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>From uucp Tue Aug 29 17:12 EDT 1989
>From saqqara.cis.ohio-state.edu!david!david Tue Aug 29 15:37:07 1989 remote from att
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	id AA16788; 29 Aug 89 15:37:07 EDT (Tue)
To: osu-cis!att!twitch!midi
Subject: FSK tape sync tips on the Porta-02.

To: MMML
	A friend of mine who also has a porta-02 had some questions
	about tape sync with FSK as I was starting to get long winded
	about it I thought others might be able to make use of my
	experiences. Maybe others could add to it to create a tutorial
	guide on tape sync for the midi-archives. I know I could have
	certainly used this info several months ago when I was having
	problems.

I was trying to use FSK the other day (yes, thru the sync in/out ports)
and was having some problems.  I assume if you have the sync button
engaged, the channel 4 controls are bypassed, i.e.  I don't have to adjust
the fader.  Right?

]Right. When using the sync in port and enabling the sync button it
doesn't care what you do with the fader for track 4 as far as the sync
tone is concerned. There is no control over the input recording level
on sync when using to record sync in this manner. You only have
control over the sync level when it is coming out the sync out port by
way of the sync out pot. The next question you might be asking
yourself is "How the hell do I control the sync level when recording it if
I need to?" The way to do that is NOT use the sync in port but use
tape mic 4 track in and adjust the levels with trim and fader to get
the level you need. Then you again might ask "Then what about DBX? DBX
doesn't get bypassed if you go through tape mic track 4?" That's
right! You would first have to record the sync tone without DBX and
nothing else and then use DBX to add the other tracks using the
porta-02 as the master and your sequencer as the slave. OR you could
send the sync in through an external device like a mixer or amp to
control the level before it comes into the sync in port. I have tried
this recently and have had good results. 

Speaking of recording sync levels I ran into a problem and was able to
understand it a little better. When you put down a sync tone and start
to add music to each track (i.e. 1-3) it somehow decreases the
strength of the sync tone on track 4. You may not notice the problem
at first if you only add one or two tracks of music or just add one to
tape and listen to second one through your monitoring system. It will
show up if you start to add music to the other three tracks if the
sync tone on track 4 is not strong enough. It will show up by causing
the sequencer to drop in and out. You will notice the LED turning on
and off. To get the sucker to work I re-recorded the sync tone VERY
high. Like +3 or a little more. This handled the problem except that
the sync tone is now screaming away in the background and bleeds over
to other tracks. I could only notice it when nothing else was on the
tape and I listen to other tracks with no music on it. Another tip for
recording with FSK is to make sure that the sync tone is a good
recording without drop outs. Verify the tone after it has been sent to
tape by rewinding the tape and letting the sequencer play with the
tape. I have found it a mistake to put down music and sync tone at the
same time and not verify it only to find out later that the sync tone
was not recorded properly. As far as adding the extra voices you
wouldn't know if the level is ok until then but you can find out if
you have problems in the first stage by making sure there are no drop
outs.

What should the channel 4 selector be on (tape, mic, off).  I 
know the other track 4 selector should be on sync.  What do you set 
these things to for playback or recording?  

]For playback you set to off, otherwise you will hear the whining
noise of the sync tone. If you are using the sync in for record as
well as for playback you can just leave track 4 in the off position.
You CAN use tape out 4 instead of the sync out but you don't have
control over the output level because tape out for track 4 (actually,
1 thru 4) are straight from the buss as I understand it. I was
confused about this because I was able to hear a level change from my
stereo amp when I would move a fader on any track up or down. The
reason that works like it should is that I was use Left & Right out
which is not the same as tape out 1-4. Tape out 1-4 is setup this way
as a feature to be able to make a copy or blend to another 4 track
machine or fill up four tracks out of another 8 track machine.

Another tip I read about in EM is that tape sync is not always perfect.
Be warned that if you tape sync anything that is written to be in unison
since there can be problems with getting it together. I was not happy to 
read about that and so far I have not experienced it.

The article might have only been referring to SMPTE but after reading
about the experiences that Bill Fox had it sounds like it would apply
to FSK too.  I am going to watch out for this one.

David
...att!osu-cis!david!david