Roland VS-840GX Question

[pailhead]

Ok do you guys take kindly to recording newbies

I've managed to get my hands on a Roland VS-840GX Digital 8 track recorder. And I'm trying to lay some tracks down and am having an issue. Is anyone out there familiar with this or any of the VS studios?

[jake-O.W.A.]

It'd probably be best for ya if you actually post the question in as much detail as possible. That way when someone who may or may not know the answer finally sees this post you will save a step.

Welcome by the way.

[pailhead]

Sorry about that.. this is probably a pretty easy question for those that have worked with this hardware before. But I'm trying to lay down some tracks, drum, 2 guitars and bass. My one hurdle I'm needing to overcome is this. I currently have no mic's for use with my recordings so I'm having to go direct into the 840GX. The problem that I'm having is that I can get the track recording on track 1 just fine thru the "Guitar (Hi-Z)" input but if I want to record to any tracks other than 1 I can't get them to work thru the "Guitar (Hi-Z)" input. The manual and quickstart guides don't really go thru multitracking using direct in, it somewhat goes thru is using the mic inputs.

Can someone sort of walk me thru getting my 2 guitars and bass tracks recorded each on a seperate track?

Hope this is detailed enough and gives a good picture of my issue. Like I said I'm completely new to doing recordings via tracks on a stand alone machine.

Thanks a ton!!!

-Jason

[jake-O.W.A.]

Hey, no problem Jason, we all had to start somewhere. I don't actually use a Roland or even a standalone recorder but I may be able to help or at least get you moving in the right direction. It sounds like you are recording onto a default track designation for that input. Try to find your track routing or bussing and route that input to a new track. Chances are it will be something like a track select and or function button to get into the tracks properties. From there you should be able to select where the input records to or the channel's output.

Hope this helps.

[Porter]

OK, I've got an old 840-EX at home, I believe the bus/mixing architecture is very similar except I think the GX series has 128V-Tracks, the EX only has 64.

Warning: some of these instructions are going to be vaigue for 2 reasons.. a) I haven’t used the 840 in about 2 years and b) I’m at work and doing this from memory so I haven’t got the unit to actually visualize this on.

I’m pretty sure this is covered in the manual, just not in good English as it can look like quite a daunting machine for something so small!

The 840 is divided up into 2 sections, on the left hand side the mixer and right the busses/recording unit. The mixer acts slightly differently to recording and play back, ie, when recording you select a bus and a destination, when you play back you are listening to the corresponding bus.

You have 6 busses, 4 mono and 2 stereo.

Now on each channel of the input you have a selector for either the AB or CD busses. To record to an A buss, the track has to be panned hard left and to record to a B buss it has to be recorded hard right, this is how you separate the tracks, so you have a guitar on a separate track (on the right hand side of the unit). Panning will direct the output to the bus, you just have to remember when you play back to set the panning back to the center otherwise that track will be fully panned one direction!

1) Recording the first Guitar to the 4th Bus:

On the mixer, set channel 1 as an input, select bus CD and pan the track fully right (so on the right hand side we are going to record to the 4th bus D), on the Bus side, set Bus 4 to record. Adjust the levels and record.

2) Play back the track recorded.

Set Bus 4 to green (play back), set track 4 on the mixer to play back and hit play.

3) Record second guitar

On the mixer, change the panning from fully right to fully left (so on the right hand side we are now going to record to the 3rd bus, C). on the Bus side, set Bus 3 to record. Adjust the levels and record. Also by leaving track 4 as playback only and not selecting any busses you should be able to listen to it whilst recording.

4) Listen to both.

Set Bus 3 to green (play back), set track 3 on the mixer to play back and hit play. You should now hear both guitars playing at the same time.

5) Record the bass

On the mixer, change the panning from fully left to fully right, change the Bus selection to AB (this time we are going to record to the 2nd bus). On the Bus side, set Bus 2 to record. If you haven’t changed anything you should be able to hear the other 2 tracks playing whilst you record.

6) Play back all tracks

Set Bus 2 to green (play back), set track 2 on the mixer to play back and hit play.


Once you get your head around the busses and how to record to them it becomes quite easy and you can navigate quite quickly.

Hope this help you,

Daniel

[Porter]

Oh... 2 other things...

Welcome to the board, hope you have fun!

Also, www.vsplanet.com .. haven't been there for a while, but I used to hang around there when I first got my 840EX. I'm not too sure how active that part of the forum is now, but try and look up some of the more historic posts.. just did a quick search and found this link which has a block diagram which with either confuse you to explain all, and many other docos.

Daniel

[pailhead]

Awesome guys.. Thanks a ton. I'm going to give it a shot and see if it works. Currently at work so I'll update ya tonight.

Thanks again!

-Jason

[pailhead]

That link you gave me Porter kicked ass.. VS840BASREC.PDF is a godsend!!! That got me multitrack recording with no questions it was direct and to the point but in laymens terms (sp?). I was able to record a 33sec snippet with 2 guitars and bass all on seperate tracks

Now here's a quick question, can I add effects for the initial recording, like distortion? I noticed in that document they added effects after the recording.

Man once again.. great link and a must have for all newbie recordings

-Jason

[goftneiciet]

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[lespaulgb]