Merging Pyramix Quick Start Manual

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6.0 ™ USER MANUAL Quickstart Guide Quickstart Guide ...

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No part of this documentation may be reproduced in any form whatsoever or be stored in any data retrieval system without prior written permission of the copyright owners. This documentation is supplied on an as-is basis. Information contained within...

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Contents Page 3 Contents 3 Welcome to Pyramix Virtual Studio! 7 Introduction 7 Overview 7 Pyramix documentation and Help 7 Conventions 8 Native, Card and Software Set or Pyramix Turnkey? 8 Pyramix Versions 8 MassCore™ 9 NEW USERS START HERE 9 Syst...

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Contents Page 4 Clips 20 Media Management - Housekeeping 20 Media Drives and Folders 20 Libraries 21 User Libraries 21 Automation in libraries 22 Global Libraries 22 Project Libraries 22 Offline / Reference Libraries 22 A First Simple Project 23 Sta...

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Contents Page 5 Creating and Configuring Mixers 52 I/O Busses Explained 52 Internal Return Busses 52 Input Strips 52 Groups 52 Mixing/Monitoring/Aux Buses 52 External Effects 54 Configuring a Blank or Existing Mixer 54 Synchronized Creation/Deletion...

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Quickstart Guide : Quickstart Guide : Page 6 Quickstart Guide Document: Pyramix™ Quickstart Guide 7 1 Date: 28th October 2010 ...

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Quickstart Guide : Welcome to Pyramix Virtual Studio! Page 7 Welcome to Pyramix Virtual Studio! Introduction Thank you! Congratulations on your purchase of Pyramix Virtual Studio. More than just a product, this is a gateway to the future of sound re...

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Quickstart Guide : Overview Page 8 Conventions Conventions used in Pyramix documents: Names found on Pyramix screens and menus are shown in bold. E.g. Information & Settings Menu and sub-menu selections are shown like this: View > Tracks > ...

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Quickstart Guide : NEW USERS START HERE Page 9 Pyramix Native Pyramix Native offers 100% compatibility with the main Pyramix Virtual Studio (VS) system. Both the Pyramix Native and the Pyramix VS can be connected on the same standard Ethernet networ...

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Quickstart Guide : Installing Pyramix Virtual Studio Hardware Page 10 • We recommend disks should be formatted as NTFS volumes. Hard Disk Space Requirements A complete software installation will require around 50MB of disk space for the Pyramix sof...

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Quickstart Guide : Installing Pyramix Virtual Studio Hardware Page 11 With most of the current generation motherboards this means either the mains switch on the power supply or the power outlet switch. Where no switch is provided, either on the PC o...

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Quickstart Guide : Cabling Pyramix in your System Environment Page 12 Cabling Pyramix in your System Environment Please read this in conjunction with the guide or guides for your specific interface daughter-cards and external interfaces/converters. ...

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Quickstart Guide : Installing Pyramix Virtual Studio Software Page 13 Ideally, in any system with more than one device, there will also be an independent source of sync. E.g. a word- clock generator with multiple outputs. Each device is fed by a sing...

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Quickstart Guide : Installing Pyramix Virtual Studio Software Page 14 You may exclude the installation of any of the individual components in the wizard, if the device in question is not present on your machine or if you do not intend to use an item...

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Quickstart Guide : Installing Pyramix Virtual Studio Software Page 15 6. Override any warnings about unsigned drivers during the installation process. 7. Plug in the security USB dongle. 8. Enter the optional keys in MT Security Settings, if necessa...

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Quickstart Guide : First launch Page 16 First launch Important! After installation has been completed, please reboot the PC before attempting to launch Pyramix Virtual Studio. Then open the VS3 control panel application. Start > Programs > Py...

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Quickstart Guide : Starting Pyramix Virtual Studio Page 17 Double-click on the Pyramix Virtual Studio desktop icon to launch Pyramix. Alternately, choose Start > Programs > Pyramix > Pyramix Virtual Studio. The main User Manual is available ...

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Quickstart Guide : Pyramix User Interface Page 18 Pyramix User Interface The Pyramix user interface has evolved into an extremely powerful tool for manipulating audio. Commands and functions can be accessed from pull-down menus, pop-up menus, tab wi...

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Quickstart Guide : Pyramix Concepts Page 19 a Composition, viewed on the Timeline, or as an Edit Decision List (EDL), plus Libraries containing Master Clips, Compositions, Mixer settings, and Fade settings. Mixer The Mixer, is the nexus of the Vir...

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Quickstart Guide : Pyramix Concepts Page 20 Composition A Composition is any number of Clips complete with edits and fades, level settings etc. placed on a Track or tracks in a time relation to each other and to the Timeline. Note: A Composition can...

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Quickstart Guide : Pyramix Concepts Page 21 These can be auditioned, trimmed and dragged and dropped or copied and pasted directly into the Timeline or into a User library from the Media Management Window. Note: Master clips of any supported samp...

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Quickstart Guide : Pyramix Concepts Page 22 N.B. In Pyramix User Libraries, there is no practical distinction between a section of a Composition (Region) and a complete Composition. Either can be added to a User Library or to an existing Composition...

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Quickstart Guide : A First Simple Project Page 23 A First Simple Project This section provides a step-by-step guide to starting a simple new Project, recording and playing back some audio and basic editing. Note: This section is not intended as a su...

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Quickstart Guide : A First Simple Project Page 24 Physical I/O is connected to Logical I/O in ascending, numerical order automatically. For now, accept the default routing by clicking on OK. Open a New Project Before any recording or playback can be...

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Quickstart Guide : A First Simple Project Page 25 7. Click Next. The New Project WIzard - Setup a New Project Workspace dialog will open. 8. Click in the Setup a new Project Workspace box to tick it. 9. Type a name for the Project and either type a s...

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Quickstart Guide : A First Simple Project Page 26 10. Click Next. The New Project Wizard - Select a Mixer Preset dialog will open. 11. Choose the Mix 08 X 02 (Stereo) preset in the drop-down list by clicking on the name. Note that the Use a Preset r...

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Quickstart Guide : A First Simple Project Page 27 manually cycle the Track output between Replay, Input and Auto by clicking on the Monitoring icon in the Track Header) Before Recording Check Sync Before attempting to record any audio please check P...

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Quickstart Guide : A First Simple Project Page 28 button. Recording will begin when you press the Master Record button. Notice that red blocks appear in the armed tracks which grow as the recording proceeds. 2. Click on the Stop button after a minu...

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Quickstart Guide : A First Simple Project Page 29 Edit Audio Note: All the editing described here is non-destructive. The only thing changed is point- ers to the underlying media file. 1. Click on the clip you have just recorded. If not already selec...

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Quickstart Guide : Starting a New Project Page 30 11. Hold down the CTRL key, click and drag the right hand clip over the other to create a cross-fade. The mouse cursor changes to a hand with a X over it, indicating Auto-Crossfade mode is engaged. I...

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Quickstart Guide : Starting a New Project Page 31 Use Default Mixer Loads the currently designated Default Mixer preset. Use a Preset Choose one of the large number of supplied Mixer Presets (and User Presets if any have been created) by clicking on...

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Quickstart Guide : Starting a New Project Page 32 Select the type(s) of channel strips required using the check boxes and the number needed from the drop down lists on the right. Click the Next button to move on to the next page. Checking the Conn...

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Quickstart Guide : Starting a New Project Page 33 Pyramix Virtual Studio Window Orientation The main Pyramix Virtual Studio program window is the Pyramix Virtual Studio by Merging Technologies win- dow. This is the window which appears when the progr...

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Quickstart Guide : Settings Page 34 Settings The Settings menu groups All Settings, the Keyboard Shortcut Editor and the Macro Editor. Pyramix is massively configurable to suit diverse applications and personal preferences. To keep the vast number o...

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Quickstart Guide : Settings Page 35 Save To save all settings, Click on the: Save button to open a Save As browser window. If necessary, navigate to a suit- able location for the file. Type a suitable name in the File name: box and click the Save but...

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Quickstart Guide : Recording Page 36 All Settings > Project The All Settings > Project folder has three pages, Information, Record and Controller Mapping. These allow configuration of settings and information specific to the Project. For now, ...

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Quickstart Guide : Virtual Multi-track Page 37 Before beginning audio capture, make certain to choose the appropriate destination Media Folder, Resolution (bit depth or word length) and Format (file type) on the Record page of Settings > All Sett...

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Quickstart Guide : Virtual Multi-track Page 38 Suggested Settings • Group Recorded Clips: ON • Increment Take Number: ON •Prefix with Track Name: ON To Record audio directly into the Tracks of a Project, using Pyramix Virtual Studio as if it we...

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Quickstart Guide : The Timeline Page 39 Dubbing Mode This mode is provided principally for film re-recording. It allows tracks to be Armed or Disarmed for recording while recording is taking place. Dubbing Mode is selected via the Settings > All ...

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Quickstart Guide : The Timeline Page 40 Similarly, during Track recording or input monitoring, Pyramix will attempt to automatically route the input selected on each Mixer channel to a corresponding Track, so that the Mixer channel 1 input routes to...

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Quickstart Guide : Editing Page 41 Editing Clips in a Composition on the Timeline As with objects in a Media Drive or Library, Clips in a Composition are just pointers to the original audio Media Files. Any actions performed on a Clip in a Compositi...

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Quickstart Guide : Editing Page 42 Once a Region is marked on a Clip, simply clicking on the Region makes an edit. (same effect as the Edit > Split menu command.) This will split the Clip or Clips at the region boundaries. If a Region is across s...

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Quickstart Guide : Navigation Page 43 Cut Cuts the current selection from the project and places it on the Clipboard. When a Selec- tion is Cut, other material on the track behaves according to the current Remove mode setting. Copy Copies the curren...

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Quickstart Guide : Navigation Page 44 The Playhead can either be static, with scrolling tracks, or moving, in which case the track display ‘pages’ when the boundaries are reached. (select with View > Fixed Cursor while playing or View > Fr...

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Quickstart Guide : Navigation Page 45 Cursor & Timescale Ruler Toolbars Above the Timescale Ruler(s) and below the Project Editing Panel Toolbar(s) are the Timescale Toolbars and Cursor Toolbar. When several Timescale Ruler Toolbars are displaye...

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Quickstart Guide : Navigation Page 46 Global Mute indicator. When unlit no tracks are muted. Global Mute indicator. When lit one or more Tracks are muted. Click on the lit incator to cancel all active Mutes. Global Solo indicator. When unlit no Trac...

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Quickstart Guide : Navigation Page 47 Head to Nearest When active, moving a Selected Cue or Range results in its beginning snapping to the nearest Cue on the Track(s) or the Playhead Cursor or In/Out Marker. Tail to Nearest When active, moving a Se...

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Quickstart Guide : Navigation Page 48 Fine Jog sensitivity factor [ ] Sets the fraction of the regular Jog Sensitivity Setting that will be invoked when Fine Jog is selected in the Machines > Controllers menu Mouse Scrubbing Settings There are tw...

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Quickstart Guide : Navigation Page 49 •The Fast Forward button moves the Play Head at an accelerated speed forward through the Composition while it is being pressed. •The Stop button stops playback of the Composition. •The Loop Play toggle b...

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Quickstart Guide : Markers or User Flags Page 50 The Overview The Project Management Panel Overview Tab offers a powerful and simple means of navigation around the Project Editing Panel. Overview displays a graphic representation of the entire curr...

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Quickstart Guide : Using the Mixer Page 51 Using the Mixer Mixer Components Basic Strip A basic mono channel strip contains: On /Off toggle switch Pan slider to Main output bus. In this case there is just a single stereo mix bus. Numeric display of f...

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Quickstart Guide : Creating and Configuring Mixers Page 52 Creating and Configuring Mixers If one of the numerous mixer presets does not quite suit your application it is simple to modify an existing mixer, create one using the Mixer Wizard or desig...

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Quickstart Guide : Creating and Configuring Mixers Page 53 Provides several mono outputs. Any input strip can be routed to any or all of them Stereo Mix Provides a single stereo output. Any input strip can be routed to it Multiple Stereo Mix Provides...

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Quickstart Guide : Creating and Configuring Mixers Page 54 Valid choices are shown in gray. Once the window is open, other input channels can be route by either selecting them from the drop-down list or using the < and > arrows to step across ...

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Quickstart Guide : Creating and Configuring Mixers Page 55 Mixer I/O Assignments To or from physical I/O To change I/O assignments to or from physical I/O or the Internal Return Busses, click on the appropriate XLR icon. A pop-up appears with a list...

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Quickstart Guide : Creating and Configuring Mixers Page 56 Mixer Surround Components When a Surround Bus is added to the mixer an surround panner appears at the top of the Input Strips Surround Stem select If a Multiple Surround Bus has been added to...

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Quickstart Guide : Strip and Bus Tools - Plug-ins Page 57 Surround Control window Options available will depend on whether the Mixer Channel is single source (mono) or 2 sources (stereo). For an in depth description of all the functions please see t...

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Quickstart Guide : Strip and Bus Tools - Plug-ins Page 58 Both may be freely used in Strips or Busses if the need should arise for a limiter in an Input Strip or a Compressor in a Bus. Modules The Strip and Bus Tools plug-ins consist of several Sec...

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Quickstart Guide : Strip and Bus Tools - Plug-ins Page 59 To add a control to a link group, right-click on the knob or button to display its Link Status and Automation Sta- tus pop-up window. E.g. this is the pop-up for an input gain control.: Group ...

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Quickstart Guide : Strip and Bus Tools - Plug-ins Page 60 Sections From top to bottom, Strip Tools contains the following Sections: Input Level This section contains the input level control and shows the name of the mixer strip this instance of the ...

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Quickstart Guide : Strip and Bus Tools - Plug-ins Page 61 Input Section Strip Name Displays the name of the strip the plug-in is assigned to. The name for the plug-in can be changed by double-click- ing on the strip name, then typing in a name and hi...

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Quickstart Guide : Strip and Bus Tools - Plug-ins Page 62 The bar graph shows the gain reduction/increase generated by the Dynamics Section or by the Expander. The range of the display can be switched between +-10 or 20 dB by clicking on the bar gra...

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Quickstart Guide : Strip and Bus Tools - Plug-ins Page 63 Release and Hold Time controls These two parameters work together and control the amount of time the compressor takes to react when the input level is above the threshold level and starts fal...

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Quickstart Guide : Strip and Bus Tools - Plug-ins Page 64 Inverse switch Switches the between normal and inverse expander modes. Attack/Release/Hold controls The Expander Section uses the settings of the Attack/Release/Hold controls in the Dynamics S...

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Quickstart Guide : Strip and Bus Tools - Plug-ins Page 65 Band Selector Click onto one of these five buttons to select the band to be manipulated by the Gain, Frequency and Q control underneath. A band gets also selected if it is manipulated in the ...

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Quickstart Guide : Strip and Bus Tools - Plug-ins Page 66 handle and dragging with the mouse. Handles of bands which are not selected are displayed as small gray squares. Grabbing and drag a handle selects the band. The frequency response display us...

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Quickstart Guide : Simple Mixer Automation Page 67 Simple Mixer Automation Pyramix Virtual Studio supports several different types of mix automation, including both continuous and snap- shot automation of Mixer levels, pans, effects, etc. See the Pyr...

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Quickstart Guide : CD Mastering Page 68 2. For speed, select a suitable simple Mixer Template (E.g. Mix 8 X 2 (Stereo) 3. Open the Media Management or Library window where the material is located. 4. If the original material is not already at 44.1kHz...

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Quickstart Guide : CD Mastering Page 69 11. Select CD Mark Groups from the Markers menu to add CD Start Markers to each clip with a CD End Marker at the end of the last clip. 12. If you wish to change any details of the track titles, type in the fie...

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Quickstart Guide : CD Mastering Page 70 Burn the CD 18. Open the DiscWrite application. Start > All Programs > Pyramix > DiscWrite 19. Click Open Image and open the Image file you've just created. 20. Select the CD-Writer from the Targe...

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Quickstart Guide : CD Mastering Page 71 Head. These CD Markers can be examined, named and changed in the Project Management Panel’s Markers Tab (just as can regular User Markers). In addition, CD track Start and Stop Markers can be added automatic...

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Quickstart Guide : CD Mastering Page 72 Burning a CD-R DiscWrite is a separate application bundled with Pyramix Virtual Studio that is used to write the CD-R (or DDP) image file out to a CD-R disc (or DDP tape) unit. To burn a CD-R from a CD image f...

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Quickstart Guide : Customizing the User Interface Page 73 Design Report... Opens the Report Designer. Please see the on-line documentation. Customizing the User Interface Pyramix Virtual Studio allows considerable customization of the user interface...

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Quickstart Guide : Customizing the User Interface Page 74 10. A table can be exported as a Text File along with some comments about commands. This is very useful since it enables you to print it as a command reference guide with your own keyboard sh...

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Quickstart Guide : Appendix I Mouse Modifier Keys Page 75 Appendix I Mouse Modifier Keys This table shows the valid modifier keys which can be used in conjunction with some mouse operations Main Editor Left Mouse Button Click In the TimeCode Scale Se...

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Quickstart Guide : Appendix I Mouse Modifier Keys Page 76 While moving Auto-crossfade while moving clips Ctrl Force crossfade while moving clips lower handle Ctrl Detach crossfade while moving clips middle handle Ctrl Don't merge Envelope points...

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Quickstart Guide : Appendix I Mouse Modifier Keys Page 77 Overview Left Mouse Button Draw a region to zoom in Alt Drag the current composition (to a library) Shift + Alt Notes Left Mouse Button Drag the notes (to a library) Shift + Alt Media Folder L...

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Quickstart Guide : Appendix II I/O Daughter-card Options Page 78 Appendix II I/O Daughter-card Options ADAT Optical I/O The ADAT Optical daughter card offers 16 channels of audio input and 16 channels of audio output, 8 channels per optical connecti...

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Quickstart Guide : Appendix II I/O Daughter-card Options Page 79 TASCAM TDIF The TASCAM TDIF daughter card offers 24 channels of I/O over 3 Tascam TDIF connections. Connection is via three DB-25 connectors, One on the main card attached to the Myker...

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Quickstart Guide : Index Page 80 Quickstart Guide : Index ...

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Quickstart Guide : Index : Index Page 81 A Adding Plug-ins 55 Adding Strips 54 Archiving Projects 67 ASIO 17 Audio Connections 12 Audio I/O Options 11 Automation in libraries 22 Aux Bus 54 B Basic Strip 51 Before Recording 27 Burning a CD-R 72 Bus To...

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Quickstart Guide : Index : Index Page 82 K Keyboard Shortcuts 73 L Loop Selection 43 M Macros 18, 74 Markers or User Flags 50 MassCore 9 Master Clips 20 Media Drives 20 Media Files 20 Media Folders 20 Meter Bridge 19 MIDI Connections 13 Mix Bus 52 Mi...

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Quickstart Guide : Index : Index Page 83 Stereo Mix 53 Strip and Bus Tools 57 Strips/Tracks - Synchronized Creation/Deletion 54 Sub Level 56 Support 7 Surround Bus select 56 Surround Components (Mixer) 56 Surround Control 56 Surround Control window 5...