well targeted towards the intended users.

Gordon Reid tries out Philips' updated dual-deck CD recorder, and finds that a number of improvements have now made the machine more useable in the studio.

Many musicians recording with teir computer find that they need to buy — and wire up — separate mic preamps, guitar preamps and monitor mixers as well as their soundcard. Martin Walker tries out a products that aims to combine all of these elements in one system.

I have been recording tracks on my computer's hard disk for two years, but I now realise that the results are less than...

Hugh Robjohns tries out the very first production unit of the AW4416 — Yamaha's eagerly awaited combination of O-series digital mixer, hard disk recorder and sampler — and finds even more than he bargained for...

We test one of the most eagerly awaited products of the year! Does the Mackie HDR24/96 really offer the best of both the traditional hardware and computer recording worlds?

Paul White checks out the new features offered by the recent software update for Alesis' unique CD mastering processor.

As PCs grow more powerful, native-processing systems appear to offer very impressive features. Nevertheless, as Martin Walker explains, there is still a strong case for using dedicated audio hardware, as evidenced by Soundscape's powerful R.Ed system.

There's a new addition to Echo's well-established family of PCI recording interfaces, and it caters for recording guitarists and those mixing in surround for DVD production. Martin Walker has a date with Mona.

Fostex have broken a price-barrier in this section of the digital multitracker market, providing 16-track recording, editing and mixing within their new, compact VF16. Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser discover whether it's too good to be true...

Millennium Music are one of several UK companies who specialise in building PC systems to musicians' individual requirements. Martin Walker test-drives their service...

Competition in the world of 16-track recording workstations is hotting up, and Akai's new DPS16 looks to be a prime contender, with its impressive user interface and 24-bit/96kHz capabilities. Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser take it for a spin.

Yamaha's AW4416 recording workstation, which debued at the NAMM show earlier this year, has been the subject of more reader inquiries at the SOS office than any other product in living memory. In this exclusive preview, Hugh Robjohns gets his hands on a prototype to find out what we have to look forward to...