CAPTURING PERFORMANCE
CAPTURING LIVE PERFORMANCE SOUND
BLACKBOX RECORDER
24 TRACK • 24 BIT • 96kHz
www.CapturingPerformance.com
www.JoeCo.co.uk
A multi-track for the 21st century
The BLACKBOX RECORDER is housed in a 1U rackmounted enclosure with a sleek front panel and all the
connections to the rest of your live equipment on the rear of
the unit. The front panel controls are all touch sensitive to
make the unit more reliable with no moving parts - even in
the switches. It records to a regular USB2 drive (not supplied)
formatted with the standard FAT32 format - the sort of drive
that can be obtained from any internet retailer at a
remarkably reasonable price for storing anything from photos
to music. A 500GByte drive will store approximately 20 hours
of 24 track material at 24 bits / 96kHz (and over 40 hours at
48kHz).
It also records in industry standard mono Broadcast WAV files
(BWAV) that virtually every digital audio workstation can use
directly without having to waste any time transferring files. Just
unplug the drive from the BLACKBOX RECORDER at the
end of the gig and plug it directly into your workstation and
you’re ready to use the performance that you’ve captured.
The unit can be powered up and ready to record in 10
seconds including logging the disk drive. Just press the
Record button and you’re away.
As the primary aim of the BLACKBOX RECORDER is to
capture the performance, certain safeguards have been
designed into the unit from the ground up. Once in Record,
the Stop button must be held down for 2 seconds or more to
end a recording to prevent pressing Stop accidentally.
Similarly, the playback facility will normally be locked out after
a recording to prevent you inadvertently pressing Play at the
wrong time – like in the middle of the performance!
The BLACKBOX RECORDER contains 24 channels of
analogue inputs using quality 24bit 96kHz converters. The
input levels are selectable to accommodate the outputs of
your mixing desk and the unit plugs directly into the insert
points on your console just after the mic amps - normally
the default level of 20dBU = 0dBFS will be fine. The 24
outputs are fed back to the insert returns and provide the
increasingly popular Virtual Sound Check facilities
previously unavailable on any equipment at this price
point.
In addition, 8 of the insert returns are brought out to TRS
jacks on the rear of the unit so that you can still plug external
units into your insert points (and hear the effect during any
virtual sound checking as well).
A headphone jack allows the user to monitor each track
individually or a rough mix of all the tracks being recorded.
The overall headphone volume is adjustable and each track
is passed through a monitoring compressor to aid audibility in
the live environment.
A simple front panel menu driven user interface allows the
more detailed set-up options to be adjusted with the data
wheel doubling as a scrub wheel to locate specific points in
songs for creating playback loops while perfecting the front
of house or monitor mix for the band.
There is even a keyboard interface so that the individual
tracks can be labelled as can the songs themselves.
Dividing a long capture into individual songs can be
achieved by pressing the record button during the gaps or
by using an optional footswitch to start a new recording.
However, these gaps will be sample accurate so that the
recordings can be joined back together again perfectly in
your workstation. Sample rates are selectable between
44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz and 96kHz and word size can be
adjusted down to 16bit if preferred.
The whole unit can be synchronised to an external word clock
using an AES/EBU or S/PDIF signal. It accepts both Linear
Timecode (LTC) and MIDI Timecode (MTC) for time stamping
recordings – especially useful when making a multi-track
recording to accompany a video shoot.
The unit will also accept commands via the MIDI Machine
Control (MMC) protocol or via Sony PII (9-pin) control for
track arming, transport control features, and the like.
Optional digital interface cards are available to enable record
and replay via AES/EBU or ADAT format TOSlink interfaces.
These interfaces allow direct connection to digital mixing
consoles although the ADAT interface is limited to 48kHz
operation. There’s also an optional interface box that provides
fully balanced i/o for mixing consoles that require it.
Multiple BLACKBOX recorders can be linked together to
enable sample accurate recordings over more than 24
channels. The slave units take their commands from the
master unit so that all the recordings will be synchronous,
sample accurate and start on the same sample making
remixing much simpler back in the studio.
The BLACKBOX RECORDER captures live
sound onto a regular USB2 disk in
industry standard BWAV files for
immediate use in your Digital Audio
Workstation. No need to take a laptop or
delicate DAW to the gig; no file transfer;
no wasted time. The simple user interface
allows the live engineer to concentrate on
the live mix knowing that the capture of
the performance is secure.
Whatever happens, you can rely on the
BLACKBOX RECORDER to capture the
real performance.
Robust, rugged, rack-mounted and ready
to record.
BLACKBOX RECORDER
24 TRACK • 24 BIT • 96kHz
www.CapturingPerformance.com
BLACKBOX RECORDER
SONG: 011 Magic Moments
RECORD
00:13:08
.973
Remaining: 21:20:31
Folder: 2008-11-01 29-12-08 10:59:29
TRACK ARM
Arm All
Disarm All
Arm Ticked
1
2
3
4
5
MAIN MENU
Playback Lockout
Track Arm...
Record Setup...
Clock Select...
Control...
Disk Manage...
Song Select...
Date/Time...
Specifications:
Sample Rates supported:
44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz & 96kHz
Analogue Inputs
levels: -10dB / +4dB switchable
Max input level: +20dBU = 0dBFS
A-D conversion: 24 bit, 96kHz
106dB S/N; 96dB THD+N (typical A-weighted 48kHz)
Timecode
Frame Rates: 24, 25, 29.97 drop and non-drop,
30 fps
Analogue Outputs
levels: -10dB / +4dB switchable
Max output level: +20dBU = 0dBFS
D-A conversion: 24 bit / 96kHz
106dB S/N; 94dB THD+N (typical A-weighted 48kHz)
Physical
19" rack mountable - 1U high
Dimensions: 425mm x 150mm x 44mm
Weight: 2.1kg;
dc input: 7.5V - 12V
Power consumption: <25W
Rear Panel Connections:
Analogue i/o
3 x 25 way Male D-type supplied with looms to 1/4"
stereo TRS jacks (for mixer insert points - tip
send, ring return)
(Loop through outputs)
8 x 1/4" stereo TRS jack sockets (Ch 17-24 only: tip
send, ring return)
Monitoring
1 x 1/4" stereo TRS jack socket: Headphone output
Control and Synchronisation
1 x 1/4" TRS jack socket: Linear Time Code /
Footswitch
1 x 5-pin DIN: MIDI Time code (MTC) and MIDI
machine control (MMC) protocol
1 x 9-pin Male D-type: SONY PII protocol
2 x RCA sockets: AES/SPDIF word clock +
communications to auxiliary units
Other Connectors
1 x USB2 (480Mb/S) interface to disk drive
1 x mini DIN: PS2 keyboard socket
1 x 2.5mm dc inlet (7.5Vdc power) - power adapter
supplied
BLACKBOX RECORDER
JoeCo Limited, 135 Histon Road, Cottenham, Cambridge, CB24 8UQ, U.K.
Registered in England: 6361413 VAT Number: GB 923 8706 10
All rights reserved. Any trademarks and intellectual property rights are acknowledged as the property of their respective
owners. Joeco Ltd reserves the right to make changes to specifications at any time and without prior notice. E&OE etc.
Options (Factory fit only)
AES/EBU interface: provides 24 channels of digital input and
output to AES-3 (2003) specification on 3 x 25way D-type
connectors
ADAT interface: provides 24 channels of digital input and
output via 6 x TOSlink optical connections (N.B. This option
restricts sample rate to 44.1kHz or 48kHz)
Balanced i/o: the balancing option accepts and provides full
electronically balanced inputs and output signals at unity
gain. The pin out of the 25 way D-types has been designed so
that you can use the same i/o cables as the standard unit.
Ethernet interface: can provide up to Gigabit Ethernet
speeds for file transfer in a permanent installation.
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