The one thing we all know about hard disk editors is that they are expensive. Expensive, that is, on a track-for-track comparison with tape-based recorders. A high initial outlay can bring rewards in terms of business generated but, nevertheless, 60k to 100k or so is an awful lot of money to pay for anything that isn't a top class mixing console. Lower cost hard disk editors have so far been based on personal computers, using their standard hardware as cost-effective controllers. Examples of these are Digidesign's Sound Tools, its derivative Pro Tools, and Doremi Lab's DAWN. Eventually, hard disk prices will be what we might care to call affordable, so it's a very good idea to keep track of what's happening in the field.

Here we have a product from a well known manufacturer of synthesizers, samplers and effects units which not only provides an 8-track hard disk recorder with a dedicated interface, it incorporates an 8-channel automated digital mixer too, not to mention a MIDI sequencing capability. The price? £23,000. It may sound a lot, but in present day hard disk editor terms it's cheap!

When I went to see an upmarket digital editor/mixer, the Lexicon Opus, in action at Silk Sound in London, what I found most impressive was the fact that this one item had completely revolutionised the state of the recording studio as we know it, at least for audio post production applications. No longer does the mixing console have to be the centrepiece of the room, taking up vast areas of real estate which could more profitably be used for comfy chairs and sofas — sorry, I mean a production desk and adequate seating for the ad agency representatives. The Korg Soundlink does in fact look very much like a cut down Opus, and many of Opus's benefits will be seen here too.

Soundlink consists of three boxes, two of which can be tucked away out of sight. The 'main unit' is where all the work goes on. If you look round the back you'll find eight XLR audio inputs and outputs, plus a variety of other useful connections. The storage unit holds a 680MB hard disk drive (more can be added to extend recording time) and an Exabyte tape streamer for backup and transfer of data.

Turning to the console we find a pleasant surprise. One might have expected a synthesizer manufacturer to have produced a black console with grey lettering and buttons you need sharply pointed fingers to press. Fortunately, hi-tech music design has not been allowed to intrude into a piece of gear that is supposed to earn its owners a living. The buttons are large, clearly labelled, and illuminated. The layout is logical and easy to understand. At the top left of the console is a backlit LCD display which mimics the colour display possible on an external monitor. In a drawer underneath the console (in Korg's purpose built support) is a QWERTY keyboard.

MODES

Soundlink has Modes of operation, which are: Misc; Disk; Audio; Mixer; Effects; MIDI; Mark. The seven modes are selected by individual buttons just above the LED timecode display, and within the pages of each mode you use eight softkeys to execute further functions. Let's look at a few of the modes in detail.

AUDIO MODE

We can almost take it for granted that modern hard disk recorders will record and play back audio well-nigh perfectly, and it's going to be the overall usability of the system, or perhaps a small but important detail of its workings, that has most significance on a purchasing decision. Recording and playback is performed, naturally enough, using the transport keys that are just under your right hand. When you record cues - sorry, I really should start calling them Sounds, a la Korgspeak - they appear on the LCD monitor as in Figure 1.

You can see on this display two important features. Soft keys A and B set the ramp-in and ramp-out times (for "ramp" read "fade", and all becomes clear), and you can see that sounds are ramped by the pointy bits on the display segments. You can dial in the ramp times using the large rotary control, which Korg strangely enough call the 'dial'. Ramping in and out is an extremely useful feature, and Korg's system has the advantage over other hard disk editors of a 'quick' ramp function, which sets times for all the segments; though you need to be delve a little deeper to do it on an individual basis. This can save a good deal of time.

Also on this page is access to the Scrub function. You'll need to select which track to scrub, via soft key G, and soft key H takes you to the scrub page. Now you might expect that, since Soundlink is comparatively inexpensive, some functions may not be as good as on more expensive machines. Soundlink's scrub is very usable, but it's not great. I would say that for dialogue and sound effects work, it should be fine. For tricky music editing, especially classical music, I can't fully recommend it as yet, though Korg may be able to improve it via new software at some time in the future. Fortunately, even though scrubbing to the correct point isn't quite as easy as on higher priced systems, there is a helpful waveform display so at least there's a visual confirmation of what's going on.

Operations on audio segments are carried out between specified timecode values. So, whereas on other systems you might erase or move a whole segment, on Soundlink you would select a portion of a segment, or all of it if you wish, and perform your chosen operation. The operations in question might be trimming, erasing, copying or moving and so on; in fact everything you might reasonably want, including time stretch, is possible. I tried splitting up a segment of dialogue into parts and moving the new bits around in time, and I didn't find any difficulty. I would say, however, that the process of marking, timecode value grabbing and button pushing isn't as intuitive as operating a first-class piece of music software such as Cubase (which in essence has a broadly similar job to do, but for MIDI rather than audio). No-one, including Steinberg, has got this quite right yet. I would like to think that all manufacturers and designers are continuing to burn the midnight oil.

If Soundlink was just a hard disk editor I might be ending here, or at least exploring its editing functions at a deeper level. But there is so much more to enjoy...

MIXER MODE

The faders on the front of the control surface aren't there just for show. Soundlink incorporates a digital mixer, with digital EQ, and an automation system for good measure. Mixer Mode, like all the other modes has a number of display pages, page one of which handles the basic level setting functions. The display (see Figure 2) shows the current level of the physical faders, and the level of the internal 'digital fader' (analogous to VCA level). To operate the system all you do is select which fader(s) you want to write, set the Write key to On, play the machine and mix. All fader and mute operations will be memorised.

If you didn't get it quite right then there is an Update mode with which you can overwrite automation data. Update is quite interesting in that no overwriting of data happens until you push the fader through the position that has been already recorded. Overwriting continues until you come out of Update and take the fader through the previously recorded position once more. This is a clever way of doing things, and certainly avoids unseemly level jumps. Unfortunately this isn't what one would regard as true update because there is no way of shifting a complex sequence of fader moves up or down by a few dB, but there is no reason why Korg might not be persuaded that this would be a worthwhile improvement for a future software update.

All good digital mixers should have a digital equaliser in each channel, and Soundlink of course has this feature, plus snapshot automation of EQ. On a comparatively low cost piece of equipment one might not expect to have real knobs to operate the EQ, and indeed you do have to turn to an unfriendly numeric display. The EQ is nevertheless very effective: 3-band with selectable high and low cut-off frequencies and mid frequency Q controls. It should be possible to get the sound you want, but not as intuitively as just winding it on as you would with an analogue console's EQ. You can store 200 snapshots of the overall EQ settings, by the way. Will this be enough once we start getting enthusiastic about automating our EQ?

Although the control surface doesn't have the quantity of controls you would see on an analogue console, all the necessary functions are available among the pages of the display: Phase; High Pass Filter (with variable cut-off frequency); Noise Gate Threshold; Noise Gate Attack; Noise Gate Release; Equaliser Bypass; Aux Pre/Post etc. You can snapshot these too.

EFFECT MODE

Korg produce a very capable effects unit, the A1, which is a rarity in that it sports a digital input and output. When will all effects units have this feature? Inside the Soundlink you have the power of the A1, probably several A1s in fact, once again with snapshot automation. Unfortunately the effects section is limited to reverb and compression, rather than offering all sorts of fancy tricks that Korg might expect you to buy an A1 to perform, but reverb is what you will need most and there's plenty of control available over its parameters: reverb balance; Type (room, hall or plate); Time; High frequency damping; High EQ; Low EQ; Pre-delay; Ambience; Early reflection pre-delay; Early reflection ambience; Early reflection/reverb balance Compression can be applied to the main stereo output, with control over Ratio, Threshold, Attack, Release and Gain. There is also a limiter option.

MIDI MODE

The provision of a MIDI sequencer on a hard disk editor may be seen as a welcome bonus or a bit of a white elephant, depending on your point of view. Personally I'd say that to employ £23,000's worth of equipment on music sequencing, which can be better done on equipment and software that costs less than a grand, is a terrible misuse of resources. But I don't really think that music sequencing is what Korg had in mind. One possible use of Soundlink's sequencer might be to accept a dump from an external sequencer so that a mix of dialogue, effects and MIDI music can be controlled from a central location. Korg have the ability to include these MIDI facilities, so they're there for whatever use your imagination can devise. Remote program changing of effects units, perhaps? I'm sure that those of an ingenious frame of mind will think of plenty more applications.

All the essential MIDI editing functions are available, including track bouncing, copying, erasing, bar insertion and deletion, and also the all-important event editing facility. Sequencer tricks like quantisation, note shifting and modification of durations, velocities and so on are all there.

GROUND-BREAKING

The Korg Soundlink is a ground-breaking product because it is trying to integrate many studio functions into one fairly compact unit. This has to be a good thing because the trend for equipment to get physically bigger and bigger has to reverse eventually, or our studios will all explode! Having more compact and more capable equipment should let us get on with the business of audio more effectively, and clients will be impressed by the results they get, not by the size of the tools employed. Perhaps it also gives us the opportunity to begin all over again. Now we have almost a full studio in one package, we have more room for the add-ons and toys, and all the other things that make messing around with sound so enjoyable. In its price range, Soundlink gets my approval and I am certain that other hard disk editor manufacturers are going to have to take serious notice of this synthesizer company that is now demanding pro audio attention.

Further information

Korg UK, (Contact Details).