1st ?? about the DP 008

[Hook]

So I kinda remember the DP-004 doing this . When I go to record the 1st track I have to have the pan set all the way to R or L just to get a level. If I center the pan it almost completely disappears & you can kind hear it at the bottom of a well. It did this to me on my last tune for the uke, cello & drum track. At around the bass track they all suddenly worked normally and I could center the tracks and pan them. Seems quite strange to me, anyone know of this happening? I just started a new tune, plugged in my uke this time, armed the track and sure enough I had to pan all the way to R or L to get a level & the level isn't panned in my headphones either it's centered but the track is panned all the way???
Just trying to rock on!!

[64Guitars]

I'm not sure. As far as I can tell from the manual, the pan controls should only affect playback. But maybe with a bit more information we can figure this out. Sooo...

1) You said you plugged the uke in. So I assume it has its own built-in pickup and electronics? Did you connect it to Input A or Input B? If Input A, was the slide switch next to the input set to MIC/LINE or GUITAR?

2) What was the Input Source set to? See page 42 of the manual. There are five choices:

• Internal MIC / Low
• Internal MIC / High
• Ext. Input, LINE / Low
• Ext. Input / Mid
• Ext. Input / High

3) Is the Input Compressor turned on ("DYN-SW" On or Off)? See page 45. If it's On, is the LINK parameter set to On or Off?

[Hook]

Interestingly enough after I posted this, I went and hooked up my drums,low & behold the uke part I had recorded on track 1 could be centered & so could the drums?

1) You said you plugged the uke in. So I assume it has its own built-in pickup and electronics? Did you connect it to Input A or Input B? If Input A, was the slide switch next to the input set to MIC/LINE or GUITAR?

It has a pick up but no controls. I plugged into A, assigned to track 1 but I did have it on mic/line. On The "...Get On" song I used the built in mics, A-1 B-2 for the uke and had to pan them. I was wondering if it could be the mono guitar cable but when I did the cello part on the other song I had to pan it & I was using a stereo chord.

2) What was the Input Source set to? See page 42 of the manual. There are five choices:

• Internal MIC / Low
• Internal MIC / High
• Ext. Input, LINE / Low
• Ext. Input / Mid
• Ext. Input / High

With the electric uke tonight I had it set on Ext. Input /High

3) Is the Input Compressor turned on ("DYN-SW" On or Off)? See page 45. If it's On, is the LINK parameter set to On or Off?

Tonight I had the dyn-sw on, the link off & the preset on "A Guitar"


Another surprise is how unbelievably quite the metronome is. I was excited to have it built in but I can barely hear it turned up to 100.
I do really like the machine so far but am confused by this panning thing, I assume I'm doing something to cause it.
Thanks for the help 64!

[Hook]

Perhaps.... Perhaps maybe..... Just maybe I'm an idiot. There is a chance that my headphones weren't plugged all the way in & maybe that caused that center area to disappear??? Guess I'll just have to spend more time recording to get to the bottom of this mystery!

[Farrell Jackson]

Hi Hook. I haven't spent much time on the DP 008 since I got it. At least not enough to run into any problems. But when I have recorded with it I didn't run into any panning glitches. I'll certainly keep watch for it though and report back if I do . I still have a few projects that I've started on the VF160 but I'm gradually weaning myself off of it as my primary recoder. It's been a trusty recording companion for a lot of years but I'm clearing a spot on the recording desk for the new DP 32 this weekend.

Farrell

[64Guitars]

When I go to record the 1st track I have to have the pan set all the way to R or L just to get a level.

There is a chance that my headphones weren't plugged all the way in & maybe that caused that center area to disappear???

In your original post, you said that you had to pan it to the left or right "just to get a level". Were you talking about a level that shows on the input level meter or just a level that you can hear in your headphones? The reason I ask is that the headphones not being plugged in properly wouldn't have any effect on the level showing on the input meters (A B). Actually, now that I think of it, the pan control can't affect the level shown on the input meters either because the input meters come well before the pan control in the signal path. But the pan control does affect the levels shown in the output level meters (L R). Is that what you meant, or were you only referring to the level you heard in your headphones, regardless of the meters?

Here's a partial block diagram of the signal path. See page 89 of the DP-008EX manual for the full block diagram.



You can see that the pan control doesn't affect much because it's near the end of the signal path. In fact, it's connected directly to the output bus. About all that comes after it is the master level control and the output (L R) level meters. So it could be your headphones that are causing the problem. If they have a faulty cable or plug, or the plug wasn't inserted properly, then you might only hear one channel of the DP-008's output. In that case, you'd have to pan the input signal to whichever side you're hearing in the headphones. The only flaw in this idea is that you said the signal was centred in your headphones, so you must have been hearing both sides. I don't know. It's a perplexing problem.  

[Hook]

Yes, you are correct that I was talking about just hearing it in my headphones, the level on the dp008 input was strong. My money is on the headphones not being plugged in all the way but it is odd that when I panned it all the way to the left I heard it in both ear pieces. I'll be messing around with it over the next few days and we will see if it's just my stupidity.
Rock On!

[AndyR]

64's got me thinking...

Can you monitor different sh1t (technical term ) on the DP008? I doubt it with a small unit, but can switch monitoring to "input", "stereo bus", that kinda thing?

If yes, does this effect headphone output, AND what levels are displayed on the meters?

=============
But you know what the problem really is, don't you Hooky? You got so many multi-trackers now, you're using one and reading the other's manual and getting confused! 

And are they all near each other on the same desk-space - do you ever find yourself reaching for the buttons on the wrong machine? I do - my PC keyboard is on a shelf below the BR1600... when I'm listening to music on the PC, I'm continually trying to control playback with the BR's transport buttons!

[Hook]

Well embarrassingly enough It appears to have been my lackadaisical headphone attaching skills, If you are just casually reaching around the back & plugging in the headphones there is considerable resistance one click shy of being all the way in. Being a little more careful this morning I began a new song & no panning issues & the metronome is considerably louder, still quiet but usable.
I used my electric uke & made sure to switch the input to guitar, picked the guitar2 compression setting and it really has quite a nice sound & a super strong level, in fact a stronger & cleaner tone than I ever got on the mbr.

Can you monitor different sh1t (technical term ) on the DP008?

No only sound.

But you know what the problem really is, don't you Hooky? You got so many multi-trackers now, you're using one and reading the other's manual and getting confused! 

More of a possibility than one might think. In fact it might have been a cereal box I was reading & there's crumbs everywhere!!!!

The only flaw in this idea is that you said the signal was centred in your headphones, so you must have been hearing both sides. I don't know. It's a perplexing problem. 

It is odd that I was hearing it through both headphones when it was panned full left? But overall apparently not as perplexing as I initially thought

Next ? In order to get an actual stereo track do I need to link the inputs & pug into both inputs like I did on the mr8 r can I assign input A to tracks 1/2 & use a stereo cord from my drums into input A?
I've done the latter but I don't seem to hear the stereoness of the drums like I would on the mbr &mr8.

Rock On!

[64Guitars]

And are they all near each other on the same desk-space - do you ever find yourself reaching for the buttons on the wrong machine?

I've done that several times with computers, especially when a friend or relative brings their computer over to my house for some help. We'll usually put their computer on the desk next to mine. I'll find myself typing stuff on my keyboard or moving my mouse while looking at their screen and wondering why nothing's happening.

I do - my PC keyboard is on a shelf below the BR1600... when I'm listening to music on the PC, I'm continually trying to control playback with the BR's transport buttons!

Actually, you can use the BR-1600's transport controls to control your DAW or any MIDI-capable playback software on your PC. You just need a USB MIDI interface for your computer and a MIDI cable to connect it to the BR's MIDI Out. I used to do something similar with my Yamaha keyboard. It has a built-in 16-channel sequencer. So rather than recording each keyboard part to a separate track on my BR-864, I'd record all of the keyboard parts in the Yamaha's sequencer and sync it to my BR-864 with MIDI. Pressing ZERO on the BR-864 sets the song to 0:00:00 on both the BR-864 and the Yamaha sequencer. Pressing PLAY then starts them both at the same time and in sync. And, of course, pressing STOP will stop both machines. It works really well. You could do something similar with a DAW on your PC. With the BR MIDI-synced to your DAW, you could record your MIDI tracks in the DAW and your audio tracks on the BR, using the BR's transport controls to start and stop both the BR and the DAW.