I'm still recording on my Akai DPS16 (and probably will continue until either of us dies), but I'm not satisfied with the mastering presets that come on the unit. For one, it seems that the overall volume is greatly reduced, although it is even from track to track. Second, I have a hard time hearing the difference between the various presets. Does anyone have any experience with using the mastering tools on the DPS, and any recommendations how to get the most out of it?
Make sure that you have properly inserted the mastering effect to the bounce down stereo master tracks and that the send levels are at max in the mixer channel. Make sure the effect is on and not bypassed.You will have to keep going back to the presets menue page and re-select the preset that you want to here because the current preset that you are using is not displayed when you leave the preset menue page. If you have properly inserted the mastering effects into the final stero left and right channels, you will get no sound from either channel if you dont have the send levels turned up. I can here big differences between the different presets that offer different musical perspectives of the same material, I do think that you would be better off bringing your mixes in wave file individual tracks, to a studio and have them do the final mixes in an appropriate acoustical enviorment.
P. S. I love my DPS16 and will probably use it till either I or it expires, which ever comes first. The only thing I fault with the system is that it does not have mix-automation.
