Q.What are virtual tracks?

A. Your VS-880 has 8 tracks for recording and playing back. Each of these tracks has an additional 7 tracks which can contain recorded sound. You can specify which V-tracks will be used during playback which means you can have up to 8 different takes per track. Later you can choose your best take and use it for playback.


Q. What is random access?

A. Music recorded on a hard disk can be recalled and played back immediately, no matter where it is located on the disk. This allows instant access to any place in a song with just a touch of a button. No longer will you have to wait to rewind or fast forward.


Q. What is non-destructive editing?

A. On an analog recorder you need to erase a previously made recording in order to modify it. Also, if you want to change the organization of a song, you must re-record it from the beginning. The VS-880 allows you to copy or move data to any location in a song without affecting the sound quality or recording over a previously made take. The VS-880 features 999 levels of undo which can return the data to how it was prior to editing.


Q. What is a scene and how many are there?

A. A scene is group of mixer settings that can be stored for each song. This allows you to compare different mixes and recall them with a touch of a button. Each song can store 8 scenes.


Q. What are the four recording modes?

A. The four recording modes are Mastering (MAS), Multitrack 1 (MT1), Multitrack 2 (MT2), and Live (LIV).
Mastering provides the highest sound quality, however, if this mode is selected your VS-880 will function as a 6-track recorder.This mode is suitable mainly when recording and editing 2-track stereo.

Multitrack 1 will still have a very high sound quality, but the recording time will be twice that of the Mastering mode. This mode is best for recordings in which you will be doing a lot of track bouncing.

Multitrack 2 still has a high level of sound quality but offers a longer recording time than Multitrack 1. Normally you should use this mode.

Live mode has the longest recording time. This mode is suited best for recording a live performance.


Q. How many songs can be stored in the VS-880?

A. The VS-880 will allow you to store up to 200 songs on one disk drive.
Q. How much recording time do I have on my VS-880?

A. The recording time will depend on which mode and sample rate is selected for each song.
The following are recording times for one track on a 1 Gb drive.

Recording mode Sample rate
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
48 kHz 44.1kHz 32kHz
Mastering 185 minutes 202 minutes 278 minutes
Multitrack 1 371 minutes 404 minutes 557 minutes
Multitrack 2 495 minutes 539 minutes 742 minutes
Live 594 minutes 646 minutes 891 minutes


Q. What are the different mixer modes and what are they for?

A. The different mixer modes are INPUT-TRACK mode, INPUT MIX mode, and TRACK MIX mode.
In INPUT-TRACK mode the mixer is placed after the recorder. You can assign any input (1-6) to record on any track (1-8). This is a simple mixer mode, use it when you want to record the easiest way. Example, you could record a signal that is coming in from input 2 and assign it to record on track 5, therefore, the channel 5 fader would be the fader you would use to adjust the playback volume.

INPUT MIX mode and TRACK MIX modes are basically two parts of the same recording and playback mix mode. In INPUT MIX mode you can have up to six audio sources mixed in with the eight recorded tracks, and all going to one stereo output. You will use INPUT MIX to mix the incoming sources and TRACK MIX to mix the prerecorded tracks. Also, TRACK MIX is useful for track bouncing tracks, recording effects, and recording multiple inputs.


Q. Is there a particular procedure to turn the VS-880 off?

A. Yes, to turn the VS-880 off safely, you must first make sure you have saved any recorded data to hard disk, and that the hard disk heads are parked. Before turning the VS-880 off, perform the following shut down procedure: Hold down [SHIFT], press [SHUT / EJECT (STOP)], the display will read “SHUT / EJECT ?”. Press [YES], the display will read “STORE CURRENT ?”, press [YES] if you want to save your song, [NO] if you don’t. When shut down is complete the display will read “ POWER OFF / RESTART”. Turn the VS-880 off.


Q. What kind of external storage devices can I use with my VS-880?

A. The VS-880’s SCSI connector allows you to connect external hard disks, removable disk drives, and IDE drives. See page 130 of the VS-880 owner’s manual.


Q. What are Locate Points and how many are there?

A. Locate points are used to memorize points in a song which you will want to access frequently, such as verses choruses, looping points or for punch in recording. You have a total of 32 Locate Points per song.


Q. What are Mark Points and how many are there?

A. A song can have up to 1000 Mark Points. These are similar to Locate Points but there are more of them. You can use Mark Points with Auto mix to set up for a fade in or out, set loop points, punch in recording, etc.


Q. Can I Synchronize the VS-880 to an external sequencer?

A. Yes, the VS-880 can use MIDI Time Code, MIDI Machine Control or MIDI CLOCK to synchronize with your sequencer. Also, your VS-880 will sync to a video deck by using SMPTE Time Code.