360 Systems DR-550 User Manual

RAPID ACCESS DIGITAL AUDIO STORAGE

OWNER'S MANUA L

FIFTH EDITION

JANUARY 1997

P RO FE SS I O NA L DI GI T A L AU DI O

http://www.360systems.com

[e-mail]

Instant Replay Owner’s Manual page i

SERIAL NUMBER:

FCC NOTICE

[Within USA Boundaries]

WARNING: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a
Class A digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to
provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated
in a commercial environment. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio
frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual,
may cause interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a
residential area is likely to cause interference in which case the user will be required to
correct the interference at his own expense.

The user is cautioned that changes made to the equipment without the approval of the
manufacturer could void the user's authority to operate this equipment.

It is suggested that only shielded and grounded cables be used to ensure compliance with
FCC Rules.

CAUTION!

INSTANT REPLAY CONTAINS A HARD DISK DRIVE. WHILE TODAY’S HARD DISKS ARE
VERY RELIABLE, THEY ARE VULNERABLE TO SHOCK. HANDLE WITH CARE. PLEASE
EXERCISE CARE NOT TO DROP OR BUMP INSTANT REPLAY – DAMAGE TO THE
INTERNAL HARD DISK MAY RESULT. BE SURE POWER IS OFF BEFORE MOVING THE
UNIT.

Printing history:

Software revision 1.0, April 1995

Software revision 1.1, August 1995
Software revision 1.2, September 1995
Software revision 1.3, November 1995

Software revision 1.3, March 1996

Software revision 1.3, July 1996

Software revision 1.3, January 1997

Copyright 1995, 1996, 360 Systems

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved.

page ii Instant Replay Owner’s Manual

PRODUCT IMPROVEMENTS AND UPGRADES

360 Systems reserves the right to make changes and/or improvements to its products, without
incurring any obligation to incorporate such changes or improvements in units previously sold or
shipped.

360 Systems may issue Technical Support Bulletins from time to time, advising owners of record
of product enhancements that become available. Technical Support Bulletins may also be
requested through 360 Systems Customer Service department by telephone at [phone] or
Facsimile at [phone]. However, we cannot contact you if you do not return your Warranty
Card. Please take a moment now to fill out your Warranty Card and either mail or fax it to 360
Systems. You may also register your warranty with us by telephone.

TRADEMARKS AND PATENTS

360 Systems, Instant Replay, Hot-Keys and DigiCart are trademarks of 360 Systems. "Dolby" is a
trademark of Dolby Laboratories, Inc.

Software contained in this product is copyrighted by 360 Systems, Microware Systems Corp. and
Dolby Laboratories, Inc.

Designs incorporated in this product are the subject of current or pending U.S. and foreign
patents.

LIMITED WARRANTY

Instant Replay is warranted against defects in material and workmanship for a period of one year
from date of original purchase. This warranty includes parts and labor.

This warranty excludes units that have been modified, repaired by unauthorized personnel, or
damaged by abuse, improper operation, dirt, or static electricity.

360 Systems assumes no liability whatsoever for real or consequential damages, loss of profits,
inconvenience or any other losses due to non-operation of the Instant Replay.

360 Systems' sole liability under this limited warranty shall be the repair or replacement of
defective product or components. Products being returned under warranty shall be sent to 360
Systems or one of its foreign service centers, freight prepaid in the original or equivalent
packaging.

SHIPPING ADDRESS

Freight and mail may be sent to 360 Systems at the following address:

360 Systems
Customer Service
5321 Sterling Center Drive
Westlake Village, California 91361-4613 USA

The primary telephone number is [phone]. The switchboard is open from 8:00 AM to 5:00
PM, Pacific standard time. Faxes may be sent to [phone], 24 hours. Email may be sent to
[e-mail], or visit our web site at http://www.360systems.com.

Instant Replay Owner’s Manual page iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 1

GETTING STARTED ...............................................................................................................1

Recordings, Hot-Keys™ and Banks..........................................................................................1

About Audio Cuts.................................................................................................................. 2

Cut Index Numbers................................................................................................................ 2

Recording Time Limits...........................................................................................................2

The "Find" Function..............................................................................................................3

Playlists..............................................................................................................................3

CHAPTER ONE – THE FRONT PANEL ..................................................................................5

Front Panel Controls............................................................................................................. 5

Display Module .................................................................................................................... 6

Hot-Key Presets.................................................................................................................... 6

TRANSPORT CONTROL BUTTONS .........................................................................................7

FUNCTION BUTTONS............................................................................................................. 7

USING PLAYLISTS.................................................................................................................9

Creating a New Playlist.......................................................................................................... 9

Selecting and Playing a List....................................................................................................9

Editing the Playlist................................................................................................................ 9

Changing the Playlist “On-the-Fly”....................................................................................... 10

Clearing the Playlist............................................................................................................ 10

Setting the Type of Playlist.................................................................................................... 10

Manual Step Playlist Characteristics ...................................................................................... 10

Follow-On Playlist Characteristics......................................................................................... 10

METERING AND LEVEL CONTROLS..................................................................................... 11

Level Meters ...................................................................................................................... 11

Input Level Controls............................................................................................................ 11

Headphone Level Control..................................................................................................... 11

CHAPTER TWO – THE REAR PANEL.................................................................................. 13

ELECTRICAL POWER........................................................................................................... 13

Power Switch..................................................................................................................... 13

Fuses................................................................................................................................13

ANALOG AUDIO CONNECTIONS.......................................................................................... 13

Analog Audio Inputs............................................................................................................ 13

Analog Audio Outputs.......................................................................................................... 14

Output Attenuator Switch...................................................................................................... 14

Headphone Output.............................................................................................................. 14

DIGITAL AUDIO CONNECTIONS.......................................................................................... 14

AES/EBU Inputs ................................................................................................................. 14

IEC 958 Type II Inputs......................................................................................................... 14

Digital Audio Interfacing...................................................................................................... 14

Digital Audio Outputs.......................................................................................................... 15

AES/EBU Outputs............................................................................................................... 15

IEC 958 Type II Outputs....................................................................................................... 15

D-NET File Transfer Ports ...................................................................................................15

Printer Port ....................................................................................................................... 15

GPI/Play........................................................................................................................... 15

page iv Instant Replay Owner’s Manual

CHAPTER THREE – COMMAND SUMMARY ...................................................................... 17

To Use The Menus............................................................................................................... 17

To Record A Cut................................................................................................................. 17

To Erase A Cut................................................................................................................... 17

To Assign A Cut To A Hot-Key............................................................................................... 17

To Select A New Bank.......................................................................................................... 17

To Create and Edit a Playlist................................................................................................. 18

MENUS AND MENU OPTIONS .............................................................................................. 18

Record Setup...................................................................................................................... 18

Operations......................................................................................................................... 18

Configuration..................................................................................................................... 19

Printer Output.................................................................................................................... 19

Playlist .............................................................................................................................19

Presets.............................................................................................................................. 19

File Transfer...................................................................................................................... 19

CHAPTER FOUR – D-NET FILE TRANSFER OPERATIONS................................................. 21

Introduction....................................................................................................................... 21

Features............................................................................................................................ 21

File Transfer Characteristics................................................................................................. 21

Backup/Restore Characteristics............................................................................................. 22

FILE TRANSFER MENUS...................................................................................................... 22

File Transfer Setup (First Time Configuration)......................................................................... 23

Backup Drive..................................................................................................................... 24

Restore From Backup .......................................................................................................... 25

File Transfer Procedure (SENDER)........................................................................................ 26

File Transfer (RECEIVER) ................................................................................................... 28

Differences from DigiCart/II D-NET Implementation................................................................. 29

CHAPTER FIVE –MAINTENANCE AND DISK OPERATIONS............................................... 31

FORMAT DISK..................................................................................................................... 31

To Format the Disk .............................................................................................................31

DEFRAGMENT DISK ............................................................................................................ 31

Defragment Disk Command.................................................................................................. 32

To Defragment the Disk........................................................................................................ 32

SOFTCODE .......................................................................................................................... 33

Installing SoftCode in the Field.............................................................................................. 33

Instant Replay Owner’s Manual page 1

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for purchasing Instant Replay. The system provides an unusual combination of mass
storage, direct access to stored audio, and ease of operation, all in a professional quality package.
Key features include:

• Storage of up to 1,000 audio Cuts.

• Four or more hours of storage, depending on the model.

• Assignment of Cuts to 50 front panel Hot-Key presets.

• Playlists that sequence a number of Cuts into a stored list

• 10 Banks – each providing 50 Presets (for a total of 500), plus 10 Playlists.

• "Find" function locates a Cut by entering its name or index number.

• Familiar tape transport style controls to provide fast and sure operation.

GETTING STARTED

Recordings, Hot-Keys™ and Banks

Perhaps the easiest way to understand Instant Replay is to see how individual recordings relate to
the fifty Hot-Keys and how these relate to the ten Banks.

All recordings exist in a single pool, with a capacity of 1,000 Cuts. Each has a unique name and
Index Number (or ID number), so they are easily distinguished.

When setting up Instant Replay, recordings are individually "mapped" to Hot-Keys. This way,
you have complete control over which sound appears under a particular Hot-Key button. It was
decided that 50 buttons was a good compromise between quick access and having a sufficient
number of sounds available at once.

The 50 Hot-Keys are organized into Banks numbered 1 to 10, for a total of 500 Cuts assigned to
Hot-Keys. Each Bank is like a separate "page"; changing Banks is equivalent to flipping a page,
and presents an entirely different set of 50 Hot-Key presets. Banks are also a convenient way to
organize Instant Replay's relatively large audio collection. The different Banks might contain
sounds for different purposes, or they might be used by different people.

The remaining 500 Cuts are still accessible with the "Find" function, and can be used to replace
an existing Hot-Key preset at any time. For more information on Find see page 3, The "Find"
Function.

Instant Replay's unique feature is that Hot-Keys allow any Cut to be played instantly. Whenever
an assigned Hot-Key is pressed, the corresponding Cut is selected and played at once. It will
immediately end the playback of any other Cut that may have been playing.

This manual uses the word Preset to describe a Cut assigned to a Hot-Key. It doesn't mean the
button itself, but rather a recording that has been assigned to that button.

page 2 Instant Replay Owner’s Manual

About Audio Cuts

A Cut is simply a single audio recording. It can range from less than a second to any length;
limited only by the time remaining on the hard disk.

Each Cut has a unique Index Number, which identifies it within Instant Replay's library. It also
has a Name that you supply to aid in identifying and locating the Cut. To enter a Name, the Hot­Keys assume the function of an alphanumeric keyboard. Cut Names can be added or altered at
any time and may consist of up to 15 characters.

Each Cut's length is displayed in HH:MM:SS (hours, minutes, seconds) format. For example,
00:01:30 is 1 minute and 30 seconds. If the Cut is less than a second long, the display shows its
time in milliseconds (thousandths of a second; 1,000 ms = 1 Second).

Once the Cut is assigned to a Preset, the Preset number is also displayed. For example, 4-32
where "4" is the Bank number and "32" is the Preset number.

Cuts also contain an Output Gain value, which allows you to adjust and store the playback level
after the recording has been made. You can adjust output gain in 1 dB increments from +6 dB
(twice as loud) to -90 dB, which is close to the softest sound that can be recorded.

When a particular Cut is displayed, the PLAY button starts the Cut. If PLAY is pressed again
during playback, the Cut will immediately restart from the beginning.

Cut Index Numbers

There are 1,000 unique Index Numbers that identify each Cut; they range from 000 to 999. When
a Cut is recorded, Instant Replay automatically assigns the lowest available Index Number to the
Cut. However, you can also choose another empty Index. Whenever record overwrite is on, you
can choose to re-record and replace an existing Cut while retaining its previously assigned Index
Number.

The Index Numbers of Cuts can be changed to any empty Index Number using the move
operation.

When more than one Cut is present on the Hard Disk, the scroll arrows will select any Index
Number for playback.

Pressing find and typing an Index Number will immediately locate a Cut for playback.

Recording Time Limits

Instant Replay is produced with hard disks having different storage capacities. The standard
Model DR-550-4 stores a total of four hours of stereo audio. Other "dash" numbers following the
model number indicate different total storage times, expressed in hours. Instant Replay uses
Dolby AC-2 ™ coding, which provides extended storage time while maintaining superb audio
quality.

An individual Cut can be as short or long as you like, although the maximum possible length of a
Cut is always equal to the total unused time remaining on the hard disk. The time remaining can
be found by holding down the STOP button. The display will read (Hours:Minutes:Seconds):

TIME LEFT HH:MM:SS
## CUTS HH:MM:SS

Instant Replay Owner’s Manual page 3

Instant Replay always records at 48,000 samples per second, in stereo, and therefore use a
constant amount of disk space per second. When other sample rates are applied to the digital
inputs, the sample rate converter converts them to a 48kHz sampling rate.

All models of Instant Replay store a maximum of 1,000 Cuts; the number of Cuts recorded does
not affect the disk space available. Only the total running time of all recorded Cuts determines the
time remaining.

The "Find" Function

You can quickly locate cuts with a high-speed search function called Find. The Hot-Key preset
buttons double as an alphanumeric keyboard for entering a Cut's Name or Index Number. Press
the FIND key and type the Name or Index that you wish to locate, followed by ENTER. When
searching by Name, a partial entry of a name will find any Cut that starts with those letters.

Playlists

A Playlist is a group of Presets that play sequentially in one of two ways: one-at-a-time, each time
the PLAY button is pressed (Manual Step), or one after the other with no breaks (Follow-On).
Playlists are built from presets stored within the selected Bank, and may consist of up to 999
events. There is no limit to the number of times a Preset can appear in the list.

Each Bank contains one Playlist, so a total of ten exist within the machine.

page 4 Instant Replay Owner’s Manual

Instant Replay Owner’s Manual page 5

CHAPTER ONE – The Front Panel

FRONT PANEL LAYOUT

Front Panel Controls

Instant Replay's front panel contains all operating controls, plus an alphanumeric display. Most
buttons include an indicator light to show when they are in use. Controls are grouped into five
sections:

Display Module
Hot-Key Presets
Transport Controls
Function Buttons
Level Control and Metering

page 6 Instant Replay Owner’s Manual

Display Module

THE DISPLAY MODULE

For most operations, the display shows the Index number, Cut title, and the running time of the
currently selected Cut.

The currently selected Bank number is displayed in the lower right corner, followed by the Preset
Number of the current Cut. If the displayed Cut is not assigned to a Preset in the current Bank,
this number will be 00.

When a Cut starts playing, the lower line of the Display changes to show the name of that Cut,
followed by the running time in Hours:Minutes:Seconds.

Other messages appear on the display during special operations. These are explained in
appropriate sections of this manual.

Hot-Key Presets

There are three primary uses for Hot-Key presets:

• Triggering audio presets

• As an alphanumeric keyboard

• Bank selection, using the top row of keys

The main array of 50 buttons are Hot-Key Presets numbered 1 through 50. A Hot-Key's primary
function is to trigger playback of a Cut assigned to it as a Preset. Hot-Keys light up whenever an
assigned Cut is playing.

Each button additionally carries an alphabet character. In modes that require the entry of text and
numbers, such as Change Cut Name, Change Bank Name and Move Cut, the Hot-Keys serve as a
typewriter-style keyboard. Key number 50 is a Backspace key that allows deleting characters.
Keys 48 and 49 are cursor movement keys that allow you to move to any character position. Key
number 40 is a special star (*) character used by the Find function. Keys 41 to 47 all function as a
space bar.

In the Bank Select mode, the numbers 1 through 10 on the top row select the corresponding
Banks numbered 1 through 10.