Yamaha MD4 manual

MULTITRACK MD RECORDER MIC/LINE INPUT AUX RETURN STEREO SUB IN STEREO OUT MONITOR OUT TRACK DIRECT OUT AUX SEND 1234 L R L R L R L R 1 2 3 4 GAIN LINE MIC 1 2 3 4 AUX 01 0 HIGH –12 +12 MID –12 +12 LOW –12 +12 PAN L ODD R EVEN PB MIC/ LINE 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 GAIN LINE MIC 1 2 3 4 AUX 01 0 HIGH –12 +12 MID –12 +12 LOW –12 +12 PAN L OD[...]

Laser Diode Properties * Material : GaAlAs * Wavelength : 780–790 nm * Emission Duration : Continuous * Laser Output Power : Less than 44.6 µ W Laser output is measured at a distance of 20cm from the object lens on the optical pick-up head. (Note) This unit is classified as a Class 1 laser product. The CLASS 1 LASER PRODUCT label is located on t[...]

• Explanation of Graphical Symbols The exclamation point within an equilateral tri- angle is intended to alert the user to the presence of important operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in the literature accompanying the product. The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user t[...]

iii MD4—Owner’s Manual Important Read the Following Before Operating MD4 W arnings • Do not locate MD4 in a place subject t o ex cessive heat or in dir ect sunlight. This c ould be a fire hazar d. • Do not place MD4 in a place subject t o ex cessive humidity or dust. This could be a fire and electrical shock hazard. • Connect the suppli[...]

iv MD4—Owner’s Manual Inter ference MD4 uses high-frequency digital circuits that may cause interfer ence on radios and telev isions placed close to it. If int erference does oc cur , relocat e the affected equipment. Copyright © 1996 Y amaha Corpor ation. All rights reserved. N o part of the MD4 software or this Ow ner’ s M anual may be r e[...]

v MD4—Owner’s Manual Contents 1. Welcome to MD4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 MD4 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Recorder . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

vi MD4—Owner’s Manual Preparing for Ping-Pong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Rehearsing the Ping-Pong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Performing the Ping-Pong for Real . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Checking the Ping-Pong Operation . . . . .[...]

vii MD4—Owner’s Manual Deleting Steps in a Tempo Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Saving a Tempo Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Loading a Tempo Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Tempo Map Chart . . . . . . . . .[...]

Welcome to MD4 1 MD4—Owner’s Manual 1 W elcome to MD4 Thank you for choosing the Y amaha MD4 M ultitrack MD Recor der . MD4 is the world’ s first multitrack recor der to use the MiniDisc format, w ith its superior sound quality and quick search capabilities. T o take best advantage of y our MD4, read this Ow ner’ s Manual thoroughly . MD4 [...]

2 Welcome to MD4 MD4—Owner’s Manual Buying Discs for MD4 It ’ s important that you buy the c orrect ty pe of disc for use w ith your MD4. For 4-track rec ording and playback, you must use MD D A T A discs. N ormal MiniDiscs can only be used for 2-tr ack reco rding and pla yback. MD D A T A discs are used as a storage media for comput ers. MD4[...]

Touring MD4 3 MD4—Owner’s Manual 2 Touring MD4 This chapter tak es you on a tour of MD4, identifying the various par ts to help y ou become famil- iar with your new recor der . Topside V iew The individual sections of MD4 are e xplained on the following pages. MULTITRACK MD RECORDER MIC/LINE INPUT AUX RETURN STEREO SUB IN STEREO OUT MONITOR OUT[...]

4 Touring MD4 MD4—Owner’s Manual Input Channels 1 GAIN control This rotary control adjusts the sensitivity of the MIC/LINE input so that both micro- phone and line-level signals can be handled with ease. 2 EQ controls These rotary controls are used t o boost and cut the hig h, middle, and lo w frequency bands independently . A flat setting (i.[...]

Master Section 5 MD4—Owner’s Manual Master Section 1 AUX RETURN GROUP ASSIGN switches These switches are used to assign (i.e., send) the A ux Return signals to the reco rder’ s tr acks. The left-channel signal is sent to odd buses 1 and 3. While the right-channel signal is sent to even buses 2 and 4. The A ux Return signals are typically the [...]

6 Touring MD4 MD4—Owner’s Manual Display Not e : For e xplanation pur poses, the illust ration abov e shows most of the available indicat ors. During normal oper ation, howeve r , you will not see so many indicators on the displa y at the same. 1 Status indicators These indicators show the curr ent operating mode. 2 Disc type indicators These i[...]

Display 7 MD4—Owner’s Manual 6 Time Counter mode These indicators show the T ime Counter mode. ELAPSE —This mode shows the time position within a song. REMAIN —This mode shows the time r emaining for a song or when you ar e recor ding a new song, it sho ws the available time remaining for the song. TOT AL —This mode shows the time positio[...]

8 Touring MD4 MD4—Owner’s Manual Disc T ransport Section 1 AUTO PUNCH I/O button This button is used to turn on the Aut o Punch In/Out function. 2 UTILITY button This button is used to ac cess the following functions: Rec M ode, T ext, Pr eP ost Roll, OffLinePunch, T rack Er ase, Song Erase, Song Cop y , Song Divide, Song Combine, C ue List, PR[...]

Disc Transport Section 9 MD4—Owner’s Manual 9 CLEAR button This button is used to canc el func tions and delete c har acters in disc and song titles. 0 REC SELECT buttons These buttons are used t o select t racks for rec ording. A MARK SEARCH buttons These buttons are used t o locate song markers. B MARK button This button is used to ent er mar[...]

10 Touring MD4 MD4—Owner’s Manual T opside Connectors 1 STEREO SUB IN These phono jacks are used to c onnect another mixer to MD4 t o increase the number of available input channels. The stereo output signals from the other mix er can be mixed into the MD4 ste- reo mix or rec orded to MD4 tracks. C onnect them to the other mix er’ s stereo ou[...]

Front Connectors 11 MD4—Owner’s Manual Front Connectors 1 PHONES A pair of ster eo headphones can be connected here for monit oring . The headphone signal is the same as the MONIT OR OUT signal. 2 PUNCH I/O An optional footswitch, such as the Y amaha FC5, can be connected here for foot-c ont r olled play- back, rehearsal, r e c ording, or punch[...]

12 The First Session MD4—Owner’s Manual 3 The First Session This chapter e xplains how to r ecord and mix your first MD4 session. If this is your first time with a multitr ack r ecor der , we rec ommend that you start w ith this chapter and follo w all the proc edures closely . When y ou ’ve c ompleted this chapt er , have a look at subsequ[...]

Connecting the Power Cord 13 MD4—Owner’s Manual Connecting the Power Cord 1. Connect the supplied power cord to the AC IN socket on the rear of MD4. 2. Plug the other end of the power cord into a suitable AC wall outlet. Turning On MD4 1. Press the POWER switch at the rear of MD4. The display lights up. T o turn off MD4, press the PO WER sw itc[...]

14 The First Session MD4—Owner’s Manual The following table show the r elationship between the P AN control and G roup/T r acks. 6. Press the MONITOR SELECT [1–3] switch. This sets the monitor sourc e to T rack 1. 7. Set the MONITOR LEVEL control midway . 8. Raise Channel 1 fader to the 7–8 mark. Y ou should now be able t o hear the sound s[...]

Overdubbing 15 MD4—Owner’s Manual 2. Press the MONITOR SELECT [1–3] switch. 3. Press the [CUE] MONITOR SELECT switch. 4. Set CUE LEVEL 1 midway . 5. Press the [PLA Y] button to start playback. Y ou should now be able t o hear what was recor ded. Adjust CUE LEVEL 1 as r equired. If y ou don ’t hear an y thing, r echeck the preceding steps. O[...]

16 The First Session MD4—Owner’s Manual and what you are recording now . 15. Press the [STOP] button to stop recording (or Rehearsal). 16. Press the LAST REC SEARCH [IN] button. This returns to the point at which r e c ording (or R ehearsal) star ted. 17. Press the [PLA Y] button to play back what you‘ve recorded. If you just rehearsed the ov[...]

An Overview of Multitrack Recording 17 MD4—Owner’s Manual An Overview of Multitrack Recording This section describes the fundamental principles of multitrack recording. Basic Multitracking Monitoring —This is the process of listening to a sound as it ’ s being recor ded or listening to reco rded sounds as new sounds ar e recor ded to other [...]

18 The First Session MD4—Owner’s Manual About Monitoring MD4 features a flexible monit oring system, allowing you to monit or sig nals at various points. Y ou can monitor sounds thr ough a pair of stereo headphones c onnected to the PHONES jack, or through a monitor amplifier and speak ers connected t o the MONITOR OUT jacks. The MONIT OR SEL[...]

Recording & Mixing Techniques 19 MD4—Owner’s Manual 4 Recording & Mixing T echniques This chapter e xplains MD4 recor ding and mixing techniques. Recording a New Song The NEW REC function is used to r ecord new songs on a disc. Songs are rec orded sequentially , as shown below . W ith a blank disc, simply pressing the [REC] butt on enga[...]

20 Recording & Mixing Techniques MD4—Owner’s Manual 1. T o set the Recording mode, press the [UTILITY] button and use the [ √ ] and [ ® ] SELECT buttons to select the Rec Mode function. 2. Press the [ENTER] button. The display sho ws 4TR X 2TR X MONO 3. Use the [ √ ] and [ ® ] SELECT buttons to select a Recording mode. Only the 2TR an[...]

Manual Punch In/Out 21 MD4—Owner’s Manual Manual Punch In/Out Punch in/out t echniques allows you to r erecord specific sections of a track. This can be used to correct mistak es or record something new int o silent sections of a track. If you ’r e oper ating MD4 and playing or singing the par t t o be reco rded, you ’ll find it much easi[...]

22 Recording & Mixing Techniques MD4—Owner’s Manual Using the REC SELECT buttons 1. Locate to a position before the point at which you want to punch in. 2. Make sure that all track indicators are off (i.e., no tracks selected). 3. Press the [REC] button. The REC indicators flash, indicating Recor d Pause mode is engaged. Instead of pressin[...]

Manual Punch In/Out 23 MD4—Owner’s Manual Using a Footswitch 1. Connect an optional footswitch to the PUNCH I/O jack. 2. Locate to a position before the point at which you want to punch in. 3. Press the [REC SELECT] button of the track that you want to record. A circle flashes ar ound the corresponding track indicator . 4. Press the [REC] butt[...]

24 Recording & Mixing Techniques MD4—Owner’s Manual Auto Punch In/Out The A uto Punch In/Out function aut omates the punch in/out pr ocedure, allowing you to con- centrate on y our playing or singing. A uto Punch I n/Out uses the LAST REC IN and OUT points as the punch in and punch out points. So you must set these points first. Once set, [...]

Auto Punch In/Out 25 MD4—Owner’s Manual Rehearsing Auto Punch 1. Press the [REC SELECT] button of the track that you want to record. A circle flashes ar ound the corresponding track indicator . 2. Press the [AUTO PUNCH I/O] button. The Pr e-Roll point is locat ed automatically and the PRE indicator flashes. The REHE indicators flash and the [...]

26 Recording & Mixing Techniques MD4—Owner’s Manual Per forming Auto Punch for Real 1. Press the [REC SELECT] button of the track that you want to record. A circle flashes ar ound the corresponding track indicator . 2. Press the [AUTO PUNCH I/O] button. The Pr e-Roll point is locat ed automatically and the PRE indicator flashes. The REHE [...]

Auto Punch In/Out 27 MD4—Owner’s Manual Auto Punch with a Footswitch An optional footswitch can be used to start the A uto Punch In/Out sequenc e. 1. Press the [REC SELECT] button of the track that you want to record. A circle flashes ar ound the corresponding track indicator . 2. Press the [AUTO PUNCH I/O] button. The Pr e-Roll point is locat[...]

28 Recording & Mixing Techniques MD4—Owner’s Manual Setting the Pre-Roll & Post-Roll T imes Pr e-Roll and P ost-Roll are used in conjunction with the A uto Punch I n/Out func tion. Pre-R oll refers to the time befor e the IN point at which playback starts. P ost-Roll refers to the time after the OUT point at which playback st ops. The d[...]

Ping-Pong Recording 29 MD4—Owner’s Manual Ping-Pong Recording The ping-pong reco rding technique (also kno w n as bounce do w n) is used to fr ee up tracks for further recording. This is accomplished by bouncing do w n (i.e., mixing and recording) one or two existing tracks to an unused track. Those t racks are then used for further rec ording.[...]

30 Recording & Mixing Techniques MD4—Owner’s Manual Preparing for Ping-Pong 1. Press the [ ] SONG SEARCH button to locate the beginning of the song. 2. Set the input select switches on the source track channels to PB. This sets the disc playback signal as the sourc e for the channels. 3. Set the faders on the source channels to the 7 – 8 [...]

Ping-Pong with Overdub 31 MD4—Owner’s Manual Checking the Ping-Pong Operation 15. Press the [ ] SONG SEARCH button to locate the beginning of the song. 16. Press the MONITOR SELECT [GROUP] switch that you pressed previously to monitor the destination track. 17. Press the MONITOR SELECT CUE switch. 18. Set the CUE LEVEL control corresponding to [...]

32 Recording & Mixing Techniques MD4—Owner’s Manual Pitch The Pitch function allo ws you t o adjust the pitch for pla yback and recording. The pitch can be adjusted appro ximately ± 6%. Normally , the Pitc h function should be set to Fix, w hich means the pitch is fix ed for normal oper ation. See Pitch on page 62 for some advanced applic[...]

Using a Footswitch 33 MD4—Owner’s Manual Using a Footswitch An optional footswitch can be used to c ontrol MD4. Apart from a few small differ ences, foot- switch operation is essentially the same as pressing the MD4 [PLA Y] button. Connect the foot- switch to the PUNCH I/O jack at the front of MD4. The following is a summar y of footsw itc h op[...]

34 Recording & Mixing Techniques MD4—Owner’s Manual Applying Effects The A UX SEND and A UX RETURN allow you to c onnect an external effects processor and apply effects to MD4 signals. Effects can be applied when recor ding t racks, using ping-pong , or during mixdown. T ypically , r e v er b and dela y ty pe effects, which are often applie[...]

Applying Effects 35 MD4—Owner’s Manual 2. Set the effects processor as required. 3. T o mix the processed signal back into the stereo mix, turn up the AUX RETURN LEVEL control. U se the A UX RETURN LEVEL contr ol to balance the processed signal with the dr y , unpr o c essed signal that is coming directly fr om the input channel. U se the input[...]

36 Quick Search Functions MD4—Owner’s Manual 5 Quick Sear ch Functions This chapter e xplains the quick search functions. Sear ching for Songs The [ ] and [ ] SONG SEARCH buttons can be used at an y time exc ept rec ording to locat e songs. The [ ] SONG SEARCH butt on locates the prev ious song and the [ ] SONG SEARCH butt on locates the next s[...]

Inserting Markers 37 MD4—Owner’s Manual Inserting Markers Y ou can insert up to eight markers in a song during recording or pla yback. M ar k ers are a con- venient wa y to locate specific points within a song . They can be adjusted and erased. The Start and End markers, which are inserted automatically when rec ording, cannot be adjusted or e[...]

38 Quick Search Functions MD4—Owner’s Manual Adjusting Markers Once inserted, mar k ers can be finely adjusted in one frame steps. The LAST REC IN and OUT points can also be adjusted. The Star t and End marke rs cannot be adjusted. 1. Press the [ADJUST] button. The display sho ws ADJST: MARK 1 2. Use the [ √ ] and [ ® ] SELECT buttons to se[...]

Erasing Markers 39 MD4—Owner’s Manual Erasing Markers 1. Press the [ADJUST] button. The display sho ws ADJST: MARK 1 2. Use the [ √ ] and [ ® ] SELECT buttons to select the marker that you want to erase. 3. Press the [CLEAR] button. The display sho ws CLR MARK 1? 4. Press the [ENTER] button to erase the marker . The marker is erased and exis[...]

40 Repeat, Cue List & Program Play MD4—Owner’s Manual 6 Repeat, Cue List & Program Play This chapter e xplains the Repeat, C ue List, and Pr ogram Play functions. One Song Repeat One Song Re peat playback allows y ou to play one song r epeatedly . 1. Use the [SONG SEARCH] buttons to select the song for repeat playback. 2. Press the [REP[...]

A – B Repeat 41 MD4—Owner’s Manual A – B Repeat A–B Re peat playback allo ws you t o play a specific section of a song repeatedly . Pla yback repeats between the specified A and B points. 1. Press the [PLA Y] button to start playback. 2. Press the [MEMO A/B] button when you hear the beginning of the section that you want to repeat. REPE[...]

42 Repeat, Cue List & Program Play MD4—Owner’s Manual Cue List Playback & Copy The Cue List function allo ws you to compile a cue list (i.e., a sequence of cues for playback) using markers. Cues ar e loaded into memory for continuous, uninterr upted pla yback. The C ue List can also be copied t o create a new song. A Cue List can c onta[...]

Program Playback 43 MD4—Owner’s Manual Program Playback The Pr ogram Play function allows y ou to compile a pr og ram of song s for custom pla yback. The Pr og ram may c ontain up to 36 steps. 1. Press the [UTILITY] button and use the [ √ ] and [ ® ] SELECT buttons to select the PRG Play function. 2. Press the [ENTER] button. The display sho[...]

44 Editing Songs & Tracks MD4—Owner’s Manual 7 Editing Songs & T racks This chapter e xplains the edit functions that can be used with songs and t racks. Copying a Song The Song Copy function allo ws you to duplicate a song, including title, marke rs, and T empo Map . This is useful for making a backup c opy before performing a ping-pon[...]

Dividing a Song 45 MD4—Owner’s Manual Dividing a Song The Song Divide function allows you t o div ide songs into sev eral independent songs. Songs can also be arranged as a progr am for pla yback. See Pr ogram Playback on page 43 for mor e infor - mation. 1. Locate the position where you want to divide the song and press the [P AUSE] button. Th[...]

46 Editing Songs & Tracks MD4—Owner’s Manual Combining Songs The Song Combine function allows y ou to combine adjace nt songs that were divided using the Song Divide function. Songs that wer e recorded separat ely cannot be combined. 1. Press the [UTILITY] button and use the [ √ ] and [ ® ] SELECT buttons to select the Song Combine funct[...]

Track-to-Track Copy 47 MD4—Owner’s Manual T rack-to-T rack Copy The Off Line P unch function allows y ou to perform tr ack-to-track copies. The section of the source track to be c opied is determined by the LAST REC IN and OUT points, and you must set these points before try ing to use this function. As the c opy operation is performed by the r[...]

48 Editing Songs & Tracks MD4—Owner’s Manual Erasing T racks The T rack Er ase function allows y ou to erase individual t racks. 1. Press the [UTILITY] button and use the [ √ ] and [ ® ] SELECT buttons to select the T rack Erase function. 2. Press the [ENTER] button. The display sho ws Erase X ****Tr 3. Use the [ √ ] and [ ® ] SELECT [...]

MD4 & MIDI 49 MD4—Owner’s Manual 8 MD4 & MIDI MIDI sequencers and MIDI c ontrolled musical instruments hav e become essential tools for modern recor ding . It’ s common these days not to r ecord MIDI instruments to tape until the final mixdown. This has the benefit of fr eeing up tracks for acoustic sounds and reduces the need for r[...]

50 MD4 & MIDI MD4—Owner’s Manual Setting Up a Synchronized MIDI System The following illustration shows how MD4 can be int egrated into a MIDI-based recor ding sys- tem. In this example, acoustic sounds are rec orded to the MD4 and MIDI devices are contr olled by the MIDI sequence r , which recei ves MT C or MIDI Clock from MD4. This exampl[...]

Using MTC 51 MD4—Owner’s Manual Using MTC Setting MD4 for MTC Operation 1. Press the [UTILITY] button and use the [ √ ] and [ ® ] SELECT buttons to select the MIDI Sync function. 2. Press the [ENTER] button. The display sho ws OFF X MTC X CLK 3. Press the [ ® ] SELECT button to select MTC. MT C appears on the display . 4. Press the [UTILITY[...]

52 MD4 & MIDI MD4—Owner’s Manual Using MIDI Clock Setting the MIDI Sequencer The MIDI sequencer must be set t o recei ve and synchronize t o an external MIDI Clock source. Re fer to your MIDI sequenc er’ s user manual for more information. Exact MIDI Clock operation depends on what external synchr onization features y our MIDI sequencer s[...]

Using MIDI Clock 53 MD4—Owner’s Manual nined in step 8. T o go to the tempo section of the T empo Map , pr ess the [CLEAR] button, press the [ ® ] SELECT button, and then press the [ENTER] button. 11. Press the [UTILITY] button. The T empo Map is not st ored when MD4 is turned off, so you should sa ve it to disc. See Saving a T e mpo Map on pa[...]

54 MD4 & MIDI MD4—Owner’s Manual Inserting Steps in a T empo Map The T empo Map is sorted auto matically when you pr ess the [ENTER] button. So you can insert new meter or tempo st eps in any order . The follo w ing example shows ho w sor ting works when a new meter step is inserted. The following example shows ho w sor ting works when a ne[...]

Using MIDI Clock 55 MD4—Owner’s Manual Saving a T empo Map 1. Press the [UTILITY] button and use the [ √ ] and [ ® ] SELECT buttons to select the MIDI Sync function. 2. Press the [ENTER] button. The display sho ws OFF X MTC X CLK 3. Use the [ √ ] and [ ® ] SELECT buttons to select CLK. 4. Press the [ENTER] button. The display sho ws Meter[...]

56 MD4 & MIDI MD4—Owner’s Manual Tempo Map Chart Meter Te m p o Step Measure Time Signature Step Measure -Beat T empo A 001 / A 001 – 1 B / B C / C D / D E / E F / F G / G H / H I / I J / J K / K L / L M / M N / N O / O P / P Q / Q R / R S / S T / T U / U V / V W / W X / X Y / Y Z / Z[...]

MD4 Applications 57 MD4—Owner’s Manual 9 MD4 Applications This chapter sho ws how MD4 can be used for various applications. One-T ake Recording The One-T ake rec ording tec hnique is ideal for liv e recor ding or recording bands that lik e to reco rd with all members playing together . In the follo w ing system example, vocals, guitar , and dru[...]

58 MD4 Applications MD4—Owner’s Manual MIDI Home Studio In the follo wing MIDI home studio system example, all instruments are recor ded to MD4. Rec ording the MIDI instruments could be left until the final mixdown, sinc e the MIDI sequencer pr ovides repeatable pla yback and is synchronized t o MD4 using MIDI Timecode. Ha v ing the entire pr [...]

Using MD4 with a Sub-Mixer 59 MD4—Owner’s Manual Using MD4 with a Sub-Mixer The MD4’ s four -channel mix er is flexible enoug h to handle most applications. If you need to expand the number of simultaneously available inputs, however , an ext er nal sub-mix er can be used. The stereo outputs of the sub-mix er can be connected to the MD4’ s[...]

60 MD4 Applications MD4—Owner’s Manual Recording a Stereo Sour ce For st ereo r ecording, MD4 can be set to the Stereo r e c ording mode. This provides a total rec ord- ing time of 74 minut es. See Setting the Recording M ode on page 19 for more information. The following system example sho ws two microphones being used for st ereo recor ding. [...]

Beyond the Basics 61 MD4—Owner’s Manual 10 Beyond the Basics This chapter pr ov ides some ad vanced tips and techniques for MD4 r ecording. AUX RETURN Y ou don ’t ha ve to use the A UX RETURN w ith an ext ernal effects processor . I t can be used as an extra stereo input. It acce pts line-level signals that can be assigned to tr acks or sent [...]

62 Beyond the Basics MD4—Owner’s Manual Pitch Adjusting the pit ch is a common multitrack technique. It’ s useful when recor ding inst ruments that are slightly out of tune. For example, you ’ve r ecorded the drum and bass parts and now it’ s time to rec ord the acoustic piano part. H owever , the piano is a little flat. The easy way ar [...]

Mixdown 63 MD4—Owner’s Manual Mixdown This section pro vides tips and techniques for achieving the perfect MD4 mix. • Balance levels —you should alr eady ha ve some idea of how you want y our mix to sound. This will, obviously , depend on the application and the instruments being mix ed. Start w ith all faders positioned at the 7–8 mark. [...]

64 Q&A Section MD4—Owner’s Manual 11 Q&A Section This section is intended to answ er your questions about MD4 and MD D A T A discs. What ’ s the difference between MiniDiscs and MD DA T A Discs? MiniDiscs wer e designed to store mono and st ereo sound data. MD D A T A discs were originally designed to store c omputer data. I deal for [...]

Q&A Section 65 MD4—Owner’s Manual Is MD4 sensitive to knocks and vibration? W ithin reason, no . MD4 featur es a three-second sound buffer for uninterrupted operation. Do I have to clean the MD4 heads? N o . In a cassette tape r ecor der , the head touches the tape. The MD4 heads, howev er , do not con- tact the disc. The MD4 heads are very[...]

66 Troubleshooting MD4—Owner’s Manual T roubleshooting If you ’ re ha ving difficult y operating MD4 or it doesn ’t seem t o work as expect ed, look up the symptoms in the following table and follow the advice pr ov ided. Symptom Advice MD4 cannot be turned on! Make sure the power cord is connected to a suitable AC wall outlet and plugged [...]

Appendix 67 MD4—Owner’s Manual Appendix MD4 T ransport Modes ● On z Flashing REMAIN (available recording time) does not increase when a song is erased! REMAIN does not indicate the total amount of blank area on the disc (see “ Searching for the Blank T op), and erasing a song does not necessarily increase the REMAINing time. However , if yo[...]

68 Appendix MD4—Owner’s Manual Display Messages Message Meaning A A A A D D D D J J J J S S S S T T T T A A A A b b b b o o o o r r r r t t t t The [STOP] button was pressed, so the Adjust function was cancelled. A A A A . . . . P P P P N N N N C C C C H H H H A A A A b b b b o o o o r r r r t t t t The [STOP] button was pressed, so the Auto Pu[...]

Signal Flow Chart 69 MD4—Owner’s Manual Signal Flow Chart TRACK DIRECT OUT 1 2 3 4 GROUP STEREO CUE MONITOR LEVEL MIN MAX 1 2 1 2 3 4 3 4 LEVEL 01 0 LEVEL 01 0 GROUP ASSIGN 1 3 2 4 GROUP ASSIGN 1 2 3 4 01 0 01 0 01 0 01 0 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 MASTER AUX RETURN STEREO SUB IN STEREO MONITOR SELECT CUE LEVEL GAIN LINE MIC 1 2 3 4 AUX 01 0 HIGH ?[...]

70 Appendix MD4—Owner’s Manual Speci fi cations Recorder Mixer 0 dB is refer enced to 0.775 V r .m.s. General Digital/Audio Sampling Frequency: 44.1 kHz Compression: A TRAC Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz THD+N: 0.01% typ. (1 kHz) S/N: 85 dB typ. Rec/Play 4-track independent simultaneous record/play (Recording time: 37 min) Dubbing with 4[...]

Block Diagram 71 MD4—Owner’s Manual Block Diagram Dimensions • Specifications subject to change w ithout notice. L MIC/LINE 2 3 4 Track-4 Track-3 Track-2 HA GAIN MIC/ LINE PB EQ MID LOW HIGH AUX PAN CUE LEVEL HA GAIN MIC/ LINE PB EQ MID LOW HIGH AUX PAN CUE LEVEL HA GAIN MIC/ LINE PB EQ MID LOW HIGH AUX PAN CUE LEVEL CUE LEVEL 1 4 3 2 4 3 2 [...]

72 Glossary MD4—Owner’s Manual Glossar y A TRAC —An acro nym for Adapti ve T r ansform A coustic Coding. This is the compression tech- nique used to fit the same amount of data as that of a 120 mm CD on a 64 mm MiniDisc. Using the A TRA C system, the MD4 provides a four-track recor ding time of 37 minutes. A TRA C uses established psychoac o[...]

73 MD4—Owner’s Manual Low-Level Signal —A signal in the range from –100 dB to –20 dB . Microphone and electric guitar signals are in this range. MD4 MIC/LINE inputs support low-lev el signals. C ontrast w ith Line-Level Signal. MiniDisc —A compact data st orage medium designed to store music. MiniDiscs come in tw o varieties: playback o[...]

74 Glossary MD4—Owner’s Manual Ping-Pong —A reco rding technique used t o t ransfer (i.e., mix and rerecor d) one or more tracks to other tracks to free up those tracks for fur ther rec ording. MD4 allows y ou to recor d on all four trac ks and then ping-pong (i.e., four-tr ack playback with ping-p ong). A feat ure unique to MD4. Pre-Roll Tim[...]

Index 75 MD4—Owner’s Manual Index A A.PNCH Abort, message 68 A–B repeat 41 AC IN connector 11 ADJST Abort, message 68 ADJUST button 8 Adjusting markers 38 Advanced multitracking 17 All song repeat 40 Applications MIDI home studio 58 one-take recording 57 stereo recording 60 Assign, see Group assign ATRAC, definition 72 Auto punch indicator 7 [...]

76 Index MD4—Owner’s Manual input channel 4 master section 5 FF CUE button 9 First session 12 First track recording 13 FIX 6 Flow chart 69 Footswitch auto punch in/out 27 connector 11 definition 72 operation table 33 punch in/out operation 23 Frame, definition 72 G GAIN control about 4 setting 14 Group assign AUX RETURN 5 input channels 4 STERE[...]

Index 77 MD4—Owner’s Manual MONITOR LEVEL control 5 OUT connectors 10 SELECT switches 5 Monitoring about 18 beyond the basics 62 overview 17 MTC cabling notes 51 definition 73 indicator 6 sequencer setting 51 system setup 50 using 51 MTC OFF!, message 68 Multitrack recording overview 17 Multitracker, definition 73 Multitracking advanced 17 basi[...]

78 Index MD4—Owner’s Manual REVIEW button 9 Review mode 67 S Save Err, message 68 Save Warn !, message 68 SaveProhibit, message 68 Searching by time 36 for blank top 19 for last rec IN/OUT 36 for markers 36 for Songs 36 SELECT buttons 8 Setting GAIN control 14 IN/OUT points 24 pitch 32 post-roll time 28 pre-roll time 28 Signal flow chart 69 Sig[...]

YAMAHA [Multitrack Recorder] Date: 10 July 1996 Model: MD4 MIDI Implementation Chart Version: 2.0 Function... Transmitted Recognized Remarks Basic Channel Default Changed X X X X Mode Default Messages Altered X X ************** X X X Note Number True Voice X ************** X X Velocity Note On Note Off X X X X After Touch Keys Ch ’ s X X X X Pitc[...]

VU39780 R2 1 IP Y AMAHA CORPORA TION P .O.Box 1, Hamamatsu, J apan 96 09 5000 CP Printed in Japan GAIN Source: Source: Source: Source: Source: Source: 1234 LINE MIC 1 2 3 4 AUX 01 0 HIGH – 12 +12 MID – 12 +12 LOW – 12 +12 PAN L ODD R EVEN PB MIC/ LINE 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 GAIN LINE MIC 1 2 3 4 AUX 01 0 HIGH – 12 +12 MID – 12 +12 LOW –[...]