Zoom MRS1608 16-Track Digital Recording Studio

Hard disk recorder, drum and bass machine, sampler, digital mixer, and multi-effects

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    • 54 people rate: 6 out of 10

The Zoom HD16 gives you versatile, intuitive multi-track recording with a clear, intuitive interface. You can send your recorded WAV files to the included DAW software in your computer via its USB connection. Then, use the unit as a control surface to adjust, fade, pan and mix every aspect of your project. Recording, arranging, mixing and mastering has never been easier or more immediate. Learn More...

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customer reviews

Rate and Review This Product:

259 People rated this product : * * * * * * * * * * 7 out of 10

15 People wrote reviews

* * * * * * * * * * 1 out of 10

"Great recording unit, terrible cd burner"

Feature:
Has a large bank of effects for guitar and drums. Some are just plain stupid and a waste of space. I have the cd burner which has so many bugs I whish I never bought the unit. With my unit I have to format/erase the cd at least 3 times & sometimes more before I can record a track. (I have tried several different brand cd's) Once you do finally get the track the sound is pretty good. (Forget trying to record several tracks as an album this has never worked.

Quality:
The recording and sound of this is not bad. Like a said before the CD burining format is not a realiable function, If you want this for demo's... I would look elsewhere.

Value:
I would be happy with the price if the unit worked properly.

Desirability:
Machines don't have sex appeal to me. I would tilt the LCD screen so you don't have to hover over it.

Sound:
Play back sound is fine. Playback through the headphones vs studio monitors is a whole different world. Do not depend on the headphone sound for mixdown.

Ease of Use:
For doing the basics the machine is okay. I'm not an engineer and I need to read the manual several times before trying anything difficult. Unit has more than I will ever need for recording demo's, practice and pretty simple to to basic recoring of live shows. They should have made all channels with the phantom power option.

Support:
I have just started to reveaw their web page to try and figure out the cd burning issues. After reasing other reviews on the internet I see I'm not alone. No luck with a patch yet.

Overall:
I am not satisfied with the unit, wish I never bought it. My goal was for a simple solution to knock out demos and record practice/live gigs. Besides the bugs, this unit should also offer more types of recording output formats, WAV, MPS... It would'nt bother me much if it was stolen.

Submitted: 1/26/2008

Style of Music: Rock, Blues

* * * * * * * * * * 9 out of 10

"recordings gone wild!!!!!!"

Feature:
I love the features oh here. I just wish i could have more than 8 tracks to record. an example why...when your recording a whole drum set you only have 8 tracks to work with. If your a metal drummer or have a huge drum set. id advise buying really good over heads mics to make up for the missing mics you need. i do not like the drum machine. its too complicated to program and if you mess up you have to start all over again. also theres no undo function so if you accidently record over something or erase something or if you use the wrong fade in/out you have to redo the whole thing again

Quality:
the only reason why im giving this an 8 is because i have a few bugs in mine. When i try to do the scrub function it does everything else but that. i have to attemped it several times b4 the actual function shows up. also a lot of times when i hit the stop or play button it jumps to different functions. I used the cd it came with to try to fix the problem and it still does it. also the cd drive doesnt always burn the cd correctly, or maybe the cd drive that came with it is a p.o.s.

Value:
Its worth the price i paid for.

Desirability:
it looks nice. it would be awesome if it had motorized faders

Sound:
I was surprised by how good everything sounds through here. It actually sounds pretty good. The mastering program is decent but not he best. It doesnt make it as loud as a profesional recording would but it still comes out a good volume.

Ease of Use:
This is extremely easy to use. the manual does very well at explaining things.

Support:
I got lots of help from the dealer emailing them questions about things. It may have took them a few days but they alwys responded to my questions.

Overall:
overall its a great purchase for the small projects that i do. I do wanna upgrade to something more complex though. something like the akai dps24

Submitted: 11/28/2007

Style of Music: punk grunge industrial

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About This Product!
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The ultimate all-in-one machine. Hard disk recorder, drum and bass machine, sampler, digital mixer, multi-effects, CD-R/RW drive--you name it, the MRS-1608 has got it. Everything you need to create incredible sounding recordings is right here, in a user-friendly and accessible package.

Features

Recorder
16 physical tracks x 10 V-takes = 160 virtual tracks

Comes standard with a 40GB hard drive. This translates into 120 hours of high-quality recording.

Simultaneous live recording on eight tracks

BOUNCE key for instant mixdown

Marker function, A-B repeat, punch-in recording

Continuous project playback -- The master tracks of several projects can be played back in succession. This function--called sequence play--is handy to preview an album that you want to burn onto a CD, or to provide automated accompaniment during a live performance.

Track Edit
10 types of track edit functions

COPY Copy & paste. Easily repeat the contents of a phrase.
MOVE Assemble the best takes from various sources onto a single track.
ERASE Mute any specified range, for example to eliminate noise or clean up mistakes.
TRIM Remove unwanted portions before and after a stretch of recorded data, to keep only the parts that matter.
FADE I/O Select from three curves for fade-in and fade-out, and specify the time for the fade interval.
REVERSE Get wild and wonderful sound by reversing audio data.
TIME STRECH Change the tempo without altering the pitch. Great for tweaking the master data before burning a CD.
PITCH FIX Match the pitch of vocal passages or provide pitch correct effect.
HARMONY GENERATE Create a 3-part harmony from the vocal track that matches the programmed chord.
DUO HARMONY Add a third up or down harmony component to the melody.

Scrub / preview function to find exactly the right spot

Internal 24-bit processing and mixing automation support -- The digital mixer handles a total of 27 channels: 19 playback tracks including internal drum and bass, plus 8 input channels. Parameters such as volume, panning, EQ, phase, and effect send level can be adjusted individually for each track. The convenient "scene" function saves up to 100 different setups, for instant recall of all parameters. By assigning a scene to a marker point of the recorder, it is even possible to change the mixing balance or effect settings automatically as the song progresses. A solo function that lets you monitor a single track also comes in handy.

Digital Mixer
3-band parametric equalizer

Separate SUB-OUT parameter settings for a different mix

Rhythm Machine
50 drum kits and 13 bass sources -- By freely combining 36 sound sources, you can also create your own drum kits while using the 12 mixing faders as drum mixer controls.

475 preset drum patterns ready to go

Truly "FAST" rhythm programming -- FAST (Formula Assisted Song Translator) is an innovative programming method developed by ZOOM that lets you build rhythm patterns using simple calculator-like symbols. With the drum pads serving as a numeric keypad, you can quickly enter a drum program for an entire song. For example, to play pattern number 010 eight times and then pattern number 020 sixteen times, you enter 10 x 8 + 20 x 16. After a song has been written with FAST, you can edit patterns and change event information in the same way as with a regular song.

High-performance sequencer also incorporates SMF player (Standard MIDI Files) -- The built-in rhythm sequencer can operate in sync with the recorder section, letting you create rhythm accompaniment and audio tracks in an interactive environment. If you import existing SMF (Standard MIDI Files), you can control the built-in rhythm sound sources or external multi-timbre sound sources connected via the MIDI link.

Phrase Loop
By freely combining parts of an audio track or WAV/AIFF file phrases imported from a sampling CD-ROM, you can create a loop track. Program the phrase sequence for an entire song using FAST, and then write the result to any track as audio data. Or go a step further and create multiple loop tracks with drums, bass, rhythm guitar and other instruments played by professional musicians.

Pad Sampler
The pads on the MRS-1608 can also be used to play parts of V-takes or WAV/AIFF files. Add samples and sound effects to a song, and play them in the drum track sequence. Up to 1000 samples can be stored in a "sample pool" on the internal hard disk. A project can contain up to 10 sampler programs, each using 36 samples (total playing time 22 seconds).

Effects
Insert effect -- Nine types of effect algorithms optimized for various input sources, such as guitar / bass, synthesizer, vocals, and mic recording of acoustic instruments are built into the MRS-1608. The algorithms are configured using six effect modules with 103 effect types.

8-channel COMP EQ for dynamic multi-miking -- The 8-channel COMP EQ algorithm applies compression and equalization to eight input channels, with individual settings for each.

BPM sync effects

Send / Return effect -- Two types of send / return effect (chorus / delay and reverb) can be used simultaneously.

Mastering effect -- When you are creating the final mix, you have access to quality effects such as the high-performance equalizer and the multi-band compressor with individual parameters for each band.

CD Burner
CD-R/RW drive for creating audio CDs and backing up data

Disc-at-once for efficient CD writing

Interface
XLR input with phantom power supply and digital output -- Up to eight mics can be plugged in at once. Four channels are equipped with a +48V phantom power supply. Hi-Z jacks for guitar/bass and RCA type jacks are also available. An optical S/P DIF output lets you send a digital signal to a DAT or MD master recorder.

Synchronization with MTC and MIDI clock

USB 2.0 support ensures high-speed data transfer -- The optional USB interface board UIB-02 lets you connect the MRS-1608 to a computer (Windows or Mac) equipped with a USB port.

Technical Info

Specifications

Recorder
Physical Track: 16

Virtual Track: 160(10 Virtual takes/track)

Master Track: 2 tracks(stereo) x 10V-takes

Drum Track: 2 tracks(stereo)

Bass Track: 1 track(mono)

Simultaneous Recording: 8 tracks

Simultaneous Playback: 19 tracks(16 audio + stereo drum + mono bass)

Recording Data Format: 16 bit linear with No compression

Recording Time: 120 hours(referred to mono tracks)

Marker: 100/Project

Locator: Scrub/Preview, A-B repeat

Location Display: Hour/Min./Sec./msec. or Meas./Beat/Tick

Track Edit: Copy, Move, Erase, Exchange, Bounce, Trim,
Fade in/out, Reverse, Capture/Swap, Time Stretch, Pitch Fix,
Harmony Generate, Duo Harmony

Punch In/Out: Auto/Manual

Rhythm Machine
Data Format: 16 bit linear PCM

Drum Kit: 50 kits

Drum Sound Generator: 36 sounds/kit(12pads x 3bank)

Bass Sound Generator: 13 sounds

Polyphony: 24 voices(Drum + Bass)

Drum Pad: 12 touch sensitive pads, self lighted

Resolution: 48 PPQN

Odd Meter: 1/4-8/4

Song: 10 songs/project

Pattern: 511 patterns(475 factroy, 36 blank)

Maximum Bar: 999 bars/song, 99 bars/pattern

Maximum Note: Approx. 20,000 notes(events)/song

Tempo: 40.0-250.0BPM

Mixer
Input Channel: 27 channels(19 tracks + 8 inputs)

Scene Memory: 100 scenes/project(Linkable to marker)

Fader: 15(1-8 mono, 9-16 stereo, Drum, Bass, Stereo Master)

Level Meter: 10 segments x 29 bar(Pre/Post fader selectable)

Track Parameter: Equalizer, Effect Send, Pan(Balance), Subout Send, Invert

Equalizer:
High: 500Hz-18kHz, Gain �12dB
Mid: 40Hz-18kHz, Gain �12dB
Low: 40Hz-1.6kHz, Gain �12dB

Effect Send: Chorus/Delay send level, Reverb send level

Stereo Link: 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8 tracks selectable

Effects
Algorithm: 9 types(Clean, Dist, Aco/Bass Sim, Bass, Mic, Dual Mic, Line, 8x Comp EQ, Mastering)

Effect Type: 103 types

Effect Module: 6 for Insert, 2 for Send/Return

Max. Simultaneous Effect: 8 types

Effect Patch: 320 for Insert, 60 for Send/Return

Tuner: Auto chromatic, Guitar, Bass, Open A/D/E/G, D modal

Pad Sampler
Simultaneous Sample: 36 samples, total 22 seconds(mono)

Max. Storable Sample: 1,000 samples

Phrase Loop
Max. Storable Phrase: 100 phrases / project

Phrase Edit: Start / End, Measure, Name, Level

MRS1608
Project: Maximum 1,000

Hard Disk: E-IDE/3.5inch 40GB

CD-R/RW Drive: ATAPI/5inch bay type, Buffer Under-run Error Protection Supported

A/D Conversion: 24bit 64times over-sampling

D/A Conversion: 24bit 128times over-sampling

Sampling Frequency: 44.1kHz

Signal Processing: 24bit

Frequency Response: 20Hz-20kHz �1dB(at 10kohms load)

S/N: 93dB(IHF-A)

Dynamic Range: 97dB(IHF-A)

THD+N: 0.02%(400Hz, at 10kohms load)

Display: 122 x 65mm original LCD(with back light)

Guitar/Bass Input(Hi-Z): 2x 1/4in. Phone Jack, Input Impedance 500kohms

Balanced/Unbalanced Input: 8x XLR/1/4 in. Phone Combo Jack,(Unbalanced: Input Impedance 50kohms/Balanced: Input Impedance 1kohms, 2nd Hot)

Line Input: RCA pin jack(L/R), Input Impedance 10kohms, Rated Input Level -10dBm

Phantom Power: 48V(with On/Off switch)

Input Level: -50dBm
Master Out: RCA pin jack(L/R), Output Impedance 1kohms, Rated Output Level -10dBm

Headphone Out: 1/4 in. Stereo Phone Jack, 50mW(at 32ohms load)

Sub Out: 1/4 in. Stereo Phone Jack

Digital Out: S/P DIF Optical(20bit)

MIDI: In/Out

Control Input: 1x Expression Pedal, 1x Foot Switch

Optional Board Slot: 1

Dimension: 490(W) x 350 (D) x 125(H)mm

Weight: 7.8kg(with CD-R/RW drive), 7.3kg(without CD-R/RW drive)

Power Supply: DC12V, 3A(AC Adaptor AD-0011 specified)

Power Consumption: 30W(12V, 3A)TYP.

Supplied Accessory: Universal AC Adaptor AD-0011,CD-ROM

Optional Accessory: CD-02(CD-R/RW drive), UIB-02(USB Interface board), FS-01(Foot Switch), FP-02(Expression Pedal)
Record the whole band! Eight-track simultaneous recording, 16 tracks of playback, and 160 virtual tracks for alternate takes. With the built-in drum and bass rhythm machine, you can skip the band altogether! Plus, there's built-in phrase looping and sampling, digital multi-effects, smart editing and mixing features, a 40 GB hard drive, and optional CD burner!

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