Roland VM-7000 Getting Started
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Roland VM-7000 Getting Started

Roland VM-7000 Getting Started

Digital mixing system
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®
ÂØÒňÎ
Welcome!
About this
Application
Guide
©
2000 Roland Corporation U.S.
Getting Started
Getting Started
with the VM-7000
with the VM-7000

Application Guide

Congratulations on your purchase of the VM-7000 digital mixing system.
Your VM-7000 combines incredible sound quality with a powerful suite
of mixing tools.
The VM-7000 is very easy to use, as you'll see. You can quickly get to
everything you need to do, usually with just a few button-presses.
We've prepared this application guide as an overview of the VM-7000's
architecture, and as a quick introduction to its basic operation. You'll
also learn about some of its more advanced features.
A great mixing system like the VM-7000 must be flexible so that there's
always a quick way to do what needs to be done in a session or during
a performance. The steps in this application guide don't always describe
the only way something can be done—sometimes they describe a
recommended way of doing things, or merely one way. As you get to
know your VM-7000, you'll find your own favorite methods.
Button, jack, screen and setting names in this application guide are
presented as they appear on the VM-7000 itself.
The V knobs and F buttons beneath the console display perform
different jobs depending on what you're currently doing. When we refer
to one of these knobs or buttons, we'll refer to it by name and include its
current function in brackets, as in "V1 [SELECT]" or "F1 [SET]."
Please read the guide in order from front to back, since it builds your
knowledge of the VM-7000 step-by-step. Jumping in and out at different
places may not result in as clear an understanding of the system. It'll
probably take you an hour or two to work your way through the entire
application guide.
From time to time, we'll refer you to pages in the VM-C7200 /C7100
Owner's Manual for further information about the topic at hand.
Notes, tips and warnings throughout this application guide are signified
by symbols located to their left:
Notes provide information relating to the topic under discussion.
Tips offer suggestions for using the feature being discussed.
Warnings contain important information that can help you avoid
possible damage to your equipment or yourself.
Getting Started with the VM-7000
2796US, v1.0
Page 1

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  • Page 1: Application Guide

    Welcome! of mixing tools. The VM-7000 is very easy to use, as you’ll see. You can quickly get to everything you need to do, usually with just a few button-presses. We’ve prepared this application guide as an overview of the VM-7000’s architecture, and as a quick introduction to its basic operation.

  • Page 2: Adding Options

    The Components of a VM-7000 System A basic VM-7000 system consists of two components: a mixing processor and a console. A VM-7000 system can contain one or two processors and one or two consoles. This application guide primarily discusses the operation of a one-console/one-processor system.
  • Page 3 III. Listening to the VM-7000 Since the VM-7000 can be used for live or studio sound, how you’ll listen to it depends on your situation. We’ll describe how to listen to the system in stereo in this Application Guide. To learn about setting up for surround sound, see p.
  • Page 4 (MASTER) knob acts as the overall system master—set it to 0 and adjust your listening level using the LINE OUT LEVEL knob. If you’re using the VM-7000’s MONITOR OUTs, you can set up different preset monitoring configurations that let you change your monitoring setup with the touch of a button.

  • Page 5: Initializing The System

    VII. Exiting Screens You can leave most of the VM-7000’s screens by pressing either LEVEL METER or any button that takes you to the next place you want to go. If you do this and the display doesn’t change, look along the bottom edge of the display for the word “EXIT”...

  • Page 6: What Is A Bus

    Introducing the Flex Bus The VM-7000 introduces a powerful new type of general-purpose bus called the “Flex Bus.” There are 12 Flex Busses in your VM system, and they provide all the bussing power you could need.
  • Page 7 VM system, the mixing console would be impossibly huge if each setting had its own physical knob or button. As a result, the VM-7000 provides five different operating modes, each of which handles a particular mixing task—in each mode, the strips control and provide access to the settings you need for the job at hand.
  • Page 8 What Do the Console’s Faders Do? On a traditional mixer, channel faders allow you to control the levels of signals. While that’s also true on the VM-7000, the VM-7000 faders can do more: you can actually use them to adjust many channel-related settings in the VM-7000.
  • Page 9 ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 The PARAM VIEW on Fader Buttons (Continued) In addition, while holding down SHIFT, you can press: • CH LEVEL—CUE LEVEL in green—to control the amount of signal sent from each input channel to the cue monitoring system.

  • Page 10: Navigating The Display

    Getting Started with the VM-7000 XII. Navigating the Display The console display is central to everything you do in the VM-7000 system. It’s important to understand what the display is showing you, and to be able to get around on the display.

  • Page 11: Selecting Parameters

    ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 Navigating the Display (Continued) Selecting Parameters Before you can adjust a parameter’s setting, or “value,” you must first select the area on the display that contains the desired parameter. A thick black outline—the selection box—appears around the currently selected group of parameters.
  • Page 12 ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 XIV. SHIFT and the Green Button Labels Many of the console buttons have two labels: a white label and a green label. The white label refers to the button’s normal functionality. The green label describes the button’s function when you press it while...
  • Page 13 • use the VM-7000’s Automix automation feature to record and play back changes you make to channel parameter values. What the channel STATUS buttons do depends on which MODE and SECTION button is lit.
  • Page 14 The cue and monitor output signals are not routed to any output jacks so that you can choose the desired jacks as needed. Since the VM-7000 can be used in so many situations, there are many reasons you may want to send different signals to different processor output jacks or R-BUS output channels.
  • Page 15 The Patchbay (Continued) The Components of the Patchbay In the VM-7000’s patchbay, signal flows from the top of the screen to the bottom. The screen has three basic sections. At the top of each section, you’ll find small boxes, or “nodes,” representing the section’s inputs. At the bottom, you’ll see the section’s output nodes:...
  • Page 16 ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 The Patchbay (Continued) How to Make a Connection in the Patchbay In the patchbay, you route a signal to a destination with two easy steps: • Press the CURSOR buttons to select the destination.
  • Page 17 ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 Getting the First Signal (Continued) The display shows you the preamp gain and phantom power Channel 1’s Channel 2’s meter meter settings for all of your input channels, and provides a preamp level meter for each pair of channels.
  • Page 18 ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 Getting the First Signal (Continued) 12. Bring up Input Channel 1’s fader until it’s set to 100. You should now be hearing the signal and seeing it in the stereo MAIN meter on the display and the MASTER meter on the meter bridge.
  • Page 19 When you send a signal to an external effect processor, you’ll need to bring the effected signal back into the system by connecting the effect processor’s output(s) to one (or two) VM-7000 inputs. We’ll send our signal to Multi Out 6, an R-BUS-only multi out.
  • Page 20 Using Flex Busses As we mentioned back on Page 6, you can send signals from one place to another in a VM-7000 system using any of its 12 Flex Busses. Flex Busses can carry signals to locations within the VM-7000, or carry signals to its output connectors to be sent to external devices.
  • Page 21 When a Flex Bus is set to INT, it acts as a pathway down which you can send signals to one of the VM-7000’s internal effects. Flex Bus 1 always sends signal to internal Effect 1 (or “FX 1”), Flex Bus 2 to Effect 2, and so on.
  • Page 22 (or more) VM-7000 inputs. You can also use a Flex Bus when you want to send a signal that’s been processed by one of the VM-7000’s internal effects to an external device such as a track on a multitrack recorder.
  • Page 23 In a real session, you could listen to what’s on Flex Bus 1 by listening to the track on the multitrack recorder through one of the VM-7000’s input or multi in channels. For now, let’s listen to Flex Bus 1 on the VM-7000 itself to hear what’s going to the ASSIGNABLE OUT 4 jack.
  • Page 24 10. Press SOURCE SELECT. When we last visited this page, we selected FBUS 1. Since Flex Bus 1 is now linked to Flex Bus 2, the VM-7000 offers us FBUS 1/2 as an option. Since it’s already selected, there’s nothing we need to do here. We’re already listening to Flex Bus 1 and 2.
  • Page 25 “library.” The VM-7000 ships with nearly 200 pre-programmed effect libraries. You can use the VM-7000’s effects on a variety of signals: input signals, Flex Bus signals, main and monitor out signals, for example. You can also use each effect processor as a stereo effect or two mono effects.
  • Page 26 Even in the VM-7000, with its internal effects, a signal takes essentially the same trip into and out of a send-and-return effect.

  • Page 27: Insert Effects

    An insert effect gets its name from the fact that it’s inserted into the signal’s path, causing the signal to take a detour through the effect Effect before continuing on its way. In the VM-7000, you can re-direct a signal into and out of an insert effect in various places. You can re-direct: •...
  • Page 28 Getting Started with the VM-7000 Understanding the Internal Effects (Continued) To help ensure that you get the most from the VM-7000’s internal effects, it’s a good idea to plan out your effect strategy before setting up individual effects. As you plan, take into account the capabilities of each built-in and optional effect—considering, for example, the inputs or multi...
  • Page 29 Since send-and-return effects are always stereo, the VM-7000 automatically sets the right side’s routing to match the left side’s. Some of the VM-7000’s effects produce a stereo output from a mono input, while others have both a stereo input and a stereo output. See the algorithm list starting on p.
  • Page 30 You can turn V1 [SELECT GROUP] to jump between the same- numbered libraries in the P and U sets. The first 39 factory libraries—P000-P038—present the VM-7000’s algorithms in their default state. When you wish to create a new effect from scratch, you can begin by selecting one of these libraries.
  • Page 31 ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 Setting Up a Send-and-Return Effect (Continued) Edit the Effect Let’s demonstrate how to edit an effect by adjusting one of Vocal Plt’s parameters: 1. Press EFFECTS 1-8. 2. Press F2 [EDIT]. As you can see at the top of the screen, Vocal Plate is made up of an EQ and a Reverb (REV) component.
  • Page 32 ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 Setting Up a Send-and-Return Effect (Continued) 1. The sends from the individual input or multi in channels When you want to adjust the amount of effect applied to input or multi in channels relative to each other, you can adjust their individual sends to the effects.
  • Page 33 ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 Setting Up a Send-and-Return Effect (Continued) Even though we now have a lop-sided input balance, the output meters show an equal level for both the left and right outputs. This is because Vocal Plate combines both the left and right sides into a single mono input signal, so it doesn’t really matter whether the signal is coming...
  • Page 34 ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 Setting Up a Send-and-Return Effect (Continued) 1. Press FLEX BUS MASTER 1-12. When you press this button, the console’s channel strips control the 12 Flex Busses. However, when you’re using a send-and-return effect,...
  • Page 35 3. Press PAGE DOWN three times to display the screen on which we can name the new effect library. The VM-7000 offers a variety of ways to name an effect library. Let’s try each of these methods out. You can use the same basic naming methods we’re about to explore for naming many different things in the VM-7000, including input and multi in channels, Flex Busses and more.
  • Page 36 6. Turn V2 [NUMBER]—watch the effect’s name as you turn the knob—to select 2. The effect is now called “RV: Vocal P 2” (the VM-7000 shortened “Plt” to make room for the “2”). 7. Press F5 [REVERT] again. When you’re naming an effect, you can combine techniques as you need to.
  • Page 37 “U,” as we said earlier. When the VM-7000 is shipped from the factory—and after a factory reset—the user effect library memory locations contain copies of the factory preset libraries. Don’t worry about replacing these copies with your own effects—the originals are still available as factory preset...
  • Page 38 2. Turn V1 [SELECT GROUP] to select P000: Reverb. 3. Turn V2 [SELECT NUMBER] to select P011: Vocal Multi. The VM-7000 allows you to temporarily load an effect library to try it out. The effect remains audible for only as long as the PREVIEW switch is turned on.
  • Page 39 Input Channel 1. 5. Press F1 [SET]. When you pressed F1 [SET] to activate the new routing, the VM-7000 automatically turned off Effect 1’s right side, since it’s no longer usable as a send-and-return effect, which was how it had been set up. Each processor can be configured as an insert or send-and-return effect, but not both at the same time.
  • Page 40 Some of the VM-7000’s effect algorithms have stereo inputs as well as stereo outputs. With these algorithms, the left and right effect input signals are processed separately by the effect.
  • Page 41 ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 Stereo-In, Stereo-Out Effects (Continued) Set Up the Effect’s Routing 1. Turn V2 [POSITION] to select INS ON FBUS INTERNAL. 2. Turn V1 [CHANNEL SELECT], if necessary, to select BUS 1. We can use Flex Bus 1 since we know it’s currently set to INT.
  • Page 42 Flex Busses 1 and 2 to remove them from the main mix. 3. Press LEVEL METER. XXIX. Dual-Mono Effects Some of the VM-7000’s stereo-in, stereo-out effects are intended for use as two separate mono effects. The left and right sides process their respective signals independently, with no interaction between them.
  • Page 43 To learn more about what these parameters do, see Newly Added Functions, included with your VM-7000. If you need to obtain a copy of this publication—as would be the case if your VM-7000 shipped with a software version earlier than 1.50—call one of our Product Specialists...
  • Page 44 ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 Delay, Dynamics, EQ and Channel Libraries (Continued) These libraries allow you to: • copy delay, dynamics, EQ and channel settings from one input or multi in channel to another. • load convenient factory-programmed delay, dynamics and EQ libraries.

  • Page 45: Inserting A Smartmedia Card

    Press it gently into place. Initializing a Card When using a memory card in the VM-7000 for the first time, you must first erase all of the data on the card and format it for use in the VM-7000—this is referred to as “initializing” the card.
  • Page 46 3. Press F6 [MEMORY CARD]. 4. Press F2 [FORMAT]. 5. Press F5 [OK]. The VM-7000 will ask one more time if you’re really sure that you want to proceed with the initialization. 6. If you’re sure you want to proceed, press F5 [OK] one more time.

  • Page 47: Creating A New Project

    5. Press F2 [CREATE]. 6. Press F5 [OK]. 7. The VM-7000 asks if you want to keep your current mixer settings or reset them to their factory values. For now, press F4 [YES]. 8. Press F6 [EXIT] when the project-creation process is complete.

  • Page 48: Loading A Project

    Getting Started with the VM-7000 Projects (Continued) When you re-name a project, you change its name in the VM-7000’s memory, not in the project file on the card. To make this change permanent, you’ll need to update the project file. We’ll describe how to do this in the next section of this application guide.
  • Page 49 Getting Started with the VM-7000 XXXV. Scenes One of the best things about a digital mixer like the VM-7000 is that it can remember and instantly recall your setups. Much of the time spent mixing is spent setting things up, so this is a great time-saver. In the VM-7000, each setup that you save is called a “scene.”...

  • Page 50: Recalling A Scene

    ®ÂØÒňΠApplication Guide Getting Started with the VM-7000 Scenes (Continued) 3. When all of the number buttons are no longer lit, press 4 on the numeric keypad—it flashes and then lights to show that a scene is now stored there. You’ve saved your current settings as Scene 64.

  • Page 51: Naming A Scene

    We’ve already set up the memory card that shipped with your VM-7000 for the storage of projects, and we filled it up. In order to demonstrate how to save and load libraries, we’ll need to reinitialize the card.
  • Page 52 The VM-7000 will ask if you’re sure you wish to proceed. 9. Press F5 [OK] to proceed. 10. Press F6 [EXIT] when “Completed” appears. The VM-7000 has created a library area on the card and saved your user effect libraries. Loading User Libraries from a Memory Card 1.
  • Page 53 An application guide like this only has room to discuss some of what your VM-7000 can do. The system has lots of other terrific features you won’t want to miss. The following chart lists some of these, as well as the pages in the VM-C7200 /C7100 Owner’s Manual that describe them.

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