User Reviews of Zoom HD16CD Digital Multi-Track Recorder / Control Surface

I loved it for all of two months. Now it's in for repairs since end of February and won't be returned until sometime in April according to repair center. Not too happy!!!

I was hesitant to buy a Zoom product after a not so good experience with a guitar effects unit bought in the 80's - but now I am totally impressed! The features sold me: 8 tracks simultaneous recording nice mixer layout with a clean and logical arrangement of inputs, faders, level meters, and other controls built in effects and rhythm machine plus the ability to act as a controller for the included Cubase LE. Plus the abiity to burn the CD onboard. Where else will you find all that at this price? The layout is simple but smart, easy to work with for the most part. Some of the button sequences you need to press are not so obvious (do I use the Project Utility key, or Edit, or is it one of the multi-purpose drum pad keys???) and the manual could be better written, but the most common functions are easy to figure out and to work with. I like the input jacks that can accept either a balanced XLR mic cable or a Hi-Z guitar cable - a smart touch that makes the input section less cluttered while increasing the utility. My old Zoom pedal was plastic and cheaply made this recorder is solidly built and the buttons and faders have a sturdy feel to them. A few buttons were a bit sticky when I first started using it, but after I used them for a couple days they worked fine - I guess they just needed a little loosening up. The parameter knobs don't have as rugged a feel to them as the other controls, but they work OK. The sound is great. Very little noise. The effects are outstanding (though a few of them are gimmicky). Most of the presets are very good and useful as is, but they all can be tweaked. I have never really been satisfied with digital amp models but the ones here are pretty decent and cover a good range of sounds. The reverb is outstanding - there is a Budokan preset that is really convincing. And the rhythm machine is great and again very flexible, including the ability to assign your own sounds to the pads. I also like their FAST (Formula Assisted Song Translator) method of programming the rhythms: (1+2)x4 means play patterns 1 and 2 and repeat this 4 times - simple and saves lots of work when you program a rhythm track. In summary, this is a smartly thought out, feature-packed, and well built digital multitrack that I think is an incredible value! I am an engineer by training, and this is a well-designed and manufactured piece of equipment. I have had it less than a week, so maybe I will find the flaws later, but right now I am in home recording heaven.

I wanted to express my appreciation of Musician's Buy for another great deal. This Zoom MTR is everything I expected and more. I did not want to spend a lot of time trying to learn how to operate a recorder. This unit is very user friendly and has an intuitive interface. You will definitely need to read the manual several times to learn about all of the intricate features but it won't take long before you are burning CD's of your newly recorded songs. I recorded three decent songs within the first week. The drum and bass tracks are surpisingly realistic and add a lot of bottom end when played on my stereo. You will probably need to learn how to write your own drum patterns to get the fills you need and that will take some time. I have also plugged a bass directly into the Hi-Z input with great results. I went through an EH LPB-2ube preamp that sounded great but I think the internal bass amp simulators would sound just fine. I have tried the guitar amp simulators and they sound OK but I still like the miked sound of my vintage Fender amps better. You won't be disappointed with this unit. The build quality seems very good and the layout looks better to my eye than the Boss or Tascam units. It comes with Cubase which I have not tried to use because I wanted to keep it simple for now because this unit will do everything I need without a computer. I just have a Shure SM57 and a Rode NT-1A condenser mike and I can do everything I need except record a live band or full drum set. The other reason I went with the 16 track unit is you can record up to 8 tracks simultaneously if you need to. This unit is loaded so you won't be disappointed. I am an amateur at recording but for the home studio, this unit has all I need.