Yamaha 01x, Is it too good to be true? Options

[Nels]

Hello anyone,

From what I've read and from the short movie clips I've seen on the Yamaha O1X Integrated Digital Recorder, it all sounds too good to be true.

Does anyone have any negative light to shed on this product. ......For example: Is it surround sound capable?

Am I missing something ....or could the Yamaha O1X really be as great as it sounds? ...And could the mLAN technoligy be the wave of the future?

And will it be available sooner than Nov.? .......I haven't seen it for sale anywhere.

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/videos.cfm#

Thanks for any input. ........I'm still going crazy in trying to determine wish DAW route to go with

[bonatoc]

Well, the 01X have its drawbacks.

Theorically, you could use it for surround applications with extending its outputs with another mLan device, such as the Presonus FireStation, which would add extra 8 ins and 8 outs.

The built-in audio card is capable of recording simultaneously 16 audio channels @ 24/48 kHz, and 8 @ 24/96 kHz.
But there is only 1 ST aux out, a second if you consider the S-PDIF outpout.

So by adding extra channels you could expand the numbers of physical outs, and route these outputs to build a surround system... nothing complicated.

The offical website has very active forums, where you can get any additional information.

IMHO, the 01X has all the advantages of a product like the Digi002, but allows you not to be stuck with Digidesign.
On the other hand, I doubt DigiDesign would allow Yamaha to build some Digi drivers, as it is clearly a concurrent product...
But if you are using DP, Cubase SX or Logic, the Mackie Control Surface-like behaviour seems to be running perfectly, and the audio-card and integrated audio mixer sound much better than, say, the Yamaha 03D, which I owned previously.

The board works also, contrary to the Digi002, in full stand-alone mode. Being quite light and of very reasonable dimensions, you can carry it around and have Dynamics, EQ and FX with a hundred total-recall scenes.

So yes, it is an audio mixer with great preamps and Dyn/EQs plus 2 good multi-effects, a 2 ms latency audiocard (tested under OS X, the drivers should be here in february 2004, only OS 9 drivers are available right now), a 2x16 MIDI interface, and a Mackie-like surface control. And if you need more ins and outs, there is a growing number of manufacturers out there supporting mLan... last but not least, if you add channels to the beast, these channels will have Dynamics EQ, FX sends and routing capabilities as well !

More info on :

http://www.01xray.com/forums/index.php?Cat=7