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I’m a big fan of the Roland VS digital multi-track recorders from the early 2000s. I used to have a Roland VS840 8-track recorder, with which I recorded some gu

I’m a big fan of the Roland VS digital multi-track recorders from the early 2000s. I used to have a Roland VS840 8-track recorder, with which I recorded some guitar and vocal songs back in around 2006. I’ve been looking at picking up another VS recorder lately, probably the 1680, 1880 or 2480. The 2480 was really cool, with VGA out and mouse control. The Roland VM7200 Video Mixer came from that era as well and shares some of the architecture. Yamaha had a smaller competing series of digital multi-track recorders around that time. The AW4416 being the last one made, and the AW1600 before that. I know little about their usage but I am a big fan of the Yamaha O2R and DM1000/2000 digital mixers from that time period. This era of digital recording tech really deserves a blog post or YouTube video going into the history and development. Perhaps this is a long shot but I’d love to hear from anyone that may have worked on those series of hardware products, about the dev process and the technologies involved in creating the hardware and software.

JKCalhoun 3y ago
Yeah, still have my VS-880 (expanded). I got it out and decided to record on it again. Having just the 8 tracks suddenly seems kind of cool to me now. Keeps the music a little more minimal. I picked up a VS-1824 a decade or so ago when they were cheap on eBay (are they still?). But I think I am inclined to stick with the 880 for now.
ilyt 3y ago
Tascam (I think still?) makes DP-03 SD which is basically 8 track digital version of the portastudio. Weirdly enough, with less inputs
smcameron 3y ago
I still have a Yamaha AW4416 sitting around upstairs somewhere. I remember it being pretty confusing at times. I always wished it had a network interface to get the tracks out of it more conveniently. I eventually got an ADAT module and an RME Hammerfall PCI card to transfer tracks to PC, before that, I burned CDs. The best thing I managed to record on it was the rhythm guitar tracks for this: https://soundcloud.com/stephen-cameron-456738857/rocket-sledder-from-the-north https://soundcloud.com/stephen-cameron-456738857/rocket-sled...

JKCalhoun 3y ago

Yeah, still have my VS-880 (expanded). I got it out and decided to record on it again. Having just the 8 tracks suddenly seems kind of cool to me now. Keeps the music a little more minimal. I picked up a VS-1824 a decade or so ago when they were cheap on eBay (are they still?). But I think I am inclined to stick with the 880 for now.

ilyt 3y ago

Tascam (I think still?) makes DP-03 SD which is basically 8 track digital version of the portastudio. Weirdly enough, with less inputs

smcameron 3y ago

I still have a Yamaha AW4416 sitting around upstairs somewhere. I remember it being pretty confusing at times. I always wished it had a network interface to get the tracks out of it more conveniently. I eventually got an ADAT module and an RME Hammerfall PCI card to transfer tracks to PC, before that, I burned CDs. The best thing I managed to record on it was the rhythm guitar tracks for this: https://soundcloud.com/stephen-cameron-456738857/rocket-sledder-from-the-north https://soundcloud.com/stephen-cameron-456738857/rocket-sled...