norfolkmastering

I'm using Sonar to generate timecode to a MIDI output port. At the moment that's to a loopMIDI virtual port. I use that as the source for an MTC to LTC convertor which is a utility available in the ShowCockpit app. It comes out of my PC soundcard! The LTC is fed to all three of my machines, two Tascam 238S 8-tracks and one Fostex R8 8-track. All three machines use track 8 for recorded LTC timecode. The R8 uses a Fostex 4030 sync unit to do the actual slave synchronisation, but it also has a very comprehensive MIDI based remote control suite which includes the ability to locate to a specific full timecode (via SysEx). This MIDI control suite is incredible so I can use Sonar to set and unset the REC ARMs and a whole other bunch of stuff on the R8. The two 238Ss each have a Tascam ATS-500 sync unit. Again this these take care of slaving the 238Ss to Sonar. However the 238S remote control system is much more limited and based on RS232. So I have to use a PIC to translate MIDI remote control commands from Sonar (via AZ Controller) into the appropriate RS232 'text' character commands. These do include REC ARMs which is great. The ATS-500s have only CHASE mode (so it chases quarter frame timecode) and no facility to locate to a specific full timecode position. So instead, I send the Sonar song position timecode (again via AZ controller) to the PIC and then the PIC generates quarter frame timecode messages for enough time (about 2secs) towards that target song position. A couple of seconds is enough to get the ATS-500s to start chasing and it stops the machine when it gets to the target timecode. There should be an article coming out in the next RTM (Recording The Masters) newsletter which gives an overview of how this all hangs together, plus how I use Sonar to control my analogue mixer. All good fun!

I’m going to go with Sonar being the master for now. The MOTU should be able to slave to the Sonar MTC via the USB connection pretty well and then the MOTU will provide LTC to the three tape machines. We’ll see how that goes.

Yes the project has up to 21 tracks of audio, based on three 8-track machines with one sync track per machine. I am recording to Sonar and the tape machines simultaneously then I have the option to mixdown from Cakewalk or from the tape machines. The big advantage I see of using Cakewalk as the master is that it allows me to jump between markers in the song and the tape machines will chase. I think if I use the MOTU MIDI Express XT as the timing master then I lose that capability; so it might come down to functionality rather than anything else. I'm assuming that the Cakewalk MTC generation will be free of jitter? but I'm not sure what other timing issues there might be when using USB to transmit MTC from Cakewalk to the MOTU?

I am syncing three tape machines to Cakewalk. My options are either to use the MOTU as the timing master or use Cakewalk as the timing master.

I want to use a MOTU MIDI Express XT to act both as a MIDI router and as an MTC to LTC converter. It does those things! My question is whether to slave Sonar from the MOTU device or do it the other way around?

I agree with most of the comments on this topic. Larger text, better contrast between text and background and I’d like to see the relative sizes of the rotary knobs increased a bit.

What you need is a stereo offset control to shift the stereo image to the left or right of centre and also a stereo width control. They used to be standard on early BBC consoles with stereo channels.

How are you finding working with a curved monitor? I find working with two 24” straight monitors that I’m struggling to see the GUI stuff at the left and right hand edges, so the idea of two curved monitors providing a constant viewing distance looks like a good solution.

I’m looking to upgrade my current Sonar two monitor setup. Currently I have a pair of BenQ GL2450s which has a max resolution of 1920x1080 and an aspect ratio of 16:9 It’s about 21” wide and 24” diagonal. I use one monitor for the waveform display and one for the console view. I guess my main need is to display more tracks in the Console view. I’m not sure if a 4k display will allow more tracks in the same physical width? Or whether I need to get a physically wider monitor? If anyone has experience of a similar upgrade and can suggest what’s best, that would be great. As a supplemental, I have space to the side of my monitoring position for a third monitor. I wondered about dedicating this third monitor for fx plugin display. Has anyone tried this? Is there anyway to tell Sonar to pop up plugins onto a dedicated monitor?

I think I found the culprit which was causing the timing issue. I had a reverb plug-in on a track feeding one of the auxes. The feed track was hidden and I didn't spot it. All good now. I'm getting perfect timing on all insert send feeds to my analogue mixer and machines.

That’s great. I’m on the road for a week so I’ll post again when I get back and organise a test project.

I use the External Insert sends because they sit within FX presets each of which contains one other FX which is used for a couple of other important purposes, one of which is to give each track a unique identity. As example I can assign an FX preset named ‘R8-3’ to a track. This preset contains an ID tag which tells my external controller to route that Cakewalk track to a specific analogue port within my analogue recording and mixdown system. I previously used Cakewalk track and aux output routing (as you describe) but it did not allow the level of integration which FX based routing via External Insert Sends allows. When I do the final mixdown ‘out of the box’ Cakewalk controls all the routing, gain, pans and faders in my analogue mixer and also remote control of my analogue tape machines should I be using them in a project. So it’s possible that some of the other FXs I use are causing the issue. When I’m back from travelling I’ll share a project if you would be willing to spend the time checking timing.

I’ll experiment with a click on each track and measure the different timings that way. Should be easy enough to figure out which tracks need delays to match timings. Hopefully it will be consistent.

The Cakewalk external insert sends are not returned back into Cakewalk so the auto delay compensation mechanism is not used. The sends go to my external analogue mixer when I decide to do the final mix down in analogue. That’s why I wondered if the extra path length via auxes was causing the timing problem.

No problem when I’m mixing totally within Cakewalk. However I also mix in analogue using feeds from Cakewalk which are fed to my analogue mixer via the new external insert send only feature. This is when I think I found a timing issue. So consider this example: Some ‘external’ feeds are derived directly from Cakewalk tracks. These always time align in the analogue domain. Then I add some ‘external’ feeds to my analogue mixer which are derived from Cakewalk aux masters. Why aux masters? I use auxes to collect together my 12 Session Drummer sources into five ‘microphones’. So each of the 12 drum sources is sent to each of the five ‘microphones’ (i.e. an aux bus) at different feed levels. So I am simulating mic’ing a real drum kit with five microphones. It works really well. It is the external insert sends of these aux masters which don’t seem to be quite timing tight with the track feeds. And that’s why I wondered if the two paths had different timing path lengths within Cakewalk. I’ll do some more tests in case there is another cause.