5 - Basic operations
TASCAM DA-78HR
31
2
Enter shift mode, and enter the sub-mixer
mode.
3
Make the level and pan settings for the tracks
which are to be combined, as described in 7.4,
“Sub-mixer”. See this section for full details of
how to operate th e su b-mi xer.
4
You can use the DA-78HR’s SPDIF (
COAXIAL
),
TDIF-1
and analog outputs to mon itor tracks 7
and 8. Only tracks 7 and 8 will be output from
the
TDIF-1
and analog outputs, and the other
track outputs will be muted.
5
Arm tracks 7 and 8.
6
Record tracks 7 and 8.
5.3.4 Returning to ALL ANALOG setting
After tracks have been set individually, it may be
necessary to return the inputs to all analog. It is then
easy to return to all digital (see 5.3, “Input selec-
tion”), but setting all inputs to “all track” would be a
somewhat pointless setting!
1
While the unit is in “patchbay” mode, as
described in 5.3.2, “Input patchbay routing”,
press and hold down one of the ▲ or ▼ keys,
and press the other of these keys.
The routing will change to all analog (
ALL
ANALOG).
5.4 More on digital recording
The DA-78HR is able to accept (and output) digital
signals at the
DIGITAL I/O
connector in TDIF-1
format.
The DA-78HR should be connected to other TDIF-1
equipment using a PW-88D or PW-88DL connect or
cable.
NOTE
Only use a TASCAM digital cable when making digi-
tal audio connections to the DA-78HR. Other types of
cable may cause damage to the system, and the
warranty will be voided if such damage is caused by
use of the wrong cables.
The DA-78HR should be set to be either a word
clock master or a word clock slave when connected
to other digital equipment. There can only be one
word clock master in a setup.
5.4.1 Sampling frequency and word
length
If you attempt to record digitally from a digital
source which has a different frequency from that pre-
viously recorded as the DA-78HR’s tape format, the
Fs
indicator corresponding to the tape’s sampling
frequency will start to flash. This indicates a fre-
quency mismatch.
Recording with different sampling frequencies is not
recommended – problems will certainly occur on
replay of such a recording.
If you attempt to record digitally from a digital
source with a word length (5.1, “Formatting a tape”)
different from that for which the tape has been for-
matted, errors will occur. A good rule is therefore to
keep one word length and one sampling frequency
throughout a tape.
5.4.2 Selecting input word length
When data is accepted through the
DIGITAL I/O
con-
nector, the word length of the incoming data must be
set. This can be selected from between 16-bit, 20-bit
or 24-bit. This is not the same as the resolution
recorded on tape.
To set the word length:
1
Press the
SHIFT
key so that the
SHIFT
indicator
is flashing, and press the
MENU
key until the
display shows
AUDIO. 1-- (
AUDIO1--
).
2
Press the
SUB MENU
key until the display
shows
TDIF. ;; (
TDIF xx
, where xx is the cur-
rent input word length).
3
Use the ▲ and ▼ keys to choose between 24, 20
and 16-bit word lengths.
We sugges t that you experiment with the dith er
settings (7.11, “Dither”) if you find you are
recording quantization noise at low levels when
the input word length is set to 20 or 24 bits and
you are recording at 16-bit resolution. Though
you will lose a little in the signal-to-noise ratio,
total harmonic distortion figures will be
improved.
NOTE
If you are dubbing tracks from a DA-88, this value
must always be set to 16 bits.
5.5 Overdubbing
Overdubbing subsequent tracks is carried out in a
very similar way to recording the first tracks.