Me again. I have the VS-1880 and was wondering if I could use any external SCSI CD burner or do I need to buy the $550 Roland burner. Anyone know?
VStudio CD Burner
- Thread starter jpryor
- Start date
larrypatterson
New member
A product more user friendly than theRoland CD burner
Roland says the only SCSI burner that will work with a VS-880EX is their VS-CDRII. I ordered one and sent it back with out even hooking it up. It wouldn't do anything I wanted it to do and was harder to figure out than Chinese 'rithmetic. It will only store archived data, not playable songs. Who needs that? I want to be able to store songs in a playable condition, not in some format that they must be “Restored” before using. Plus, to add archive data to a CD, you have to zero out the disk and start over - you can’t just add to what is already there. Bummer! I opted for a 2.2 Gig ORB external SCSI drive for back up and additional working room. It works exactly like the internal drive and, as the 2.2 Gig disks (the size of 2 full partitions of the internal drive) are only thirty bucks, additional space is dirt-cheap (see my post, same subject for more info).
As for burning audio quality CDs, the Roland burner will only burn 2 tracks from the VS-880EX, and you have no control during the process (you can’t change pan, levels, etc.. Therefore, you have to bounce tracks and do an internal final mix down before burning the CD. Something I don't want to do. I want all eight tracks left “un bounced” and be able to mix them directly to CD, not bounce tracks and mix on the Roland.
I received a Marantz CDR 500 yesterday, and it is a dream come true! It’s easer to use than an analog tape recorder and does even more that I expected. I hooked it up to my VS-880EX via the digital coax I/Os and was immediately able to mix songs to CD, just as if it were an analog tape recorder. During the recording process you can change levels, pans, fade out, etc. It is so simple to use that there is no learning curve. You can use it like a pro right out of the box. (However, I did commit the unpardonable sin of reading the manual before using it.)
To mix down from the Roland, all you have to do is punch the Marantz's "Input" button several times to select the “Digital Coax In”, punch "Record Select" a few times to select "External Manual Record", punch "Play" on the Roland and set the levels by either adjusting the knob on the CD record, or the Master Fader on the Roland. By the time the level is set, the CD recorder is already to go, asking you to "Start Source", so you stop the Roland, return it to the beginning of the song, hit "Play" on the Roland, and the CD recorder automatically starts recording. You don’t even have to hit “Record.” That’s it! All you have to do is hit "Stop" at the end of the song (it would automatically stop after 20 seconds of silence, but why wait?). If you need to boost a track or two during mix down (push up a guitar lead during a break, etc), or change the pan of a track for some reason. just go for it. You could even mix in a live performance if you wanted to. The Marantz will record any thing you do on the Roland’s mixer, just like an analog tape recorder will. You could even add and cut effects if you wanted to.
More good news: To give one of my mixes a little extra punch, I wanted to record it played back 1/2 step faster than it was recorded at 44.10. I therefore played it back during mix down at 46.79, but was afraid that, due to the Marantz's automatic sample rate conversion; it would be recorded at the slower speed. Not so. It was recorded at 44.10, but was not slowed down, and the mix turned out exactly as it sounded as played by the Roland. At this point, I was ecstatic!
If you don't like the recording of you mix (which I never do the first several times), hit track erase, and in about five seconds the track will be erased and you can try again, making the needed improvements to the mix. I was absolutely amazed at how simple it all was, and how wonderful the end product turned out. It’s easer and quicker to use than tape, as you don’t even have to cue anything, rewind, etc. The CD recorder always immediately finds the right track. The only limiting factor: if I understand the manual correctly, you can only erase the last track, or entire disk. Therefore, you need to be sure you are satisfied with each mix before moving on to the next, because you can’t jump back over several tracks to erase one. This isn’t much of a problem, as I plan to initially mix to CDRW, then dub the mixes I am satisfied to CDR for the final copy. So if I end up with several versions of a mix on the CDRW, I’ll just pick the best one for final dub to CDR.
If you wanted to, you could send the final 2-track mix back to the Roland for further Mastering. As it remains digital, it wouldn't mater how many times you recorded it back and forth, you would loose nothing. You could record several different versions of your mix and keep them on the Roland and/or on CD. Whatever turns you on.
Of course, being a "Professional" machine, the Marantz ignores copyright info, and will do an automatic double speed copy of anything you send it: CDs, records, etc. It has dual trays, so all you have to do to copy a CD is stick it in and push the button. It's a no brainer. Both the CDR tray and CD play tray will read un-finalized CDRs or CDRWs, so making copies of even un finished CDs of your mixes is a snap. You can even adjust level and balance on the CD recorder during recording. You wouldn’t need this function during mix down, but if you were dubbing a CD with screwed up levels or balance it might be nice to be able to correct it during the recording process.
Bottom line: For about a year, I have been desperately searching for a (user friendly) way to mix and master directly to CD that was as easy as mixing or mastering to analog tape. The Roland would not have allowed me to do any of the things mentioned above. True, having to invest in both the ORB and Marantz CDR 500 to fill all my squares, I spent several hundred bucks more than the $530 the VS-CDRII would have cost. But I am now able to do exactly what I need to do. I have an entire study full of (unused) crap that didn’t do what I thought it was going to do – over thirty years worth. It looks sort of like an analog equipment museum. For once I did it right and got what I needed. It was damn sure worth the additional time it took to figure this all out for myself, as well as the extra expense.
I hope this info is helpful to some of you out there. If someone could have explained all of this to me earlier on, it would have saved me a lot of time and trouble. Good luck, and have fun.
D. Larry Patterson
Roland says the only SCSI burner that will work with a VS-880EX is their VS-CDRII. I ordered one and sent it back with out even hooking it up. It wouldn't do anything I wanted it to do and was harder to figure out than Chinese 'rithmetic. It will only store archived data, not playable songs. Who needs that? I want to be able to store songs in a playable condition, not in some format that they must be “Restored” before using. Plus, to add archive data to a CD, you have to zero out the disk and start over - you can’t just add to what is already there. Bummer! I opted for a 2.2 Gig ORB external SCSI drive for back up and additional working room. It works exactly like the internal drive and, as the 2.2 Gig disks (the size of 2 full partitions of the internal drive) are only thirty bucks, additional space is dirt-cheap (see my post, same subject for more info).
As for burning audio quality CDs, the Roland burner will only burn 2 tracks from the VS-880EX, and you have no control during the process (you can’t change pan, levels, etc.. Therefore, you have to bounce tracks and do an internal final mix down before burning the CD. Something I don't want to do. I want all eight tracks left “un bounced” and be able to mix them directly to CD, not bounce tracks and mix on the Roland.
I received a Marantz CDR 500 yesterday, and it is a dream come true! It’s easer to use than an analog tape recorder and does even more that I expected. I hooked it up to my VS-880EX via the digital coax I/Os and was immediately able to mix songs to CD, just as if it were an analog tape recorder. During the recording process you can change levels, pans, fade out, etc. It is so simple to use that there is no learning curve. You can use it like a pro right out of the box. (However, I did commit the unpardonable sin of reading the manual before using it.)
To mix down from the Roland, all you have to do is punch the Marantz's "Input" button several times to select the “Digital Coax In”, punch "Record Select" a few times to select "External Manual Record", punch "Play" on the Roland and set the levels by either adjusting the knob on the CD record, or the Master Fader on the Roland. By the time the level is set, the CD recorder is already to go, asking you to "Start Source", so you stop the Roland, return it to the beginning of the song, hit "Play" on the Roland, and the CD recorder automatically starts recording. You don’t even have to hit “Record.” That’s it! All you have to do is hit "Stop" at the end of the song (it would automatically stop after 20 seconds of silence, but why wait?). If you need to boost a track or two during mix down (push up a guitar lead during a break, etc), or change the pan of a track for some reason. just go for it. You could even mix in a live performance if you wanted to. The Marantz will record any thing you do on the Roland’s mixer, just like an analog tape recorder will. You could even add and cut effects if you wanted to.
More good news: To give one of my mixes a little extra punch, I wanted to record it played back 1/2 step faster than it was recorded at 44.10. I therefore played it back during mix down at 46.79, but was afraid that, due to the Marantz's automatic sample rate conversion; it would be recorded at the slower speed. Not so. It was recorded at 44.10, but was not slowed down, and the mix turned out exactly as it sounded as played by the Roland. At this point, I was ecstatic!
If you don't like the recording of you mix (which I never do the first several times), hit track erase, and in about five seconds the track will be erased and you can try again, making the needed improvements to the mix. I was absolutely amazed at how simple it all was, and how wonderful the end product turned out. It’s easer and quicker to use than tape, as you don’t even have to cue anything, rewind, etc. The CD recorder always immediately finds the right track. The only limiting factor: if I understand the manual correctly, you can only erase the last track, or entire disk. Therefore, you need to be sure you are satisfied with each mix before moving on to the next, because you can’t jump back over several tracks to erase one. This isn’t much of a problem, as I plan to initially mix to CDRW, then dub the mixes I am satisfied to CDR for the final copy. So if I end up with several versions of a mix on the CDRW, I’ll just pick the best one for final dub to CDR.
If you wanted to, you could send the final 2-track mix back to the Roland for further Mastering. As it remains digital, it wouldn't mater how many times you recorded it back and forth, you would loose nothing. You could record several different versions of your mix and keep them on the Roland and/or on CD. Whatever turns you on.
Of course, being a "Professional" machine, the Marantz ignores copyright info, and will do an automatic double speed copy of anything you send it: CDs, records, etc. It has dual trays, so all you have to do to copy a CD is stick it in and push the button. It's a no brainer. Both the CDR tray and CD play tray will read un-finalized CDRs or CDRWs, so making copies of even un finished CDs of your mixes is a snap. You can even adjust level and balance on the CD recorder during recording. You wouldn’t need this function during mix down, but if you were dubbing a CD with screwed up levels or balance it might be nice to be able to correct it during the recording process.
Bottom line: For about a year, I have been desperately searching for a (user friendly) way to mix and master directly to CD that was as easy as mixing or mastering to analog tape. The Roland would not have allowed me to do any of the things mentioned above. True, having to invest in both the ORB and Marantz CDR 500 to fill all my squares, I spent several hundred bucks more than the $530 the VS-CDRII would have cost. But I am now able to do exactly what I need to do. I have an entire study full of (unused) crap that didn’t do what I thought it was going to do – over thirty years worth. It looks sort of like an analog equipment museum. For once I did it right and got what I needed. It was damn sure worth the additional time it took to figure this all out for myself, as well as the extra expense.
I hope this info is helpful to some of you out there. If someone could have explained all of this to me earlier on, it would have saved me a lot of time and trouble. Good luck, and have fun.
D. Larry Patterson
virtual.ray
New member
Another good choice is the Tascam CDRW-700 which is around $599 street price and similar feature set to the Marantz.
larrypatterson
New member
I agree
The Tascam is indeed a good choice. 8th Street music (8thstreet.com) has it on sale for about $400, which is absolutly amazing. The only reason I got the Marantz instead was the dual tray function, which was worth the extra bucks to me. I wanted to be able to dub CDs. Plus, I have discovered in the day and a half I have had it, that it is not only going to be going for mix down, but for mastering as well. The two trays can function seperately, so I can send the two track mix (on CDRW) from the CD player tray, via digital coax, to the VS-880EX,use any on-board mastering tool, effect, or EQ I want, send it back to the record tray via digital out, and record the mastered product on a CDR. I could also record the mastered product on the Roland at the same time, but there is little reason to do so. Therefore, for mastering purposes, the VS-880EX functions as an "effect" in an effect loop between the CD player and recorder trays.
Larry
The Tascam is indeed a good choice. 8th Street music (8thstreet.com) has it on sale for about $400, which is absolutly amazing. The only reason I got the Marantz instead was the dual tray function, which was worth the extra bucks to me. I wanted to be able to dub CDs. Plus, I have discovered in the day and a half I have had it, that it is not only going to be going for mix down, but for mastering as well. The two trays can function seperately, so I can send the two track mix (on CDRW) from the CD player tray, via digital coax, to the VS-880EX,use any on-board mastering tool, effect, or EQ I want, send it back to the record tray via digital out, and record the mastered product on a CDR. I could also record the mastered product on the Roland at the same time, but there is little reason to do so. Therefore, for mastering purposes, the VS-880EX functions as an "effect" in an effect loop between the CD player and recorder trays.
Larry
