Sound on Sound
| Posted in Music Technology
Sound on Sound is the rather surprising name that’s been given to Korg’s latest multi-track recorder, which is being launched at NAMM 2010 and promises players the ability to endlessly overdub new takes onto a recording without running out of tracks. Why all the surprise regarding the name? That’ll be of course because the recorder shares its new moniker with Sound on Sound Magazine, an odd coincidence that might eventually see Sound on Sound publish a review of Sound on Sound, causing all kinds of confusion.
But no matter how SOS deals with the situation, nothing is likely to take away from the core story about the Sound on Sound, which is that promise of unlimited tracks within a portable recorder, and what they might offer the performing musician. According to Korg, using the recorder is as simple as “picking a rhythm, chopping out some guitar chords, laying down a vocal, adding some harmonies, playing a solo – or two, or three or 50…” It’s no wonder that the manufacturer is promising “endless possibilities”.
But do the technical details live up to the sales pitch? It certainly sounds intriguing. The Sound on Sound uses WAV files to record each overdub separately, the idea being that the resulting WAV files can later be loaded directly into a DAW as an individual track. Each overdub is also BWF (Broadcast Wave File) compliant, meaning all of the timing information from the original recording is preserved.
According to the specifications, players can record “up to 200 songs in WAV format”. We’re not sure whether that figure refers to 200 ‘completed songs’ or 200 individual WAV files, as the same spec list promises “an infinite number of overdubs”, and until we get our hands on one to review, we’re not going to speculate. Interestingly, the recordings are saved onto microSD, which may hold the solution. We do know, however, that the recordings themselves are in 44.1 kHz/16-bit.
Other features of the Sound of Sound include 100 onboard effects utilising Korg’s proprietary REMS modelling technology. These comprise 36 type of modelled guitar and bass effects, 25 effects designed specifically for acoustic sources using either the Sound on Sound’s built-in stereo condenser microphone (which itself can be adjusted in terms of its tone, low cut, and noise gate settings) or the external mic jack, 32 ‘master effects’ for adding to a completed song, and seven real-time effects.
Unlimited undo and redo is another feature, though its effectiveness is limited by the capacity of the microSD. Users will also be able to play with the A/B loop function and the Sound Stretch feature, which changes playback speed without altering pitch to anything between 25 per cent to 150 per cent of the original speed. Finally, 50 onboard rhythms with four variations each are included alongside a monitor speaker, a selection of tuners and a built-in monitor speaker.
With a lot of promising features to offer and a core premise that’s just begging to be tested, we can’t wait to begin recording with this little box to find out just how multi-layered a song we can create. We’ll find out in March when it arrives in the UK, but until then we have our eyes on the Sound on Sound.
About Barney Jameson
A contributor, editor and in some cases creator of more music and pro audio magazines than he cares to remember, Barney Jameson is a veteran of writing about gear, and a pretty keen singer songwriter to boot.
Having started his musical education reading old copies of the Melody Maker while riding the tube to University in the mid-nineties, Barney once sang in a band called Sugarstone, troubling record company chequebooks not quite enough to make it a career option. Instead, he achieved his goal of starting a music magazine of his own when he founded Playmusic in the early noughties. Later on, having exploited VIP access to as many festivals as possible, he wrote about the pro audio industry throughout Europe and the Middle East, travelling to far-flung destinations such as Dubai, Doha and Muscat (nice mountains).
As the latest addition to the DV247 team, Barney has big plans. But when he’s not plotting online domination of the musical instrument world, he keeps himself busy writing songs on a battered old acoustic guitar and playing them to audiences in his home town.
Tags: Korg multitrack recorder, Sound on Sound, unlimited recording
Interesting. I agree it’s strange to use the same name as the well-known mag from UK. Still, the recorder looks interesting for some applications!
TG
Thomas Goldman