Review: Yamaha AW4416 Professional Recording Workstation

Yamaha

Posted 2001-11-04

Lots of folks these days are making the transition to digital recording. A large amount of whom are using some sort of PC or Mac based digital audio recording solution for their home or project studios. It's only been a few years since the proliferation of portable hard-disk based recording units hit the market and since the entry of the first wave of units, music gear manufacturers have been scrambling to offer the most features, recording quality and capacity for the price. What ended up on the market, though, were lots of half developed products that either lacked any serious functionality or whose quality suffered by sounding too dry and lifeless. After all, direct digital recording can be as much of a disadvantage as it is an advantage.

The AW4416 from Yamaha strives to meet the needs of the recording artist or studio engineer on the go. Some folks are looking for a more portable solution or a non-computer based solution that has all the features and functionality of an entire recording studio in one chassis. This is where the AW4416 hits the mark.

The AW4416 is a 16-Track, 44 Channel Digital Audio Workstation. It incorporates 20 mix buses and motorized faders that makes full mix automation a reality. At the core of the AW4416 is the capability to record at 32-bit resolution, with the EQ section operating at 54-bits for incredible digital clarity. Uncompressed, the AW4416 provides up to 130 tracks of recording capability with precision editing support. There are also 8 sampling pads for real-time playback of samples from hard disk, external audio sources, and WAV files on CDs or external SCSI devices.

For a tabletop unit, the AW4416 has an incredible amount of input channels and output buses. On the standard unit there are 8 analog inputs as well as digital stereo outputs. You can even hook up an optional I/O interface card to add up to 16 more analog or digital channels. When you add all the input channels up, you've got the capability for 44 channels of audio. With all of the expanded bus support you can take those 44 channels into 20 output channels for recording purposes. When your project is finished you can burn it straight to the internal SCSI CD-ROM unit that comes built into the AW4416.

We spent a considerable amount of time testing the AW4416. Although we are more accustomed here to PC based digital recording, the AW4416 was a nice break from the norm. We actually rented a cabin at a local ski resort last weekend and took the acoustics, the electrics, our new Shure KSM27 studio condenser mic and our Yamaha RY-9 rhythm programming machine out to the beautiful Pennsylvania fall foliage for some inspired recording. Fortunately, we spent a day reading through the manual and practicing with the tutorials before we left. One challenge with the AW4416 is that it is incredibly feature rich and somewhat difficult to learn. Don't let this discourage you, though. There was an included VHS tape with some tutorial examples and the documentation made for a great reference. After about an hour we were recording our first tracks and after a day we were starting to use some of the advanced functionality of the unit.

After several hours and several songs we were hard pressed to find something that we couldn't accomplish with the AW4416. The weekend turned out to be a blast and we all agreed that the AW4416 was the most advanced and capable hard disk recorder we've looked at yet. The price of the AW4416 might be a little steep for some, however. If you're a struggling artist and looking for similar, but scaled down functionality, you could also consider the little brother to the AW4416, the AW2816! This unit is available on the street for roughly $2000.

Bottom Line:

The AW4416 is not inexpensive and it's somewhat complicated to use if you're not familiar with some of the more advanced recording concepts. However, for roughly $3000 on the street, I think you'll be hard pressed to find a unit with this many features - that's portable! Sure, you might find something cheaper, but I can almost guarantee you it won't have nearly as many features and you'll be taking a risk with the quality. With the Yamaha AW4416, you get what you pay for. What does that mean in layman's terms? Unlimited creative freedom to take a project from concept to professional quality CD-ROM on the same machine. Incredible. Wish I could afford one myself.

Review: Yamaha AW4416 Professional Recording Workstation

Yamaha

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