WHEN YAMAHA introduced the AW4416 Professional Audio Workstation three years ago, it included useful features from the 02R and 01V digital mixers. Much of the technology trickled down further into the midpriced AW2816 in 2002. However, the budget workstation in the AW line, the AW16G, benefits the most from its forebears in terms of technical evolution.

But don't let its diminutive size and price fool you into thinking that the AW16G is merely a stripped-down version of its larger siblings. For example, it includes two features from the AW4416 that were absent on the AW2816: sampling pads and dedicated EQ knobs. As a result, the AW16G offers the best bang for the buck in the personal digital studio market. For just over a grand, you get a 16-track recorder with built-in effects, a sampler, a digital mixer with phantom power, EQ and dynamics on every channel, and a built-in CD-RW burner capable of creating audio and data CDs.

The AW16G records eight tracks simultaneously to the internal 20 GB hard drive, and you can play back all 16 tracks at 16-bit, 44.1 kHz resolution. Each channel provides parametric 4-band EQ and dynamics processing. In addition, the AW16G offers two stereo effects processors, which can be used as inserts, bus effects, and master effects.

The AW16G lets you edit, process, and mix your tracks down to a dedicated stereo master track. When you're done, you burn your CDs using the data on the master track.

The mixer has 13 nonmotorized faders — eight for the individual channels, four for the stereo channels, and one for the master stereo bus (see Fig. 1). The recorder section is on the unit's right side, and the typical transport-related controls — marker, punch, memory, and data-entry tools — live there. All are clearly labeled and laid out.

On the rear panel you'll find two XLR inputs with phantom power and six balanced ¼-inch TRS inputs (see Fig. 2). Input 8 includes an additional high-impedance, unbalanced ¼-inch jack, so you can plug in an electric guitar or bass directly. Other connections include S/PDIF digital I/O, MIDI I/O, stereo monitor outputs, aux outputs, a footswitch jack, and a headphone jack.

The eight rear-panel analog inputs are logically chosen. I was able to connect two condenser mics, a stereo keyboard workstation, a stereo drum machine, an electric bass (through a DI), and an electric guitar all at once.

Yamaha put three front-panel, user-friendly tools into the AW16G. The Sound Clip is a continuous-loop recorder that allows you to capture audio quickly without setup or routing preparation. Once you have captured audio with this tool, you can assign the loop to a track for further editing and processing.

The Quick Loop Sampler is useful for triggering samples, such as in a live-performance situation. Sixteen samples can be assigned to the four front-panel pads. In addition, the samples can be sequenced on their own track, so you won't sacrifice an audio track when you use them.

The Quick Navigate Record/Monitor feature reduces your multitrack recording setup to a minimum. It also allows you to quickly switch between mixer views, such as recording and monitoring.

The AW16G's immense effects library features a guitar-based amp simulator that has 13 adjustable parameters, including amp type, distortion type, drive, master volume, cabinet depth, EQ, and noise gate. The amp simulator is quite versatile and is realistic enough for layered rhythm parts as well as exposed lead passages.

When working with the AW16G, I generally saved the second effects processor for mixing. I put either an ambient processor on an effects send for multichannel use or a master effect across the stereo bus. My favorite master effect is Rev+Sympho, which puts reverb in parallel with a rich chorus.

To access an external effects processor, I used the stereo aux jack for the sends. I had to use two of the channel inputs to get the processed signal back into the machine because there are no effects-return jacks on the AW16G. Still, the routing versatility of the device makes it easy to route the input channels along with the track returns to the master stereo track.

In Edit mode you can copy song sections, trim and clean up audio passages, and apply processing. The AW16G's high-quality LCD makes it easy to assemble short audio passages into longer song sections.

In Waveform view, you can zoom in to the sample level, but you can't set start and end points for editing operations. To do that, you must go back to the Track view. That's a minor irritation because it forces you to toggle back and forth between views — setting start and end points in one, viewing your progress in another — if you're doing a really tight edit. The good news is that you can set a marker in the detailed Edit view, and then locate to it when you're ready to perform the edit.

The processing choices in Edit mode include normalization, reversal, pitch-shifting, time compression, and time expansion. You can also make use of the virtual tracks, which are available not only to individual tracks but to the stereo track.

Although its MIDI implementation is quite powerful, the AW16G doesn't offer onboard MIDI sequencing. It transmits and receives MIDI Time Code (MTC) and MIDI Machine Control (MMC), and it transmits MIDI Clock. Continuous Controller messages and selected channel parameters, (pan, mute, and send levels) can be transmitted and received as well, making it possible to sync the AW16G to a MIDI sequencer.

You can also use the AW16G as a control surface for software DAW packages, such as Steinberg Cubase, Cakewalk Sonar, Digidesign Pro Tools, and Emagic Logic Audio. Templates are supplied on the CD-ROM that accompanies the AW16G. When I hooked the AW16G to my Mac, running Cubase SX, I was able to perform all the functions that my dedicated control surface could, such as fader and transport control, EQ, mute, and solo.

Burning a CD is straightforward on the AW16G. You can use either CD-R or CD-RW media, and you can write in either disk-at-once or track-at-once modes.

You begin by assembling a track list from the stereo-track mixes of your songs. From the Track-List window, it's easy to change the song order and set track start and end points using markers. The only limitation is that you can't save your track-list data. You can make multiple CD copies of a track list if you do them all in one session, but you can't save your track list for later recall. As far as other disk-based operations, you can use the AW16G's CD-RW drive to import data from the AW2816 and AW4416, import WAV files, import from an audio CD, or play a conventional audio CD.

Aside from its pristine sound and powerful mixer capabilities, what makes the AW16G special is its Quick Loop Sampler, Sound Clip, and Quick Navigate modes. These time-saving tools, along with the dedicated EQ knobs, makes operating the AW16G a breeze and a pleasure.

The AW16G is best suited for complete, self-contained internal production because of its front-end features, because it was designed around a CD burner, and because it can export only 16-bit, 44.1 kHz audio. It's not built for capturing high-resolution audio destined for uploading into a DAW for top-tier projects.

But for musicians who love the idea of using one device that's as intuitive as a cassette recorder on the front end, powerful and versatile in the middle, and a no-brainer when it comes to burning a CD, the AW16G is the leading triple threat in the standalone-workstation arena.