With 32 tracks at your disposal, there's plenty of room for overdubbing lots of musical parts. In addition, each of the 32 tracks has 8 partitions called "virtual" tracks that are available for recording, giving you 256 different tracks to work with. This flexibility allows you to experiment with different takes of the same part and even try out the same musical part with a variety of instruments, keeping all of these tracks for future review. Though this gives you multiple options, keeping accurate records of everything you record is imperative if you want to avoid confusion when it comes to mixing your music. The simplest way is to download a track sheet and update it after every track you record.
Even if you think you have great meter and can play songs at a fairly consistent tempo, there will always be natural fluctuations in your performance. In a solo performance this may not be a problem, but when you're adding new musical parts on different tracks, it will be difficult to match up all of the performances. Using the Korg's built-in drum machine will help you avoid this. You can access the drums via the button marked "Session Drums" and select either a preset pattern or compose your own. Even if your song is acoustic-based and won't require a drum track, it's worth using the drum machine's metronome setting. When mixing, you can simply mute this metronome (or "click") track and be left with a song that plays in perfect time.
Each of the recorder's 32 tracks have equalizer (EQ) controls that allow you to cut and boost different frequencies of your recorded signals. This is especially useful when you have tracks that lack definition due to them competing with others in a similar frequency range. Careful adjustment of the tone of one signal can give these tracks a sense of separation without having to add more volume. Be careful when adding EQ to tracks, since this also adds noise to the whole mix and can lead to digital distortion. Whenever possible, try cutting offending frequencies rather than boosting. This allows you more headroom and will help you avoid muddying the mix.
The Korg D3200 has a high-impedance jack specifically for recording electric guitars. This jack, which is marked "Guitar In," allows you to record an electric guitar or bass guitar without having to use a guitar amplifier. Using this in conjunction with the Korg's on-board amplifier-modeling effects gives you a wide variety of sounds to work with, allowing you to emulate the sound of many classic amplifiers. For added convenience, this jack also has an on-board tuner that allows you to quickly check and adjust your tuning.
There are four locator buttons on the D3200, each of which can be assigned to a different part of the song you're working on. These buttons make it easy to instantly jump to certain sections of the song without having to use the "Rewind" or "Fast Forward" buttons. If, for example, you're working on a guitar solo section and want to do multiple takes, assign the first locator point to a few measures before the beginning of the solo section; you'll then be able to instantly recall that precise point in the song by simply pressing the first locator button.
Backing up song data on the Korg can either be done by connecting it via USB to a computer or external hard drive, or by inserting a blank CD in the Korg's built-in CD-RW drive. Should the Korg suffer a hard-drive failure, irreplaceable recordings may be permanently lost, so whichever method you choose, it's best to back up after each recording session. As an added convenience, these backups not only save the recorded performances, they also save all related mixer settings, such as effects and EQ.