Roland VS-1824 (2001)
Eighteen tracks, 288 virtual takes, and a 24-bit path - Roland's late-model V-Studio that packed a whole project studio into 6.2 kilograms.
Overview
The VS-1824 landed in November 2001 as Roland's 24-bit digital studio workstation. It has eighteen tracks, sixteen V-Tracks deep, for 288 virtual takes in all. Sample rates are 48.0, 44.1, and 32.0 kHz, and the vari-pitch range runs from 22.00 kHz up to 50.48 kHz. The CD variant, the VS-1824CD, shipped with a demo disk and a blank CD-R, and it weighed 6.5 kg against the base unit's 6.2 kg. Power draw was modest: 33 W for the VS-1824, 36 W for the CD version.
The connectivity is where this machine earns its keep. Inputs 1 and 2 are XLR balanced with phantom power. Inputs 3 through 8 are 1/4-inch TRS balanced. There's also a dedicated Guitar (Hi-Z) jack on a 1/4-inch phone connector for plugging straight in. Input impedance is 30k ohm balanced across inputs 1-8, but the Hi-Z jack jumps to 500k ohm, enough to keep a passive guitar pickup from loading down. Nominal input level is variable from -50 to +4 dBu, with a maximum of +26 dBu balanced or +20 dBu unbalanced. Digital I/O covers both coaxial and optical on the in and out sides. Master Out and Monitor Out are RCA, as are the AUX A and AUX B sends, and there's a stereo 1/4-inch headphone jack rated for 8-50 ohm loads. A DB-25 SCSI connector handles external drives, MIDI runs on standard DIN 5-pin connectors, and a 1/4-inch footswitch jack takes a Boss FS-5U or DP-2 pedal.
The recording numbers look good on paper. Frequency response at 48 kHz is 20 Hz - 22 kHz at ±0.2 dB. At 44.1 kHz it's 20 Hz - 20 kHz, same tolerance, and at 32 kHz it's 20 Hz - 14 kHz. Total harmonic distortion is 0.005% or less at 1 kHz with input sensitivity at 0 dBu in MTP recording mode. Residual noise at the master, AUX A, AUX B, and monitor outs is -82 dBu or less with a 1k ohm terminated input. The unit supports up to 200 songs per format - VS-880, 880EX, 890, 1680, 1824, and VSR-880 - with a total song limit of 500 across the machine. At a 2GB partition, MTP mode gives roughly 742 minutes at 48 kHz, 808 at 44.1, and 1,114 at 32 kHz. The MAS and CDR modes cut that to about 370, 404, and 556 minutes respectively. MT2 and the LIV modes stretch further, up to 1,484 minutes at 48 kHz in LIV2.
The optional VS8F-2 24-bit effect expansion board is the upgrade most owners chased. EQ Magazine (August 2004, p.27) covered the plug-in expansion card for Roland V-Studio workstations at $395. Installing it means opening the bottom cover - power off, cables disconnected - and seating the board on the internal connector and three plastic pins. Once in, it gives you two stereo effect systems, each routable to the effect buss or inserted into a specific channel, with 200 preset patches, 210 user patches, and 34 algorithms covering reverb, delay, vocal and guitar effects, and even vocoder and RSS processing. Patches can be saved individually or folded into a Scene alongside the mixer settings.
The VS-1824's internal clock is battery-powered, so owners will eventually need to reset the date and time after a battery swap. The error-message list in the manual shows the machine's failure modes: SCSI ID conflicts when two drives share a number, "Unformatted!" when a drive hasn't been initialized, "Song Protected!" when protection is engaged, and a whole family of CD-R errors around TOC reads, blank discs, and Track-at-Once writes on CD-RW media. The CD drive is fussy about media, as CD-R drives of the era tended to be. The unit supports a maximum of 1,000 markers per song and 98 track markers per disc, and the automix system needs at least 1,000 events free for realtime recording and 200 for undo/redo.
Roland's own documentation notes that VS-1880 song data is identical to the VS-1824's, which made migration between the two machines straightforward. The 18-track architecture, the 288 V-Tracks, and the 24-bit path put it firmly in the project-studio class of its day, and the SCSI port meant external drives were part of the workflow. The footprint is 620 × 520 × 138 mm, which takes real desk space, but it's not a boat anchor.
Anyone tracking one down today should treat the VS-1824 as a working machine first and a collector's piece second. It calls for patience with SCSI drives, a supply of compatible CD-R media if the CD variant is in play, and a willingness to learn the V-Track workflow, which is deeper than it first appears. Check whether a given unit has the VS8F-2 board installed before committing.
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