The EM Poll

KORG MR-1 and MR-1000 (Bonus)

Aug 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Geary Yelton

           

This online bonus material supplements the review of the Korg MR-1 and MR-1000 portable stereo recorders in the August 2007 issue of EM.

Through the AudioGate

The first time you run the AudioGate software, it requires that you connect your MR-1 or MR-1000 for authorization. When you connect it to your computer, the recorder enters USB mode and no longer functions using its onboard controls. Its hard disk mounts on your computer desktop like any other hard disk, allowing you to exchange audio files between machines.

AudioGate handles a handful of basic utility functions, and its user interface makes operation straightforward. However, it is not an audio-editing program and has no waveform display. Its primary function is to convert stereo 1-, 16-, and 24-bit files and even 32-bit floating-point files from one format to another; the maximum file size is 4 GB. AudioGate supports all the file formats that the MR-1 and MR-1000 support except for MP3. It can divide one file into smaller files, and it can join several files into a larger file. It also allows you to change any file’s overall gain, create fades at its beginning and end, and then export it as a new file. In addition, it can improve a recording’s headroom by removing DC offset if desired.

If you want to graphically edit a DSD file, you’ll need to convert it to a multibit file and then open it in your audio editor of choice. In the process, you’ll obviously lose the advantages of the 1-bit format. If you want to archive original 1-bit recordings, then, you should save them unedited, much as photographers save RAW files in their original state and create JPEG or TIFF copies for editing. Because your computer’s audio interface can’t play 1-bit audio files, you’ll need to play them through the recorder’s outputs if you want playback at full fidelity.