Zoom MRS-8 survival guide - Recently Updated Pages

The Drum Mix

louder65 — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:49:31 CST

Those of us who are used to full fledged drum machines will be more or less disappointed by the offerings of the MRS-8 in the rhythm department. Yes, it's possible to trigger an external drum device by MIDI and record that. But what if you don't have one? Here's something that makes the MRS-8 drums come out better; hope it helps you to develop your ideas and, most of all, have fun!
Basicly, you can only apply equalization, an insert effect and a send/return effect to the rhythm track, be it a rhythm pattern or a rhythm song. That means it will be applied to ALL rhythm instruments in the same amount. A bit of EQ-ing might work, but that nice reverb or echo on the snare sounds disastrous on the kick drum! What to do now?
If you would record a real drum kit, you would have separate mics and tracks for the kick drum, for the snare, for the hi-hat, overheads for the cymbals etc, and make a drum mix. We're going to do something similar here; we'll split a drum pattern up in different tracks.

One instrument per rhythm pattern
We'll take the first drum pattern you'll hear when you switch on the MRS-8: beat 08beat01 at tempo 120; the most generic (and bland?) beat available. Not really a beat you would build a song around, but just to keeping things simple, and it's a good starting point. Now, let's work:

Open a new project; and give it a name easy to remember (p. 105).
Select the first rhythm pattern (p. 63).
Copy it to the first empty pattern; this will be pattern 473 (p. 75).
Copy it again to the next two empty patterns (474 and 475).

We'll use the first pattern for the kick drum only, so this means we'll have to strip the snare and the hi-hat from pattern 473:

Select pattern 473.
Make sure it plays from the start by pressing the << (ZERO) key.
Hold down REC and press PLAY.
Erase the snare drum by holding down the FUNCTION key and the SNARE key for at least 4 bars (pattern 0 is four bars long, and so will be its copies 473, 474 and 475). See also p.68 at point 6.
Erase the hihat by holding down the FUNCTION key and the CHH key for at least 4 bars.
Press STOP
Press EXIT repeatedly to return to the main screen

The second pattern (474) will be used for the snare only:

Select pattern 474.
Make sure it plays from the start by pressing the << (ZERO) key.
Hold down REC and press PLAY.
Erase the kick drum by holding down the FUNCTION key and the BD key for at least 4 bars.
Erase the hihat by holding down the FUNCTION key and the CHH key for at least 4 bars.
Press STOP
Press EXIT repeatedly to return to the main screen

The third pattern (475) will be used for the hi-hat only:

Select pattern 475.
Make sure it plays from the start by pressing the << (ZERO) key.
Hold down REC and press PLAY.
Erase the kick drum by holding down the FUNCTION key and the BD key for at least 4 bars.
Erase the snare drum by holding down the FUNCTION key and the SD key for at least 4 bars.
Press STOP.
Press EXIT repeatedly to return to the main screen.

You might disagree, but since I'm a bassist, ofcourse I'm convinced I could do much better than the MRS-8 bass patterns; I don't want the bass to come up with my own rhythm patterns. So:

Select pattern 473.
Set the bass volume to zero, see p.74.
Press EXIT repeatedly to return to the main screen.
Select pattern 474.
Set the bass volume to zero.
Press EXIT repeatedly to return to the main screen.
Select pattern 475.
Set the bass volume to zero.
Press EXIT repeatedly to return to the main screen.

Recording one instrument per track
As you may already know, you can record the MRS-8 drums to tracks. First, set the bounce recording source to the drum track, see p. 42, then set the rhythm track to playback (status key is lit green) and its fader to 0 dB. Now record the kick drum to track 1:

Select drum pattern 473 (kick drum).
Set track 1 to record (status key is lit red), make sure all other tracks are off (except the rhythm track).
Set track 1 fader to 0 dB.
Make sure to record from the start by pressing the << (ZERO) key.
Hold down REC and press PLAY, see p. 25.
Press STOP to stop recording the kick drum.

Record the snare drum to track 2:

Select drum pattern 474 (snare drum).
Set track 2 to record (status key is lit red), make sure all other tracks are off (except the rhythm track).
Set track 2 fader to 0 dB.
Make sure to record from the start by pressing the << (ZERO) key.
Hold down REC and press PLAY.
Press STOP to stop recording the snare drum.

Between these steps, you might want to check how these individual tracks sound. Play them back the normal way, but select an EMPTY rhythm pattern to make sure you only hear your recorded drums!
Now we don't need to record the hi-hat to another track, since we can use the drum track containing the hi-hat directly for playback.

Select drum pattern 475 (hi-hat).

Mixdown
Voila, there you have your drums on separate tracks and you're ready to do your drum mix! First, set the bounce recording source back to the MASTER, see p. 42. I assume you're familiar with the mixdown process, see p. 26 - 31. Select the drum track and tracks 1 and 2 for playback.
Here's what I made of it: 08beat01 Pimped All three tracks have different EQ settings. The snare has a short delay applied to it (customized MIC insert effect) and the VINSPRING as send/return effect. This send/return effect has also been applied to the hi-hat. No panning and no master effect was used.
Here's another one in hillbilly style (somebody in the Yahoo users group requested hillbilly style drum patterns), with just one track for the kick drum and one for the rimshot. Here, the BASS-SLAP insert effect and a bit of delay is applied to the rimshot. Hillbilly Beat These are pretty simple examples but I hope you get the hang of improving the MRS-8 drum sound. If you want to go wild: add distortion and modulation effects like auto-wah to your drums and things will get freaky!

More hints

You can mix instruments of different drum kits.
You don't need to have each percussion instrument on a different track, if the number of tracks for mixdown is an issue.
Obviously, you can not change the tempo of the recorded drums anymore.
The best moment to do the drum mix is when you have already recorded the parts you want to use as a basis. By then you will already have programmed your drum song on the drum track; now it's time to split it up over more tracks and mix them. Of course, if the drums are your basis, you will start with these...

Hope this helps, have fun!

PROJ777

jimis101 — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 03:38:58 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

TESTPAGE - virtual band

jimis101 — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 05:11:24 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

FAQ

louder65 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:26:46 CST

First impressions

If the MRS-8 is an 8Track, why has it only got 6 faders?
There's a difference between a 'Track' and a 'Channel'. See below....

What's the difference between a 'Track' and a 'Channel'?
A channel is the path a sound takes through various effects and processors (Volume, EQ, Distortion etc). A Track is where that sound is recorded.

Mixing

How do I move two tracks on to one?
You need to bounce! Quickest way: use the Status keys to make the two Source channels green (to play) and make a spare channel red (to record to this destination). Press the [BOUNCE] button until it is lit red then record. Wait until the section has finished and hit stop. See Bounce guide

PC stuff

How do I get my songs on to my PC?
Zoom has free Card manager software that is available from their site.

When I use the Card manager software my drums aren't there!
The card manager software only recognizes the tracks of a song. Bounce the drums to a spare track(s) to transfer to your PC.

Effects

A track had effects and now they have gone?
You've probably changed the 'insert point' of the effects module to effect a different Channel. You'll need to Bounce that channel with the required effect to a track. Then you are free to change the Insert point

Why do some effects sound different when I record them?
Quite a few of the premade effects are mono in ~ stereo out. Try recording to a stereo channel

Can I use different send/return effect on different channels?
Simple answer ~ No. There is only one Send/Return Processor for each project. But you can adjust how much this processor processes each channel using the 'Track Parameters'....
It is possible however to bounce tracks first with a certain send/return effect to another track(s), and then apply another send/return effect to the bounced track(s).

I made a great effects patch and now it's gone!
You either:

Forgot to save. Once you have it like you want it you have to hit the [Function] key where you have the option to 'store to' the patch you are in or 'Swap to' an empty patch.
You saved the Patch in a different Project. Every time you start a new project everything is returned to default. To import your patch to your new project see page102 of the MRS-8 user manual.

Editing

How do I Cut/Copy/Paste a section of my song?
Carefully! See Track Editing Guide

Using FAST

jimis101 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:22:53 CST

Formula Assisted Song Translator

By using a few basic mathematical symbols and the pattern reference numbers, you can put patterns in any order very quickly. Before you start, you need to know the ref numbers of the patterns you want to use - some patterns are designed to be used together. We'll cover this in another article.

For now I'll stick with the basics:

Pattern 000 (08Beat01) for the verse

Pattern 012 (16Beat01) for the chorus

To access the FAST input screen:

Press the [SONG/PATTERN] button until it is lit red.
"SongNo0E" will display on screen
- This name can be changed later
- The '0' stands for Version 0 of 0-9 (like a vTake)
- The 'E' stands for 'Empty'
As this is our first Rhythm Song we will use this vTake.
Press [EDIT] the right cursor twice until "FAST" is on screen
Press ]ENTER]
You will now have a blank screen with a flashing marker .

The basic premise of FAST is to use mathematical symbols to tell the rhythm unit what to play and for how long. examples:

000+012 will play the first pattern followed by the second pattern then stop.
000+000+012 will play the first pattern twice followed by the second pattern once then stop.
Note: you can miss out the unnecessary 0's. so.....

0+0+12 would give the same result as the second example above.

As some songs are going to use a lot of the same pattern we can use the 'times' symbol to repeat a pattern. 0x2+12 would give the same result as the second example above
0x15+12 would play pattern '000' 15 times then pattern '012' once then stop

So for our verse we want patter '000' to play 8 times. And for our Chorus we want pattern '012' to play 4 times: 0x8+12x4

So now we have a basic verse-chorus progression in a group. Our song repeats this progression 3 times. To do this quickly we can use brackets around the group.

(0x8+12x4)x3

This will play verse-chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus You can get as complicated as you like with these. experiment is the best way to figure it all out.

When you have the patterns you want in the order you want you can get to the business of Editing Rhythm Songs

A video example of programming this rhythm song: 0x4 + 4x2 + 5x2 + 464 can be found here on YouTube.

Track Editing Guide

jimis101 — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 05:56:36 CST

Intro
Here are a few tricks and hints for using the track-editing feature in the MRS8.

General

Warning. Range editing is a "destructive edit". In other words, any changes you make with these features cannot be undone or adjusted at a later date. Always, ALWAYS, perform a track capture before editing your material.
Plan your edit before entering the track edit menu. Having markers (page 35 of the manual) for your start and end position and also the start of your destination, if required, (make a note of the mark number for each) will save time and prevent irreversible mistakes later.
In almost all situations it is best to use the Measure/Beat/Tick counter instead of the Minutes/seconds. This will give a much more accurate range.
You can use the Status keys (the buttons above the faders) to select the tracks you want to use. The currently selected track will be lit for reference.
You select two adjacent tracks at once by holding one whilst pressing the other. This can save time for bulk copying etc or if you want to edit stereo linked tracks.
You can review your chosen range by press play after you select an end point but before you press enter.
The start and end positions can some times be confusing. Resulting in missing out a measure of your desired range or, worse, pasting over the wrong part. For example: To select the first 4 measures of a track and to select the area immediately after it as a destination....
- "Start" should be 1- 1- 0
- "End" should be 5- 1- 0
- "Destination" should also be 5- 1- 0
- You do not need to specify the destination end as the length is already determined by the source material.

Copy
Overview
Think of this edit as the copy & paste features in standard word processing software or a TXT file on a PC. The Start & End options select the area to be copied. The destination is the start of the place you want to paste to.

Possible uses

Use the copy feature to duplicate a passage of music and replicate it in another track, vtake, or in a different position of the current vtake.
You can "double" a sound by copying to a new track but adding a few milliseconds to the destination.
If your destination overlaps your source you will overwrite the existing material. To get round this, select a new track as destination.
If you feel that one measure or bar of your song is "perfect" then copy that section and paste it to the end of that range. This can be repeated indefinitely to build up your verses/choruses etc.
If you are not sure what affect an edit will have on your material, copy to a new track before editing to compare.

Move
Overview
The edit is identical to the copy but will CUT & paste. Thereby erasing the original source.

Possible uses

The move feature can be used to adjust the start times of sounds/instruments.
Another good use is to move a section from one track to another. Once a section is moved, it can be processed and effected individually.
For example: A rhythm guitar track is required to jump from clean to distortion for the chorus (The classic tension/release style of playing) but you would prefer to add effects after recording ('Dry' recording). Move the chorus to another track and insert the distortion.
All tracks can be moved forward a measure or two to allow for a drum/percussion/other intro

Erase
Overview
The simplest of all the edits. Everything inside the range will be permanently wiped leaving empty space. No destination is required

Possible uses

Very useful for removing unwanted noise between, before or after sounds. For example: A vocal track can be silenced of heavy breathing between stanzas or a noisy lead guitar (or twitchy guitarist!) can be silenced before and after it is required.

Trim
Overview

A very useful tool that can be so easily used incorrectly, causing the loss of material (Of course, you DID capture the track in case this happened, right?)
The trim option will erase all sounds BEFORE and AFTER the selected range. It will also automatically move the range to the start of the song (Time Counter 0-0-0)
No destination is required.

Possible uses

Trim all tracks to the exact length of your song, saving excess noise at the end of the song that waste memory and would be carried over to any WAVs you create.
If you record without a rhythm track as a guide, you will have wasted space at the start of your song as well as at the end. Trim this section (you will have to find the start and end times manually) to remove the unwanted pause that will, again, waste memory.

Fade i/o
Overview

The selected range will have its volume permanently altered to either Silence->Recorded level or Recorded level->Silence
No destination is required.
There are three different types. These are detailed on page 49 of the manual.
When inserting a fade I/O, don't forget to ERASE the section immediately before or after (unless you want a false ending. This can be a very pleasing effect if used correctly!)

Possible uses

Fade I-2 & O-2 will produce the smoothest intro or outro of a sound.
Fade I-1 will produce an intro that starts very subtly then quickly comes to full volume, Useful for tension/release sections.
Fade O-3 is the reverse equal of fade I-1. It will start gradually the quickly end in silence. Use to end a heavy/powerful section of music.
You can produce cross fades between tracks by fading out one while simultaneously fading in another, but be careful of your choice of fades as some combinations will leave an audible "wobble" in the volume.
Smooth cross fade combinations that will not Wobble:
- I-2 + O-2
- I-3 + O-1
- I-1 + O-3

Reverse
Overview

Perhaps to most drastic of all the effects (Apart from ERASING, of course!)
The selected range is simply reversed. The end becomes the start and the start becomes the end.
No destination is required

Possible uses

This edit has been used an uncountable amount of times to simple reverse a lead instrument or vocal to produce a very striking effect.
- After the reverse has been completed, you may find that you need to move the range to fit with the rhythm. Sometimes the reversed section will simply not fit - but this is an artistic opinion depending on your tastes
A more common (and far more subtle) use is to....
- Reverse a section or whole track
- Apply an effect
- Reverse the section again.

....This works best with Reverb or Delay, resulting in the effect occurring before the actual sound.

A classic "Reverse Crash" for use as an intro or bridge can be achieved by recording a cymbal then reversing it.

Set up

jimis101 — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 05:02:27 CST

I've used the MRS-8 in a number of places -- In my front room on my lap - In the car, balanced on the steering wheel - in a cheap studio - In the middle of a lively party with beer spilling idiots jumping around -- And without doubt the best place to set up is on a table with plenty of room for you to step away when playing. Don't try to balance the MRS on one knee with your guitar on the other.

Before switching on

Insert the SD card
At the back of the unit there is a little door with the card reader inside.

Plug in your instrument
There are 2 inputs at the back of the MRS-8. One of them will be familiar to any one that has plugged into an amp. The other might look a bit weird. Its a Hybrid socket that excepts both 1/4" TRS (Standard Guitar connector) and male XLR.
If you are using a guitar, plug into INPUT1. If you are using a Microphone, Plug into INPUT2. (We will cover stereo and dual input recording in a different article)

Plug in your Headphones
The headphone socket is clearly marked at the back of the unit. Next to it is a volume control. Turn this to the 12 o'clock position (you may want to adjust this slightly later on depending on the strength of your headphones)

Don't plug in speakers!
There are master output sockets for RCA connectors. Don't worry about these for now.

Set the faders
Slide all the faders to the '0' position. Note: The '0' position is about 3/4 of the way up.

Set the input gain
Turn the volume dials on the top left so they are in the 12 o'clock position.

Switch on

Orange glow loading screen! Wait a few seconds for the system to be ready!

"PRJ 000" will display on screen.
The first bit stands for 'Project'. Each song you create will be called a project. It's a bit of terminology that is important to remember as Zoom sometimes call Rhythm progressions 'songs'.
The number will be automatically assigned. The next project you start will be called 001, the next 002 and so on.

To start a new project. press the [NEW PROJECT] button, wait for the system to load then press [ENTER]. All tracks will now be empty and all setting will be returned to default. The original Project is automatically saved.

Select an input
Look at the top left section of the unit. There is a button marked [MIC]. This can be either off, on or flashing.

Off means the inbuilt mic is not available (Some effect do not allow the use of the inbuilt mic. This will be covered in another article)
On means it is live
Flashing means it is available but not active

In our first example we will use the inputs so press this button until it is off or flashing.

To either side of the [MIC] button are to similar buttons. These are the input selection buttons. Press the button that corresponds with the input you selected earlier so it lights red (IE. if you used input 1, press the button on the left.)

Set the input gain
You need to adjust the input gain to insure that your instrument can be heard clearly but not too much or it will be distorted.

Play your instrument while watching the little light next to the gain dial. This is called the 'peak' indicator.
- What you want is for the light to just flicker when you are playing at your loudest.
Adjust the input gain
- If the light does not come on at all, turn the dial clockwise slightly until it does.
- If the light is on constantly, turn the dial anti-clockwise until it just flashes.

Once the Gain peak is sorted, we need to adjust the Recording level.

Set the recording level
Next we need to adjust the recording level to insure there is no clipping (distortion due to excessive volume)

press the [TRACK PARAMETER] button.
cursor left until "INPUT" is displayed
- 'INPUT" will not be available if you have not selected an input as described above.
Cursor up or down until "REC LVL" is displayed
Now, while playing, you will notice a bar rising and falling in the display screen. This is the volume of your instrument. What you want is for the bar to just reach "0" when playing loudly.
- If the bar is not reaching '0', turn the main dial (the big circle to the right of the cursors) clockwise to increase the Recording level
- If the bar is going passed the '0' mark, turn the main dial anti-clockwise.
Once you are happy with the levels, hit [EXIT] a few time to get back to the main screen.

Now the levels are set for this instrument, DO NOT ADJUST THEM. Do not adjust the volume on your instrument or adjust the input gains. Volume adjustments will be made using the faders from now on.

Play!
The next thing to do is play. Get used to the sound coming through the headphones.

Next step: Recording on to a track

test page

jimis101 — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:19:24 CST

the following is just tests to see what this site can do....

GIF animation test:

Song mode

jimis101 — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:52:58 CST

As mentioned a few times already in this site, Zoom use the word 'Song' to mean a collection of rhythm patterns placed in order to accompany your project. IE: the drum and bass line for your song.

The MRS-8's built in Rhythm track can be programmed with a wide array of info. You can make changes at any part of the progression. These are called events. These can events affect:

Pattern
Drum kit
Bass sound
Chord
Tempo
Drum volume
Bass volume

So using the Song Mode, instead of the pattern just repeating as it did in Pattern Mode, We can construct a complete backing track that follows the changes in your song.

The Rhythm Track also has 10 Virtual takes in the same way as the real tracks. This can be used to make multiple versions of a rhythm progression and select the best later.

Before we get in to that stuff. Lets put a few Patterns together.

Building a Rhythm Song

There are two ways to build a rhythm song. The easiest is by using the FAST system.

Or, for more detailed control of the patterns, use the Step Input system

Rhythm Song Step Input

jimis101 — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:50:37 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Editing Rhythm Songs

jimis101 — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:45:58 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Quick Tips

jimis101 — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:26:09 CST

Transfer your drum sequence to a Track
Essential for making your drum line available for PC transfer or to Bounce in an Insert Effect....
see Rhythm Track Bounce in the Bounce Guide section

Rename a vTake
The preset names are OK but name them yourself to keep on top of things....

Press [TRACK PARAMETER]
Press the Status Key of the Track that contains the required vTake until it turns orange
Cursor Up/Down until the vTake sub-menu appears (e.g. "TR 1-1")
Turn the Dial to select the vTake to be renamed
Press [EDIT]
Tap [EDIT] to erase and use the drum pads to enter a new name
Tap [EXIT] repeatedly when finished

Empty vTakes will be called "NO DATA" and cannot be renamed

Record "Dry" (aka: Why commit yourself to an effect?)
Use this feature to monitor your sound with an insert effect but to record only the raw sound. Leaving you free to pick an effect later.... see Dry Recording

Cross Fades
Using the Fade-In and Fade-Out feature on two separate Tracks will produce a great "Cross Fade" effect....
With the various Fades available, certain combinations will produce an audible "Wobble"
Listed below are the combinations that will produce an even cross fade.

I-2 + O-2
I-3 + O-1
I-1 + O-3

Cross fades can be used in many ways: Try fading between two identical recordings but with one heavily processed to get a gradual effect. Have a listen.
see Track Editing Guide

Capture/Swap (aka: "I wish I hadn't done that")
Give yourself a safety net when editing, punching and just about everything....
Using the various edits available can be a little confusing at the best of times. It all too easy to make a mistake and destroy a section of your music. Get in the habit of using the Capture/Swap feature before you do anything.
CAPTURE

Press [SYSTEM/UTILITY] to bring up the "SYSTEM" menu
Cursor Left/Right to bring up the "CAP/SWAP" menu
Press the Status Key of the Track you want to capture
Press [ENTER] twice
Press [EXIT] repeatedly

You now have a backup copy of that Track available to revert to if things go wrong.
To swap, repeat the same process.
All captures are saved on the memory card while you have the Project open.

Pattern Mode

jimis101 — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:25:22 CST

In this mode, you can select one pattern and play it repeatedly. Useful for first laying down a few tracks but will could get a bit monotonous for the listen. Also the mode is the easiest way to cycle through the pre-made patterns and find the ones you like.

A Pattern usually consists of a Drum beat and an accompanying Bass line of varying length. By default, the bassline is muted.

Press the [PATTERN/SONG] button (the top left button of the rhythm controls) until it is lit (note: the button may be lit already but you will need to press it anyway to bring up the rhythm menu on screen)
The name and some info about the pattern will shown on screen.
- The first three numbers indicate length of the pattern. normally '001' or '002' but when you start making your own they can be any length.
- next will be a '#' followed by a three digit number. This is the pattern reference number. Useful for quickly finding the pattern.
- The bottom half of the display will be the Pattern name. The names are sometimes obvious, some times a little cryptic. We'll cover this later....
Press play to hear the pattern repeatedly.
To swap to another pattern, turn the main dial. You will notice that the pattern does not change straight away. The system waits for the current pattern to end then starts the new pattern seamlessly.
You can change the drum volume by using the Rhythm Channel fader. You can also mute the channel by using the [STATUS KEY] in the usual way.
A full list of the patterns can be found in the manual on page 140-142. Dial around to hear a few patterns. but don't press stop just yet....

Tempo

When you are comfortable with the above, press the [TEMPO] button.
The display will show "BPM=" then a number. BPM stands for Beats Per Minute.
Turn the main dial to change the tempo. You can go from 40 (very slow) up to 250 (very fast)
Alternatively you can enter the Tempo manually by tapping the button to the beat you want.
Press [EXIT] when you have the speed you want.

A note about the tempo control.
The tempo can be changed at any time throughout the recording process but will only affect the rhythm section, not anything you have recorded. Get the tempo right at the start or find your self needing to rerecord everything!

Why stop now?
A lot of people stop at this point. They record their tracks then transfer to PC and add a new drum track in. But the MRS-8 has a lot to offer....

Bass
Most of the Patterns have a Bass line included. By default the Bass channel is muted, but it is simple to unmute.

Press the [BASS/DRUM] button of the rhythm controls until it is unlit.
The Rhythm Channel now controls the Bass. Press the [STATUS KEY] to unmute the bass and use the fader to change the volume.
You will now here a bass line that goes with the drum pattern you chose earlier.
- You may or may not like this bass line. It can be changed later by editing the pattern, but for now lets stick with what we have.
At any point you can use the Main Dial to swap patterns.
- This will change the complete pattern, not just the Bassline.
Play around again until you have something you like.

Note:
Patterns 509 & 510 are metronomes and do not have a Bassline.
Pattern 472 is silent. This will become useful later when creating progressions

So that is the basic Pattern Mode. Fine for starters but next we will look at creating a Rhythm "Song"

next section: Song Mode

Rhythm Track Guide

jimis101 — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:08:52 CST

The rhythm track built in to the MRS-8 is one of the most misunderstood features. I get the impression that a lot of people simple use it as metronome then add drums later using PC software. This is a real shame. Percussion is vital to the feel of a song, not only the speed and strength dictating your speed and strength when playing but also the beat timings and pauses should influence the rest of the song, as would happen in any good song writing session.

If you have used the MRS8 (if you haven't used it yet, take a step backwards and see the 'straight out of the box guide') you will know that if you hit play on a new project a simple drum pattern will play repeatedly. This is pattern '000' aka '08BEAT01'. By default the Rhythm unit is set to play in 'pattern mode'....

Song

jimis101 — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:01:34 CST

The Zoom manuals suffer from some bad terminology at times. The use of the word 'song' is the worst offender.

Zoom multitrackers normally include Zoom drum machines built in. In Zoom drum machines the word 'Song' is used to describe patterns collected together in a progression. Unfortunately the terminology transfered over to the multitrackers. This obviously left a need for a new word to describe what you and I and any normal person would call a song. This was 'Project'

See Rhythm Song

mixdown

jimis101 — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:12:58 CST

Once a project is mixed, "mixing down" is the process of combining the channels into a single (usually stereo) source, ready to be listened to.

The MRS8 has 2 options.

The traditional way is to output directly to a recording device via the Master outputs.
More commonly in the digital age the channels can be bounced to the dedicated Master Tracks to then be transfered to a PC for conversion to another format.

see Basic Mixdown

Rerecord

jimis101 — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:58:55 CST

So you messed up! Never mind. This is what Home recording is all about. You can have as many goes as you like until you get it right.

You either messed up the first recording on to a track or, more commonly, messed up while recording another track. Either way the process for rerecording is the same.

REMEMBER. Rerecording a track in this way will result in the loss of your original recording on that track. There are alternatives, see vTakes.

Overwriting is dangerously simple! [zero] the recording.
Set the [STATUS KEY] of the channel you want to rerecord to red.
Make sure the other [status keys] are set to green (If you have used another track)
Hit [RECORD] then [PLAY] when you are ready.
Play the piece again
Hit [STOP] when finished. That's it! The original recording has been replaced.
You can review your new recording in the usual way.

back to recording on to a track or back to recording another track

or on to the next step: Basic Mixdown

Straight out of the box

jimis101 — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:58:26 CST

The MRS-8 manual has a useful start up guide, but it is a little flawed due to some odd translations. This article is a hand holding guide for the brand new user. But some users might find it a helpfull reminder.

MRS stands for Multitrack Recording Studio. The studio part means it is more than just an 8-Track recorder. It has a built in Drum machine and Bass sequencer, built in Microphone (that actually works quite well), send/return effects unit, insert effects unit, advanced editing tools and a dedicated stereo master track for final mixdown.

Using the removable SD card memory, you can also transfer audio files to your PC and convert them to .WAV files with some free software available from the Zoom website.

Before you start

Set up

Recording on to a track

Recording another track

Rerecord

Basic Mixdown

Summary

Basic Mixdown

jimis101 — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:57:01 CST

So you have a recorded a track and then recorded a few more on top.

You have already started mixing.

Mixing simply refers to playing multiple sources at once and combining them into one sound.
In the case of Multitracking, we combine the output of multiple channels and combine them in to one Master channel. The output of which we have our headphones plugged in to.

The ART of mixing is a whole different ball game! I don't use the word 'ART' lightly. There are many factors to take into account and also whole books devoted to the subject (Try this book by Paul White for a good start). Some mixing techniques will be covered in other articles but such a big subject requires research from any source you can get. Google is your friend.

We will skip the various mixing options like EQ, send/return, panning and mastering effects for the sake of getting a finished product quickly.

so straight on to....

Mixdown
A mixdown, aka: final mix, is the process for combining the multiple channels into one stereo channel. The MRS8 has a dedicated Master Channel that includes 2 tracks just for the Mixdown.

From now on, our song (Rhythm track + Track1 + Track2) will be referred to collectively as the 'mix'

The first thing is to get the levels right (I can hear someone at the back groaning "Not levels again?")

If you changed the Master Channel volume earlier; return it to '0'
Adjust each Channels faders in turn while listening to the whole mix.
- Get an even balance between the sounds.
- Run through the whole thing.
- Can you identify each instrument?
- Is one instrument over powering the others?
Now play the whole thing again but this time watching the bars on the right hand side of the screen marked 'L' & 'R'. This is the overall volume of your song. There a 2 bars because the output is stereo.
We want the bar to just reach the '0' mark as before when setting the recording level
Use the Master fader to make any adjustments.
When you are happy, tap the [STATUS KEY] of the master channel until it is red.
Press [ZERO] then [RECORD] then [PLAY] to begin the mixdown.
You will hear the whole song again in real time.
- Don't touch any of the faders, they will affect the Mixdown.
When finished, hit [STOP].
Tap the master channels [STATUS KEY] until it is lit green.
- You will notice all the other channels mute.
Tap [PLAY] to listen back to your final mix.

What you are hearing now is a new recording on the dedicated Master tracks. The original Tracks are still available, but only when you set the master tracks to mute ([status key] unlit)
You can only either play the Master Tracks or the regular tracks.

Where now?
Now your song is ready to transfer onto a different medium. Quickest way is to attach a tape recorder to the Master outputs on the back of the MRS and hit record on the tape player while playing the Master Tracks.

Many people like to transfer there work to PC to be converted to a .WAV.

Go to the zoom web site and down load the file manager software available for free.

Then take the SD card form the MRS and plug it into a card reader attached to your PC. Open the files with the file manager software and convert the Master Channel file to a WAV. (Instructions come with the file manager software)

My advice would be to do both of these and more. Get you song into any format you can and listen to it in as many players as possible. With each listen you will identify weaknesses and strengths of the mix and use the experience to improve the next one.

Effects and Processors

jimis101 — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:17:03 CST

Not everyone like effects while some people never play without them. This article is not going to tell you when to use distortion or delay on your rock solo or dictate that an acoustic instrument on it's own sounds boring (I personally don't think this is the case, of course). What I hope to cover is how to access the effects units built in to the MRS-8 and explain where they can be placed in the chain from input to output. How you use them is a whole 'nother subject!

There are 2 effects units built in to the MRS-8. One called the "Send/Return", the other called the "Insert".

Insert Effects

Send/Return Effects