Korg D3200 Reviews

[brandondrury]

Korg D3200 @ Musiciansfriend



Korg D3200 @ Zzounds


Korg D3200 Description
KORG's D3200 32-Track Digital Recording Studio is the first in its class to provide up to 32 tracks of simultaneous playback and up to 16 tracks of simultaneous recording. Interactive Session Drums allow you to easily create a realistic and natural drum track for your entire song, simply by tweaking a few knobs. The D3200 provides 16- and 24-bit uncompressed 44.1 or 48kHz recording and playback. By taking advantage of the 8 virtual tracks provided for each track, you can record a total of up to 272 tracks. In 24-bit mode, the digital data passing through the fader and EQ is recorded onto the internal 40GB hard drive as 32-bit data, ensuring even higher recording and playback quality. The internal processor uses 64-bit precision (maximum 69-bit), delivering professional-level audio quality.

With Korg's interactive Session Drums, your own studio drummer is always available.
Create dynamic drum tracks quickly and easily with the D3200's built-in Session Drums feature. Using KORG's exclusive Knob Matrix, simply twist the Group and Session knobs to choose the overall musical style and use the Variation knob to select a pattern appropriate for your song. Breathe new life into your drum tracks by tweaking the Shuffle and Humanize knobs to produce subtle variations in the timing, accent, feel, and volume of each drum hit. You can even customize the rhythm sounds themselves. With Session Drums, create and record your original drum tracks without time-consuming programming and step-recording.

Sophisticated and versatile track editing tools.
Perform advanced and non-destructive track editing without impairing the high-quality sound with editing functions such as time expansion/compression, copy, erase, reverse, normalize, and fade. A learning noise reduction feature removes unwanted ambient noise without impairing the original sound!

Versatile input section to accommodate nearly any recording situation including high channel-count live situations.
12 - 1/4" balanced inputs are teamed with 8 XLR inputs jacks featuring high-quality mic preamps and +48V phantom power. Each of the 8 phantom power supplies can be switched on/off independently, so you can mix and match your favorite condenser and dynamic mics to get the job done. The D3200 also features optical S/PDIF ins and outs and a dedicated guitar jack.

Powerful automated mixer section provides professional features and flexibility.
The D3200's mixer provides a total of 44 input channels (32 recorder channels and 12 sub-mixer channels). Fader, EQ, pan, and effect settings can be stored as a "scene," and up to 100 scenes can be saved and automatically recalled for each song, providing sophisticated automation. In addition, Dynamic Automation records and plays back individual fader and pan movements in real time, providing the freedom you need for creative mixing. Mixer parameters can also be controlled via MIDI.

An enhanced graphic display and interface provide fast, intuitive navigation.
The D3200 brings ease of operation to a new level, with fresh innovations such as the unique Knob Matrix and Korg's exclusive ClickPoint. The Knob Matrix provides 16 realtime control knobs laid out in a 4x4 arrangement that can be used simultaneously to edit a variety of parameters such as the Session Drums or the effect processors. It's a natural, analog-feeling interface. The 3-axis ClickPoint provides fingertip control that is much more immediate and satisfying than using a mouse or a track ball. ClickPoint can also be used as a jog/shuttle function when you're scrubbing through audio. The 320x240 pixel, 4-level grayscale display uses immediately understandable icons and provides visual feedback of the many Knob Matrix functions.

High-quality effects deliver professional sounding results.
The D3200's multiple effect processors use 56-bit internal processing to provide the highest audio quality. Instantly select from 128 effect programs created from 52 different effect algorithms.

Album CD Project and internal CD-RW take your musical ideas to completion.
The D3200's built-in CD-RW drive can be used to backup/restore songs and user data, to import WAV files, or to create finished audio CDs. When creating an audio CD, you can use the Album CD Project function to easily create a production-ready CD that specifies the song order and even the length of the gaps between songs. The internal hard drive can be partitioned so you can work on multiple album CD projects at once.

Computer friendly.
The D3200 automatically allocates part of its internal hard disk as a 2/4/8GB PC (USB) drive. This area can be used to import/export WAV data between the D3200 and a computer DAW program via USB, and can also be used to load system data. D3200 user data transferred to your PC can be easily e-mailed or exchanged over the internet. High-speed USB 2.0 is supported, so even large amounts of data can be transferred smoothly. In addition, back-up data created by other Korg D-series models can also be loaded.

Korg D3200 32-Track Digital Recording Studio

[bjornkl]

Has anyone here actually used this unit? I've been thinking of switching from PC to workstation, as I have had a hard time making the transition from my old days working with analog (read reel to reel) multitrack systems. The same thing happened with Midi ... I was used to waveforms and envelopes and filters, and then it all went digital on me and I was lost. Now, I use probably only 1% of the capabilities of my Korg 01/W Pro-X! (8=

Thanks in advance,

Bjorn

[drfringe]

I love this, I've had one for about 6 months and it's perfect for my band. It has 12 inputs. The sound is great. I'll tell ya, I've owned 2 stand alones. The 1st: is a fostex and is much easier to use. The effects are great but the down side is that the unit is complicated to use, or to use all the features. I find fostex's unit to be more intuitive. I hear the tascam 2400 or whatever is buggy.

I say go for it, get it used, but they're very hardy. No glitches. Very reliable.

[dlh]

Quality: 9
The D3200 is built with Korg quality, which I admire.
I own a D1200 and a D1600.
It sounds a good as the 1200 and 1600.
I didn't keep it long enough to find out.

Reliability: 1
The recorder worked just fine.
The joystick was the problem.
I could never get a hold of support.

Overall Rating: 4
I bought a D3200
I found the joy stick to be very awkward.
I asked clerk at Guitar Center if anyone else brought their's back. He told me everyone who bought one returned it.
The led is very small, hard to see unless your leaning over it.
The joy stick is a joke. Even fine easy movements sent the pointer to place is shouldn't of gone.
After owning a 1200 and a 1600, I was vastly disappointed with the 3200. Even more so when I couldn't contact the help dept at any of the Korg sights.

[drdan]

I bought this as the centerpiece of my home studio - so far. While not having spent much time with it, I like what I get from guitars, keyboards and vocals...don't have my drum mics yet. I like the built-in effects and 8 XLR inputs. However, I'm still trying to get something decent out of the eq (seems I might do better going external). Session drums are good for monitoring only - click track mainly.

Like I said, I'm new to this, so any help/comments on this unit will be appreciated.

[dcisive]

Quality: 10
Thus far I've found the overall build and sound quality superb. I consider it very "Hi Fi" overall. The sound is decidedly smooth and transparent compared to the more sterile Roland offerings. Since the Akai is currently discontinued I'd have to say this may well be the best sounding box currently still available for a "one box only" approach to recording. The effects are surprisingly excellent with little compromise. From the reverbs to the compressors and gates I've found them easily comparable outboard units under a grand.

Reliability: 10
So far my unit has never burped or had any issues. I do however utilize a power conditioning device which I think is paramount with a unit like this. It needs and deserves filtered power to avoid spikes and drifts in power, which CAN cause some issues with units like this.

Overall Rating: 10
There simply isn't anything anywhere in the world for even close to what these go for new (around $1299 USD) that can truly compare to the audio quality one can expect from these units. With quality outboard preamps you pretty much can NOT tell the difference between the end resulting recordings on this vs. a Protools enabled unit. Bad technique can not be overcome however so learn the craft first then you can expect some top flight results. I got mine the week after this unit was released and am now working on a 2nd album.

[trent]

I owned this unit before my Yamaha AW4416. Its a decent machine for recording.
In evaluating a unit , i compare it to my benchmark and 1st digital recorder the Boss BR-8.
ease of use for Korg -7 its not difficult but could be easier. They messed up by eliminating the touchscreen and going with the point click joystick thingy. I guess they wanted it to be mouse-like and I didn't!

stability-10 no problems ever

Sound quality- 7or 8 its a decent clear sounding machine. When i used my RNP as my front end it brought immediate focus to my track, this still going thru Korg electronics and A/d conversion. IMPORTANT: your tone doesn't change with this RNP just the FOCUS

[trent]

RANT ALERT,,I love the stability and near instant access to these type of machines
Why cant they Get It Right? They'll be on to a new model instead of refining and upgrading
what they have. No wonder most people have ditched you for computers!

[trent]

Clarification-when i said the bR-8 WAS a BENCHMARK, i meant in ease of use and baseline features. It didn't even have XLR inputs!