Ping-Pong Recording - Yamaha MD8 Owner's Manual

Ping-Pong Recording

The ping-pong recording technique (also known as bounce down) is used to free up tracks
for further recording. This is accomplished by bouncing down (i.e., mixing and recording)
one or two existing tracks to an unused track. Those tracks can then be used for further
recording (in which case their contents are overwritten). You can thus record more than just
eight tracks using this technique. The only drawback is that once several tracks have been
bounced, you cannot adjust the individual sounds. You can, however, balance the levels and
apply EQ and effects during the actual ping-pong operation. The following illustration
shows the ping-pong technique.
Track 8
Track 7
Track 6
Track 5
Track 4
Track 3
Track 2
Track 1
Tape-based multitrack recorders always need at least one unused track for ping-pong oper-
ations. The MD8, however, provides eight-track playback with ping-pong. So you can record
on all eight tracks and then bounce them down to one of those tracks. This is possible because
the MD8 is able to read audio data from a track before writing new audio data to it. When
the ping-pong operation is complete, the previous audio data on that track is lost. However,
you can rehearse ping-pong operations. The following illustration shows eight-track play-
back with ping-pong.
Source
Tracks
1 2 3
GAIN GAIN GAIN
LINE MIC LINE MIC LINE MIC
PB MIC/ PB MIC/ PB MIC/
LINE LINE LINE
FLIP FLIP FLIP
CUE CUE CUE
P P P
A A A
N N N
L R L R L R
L L L
E E E
V V V
E E E
L L L
0 10 0 10 0 10
HIGH HIGH HIGH
–15 +15 –15 +15 –15 +15
MID MID MID
F F F
250 5k 250 5k 250 5k
G G G
–15 +15 –15 +15 –15 +15
LOW LOW LOW
–15 +15 –15 +15 –15 +15
AUX AUX AUX
1 1 1
0 10 0 10 0 10
2 2 2
0 10 0 10 0 10
1 2 1 2 1 2
GROUP ASSIGN GROUP ASSIGN GROUP ASSIGN
3 4 3 4 3 4
PAN PAN PAN
L R L R L R
ODD EVEN ODD EVEN ODD EVEN
10 10 10
9 9 9
8 8 8
7 7 7
6 6 6
5 5 5
4 4 4
3 3 3
2 2 2
1 1 1
0 0 0
Destination Track
Ping-Pong Recording
Track 8
Track 7
Track 6
Track 5
Track 4
Track 3
Track 2
Track 1
MD8—Owner's Manual
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