Protecting Tracks

[Ronniejm]

Mike 48 has been sending me backing tracks to play along with, these are imported to tracks 12(v1) of a new song, and I record my effort on tracks 3 or 4, all good so far.

Occassionally I mess up and by accident start recording over the backer on track 1 or 2, a stupid thing to do I know, (I am going to blame the beer). so I then have to do the import thing again.

So my question would be, is there anyway that I can protect individual track(s).

I know a song can be protected, I've never actually done that but I assume it means it cant be changed, (or recorded over by a drunken idiot), but can the same be done for a track?


Cheers

Ronnie

[Greeny]

I do this far too frequently. Fortunately, there's the UNDO function that will make the BR forget the last crazy thing that you did. So don't forget that! Apart from that, I don't think there's a way to stop us arming the wrong track when recording. Unless 64guitars knows better... !

Hope you're well - haven't seen you around for a while!

[64Guitars]

There's no way to protect individual tracks but there are some warning indicators to look for.

On the other BRs, the track buttons change color to indicate the current status of the track. For example, the following chart is for the BR-600:

BR-600 Track Button Lights

The button for an empty track is blue in Play mode. When you press the REC button, it changes to flashing red to indicate that it's in recording standby mode (armed). When you the press Play, it changes to solid red to indicate that you're recording to an empty track.

A track that you've previously recorded is green in Play mode. If you press the REC button, it flashes between orange and green to warn you that you'll be recording over the previously recorded material if you proceeed. If you then press Play, it changes to solid orange to indicate that you're now recording over previously recorded material.

Unfortunately, the Micro BR doesn't have anything as noticeable as the BR-600's multi-coloured track buttons. But it does have a simpler track status indicator on the lower line of the display. See page 15, item 9 which says:

    9.   TR 1 2 3 4

• These will light when tracks 1–4 contain
  recorded data. Also, the track number that
  you've specified as the recording track will
  blink. In the level meter screen, the level
  meters indicate the output from each track
  

So, before you start recording each new track, have a quick look at the lower line of the display. If the tracks you're about to record on are lit, then you'll be recording over previous material. If that's not what you want, then change to an empty v-track.

I've never actually used a Micro BR, so I'm not sure about the part that says "the track number that you've specified as the recording track will blink". Does it only blink if you're recording over previously-recorded material? Or does it always blink to indicate the record tracks, regardless of whether those tracks are empty or not? You could check that yourself, or maybe someone else can answer it.

And, if you still manage to record over a track, heed Greeny's advice and use the UNDO feature to restore the previous track before it's too late (you can only undo the last operation).

[launched]

I've never actually used a Micro BR, so I'm not sure about the part that says "the track number that you've specified as the recording track will blink". Does it only blink if you're recording over previously-recorded material? Or does it always blink to indicate the record tracks, regardless of whether those tracks are empty or not? You could check that yourself, or maybe someone else can answer it.

It blinks if you have selected to record on that particular track. If you press the record button, the screen will be modified to select the track(s) to record on, but it always remembers the last one selected which is always a 1,2,3 or 4 blinking on the screen.

To protect tracks, you have two choices - Undo like 64 & Greeny said, or use the copy function to make another set of backing tracks. It's a kazillion times faster than an import. For example, you have your backing tracks imported to TR12v1, just copy the two tracks at once to TR12v2. The operation takes about 5 seconds instead of a couple minutes of importing. Yes, it burns up two extra tracks, but you can quickly erase when not needed anymore.

And chances are, if you are playing to a backer, you won't need many extra virtual tracks as the backer has saved you all that extra bouncing.

Later,

Mark

[Ronniejm]

thanks guys, all good info.

I reckon the simplest method is as you suggest Mark, just make a copy of the tracks, when I first import them, sort of back up. such an obvious idea now you've mentioned it. even in my most complicated recordings I rarely use more then 4 tracks, so there are always spare tracks aplenty

Thanks again

Ronnie

[SteveG]

If UNDO was a separate button I would have worn it out by now, you are not alone....

[launched]

I'm surprised all my buttons aren't worn out - It's almost like I'm using a video game controller or something!!