Korg D8
Digital Recording Studio
Korg
The Korg D8 Digital Recording Studio is an incredibly light and compact eight-track digital recording and mixing system. It has full 24-bit internal processing and 16-bit uncompressed recording and playback at a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz. A 1.4 gigabyte internal hard disk comes standard, allowing for 34 minutes of eight-track recording. The D8 also includes a SCSI connector for an external hard drive or removable disk drive; MIDI IN/OUT jacks; a 12-channel, 4-bus mixer; and an effects processor containing a wide range of effects, including equalizers, amp simulators, dynamics processors, delays, doppler shifts, a stereo exciter, reverbs, pitch shifters, a ring modulator, and an amazing phonograph effect that simulates a record player, with scratched surface noise, rotational speed variations, and pitch instability caused by wow and flutter.
Use of the D8 couldn’t be simpler; this is quite literally a plug-and-play box. I ran a variety of program sources into the unit, including CDs, keyboards, drum machine, electric guitar and various microphone applications. The D8 handled all signals with no unwanted coloration of the original signal input. One cautionary note: The internal hard-drive does generate some noise while operating, so be careful about placing sensitive microphones too close to the unit while recording. The Punch IN/OUT feature was easy to use, as were the various editing features.
The front panel is laid out in a logical fashion, with all control parameters easily accessible and simple to understand. A nicely sized display gives pertinent system information. Other cool features include audio scrubbing of recorded tracks, marker locations for instant location of song positions and two footswitch jacks for control of punch-ins, register marks or tap-tempo features.
One of the nice by-products of such a system is the creativity it fosters, and I soon found myself cranking out some great-sounding stuff. Korg USA, 316 S. Service Rd., Melville, NY 11747-3201; http://www.korg.com/
