Table of Contents
Advertisement
The most common technique is to record a sequence, or a
drum pattern. into the soquencer before you get Involved
with the mUltitrack. In a sense, the tracking procedure
now takes place In MIDI Instaad of to tape.
Certainly
you need some kind of PORTASTUDIOs pattern that's
audibly playing so you can set the tempo correctly. .
What Is
a
virtual track? A ·virtua'· track is an instrument
under MIDI control that plays back in synchronization
with the tape, whose sound appears at one of the Inputs
of the mixar. We call
It
virtual because it isn't actually
on the
tape,
but for all practical purposes behaves as
if
it
was a separate track of Its own-It can be changed in
level, EQ'd, reverbed, or edited (on the .sequencer)
separately from the others.
Confusion with sequenC4llr
tr-eb: The word "track- Is
used by some sequencer makers differently than we do
when we refer to a virtual track.
A single sequencer
track may transmit information to up to
16
different MIDI
instruments, each one on a separate MIDI channel. For
our purposes, though,
8
·virtual track· represents a piece
of hardware with a line level signal output. and each of
the
16
different Instruments represents. "vIrtual track"
to us, even If your sequencer sees them as one stream of
data.
I
THE RECORDING SYSTEM WITH MIDI SYNCHRONIZATION
On page
11,
we showed you the traditional multitrack
system with its six elements.
When you add MIDI sync, you add 4 elements:
• SEQUENCER: This is the unit that records MIDI note
on-off and other controller information
• CONTROUER: This is a unit that transmits MIDI note
and other controller data. typically a master keyboard;
it could also be a PORTASTUDIOs, wind controller,
MIDI guitar interlace. or something else
to MIDI input by producing a sound.
• MIDI TAPE SYNC TRANSLATOR:
Since MIDI data
can't
be
recorded directly on
tape,
there
has to be a
translator that turns the MIDI clocks into an audible
tone. In the MIDISTUDIO, this translator la built-in; but
you can al80 choose to use a sync tone generator thara
separate or built- in to the sequencer or drum machine
(see ·UsIng External Sync Devices, page 33-). If your
application requires SMPTE time code, you'll need a
SMPTE-to-MIDI converter like the TASCAM MIDIiZER.
• MIDI INSTRUMENT: This is any unit that can respond
-----
....
.....-_ _.1.-.1..._ _--,
i
I . - - i
I
I
'-------_
......
'
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .J
0000°00
coo
coe
0 0 0
ceo
coe
0
0
COCCClOQOCC
-o-r
quencers I18nd and receive. TheV are
-broadcallt" to ev-
ery element in the system, but are only
ueed
by
118-
quencers. The Include START, STOP, CON11NUe. SONG
POSmON POINTER, and MIDI·CLOCKS.
~~~~~c~,.,
...
,~
~ y
g"-"*
r;:¢:;;:!:::;=;::::;:::;::;::;::;;:::;::::;:::::;:::::~
o
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0
o·
Q
a
o
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Q~Q....
oR :. '
oDo
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
R
OOOOOOOOOOQ.OO
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
00
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
o. Q. 00 00 0 0 0 0
'00
Q
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
~~~~~I~~~~~~i~
Mics
IR..,erb. Oelav.
Edlo.
Comp••
ItC.~
. . . . . .
-.1
~
•• _ •••I
MI"".
Note that a unit can combine several elements of the
MIDI system. A rack module is an example of an instru-
ment, while a synthesizer is typically an instrument
combined with a controller. A drum machine Is an in-
strument
combined
with
a
sequencer,
and
a
·workstation- can combine all three. Many sequencers
Include their own tape sync translator, though it usually
can't take advantage of song pointer like the MTS trans-
lator built Into the 688 can.
I
'
The flow
of MIDI Clocks (System Common slgn.I,)
Understand that there are two different types of data In
the MIDI stream that we're concerned with.
System
Common 8igna18
~onsist
of tlming commands that se·
The MIDISTUDIO needs to receive these
syatem
common
signals from the sequencer during the SAVE operation.
Later, the sequencar needs to reoeive these Blgnals from
the MID/STUDIO (during LOAD).
-31-
Hide quick links:
Advertisement
Table of Contents
