okay man, once again ive hit this site just to see what other people think, and again everyone leaves a shitty review that leaves me still wondering, well, now that i own a dps16 ill give a good review.
i own a triton, i make hiphop tracks, i wanted something to record my beats to cd, and i wanted the capability to record my buddies who rhyme. as far as mixing and mastering i think im pretty avid. i use everything on the triton and i dont use any external sequencers(computer), so for me, a d.a.w. seemed attractive. however, i would like to mention that i am a computer geek. I also own a homebuilt pc capable of recording with an audiophile sound card. anyways, both of the computer and dps16 where purchased realatively at the same time, so i was not really concerned about the computer vs daw thing however i would like to say that i use both and i prefer the dps16 for the front end of my recording.(ill explain in a sec)
okay now for the dps16 review. When i began looking for a daw i wanted something to fit my budget starting at 1000, after i began looking i found a few in that range, d12 korg, fostex, etc. basically i realized that for a bit more, i would be getting something that could take my avid hobby even further. the problem with the price range of 1000 is that you scrifice features that can let you grow as a recordist. this is where computers come in, computers are great because they are upgradeable and they can be built better than daw. however i chose a daw because i like dedicated things. i use the sequencer completely on my triton for that reason, its sort of an all in one thing but its solely dedicated to those things, similar but not the same as a computer, with a computer you have to deal with drivers, and software, etc. a daw is nice and straight forward, i can just plug in and record.
secondly, i chose the dps16 over the d16 korg, for a few major reasons, one, they both hit high in my books, these two didnt compare to the fostex 16 because of the 24 bit, and the overall sturdiness and what you get for your money, more mixing mastering capabilities. as far as roland, i chose these two because of the price, roland is good, however its the "if i just spend 100 more dollars" sort of thing, you have to set your limits. this comes to my main reason for purchasing the dps16, price for bang. both the dps16 and d16 have 24 bit, enough virtual tracks, effects etc. however, for the price the dps16 out ways the d16.
justified disappointments: the dps16 can only mixdown from 14 to 16, unless you mixdown to a master recorder, thats what i do, i.e. i record digitally to my computer, so i have no worry about the mixdown problems, plus i with this i get more virtual tracks and versitity because i can assign any virtual track to any physical track i want, unlike the d16, (8pertrack).
however i think that if you plan ahead even if you dont have a master recorder, you can mix down more than once, actually giving you more than a 16 track recorder, for example, fill the 250 virtual tracks mixdown 14, then fill another twelve then mix again, etc. its more difficult to do this with the d16 becaue of the dedicated 8 per track.
another good point is the external scsi cdburner. personally this is really good, infact even better than internal. first off scsci drives are far faster than ide drives, also the recomended cdr for the dps16 is the plextor plexwrite, probably one of the best cdrw in the computer domain.
the external scsci benefits me because i own a triton with a scsci drive capabilites. i dont have to have two differant drives to load samples or save samples, then a drive for my daw, secondly i can use the cdrw on my computer giving me two cdrw on my computer. see my point? more versitility, plus if you ever get rid of your dps16, you can use that drive on other daw and not purchase the cdrws saving you money.
as far as the effects, i think they are just as good as the d16. im a fan of korg insert effects, however, korg really only gives you more preset effects. the dps16 forces you to learn how to use the effects, not so bad especially for the price differance. i dont mind less presets because since i own a computer i can do send/return effects processing using plugins. this is another point some dont realize. the dps16 has aux send/return so you can effect process to external effects units, nice for live recording and processing after the fact. so really if you plan on expanding, you really dont need so many presets although it is nice.
personally i like the qlink knobs better than the touch screen, although i have touch on my korg, i like to turn knobs, especially when you just want to compare. plus the dps16 has a bigger screen.
my favorite feature is the dps16 56bit internal processing, great because i can do all mixing on there and no worry of quality loss, especially when i mix there then send to my computer as master, a good front end in live performances, or freestlye session.
i bought mine at www.shreveaudio.com for 980, my cdrw at www.mwave.com for 303. total of 1300, less than d16, 300 less, enough for a good condensor mic, or studio monitors. email with questions
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