Yamaha MD4S - Manuals

Important 5 —Owner’s Manual • Always lower the volume control to minimum before turning on the power to this unit. A sudden blast of sound may damage your hearing. • Hold the power cord plug when disconnecting it from an AC outlet. Never pull the cord. A damaged power cord is a potential fire and el...

Welcome to the MD4S 9 —Owner’s Manual Welcome to the MD4S MD4S Features Mixer The mixer section is an analog mixer with four MIC/LINE and four LINE inputs. • Continuously variable GAIN controls are provided on input channels 1–4, accepting signals ranging from mic input to line level. • Of the four ...

10 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual • The recording/playback pitch can be adjusted up to a maximum of ± 10%. In addition, you can use the x1/2 play function to playback at half-speed with a pitch that is one octave lower. • MIDI Time Code (MTC) / MIDI Clock data can be transmitted from the MIDI O...

MD4S TOC 11 —Owner’s Manual MD4S TOC TOC refers to the Table of Contents area on the disc. The TOC contains information about what is recorded on the disc, the disc title, song titles, and so on. When you record a new song or edit the song title, the TOC EDIT indicator of the MD4S will light to indi...

12 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual MD4S songs and blank areas On the MD4S, recordings are made in units called “songs.” Each song is assigned a number indicating the order in which it was recorded. For example if you have recorded two songs on a disc, song 2 will be recorded immediately after so...

Front and rear panel 13 —Owner’s Manual Front and rear panel This section explains the names and functions of each part of the MD4S. Mono Inputs A GAIN control This adjusts the input sensitivity of the MIC/LINE input jack (jacks 1 and 2 on the top panel). Input channels 1–4 can accommodate signals o...

14 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual C CUE PAN/CUE LEVEL controls These two controls adjust the pan and signal level of the signal that is sent to the CUE bus. The signal that is sent to the CUE bus will depend on the setting of the FLIP switch 2 . D EQ controls These controls are used to adjust t...

Front and rear panel 15 —Owner’s Manual Stereo Inputs H Level (5/6), (7/8) controls These controls adjust the level of the signals input from STEREO INPUT jacks 5/6 or 7/8. These input signals are always sent to the ST bus, and are mixed with the signals from input channels 1–4 and the playback sign...

16 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual Disc transport section A Disc transport buttons REHE button ...... This button is used to rehearse punch-in/out. During rehearsal the REHE indicator located above the button will light, and while rehearsal is paused the indicator will blink. REC button ...........

18 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual L PEAK HOLD button This button turns the peak hold function on/off. When the peak hold function is on, a segment of the track/stereo level meters will remain lit to indicate the maximum level that was reached. When the peak hold function is on, pressing the PEA...

Front and rear panel 19 —Owner’s Manual Display A TOC EDIT indicator This indicator will light when the TOC (table of contents) needs to be updated, such as after a new recording or edit. If the power of the MD4S is turned off while the TOC EDIT indicator is lit, the recorded or edited content may b...

20 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual E Time counter mode This indicates the time counter mode that was selected by the DISPLAY button (disc transport M ). However if a tempo map has been programmed and the time counter is showing measure/beat/clock, all of these indicators will be dark. ELAPSE TIM...

Front and rear panel 21 —Owner’s Manual K Auto punch indicator This indicator shows the status of the auto punch-in/out function. AUTO PUNCH SINGLE ....... This will light when you select Single Take Auto Punch-in/out (in which auto punch-in/out will occur only once). AUTO PUNCH MULTI ......... This...

22 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual Top panel connectors A MIC/LINE INPUT 1,2 jacks Balanced condenser mics or line-level devices with balanced output can be connected to these inputs. Unbalanced outputs such as on synthesizers can also be connected here. These jacks will accommodate either XLR p...

Front and rear panel 23 —Owner’s Manual Rear panel A POWER switch This switch is used to turn the MD4S on and off. B AC IN Connect the included power cable here. C AUX SEND 1, 2 jacks These are 1/4" phone jacks that output the signals from the input channels as adjusted by the AUX controls (inpu...

24 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual H MIDI IN, OUT, THRU connectors These connectors are used to exchange MIDI messages with external MIDI devices. MIDI OUT connector .......... MIDI Clock and MIDI Time Code (MTC) is output from this connector. This is used when synchronizing the MD4S with a MIDI...

Basic operation 25 —Owner’s Manual Basic operation This chapter explains the process of recording instruments separately on each of the four tracks, and finally mixing down to a master recorder. Before you begin Example connections Synthesizer Guitar Microphone Headphones L R 5 / 6 7 / 8 STEREO MONI...

26 Basic operation —Owner’s Manual Turning on the MD4S 1. Plug the power cable into an AC outlet. 2. Press the POWER switch located on the rear panel of the MD4S. When the power is turned on, the display will light. To turn off the MD4S, press the POWER switch again. Inserting a disc Make sure that ...

Recording the first track (Direct Recording) 27 —Owner’s Manual ■ Find a blank area A new song can be recorded only on a blank area. If you wish to record a new song on a disc that already contains recorded material, you must begin by finding a blank area. 1 Press the SONG SEARCH [ ] button several ...

28 Basic operation —Owner’s Manual ■ Monitor the signal being recorded on the track 9 Press the MONITOR SELECT CUE switch to turn it on. The MONITOR SELECT switches choose the sig-nal source that will be monitored. When the CUE switch is on, the signal from the CUE bus will be sent to the PHONES jac...

Recording the first track (Direct Recording) 29 —Owner’s Manual ■ Listening to the first track 4 Press the LAST REC SEARCH [IN] button. This will locate to the point at which the previous recording was begun. (For details on the LAST REC SEARCH buttons, refer to page 17.) If this was the first recor...

30 Basic operation —Owner’s Manual Overdubbing Now that you have finished recording track 1, let’s record additional audio sources on other tracks while listening to the playback of this track. The basic procedure is the same as in “Recording the first track.” ■ Select the track to record 1 Connect ...

Overdubbing 31 —Owner’s Manual ■ Simultaneously monitoring the recording source and the track playback 6 While playing the audio source that you wish to record, raise the CUE LEVEL control of input channel 2. Use the CUE LEVEL control of input channel 2 to adjust the monitor level of the signal that...

32 Basic operation —Owner’s Manual Mixdown When you have finished recording the four tracks, let’s mixdown the recorded tracks to stereo, and record the mix on a master recorder. ■ Connecting a master recorder 1 Connect the STEREO OUT jacks of the MD4S to the input jacks of your master recorder. Con...

Mixdown 33 —Owner’s Manual 6 While listening through the headphones or monitor speakers, use the faders, PAN con-trols, and EQ controls of input channels 1–4 to adjust the mixdown. First, use the PAN controls to set the left/right bal-ance. Next, adjust the faders to set the volume bal-ance of each ...

34 Basic operation —Owner’s Manual After completing the Basic Operation section In the preceding pages, you have learned the basic procedure for recording four parts, mixing them in stereo, and mixing down to a master recorder. However by taking full advantage of the functionality that the MD4S prov...

Advanced recording techniques 35 —Owner’s Manual Advanced recording techniques In this chapter we will introduce more advanced topics, such as more sophisticated recording techniques and editing techniques. Advanced techniques on the MD4S In addition to the functionality described on the preceding p...

36 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Mixing multiple channels as you record By combining multiple parts into a pair of tracks, you can record more than four parts on the MD4S. For example if you have recorded drums, bass, and rhythm guitar, you can re-record these three parts in stereo o...

Mixing multiple channels as you record 37 —Owner’s Manual 1 Connect the audio sources to MIC/LINE INPUT jacks 1–4. If necessary, you can also mix line level devices such as synthesizers connected to LINE INPUT jacks 5 and 6 or 7 and 8. 2 Set the FLIP switch of input channels 1–4 to “MIC/LINE ( ).” 3...

40 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual In the following, we will give an example of mixing previously-recorded tracks 1–4 into a ste-reo pair, and ping-pong recording them to tracks 3 and 4. 1 Set the FLIP switches of input channels 1–4 to “PB ( ).” The playback sound of tracks 1–4 will be...

42 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Adding sounds during mixdown The mixer section of the MD4S features an “in-line” design that can simultaneously handle both the input signal from the MIC/LINE INPUT jack and the playback sound from the disk. For example, this allows you to add externa...

Adding sounds during mixdown 43 —Owner’s Manual 3 Turn on the CUE MIX TO STEREO switch. The cue mix function will be turned on, and the CUE MIX indicator in the display will light. With this setting, the signal of the CUE bus (the MIC/LINE INPUT jack input signal) will be mixed into the ST bus. 4 Se...

44 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Applying effects Here we will explain how external effects can be applied as you record tracks or during mix-down. If you wish to apply effects to the input signal of an input channel or to the playback sound of a track, two methods are available: usi...

46 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Using the AUX SEND jacks When the AUX SEND jacks of the MD4S are used, a single external effect processor can be used simultaneously by two or more input channels. For example when you are re-recording several channels to two tracks or when mixing dow...

Applying effects 47 —Owner’s Manual Applying effects during mixdown Applying an effect such as reverb to each track during a mixdown is an example of a situation in which you would connect the external effect processor to the AUX SEND jack. In this case, you can use the AUX control of each input cha...

48 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Applying an effect during ping-pong recording By using the AUX SEND jacks you can apply spatial-type effects such as reverb or chorus dur-ing ping-pong recording as well. This technique is particularly useful when you wish to ping-pong in stereo down ...

50 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Applying an effect only to the monitor signal By making skillful use of direct recording and the MONITOR SELECT switches, you can apply effects only to the monitor signal so that tracks are recorded without effects. For exam-ple when recording vocals,...

52 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Punch-in/out This section explains techniques using punch-in/out. Punch-in/out is a function that allows you to re-record just a specific portion of a previously-recorded track. While listening to the playback of a track, you can begin recording (punc...

Punch-in/out 53 —Owner’s Manual 7. When you have finished adjusting the recording level, press the STOP button to temporarily cancel record-pause mode. 8. Press the PLAY button to begin playback. 9. At the location where you wish to punch-in, press the REC button. The REC indicator will light, and f...

54 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 5. When you arrive at the location where you wish to punch-out, press the REC SELECT button once again. The track record indicator will go dark, recording will end, and playback will resume. ■ Punch-in/out using a foot switch If you connect a separate...

56 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 1. Press the UTILITY button. 2. Rotate the DATA dial until the display indicates “PrePostRoll,” and press the ENTER button. 3. With the display showing “Pre Xsec” (X will be a number of 0–9), rotate the DATA dial to set a pre-roll length of 0–9 second...

Punch-in/out 57 —Owner’s Manual Rehearsing the auto punch-in/out (single-take) 5. Press the PLAY button, and begin rehearsing the auto punch-in/out. When you press the PLAY button, the MD4S will automatically locate to the pre-roll point, and will start playback. When the auto punch-in point is reac...

58 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual ■ Multi-take auto punch-in/out Multi-take auto punch-in/out allows you to perform auto punch-in/out recording two or more times, then to audition all takes (including the original) and select the best take. Multi-take auto punch-in/out allows you to r...

Punch-in/out 59 —Owner’s Manual Actually performing the auto punch-in/out (multi-take) 7. From a stopped or paused condition, press the REC button. The REC indicator will blink, and the display will indicate “TAKE 1.” Auto punch-in/out will be in record-pause mode, ready to record the first take (ta...

60 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 16. Rotate the CURSOR shuttle toward the right to make the display read “TAKE X:FIX.” 17. Press the ENTER button. The display will ask “FIX TAKE X?” If at this time you press the EXIT button, you will again return to the step of selecting a take. 18. ...

Quick search functions 61 —Owner’s Manual Quick search functions This section explains the variety of Locate functions that are provided by the MD4S. Methods of adjusting the auto punch-in/out points and ways to set Markers will also be explained here. Searching for songs If the disc contains two or...

62 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 4. When you have specified the desired location, press the ENTER button. The MD4S will locate to the specified location, and will enter playback-pause mode. If you press the PLAY button instead of the ENTER button, playback will begin from the specifi...

Quick search functions 63 —Owner’s Manual 2. Press the TOC WRITE button to update the TOC. Locating to a marker 3. Use the MARK SEARCH[ ]/[ ] buttons to locate to a marker you inserted. The MARK SEARCH [ ] button will locate to a marker earlier than the current location, and the MARK SEARCH [ ] butt...

64 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 3. Press the ENTER button. The display will indicate “AdjstLoad...” for a short time. Then the display will change to “ADJST 0 ” and the track will play back for approximately 1.5 seconds before and after the point you selected in step 1. At this time...

Quick search functions 65 —Owner’s Manual Erasing a marker or auto punch-in/out point Here’s how to erase a marker location or auto punch-in/out point that you have set. This pro-cedure can be performed when the MD4S is either stopped or in playback-pause mode. 1. Press a MARK SEARCH or LAST REC SEA...

66 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Various playback functions This section explains the various playback functions offered by the MD4S. Play forward/backward at various speeds (Cue/Review) During playback, you can operate the CURSOR shuttle to play forward (cue) or backward (review) at...

Various playback functions 67 —Owner’s Manual Playback at half speed (x1/2 Play) x1/2 Play is a function that drops the pitch of the disc to half the normal pitch during play-back. When x1/2 Play is used, the pitch will be one octave lower than normal. (This is the same effect as Cue-Half.) This pro...

68 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 2. To turn off the Repeat function, press the REPEAT button until the Repeat indi- cator goes dark. Repeating a specific portion of a song (A-B Repeat) A-B Repeat is a function that causes the portion of a song between a specified point A and point B ...

Various playback functions 69 —Owner’s Manual 5. Use the CURSOR shuttle to select a parameter, and rotate the DATA dial to modify the setting. The range of each parameter is as follows. Step ...........................A–Z (while programming, this is shown as lowercase letters a–z) Beginning/ending m...

70 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual ■ Creating a new song from a Cue List (Cue List Copy) The playback order that you have programmed in a cue list can be rewritten into a new song. As shown in the following diagram, this can be used to remake a song into a new version whose length and ...

Various playback functions 71 —Owner’s Manual Programming the song playback order (Program Play) Program Play is a function that lets you program the playback order of the songs on disc. You can specify up to 36 steps of song numbers for playback. 1. Press the UTILITY button. 2. Rotate the DATA dial...

72 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual With the program shown in the following diagram, playback will occur in the order of Song 1 → Song 3 → Song 2 → Song 2. 6. After you have entered all of the desired steps, press the ENTER button. The display will show the first step (S1), and the MD4S...

Editing functions 73 —Owner’s Manual Editing functions This sections explains the track and song editing functions that are provided on the MD4S. Copying a portion of a track (Part Copy) Part Copy is a function that copies a portion of a track to a different location within the same track or to the ...

74 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 7. Press the ENTER button once again to execute the Part Copy operation. While the Part Copy is being executed, the display will indicate “COPY EXE..” and the track record indicator (DIR) for the copy destination track will light. If you press the STO...

Editing functions 75 —Owner’s Manual 6. Press the ENTER button to execute the Part Erase operation. While the data is being erased, the display will indicate “Erase EXE..” and the track record indi-cator (DIR) for the tracks being erased will light. Part Erase requires one minute to erase each minut...

76 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Erasing an entire track (Track Erase) Track Erase is a function that erases an entire track. You can select one or more tracks to erase. The erased track(s) will contain only silence. 1. Press the EDIT button, and rotate the DATA dial to make the disp...

Editing functions 77 —Owner’s Manual 3. Press the ENTER button once again. The display will indicate the recording mode and track order of the copy source song. If you wish to create a complete duplicate of the song without changing the recording mode or track order, proceed to step 7. Changing the ...

78 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual For example if you specified “4T:3421,” the order of copy destination tracks would be as fol-lows. Executing the Song Copy 7. When you have finished making settings, press the ENTER button. The display will indicate “Copy to BX” (X is the number of a ...

Editing functions 79 —Owner’s Manual 4. Press the ENTER button once again to execute the Song Erase operation. The display will indicate “Erase EXE..”, and the TOC will be updated automatically when the song has been erased. Splitting a song into two (Song Divide) Song Divide is a function that spli...

80 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Joining divided songs together (Song Combine) Song Combine is an operation that joins two previously-divided songs to create a single song. 1. Press the EDIT button, rotate the DATA dial to make the display read “Song Combn,” and press the ENTER butto...

82 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 5. Press the ENTER button. The display will ask “Move EXE?” If you decide to cancel the Song Move operation, press the EXIT button. 6. Press the ENTER button once again to execute the Song Move operation. The display will indicate “MoveTo BX” (X is th...

Editing functions 83 —Owner’s Manual 2. Press the ENTER button to execute the Song Renumber operation. When the songs have been renumbered, the TOC will automatically be updated. Note: Some MD recorders other than the Yamaha MD4S, MD4 or MD8 divide the song data into multiple areas on the disc. Song...

84 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Other functions The following pages explain other functions of the MD4S. Adjusting the record/playback pitch (Pitch function) The Pitch function lets you adjust the record/playback pitch. This is useful when you need to record a instrument that cannot...

Other functions 85 —Owner’s Manual Titling discs and songs A title of up to 127 characters can be assigned to each disc and to each song on the disc. This provides a convenient way to distinguish discs and songs. Titling a disc 1. Press the EDIT button, rotate the DATA dial to make the display read ...

86 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 6. Press the TOC WRITE button to update the TOC. Erasing a disc (Disc Erase) Disc Erase is a function that erases all the songs on a disc. When you execute the Disc Erase function, the entire disc will be a blank area. Before a MD DATA disc that was u...

Other functions 87 —Owner’s Manual 3. Press the UTILITY button once again to return to normal operation. Changing the recording mode The MD4S allows you to choose from three recording modes: 4TR mode, 2TR mode, and MONO mode. When 2TR mode or MONO mode are selected, fewer tracks can be recorded, but...

88 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Adjusting the display brightness The brightness of the display can be adjusted over five steps. 1. Press the UTILITY button, rotate the DATA dial to make the display read “Disp Dimmer,” and press the ENTER button. The display will indicate “Dimmer X” ...

Other functions 89 —Owner’s Manual Using a Foot switch If an optional FC5 foot switch is connected to the PUNCH I/O jack, you can use the foot switch to perform not only punch-in/out but a variety of other transport operations. When the foot switch is pressed, the MD4S will perform the following ope...

90 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual MIDI functions The MD4S is an ideal device for recording vocals, guitar, or other acoustic instruments, but by using its MIDI functionality you can synchronize it with a MIDI sequencer or with another MD4S, or control the transport of the MD4S from an...

MIDI functions 91 —Owner’s Manual About MTC and MIDI Clock MTC and MIDI Clock are different types of MIDI messages used for synchronization between MIDI devices. MTC transmits absolute time information in units of a “frame” (1/30 of a second). If you start a MD4S song at the “5 minutes 10 seconds” l...

92 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual ■ MIDI sequencer settings To use MTC, your MIDI sequencer must be set to synchronize to the MTC messages it receives. In this case, you must set the frame rate to 30 frames/second. For details on making this setting, refer to the owner’s manual of you...

MIDI functions 93 —Owner’s Manual 4. Rotate the CURSOR shuttle to the right to select the meter/tempo parameter, and rotate the DATA dial to set the meter or tempo. It is not possible to set the measure location of step A. The range of settings is as follows. Meter ........................1–99/2, 4,...

94 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual ■ MIDI sequencer settings When using MIDI Clock, you will need to make settings on your MIDI sequencer so that it will synchronize to MIDI Clock messages. For details on making this setting, please refer to the owner’s manual of your MIDI sequencer. S...

MIDI functions 95 —Owner’s Manual Connect the two MD4S recorders as follows. ■ Settings for the MTC Slave MD4S 1. Press the UTILITY button, rotate the DATA dial to make the display read “MIDI Sync,” and press the ENTER button. The display will indicate the current MIDI Sync setting. 2. Rotate the DA...

96 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 3. Start the master MD4S (playback/record/rehearsal). The slave MD4S will receive the MTC messages, and will record/rehearse in synchronization with the location of the master. 4. When you press the STOP button on the master MD4S, the slave MD4S will ...

MIDI functions 97 —Owner’s Manual Synchronizing to MTC with a specified offset (time difference) When using the MD4S as an MTC slave, you can assign an offset (time difference) that will be applied to the MTC time data received from the external device. 1. If the MTC slave MD4S is in record/playback...

98 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Controlling the MD4S by MMC MMC (MIDI Machine Control) is a type of MIDI message that allows the transport of an audio/video recorder etc. to be controlled by an external MIDI device. Since the MD4S is able to receive MMC, an MMC-compatible MIDI seque...

MIDI functions 99 —Owner’s Manual 4. Press the UTILITY button or the EXIT button to return to normal operation. If MMC reception was turned on, the MD4S will be the MMC Slave, and can be operated by MMC messages received from the external device. ■ Setting the MMC Device ID If there is more than one...

100 Appendix —Owner’s Manual Appendix Q&A Section This section is intended to answer your questions about the MD4S and MD DATA discs. What’s the difference between MiniDiscs and MD DATA Discs? MiniDiscs were designed to store mono and stereo sound data. MD DATA discs were origi-nally designed to...

Troubleshooting 101 —Owner’s Manual Do I have to sacrifice one track to record timecode? No. The MD4S generates MTC (MIDI Timecode) or MIDI Clock from the disc’s internal sync signals. So even in a synchronized MIDI system, all eight tracks are available for sound record-ing. How many songs can I st...

102 Appendix —Owner’s Manual Cannot use the punch-in/out or ping-pong recording function! In some cases, punch-in or ping-pong recording may not be possi-ble on a song that was edited on an MD recorder other than the MD4S or the Yamaha MD8/MD4. Use the Song Copy function to copy the song, and perfor...

Display Messages 103 —Owner’s Manual Display Messages Message Meaning ADJST Stop The STOP button was pressed, so the Adjust function was cancelled. BLANK X The MD4S is located at the Blank Top position. Blank Disc The disc is blank. Can’t Combn MD4S cannot combine these two songs because they were n...

104 Appendix —Owner’s Manual Modes of the MD4S transport ● On z Flashing Mode Indicators MD4S operating Status REHE REC PLAY Stop — — — No activity. Play — — ● Normal playback Play Pause — — z Playback is paused. Cue FF — — ● High-speed playback at 1/2 speed or 2X, 4X, 8X, 16X or 32X speed. Review —...

Specifications 105 —Owner’s Manual Specifications Recorder Mixer 0 dB is referenced to 0.775 V r.m.s. Digital/Audio Sampling Frequency: 44.1 kHz Compression: ATRAC Frequency Response: 20 Hz–20 kHz, +1 dB, –3 dBTHD+N: Less than 0.02% (1 kHz)S/N: 96 dB typ. Rec/Play 4-track independent simultaneous re...

106 Appendix —Owner’s Manual General Dimensions Specifications subject to change without notice. Power Requirements USA & Canada: 120 V/60 Hz, Others: 230 V/50 Hz Power Consumption 24 W Dimensions (W x H x D) 413 x 109.5 x 388 mm Weight 5.2 kg Operating Conditions Temperature: 5˚C–35˚C (41˚F–95˚...

Block Diagram 107 —Owner’s Manual Block Diagram REC * MIC/LINE INPUT jacks 1 and 2 accept either phone or XLR plugs . 2 CH4 CH3 CH2 (PB) Tr2 Tr3 Tr4 2 * 1 * R L 2TR IN 2TR IN CUE CUE MIX TO STEREO STEREO MONITOR LEVEL R L CUE LINEINPUT 7/8 8 7 6 5/6 5 DIRECT OUT TRACK 4 3 4 3 GAIN HA LO W HIGH PAN R...

108 Appendix —Owner’s Manual Glossary This section explains the technical terms used in this owner’s manual. ATRAC —An acronym for Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding. This is the compression technique used to fit the same amount of data as that of a 120 mm CD on a 64 mm MiniDisc. Using the ATRAC sys...

110 Appendix —Owner’s Manual SCMS (Serial Copy Management System) —A protection system intended to prevent illegal copying of music. SCMS allows one-time serial copying of copy-protected material. If the source is not copy protected, it’s possible to make any number of digital-to-digital copies of t...

Tempo Map Chart 111 —Owner’s Manual Tempo Map Chart Meter Tempo Step Measure Time Signature Step Measure -Beat Tempo A 001 / A 001–1 B / B C / C D / D E / E F / F G / G H / H I / I J / J K / K L / L M / M N / N O / O P / P Q / Q R / R S / S T / T U / U V / V W / W X / X Y / Y Z / Z

YAMAHA [Multitrack Recorder] Date: 11 02 1998 Model: MD4S MIDI Implementation Chart Version: 1.0 Function... Transmitted Recognized Remarks Basic Channel DefaultChanged XX XX Mode DefaultMessagesAltered XX ************** XXX Note Number True Voice X ************** XX Velocity Note OnNote Off XX XX A...

Index 113 —Owner’s Manual Index Numerics 2TR IN jacks   23 2-track (2TR)   11 4-track (4TR)   11 A A B button   68 A-B Repeat   68 A B repeat button   17 AC IN   23 Adding sounds during mixdown   42 ADJUST button   18 ,  63 ,  65 Advanced recording techniques   35 All Song Repeat   67 Applying an ef...

YAMAHA CORPORATION V291240 R1 1 IP 116 Pro Audio Division, #18/3 P.O. Box 3, Hamamatsu, 430-8651, Japan 98 12 5000 CP Printed in Japan Source: Source: Source: Source: Source: Source: 12 3 4 Tracking Sheet Title: Date: Step: Process: Notes: Session Info Track List Mixer Setup Step Section Repeat Cue ...

Important 5 —Owner’s Manual • Turn off all musical instruments, audio equipment, and speakers when connecting to this unit. Use the correct connecting cables and connect as specified. • Always lower the volume control to minimum before turning on the power to this unit. A sudden blast of sound may d...

6 Contents —Owner’s Manual Contents Welcome to the MD4S ......................................... 9 MD4S Features ............................................................................................ 9 Mixer.........................................................................................

8 Contents —Owner’s Manual Appendix ............................................................ 100 Q&A Section .............................................................................................. 100 Troubleshooting .......................................................................

Welcome to the MD4S 9 —Owner’s Manual Welcome to the MD4S MD4S Features Mixer The mixer section is an analog mixer with four MIC/LINE and four LINE inputs. • Continuously variable GAIN controls are provided on input channels 1–4, accepting signals ranging from mic input to line level. • Of the four ...

10 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual • The recording/playback pitch can be adjusted up to a maximum of ± 10%. In addition, you can use the x1/2 play function to playback at half-speed with a pitch that is one octave lower. • MIDI Time Code (MTC) / MIDI Clock data can be transmitted from the MIDI O...

MD4S TOC 11 —Owner’s Manual MD4S TOC TOC refers to the Table of Contents area on the disc. The TOC contains information about what is recorded on the disc, the disc title, song titles, and so on. When you record a new song or edit the song title, the TOC EDIT indicator of the MD4S will light to indi...

12 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual MD4S songs and blank areas On the MD4S, recordings are made in units called “songs.” Each song is assigned a number indicating the order in which it was recorded. For example if you have recorded two songs on a disc, song 2 will be recorded immediately after so...

Front and rear panel 13 —Owner’s Manual Front and rear panel This section explains the names and functions of each part of the MD4S. Mono Inputs A GAIN control This adjusts the input sensitivity of the MIC/LINE input jack (jacks 1 and 2 on the top panel). Input channels 1–4 can accommodate signals o...

14 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual C CUE PAN/CUE LEVEL controls These two controls adjust the pan and signal level of the signal that is sent to the CUE bus. The signal that is sent to the CUE bus will depend on the setting of the FLIP switch 2 . D EQ controls These controls are used to adjust t...

Front and rear panel 15 —Owner’s Manual Stereo Inputs H Level (5/6), (7/8) controls These controls adjust the level of the signals input from STEREO INPUT jacks 5/6 or 7/8. These input signals are always sent to the ST bus, and are mixed with the signals from input channels 1–4 and the playback sign...

16 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual Disc transport section A Disc transport buttons REHE button ...... This button is used to rehearse punch-in/out. During rehearsal the REHE indicator located above the button will light, and while rehearsal is paused the indicator will blink. REC button ...........

18 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual L PEAK HOLD button This button turns the peak hold function on/off. When the peak hold function is on, a segment of the track/stereo level meters will remain lit to indicate the maximum level that was reached. When the peak hold function is on, pressing the PEA...

Front and rear panel 19 —Owner’s Manual Display A TOC EDIT indicator This indicator will light when the TOC (table of contents) needs to be updated, such as after a new recording or edit. If the power of the MD4S is turned off while the TOC EDIT indicator is lit, the recorded or edited content may b...

20 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual E Time counter mode This indicates the time counter mode that was selected by the DISPLAY button (disc transport M ). However if a tempo map has been programmed and the time counter is showing measure/beat/clock, all of these indicators will be dark. ELAPSE TIM...

Front and rear panel 21 —Owner’s Manual K Auto punch indicator This indicator shows the status of the auto punch-in/out function. AUTO PUNCH SINGLE ....... This will light when you select Single Take Auto Punch-in/out (in which auto punch-in/out will occur only once). AUTO PUNCH MULTI ......... This...

22 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual Top panel connectors A MIC/LINE INPUT 1,2 jacks Balanced dynamic mics or line-level devices with balanced output can be connected to these inputs. Unbalanced outputs such as on synthesizers can also be connected here. These jacks will accommodate either XLR plu...

Front and rear panel 23 —Owner’s Manual Rear panel A POWER switch This switch is used to turn the MD4S on and off. B AC IN Connect the included power cable here. C AUX SEND 1, 2 jacks These are 1/4" phone jacks that output the signals from the input channels as adjusted by the AUX controls (inpu...

24 Welcome to the MD4S —Owner’s Manual H MIDI IN, OUT, THRU connectors These connectors are used to exchange MIDI messages with external MIDI devices. MIDI OUT connector .......... MIDI Clock and MIDI Time Code (MTC) is output from this connector. This is used when synchronizing the MD4S with a MIDI...

Basic operation 25 —Owner’s Manual Basic operation This chapter explains the process of recording instruments separately on each of the four tracks, and finally mixing down to a master recorder. Before you begin Example connections Synthesizer Guitar Microphone Headphones L R 5 / 6 7 / 8 STEREO MONI...

26 Basic operation —Owner’s Manual Turning on the MD4S 1. Plug the power cable into an AC outlet. 2. Press the POWER switch located on the rear panel of the MD4S. When the power is turned on, the display will light. To turn off the MD4S, press the POWER switch again. Inserting a disc Make sure that ...

Recording the first track (Direct Recording) 27 —Owner’s Manual ■ Find a blank area A new song can be recorded only on a blank area. If you wish to record a new song on a disc that already contains recorded material, you must begin by finding a blank area. 1 Press the SONG SEARCH [ ] button several ...

28 Basic operation —Owner’s Manual ■ Monitor the signal being recorded on the track 9 Press the MONITOR SELECT CUE switch to turn it on. The MONITOR SELECT switches choose the sig-nal source that will be monitored. When the CUE switch is on, the signal from the CUE bus will be sent to the PHONES jac...

Recording the first track (Direct Recording) 29 —Owner’s Manual ■ Listening to the first track 4 Press the LAST REC SEARCH [IN] button. This will locate to the point at which the previous recording was begun. (For details on the LAST REC SEARCH buttons, refer to page 17.) If this was the first recor...

30 Basic operation —Owner’s Manual Overdubbing Now that you have finished recording track 1, let’s record additional audio sources on other tracks while listening to the playback of this track. The basic procedure is the same as in “Recording the first track.” ■ Select the track to record 1 Connect ...

Overdubbing 31 —Owner’s Manual ■ Simultaneously monitoring the recording source and the track playback 6 While playing the audio source that you wish to record, raise the CUE LEVEL control of input channel 2. Use the CUE LEVEL control of input channel 2 to adjust the monitor level of the signal that...

32 Basic operation —Owner’s Manual Mixdown When you have finished recording the four tracks, let’s mixdown the recorded tracks to stereo, and record the mix on a master recorder. ■ Connecting a master recorder 1 Connect the STEREO OUT jacks of the MD4S to the input jacks of your master recorder. Con...

Mixdown 33 —Owner’s Manual 6 While listening through the headphones or monitor speakers, use the faders, PAN con-trols, and EQ controls of input channels 1–4 to adjust the mixdown. First, use the PAN controls to set the left/right bal-ance. Next, adjust the faders to set the volume bal-ance of each ...

34 Basic operation —Owner’s Manual After completing the Basic Operation section In the preceding pages, you have learned the basic procedure for recording four parts, mixing them in stereo, and mixing down to a master recorder. However by taking full advantage of the functionality that the MD4S prov...

Advanced recording techniques 35 —Owner’s Manual Advanced recording techniques In this chapter we will introduce more advanced topics, such as more sophisticated recording techniques and editing techniques. Advanced techniques on the MD4S In addition to the functionality described on the preceding p...

36 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Mixing multiple channels as you record By combining multiple parts into a pair of tracks, you can record more than four parts on the MD4S. For example if you have recorded drums, bass, and rhythm guitar, you can re-record these three parts in stereo o...

Mixing multiple channels as you record 37 —Owner’s Manual 1 Connect the audio sources to MIC/LINE INPUT jacks 1–4. If necessary, you can also mix line level devices such as synthesizers connected to LINE INPUT jacks 5 and 6 or 7 and 8. 2 Set the FLIP switch of input channels 1–4 to “MIC/LINE ( ).” 3...

40 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual In the following, we will give an example of mixing previously-recorded tracks 1–4 into a ste-reo pair, and ping-pong recording them to tracks 3 and 4. 1 Set the FLIP switches of input channels 1–4 to “PB ( ).” The playback sound of tracks 1–4 will be...

42 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Adding sounds during mixdown The mixer section of the MD4S features an “in-line” design that can simultaneously handle both the input signal from the MIC/LINE INPUT jack and the playback sound from the disk. For example, this allows you to add externa...

Adding sounds during mixdown 43 —Owner’s Manual 3 Turn on the CUE MIX TO STEREO switch. The cue mix function will be turned on, and the CUE MIX indicator in the display will light. With this setting, the signal of the CUE bus (the MIC/LINE INPUT jack input signal) will be mixed into the ST bus. 4 Se...

44 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Applying effects Here we will explain how external effects can be applied as you record tracks or during mix-down. If you wish to apply effects to the input signal of an input channel or to the playback sound of a track, two methods are available: usi...

46 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Using the AUX SEND jacks When the AUX SEND jacks of the MD4S are used, a single external effect processor can be used simultaneously by two or more input channels. For example when you are re-recording several channels to two tracks or when mixing dow...

Applying effects 47 —Owner’s Manual Applying effects during mixdown Applying an effect such as reverb to each track during a mixdown is an example of a situation in which you would connect the external effect processor to the AUX SEND jack. In this case, you can use the AUX control of each input cha...

48 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Applying an effect during ping-pong recording By using the AUX SEND jacks you can apply spatial-type effects such as reverb or chorus dur-ing ping-pong recording as well. This technique is particularly useful when you wish to ping-pong in stereo down ...

50 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Applying an effect only to the monitor signal By making skillful use of direct recording and the MONITOR SELECT switches, you can apply effects only to the monitor signal so that tracks are recorded without effects. For exam-ple when recording vocals,...

52 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Punch-in/out This section explains techniques using punch-in/out. Punch-in/out is a function that allows you to re-record just a specific portion of a previously-recorded track. While listening to the playback of a track, you can begin recording (punc...

Punch-in/out 53 —Owner’s Manual 7. When you have finished adjusting the recording level, press the STOP button to temporarily cancel record-pause mode. 8. Press the PLAY button to begin playback. 9. At the location where you wish to punch-in, press the REC button. The REC indicator will light, and f...

54 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 5. When you arrive at the location where you wish to punch-out, press the REC SELECT button once again. The track record indicator will go dark, recording will end, and playback will resume. ■ Punch-in/out using a foot switch If you connect a separate...

56 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 1. Press the UTILITY button. 2. Rotate the DATA dial until the display indicates “PrePostRoll,” and press the ENTER button. 3. With the display showing “Pre Xsec” (X will be a number of 0–9), rotate the DATA dial to set a pre-roll length of 0–9 second...

Punch-in/out 57 —Owner’s Manual Rehearsing the auto punch-in/out (single-take) 5. Press the PLAY button, and begin rehearsing the auto punch-in/out. When you press the PLAY button, the MD4S will automatically locate to the pre-roll point, and will start playback. When the auto punch-in point is reac...

58 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual ■ Multi-take auto punch-in/out Multi-take auto punch-in/out allows you to perform auto punch-in/out recording two or more times, then to audition all takes (including the original) and select the best take. Multi-take auto punch-in/out allows you to r...

Punch-in/out 59 —Owner’s Manual Actually performing the auto punch-in/out (multi-take) 7. From a stopped or paused condition, press the REC button. The REC indicator will blink, and the display will indicate “TAKE 1.” Auto punch-in/out will be in record-pause mode, ready to record the first take (ta...

60 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 16. Rotate the CURSOR shuttle toward the right to make the display read “TAKE X:FIX.” 17. Press the ENTER button. The display will ask “FIX TAKE X?” If at this time you press the EXIT button, you will again return to the step of selecting a take. 18. ...

Quick search functions 61 —Owner’s Manual Quick search functions This section explains the variety of Locate functions that are provided by the MD4S. Methods of adjusting the auto punch-in/out points and ways to set Markers will also be explained here. Searching for songs If the disc contains two or...

62 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 4. When you have specified the desired location, press the ENTER button. The MD4S will locate to the specified location, and will enter playback-pause mode. If you press the PLAY button instead of the ENTER button, playback will begin from the specifi...

Quick search functions 63 —Owner’s Manual 2. Press the TOC WRITE button to update the TOC. Locating to a marker 3. Use the MARK SEARCH[ ]/[ ] buttons to locate to a marker you inserted. The MARK SEARCH [ ] button will locate to a marker earlier than the current location, and the MARK SEARCH [ ] butt...

64 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 3. Press the ENTER button. The display will indicate “AdjstLoad...” for a short time. Then the display will change to “ADJST 0 ” and the track will play back for approximately 1.5 seconds before and after the point you selected in step 1. At this time...

Quick search functions 65 —Owner’s Manual Erasing a marker or auto punch-in/out point Here’s how to erase a marker location or auto punch-in/out point that you have set. This pro-cedure can be performed when the MD4S is either stopped or in playback-pause mode. 1. Press a MARK SEARCH or LAST REC SEA...

66 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Various playback functions This section explains the various playback functions offered by the MD4S. Play forward/backward at various speeds (Cue/Review) During playback, you can operate the CURSOR shuttle to play forward (cue) or backward (review) at...

Various playback functions 67 —Owner’s Manual Playback at half speed (x1/2 Play) x1/2 Play is a function that drops the pitch of the disc to half the normal pitch during play-back. When x1/2 Play is used, the pitch will be one octave lower than normal. (This is the same effect as Cue-Half.) This pro...

68 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 2. To turn off the Repeat function, press the REPEAT button until the Repeat indi- cator goes dark. Repeating a specific portion of a song (A-B Repeat) A-B Repeat is a function that causes the portion of a song between a specified point A and point B ...

Various playback functions 69 —Owner’s Manual 5. Use the CURSOR shuttle to select a parameter, and rotate the DATA dial to modify the setting. The range of each parameter is as follows. Step ...........................A–Z (while programming, this is shown as lowercase letters a–z) Beginning/ending m...

70 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual ■ Creating a new song from a Cue List (Cue List Copy) The playback order that you have programmed in a cue list can be rewritten into a new song. As shown in the following diagram, this can be used to remake a song into a new version whose length and ...

Various playback functions 71 —Owner’s Manual Programming the song playback order (Program Play) Program Play is a function that lets you program the playback order of the songs on disc. You can specify up to 36 steps of song numbers for playback. 1. Press the UTILITY button. 2. Rotate the DATA dial...

72 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual With the program shown in the following diagram, playback will occur in the order of Song 1 → Song 3 → Song 2 → Song 2. 6. After you have entered all of the desired steps, press the ENTER button. The display will show the first step (S1), and the MD4S...

Editing functions 73 —Owner’s Manual Editing functions This sections explains the track and song editing functions that are provided on the MD4S. Copying a portion of a track (Part Copy) Part Copy is a function that copies a portion of a track to a different location within the same track or to the ...

74 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 7. Press the ENTER button once again to execute the Part Copy operation. While the Part Copy is being executed, the display will indicate “COPY EXE..” and the track record indicator (DIR) for the copy destination track will light. If you press the STO...

Editing functions 75 —Owner’s Manual 6. Press the ENTER button to execute the Part Erase operation. While the data is being erased, the display will indicate “Erase EXE..” and the track record indi-cator (DIR) for the tracks being erased will light. Part Erase requires one minute to erase each minut...

76 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Erasing an entire track (Track Erase) Track Erase is a function that erases an entire track. You can select one or more tracks to erase. The erased track(s) will contain only silence. 1. Press the EDIT button, and rotate the DATA dial to make the disp...

Editing functions 77 —Owner’s Manual 3. Press the ENTER button once again. The display will indicate the recording mode and track order of the copy source song. If you wish to create a complete duplicate of the song without changing the recording mode or track order, proceed to step 7. Changing the ...

78 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual For example if you specified “4T:3421,” the order of copy destination tracks would be as fol-lows. Executing the Song Copy 7. When you have finished making settings, press the ENTER button. The display will indicate “Copy to BX” (X is the number of a ...

Editing functions 79 —Owner’s Manual 4. Press the ENTER button once again to execute the Song Erase operation. The display will indicate “Erase EXE..”, and the TOC will be updated automatically when the song has been erased. Splitting a song into two (Song Divide) Song Divide is a function that spli...

80 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Joining divided songs together (Song Combine) Song Combine is an operation that joins two previously-divided songs to create a single song. 1. Press the EDIT button, rotate the DATA dial to make the display read “Song Combn,” and press the ENTER butto...

82 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 5. Press the ENTER button. The display will ask “Move EXE?” If you decide to cancel the Song Move operation, press the EXIT button. 6. Press the ENTER button once again to execute the Song Move operation. The display will indicate “MoveTo BX” (X is th...

Editing functions 83 —Owner’s Manual 2. Press the ENTER button to execute the Song Renumber operation. When the songs have been renumbered, the TOC will automatically be updated. Note: Some MD recorders other than the Yamaha MD4S, MD4 or MD8 divide the song data into multiple areas on the disc. Song...

84 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Other functions The following pages explain other functions of the MD4S. Adjusting the record/playback pitch (Pitch function) The Pitch function lets you adjust the record/playback pitch. This is useful when you need to record a instrument that cannot...

Other functions 85 —Owner’s Manual Titling discs and songs A title of up to 127 characters can be assigned to each disc and to each song on the disc. This provides a convenient way to distinguish discs and songs. Titling a disc 1. Press the EDIT button, rotate the DATA dial to make the display read ...

86 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 6. Press the TOC WRITE button to update the TOC. Erasing a disc (Disc Erase) Disc Erase is a function that erases all the songs on a disc. When you execute the Disc Erase function, the entire disc will be a blank area. Before a MD DATA disc that was u...

Other functions 87 —Owner’s Manual 3. Press the UTILITY button once again to return to normal operation. Changing the recording mode The MD4S allows you to choose from three recording modes: 4TR mode, 2TR mode, and MONO mode. When 2TR mode or MONO mode are selected, fewer tracks can be recorded, but...

88 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Adjusting the display brightness The brightness of the display can be adjusted over five steps. 1. Press the UTILITY button, rotate the DATA dial to make the display read “Disp Dimmer,” and press the ENTER button. The display will indicate “Dimmer X” ...

Other functions 89 —Owner’s Manual Using a Foot switch If an optional FC5 foot switch is connected to the PUNCH I/O jack, you can use the foot switch to perform not only punch-in/out but a variety of other transport operations. When the foot switch is pressed, the MD4S will perform the following ope...

90 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual MIDI functions The MD4S is an ideal device for recording vocals, guitar, or other acoustic instruments, but by using its MIDI functionality you can synchronize it with a MIDI sequencer or with another MD4S, or control the transport of the MD4S from an...

MIDI functions 91 —Owner’s Manual About MTC and MIDI Clock MTC and MIDI Clock are different types of MIDI messages used for synchronization between MIDI devices. MTC transmits absolute time information in units of a “frame” (1/30 of a second). If you start a MD4S song at the “5 minutes 10 seconds” l...

92 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual ■ MIDI sequencer settings To use MTC, your MIDI sequencer must be set to synchronize to the MTC messages it receives. In this case, you must set the frame rate to 30 frames/second. For details on making this setting, refer to the owner’s manual of you...

MIDI functions 93 —Owner’s Manual 4. Rotate the CURSOR shuttle to the right to select the meter/tempo parameter, and rotate the DATA dial to set the meter or tempo. It is not possible to set the measure location of step A. The range of settings is as follows. Meter ........................1–99/2, 4,...

94 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual ■ MIDI sequencer settings When using MIDI Clock, you will need to make settings on your MIDI sequencer so that it will synchronize to MIDI Clock messages. For details on making this setting, please refer to the owner’s manual of your MIDI sequencer. S...

MIDI functions 95 —Owner’s Manual Connect the two MD4S recorders as follows. ■ Settings for the MTC Slave MD4S 1. Press the UTILITY button, rotate the DATA dial to make the display read “MIDI Sync,” and press the ENTER button. The display will indicate the current MIDI Sync setting. 2. Rotate the DA...

96 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual 3. Start the master MD4S (playback/record/rehearsal). The slave MD4S will receive the MTC messages, and will record/rehearse in synchronization with the location of the master. 4. When you press the STOP button on the master MD4S, the slave MD4S will ...

MIDI functions 97 —Owner’s Manual Synchronizing to MTC with a specified offset (time difference) When using the MD4S as an MTC slave, you can assign an offset (time difference) that will be applied to the MTC time data received from the external device. 1. If the MTC slave MD4S is in record/playback...

98 Advanced recording techniques —Owner’s Manual Controlling the MD4S by MMC MMC (MIDI Machine Control) is a type of MIDI message that allows the transport of an audio/video recorder etc. to be controlled by an external MIDI device. Since the MD4S is able to receive MMC, an MMC-compatible MIDI seque...

MIDI functions 99 —Owner’s Manual 4. Press the UTILITY button or the EXIT button to return to normal operation. If MMC reception was turned on, the MD4S will be the MMC Slave, and can be operated by MMC messages received from the external device. ■ Setting the MMC Device ID If there is more than one...

100 Appendix —Owner’s Manual Appendix Q&A Section This section is intended to answer your questions about the MD4S and MD DATA discs. What’s the difference between MiniDiscs and MD DATA Discs? MiniDiscs were designed to store mono and stereo sound data. MD DATA discs were origi-nally designed to...

Troubleshooting 101 —Owner’s Manual Do I have to sacrifice one track to record timecode? No. The MD4S generates MTC (MIDI Timecode) or MIDI Clock from the disc’s internal sync signals. So even in a synchronized MIDI system, all eight tracks are available for sound record-ing. How many songs can I st...

102 Appendix —Owner’s Manual Cannot use the punch-in/out or ping-pong recording function! In some cases, punch-in or ping-pong recording may not be possi-ble on a song that was edited on an MD recorder other than the MD4S or the Yamaha MD8/MD4. Use the Song Copy function to copy the song, and perfor...

104 Appendix —Owner’s Manual Modes of the MD4S transport ● On z Flashing Mode Indicators MD4S operating Status REHE REC PLAY Stop — — — No activity. Play — — ● Normal playback Play Pause — — z Playback is paused. Cue FF — — ● High-speed playback at 1/2 speed or 2X, 4X, 8X, 16X or 32X speed. Review —...

Specifications 105 —Owner’s Manual Specifications Recorder Mixer 0 dB is referenced to 0.775 V r.m.s. Digital/Audio Sampling Frequency: 44.1 kHz Compression: ATRAC Frequency Response: 20 Hz–20 kHz, +1 dB, –3 dBTHD+N: Less than 0.02% (1 kHz)S/N: 96 dB typ. Rec/Play 4-track independent simultaneous re...

106 Appendix —Owner’s Manual General Dimensions Specifications subject to change without notice. Power Requirements USA & Canada: 120 V/60 Hz, Others: 230 V/50 Hz Power Consumption 24 W Dimensions (W x H x D) 413 x 109.5 x 388 mm Weight 5.2 kg Operating Conditions Temperature: 5˚C–35˚C (41˚F–95˚...

Block Diagram 107 —Owner’s Manual Block Diagram REC * MIC/LINE INPUT jacks 1 and 2 accept either phone or XLR plugs. 2 CH4 CH3 CH2 (PB) Tr2 Tr3 Tr4 2 * 1 * R L 2TR IN 2TR IN CUE CUE MIX TO STEREO STEREO MONITOR LEVEL R L CUE LINEINPUT 7/8 8 7 6 5/6 5 DIRECT OUT TRACK 4 3 4 3 GAIN HA LO W HIGH PAN RE...

108 Appendix —Owner’s Manual Glossary This section explains the technical terms used in this owner’s manual. ATRAC —An acronym for Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding. This is the compression technique used to fit the same amount of data as that of a 120 mm CD on a 64 mm MiniDisc. Using the ATRAC sys...

110 Appendix —Owner’s Manual SCMS (Serial Copy Management System) —A protection system intended to prevent illegal copying of music. SCMS allows one-time serial copying of copy-protected material. If the source is not copy protected, it’s possible to make any number of digital-to-digital copies of t...

Tempo Map Chart 111 —Owner’s Manual Tempo Map Chart Meter Tempo Step Measure Time Signature Step Measure -Beat Tempo A 001 / A 001–1 B / B C / C D / D E / E F / F G / G H / H I / I J / J K / K L / L M / M N / N O / O P / P Q / Q R / R S / S T / T U / U V / V W / W X / X Y / Y Z / Z

YAMAHA [Multitrack Recorder] Date: 11 02 1998 Model: MD4S MIDI Implementation Chart Version: 1.0 Function... Transmitted Recognized Remarks Basic Channel DefaultChanged XX XX Mode DefaultMessagesAltered XX ************** XXX Note Number True Voice X ************** XX Velocity Note OnNote Off XX XX A...

Index 113 —Owner’s Manual Index Numerics 2TR IN jacks   23 2-track (2TR)   11 4-track (4TR)   11 A A B button   68 A-B Repeat   68 A B repeat button   17 AC IN   23 Adding sounds during mixdown   42 ADJUST button   18 ,  63 ,  65 Advanced recording techniques   35 All Song Repeat   67 Applying an ef...

Source: Source: Source: Source: Source: Source: 12 3 4 Tracking Sheet Title: Date: Step: Process: Notes: Session Info Track List Mixer Setup Step Section Repeat Cue List Marker Log 5 / 6 7 / 8 STEREO MONIT OR LEVEL CUE STEREO 2TR IN CUE MIX T O STEREO MONIT OR SELECT 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 10 9 8 7 ...