VDAT

kimgr · Post by **kimgr** » Sun Jun 16, 2002 5:10 am

I tested the new vDat on my system at 44.1 kHz/24bit.

I'm able to playback 48 tracks, and also record on 24 of them while the other 24 is playing back.

With all tracks set to record, I'm only able to record 32, and that seems to tax the system really hard. When I go down to 24 it's much better.

There's still some serious bugs in there, but now it's useable...

You can see my SysSpecs here:
http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... 4&forum=19

Kim.

Chrisznix · Post by **Chrisznix** » Sun Jun 16, 2002 5:14 am

Hi Kim!

Thank you for your testing!
Have you been able to record in 96kHz too?
Currently, if i just record 2 Tracks in 24/96 and use one MasterVerb Pro in the project, my system tells me that the DSP limit´s reached...

kimgr · Post by **kimgr** » Sun Jun 16, 2002 5:41 am

Sorry, I don't use 96 kHz. (Yet!)

Kim.

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Sun Jun 16, 2002 9:48 am

On 2002-06-16 05:44, Chrisznix wrote:
To marcuspocus: That´s exactly what i think, too. Got it working in 48kHz, and it´s nice, but it´s defenitively unstable on my system... how´s yours? Got it working under 96khz even?

Well, i didn't try, and won't. I work in 24/44.1 to be able to only dither before writing CDs, no samplerate convertion. You guy should take notice that for it to work good, give it it's own harddisk.

Just to make sure we compare with something real, the tripledat (which a BUNCH of people swear only by it) is only able to record 16 tracks at 16bits (no 24bits there!). I'm already able to record those 16 tracks in 24bits, and playback of 24 or more tracks (just didn't try with more). I think it not bad at all! With better harddisk, vdat possibility will only be better.

That one product that WILL benefit when you upgrade your pc. It think this device will survive a long times in my setup.

caleb · Post by **caleb** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 9:06 am

Hmmm. Well I do have a separate disk for audio if that's what you mean. I created a new tape on the audio disk and it still crackles like hell.

I think I'll just throw the problem over to an expert and hopefully he'll be able to work out what the deficiency is.

woodstock · Post by **woodstock** » Thu Jun 20, 2002 5:53 am

I'd really like to use my VDAT, but there seems to be no way to sync to Logic ?

Chrisznix wrote
>>"ADAT sync is not supported in LOGIC. Please use MTC"<<

I want to start/stop using Logic (with LC Control) and therefore VDAT should be slave to Logic.

Logic was set to transmit MTC via midi to SFP, there i tried to route trough MTCtoCLK to VDAT.
This did not work here.

Has anyone tried this successfully ?

woodstock

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Thu Jun 20, 2002 6:50 am

You got to slave logic to vdat using the midi out of the brc-128 connected to any of the sequencer dest module. Then you use the control of the brc-128 or brc-s. This is working correctly. But a thing i would like is to be able to assign cc to the transport of the brc. THis way i could use a footswitch to start/stop, and a trigger on my midi box to set the record mode.

woodstock · Post by **woodstock** » Mon Jun 24, 2002 6:19 am

Thanks, i tried it and it works this way.
I agree - we need controllers for start/stop-buttons, i can't use logic control for start/stop without it.
I really like VDAT, but without either sync to an external MTC (i'd prefer this solution) or cc for the buttons i'll have to use Logic for recording audio.

TRMP8R · Post by **TRMP8R** » Wed Jun 26, 2002 6:08 pm

You asked what the VDAT sounds like at the receiving end of the Pulsar FX?

Well, if that's how you work then yes, it sounds great. I find that songs recorded with many MasterVerb Pro tracks require the full 24bit or even 32bit that the VDAT can offer. 16bit recording of long concert-hall like reverbs tend to get a little grainy and thin at the tails (without dithering), so in this respect, the VDAT is great when pumped up to high bit-rates. Watch your PCI limit though.

The VDAT however I find is at it's best inserted BEFORE the mixer, just after your mic or line inputs from the a16 Ultra or ADAT source modules for example. As others have said, you then get the benefit of the raw input signal going to 'tape' leaving the FX for both playback and cue-mix/input monitoring. Levels are also easier to control this way, as hot input levels don't have much headroom for lush delays and resonance filters and the like.

Now in my studio, my primary recording device is in fact a Mackie MDR24/95 hard disk recorder, inserted between the pre-amps and 3 banks of ADAT on a SCOPE card. I use the VDATs as additional tracks, and was at one time simultaneously tracking 56 channels of 24bit 44.4KHz audio! (Of course, all this changed when I installed Win XP... but I guess that's for another forum)

My point is, both by Mackie and the VDAT sounded exceptional. And depsite only being locked together by MTC, performed flawlessly during a 4 hour tracking session, using the Scope syncplate as wordclock master the the VRC128 module to provide MTC to the Mackie.

With the Mackie's 8 virtual tracks for every 'real' track, I routed vocals and instrumental solos and the like that would likely require mutliple takes to the Mackie, and dedicated the VDAT for sequenced synths and drum loops etc that were already pre-produced, or for artists that generally wouldn't need many takes. Why? Because to be honest, the VDAT is a little clumsy... er, slow at punching in/out and looping. Best to get this job done on a dedicated hardware recorder like the MDR. The less VDAT tracks you use, the better the response however.

I haven't used the wav editor feature of VDAT as I bounce everything to Logic for editing at the end.

Archiving of fully-mixed multi-track masters before mastering is a great use of the VDAT.

As for DSP and system resources, with 56 channels of mixer enabled (STM4896) and 4 VDAT's, I had enough DSP for numerous inserts (mainly expander/gates, EQ and compression) plus about 3 reverbs and even some mastering plugins for the cue-mixes. The artists were impressed. It sounded beautiful... and not an analogue mixing console in sight.

I really must get a 2nd monitor...

caleb · Post by **caleb** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 2:27 am

If anyone's interested, my problem with recording multi-track into the VDAT is solved. It ended up being a simple matter of enabling the DMA option in the System settings.

Managed a 16 track record without any difficulty.

Now I'm happy!

beerbr · Post by **beerbr** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 3:58 am

I can say that VDAT is the best sound to my ears (digital) when you mix everything down to that. I'll always use VDAT, 32Bit Resolution as a mixing down desk. It really does better job than DAT and in Cubase, Sonar and even Samplitude. Keep all signal in Digital path is never been this good..

TRMP8R · Post by **TRMP8R** » Tue Oct 15, 2002 4:51 am

Has anybody got the VDAT as supplied in 3.1c to behave? It regularly stops mid play/rec. The transport skips to a random point many hours in advance after flashing the word "DATA" a few times. And the record arm buttons suddenly enable themselves at random. I lost 8 tracks of strings last time this happened.

I had a wonderful time with the VDAT in SCOPE /SP 2.6 under Windows 98 then ME. 32 track recording and all, sync'ing up both Logic and external recorders. But 3.1c under XP is just damned dodgy.

And to my ears, the sound seems to have changed from 2.6 to 3.1. Can anyone save my sanity and confirm any of this?

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Tue Oct 15, 2002 7:27 am

Like i said earlyer on the cw forum, i had the same behavior, but only when certain devices where loaded. For examle, i setup a 32 tracks VDAT, record 24 of them, work a complete day, looping, recording, editing, etc... Without any problem, but the minute i loaded the Plasma drumsynth, VRC-128 goes NUTS. I loose sync and i get the same behavior you are describing. If i remove the Plasma drumsynth, and restart SFP, everything work perfectly again.

So, would you please try to check or verify what devices are loaded when your VRC-128 goes nuts and report here or to cw? Maybe using those info, they'l be able to track what th f..k is happening!

Seriously, when it work, VDAT is fantastic to work with, but when things go wrong, DAMN it is frustrating!

Let's find what the problem is, i'm sure tell fix it then, cuz, to date, cw always fixed problem on vdat pretty quickly when user reported errors.

TRMP8R · Post by **TRMP8R** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 5:16 pm

I posted this on the CW forum.
My problems start and finish when trying to run an STS series sampler along side the VDAT and VRC.

Removing the STS3000 from my project solved all annoying VDAT/remote problems.

Indeed, it had got so bad that the VRC had actually 'forgotten' that it was connected to the VDAT at all!

Right, anyone know where I can get a cheap Akai?

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 11:20 pm

I didn't have this behavior with 2 xSTS3000 @ 32voices each !!!

How come we're having trouble randomly?

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Thu Oct 17, 2002 11:39 pm

Hi, i can say without any doubt that the recorder record perfectly, the sound is WYEIWYG (what you ear is what you get).

VDAT is not without some trouble, but in the end it save me way more trouble than it create. Specialy for efficient integration with any sequencer: Logic, fruity, etc.

I will probably never record anywhere else, except for recording the last track, final mix before mastering to STS in a single stereo wav file.

So in my setup, that is portable between any app, is really taking care totaly of the audio part...Including recording VSTi, effects, bouncing tracks, etc...

All midi is managed by the the seq.
All audio by sfp.

I mix all asio audio channels in Logic:
Asio source = Aux out N°x in logic
Asio dest = Aux in N°x in Logic

TRMP8R · Post by **TRMP8R** » Thu Jan 16, 2003 4:53 pm

Anybody got the wav file EDIT buttons to work in VDAT? They don't seem to do ANYTHING!

I'm running it on both XP and ME with no success, pointing the editor binary to both Logic and WaveLab again with no success.

3.1c

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 3:33 am

Yes, i got it to work... There is a trick... Thanks to Paul Tanti for helping me on this, cuz i had this problem and complained about it...

Just press the STOP button, then press again (it should now flash on and off), now you can open the file with your editor.

The thing is to free the file handle so wavelab for example can open it...

Try this, it will now work.