Vestax HDR6 & HDR4

Vestax have made the 6‑track format their trademark, but their new hard disk recorder range is a major step up in terms of sound quality, professional options and technical innovation. Paul Wiffen gives it the once‑over and finds himself going back for more.

At Frankfurt last year, a funny thing happened to me on the way to the Phonic stand. I was supposed to meet my colleagues there at a certain time, but on walking past another stand with half a dozen different lines on it, I spotted a couple of 2U racks with six VU meters and the legend 'Digital Recorder' on them. Mildly interested, I looked closer, thinking "someone else with a digital format tape machine" and wondering what tape format they were using. Then suddenly it hit me — there was no slot to put a tape in.

Now this was much more my sort of thing (people have suggested that I may actually be allergic to tape, but the truth is that there was an unhappy incident in my youth with a reel of tape containing the music that was going to make me a rock star — isn't self‑delusion a wonderful thing?). I looked around for someone to ask about them, but couldn't find anyone who seemed to belong to the stand. As I was late for my meeting, I had to leave it at that.

After the meeting I insisted on dragging my colleagues back to the stand, saying that there was something that we really had to see. By this time there was a delightful young German lady handing out brochures, so it took me 10 minutes to convince them that, lovely though she was, she wasn't what I was talking about. She told us that the machine was actually being demonstrated by the Canadian designer in one of the large hotels near the Messe, so the next morning before going to the show, we called in to see the machine. What we saw then was pretty exciting, enough for me to make sure I chased Vestax UK for a review model. But what I have in front of me now is even more exciting.

The Vestax hard disk recorders have actually been shipping in the US (where they are designed) for several months now, but the UK Vestax office have wisely waited until the published spec on the machines is fully implemented. As a result, when the machines become available in January in the UK, they will have the full monty, as described in the brochure.

At the price point at which they have been announced and with all these features present, the 6‑track HDR6 and the 4‑track HDR4 represent excellent value for money. The HDR6 comes with a 340Mb hard drive as standard, which allows you to record over 10 minutes of multitrack audio (or over half an hour of stereo). The HDR4 comes with a 250Mb drive, giving you 12 minutes and 30 seconds of 4‑track or 25 minutes of stereo audio. The record times of both machines can be expanded by adding a second IDE drive internally (the cheaper option by far) or for really massive record times, there is an optional SCSI board, which allows you to add an external drive in the gigabyte range (hours of multitrack recording time).

Transport Controls

Like other stand‑alone rackmount hard disk recording systems, the Vestax machines do an excellent job of emulating a tape recorder mechanism (something which is a weak point of the computer‑based systems — but then how can you control a transport properly with a mouse and a QWERTY keyboard?). When you press Play, playback starts without that delay of a second or so that you often get on a computer‑based system, especially when the computer you're using is working at the limit of its capability. It's the same with Stop, Fast Forward and Rewind.

When you hold FF or REW during playback, you get the kind of skip play or rewind that you would expect from a DAT machine. You do have to prime the machines for recording, by pressing 'Rec' once, then the tracks you want to record to, then 'Play', but I, for one, am pleased when manufacturers make it difficult to accidentally erase material. In fact, Vestax have come up with a really neat way of preventing accidental erasure (particularly of the excellent demo material that comes on the machines). Each time you power the machine up, it automatically switches itself into 'Protect' Mode, which takes several button pushes to switch off. This is a great defence against accidental erasure by yourself and other people who can't resist pushing red buttons marked 'Rec' (see Hitchhikers Guide "Please do not push this button again" incident).

Punching in and out of record is possible in two ways: automatically, using the A and B locators, or, as the brochure says "manually by footswitch" (I think the correct term would be pedally, but we won't split hairs!). In both cases a crossfade is used to prevent any clicking or popping at the drop in/out point. I tried this repeatedly and always got seamless punches (which is saying something with my playing!). One feature I found excellent with my unreliable performing skills was the ability to undo drop‑ins where I had managed to replace a so‑so performance with a truly dreadful one. This is accomplished by selecting the Undo Function and hitting Enter — the previous material is then recovered. When you know you can revert to the previous version, you're less likely to goof because it's not so critical to get it right (that's how it works with me, at any rate!). The Undo Function also clears many other potentially problematic operations — I'll mention these as we cover them.

Out of the box, you can simultaneously record two tracks via the analogue inputs on the front panel (variable between mic and line level using the two level controls), or the fixed +4dB jacks on the back; and/or two tracks digitally, via the coaxial or optical inputs on the back. This means that if you use a DAT machine in Pause/Record you can record four tracks simultaneously. Alternatively, Vestax offer an optional board with two additional A/D converters, which allows you to input four channels in analogue for simultaneous recording. This is a nice combination of keeping the price down for those who don't need to record more than two tracks at once, while giving the ability to record four tracks to those whose limited budget has to include a DAT machine for mastering, and the ideal solution of four analogue inputs for those who don't like to compromise.

If you are working with just the two analogue inputs, these are automatically assigned to the two lowest channels selected for recording, and the digital inputs to the next highest. However, you can invert this so that the digital inputs are assigned first, and then the analogue ones.

Muting And Direct Out

Pressing the Mute button allows you to select which of the tracks are playing back (Track Select is always lit green) and which is muted (Track Select flashes green). When you press Mute again to leave this mode, the Mute light will flash if any track has been left muted (so you don't pull your hair out wondering why a particular track is not playing back). The light only goes out completely if all tracks are unmuted. Nice feature!

Although the Vestax machines have an excellent on‑board mixer (with aux sends/returns) which we will go into in detail later, it is quite possible that you'll want to use an external mixer, and/or send the output of different channels to different destinations. Pressing the Direct Out button bypasses the internal mixing and sends each channel out of its individual output on the back.

Displays

The Vestax machines have two LED displays: a 6‑digit, 7‑segment window, which normally shows absolute or relative time (except during mixer editing, when it shows parameter values — see later), and a row of six LED columns forming a bargraph display. Repeatedly pressing the Display button switches between Track Level, Mixer and Master Level modes. This lets you see at a glance the incoming/recorded levels, mixer parameters and overall levels in quick succession.

Displays are another area where computer‑based systems are sometimes lacking. Because the CPU of the computer (quite rightly) prioritises audio functions over updating the screen, time displays and level meters are often jerky and lag behind. There are no such problems on the Vestax machines. Displays are always absolutely in sync and smooth in operation. On the HDR4 4‑track model, the fifth and sixth columns are used to show the stereo output levels.

Jogging And Shuttling

During playback, the Jog Dial (as Vestax call it) can be used to vary pitch very smoothly (quite the most authentic varispeed algorithm I've heard on a hard‑disk based product). Alternatively, when stopped, it can be used to Shuttle backwards and forwards to cue up edit points, A and B locators (for auto drop‑ins), or simply playback start (ideal for broadcasters). This shuttling repeatedly plays a short section of the material, starting at the current time position. This allows you to precisely locate the start of a bass drum or other suitable edit point, and I have always found it preferable to the 'scrubbing' method, which is just a bad habit carried over from the prehistoric days of tape (in my opinion, hard disk‑based systems should improve on tape, not just copy it).

If neither of these facilities is selected, then the Jog Dial becomes a sort of parameter value knob for a wealth of functions, which are cycled through using the Function switch: Program Execute (selecting programs which hold snapshots of the mixer); Program Save (to make a snapshot of the current mixer setup — up to eight available); Input Select (to change the input assignment, as described above); Sample Frequency Select (48kHz, 44.1kHz and 32kHz); Sample Sync Select (Internal, Digital In for recording, or Slave for sync'ing multiple units); Memory Protect/Unprotect; Buffer Size (to allow bigger edits to be done); and Undo (the all‑purpose life‑saver whose virtues I extolled earlier).

Fix It In The Mix

The Vestax digital recorders hide their light under a bushel a little, in that they do contain a full‑function digital mixer as standard for the price (so you don't need to budget for mixer channels to mix your recorded material down). This mixer features panning, 3‑band EQ with sweepable mid, and four aux send/returns (two on the HDR4). It also allows you to either take 'snapshots', which can then be selected via MIDI Program Change, or to use MIDI Continuous Controllers to fully automate the mix.

All the mixer functions are accessed when the Display button is used to select 'Mixer'. Each parameter can be called up individually, and the level of each of the six tracks is shown in the main display. If you select Pan (for example), the display shows left to right position as top to bottom, with the bars extending up or down from the middle. If you select one of the many levels (aux send 2, for example), the bars that represent the each track's send level start from the bottom.

The EQ is smooth, and certainly as versatile as the type found on a mid‑price mixer. The high band centres at 12kHz and can be cut or boosted by up to 12dB. The Low band operates around 80Hz, and the Mid band can be swept between 500Hz and 2kHz. You would need to pay at least £500 to get more than this flexibility in a stand‑alone mixer (although you would certainly get more channels as well). Add to this the automatability (via MIDI sequencer) and the digital mixing represents a significant bonus, included, as it is, in the basic pricing of the Vestax machines.

Merging And Other Utilities

Another advantage of having a built‑in mixer (and standard rather than an option) is that if you use it for bouncing down tracks, all processing is in the digital domain, so these operations don't add noise or reduce the bandwidth, as on analogue machines. Merging (as Vestax call it) is obviously much more versatile on the HDR6, as you can bounce five tracks to one, or four tracks to stereo. This was always the strong point of Vestax's analogue 6‑track machines, but now in the digital domain, the concept is even stronger.

The actual process of merging is simplicity itself. Once you have lit the Merge LED by repeatedly pressing the Utility button, you just select the one or two tracks you want to bounce to, record as normal, and the output of the internal mixer, with all its EQ and level settings (and panning, if you're doing a stereo bounce) is recorded onto the destination track(s) for as long as the machine is in record.

The next Utility is MIDI settings, comprising MIDI Channel, MIDI Clock Transmit, and Record. This means that you can record in MIDI Clock from a sequencer (complete with tempo changes, if required) and then send it back out to allow a sequencer to sync to the HDR6 or HDR4.

The remaining Utility is the all‑important Back‑up and Load facility; the HDRs allow you to back up to a DAT machine as standard, but there is also an optional board which allows you to save to video tape.

Hack And Slash: Editing Tracks

We finally come to the raison d'être of any hard disk recorder. Let's face it, the arguments about rewind time and instant access may apply in the top recording studios, where time is money, but project studios and home setups will only change over to hard disk recording if it gives access to facilities they just can't get with tape. Of course, the sort of editing that you can do on a stereo hard disk editor can be done with tape — as long as you don't mind spending a lot of time and sitting there making copies of any material you want to repeat.

But once you come on to multitrack hard disk systems, they can perform edit operations which simply cannot be done on multitrack tape unless you fancy trying to cut the tape lengthwise — somewhat impractical! However, on the Vestax HDRs you can not only copy and insert or overwrite material at new positions on individual or all tracks — you can also move material from one track to another.

The A and B locators are used to define the material you want to copy, move or delete. Remember that the Shuttle function can be used to precisely cue up the points at which you want your edit material to start and end. Once you have the precise point where you want the edit material to start (or end), you simply press Enter and then the A (or B) buttons above the transport controls to set the start (or end) point. To make sure you have the exact edit points you need, you can use the AB Single or AB Repeat play functions. Obviously AB Repeat is useful for checking a section which you want to copy several times in succession (something the HDR6 allows you to do up to 24 times, automatically). The only problem is that you can't shift the A or B points whilst the AB Repeat is actually happening; you have to Exit, Auto‑locate to A or B (whichever you want to move), then use Shuttle or the transport functions to adjust the point, and then Enter, followed by the A or B button to set the new position as the new start or end point. However, you soon get used to this sequence of button pushes and you get pretty nifty at tweaking start and end, thanks to the Shuttle function.

Once you've set A and B to mark the material you want to move or copy, you then set the position to which you want the material to move, just by going to that point using the transport and/or shuttle controls. Once you are happy with this point, pressing the Edit button allows you to switch between 'Move', 'Copy' and 'Delete' (where the current stop position is unimportant).

Enter moves you on to deciding from which track you want to take the edit material (choice of All or 1‑6 via the Jog Dial); press Enter again to define the track you want to move it to (same choices), unless you are deleting, in which case there's no destination track, of course!

The next choice is whether you want to move the material at the edit point ('Insert' for Move or Copy, 'Shift' for Delete), or not ('Over' for Move or Copy, 'Erase' for Delete). If you choose not to move the material at the destination, it will be masked by the AB material. There is an additional choice for Copy, allowing you to choose how many times the AB material is copied (back to back).

Once you've made all these choices, pressing Enter performs the operation, and the display shows when it's done. You can now listen to the results by pressing Exit and Play. If you don't like the result, press Function until Undo shows in the display, then press Enter three times (for safety). This allows you to remove the most recent playlist edit.

Those of you who are familar with hard disk editing terminology may have deduced from the use of the term 'playlist' that these editing operations are all non‑destructive (not always the case with stand‑alone hard disk recorders). Whilst you cannot give names to each of your edit regions, as you could on a computer‑based system, the HDRs keep perfect track of each of the edits that you make and perform them in real time each time you play back.

However, as the manual points out, this causes the heads of the hard disk to fly around, which may produce "a mechanical clicking noise while accessing the many positions". Of course, this is exactly the same as on a computer‑based system, but there you may well have the hard‑drive well away from your work area (as you could a SCSI drive with the HDRs).

If you want to get rid of this clicking, you can Reduce the playlist by making the edits permanent, by pressing Function until 'Playlist' shows in the display. Pressing Enter shows 'Reduce' and pressing Enter twice (for safety) starts the process. Obviously this may take some time, as data is actually being moved around on the hard drive, so you should only do this at the end of an editing session — and remember that no edits can be undone once once the playlist has been reduced.

Working On The Chain Gang

Despite all the good stuff we've seen so far, perhaps the greatest hope for the success of the Vestax machines lies in the ease with which multiple units can be used together. Because the HDRs implement MMC (MIDI Machine Control), running two together is as simple as connecting them via a single MIDI cable (no proprietary connectors required). This means that the transport controls of the designated master can control the transport and sync of as many slaves as you want to set up. Visions of monolithic towers of HDR6/4s creating hundreds of sync'd tracks for recording/edit tempt me into control freak fantasies but I resist. Nevertheless, a 12‑track system would clock in at less than five grand, with a 24‑track system coming in at under £10,000. Not at all bad, eh?

As I only had one machine for review I was unable to try this out, but the theory of MMC is so simple, I can't see any reason for this not working. Indeed it should be possible to gang up a Vestax with any MMC‑compatible machine. In this way the Vestax could continue to make its track capabilities useful whatever the future may hold.

Conclusion

The sound quality of the HDR6 and HDR4 is excellent but, as I never tire of telling people, buying a hard disk recorder with digital I/O just on the basis of its sound quality is foolish. It is so easy to use the A/Ds and D/As on your favourite DAT machine or even a stand‑alone unit like the Lexicon or Apogee products to get the sound quality you need. A hard disk recorder/editor must stand or fall on its editing facilities, ease‑of‑use and price point, so how do the Vestaxes measure up on these yardsticks?

The HDRs are the most flexible stand‑alone editors I have ever seen, especially considering that they have no visual representation of the audio data. The Shuttle feature is fantastic for cueing up edit points, and the ability to move and copy to different tracks, as well as backward and forward in time, has no limitations that I could find. Of course, if you're one of the new generation who can't do anything solely by ear, but insist on seeing everything in front of you on a massive monitor, this is not the product for you (or not until the teasing computer connectivity references become a reality). As for myself, I found using the system 'blind' a positive advantage, as one is not constantly waiting for waveform displays to re‑load and screens to re‑draw. I found myself zipping around at speed and performing the most complicated edits easily (although a software update letting you update A and B whilst Shuttling would be welcome).

As far as price is concerned, the HDR6 represents excellent value for money, as it includes the first IDE hard drive and the mixer EQ as standard, but when you consider how useful the extra two tracks are for bouncing in stereo and just for more audio material, I can't see anyone not stumping up the extra £300 for the HDR6 over the HDR4! On balance, the Vestaxes measure up against the most established competition, and you should not let the humbler analogue machines for which they are best known blind you to the fact that these are professional recorders of the highest spec. Don't buy without checking these machines out.