DP6 AND ROLAND'S VS1680

[midiw]

I have a dedicated hard disk recorder, Roland's VS1680 ( http://www.sweetwater.com/publications/ ... ge-01.html ) that was out of loan for more then a year and finally returned this week end. However although it's OK ( no damage and working ) the manuals were lost/destroyed ( musicians, grrrrrrr!!!!!! ).

I want to sync it to my computer and DP6 for recording/transfering audio from/to both units, additional mastering using the VS1680 effects card, burn to CD.

I need MOTUnation guru help and advice please please.

What are my MIDI in/out connections? My computer has a audiophile 2496 PCI card with audio and MIDI ports in/out and the VS1680 also has the MIDI in/out ports.

Thanks.

[kgdrum]

oh I miss my old VS1680,that was a great machine!
I still can not get as much done in DP as I did with the 1680(DP sounds better and is much deeper) but I understood the 1680 like no Software based DAW,I have ever tried.
I don't know how to sync these but why don't you give Roland support a call they are very helpful,also I think you can still download the manual on the Roland website.
good luck
KG

[midiw]

oh I miss my old VS1680,that was a great machine!
I still can not get as much done in DP as I did with the 1680(DP sounds better and is much deeper) but I understood the 1680 like no Software based DAW,I have ever tried.
I don't know how to sync these but why don't you give Roland support a call they are very helpful,also I think you can still download the manual on the Roland website.
good luck
KG

Thanks for the heads up advice.

At the moment, I am using Emagic's Logic 4 in OS 9 ( the traditional 9, not the Classic emulation ). You may recall that LOGIC 4 was written in cooperation with Roland to sync the both software and hardware. Unfortunately OS 9 is not that stable ( those were the good old days I sure don't want to come back ).

[builder]

I was quite the avid Roland VS fan.... I had the 1880. As someone else said, it was the most stable, easy to use, system I have ever had. What stunk was the ability to do exactly what you want to do. The only success I had with transferring tracks was from the VS1880 to DP. Set the VS1680 to receive sync from MTC and set DP to transmit MTC. I used the TosLink to do two track at a time. Just mute all the tracks except two, and repeat until all the tracks are in DP. I found that I had to manually move the tracks a little in order for them to line up perfectly.
If you are going from DP to the VS1680 for the Mastering Tool, that should be easy considering it should just be a stereo track.... Just record it... you probably don't even need sync....

Hope that help.

[midiw]

I was quite the avid Roland VS fan.... I had the 1880. As someone else said, it was the most stable, easy to use, system I have ever had. What stunk was the ability to do exactly what you want to do. The only success I had with transferring tracks was from the VS1880 to DP. Set the VS1680 to receive sync from MTC and set DP to transmit MTC. I used the TosLink to do two track at a time. Just mute all the tracks except two, and repeat until all the tracks are in DP. I found that I had to manually move the tracks a little in order for them to line up perfectly.
If you are going from DP to the VS1680 for the Mastering Tool, that should be easy considering it should just be a stereo track.... Just record it... you probably don't even need sync....

Hope that help.

Thanks for the excellent information written in an easy to use/understand.

When I bought the VS1680 Roland provided E magic's Logic 4 specially written by E magic to marry the VS1680 and Logic. Audio could be transfered between the hard disk record and the computer. However that was written in the days Mac OS 8.something.

When I tried this OS X ( Classic ) there were too many problems and NOT ENOUGH patience here.

Although I do still have OS 9 in what I refer to as "original" I usually end up freezing the system, crashing, or what ever. So signing into OS 9 on the QS G4 is rarly done.

Now with your instructions it appears I can use DP6 with the VS1680 in OS Tiger or Leopard.

I am involved in a special project at this time but I will give it a short test in a couple of days. Will let you know how it works both in Tiger and Leopard. ( I don't have Snowy Leopard yet. )

[MeisterEckhardt]

I've had the vs-1680 since 1998 and can't believe how stable and excellent the sound of that unit is. I've heard great musicians record and write with it. At the same time, people were griping about the preamps. But then I just heard what people are doing with the unit and I think the preamp thing is blown out of proportion for all recording systems. There's something about wanting to be "cool" or in the know and picking on preamps. So the 1680 also taught me there's a psychosis online about preamps. OK all that said, the 1680 in my analysis is perfect for some things, and terrible for others. Like, its never fun to edit on that unit. And a mouse could have saved all that (which Roland improved in the next versions by adding a mouse and monitor). Also me as a drummer, the motu auto-increment tape loop function justifies letting go of my VS-1680. I can zone out for an hour, like a video game and do take after take without touching a machine! The 1680 was so high-maintenance for switching takes especially 6 mics at once. The vs-1680 was also perfect for collaborating with other 1680 and 880 users. Terrible for collaboration with any other platform because as mentioned here in this thread, you have to do it a stereo track at a time and then there's some lining up to do afterwards. But it can be done.


As far as bouncing to and from the 1680. I haven't done it yet with motu. But I did do it successfully many times via optical spdif to a stereo two track editor, which then can save the files. At one time I had it synced to MOTU dp 3.11 via MIDI but it was so spread out and the files were now in two different places. Having everything in one computer helps a lot, especially with searching and backing up.

The vs-1680 when fully packed with fx cards is a university education in a box for recording technology. Everything is in there, all the basics. I would buy one of these in a heartbeat rather than pay a school to teach me sound engineering, and then have to be pushed out of the lab studio for other students when I am just getting going... yuck. So I will forever think that unit is a golden box and sounds great. All that said, MOTU imho is far easier to use than a Roland VS-1680 on so many levels. Hope this helps. Peace