Recording Forum

[irpacynot]

Hey folks,

I apologize if this has been covered. I am curious to know if when using the VS-880EX I can later somehow hook it up to my PC and transfer finished songs to it in order to burn the songs to cd using my computer's cdr.

Thanks

[Rimmer]

I think this was possible through SCSI at one point although I have a feeling that the idea was dropped in later versions of the VS. I'm still a bit cloudy on that... You could always MTC (Midi time code) the VS to a midi sequencer and make one machine control the tempo of the other... Rimmer

[stratton]

I'm not sure what you mean, but you can send stereo digital audio out via S/PDIF to your PC's sound card, if it has S/PDIF input.

Ken

[irpacynot]

Thanks guys.

Ken, I think you answered my question, but I'm not sure if I have the type of connection you're talking about.

Basically though I want to be able to record with the VS and since I don't have a Roland CDR or Zip drive I was hoping that when I was finished I could then transfer my songs over to my computer in I suppose wav format and then that would allow me to burn them onto cd via my computer's cdr.

Is there a specifica cable I would need to go from the VS to my PC?

Thanks

[XLStussy]

Originally posted by irpacynot
Thanks guys.

Ken, I think you answered my question, but I'm not sure if I have the type of connection you're talking about.

Is there a specifica cable I would need to go from the VS to my PC?

Thanks

Yes. The VS-880EX has rca outs, and a S/PDIF out. You need a soundcard with either rca ins, or a S/PDIF in. Then, obviously, you need either an rca or S/PDIF cable.

XLS

[irpacynot]

Thanks XLS,

Would it be like transferring a file from disk to my hard-drive? Are there instructions within the VS-880EX manual?

Thanks again,

Tony

[XLStussy]

Originally posted by irpacynot
Thanks XLS,

Would it be like transferring a file from disk to my hard-drive? Are there instructions within the VS-880EX manual?

Tony

No, it's strictly audio. You hit record on your software, then hit play on your 880-EX. Or, sync things up via MIDI so that the 880-EX will play when you hit "record" in your software. I synced up my friend's 880-EX to Cool Edit Pro, and it worked perfectly. And I'm a big dummy.

No, really, I am.

If you go the MIDI sync route, keep in mind that it takes like half a measure, maybe a little less, for things to play properly. At least it did with me. But everything is rock-solid from measure 2 on.

Also keep in mind that if you go the S/PDIF route, you have to record things IN THE 880-EX at 48.0 kHz. At least I'm pretty sure that's how it works. Maybe just the software sampling rate has to be set up at 48.0 kHz, but I don't think so. I don't think you can transfer sounds via the S/PDIF that were recorded at anything under 48.0 kHz. Unfortunately, that may result in you having to re-record some things, but once you get the 880-EX and your .wav recorder in sync, it opens up a lot of possibilities.

I hope this helps.

XLS

[irpacynot]

Is there a way to save it as a wav file on the VS and then just transfer it over to my computer?

Thanks again.

[XLStussy]

Originally posted by irpacynot
Is there a way to save it as a wav file on the VS and then just transfer it over to my computer?

Thanks again.

To the best of my knowledge, no. But maybe someone's written some sort of 3rd-party utility that will let you do this. But even with that, you would still need a SCSI zip drive and a zip drive, or SCSI port, on your computer. You'd then have to transfer your song data, via a SCSI zip drive, from your 880-EX to the computer. And this is all going on the premise that a 3rd-party 880-EX-data-to-wav convertor exists. I highly doubt that it does.

And even if that utility does exist, that's a whole lotta hassle to do something that newer digital recorders can do in one step.

In short: it's time for a new digital recorder. It sucks, because you won't get much for your 880-EX, but on the plus side, digital recorders are really cheap now, relatively speaking. Somebody (Musician's Friend?) was blowing out their Korg D-12s for like $599, I think it was. The Boss BRs are affordable, there's that new Fostex one (the $299 one: limited, but it offers uncompressed recording, and the ability to transfer .wavs to your computer, via either SmartMedia or CompactFlash, I forget which).

XLS

[MrHotMark]

There is a way to transfer VS880EX wav files but you have to work for it. First, you need a SCSI card in the PC with an external connection and a common external SCSI drive (use a SCSI address like 2,3 or 4). The SCSI drive CANNOT simultaneously be hooked up to the computer SCSI controller and the VS880EX at the same time. That would have 2 SCSI masters and one will more than likely blow. The external SCSI drive must also be terminated (most have a jumper for this). You MUST record on the VS880EX in "MAS" mode either at 48 KHz or 44.1 KHz. This mode does not use the RDAC compression. Songs can then be saved (after some editing) on the external SCSI drive (not as an archive). Unplug the external SCSI drive from the VS880EX and hook it up to the computer (make sure power is off when this is done and ALWAYS turn the external SCSI drive on FIRST). You can then import the audio files into an audio editor such as Cool Edit using the Motorola "RAW" file format then save as a "WAV" file. There is no way of determining which tracks are which by the names of the files. You have to listen and rename them. There is also a utility called VS2WAV.EXE that can do this. Please bear in mind that if you do punch-ins, there will be a lot of these RAW files and you will have no way to line them up on the PC. One way around this is to bounce each track (mixdown) to another clean virtual track to make it one continuous track file. Then delete the other no longer needed virtual tracks with the punch-ins and do a song optimize before saving. Quite a pain in the butt but it works.
The SCSI drive also MUST be formatted on the VS880EX! I think is's a FAT16 format.

The other way is to transfer 2 tracks at a time out of the SPDIF output using Midi Time Code for syncing. Make the VS880EX the slave and a program like SONAR the master. Of course your soundcard should have SPDIF inputs or you can use the analog outs into the soundcards analog in's. If your soundcard has 4 analog in's, you can transfer 4 tracks at a time in analog by using the master outs and the AUX outs from the VS880EX. Please bear in mind that it takes some time for all to properly chase and sync up. Start your recordings approx 10 secs in from zero on the VS880EX on each track to allow for this. The advantage of this method is you can also process tracks using the VS880EX while transfering (EQ, guitar amp simulator, compression, etc) and you can do this all day long all the way up to all 128 virtual tracks and do not have to worry about the punched-in sections. It also works the other way around as well. Also doing it this way you can record in ANY mode as well, MT1,MT2, etc. Hope this helps!!!!

[irpacynot]

Thanks folks. Mark I'm gonna have reread your reply at least once to see if I can get the gist of what you're saying.

Tony

[netsmith2001]

Just like XLStuddy said below, it is very simple if you want to simply record via the audio output. Here is his quote:
"No, it's strictly audio. You hit record on your software, then hit play on your 880-EX. Or, sync things up via MIDI so that the 880-EX will play when you hit "record" in your software. I synced up my friend's 880-EX to Cool Edit Pro, and it worked perfectly. And I'm a big dummy.

All you need is some kind of recording software for digital input (I use my digital video editing program) and you plug the audio output from the VS-880 into the Line In or Mic In on your sound card.

Peace.

[Rimmer]

Originally posted by irpacynot
Is there a way to save it as a wav file on the VS and then just transfer it over to my computer?

Thanks again.

The best way you have on offer is to obtain some sort of audio card with an SP/DIF coax input. You will then lose virtually no audio quality whilst mixing down your stereo masters.

[paul-miller]

http://www.virtualscsi.com/virdis.htm