Press the "Song" button to open up the Song page on the LED touch screen. Press "New" to open a dialog box that will ask if you'd like to record at 16-bit or 24-bit. The standard for regular CDs is 16-bit, so either choice will give you CD-quality sound. Remember, though, that if you choose the higher 24-bit resolution, the Korg will allow you only eight tracks to work with. The only way to have use of the full 16 tracks is to select the 16-bit option.
Click the "Rename" button on the song page to name your song. If you don't do this, the song will be given a number (New Song 001) in the song menu. If you have only one or two songs on the recorder, this might not be such an issue, but as you record more songs that you can only identify as a number, it will be difficult to identify and select desired songs from the menu list.
Turn the channel 1 "Trim" knob fully counterclockwise, and plug your instrument or microphone cable into the channel 1 input. Route your instrument to this channel by pushing the "Mixer" key, clicking the "CH1 Source" display and choosing "Input" 1 as the source for Channel 1. You can test this by plugging in headphones to the designated headphone jack on the front panel of the Korg, and gradually raising the Trim level on Input 1 until you hear your instrument in the headphones.
Press the channel 1 "Status" button above the channel 1 fader until it turns red to arm it for recording. Similarly, press the "Record" button on the D1600's transport control panel to put the machine in record-ready mode. To signify this, the red Record light will blink continuously.
Play your instrument to audition the recording level, using the Trim control knob to adjust the level. Watch the Trim LED light to make sure that it doesn't flash red, even during loud spikes in volume. If the light flashes red, lower the Trim control gradually until it stops. The red light signifies that the signal is being clipped and that digital information is being lost from the signal. This harsh-sounding digital distortion will impair your recording's sound quality.
Press "Play" to begin recording. The red flashing light will turn to solid red. Press "Stop" when you're done. Press "Stop" and "Rewind" at the same time to return to the beginning of your recording. Press "Play" once more to listen to your recording.