From: Joe Caparo
Hey, John
I've been reading your posts in the VS group, and I'm interested in learning more about the other mixer-modes available. I've only had my VS for a short time and I've been using Input -> Track exclusively, mainly because I don't understand how to use the other two modes; am I 'old school' or what? Your explanation on the list shed some light on the I>M/T>M modes, but I'm still in the dark for the most part. Any info you're willing to share would be greatly appreciated; I'd like to feel that I'm utilizing the VS to the extent of its capabilities, and I'm obviously not doing that in Input -> Track mode. I'd hate to look back at my projects in six months and kick myself for not using the other modes.
When I first got my VS, I, too, was using only the Input -> Track mode because I couldn't figure out what the other modes were all about, so I know how you feel. It's really frustrating, because you just know you could be doing so much more, if only you could figure out how! You quickly learn, though, that with persistence (and _extreme_ patience using the awful manual that comes with the VS) you can do just about anything you set out to do.
In learning about the different mixer modes, as well as all the other wonderful features the VS is packed with, I've found it's helpful (painful as it may be) to read and absorb as much of the manual as you can before really digging in. You can fiddle around a little with each item as you go, and begin to familiarize yourself with the individual features, as well as getting a feel for the thing as a whole. After that, the best way, I think, to really get to know what you're doing is this: choose a recording task you'd like to accomplish and, step-by- step, keeping the manual at your side, make that goal happen. For example, you say to yourself, "I want to sit down with my guitar and record a song where I accompany myself singing. I want to record the whole thing live - no overdubs - and I want the guitar in stereo, the vocals in mono. I want to hear some real nice reverb on my vocals and a sweet chorus effect on the guitar while I record, but I don't want the effects to go to disk, only to my headphones." By taking things a step at a time (you'll probably have to go _very_ slowly at first), you'll get the results you want and learn all about your VS at the same time.
If you've been following the mailing list for the past little while, you probably know that there's an additional "Application Guide" Roland is now, as a special promotion, sending out for free to "registered" users of the VS-880 (those who've sent in their warranty cards). I highly recommend this guide; the language is much clearer than that in the original owner's manual, and there are numerous illustrations of how to use the VS in hands-on situations of the kind the average user would regularly encounter.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Since you appear to have been using your VS in Input -> Track mode for a while, I'm sure you have a general sense of how the whole thing works in this mode. However, while you can make perfectly fine recordings this way, it's true, as you say, that you're missing out on a lot of the power at your disposal. As I said in my original post, Input -> Track mode is mainly for use in fairly simple recording situations: a few instruments and/or vocals slapped on to your disk, boom! You're done. You don't have to think much about how to send signals where you want them, or how to play them back once they're recorded.
But let's say you're getting beyond that simple stage -- you're turning into a multi-track maniac, and you can't get enough things happening at once! You'll recall from my earlier post the description I gave of the traditional method of working with a conventional mixing board and multitrack tape: part of the board is devoted to input sources, the other part to tape playback.
[For those who might have missed that earlier post, here it is again, in abbreviated form: "The best way to illustrate the way this [Input Mix/Track Mix] mode functions is to compare it to the traditional way an ordinary mixing board and multitrack recorder work together. In this traditional setup the board essentially gets divided in half: the first, let's say eight, channels of the board are taken up with your recording sources (instruments and vocals). Levels and tone are adjusted with the trim control, EQ and fader, then these channels' signals are routed out of the mixer to the multitrack. The multitrack records the signals, which then get played back through another eight channels of the mixer. You use the trim, EQ and faders on these channels to control the sound quality and levels for mixdown. In addition, however, while the tape tracks are playing, you can use some of the other channels you still have open on the board to add "live" sources to the mix -- another vocal or guitar, say, or some synth tracks, anything you want to throw in -- along with your tape tracks. The reason the VS makes you switch between Input Mix and Track Mix to do this is simply that Roland didn't design the thing with enough room on the front panel for sixteen channel strips -- the eight strips must do double duty."]
So you can see that, instead of having everything all laid out in front of you as you would on a big mixer ("live" sources on the left, tape sources on the right), on the VS you must switch back and forth between the two, while using the same set of controls for each. This is the tricky part, the part that can really screw you up if you don't pay attention. It's a surprisingly difficult concept to get a handle on: by switching between Input Mix and Track Mix modes, you can use the same set of controls, the same eight channel strips, to control two completely separate sets of sound sources -- one set that is already recorded on your disk, and another set that comes from outside the VS altogether. Here's how it works in my home studio, where I compose demos of new songs for my band:
Typically, an arrangement for one of my songs will consist of a fairly large number of parts: bass and drums (recorded as virtual tracks on my Korg M1 Workstation), two or three (or more!) guitars, lead vocals, backing vocals, synth pads and/or extra synth percussion tracks, and assorted sweeteners. Already you can see where this is leading: the guitar and vocal parts alone would take up the VS-880's eight recording tracks (and thus the channels to mix them). I've got to find some way to handle all the other stuff, and I don't want to use an external mixer. What do I do? Well, I could dump all the synth stuff onto two of the VS's virtual tracks, then maybe engage in some complicated track bouncing later on, but I don't want to. I want to take the two to four outs from my synth and mix them straight to DAT along with my audio tracks, without another intermediate recording step to corrode the sound quality. Input Mix/Track Mix to the rescue! Without getting into too much detail about my particular method of working, the process usually goes like this (your process may differ considerably, once you get going):
I start by taking a pair of stereo outs from my synth and patching them to two inputs on the VS (1 and 2, let's say), which I have in Input Mix mode. Since there's rarely a need to adjust the individual channels of this stereo pair separately, I usually use the VS's Channel Link function to make things easier -- only one fader to adjust instead of two. (Refer to the manual or Application Guide if you're unfamiliar with Channel Link.) I adjust trim and fader levels for the synth input and set the buss switch to "Mix", so I can hear it through my monitors during playback. I then record a scratch drum track on my sequencer, so I can have a beat to play along with as I compose the guitar chord progressions that make up the basis for a song. So far so good, no?
Okay. Got the drum thing happening. Now I want guitar. I've still got a number of inputs free on the VS, so I plug the guitar into Input 3. (In my home studio I usually like to record my guitar direct-in, rather than using an amplifier -- helps to avoid p***ing off the neighbors.) I adjust the trim and fader levels as before. This time, however, instead of sending the input to the Mix, I want to send it to a Track to be recorded. So I set Channel 3's buss switch to "1-2". If left this way, my guitar signal would be routed in equal amounts to Tracks 1 and 2, which would be fine, if that was what I wanted. But my guitar signal is mono, and there's no real need to send it to two tracks. So I turn Channel 3's panpot all the way to the left, thus sending the signal to Track 1 alone.
Now here's an important distinction between Input -> Track mode and Input Mix/Track Mix mode: In both modes, you can choose which Inputs go to which Tracks. But the way you do it differs from one mode to the next. In Input -> Track mode, you set each Track's Input Source. In Input Mix/Track Mix mode, you set each Input's buss switch and panpot. See the difference? Now comes the time to switch to Track Mix mode. We press the Select button and. . .
POOF!
Here we are in Track Mix Land! My guitar, as you recall from above, has been assigned to Track 1, so we'll be using the controls on Channel 1 to make the necessary adjustments for playback. Before we do, however, here's where you can begin to see how it works, using the same set of controls to manipulate two separate sources. Assuming you've been following along -- sticking stuff in Inputs, etc., as I go through this explanation -- or even if you haven't, do the following: Without changing any settings, press the Channel Edit button on Channel 1, then scroll through a few of the menu pages and note the various parameter settings for Track 1. Now press the Select button to return to Input Mix mode. Try changing a few of Channel 1's controls -- slide the fader up or down, adjust the pan, etc. -- and note the parameter settings as before. Now go back to Track Mix and scroll through the menus again. You'll see that, while the top panel controls have changed position from when you were in Track Mix mode before, none of the Track parameters have changed. An asterisk appears on the display next to each parameter for which you've changed top panel control settings, to let you know that what shows on the top panel is different from the actual value set for that particular parameter. This may be a bit confusing at first, but if you simply keep in mind that you're using the same set of controls for two different sources, you'll get it.
Okay! We're in Track Mix mode, we adjust Channel One's fader to a nice level for playback, and we should hear the guitar nicely. I want to make sure, though, at this point, that you're really clear on what's happening.
1. Input Mix mode -- Sound sources get plugged into the VS-880's six- input mixer. Some of these sound sources (e.g., pre-recorded synth tracks) are not recorded, but only sent to the Mix for playback. The other sources (e.g., guitar), are routed to the multitrack for recording. Trim, EQ, effect, pan and fader settings for recording and for "live" sources are set at this stage.
2. Track Mix mode -- The sources to be recorded are routed out of the multitrack to the Mix for playback. EQ, effect, pan and level settings for playback/mixing of recorded tracks are set here.
It's all just like what happens with a traditional mixer and multitrack, except here everything's contained in one little box, instead of in separate parts.
Now, you're probably saying to yourself, "Well, it seems like I could do pretty much the same thing using Input -> Track mode and save myself all this extra trouble, couldn't I?" The answer is, "Yes!" If this was as far as you were going to go with your recording -- a stereo pair of synth inputs and a single guitar, even a vocal or two thrown in -- of, course! You'd be a lot smarter, in fact, to use Input -> Track and just keep it simple. The trouble comes when your sound sources get too numerous for Input -> Track. Remember, in Input -> Track you're limited to a total of eight recorded and/or "live" sound sources. Each Channel can handle only one signal at a time, recorded or live. With Input Mix/Track Mix, however, you get to use a total of 14 sources -- eight recorded tracks combined with six "live" inputs. For this song arranging stuff we're doing here, we've just gotta have that extra capacity.
So! We've got the guitar going on. We press record, doodle away, and the first track's done. Following the same basic plan as we just laid out above, we can record as many tracks as we want (up to 64 Virtual Tracks! Woo-hoo!). Now, I'm not going to get into track bouncing right now, cause that's a topic worthy of a whole separate discussion. I'm not going to deal with using effects either, for the same reason. For our purposes, we're just going to assume that we'll fill up all eight of our audio tracks with stuff, and have, at the same time, a number of "live" sources plugged in that we'll be mixing together with the recorded stuff in a lovely big mess to DAT.
I should take a moment here to bring up two points -- one that's probably been made fairly clear by my examples, and one that has not:
1. As you can probably see, Input -> Track mode, Input Mix mode and Track Mix mode are not three completely separate and different modes for working with the VS-880. Rather, Input -> Track is one, and Input Mix/Track Mix is another, with Input Mix and Track Mix as two sort of "sub-modes" that work together.
2. Input -> Track mode and Input Mix/Track Mix mode are completely separate from each other, and whatever changes you make in one mode will not be reflected in the other. I can't make this clear enough: Switching between Input -> Track and Input Mix/Track Mix will radically change the internal structure of the VS-880's mixer -- switching from one to the other is like moving to a completely different studio with completely different gear, and starting from scratch. So if you ever get something all nicely set up in one mode and then feel like you'd like to switch to the other and take up where you left off, fahgeddaboudit! Can't be done. For this reason, it's wise to try and plan out as nearly as possible just what it is you want to accomplish before choosing which mixer mode to use.
Well, okay. You've got all your audio stuff recorded, all your synth tracks sequenced. Now comes the time to mix them all down. This is the easy part. By now you should have gotten the hang of using one set of controls to manipulate two groups of sounds, so all that's left is to play it all back and slide a few faders til it all sounds right together. (Well, okay, maybe it's not quite that simple, but you get the idea.) As long as you keep your eye on that little light near the top of the panel that says which mode you're in, you should do just fine.
In putting together this little lecture I've tried to reach the best balance of clarity, succinctness, and completeness of explanation. There's heaps I didn't cover, of course, and I'm sure there's important stuff I've left out that I should have included. I hope it doesn't leave anybody tripping over him/herself, and please don't take my word as gospel. I learned all this by trial and error, and a certain amount of the same can benefit anyone trying to master the VS-880 (or any new task, for that matter). Please let me know if I made any major blunders. If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to post them and I'll do my best to respond quickly with as clear and complete an answer as possible.
John Parker
August 25, 1997
1998/03