Roland DIF-AT Bedienungsanleitung PDF herunterladen

Roland

VM3100Pro

The case of the ‘incredible shrinking digital console’ gets more and more

intriguing. Derek Johnson & Debbie Poyser investigate.

he downward march of prices for digital recording

gear continues. Fostex recently released the VR800

(based on their FD8 digital 8-track) and VM200

digital mixing and recording gear [AudioTechnology

Vol. 1, Issue 6] at unprecedented prices, and now Roland

are doing some price-busting of their own. Their new

VM3100 is the cheapest digital mixer yet, at $1995,

though a fuller spec is obtainable by paying an extra

$500 for the VM3100Pro – the subject of this review.

Appearances

The first thing that surprises about the VM3100Pro is its

size. Having read its basic spec – 12 analogue inputs,

eight channels of proprietary Roland digital I/O, two lots

of S/PDIF digital I/O, effects and compression, automa-

tion, and 3-band EQ – it’s a shock when the mixer comes

out of its box measuring just 30cm by 34cm. It’s a size

made possible partly by the use of assignable faders and

other controls.

Dimensions aside, the VM3100Pro looks quite busi-

nesslike, if slightly cramped. It has eleven 60mm faders,

including a master fader, ranged across its surface, and

uses small illuminating buttons to access facilities. Slim

knobs adjust EQ, effect return and monitor output levels,

and gain for the desk’s analogue inputs. Four similar

knobs under the small backlit LCD function as ‘soft-

knobs’, and basic recorder/sequencer transport controls

and a data-entry dial complete the line-up. Almost all the

buttons are dual-purpose, with labels indicating normal

and shifted functions. This makes the desk look compli-

cated, but there is a logic to the proceedings.

Ins & Outs

The VM3100Pro is reasonably well supplied with

analogue inputs – there’s a total of 12, configured as

eight mono and two stereo. XLR mic connectors with

switchable phantom power are available on two inputs,

and input four has an additional high-impedance jack

socket for guitar DI. The two stereo channels use phono

sockets. Sadly, insert points aren’t provided, but the desk

does have two built-in compressors.

As for digital interfacing, first up are two sets of

S/PDIF I/O: one coaxial, one optical. Both digital outs

can be used simultaneously, but only one input can be

used at a time, and though an S/PDIF input can be

assigned to any two channels, those channels are then

unavailable to other input signals. Eight more channels of

24-bit digital I/O are available in Roland’s R-Bus format,

presenting a problem for the many people using ADAT

or TDIF format multitracks. The only solution is buying

Roland’s DIF-AT interface box, which converts between

TDIF/ADAT and R-Bus.

On the output front, this is basically an 8-bus desk,

with its buses configured as two aux sends (buses 1 & 2),

two bus outs (3 & 4), digital out A (5 & 6), and digital out

B (7 & 8). Traditional analogue or more up-market digital

desks wouldn’t use aux sends as bus outs, but since the

3100Pro does, this can restrict the use of the aux sends

(and thus external effects) during tracking. Luckily, the

internal effects are rather good.

Also, since four of the output buses are digital, without

S/PDIF-to-analogue converter boxes the desk is really a

four-bus model for analogue recording purposes. With

the addition of the DIF-AT (or when interfaced with

Roland’s forthcoming R-Bus VSR880 8-track), however,

the 3100Pro behaves like a traditional 8-bus desk, with

audio routable to the R-Bus’s eight digital outs.

No dedicated monitor outputs, bar the headphone

socket, are provided. However, flexible routing options

mean the monitor or main mix can be fed to the master

outs, or to either S/PDIF out, so it’s easy enough to master

to DAT or CDR while monitoring via the master outs.

Overall, routing is not intuitive, a situation exacerbated

by a poor manual. However, the VM3100 borrows the

‘EZ Routing’ facility from the ‘VS’ digital multitrackers,

offering 16 instant routing templates to cover most even-

tualities, from stereo mixing to multitracking. Once

you’ve cracked the routing system, there’s space for 16

user settings.

Channel Facilities & Controls

This is an assignable, software-driven desk, so many of

the traditional analogue restrictions on channel facilities

don’t apply. Hence all channels are equipped with the

same range of controls.

Each channel can access a fader (the faders are

switchable in two banks to control analogue or digital

inputs); pan pot (balance control on the stereo channels),

two internal effects sends, two external aux sends, EQ,

assign switches to the output busses (the latter can

double as extra analogue and digital stereo effects

sends); and mute and solo. Inputs can be assigned to any

mixer channel, digital signal attenuation is provided, and

phase reverse is available.

Channel set-up is facilitated by the LCD’s Channel View

display, which shows, in abbreviated form, a channel’s

complete status. The desk lacks physical meters, so the

LCD also shows level meters. No real overload indication

is provided, and you mainly have to rely on your ears

when checking levels, but the meters have a momentary

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

Seite 1 - VM3100Pro

RolandVM3100ProThe case of the ‘incredible shrinking digital console’ gets more and moreintriguing. Derek Johnson & Debbie Poyser investigate.EQUI

Seite 2 - Digital Issues

peak indicator which can be switched to a proper PeakHold display, fixing peaks for easy reading.Unsurprisingly, the VM3100Pro’s faders are notmotoris

Seite 3 - Distributed by

feedback loop (resulting in silence), since the recorderwill be trying to sync to the desk, which in turn is tryingto sync to the recorder’s output. T