akai DPS16 mixdown question

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sondriven

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I finally got a cd burner for my akai and want to start burning my songs. I have a few songs recorded on 14 tracks or so, and to put these songs on cd, do I have to mixdown all tracks to 2 tracks? Im having a hard time with the manual. Thanks for your input!

john
 
DPS16 Mixdown

Mix your source tracks through the ping pong bus to the two remaining tracks. These will become your stereo 'master' tracks which you will 'burn' to your CD writer using the DPS16's CD write routine (under PROJECT Mode then [F2] (CD-R) ).

Remember to:

1. Switch the bus effects on on the main effects screen.
2. Use a CD-R not a CD-RW. (If you get error messages while you are trying to write, switch the Write Speed to an actual setting instead of using 'max.')
3. Run the 'Finish' routine when you are done writing or you won't be able to play the CD.
4. Wash your hands and eat your vegetables.
 
Re: DPS16 Mixdown

T Monkey,

Okay, I have all my tracks mixed down to two. I do a lot of panning, do I have to do anything special before I waste a cd?
Do I need to pan the Left and Right Mixed down tracks or leave them straight up?
Thanks for your help!

john
 
john,

As best I can tell (the manual does not go into detail on this), when you burn to your CDR, you get exactly what is on the two tracks, i.e., there is no more mixing - panning, EQing, compressing, etc. You have to do all of that stuff in the mixdown to the two tracks. So monitor the mixdown carefully, and listen to the two track mix until you are happy with it. When you play the CD, it sounds real good, as if the burning to the CD cleans things up. If you're used to mixing to cassette tapes, you should be well pleased with the difference. I sure was.

TM
 
For what it's worth, here's another approach....

We do several different live mixes and burn them to a CDR via the S/PDIF OUT.
We put slightly different variables on each mix. Different pans, levels, etc. (Notice that I said "slightly different")
We burn the mixes to a Tascam CDRW700, which dithers the 24bit recording down to 16bit/44.1kHz.
We then compare all the mixes and choose the one we like the best.
Yeah, we waste one CD per song, but they're relatively cheap these days, so it's worth it to have "choices".

Buck
 
Re: DPS16 Mixdown

2. Use a CD-R not a CD-RW. (If you get error messages while you are trying to write, switch the Write Speed to an actual setting instead of using 'max.')

Just a question, " why does it screw up when trying the max setting on the burner?" Its not a necessity, but it would save a lot of time to burn at 8X rather 2X.

john
 
john,

My Yamaha (Model CRW8424SXZ) CD burner kept giving me error messages when using the Write function. Akai's service people advised me to set the write speed instead of using the max setting and the problem went away. Try the max setting and if it works, OK, otherwise try setting the actual write speed. Even at x4 it only takes about 1 minute to write a 4 min. song.

If your CD burner has an S/PDIF digital in, try Buck62's approach.

TM
 
My Yamaha (Model CRW8424SXZ) CD burner kept giving me error messages when using the Write function. Akai's service people advised me to set the write speed instead of using the max setting and the problem went away. Try the max setting and if it works, OK, otherwise try setting the actual write speed. Even at x4 it only takes about 1 minute to write a 4 min. song.





TM,

I have that same burner, but I dont have an 4X option, only a slow1X or Fast2X.
 
Keep turning the jog wheel, Johnny.

It goes: MAX/SLOW(x1)/FAST(x2)/x3/x4

Check page 115 in the Akai DPS16 User's Manual, Chapter 10 -Project Management, "Writing a Project to CD-R/CD-RW"

:D
 
TMonkey,

Oh . .. my gosh....Im a idiot. I didnt pay attention to the X3 and X4 after the other settings. You rock!
 
Just another question....

TM,

What if I record a song in 24bit then take that song and burn it to cd. WIll anything change or will pitch and everything be the same?

I know that even if I record in 24bit mode and transfer it to cd, it'll become 16bit, but I was just wondering if anything weird happens in the transfer process? Cause I can tell the difference in sound quality in 24 and obviously opt to use that.

...just a question....

john solo
 
Ok, since you asked....

Here's what happens when you burn a 24 bit mix to a 16 bit CD......

If your burner does'nt have "dithering" capabilities, then the information (music) will be "truncated".
Simply put, it starts lopping off bits of info that it cannot convert to 16 bit. Therefore, you lose some of your sound quality, which is immediately noticeable.... even to a novice.

If you burner DOES dither, than you lose barely anything in sound quality, and all the bits are "scrunched" rather than tossed. Loss of sound quality is unnoticeable.

The pitch of the music will not change, either way.

Buck
 
Re: Ok, since you asked....

.....record in 16bit and burn to 16bit...got it
 
Well..... yes and no.
If you DO have dithering capabilities, then 24 bit recordings are the way to go. There's so much clarity and detail, and the recording itself just seems to have more "life".
Recording in 16 bit also sounds great, but you'll probably lose a bit more detail if you get the song mastered.
Let me say this, too.... Truncating is not always a bad thing. It makes your recording sound a little smoother and sweeter sometimes. It kind of takes off some of the harshness and makes your digital recording sound more like an analog recording.
That might work out good for you, depending on the song.
I suggest that you experiment with this. You may like some of the results you discover and you might also learn what you "don't like", too.

Buck
 
John,

The Yamaha CD burner does not feature a dithering capability. I would stick to 16 bit if you intend to use it. I tried burning 24 bit and it crapped out with error messages and all. Believe me, the 16 bit sounds pretty darn good.

I'm not sure if you can burn through the SCSI drive into any of the compatible burners using 24 bit sampling (anyone?). You may want to look into CD burners with digital S/PDIF input and dithering capability if you plan to go the 24-bit route. See Buck's earlier posting.

TM
 
No question the 16bit sounds good! But I just got the yamaha burner and money is always a little to far away to get anything as of this point, so I'll just go 16 for now.

Heres a question for DPS users:

Today I was recording and I got an Hard Disk error "5" Disk busy.
I wiped my hard drive clean and then did the full format. Started recording again and got the same error again. I do defrag the drive almost every day. What else could be wrong?
 
That happens to me from time to time, too.
Usually it says "Press Any Key" and it doesn't seem to really effect anything.
If it continues to do it, shut the machine down and restart it.....
Problem solved. :)

Buck
 
Do you have the stock 10 gig drive?

Im thinking thats its probably not the greatest, so I might get a different hard drive. A hundred bucks and I shouldnt get the message anymore. Hopefully
 
This may sound strange, but the more you defrag this thing, the worse off you are sometimes.
Just continue to record and edit.
You're looking a little to deep into this machine... and I don't mean that as a slam.
The DPS16 was made for people who just want to play and record, not "computer people".
That's the purpose of a stand-alone unit.
Otherwise, we'd ALL be purchasing software to record on our PC's, thus rendering the stand-alone units obsolete.
Yes, I have the standard 10-gig hard-drive, and yes, it does give me an error-message on rare occaisions... like once or twice for every 20 hours of recording. Every time that happens, the problem is easily corrected by following the screen advice to "press any key".... which did'nt even affect the music which was playing at the time.
I've defragged the machine twice since I've owned it, and most of the errors came right after that.
I haven't defragged it in 4 months and now it runs just fine.
Strange, but true.


Buck
 
Test, test, test....

Disregard this post.... I'm out of town right now on another computer and wasn't sure if the last post went through.
(It wasn't showing up for some reason)
 
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