DPS24 Quick Start Guide and Sean's tips & tricks This document is a combined effort by current DPS users and was graciously put together for those who are new to the unit. It won't tell you everything, but it will help guide you through the basic steps to start laying tracks and is meant as a supplement to the Akai manual.
DPS24 “Quick Start” Guide Introduction OK so you did your research, spent your money and brought home a brand new DPS24. You’re really excited about getting going and when the shock wears off you realize you need to start somewhere…but where? Hopefully, this little tutorial will get you where you want to be with as little fuss as possible. Fortunately for all of us, the good folks at Akai have put together a system that is both incredibly powerful as well as (relatively) simple to use.
Down to Basics • • • • • • • *Open New Project and name it (if you wish) *Connect Instrument or Mic Cable to Appropriate Input *Select Mic/Line for input *Adjust trim *Select Input source for mixer channel (inputs 1-12, digital in etc.) *Raise Master fader *Select Fader Bank>Inputs 1-12, raise channel fader The first thing you need to do in preparation for recording on the DPS24 is to open up a new “project”. A project is simply a system convention within the DPS24 used to denote a song.
The next step is to get your AUDIO DATA (remember it is now data) a little further into the system in preparation for actually recording it. Keeping you source level at a reasonable volume (your instrument’s volume set at around ¾ ), start playing. Even though you won’t be hearing anything yet…you want to turn up the trim pot for input #1 until you start seeing the clip led start to light up red, then back off some until it stays green. You now have enough signal strength to get a little further.
“select” button above input 1 and it will glow steadily indicating that input 1 has been “selected” to the buss/group 3-4 out. The next step is to raise the level of that output. In the fader bank select switches row, press the "Group/FX" button. Now the faders 1-8 will control the corresponding group outs (I’m using the words “group” and “buss” interchangeably here). By default, the group outs are set to snap to the a pre-set value that should work well.
reverse buttons are self-explanatory. Since we are not really moving tape to record, there are some neat tricks the transport buttons can perform to speed up the process of getting around your song. Although this in itself would be another large discussion here’s two good ones. If you press the button labeled “goto” and then press the rewind button, the machine will instantly snap to the beginning of the song without having to press rewind and wait.
Shutting Down *Power down unit…yes, it can be as simple as that *Alternate: Press mix/scene “store” button, save to scene “00”, wait for icon to disappear, power down When powering down the DPS24, you have two basic options. First, and most appropriate for just starting out, you can just simply power the unit down. However, there are also many options for saving settings so that you can start off next time with adjustments you’ve made being recalled when you re-open the project.
SCSI hard drive (or a removable IDE HD in place of the CD-RW drive). All you need to know is if their system supports BWAV (timestamps). If not, you will have to export all the tracks starting at the same point (it takes more space). DPS24 V1.50 supports both modes. Also, you will be able to choose to export stereo tracks as a single stereo WAV file or as two mono WAV files, even if you export 24 tracks at the same time.
come into play here?) Also if I invest in the Tascam to Lightpipe converter will this allow 24 bit transfers from my Tascam DA78 to the Deeps? Yes, SPDIF I/Os on DPS24 are 24bit compatible. Consumer/Pro is not a factor (both support 24bit). The ADAT I/Os are also 24bit on the DPS24 (some other manufacturers only support 20bit on ADAT). TDIF (like ADAT) is originally a 16bit format, but it has also been extended to support 24bit.
********** Levels jumping with no input? Mixer>Input Channel> I'm simply looking at the input channel screen in the mixer. Whether I select dynamics (comp or expander) or N.Gate, the input/output box shows jumping levels between -120 and -100 or so. They move together equally. This displays on all channels, and I've got no inputs connected to anything. Is this a normal condition? That's just the normal noise floor of the DPS. If you crank the trim pot beyond 3/4, you should see the values go up.
* SMPTE Master or Slave (with the IB-24LTC option) 2) synchronize my Ensoniq ZR76 to the DPS Similar to above, set the DPS24 Time Sync parameter (in SETUP) to MIDI CLOCK OUT. Set the Tempo / Time Signature of the DPS24 (in SETUP / TEMPO). Enable the EXT SYNC key (green), to start generating MIDI CLOCK, Start/Stop commands as well as SPP (Song Position Pointers). Set your Ensoniq to act as the slave. 3) how to slave an mc-303? I believe that the MC303 only accepts MIDI CLOCK, not MTC.
The "STUDIO>CR" key switches the Cue mix (Sends 3/4) to the Control Room outputs (MAIN/NEAR). This way you can adjust the talent's cue mix while listening to it on the control room monitors. If you haven't assigned a cue mix to sends 3/4, it does mute the control room. ********** Linking / Unlinking Channel Pairs Please explain the stereo linking / unlinking process. Hold the SELECT key for one of the channels and press the SELECT key for the adjacent channel.
Aksys – Installation / update procedures (as-of DPS V1.50 and Aksys V1.10) From the International Download Center: www.akaipro.co.jp/global/...oadfs.html 1) Download the following files from the DPS24 OS section: * OS Loader (dpsosldr.zip) This ZIP file contains: - the latest USB drivers V1.2.1.0 dated 8/8/2002 (DPS24USB.sys and DPS24USB.inf) - a DOS program called usbrom.exe for OS updates via USB (this program must be launched from the DOS Command Prompt, not directly from Windows) * DPSakSys110.
If you had opened the Device Manager and System Properties windows, close them. 5) To install Aksys, double-click on the "setup.exe" file. This will launch the Aksys DPS24 InstallShield Wizard. If you have installed a previous version (V1.0) of Aksys TrackView , the InstallShield Wizard will ask you to Modify, Repair or Remove Aksys DPS24. In this case, select Remove. When finished, run SETUP.exe again. In the InstallShield Window, click NEXT.
Shutting down the DPS24 – Important The safest way to shut the DPS off is to just shut it off (unlike a computer). The following should be noted: 1) Don't shutdown when the disc is writing (small triangle w/exclamation point icon). Even though the machine has autosave functions it's still not good. 2) Save any changes to scene "00" before shutting down. Not the end of the world ...but if you've spent major effort tweaking it and shut down, it'll still come back on with the last scene 00 you saved.
* MX MIDI Out to DPS24 MIDI In, MX as MMC Slave, MTC Master This will take care of the transport/counter synchronization. However, the DPS24 will not send Track Arming MMC commands to the MX. Another option, if you get an MX2424 to record SD2 files on a MAC formatted drive, you can record on the DPS24 as usual and then do a one pass 24-track transfer via ADAT to the MX and then take the SCSI drive of the MX to your Mac. Also, as you probably know, with V1.
Also, the total length of the Project from Start to End (if Region is set to ALL) or the length between In and Out points (if Region is set to IN<>OUT) should not exceed 74 minutes (or 80 minutes for an extended CD). If it does, you should EDIT out (CUT) the extra songs that you do not want to write to the CD. If there is silence between songs, it will also be written to CD and count towards the total size.
* PRE-FADER: the meter shows the level of signal at the input of the channel, before the fader but after the EQ/DYN section. (2) * POST-FADER: the meter shows the level of signal at the output of the channel, after the fader. (3) Therefore, the position of the fader affects the meter only with the POST-FADER setting. If you are looking at the Channel page of an Input channel, PRE-EQ allows you to view the signal coming from the input source (ADC or Digital input).
********** Assigning FX - Can’t hear FX – Why? I'm having trouble with adding effects. I think I've gotten the "send" piece correct, selecting an effect, selecting the right track, using the Q strip to set a level, etc. I think my basic problem is I don't know to set up the returns. I get a meter reading in FX/AUX1, but I can't hear anything. I have the deeps set up with no groups, i.e. input 1 to track 1.
One thing Normalize does is reduce dynamic range (the difference between the loudest and quietest passages on a track), if you prefer your music to be more dynamic (some songs work better this way), you might want to pass on the normalize function. Try and use subtractive EQ when possible, it can be more work since you'll have to decrease all the frequencies other than the one you want to increase, but will avoid causing overs.
AHA!!!...it's only got 4 FX!!! Yep, it's got 4 stereo FX (including pitch correction) standard and they're beauties. You don't have to pay extra for them either. If that's not enough, you can track with FX, print FX tracks when mixing and or use external FX devices that will probably cost a lot less than what you pay for additional FX on other machines. Puleeeeze, if that's not enough it's time to rethink things. 9) It's heavy/big.
1) In Track-at-Once mode: You can burn the songs to CD in any order, either from a single Project containing multiple songs or from multiple Projects. The songs will appear on the CD in the order that you write them to CD.
