At a breakthrough price of under £1600, this dedicated hard disk recording and editing system from Akai is destined to be keenly scrutinised by all types of musician. Dave Lockwood gets the first test drive.

Akai's DR4d is a 4-channel hard disk recorder housed in a 3U rackmount chassis, with an easy-to-use, tape-recorder style interface. The price of its conceptually simple method of operation is that, although still offering the benefits of loss-free copy-editing in the digital domain, the DR4 is not a true random access system. It records and plays back linear data — if you want the same piece of audio several times you do actually have to copy it into place, thereby using up precious hard disk space. In comparison with many hard disk recording systems, however, the DR4 offers the benefit of managing to appear instantly familiar — anyone who has recorded onto tape before will be able, as I did, to take the DR4 out of its box and start working with it straight away. There is no complex software to learn; with an internal hard disk, there isn't even anything to connect apart from the basic audio in/out.

An internal disk is actually optional: the DR4 can act simply as the controller for a chain of SCSI drives, although the review model was fitted with an Akai-supplied disk (both 213MB and 545MB internal options are available). Any SCSI units with sufficiently fast data access can be connected to extend recording time, up to a maximum of seven, including the internal drive. Disk space is dynamically allocated, which means that you can use all of the available time on one channel, a quarter of the time on all four channels, or anything in between.

24 HOURS!

Though the DR4 is a 4-track machine, up to three additional units can be chained together to create a 16-track system, although each must have its own hard disk (or disks). The practical limitation on recording time, apart from the monumental task of backing-up files of that size, is that, being based on a real-time counter that goes to 23:59:59.(plus frame-count), each DR4 can address up to 24 hours worth of material. A rough calculation yields that (at 48kHz fS), a single DR4 recording 24 hours worth of material on all four tracks would need to access something like 32 Gigabytes of storage.

Although operationally the DR4 has been made to look and 'feel' like a tape recorder, the one thing you can't do is take your 'tape' out of it at the end of the session. When the hard disk is full, or you want to work on a new project without knowing precisely how much time is required, it is necessary to download the existing data to a backup medium, then erase the disk(s) for further use. An optional interface board allows the DR4 to dump data to any DAT machine with a digital input. Other backup media, such as magneto-optical drives, may be addressed via a second SCSI buss, used solely for external data exchange. DAT, however, is an attractive option given the price of tapes and the fact that most potential users of the DR4 will be likely to possess a DAT machine already.

Further optional interfaces allow the DR4 to sync to a MIDI sequencer, sending MIDI clock and Song Position Pointer messages, and shortly (in September, according to Akai), an economically priced SMPTE/EBU board will extend the facilities to include timecode chase sync with offsets. A simple range of editing functions, slimmed down to just those which most people actually use, and consistent, logical operating routines with a sensibly limited range of options make the DR4 a particularly easy and efficient system to work with.

COMFORTINGLY FAMILIAR

With prominent 'transport' controls and location display, plus level meters and even a Jog/Shuttle controller, the DR4 really could pass for one of the latest generation of DAT players. A numeric keypad allows direct entry of figures for storing or recalling locate points. Most of the keys have a second 'Sub-menu' function, but it is all sufficiently well arranged to avoid confusion. Metering is via four comfortingly familiar 20-segment LED columns, although there are no level controls on the DR4 itself.

Audio in and out is via two sets of four quarter-inch jacks; these are balanced (unbalanced operation is achieved simply by inserting a single-pole, unbalanced jack), with +4dBu/-10dBV nominal operation individually selectable for both inputs and outputs in pairs. The analogue inputs are unfortunately not paralleled so that when only two inputs are connected, all four tracks can easily be addressed by just a stereo pair of sends. Yet the digital inputs are paralleled — 1 also feeds 3, and 2 feeds 4, with the individual track record switches used to determine the signal destination.

Digital I/O in both AES/EBU and S/PDIF format is catered for, via XLRs and phonos respectively. With both of these being two-channel formats, an additional (IB 110D) digital interface is required to allow channels 3 and 4 to be input and output independently in the digital domain.

The DR4 does, however, offer a DAT backup facility in which all four channels of data are dumped via the standard digital I/O. This takes approximately eight minutes per 100MB, which, with the DR4 offering 17m.42s of recording time per 100MB (at 48kHz), equates to just over half real-time. You also have the option of selective backup, in which only the portion of audio defined by the programmable In and Out points is dumped.

SAMPLING FREQUENCY

The DR4 supports all three of the commonly used sampling frequencies: 48kHz, 44.1 kHz and 32kHz. Recording via the analogue inputs, you have a choice of all three, being able to trade off the highest bandwidth at 48kHz against longer recording time at 32kHz. It makes quite a difference; 17:42s/MB at 48kHz becomes 26:42s/MB at 32kHz, the downside being that frequency response is restricted to 15kHz. This is actually still a very respectable-sounding bandwidth however, and unless the material is destined for CD or uploading to another digital multitrack, would be perfectly acceptable in many applications.

WHO'S GOING TO USE IT?

There is surely an almost infinite number of potential applications for an economically priced, easy to use, multitrack hard disk recorder, especially if it can also chase timecode. In any situation where timecode DAT is used primarily as a transfer medium for assembly rather than as the final master format, there can be no doubt that a DR4 that can chase code will do the job just as well and, at present prices, a great deal more economically. Light and fast though DAT transports are, it is nevertheless still a tape transport, and mechanical considerations still have to be taken into account and allowed for, inevitably slowing lock-up. A hard disk system will always be faster, and also allows you to edit.

Although 8, 12, or 16-track multi-chassis systems are perfectly viable, in the main I am inclined to see the primary role of the DR4 not as a replacement for an existing multitrack but as complementary to it. With the ability to chase code, and fast, easy to use, editing facilities, you have the ideal machine for compiling a 'best performance' from several takes of the same part — ideal for lead vocals or solos.

"There is surely an almost infinite number of potential applications for an economically priced, easy to use, multitrack hard disk recorder."

Having compiled in the digital domain with, in practice, subjectively no loss of quality, the 'perfect' part can be re-recorded to multitrack locked to code. Indeed, with an important signal like lead vocals, there is no reason why you shouldn't run the vocal on the DR4 in sync on the mix, just like a re-triggered MIDI synth. This would be ideal with narrow-gauge analogue formats such as half-inch 16-track, or quarter-inch 8-track, where loss of quality can be discernable on exposed signals. Backing vocals which are the same in every chorus can be recorded once and then 'spun-in' at every chorus location, using timecode offsets. Or indeed, if recording time allows, these too could remain on the DR4 for ultimate quality.

For the sophisticated MIDI system user who requires a minimal number of tracks, perhaps just for vocals, and maybe an occasional acoustic instrument playing a solo, the DR4 must surely seem like a very attractive proposition. At this price, it undercuts the new 8-track digital tape systems, and provided you can live with only four tracks and are comfortable with the necessary uploading/downloading regime, you gain all the benefits of instant location and editing. This type of user, however, will certainly be disappointed at the present level of MIDI implementation — something that I and many other potential purchasers will be fervently hoping that Akai will attend to sooner rather than later.

The DR4 also makes a perfectly viable stereo editor for the majority of music applications. Despite the immense and occasionally invaluable visual and functional sophistication of software editors, the fact is that the vast majority of music edits still consist simply of joining one bit to another bit right on the down-beat. You can do this sort of work perfectly well on the DR4, just by listening.

Having four tracks allows you, to some extent, to overcome the 'destructive' nature of DR4 editing — you can keep the original stereo material on one pair of tracks, whilst compiling your edited version onto the other pair.

IN USE

The DR4 has such a tape-like feel about it in use that it is really only the instant relocation facility that reminds you what medium you are recording to. The DR4 even has Rewind and Fast Forward buttons, which do exactly that, scrolling the linear 'position' at a rate that enables you to read the counter and stop at a specific target point. Pressing one of these whilst in Play gives a replication of tape recorder Cue and Review modes.

The DR4 allows you to store eight locate points for instant, single key recall. One hundred more can be stored as what the system calls 'Stack' locate points, which have to be assigned a Stack memory number. With a hard disk system, albeit one which emulates linear recording, locate functions are, effectively, instant.

Location of specific points in the audio is further aided by the provision of concentric Jog and Shuttle controls. The inner Jog wheel has a finger detent for 'winding' the audio by hand, in either direction. Unfortunately, the software seems to have insufficient 'inertia' built into it — I found it difficult to achieve stable audio at any speed. The outer Shuttle ring determines playback speed and direction by the angle at which you hold it — the further you deviate from upright, the faster it goes. It is not actually continuous; in fact there are four - effective 'positions' — quarter, half, 2x and 4x normal speed — on either side of central. Personally, I feel the inclusion of a normal speed point would have greatly enhanced usage of this facility. You can simply grab it straight from Play, admittedly, but it is difficult to hit the desired speed straight off, and the discontinuity is often enough to disorientate you and make you have to start again. Audio quality even at the slowest Shuttle speed, however, is remarkably good, bearing favourable comparison with any tape-based system.

CONCLUSION

The DR4 is a product that someone was obviously going to make before long. The question is, having got there first, how much of it have Akai got right? I think quite a lot, but one or two of the things that are wrong, in my opinion, are significant. What's right is that, unless clipped or seriously under-recorded, the DR4 sounds particularly good. It's not just the normal digital low noise and complete absence of speed fluctuation and crosstalk — the DR4 has nice converters and it shows. It is also about as simple to use as Akai could possibly have made it. It is priced attractively, and the system is sensibly both expandable in terms of tracks, and upgradable — you can add extra hard disk space and MIDI and timecode interfaces as and when you want them. Edit functions are powerful yet simple, and even when large chunks of a file are being re-written, tolerably fast. So far so good.

At the heart of a MIDI system however, which is surely one of its likeliest potential situations, the DR4 has limitations. The unit must be the MIDI-sync master; it cannot slave to MIDI, not even MTC (MIDI timecode), despite being able to chase SMPTE/EBU timecode. The product that most serious MIDI system users want is an affordable hard disk recorder that, as near as possible, integrates with their sequencer, preferably also with MMC (MIDI Machine Control) implementation to allow track record functions, dropping in and out, and so on, to be accessed.

In addition, the DR4's Song Position Pointers do not follow the machine in repeat play mode — the audio cycles, but the sequencer runs on. The ability to seamlessly repeat a section while rehearsing new parts is one of the primary advantages of working with sequencers rather than tape. Hard disk recording potentially offers precisely the same benefit, so it is highly frustrating to have two systems, each with this capability, failing to successfully do so together, due to what can surely be no more than an oversight in the DR4's software.

All in all, I like the DR4; I am conceptually entirely in agreement with it, but it also frustrates me — it is so nearly right. The limitations, technically, are so small, relative to the things it does well, and yet they are so significant operationally to one potential user group. It makes an excellent 'economy' editor, it will have a host of uses chasing timecode faster than any tape transport can, and multitrack hard disk recording simply doesn't come any cheaper at present. Ironically, however, it is fixing up the MIDI implementation, more than anything else, that would probably allow the DR4 to achieve its real market potential.

Further Information

DR4 £1599 inc VAT.

Akai UK Ltd, (Contact Details).