Preparing A Hard Drive For Use; How Audio Is Recorded On A Vs-2000 Hard Drive; How Recordings Are Played Back; Random Access - Roland VS-2000 Owner's Manual

6—Understanding the Hard Disk Recorder
When we refer to a "drive" in the rest of the VS-2000 Owner's Manual, we'll be referring
to a partition. This reflects that way the VS-2000's software views partitions, and will
make disk- and drive-related operations easier to explain and understand. (It's also
how partitions show up on your computer's desktop when you use the VS-2000's USB
storage capabilities.) When we need to refer to an entire hard disk mechanism, we'll
call the mechanism a "hard drive."

Preparing a Hard Drive for Use

Before you can use a new internal hard drive with the VS-2000, it must be prepared for
use. The hard drive must be erased, formatted and divided into partitions using the
FmtDrv (for "Format Drive") command described on Page 117.
The internal hard drive that came with your VS-2000 was formatted and partitioned
before the demo songs were installed at the factory. It's ready to be used as is.

How Audio Is Recorded on a VS-2000 Hard Drive

Each time you record audio, it's stored as a disk file comprised of digital data. This file is
called a "take." It includes your audio and a time-stamp of the date and time at which
the recording took place. Until you perform a project optimization (Page 105), the
VS-2000 holds on to all of the takes you've recorded in a project.
Even when you re-record a performance—"recording over" your first attempt—the
original take remains on your hard drive and is still available to you should you want it.
And when you edit a recording on the VS-2000, you don't actually edit the take itself,
thanks to non-destructive, pointer-based editing, which we'll discuss shortly.

How Recordings Are Played Back

Random Access

When your VS-2000 plays back your music from a hard drive, it uses something called
"random access" playback. The phrase "random access" has its roots in computer
programming, but what it means to you is this: The VS-2000 recorder can instantly play
any audio in a project located anywhere on its hard drive.
Random access playback produces a couple of very important benefits:
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What's Pointer-Based Playback?

When you play a recording, the VS-2000 uses a set of "pointers" to identify the audio
you want to play. Each pointer contains a piece of information about the audio. Among
other things, pointers allow the VS-2000 to play parts of a take, rather than having to
play the entire disk file from beginning to end. A simple set of pointers might include:
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You never have to wait for the recorder to rewind or fast-forward to a location in a
project. The VS-2000 gets where it needs to go in a heartbeat.
The VS-2000 can employ pointer-based playback and editing.
the identity of the take that contains the desired audio.
the time location within the take at which playback is to begin.
the time location within the take at which playback is to end.
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