Teac X-48MKII Quick Start

X-48MK"

48 Track Digital Audio Workstation

OWNER'S MANUAL

D01152220A

2 TASCAM X-48MKII

IMPORTANT SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

For European Customers

8

WARNING

This is a Class A product. In a domestic environment, this
product may cause radio interference in which case the

CAUTION: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK,
DO NOT REMOVE COVER (OR BACK). NO USER­SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO
QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL.

user may be required to take adequate measures.

CE Marking Information

a) Applicable electromagnetic environment: E4

b) Peak inrush current: 20 A

The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol,
within equilateral triangle, is intended to
alert the user to the presence of uninsulated
“dangerous voltage” within the product’s
enclosure that may be of sufficient
magnitude to constitute a risk of electric
shock to persons.

The exclamation point within an equilateral
triangle is intended to a lert the user to
the presence of important operating and
maintenance (servicing) instructions in the
literature accompanying the appliance.

WARNING: TO PREVENT FIRE OR SHOCK

HAZARD, DO NOT EXPOSE THIS

APPLIANCE TO RAIN OR MOISTURE.

For U.S.A.

TO THE USER

This equipment has been tested and found to comply
with the limits for a Class A di git al device, pursuant
to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed
to provide re a s o n a b l e prote ction aga ins t h armful
in ter f erence when the eq u ipment is op era ted 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 harmful inter f erence to radio
communications.
Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely
to cause harmful inter ference in which case the user
will be required to correct the inter ference at his own
expense.

CAUTION

Chang e s or mod i f ic atio n s to th is eq u i pme n t no t
ex pr es sl y ap p ro ve d by T EA C CO R PO RAT ION fo r
compliance could void the user's authority to operate this
equipment.

Disposal of electrical and electronic equipment

(a) All electrical and electronic equipment should be

disposed of separately from the municipal waste
stream via collection facilities designated by the
government or local authorities.

(b) By disposing of electrical and electronic equipment

correctly, you will help save valuable resources and
prevent any potential negative effects on human
health and the environment.

(c) Improper disposal of waste electrical and electronic

equipment can have serious effects on the
environment and human health because of the
presence of hazardous substances in the equipment.

(d) The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

symbol, which shows a wheeled bin that has been
crossed out, indicates that electrical and electronic
equipment must be collected and disposed of
separately from household waste.

(e) Return and collection systems are available to end

users. For more detailed information about the
disposal of old electrical and electronic equipment,
please contact your city office, waste disposal service
or the shop where you purchased the equipment.

This appliance has a serial number located on the rear
panel. Please record the model number and serial
number and retain them for your records.

Model number ______________________________

Serial number ______________________________

TASCAM X-48MKII 3

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

1 Read these instructions.

2 Keep these instructions.

3 Heed all warnings.

4 Follow all instructions.

5 Do not use this apparatus near water.

6 Clean only with dry cloth.

7 Do not block any ventilation openings. Install in

accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

8 Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators,

heat registers, stoves, or other apparatus (including
ampliers) that produce heat.

9 Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or

grounding-type plug. A polarized plug has two blades
with one wider than the other. A grounding type plug
has two blades and a third grounding prong. The wide
blade or the third prong are provided for your safety. If
the provided plug does not t into your outlet, consult an
electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet.

10 Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched

particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles, and the
point where they exit from the apparatus.

11 Only use attachments/accessories specified by the

manufacturer.

Do not expose this apparatus to drips or splashes.

•
Do not place any objects filled with liquids, such as

•
vases, on the apparatus.

Do not install this apparatus in a confined space such

•
as a book case or similar unit.

The apparatus draws nominal non-operating power

•
from the AC outlet with its POWER or STANDBY/ON

switch not in the ON position.

The apparatus should be located close enough to the

•
AC outlet so that you can easily grasp the power cord

plug at any time.

The mains plug is used as the disconnect device, the

•
disconnect device shall remain readily operable.

Products with Class I construction are equipped with a

•
power supply cord that has a grounding plug. The cord

of such a product must be plugged into an AC outlet
that has a protective grounding connection.

If the product uses batteries (including a battery pack

•
or installed batteries), they should not be exposed to

sunshine, fire or excessive heat.

CAUTION for products that use replaceable lithium

•
batteries: there is danger of explosion if a battery is

replaced with an incorrect type of battery. Replace only
with the same or equivalent type.

Caution should be taken when using earphones or

•
headphones with the product because excessive sound

pressure (volume) from earphones or headphones can
cause hearing loss.

12 Use only with the cart, stand, tripod, bracket, or table

specied by the manufacturer, or sold with the apparatus.
When a cart is used, use caution when moving the cart/
apparatus combination to avoid injury from tip-over.

13 Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when

unused for long periods of time.

14 Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel.

Servicing is required when the apparatus has been
damaged in any way, such as power-supply cord or plug
is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen
into the apparatus, the apparatus has been exposed to
rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has been
dropped.

4 TASCAM X-48MKII

Safety Information

This product has been designed and manufactured
according to FDA regulations "title 21, CFR, chapter 1,
subchapter J, based on the Radiation Control for Health
and Safety Act of 1968", and is classified as a class 1 laser
product. There is no hazardous invisible laser radiation
during operation because invisible laser radiation emitted
inside of this product is completely confined in the
protective housings.

The label required in this regulation is shown at 1.

CAUTION

DO NOT REMOVE THE PROTECTIVE HOUSING USING A

•
SCREWDRIVER.

USE OF CONTROLS OR ADJUSTMENTS OR

•
PERFORMANCE OF PROCEDURES OTHER THAN THOSE

SPECIFIED HEREIN MAY RESULT IN HAZARDOUS
RADIATION EXPOSURE.

IF THIS PRODUCT DEVELOPS TROUBLE, CONTACT YOUR

•
NEAREST QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL, AND DO

NOT USE THE PRODUCT IN ITS DAMAGED STATE.

CLASS 1M INVISIBLE LASER RADIATION WHEN OPEN

•
AND INTERLOCKS DEFEATED. DO NOT VIEW DIRECTLY

WITH OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Rack-mounting the Unit

8

Use the supplied rack-mounting kit to mount the unit in a
standard 19-inch rack, as shown below.

Remove the feet of the unit before mounting.

Optical pickup

Type: OWY 8/35, OWY 8/36, OWY8/44, OWY8/45
Manufacturer: Pioneer CORP.
Laser output (CD): Less than 1.3mW (Play) and 104.7mW (Record)
on the objective lens
(DVD): Less than 1.08mW (Play) and 102mW (Record)
on the objective lens
Wavelength: 777-787 nm (CD)
656-663 nm (DVD)

For China

Leave 2U of space above the unit for ventilation.

•
Allow at least 10 cm (4 in) at the rear of the unit for

•
ventilation.

TASCAM X-48MKII 5

Contents

1 – Introduction ..............................................7

Features .................................................................................. 7

Unpacking .............................................................................7

Manual Conventions ..........................................................8

Required Equipment ..........................................................8

Intellectual property rights ............................................. 8

Precautions for placement and use ..............................9

Connecting the power ......................................................9

Beware of condensation ...................................................9

Other precautions ............................................................... 9

Cleaning the unit .................................................................9

About optical discs ............................................................. 9

Handling of optical discs ........................................... 9

Supported optical media ........................................10

2 – Names and Functions of Parts ...............11

Front panel .......................................................................... 11

Rear panel ............................................................................ 12

3 – Setup ........................................................ 14

I/O Card Installation .........................................................14

Making Connections ........................................................14

TDIF ................................................................................. 14

S/PDIF .............................................................................14

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

AD AT ...............................................................................14

Digital Audio Clock .................................................... 14

Word Clock ...................................................................14

Analog Audio ...............................................................15

Synchronization and Control ........................................15

MIDI ................................................................................. 15

Time Code .....................................................................15

Footswitch ....................................................................15

Remote (Sony 9-Pin) ..................................................15

Video Reference (Tri Level Sync) ...........................15

Keyboard, Mouse & Monitor ..................................16

Network .........................................................................16

External Drives ............................................................16

Powering On / Standby ...................................................16

External Applications ......................................................16

MX-View .........................................................................16

TASCAM Mixer Companion ....................................16

Using the X-48MKII System Restore CD ....................17

4 – Configuration ..........................................18

Display Settings .................................................................18

Setting the date and time .............................................. 18

Navigating the LCD Interface........................................18

Sample Rates ......................................................................18

Digital Audio Clock ...........................................................19

I/O Settings ..........................................................................20

Analog I/O Operating Level...........................................20

Control Mode .....................................................................20

MIDI Device ID ....................................................................21

Sony 9-Pin ............................................................................21

Video Reference ................................................................21

Pull Up/Pull Down Sample Rates .................................21

Networking .........................................................................22

Checking Free Hard Drive Space .................................23

Drive Benchmarking Utility ...........................................23

Formatting a New Drive .................................................24

Factory Defaults ................................................................24

Store/Recall User Settings ..............................................24

Mixer Bypass ......................................................................25

Make a Default Project ....................................................25

5 – Recorder ..................................................26

Working With Projects ....................................................26

Creating a New Project ............................................26

Destructive versus Non-Destructive

Recording ......................................................................26

Opening a Project .....................................................26

Saving a Project ..........................................................27

Auto-Saving Projects ................................................27

Importing a Project ...................................................27

Exporting a Project ....................................................27

Copying a Project .......................................................28

Backing Up a Project to CD/DVD ..........................28

Deleting a Project ......................................................28

Load Last Project ........................................................29

Transport Operations ......................................................29

Local ................................................................................29

One-Button Record ..................................................29

TC Chase ........................................................................29

Rehearse .......................................................................30

Pre/Post Roll .................................................................30

Varispeed ......................................................................30

Recording as a timecode slave ..............................30

Recording and Playing Back ..........................................30

Input Monitoring ........................................................30

Record Enable ................................................ 31

Punch Crossfade Time ..............................................31

Undo/Redo ..................................................................31

Metering ........................................................................ 31

Using Markers ..............................................................32

Loop Playback .............................................................32

Loop Mode ...................................................................33

Auto Punch ...................................................................33

Loop Recording ..........................................................34

6 TASCAM X-48MKII

Contents

Audio pool ...................................................................34

Using the VGA Recorder Interface ..............................34

Meters.............................................................................34

Naming Tracks .............................................................34

Scrolling .........................................................................34

Timebar Format ..........................................................35

Clip Properties .............................................................35

Navigating the Timeline ..........................................35

Status Displays ............................................................35

Changing part colors on the track screen ........35

Synchronization .................................................................35

Requirements ..............................................................35

Sample Rate .................................................................36

Clock Source.................................................................36

BNC Clock In/BNC Clock Out ..................................37

BNC Word Clock Output Polarity ..........................37

Video Clock Frame-Edge Resolve .........................37

Frame Rate ....................................................................37

Control Mode ...............................................................38

Chase Freewheel ........................................................39

Chase Relock ................................................................39

Chase Relock Threshold ...........................................39

Timecode Offset .........................................................40

Chase Lock Deviation ...............................................40

Timecode Output Muting .......................................40

Advanced Recorder Operations ..................................40

Audio File Naming .....................................................40

Track Key Punch ..........................................................41

Recording time ..................................................................41

6 – Editing ......................................................42

Edit Tools ..............................................................................42

I-Beam Tool...................................................................42

Object Tool ...................................................................42

Smart Tool .....................................................................42

Magnify Tool ................................................................42

Selecting & Editing ...........................................................43

Selecting Clips .............................................................43

Selecting Time ............................................................43

In and Out Points ........................................................43

Clip Properties .............................................................43

Snap to Grid .................................................................43

Cut, Copy, Delete, Paste ...........................................43

Repeat Paste ................................................................43

Crop .................................................................................43

Insert Time ....................................................................44

Delete Time ..................................................................44

Split .................................................................................44

Play From Selection ...................................................44

History List ....................................................................44

Moving clip borders and adjusting

crossfades .....................................................................44

Fade-in, fade-out and crossfade curves.............45

Audio Processing...............................................................45

Pitch/Time Stretch .....................................................45

Consolidate ..................................................................45

7 – Mixer ........................................................46

Mixer Interface ...................................................................46

Mixer Introduction .....................................................46

Mixer Bypass ................................................................46

DSP View .......................................................................46

Mixer Tabs .....................................................................46

Automation ..................................................................47

Third-Party Plug Ins ...................................................47

Routing ..........................................................................47

Mixer Applications ............................................................47

Submixing .....................................................................47

Monitoring While Recording..................................47

Final Mix.........................................................................48

8 – Specifications ..........................................49

Media and formats ...........................................................49

Digital audio input/output ............................................49

Control input/output .......................................................49

General .................................................................................49

Options .................................................................................50

Dimensional drawings ....................................................50

9 – Appendix .................................................51

Functions controlled using a mouse and display ..51

Front panel function list ................................................54

Shortcuts ..............................................................................57

MIDI machine control (MMC) protocol .....................59

SONY P2 protocol ..............................................................59

TASCAM X-48MKII 7

1 – Introduction

Thank you very much for purchasing the TASCAM
X-48MKII 48 Track Digital Audio Workstation.

Before connecting and using the unit, please take time to
read this manual thoroughly to ensure you understand
how to properly set up and connect the unit, as well as
the operation of its many useful and convenient functions.
After you have finished reading this manual, please keep
it in a safe place for future reference.

You can also download the Owner's Manual from the
TASCAM web site (http://tascam.com/).

Features

48-track hard disk recorder

•
Transport keys and meters on the front panel can be

•
used to control the multitrack recorder

1TB hard disk built-in

•
Recording to external hard disks using high-speed

•
eSATA connection

Built-in hard disk format: NTFS

•
Audio file format: Broadcast Wave Format (BWF)

•
Operation modes include standalone (unsynchronized),

•
timecode synchronization and Theater Play

Edit tracks using the graphical user interface (GUI),

•
including cut, copy, delete and undo/redo

Undo operations using the UNDO command (up to

•
1000 changes) and History List

Non-real-time time compression editing

•
Support for 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96 kHz sampling

•
frequencies, including pull-up and pull-down

±6% pitch control playback

•
Support for LTC and MTC timecode synchronization

•
Support for video resolve synchronization to video

•
frame-edge for timecode synchronization

Fail Safe Recording refreshes file headers every 5

•
seconds

Digital mixer has 48 channels, 12 stereo subgroups, 6

•
aux sends and 1 stereo master

Digital mixer can be used for mixing down during

•
playback

Each channel and group includes dynamics

•
(compressor), 4-band EQ and 6 AUX sends

Volume automation on all 48 channels by writing

•
volume curves

Internal 32-bit floating-point processing

•
GUI can be controlled by connecting a display,

•
keyboard and mouse

6 TDIF digital input and output connectors support

•
a total of 48 inputs and outputs at 96 kHz sampling

frequency

2 option card slots for 24 channels of audio input and

•
output (analog, AES/EBU, ADAT)

1 coaxial stereo digital input and output (S/PDIF)

•

Clock source options: internal, WORD, S/PDIF, TDIF,

•
SLOT 1, SLOT 2

Support for WORD SYNC IN/OUT/THRU, with WORD

•
SYNC OUT supporting clocks at both high and normal

(base) sampling frequencies

VIDEO IN/THRU (video resolve, NTSC/PAL Black Burst

•
and up to 1080p Tri-level HDTV Sync)

TRS balanced LTC input and output

•
MIDI IN and MIDI OUT

•
Machine control using RS-422 9-pin connection

•
Audio data and EDL data import (OPEN TL) and export

•
(OPEN TL/AAF) supported

Built-in DVD drive for backup

•
Projects can be copied to external hard drives

•
connected to the eSATA connector and USB 2.0 jacks

Data can be transmitted to a host computer via

•
Ethernet (supports 1000BASE-TX)

Footswitch can trigger playback in Theater Play mode,

•
and can be set to PLAY/STOP, PUNCH IN/OUT when in

Internal mode

4U rackmount size

•
Theater mode playlist can be used to change playback

•
order

Continuous recording for 48 hours

•
Recording past 00:00 (24 hours)

•
USB 2.0 jacks can be used to connect USB devices,

•
including mice, keyboards, hard disks and flash

memory

Big Meter screen shows level meters for 48 tracks

•

Unpacking

The X-48MKII has been packed to ensure its safety during
shipment. Inspect the unit for damage immediately upon
unpacking and contact the shipper or retailer if damage is
discovered or items appear to be missing. Please keep all
boxes and packing material in case your X-48MKII needs
to be shipped in the future. Inside the shipping carton,
you will find the following:

X-48MKII Unit

•
Power Cord specific to the country where you

•
purchased it

A rack-mounting screw kit

•
Two white plastic spacers and screws for installation

•
of digital cards (IF-AE24/IF-AD24)

System Restore CD

•
Documentation CD

•
A warranty card

•
This Owner’s Manual

•

8 TASCAM X-48MKII

1 – Introduction

Manual Conventions

The following typefaces will be used in this Owner’s
Manual as indicated.

The names of keys and controls are given in the

•
following typeface: ENTER.

Messages shown on the VGA monitor are given in the

•
following typeface: Settings.

Messages shown in the alphanumeric portion of the

•
LCD are given in the following typeface:

Midi D e vice ID.

The following icons will be used in this Owner’s Manual as
indicated:

CAUTION

Instructions that should be followed to avoid injury,
damage to the unit or other equipment, and loss of data.

TIP

This icon indicates a hint or tip on using the X-48MKII.

NOTE

This icon indicates explanation of actions in special
situation and supplement.

This icon indicates instructions related to using the
keyboard, mouse and monitor interface.

minimum resolution), a two-button PC mouse (PS/2 or
USB) and a PC keyboard (PS/2 or USB).

Intellectual property rights

TASCAM is a trademark of TEAC Corporation, registered

•
in the U.S. and other countries.

Microsoft, Windows, Windows Embedded and Windows

•
Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks

of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries.

Apple, Macintosh, Mac OS and Mac OS X are trademarks

•
of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

The SANEWAVE logo is a trademark of Tudor Products

•
Inc.

Other company names, product names and logos

•
in this document are the trademarks or registered

trademarks of their respective owners.

Any data, including, but not limited to information,
described herein are intended only as illustrations
of such data and/or information and not as the
specifications for such data and/or information. TEAC
Corporation disclaims any warranty that any use
of such data and/or information shall be free from
infringement of any third party’s intellectual property
rights or other proprietary rights, and further, assumes
no liability of whatsoever nature in the event of any
such infringement, or arising from or connected with
or related to the use of such data and/or information.

This icon indicates instructions related to using the front
panel of the X-48MKII.

Required Equipment

While the X-48MKII is a comprehensive piece of
professional audio gear, there are other things you may
need to take full advantage of its capabilities:

A console with a minimum of 8 outputs (at least 24

•
is recommended) and enough inputs to handle your

expected track count.

An optional IF-AN24X analog I/O card if connecting the

•
X-48MKII to an analog console. The IF-AN24X provides

the X-48MKII with 24 analog inputs and 24 analog
outputs.

An optional digital I/O card (IF-AD24(X) or IF-AE24(X))

•
if connecting your X-48MKII to a digital console so

equipped. These cards provide the X-48MKII with 24
digital inputs and 24 digital outputs per card.

Analog or digital cables appropriate to your console

•
and choice of I/O format.

In order to use the X-48MKII’s editing, DSP and mixing

•
capabilities, you will need a VGA monitor (1024 x 768

This product is designed to help you record and
reproduce sound works to which you own the
copyright, or where you have obtained permission
from the copyright holder or the rightful licensor.
Unless you own the copyright, or have obtained the
appropriate permission from the copyright holder
or the rightful licensor, your unauthorized recording,
reproduction or distribution thereof may result in
severe criminal penalties under copyright laws and
international copyright treaties. If you are uncertain
about your rights, contact your legal advisor. Under no
circumstances will TEAC Corporation be responsible
for the consequences of any illegal copying performed
using the recorder.

TASCAM X-48MKII 9

1 – Introduction

Precautions for placement and use

The operating temperature should be between 5°C and

•
35°C (41°F and 95°F).

Do not install in the following types of places. Doing

•
so could degrade the sound quality and/or cause

malfunctions.

Places with significant vibrations or that are

•

otherwise unstable

Near windows or other places exposed to direct

•

sunlight

Near heaters or other extremely hot places

•

Extremely cold places

•

Places with bad ventilation or high humidity

•

Very dusty locations

•

Make sure that the unit is mounted in a level position

•
for correct operation.

Do not place any object on the unit for heat dissipation.

•
Avoid installing this unit on top of any heat-generating

•
electrical device such as a power amplifier.

Connecting the power

Insert the included power cord into the • AC IN
connector completely.

Hold the power cord by the plug when connecting or

•
disconnecting it.

Beware of condensation

If the unit is moved from a cold to a warm place, or
used immediately after a cold room has been heated or
otherwise exposed to a sudden temperature change,
condensation could occur. Should this happen, leave the
unit for one or two hours before turning the unit on.

Other precautions

Do not change the BIOS settings of this unit• . Changing
them could cause the unit to not start up or otherwise
malfunction. Please be aware that repairing problems
caused by changing BIOS settings will require payment.

When using the included System Restore CD to reinstall

•
the system, always disconnect all external hard disks

connected by eSATA or USB, including USB flash drives.
Failure to do so will result in erasing all data on these
external hard disks.

Before connecting or disconnecting anything to a

•
connector, turn OFF the power of this unit and the

devices being connected (particularly, with VGA and

similar connections). Failure to do so could cause this
unit or connected equipment to be damaged.

Cleaning the unit

To clean the unit, wipe it gently with a soft dry cloth. Do
not wipe with chemical cleaning cloths, benzene, paint
thinner, ethyl alcohol or other chemical agents to clean
the unit as they could damage the surface.

The inside of the unit should be cleaned about once
every five years. If the unit is not cleaned for a long time
and dust is allowed to accumulate inside it, this could
cause fire or malfunction. In particular, it is more effective
to clean the inside of the unit before seasons with high
humidity. Please contact a retailer that sells the unit or
a TASCAM service center for cleaning and information
about the cleaning fee.

About optical discs

Handling of optical discs

Always place the discs in the tray with their label facing

•
upward. (Only single-sided discs can be used with this

unit.)

To remove a disc from its case, press down on the

•
center of the disc holder, then lift the disc out, holding

it carefully by the edges.

Do not touch the data side (the unlabeled side).

•
Fingerprints, oils and other substances can cause

errors.

To clean the data side of a disc, wipe gently with a soft

•
dry cloth from the center towards the outside edge.

Dirt on discs can cause errors, so clean them and always
store them in a clean state.

Do not use any record spray, anti-static solutions,

•
benzene, paint thinner or other chemical agents to

clean discs as they could damage the delicate surface.
It may cause discs to become unusable.

Always store discs in their cases to avoid dirt and dust

•
accumulating on their surfaces.

Do not place the unit where it is exposed to direct

•
sunlight, high temperatures or high humidity.

Remaining in such a place for a long time could result
in warping and other damage.

Do not try to use 8 cm (single) discs, “business card”

•
discs and other nonstandard discs for recording. This

unit cannot record to such discs. Use standard 12 cm
discs for recording.

When labeling discs, always use a soft oil-based felt-

•
tipped pen to write the information. Never use a ball-

point or hard-tipped pen, as this may cause damage to
the recorded side.

10 TASCAM X-48MKII

1 – Introduction

Do not apply labels or other materials to discs. Do

•
not use discs that have had tape, stickers or other

materials applied to their surface. Do not use discs that
have sticky residue from stickers, etc. Such discs could
become stuck in the unit or cause it to malfunction.

Do not use commercially available lens cleaners

•
because the high-speed rotation of such discs could

break the lens protection mechanism.

Never use a commercially available disc stabilizer. Using

•
stabilizers with this unit will damage the mechanism

and cause it to malfunction.

Do not use cracked discs.

•
Only use circular compact discs. Avoid using non-

•
circular promotional, etc. discs.

If you are in any doubt as to the care and handling of

•
a disc, read the precautions supplied with the disc, or

contact the disc manufacturer directly.

Supported optical media

This unit supports the following types of media use.

DVD-R Reading/writing

DVD-RW Reading/writing/rewriting

DVD+R Reading/writing

DVD+RW Reading/writing

CD-R Reading/writing

CD-RW Reading/writing/rewriting

This unit does not support the following types of media
use.

DVD+RW Rewriting

Dual layer media

CD-R and CD-RW discs sold for music

CD-RW disks that have been used as CD-DA

TASCAM X-48MKII 11

Front panel

2 – Names and Functions of Parts

1 Track record arming button

Puts that track into record ready unless “All Safe”
is turned on. Record Ready status is reported by a
flashing red light directly above that track’s record
arming button.

2 Track meter

Displays signal level from –60 dBfs to –1 dBfs and
overload.

3 Status Lights

These lights flash when the X-48MKII is accessing
the hard drive, busy with a task, has MIDI input or
encounters an error.

CAUTION

When the BUSY indicator is lit, do not try to save or
conduct other important operations.

4 Sample Rate

These lights report the current sample rate. If the
X-48MKII is set to 96 kHz, the 48k and 2X lights will
be lit. If it isn’t set to one of these standard rates (i.e.
47952 Hz/48k pulldown), the NON STD light will turn
on.

5 Timecode Rate indicator

Displays the current frame rate.

6 STANDBY/ON button/indicator

Turns the unit on and standby. A system prompt will
confirm shutdown. Holding the button down for
several seconds will shut the unit off without
a confirmation.

7 System Lights

These indicators light when sample locked to an
external source (SAMPLE LOCK), when in destructive

recording mode (DEST REC) and when using
varispeed (VARISPEED).

8 Display

This shows a variety of information.

9 Optical drive

The internal DVD optical drive for backup, import and
export of files.

0 Transport buttons

See the Recorder chapter if you’re unsure how to
use these.

q Enter button

Confirms menu selections. The Exit button is directly
below it to cancel a menu option.

w Change button

Use this button to change a menu item in the Project,
Sync, etc. menus.

e CLEAR/HOME button

When in menu mode, press this to return to the Home
Screen display. Use this button also to clear a set value.

r Menu buttons

These access menu groups like Project, Sync,
Preferences, etc. You can also change the input status,
unmount a disk and more.

t 5/b buttons

Use these to scroll through menus and change
their settings.

12 TASCA M X-48MKII

2 – Names and Functions of Parts

Rear panel

y TDIF Inputs and Outputs

Each of these jacks transmits 8 channels of TDIF-format
digital audio input and output at up to 96 kHz/24-bit.

NOTE

To get all 8 channels of audio input and output at 96 kHz,
the equipment connected to the X-48MKII must have the
latest TDIF capabilities, such as TASCAM’s DM-3200 and
DM-4800 digital mixers.

u Option card slot 1

This slot adds an additional I/O format for channels
1-24. It’s compatible with interface cards such as the
IF-AN24X analog, IF-AD24 ADAT optical and IF-AE24
AES/EBU cards (sold separately).

i Option card slot 2

Adds an additional I/O format for channels 25-48.
Cards 1 and 2 do not need to be the same, you can mix
and match Analog and AES for example.

o MIDI Input and Output

Used to generate and receive MIDI Timecode. Also
used to receive MIDI Machine Control commands.

p Timecode Input and Output

Generates and receives SMPTE LTC timecode through
balanced 1/4” jacks.

a Footswitch jack

Compatible with a momentary footswitch like the
TASCAM RC-30P for punch in/punch out and so on.

NOTE

To operate correctly, a footswitch must be connected
before the X-48MKII is powered on.

s Remote

Compatible with RS-422 / Sony 9-pin edit controllers
for machine control

d Video clock in/thru

Use these BNC connectors to input black burst and tri­level sync signals and for thru output.

f Mouse/Keyboard

PS/2-compatible mouse and keyboard inputs. You can
also use a USB mouse and keyboard.

g Option

Not used.

hOption

Not used.

j VGA output

Your monitor should be capable displaying a
resolution of at least 1024x768 pixels at a refresh
rate of at least 60 Hz. The maximum resolution of the
X-48MKII’s display output is 2048x1536 pixels.

k Word Sync In/Out/Thru

Compatible with BNC word clock generators.

l USB

Four USB 2.0 jacks for connecting a keyboard, mouse,
flash drive or hard drive.

; Ethernet

100/1000 (Gigabit compatible) ethernet jack. See the
section on Networking for more information.

z S/PDIF

Stereo coaxial digital input and output.

xOption

Not used.

c eSATA

eS ATA connector for connecting external hard drives

TASCAM X-48MKII 13

v Cooling fan

Make sure that this fan is not blocked off in a rack to
prevent overheating the system.

b AC-IN jack

Connect the included power cord here.

2 – Names and Functions of Parts

14 TASCAM X-48MKII

DigitalIn

DigitalOut

1

1425

13

3 – Setup

I/O Card Installation

I/O cards of different types may be installed in the
X-48MKII simultaneously. For example, an X-48MKII may
have one analog card and one digital card installed, with
independent I/O routing. Each X-48MKII option card
provides 24 channels of input and output.

CAUTION

To install an I/O card, please contact the retailer where
you bought the unit or TASCAM support.

Making Connections

You may not use all the connections provided on the
rear of the X-48MKII, but they are there if you need them.
Just skip over the sections below that don’t apply to your
setup. For further information on routing to and from
these connectors, please refer to Section ‘I/O Settings’
(page 20).

CAUTION

Before connecting or disconnecting anything to a
connector, turn OFF the power of this unit and the devices
being connected (particularly, with VGA and similar
connections). Failure to do so could cause this unit or
connected equipment to be damaged.

TDIF

The X-48MKII comes standard with six DB25 connectors,
each one capable of carrying eight channels of I/O at
normal sample rates (44.1k, 48k) or double speed sample
rates (88.2k, 96k).

NOTE

Eight channels of double speed sample rate I/O on a
single TDIF connection is a new development for TASCAM
recorders and mixers. Please ensure that the equipment
you are connecting the X-48MKII to will support this by
contacting the manufacturer of that equipment.

CAUTION

Use only cables that are specified by the manufacturer
as “TDIF” cables. Using incorrect cables can damage your
equipment.

S/PDIF

The X-48MKII comes standard with two RCA jacks for
S/PDIF I/O at both normal and double speed sample rates.

CAUTION

To ensure clean data transmission, use only cables
specified by the manufacturer as “S/PDIF” cables.

AES/EBU

When installed into an X-48MKII Slot, an AES/EBU digital
I/O card (TASCAM IF-AE24X) will provide 24 channels of
I/O at normal sample rates (44.1k, 48k) or double speed
sample rates (88.2k, 96k).

The AES/EBU DB-25 pinout is pictured :

CAUTION

Use only DB25 cables specified by the manufacturer as
“AES/EBU” cables. Many cables look the same on
the outside.

ADAT

When installed into an X-48MKII slot, an ADAT digital
I/O card will provide 24 channels of I/O at normal
sample rates (44.1k, 48k).

Digital Audio Clock

Any time multiple digital audio devices are connected
together, or multiple digital audio connections are used
simultaneously on a single device, all the digital audio
clock rates of the connected devices must be locked
together. If this is not done, or if it is done incorrectly,
clicks, distortion, or muted audio may result. The X-48MKII
may act as the master clock to other devices in a system,
or it can lock its clock to an external device.

This section will only deal with the physical connections
to achieve clock lock. For system configuration, please
refer to ‘Digital Audio Clock’ (page 19). Note that all digital
audio clock related connections may be connected
simultaneously, with the needed one selected in the user
interface.

If the X-48MKII is digitally connected to only one other
device, the clocks may be locked via that connection,
requiring no other connection be made.

Word Clock

If the X-48MKII is digitally connected within a system
of more than two digital devices, it is recommended to
use Word Clock from one master source, distributed to
all devices. The X-48MKII’s rear panel BNC Word Clock
connectors have the following uses:

IN This connector receives word clock from

another device. When used, the X-48MKII
should be congured to Lock to Word Clock.

OUT This connector transmits word clock to other

devices. When used, the X-48MKII should be
congured to Internal Clock.

TASCAM X-48MKII 15

1

1425

13

3 – Setup

THRU This connector passes the Word Clock signal

present at the Word Clock IN through without
adding any delay. This allows additional devices
to be locked in a daisy-chain fashion in congu­rations where there is no way to directly distrib­ute clock from a single source.

Analog Audio

The IF-AN24X provides 24 channels of balanced analog
inputs and 24 channels of balanced analog outputs.
The X-48MKII can be configured to one of five possible
operating reference levels by applying the appropriate
software settings. Please refer to ‘Analog I/O Operating
Level’ (page 20) for details.

The analog DB-25 pinout is pictured below:

CAUTION

Use only DB25 cables specified by the manufacturer as
“Analog” cables. Many cables look the same on
the outside.

Synchronization and Control

This section will deal with the physical connections
needed in various synchronized applications. For details
about the appropriate software settings, please refer to
the ‘Synchronization’ section (page 35).

Time Code

There are two 1/4” TRS connectors on the rear of the
X-48MKII, used for sending and receiving time code (LTC).
These connectors are balanced to allow for long cable
runs with minimal interference. Please refer to pages 37­40 for details on time code options.

Footswitch

A momentary footswitch may be connected to this 1/4”
TS connector for hands free play, stop, and punch-in/out

operation.

NOTE

To operate correctly, a footswitch must be connected
before the X-48MKII is powered on.

Remote (Sony 9-Pin)

This is also known as “P2” or “Sony P2” or “RS-422”. Various
recording consoles and video controllers support this
protocol for transport control and track record enable.
This requires a specifically constructed cable. If in doubt,
pre-made RS-422 cables are readily available.

Pin No. Controlling end Non-controlling end

1 GND GND
2 RX– TX–
3 TX+ RX+
4 TX common RX common
5 Spare (NC) Spare (NC)
6 RX common TX common
7 RX+ TX+
8 TX– RX–
9 GND GND

Video Reference (Tri Level Sync)

MIDI

There are two MIDI connectors on the rear of the
X-48MKII. These are used for MIDI Machine Control (MMC)
and MIDI Time Code (MTC).

IN This connector receives MTC, which the

X-48MKII can chase, or MMC, which the
X-48MKII can respond to. The front panel MIDI
LED will illuminate when valid MIDI signals are
present at this connector.

OUT This connector outputs MTC any time the

transport is in motion. That MTC output follows
the frame rate and output options set for LTC
output. MIDI machine control (MMC) open loop
and closed loop are supported.

IN When the X-48MKII is used in a lm/video post

production environment, it may be necessary
to resolve a consistent sample range with the
time code edge. A video reference (blackburst)
signal applied to this connector makes this
possible. Please refer to page 19 for details on
conguring the use of signals present at this
connector.

Tri Level Sync is the video reference signal used for High
Definition Video. This connector automatically senses the
type of signal present.

THRU The video reference signal present at the IN

connector is passed through out this

connector without additional processing delay.
This allows for daisy-chaining another device,
after the X-48MKII, which requires a video refer­ence signal.

16 TASCAM X-48MK II

3 – Setup

Keyboard, Mouse & Monitor

A standard PC keyboard and mouse (or trackball) may be
connected to the P/S2 or USB ports on the rear of the
X-48MKII. To take full advantage of these peripherals, it is
recommended that a full keyboard with numerical keypad
and a scrolling wheel mouse be used.

Your monitor should be capable displaying a resolution of
at least 1024x768 pixels at a refresh rate of at least 60 Hz.
The maximum resolution of the X-48MKII’s display output
is 2048x1536 pixels.

NOTE

The extra controls present on some multimedia
keyboards, such as media player transport controls, are
not supported by the X-48MKII. Similarly, a mouse or
trackball that depends on the installation of custom driver
software is not supported by the X-48MKII.

Network

This unit has a 100/1000 (gigabit) port as a network
connector (Ethernet).

You can use the unit’s software to configure it.

Network cable used for the port should be minimally CAT-

5. While network hubs and switches can be used with the

X-48MKII, such devices may reduce network throughput,
particularly on a network with much traffic.

To use the preinstalled MX-View software to control a
TASCAM MX-2424, you must set the IP address correctly.
Otherwise, communication with the MX-2424 will fail.

For more details about software configurations to use the
X-48MKII within a networked environment, please refer to
‘Networking’ (page 22).

External Drives

External hard drives may be connected to the eS ATA or
USB 2.0 ports on the rear of the X-48MKII to be used as

record destination or copy destination drives.

USB Flash Drives, “Thumb Drives”, may be connected to an
X-48MKII’s USB port. Such drives can be useful as source
drives for copying material onto the X-48MKII’s drive, copy
destination drives for moving material off an X-48MKII, or
for software updating. It is not recommended to record
directly to such a drive due to their slow write speeds.

External optical drives (DVD, CDR, CDR/W) are not
supported.

Powering On / Standby

Now that things are connected, it’s time to plug in the
X-48MKII and power it on.

Momentarily press the STANDBY/ON button on the front
panel and the X-48MKII will boot up. The boot process
takes about 1 1/4 minutes to complete. When ready, the
X-48MKII will display its track screen on a connected VGA
monitor and the currently loaded project with time code
on the front panel LCD display.

To power off the X-48MKII, either select Shutdown from
the File menu in the VGA UI or momentarily press the
front panel STANDBY/ON button. In either case, you will
be prompted to save the currently loaded project then
confirm the shutdown.

NOTE

Disconnect all USB flash drives before starting the unit.
Starting the unit with a USB flash drive connected could
prevent the unit from functioning properly. If this should
happen, follow these procedures.

1) When the Press F1 To Continue prompt appears, press
the F1 key on the keyboard.

2) Disconnect the USB flash drive.

After disconnecting the USB flash drive the unit might
restart 2–3 times to restore its ordinary state.

External Applications

CAUTION

While the X-48MKII is based on PC/Windows architecture,
it is not configured for general PC use. The Windows
Embedded operating system used on the X-48MKII does
not include general use components. We strongly advise
you not to install non-qualified software on the X-48MKII.
Doing so could lead to undesirable results, including
X-48MKII malfunction, requiring you to use the X-48MKII
System Restore CD to restore it to its original factory
configuration.

MX-View

Pre-installed on the X-48MKII is MX-View Version 1.40, for
control of any existing MX-2424 machines you may have.
For MX-View operational instructions, please refer to the
MX-View Manual.

CAUTION

When recording to any external drive, it is strongly
recommended to run the Drive Benchmarking utility to
ensure the drive is fast enough for the desired number
of record tracks. For example, while e SATA itself is fast
enough for high track counts, the actual drive inside an
external drive enclosure may be a low RPM drive, not
capable of high track counts.

TASCAM Mixer Companion

Pre-installed on the X-48MKII is TASCAM Mixer Companion
Version 1.50. This allows the X-48MKII to act as the host
computer for TMC when connected via USB to a TASCAM
DM-3200 or DM-4800 digital mixer.

TMC updates may be installed by running the TMC update
installer by selecting Launch External Application from the
X-48MKII’s File menu. The TMC update installer would have

TASCAM X-48MKII 17

to be on a piece of media that the X-48MKII has access to,
such as a CD or USB flash drive.

CAUTION

Only Version 1.50 or higher (Windows version) is designed
to operate on the X-48MKII. Earlier versions of TMC should
not be installed on the X-48MKII.

Using the X-48MKII System Restore CD

In the event it becomes necessary to use the X-48MKII
System Restore CD to restore your X-48MKII to its original
factory configuration, following the steps below will
ensure a smooth restore process:

1 Back up all audio data. This should already be done

as part of a regular workflow.

2 Check the TASCAM website (http://tascam.com/)

for the latest firmware and patch updates. If any
are available, download them and use them to
update the unit after using the System Restore CD
to reinstall the system.

3 With the X-48MKII powered on, insert the System

Restore CD then restart the X-48MKII. The VGA UI
doesn’t have to be displayed, all that is required
is power to open the drive tray. If necessary, the
X-48MKII can be forced to shut down by holding
the front panel power button for a few seconds.

4 The X-48MKII will automatically boot from the

System Restore CD and run the X-48MKII Installer.
Please follow the steps in the X-48MKII Installer
screens.

3 – Setup

CAUTION

When using the included System Restore CD to reinstall
the system, always disconnect all external hard disks
connected by eSATA or USB, including USB flash drives.
Failure to do so will result in the System Restore CD
erasing all data on these external hard disks.

NOTE

When formatting you can select whether to format only
the OS partition (Windows XP Embedded and the X-48
Application) and rewrite the software or to also format the
data partition at the same time.

18 TASCAM X-48MK II

4 – Configuration

This section helps you with the software settings you’ll
need to make in order for the X-48MKII to work smoothly
in your application.

Display Settings

Your monitor should be capable displaying a resolution of
at least 1024x768 pixels at a refresh rate of at least 60 Hz.
The maximum resolution of the X-48MKII’s display output
is 2048x1536 pixels. You change the display resolution
from the Windows menu.

NOTE

Resolution depends on the resolution of the connected
display.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu and select Display Settings...

2 Move the slider to change the display resolution

(the minimum resolution is 1024 x 768) and press
Apply.

Setting the date and time

Set the built-in clock for accurate timestamping.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation (only)

Select Set Date and Time from the File menu, and set

the date and time.

The seven menu keys are used to access the
following functions:

PROJ Goes directly to the list of project manage-

ment functions such as New, Open,

Save, Save As, Delete and Copy.

DISK Goes directly to the list of hard drive

management functions such as a Free

Space display and disk formatting utility.

INP 1-24 Goes directly to input routing menus for

inputs 1 through 24. In most cases, these
will be left at their default settings since
much output routing can be done from a
recording console. The choices presented in
this menu allows the use of consoles with
less than 48 outputs.

INP 25-48 Goes directly to input routing menus for

inputs 25 through 48. In most cases, these
will be left at their default settings since
much output routing can be done from a
recording console. The choices presented in
this menu allows the use of consoles with
less than 48 outputs.

SYNC Goes directly to the list of synchronization

settings and functions such as time code
frame rate, digital audio clock settings and
time code chase options.

PREF Goes directly to a list of general operat-

ing preferences for the X-48MKII such as
transport options, pre/post roll options,
front panel UI options and external control
options.

SYS Goes directly to a list of system settings

such as save/load of user congurations and
network settings.

Navigating the LCD Interface

To access menus and settings from the X-48MKII front
panel, use the six buttons directly below the LCD display.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press one of the seven menus on the bottom right

corner of the unit: PROJ, DISK, INP 1-24, INP 25-48,
SYNC, PREF or SYS. See below for an explanation of
each of these menus.

2 Press the 5/b buttons to scroll through menus.

3 When you find a setting you want to edit, press

CHNG (Change).

4 Press the 5/b buttons to choose a setting.

5 When you’re finished, press ENTER to save or EXIT

to cancel your edit.

6 At any time, you can press HOME to get out of the

menu system and back to the main screen.

Sample Rates

The X-48MKII supports the base sample rates of 44.1k, 48k,

88.2k and 96k. The sample rate for your project should

be set immediately after creating the project and before
recording any audio. New projects will be created at the
currently set sample rate by default. A project’s sample
rate is stored as part of the project.

If a project’s sample rate is changed after recording audio
into that project, a confirmation dialog will be presented.
Proceeding with the sample rate change will cause the
project to play back faster or slower than it was originally
recorded.

You will notice many other sample rates in the list besides
the four noted above. Those are “pull up” and “pull down”
rates for use in film and video applications. This will be
covered in ‘Synchronization’ (page 35).

TASCAM X-48MKII 19

4 – Configuration

To set the sample rate:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click on the Windows menu and choose Settings...

2 Click on the Sync tab.

3 Click on the Rate pull-down menu under

Sample Clock.

4 You will see the currently selected sample rate

with a check mark. Select another sample rate by
clicking on it.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press SYNC.

2 Use the 5/b buttons until you see Sample R a t e.

3 Press CHNG.

4 Use the 5/b buttons until you see your desired

sample rate.

5 Press ENTER/YES.

6 When Changing Sample Rate OK? appears,

press the ENTER/YES button.

Digital Audio Clock

When digitally connected, two or more pieces of audio
equipment must be running at exactly the same digital
audio clock rate and have their sample exactly lined up. If
this is not done, audio artifacts like clicking and popping
or completely muted audio will result.

The X-48MKII provides the ability to operate in many
digital audio clock scenarios. Each available setting is
shown below along with an example of why it may be
used. These settings are made on the Sync tab of the
Settings window.

Internal

When selected, the X-48MKII’s digital audio clock is
running on its own at the selected sample rate. Choose
this when the X-48MKII is connected to an analog mixer
or when the X-48MKII is the clock master for other pieces
of digital audio equipment.

Varispeed

The term “varispeed” refers to a recorder’s ability to run
faster or slower than a base rate. This may be used to
record off speed for later playback at normal speed for
a special effect. It can also be used to slightly alter the
pitch of a recording for tuning purposes. Varispeed is only
available when the X-48MKII is set to Internal clock. When
clocked externally, the X-48MKII must follow the rate of
that external clock.

Word Clock

When selected, the X-48MKII’s digital audio clock will be
locked to any word clock signal present at its BNC Word

Clock input. If this is selected, but no word clock signal
is present, the sample rate indication in the GUI and the
Sample Lock LED on the front panel will flash indicating
no clock lock.

Word clock is commonly used when many pieces of digital
audio gear are connected together in a system and clock
is correctly distributed from a central clock generator or
one of the connected devices.

Invert Word Out Polarity

Some manufacturers of digital audio equipment lock
to the rising edge of a clock signal while others use the
falling edge. This setting allows the X-48MKII to operate
as a clock master with either type of equipment. This may
not be documented by all manufacturers, so if your clock
configuration appears correct but you are still hearing
artifacts such as clicks, try changing the value of this
setting.

Clock Rate Multipliers

Some older word clock generators only support base
clock rates (44.1k, 48k). For scenarios where such a clock
generator is used in a system running at higher clock
rates, the X-48MKII provides the ability to lock to, and
output, word clock rates that are exact multiples of its
operating rate. For example, a system may be running at
96k, but the clock generator’s maximum output rate is
48k.

ADAT Card/AES Card (1, 2)

When selected, the X-48MKII’s digital audio clock will
be locked to the digital audio signal present at the first
group of eight inputs of a digital I/O card installed in
the specified slot. This would typically be used when
the X-48MKII is digitally connected via one of its slots to
one other piece of equipment such a mixer or another
recorder.

S/PDIF

When selected, the X-48MKII’s digital audio clock will
be locked to the digital audio signal present at the rear
panel S/PDIF input. This would typically be used when
the X-48MKII is digitally connected to the S/PDIF output
of a piece of equipment when transferring stereo audio
into the X-48MKII. On the SETTINGS screen I/O tab, set S/
PDIF output mode to Professional (Professional Mode check
box checked) or Consumer (Professional Mode check box
unchecked).

TDIF Port 1

When selected, the X-48MKII’s digital audio clock will be
locked to the digital audio signal present at the first TDIF
port (1-8). This would typically be used when the X-48MKII
is digitally connected via TDIF to one other piece of
equipment such as a mixer or another recorder.

Resolve to Video In

When checked, the X-48MKII will align the frame edge
of its timecode with the edge of the video reference
signal. This is not used as a sample clock source. Check
this box when the X-48MKII is synchronized via time

20 TASCAM X-4 8MKII

4 – Configuration

code to devices such as video recorders, cameras, or edit
controllers and all devices are locked to the same video
reference signal (a.k.a. black burst). For more information
on synchronization and working with film or video, please
see the “Video Clock Frame-Edge Resolve” section on page
37 in chapter 5.

I/O Settings

This section explains how to configure the optional I/O
cards for the X-48MKII.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

Choose Settings from the Windows menu and click on the
I/O tab.

I/O Cards

At the top of the display, you will see a list of installed
optional I/O cards (if any).

I/O Setup

Using the I/O Card Select menus, you can select Input and
Output types in groups of eight from the selection pull
down menus. (They are all set to TDIF by default.) The Input
Routing pull down menus set track input sources in groups

of eight. They can be used to configure the recorder
inputs for a console that has less than 48 routing outputs.

For example, a console with 24 TDIF outputs could be
connected to the X-48MKII this way:

1 Connect console TDIF outs 1-24 to X-48MKII TDIF in

1-24.

2 Set Input Routing for channels 1-8 and 25-32 as Input

Grp 1 1-8.

3 Set Input Routing for channels 9-16 and 33-40 as Input

Grp 2 9-16.

4 Set Input Routing for channels 17-24 and 41-48 as

Input Grp 3 17-24.

This allows all 48 tracks to receive signal without physical
re-patching. Console out 1 will feed track 1 and 25,
console out 2 will feed tracks 2 and 26, etc. There is a
track-by-track input selection pull down menu in the

TRACK screen which over-rides the selection made in the
Settings window.

You can also select the I/O operating level from the
pulldown menu at the bottom of the window. See the
next section for more information.

S/PDIF

Use the Sample rate conversion on S/PDIF inputs checkbox
to set whether or not the S/PDIF input sampling rate is
converted or not.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the INP 1-24 or INP 25-48 key.

2 Use the 5/b buttons to select a bank of 8 inputs

and outputs, i.e. “IO Card Select 1-8,” and
press CHNG.

3 Select either T DIF 1- 8 or Slo t 1 (1- 8) and

press ENTER.

4 Press the EXIT button when you are finished

changing physical I/O types.

To send a different bank of inputs to tracks, for example
send inputs 1-24 to 25-48 (see example above):

1 Press the INP 1-24 or INP 25-48 key.

2 Use the 5/b buttons to select routing for a bank

of tracks, such as “Input Routing 25-32,” and
press CHNG.

3 Select a bank of inputs, i.e. Input Grp1 1-8,

and press ENTER.

4 Press the EXIT button when you are finished

changing input groups.

5 Press the CLEAR/HOME button to return to the

Home Screen.

Analog I/O Operating Level

You can set the analog operating level from the Settings
menu. Choose Settings from the Windows menu, click
the I/O tab and click the I/O Operating Level from the pull­down menu. The levels (in dBFS) that can be selected are
20dB, 18dB, 16dB, 14dB and 9dB.

Control Mode

This unit has the following four transport control modes,
which can be set on the SETTINGS screen. From the

Windows menu, select Settings and click the Sync tab. In the
Time Code section, use the Control Mode pull-down menu

to select the desired control mode.

Internal

Use this mode to run the unit following its own timecode.

SMPTE

When enabled and the front panel TC CHASE key is
enabled, the X-48MKII chases the SMPTE timecode from
its input jack.

MIDI (MTC)

In this mode with the front panel TC CHASE key enabled,
the X-48MKII chases incoming MIDI timecode from it’s

MIDI input.

Theater Play

This is a special playback mode similar to Auto Cue on a
CD Player. Please refer to page 38 for details on the use of
this mode.

To configure the I/O cards from the front panel:

TASCAM X-48MKII 21

4 – Configuration

MIDI Device ID

When working with MIDI Machine Control, you can set
a MIDI device ID so that other devices do not intercept
commands for the X-48MKII (and vice-versa).

To set the MIDI device ID:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu, select Settings and click the

System tab.

2 Click the MIDI Device ID pulldown.

3 Select a device ID from the list.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYS button.

2 Press the 5/b buttons to select Midi D e vic e

ID and press CHNG.

3 Select an ID and press ENTER.

4 Press the CLEAR/HOME button to return to the

Home Screen.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the PREF button.

2 Press the 5/b buttons to select P2 Track Arm,

P2 Punch Delay or P2 Chase Control

and press CHNG.

Video Reference

When working in video, use video black burst to align
your audio playback and time code to exactly a frame
edge.

To switch on video reference:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu and choose Settings.

2 Select the Sync tab.

3 Check the box labeled Resolve to Video In.

Front Panel Operation

Sony 9-Pin

This section explains how to control the X-48MKII using
Sony 9-pin, also called P2 or RS-422.

Track Arm

Setting it to Digital/Console allows you to arm tracks over
9-pin. Set this to Local if you don’t want to arm tracks this
way.

Punch Delay

You can set the punch-in delay from off to 6 frames. This
is used when it is necessary for the X-48MKII to emulate
an older video deck to match what is expected by the
controller.

Chase Control

Choose LTC (SMPTE) or MTC (MIDI) or disable it here.

To access these settings

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Press the SYNC button.

2 Press the 5/b buttons to select Resolve to

Vide o In and press CHNG.

3 Use the 5/b buttons to select On and press

ENTER.

The Video Clock input supports Tri-Level Sync for High
Definition Video. If the black burst input is Tri-Level, the
X-48MKII automatically enables this feature. See Chapter 5,
Recorder, for more on sample clock and video sync.

Pull Up/Pull Down Sample Rates

The X-48MKII supports pull-up and pull-down sample
rates for use in film and video post-production. When
you select the sample rate for the new session, be sure to
consider the final delivery format and set your sample rate
accordingly. See Chapter 5, Recorder for more on sample
rates.

1 Click the Windows menu and select Settings.

2 Click the Prefs tab.

3 There are three settings under the Sony 9-pin

heading: Track Arm, Punch Delay and Chase Control.

22 TASC AM X-48MKI I

4 – Configuration

Networking

The X-48MKII can be connected to a computer using
the fast Gigabit Ethernet connection. You need an
Ethernet crossover cable to connect your computer to the
X-48MKII, unless you know that your computer’s Ethernet
connector is “auto-sensing” (such as most modern Apple
computers). Once the ethernet cable is connected, you
need to configure both the X-48MKII and your PC for
networking.

To configure the X-48MKII for networking:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 View the Settings window, System tab.

2 Press the Configure button.

3 Select Use the following IP address.

4 Set IP address to be 192.168.1.1. If this address is

already in use by your router, choose a different
number for the last digit.

5 Set Subnet mask to be 255.255.255.0.

6 Leave the Default gateway blank.

7 Use the following DNS server addresses should be

selected already.

8 Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server should be

blank.

9 Press OK.

10 Begin sharing the X-48MKII’s hard drive by

selecting Drive Sharing... from the File menu.

To configure your Windows XP computer for networking
to the X-48MKII:

NOTE

Before starting the following procedures, you must launch
the Windows file manager from the X-48 Disk Management
menu, and enable sharing of the relevant folder (right
click the relevant folder, select the Properties menu item
and open the Sharing tab to make this setting).

1 Select Start->Control Panel->Network Connections.

2 You should see a list of network connections, with

one called Local Area Connection.

3 Right-click on Local Area Connection and select

Properties.

4 Click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) so that it is

highlighted. (Its check box must remain checked.)

5 Press the Properties button.

6 Select Use the following IP address.

7 Set IP address to 192.168.1.2. (Note: This is different

from the X-48MKII’s IP address.) If this IP address
is already in use on your network, pick a different
number for the last digit.

8 Set Subnet mask to be 255.255.255.0.

9 Leave the Default gateway blank.

10 Use the following DNS server addresses should be already

selected.

11 Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server should be

blank. Press OK.

12 Close the Local Area Connection Properties window.

13 Select Start->My Network Places.

14 On the left side of the My Network Places window is a

list of Network Tasks.

15 Select View workgroup computers. If this left side

display is not visible, enable it by going to Tools >

Folder Options > General tab and click Show common
tasks in folders. Alternatively, you could double click
Entire Network then Microsoft Windows Network to see

the available workgroups. Inside the workgroup
named Workgroup will be the X-48MKII. If your
computer and X-48MKII workgroup names are
different, navigate one level up to see all the
workgroups present on the network and look
inside WORKGROUP to find the X-48MKII.

Your X-48MKII will show up similar to this: “X48­uo0t97er5vk”. (It is possible that you may need to wait a

minute or so for the X-48MKII to show up in this list.)

NOTE

Note that the X-48MKII’s workgroup name is fixed as

WORKGROUP. Your PC’s network name may not be
WORKGROUP. For example, Windows XP Home has a

default network name of MSHOME. To find the workgroup
name of your computer go to Control Panels > System >
Computer Name tab.

16 Double click on the icon that represents the

connected X-48MKII.

17 You should be prompted to enter a user name and

password.

18 The user name is “administrator” and the password is

“admin”.

19 Now when you double click on the icon, you should

be able to see the X-48MKII’s internal hard drive. It
is called “X48 Data Drive”.

20 Double-click on X48 Data Drive to see its contents.

21 Look in the XProjects directory for projects.

To configure your Mac OS X computer for networking to
the X-48MKII:

1 Click on System Preferences... under the Apple menu

and choose Network.

2 (Optional:) You may want to make a new Location

under the Location pull-down menu.

3 Double-click on Built-In Ethernet.

4 Click the Configure IPv4 pull-down menu and choose

Manually.

5 Set IP Address to 192.168.1.2. (Note: This is different

from the X-48MKII’s IP address.) If this IP address
is already in use on your network, pick a different
number for the last digit.

TASCAM X-48MKII 23

4 – Configuration

6 Set Subnet Mask to be 255.255.255.0.

7 Leave Router, DNS Servers and Search Domains blank.

8 Click Apply Now and close the window.

9 Open a new Finder window and click the Network

globe on the left side of the window.

10 Your X-48MKII will show up similar to this: “X48-

uo0t97er5vk”. (It is possible that you may need to
wait a minute or so for the X-48MKII to show up in
this list.)

11 Double click on the icon that represents the

connected X-48MKII.

12 You should be prompted to enter a user name and

password. The user name is “administrator” and the
password is “admin”.

13 The Finder will ask you which drive you want to

mount. There is only one choice, “X48 Data Drive”.
Click OK.

14 Double-click on X48 Data Drive to see its contents.

15 Look in the XProjects directory for projects.

If you’re having trouble getting things to work, you should
be able to “ping” the X-48MKII from the PC. Open an MS­DOS window (Windows) or the Terminal in Applications/
Utilities (Mac OS X) and type “ping 192.168.1.1”. Note that
this example uses the IP address specified in the above
steps. If the X-48MKII does not respond then something is
not connected or configured correctly.

You can change this unit’s network name. This is the name
shown on a computer connected to the unit by a network.
To change this name, click Set X48 Name in the File menu
shown on the display connected to the unit.

Checking Free Hard Drive Space

Prior to beginning a recording project, you’ll probably
want to check your available hard drive space.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Options menu Disk Usage Display item.

2 When Disk Usage is selected, the hard disk usage

(%) is shown to the left of the CPU meter on the
connected display.

When Record Time Remaining is selected, the amount

of recording time possible for the set Rec Track
number is shown.

3 Press the 5/b buttons to see the free space on

each of your drives.

4 Press HOME when you’re finished.

Drive Benchmarking Utility

The X-48MKII includes a utility that you can use to test
any connected drive before using it. The recorder runs
a series of write/read tests and then reports how many
tracks it can record to that drive disk for each sample rate
by converting the transmission capability into numbers of
tracks.

NOTE

The number of usable tracks cannot exceed 48.

•

We recommend using this utility whenever you

•

connect a new hard disk drive (particularly when
connecting eSATA/USB external drive enclosures with
unknown disks inside) and when recording in cold
temperatures. (In cold temperatures, reading and
writing speeds might be reduced.)

To run the Drive Benchmarking Tool:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation (only)

1 Click the File menu and choose Drive Benchmarking...

2 Choose your hard drive from the pull-down menu.

3 Click OK to start the test. In about a minute, the

X-48MKII will report how many tracks you can
record to this drive at 48 kHz and at 96 kHz.

Maintaining good hard disk performance

8

In order for this unit to write 48 tracks, which is a great
amount of data, to a hard disk, the data transmission rate
must be sufficient. To assure this, it is necessary to always
keep hard disks in good condition. This is especially
important when using external hard disk drives and when
using 88.2 and 96 kHz “double” sampling rates.

In order to prevent errors caused by insufficient data
transmission rates, please conduct the following
maintenance operations regularly.

If 3 or more projects have already been created on a

•

single hard disk partition, erase all the projects and
format that partition first before creating a new project
on it.

Before starting a long recording, format the hard disk

•

and create a new project first.

CAUTION

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the DISK button

2 Use the 5/b buttons to select Free Space, and

press CHNG button.

At around 0° C and below, hard drive performance
decreases and the number of recordable tracks can
be affected. Before undertaking important recording,
check the drive performance using the File menu Drive
Benchmarking… item. We also recommend testing
recording for 1–2 minutes.

24 TASCAM X-48 MKII

4 – Configuration

Recommended specifications for external

8

hard drives

We recommend using external hard drives that have
rotation speeds of 7200 rpm or more and a cache of 8 MB
or more. Hard drives with lower specifications might not
be able to handle the transmission of 48 tracks. Moreover,
we highly recommend that you use the File menu Drive
Benchmarking… item to check external hard drives
regularly.

Formatting a New Drive

A new hard drive needs to be formatted before recording
on the X-48MKII. To do this:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the File menu and choose Disk Management...

2 The X-48MKII warns you that it will shut down after

running this application. Click Yes (or No) to save
your project first.

3 The next prompt warns you that you can do some

serious damage by misusing the Disk Management
tool, such as modifying the C: drive. Click OK when
you’re ready to begin.

4 The Disk Management tool opens. Disk0 should be

the startup disk, partitioned into the C: drive (your
operating system and program files), and the D:
drive (the Data partition you can write to).

5 If you’ve connected an eSATA drive, you should see

it mounted as Disk1. To format this disk, right-click
the bar on the right and select Format.

6 Give the disk a name and click OK twice.

7 When you’re finished, click the Close box in the top

right corner. The X-48MKII will shut down. Restart
the recorder to begin using your drive.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Open the Windows menu and select Settings.

2 Click the System tab.

3 Click the System Settings Reset button. The recorder

will ask you if you want to restore the X-48MKII to
factory settings, click OK.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYS button.

2 Press the 5/b buttons until you select Settings

and press CHNG.

3 Select Recall Defaults using the 5/b buttons

and press CHNG.

4 The display will ask, Reset settings to

factory defaults? Press ENTER/YES.

5 Press the CLEAR/HOME button to return to the

Home Screen.

Store/Recall User Settings

You can store your own settings for later recall. You might
do this if you do multiple types of sessions that require
different configurations:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Open the Windows menu and select Settings.

2 Click the System tab.

3 Click the System Settings Store button. Type a name

for the settings and click Save.

4 To restore the system settings you’ve saved, click

the Recall button and find your backup.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the DISK button.

2 Use the 5/b buttons to select Quick Format

and press CHNG.

3 Select a drive using the 5/b buttons and press

ENTER.

4 The display will ask you if you want to format the

drive. Press ENTER/YES.

Factory Defaults

This section tells you how to restore the X-48MKII to
factory defaults.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYS button.

2 Press the 5/b buttons until you select Settings

and press CHNG.

3 Select S t o r e ... using the 5/b buttons and press

CHNG.

4 Give your settings a name using the 5/b buttons

and the CHNG button to cursor forward, then press
ENTER/YES.

5 To recall your settings, select R e c a l l ... from the

previous menu and locate your backup file.

TASCAM X-48MKII 25

Mixer Bypass

Bypassing the mixer section improves input to output
delay and reduces CPU usage by keeping the mixer EQ,
level, etc. settings disabled when using the X-48MKII
strictly as a recorder. Mixer Bypass is switched on by
default, so you will need to disable it before using the
mixer section.

To access this setting:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation (only)

1 Open the Windows menu and select Settings.

2 Select the System tab.

3 Check or uncheck the Mixer Bypass checkbox.

Make a Default Project

4 – Configuration

You can define a default project which has all of the
routing and sync presets you typically use.

To do this:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation (only)

1 Open the File menu and select Save Project As...

2 Double-click D:, XProjects and Startup in order.

3 Name your project “Startup”. Click OK to replace the

old file.

26 TASCAM X-48MKII

5 – Recorder

Working With Projects

Creating a New Project

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click on the File menu and select New Project... or

press Control-N on the keyboard.

2 The display will ask you if you wish to save changes

to the current project. Click on Yes or No.

3 The display prompts you for the following

information:

Name

Type a name for the project using the keyboard

Drive

Select which drive to record to

Mode

Either Non-Destructive or Destructive. See next section for
explanation.

Sample Rate

The sample rate for the session. Most users will choose
either 44.1k (CD-standard), 48k (DVD-standard), 88.2k (2x
CD) or 96k (2x DVD). A number of other sample rates are
provided for post production use. See “Sample Rates“
(page 18) for more information on when to use these
sample rates.

Bit Depth

Choices of 16-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit Floating Point are provided.

Destructive versus Non-Destructive Recording

The X-48MKII provides two methods for recording, Non­Destructive (the default) and Destructive.

When Non-Destructive recording is selected, new
recordings are written to the hard drive as new WAVE
files. With this method, you can return to an old take of
a recording using Undo or by editing the previous take.
The disadvantage to this method is that your hard drive is
filled with Wave files. If you imported all of these files into
a digital workstation, you may not be able to tell which
was the final approved recording unless you had exported
an AAF file as well.

Using Destructive recording is just like using a multitrack
tape, and is often referred to as “tape mode.” If you look at
the hard drive after recording this way, you will see one
long WAVE file for every track that you recorded to. Film
re-recording mixers use destructive recording to record
their final mixes. As they punch in and out of their mix
recorder all day, they only want one master file of the
approved mix to encode into Dolby Digital or however
it’s being processed for release. Destructive recording
also has the advantage that it uses less hard drive space,
since old takes aren’t kept. But just like the multitrack tape
it emulates, when you record over something it’s gone
forever. There’s no undo in destructive recording mode.

DEST REC is shown at the top center of the connected
display, and appears lit when in destructive mode.

NOTE

This has the same meaning as the DEST REC (SYSTEM)
indicator on the front panel.

Opening a Project

4 Click OK when complete.

Front Panel Operation

1 On the front panel of the X-48MKII, press the PROJ

button, press the 5/b arrows to select New and
press CHNG.

2 Press the Yes or No button to save the current

project.

3 Choose a drive to record to with the 5/b buttons

and press ENTER.

4 Select the bit depth 16 Bit , 2 4 Bit or Flo a tin g

Point and press Enter.

5 Give the project a name using the 5/b buttons to

change letters, the CHNG button to select the next
letter. Press Enter to create the project or EXIT to
cancel.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click on the File menu and select Open Project... or

press Control-O on the keyboard.

2 The display will ask you if you wish to save changes

to the current project. Click on Yes or No.

3 The Open Project window appears. At the top of

this window, click the Up button to navigate up a
level on your hard drive, or all the way up to see all
drives connected to the system.

4 Double-click on the folder containing your project.

You should see a project with the filename you
chose ending in an “.ndr” extension. Double-click
on this file to open the project.

TASCAM X-48MKII 27

5 – Recorder

Front Panel Operation

1 On the front panel of the X-48MKII, press the PROJ

button, press the 5/b arrows to select Open and
press CHNG.

2 Press the Yes or No button to save the current

project.

3 Choose a folder.

4 Select the file/folder to open using the 5/b

buttons and press ENTER, or EXIT to cancel.

Saving a Project

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

• ClickontheFile menu and select Save Project...
or press Control-S on the keyboard.

Front Panel Operation

• OnthefrontpaneloftheX-48MKII,pressthePROJ

button, press the 5/b arrows to select Save and
press CHNG.

Saving Your Work

How often do you need to save? The X-48MKII writes data
to the drive during recording. You should periodically save
during recording, and whenever you change something
in the mixer.

You may also want to switch on Auto Save, described
below. During recording, however, audio clips are
captured with Fail Safe recording, which updates the WAV
file headers every 5 seconds.

For best results and peace of mind, save early and often.

Front Panel Operation

1 On the front panel of the X-48MKII, press the PREF

button.

2 Press the 5/b arrows until you select Auto

Save and press CHNG.

3 Press the 5/b buttons to select On and press

ENTER.

4 Press the PREF button again, press the Up button

once to select Auto Save Time and press CHNG.

5 Change the Auto-save interval time (10 minutes is

the default) and press ENTER.

NOTE

Turn the Auto Save function OFF when using the unit only
for playback.

Importing a Project

The X-48MKII can import an Open TL project. This function
can only be accessed from the mouse and keyboard. It is
not possible to import a file using the LCD on the front
panel.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation (only)

1 To open this project, select Import Project... from the

File menu.

2 The recorder will prompt you to save your project,

click either Yes or No.

3 Select a project to import using the window

interface. You can navigate up to select another
drive. Click Open or Cancel to select a project.

A progress bar appears while importing.

Auto-Saving Projects

You may want to enable auto-save so that your recordings
and mixes are saved in the event of a power outage.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click on the Windows menu and select Settings, or

press Alt-F8 on the keyboard.

2 Select the Prefs tab.

3 Click the Auto-save Projects checkbox. You can specify

how often the machine saves, from every 1 to 120
minutes (10 minutes is the default).

Exporting a Project

The X-48MKII can export the recording project as either
an AAF file (Advanced Authoring Format) or an Open
TL file. AAF files are supported by most digital audio
workstations, including Pro Tools, Logic and Nuendo. You
may need additional software to import an AAF file, such
as DigiTranslator for Pro Tools. Consult your workstations
documentation or support website for more information.
This function can only be accessed from the mouse and
keyboard. It is not possible to import a file using the front
panel LCD.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation (only)

1 To open this project, select Export Project... from the

File menu.

2 Using the Filter control at the bottom of the window,

select either AAF or Open TL as your output format.

28 TASCAM X-48MKII

5 – Recorder

3 You can navigate up to select another drive. Click

Save to export the project.

Exporting as an AAF file

8

When exporting as an AAF file, you can export as an
embedded or non-embedded file. When you choose
the File menu “Export Project...” item the export screen
appears. On this screen, you can set whether to export
an embedded AAF file or a non-embedded AAF file. The
difference between embedded and non-embedded files
is explained below.

Embedded AAF files contain all the information and

•

audio files for a project. In other words, the entire
project can be stored in a single embedded AAF file
(.aaf). The maximum size of a single AAF file, however,
cannot exceed 2 GB. For this reason, if the total data
of the project exceeds 2 GB (because it has many
tracks and/or very long clips), you must export it as
a non-embedded AAF. If you try to export a project
that is larger than 2 GB as an embedded AAF, an error
message will appear and exporting will be canceled.

Non-embedded AAF files only contain the project

•

information. When you export this way, a folder that
contains all the audio files will also be created. As with
embedded AAF files, the maximum size is 2 GB, but this
limitation has no practical effect since non-embedded
AAF files do not contain audio files.

Copying a Project

You can make a copy of a project with the X-48MKII, for
instance as a backup to another drive. This copies the
project and all of its wave recordings, unlike Save As...
which only copies the project file.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click on the File menu and select File Manager or

press Ctrl-F on the keyboard.

2 You should see the File Manager window with two

panes on the left and right. In the left hand pane,
navigate to the project folder you want to copy
(containing the .ndr file and Audio folder). Click on
this folder so it’s highlighted.

3 Using the controls on the right side, navigate

to where you want to copy the project to, i.e. a
removable eSATA hard drive.

4 When you’re ready to begin copying, press the

>> button under the word Copy between the two
panes.

Front Panel Operation

2 Press the 5/b arrows until you select a source

project folder and press ENTER.

3 Press the 5/b arrows and select a project file (.ndr

file) and press ENTER.

4 Press the 5/b arrows and select a destination

drive and press ENTER.

5 Enter a destination project name by using 5/b

arrows and CHNG button, and press ENTER.

For details about how to copy projects in a connected
network, see “Networking” on page 22.

Backing Up a Project to CD/DVD

Use the built-in DVD drive to make a backup.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation (only)

1 Click on the File menu and select File Manager or

press Control-F on the keyboard.

2 You should see the File Manager window with two

panes on the left and right. In the left hand pane,
navigate to the project folder you want to back up
(containing the .ndr file and Audio folder). Click on
this folder so it is highlighted.

3 In the center pane, click the Backup button.

4 The Burn Options window should appear. It will tell

you how large the project folder you selected is,
and will give you the option to burn the project
to a 650MB CD , 700MB CD or 4.7GB DVD. You can also
click a checkbox to verify the disk after it has been
burned.

NOTE

Backups can only be made using the built-in DVD drive

•
or a different hard disk.

Only one project can be backed up at a time.

•

Deleting a Project

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click on the File menu and select File Manager or

press Control-F on the keyboard.

2 You should see the File Manager window with two

panes on the left and right. In the left hand pane,
navigate to the project folder you want to delete
(containing the .ndr file and Audio folder). Click on
this folder so it’s highlighted.

3 In the center pane, click the Delete button.

4 In the Confirm Delete window that opens, click OK.

1 On the front panel of the X-48MKII, press the PROJ

button, press the 5/b arrows to select Copy and
press CHNG.

TASCAM X-48MKII 29

5 – Recorder

Front Panel Operation

1 On the front panel of the X-48MKII, press the PROJ

button, press the 5/b arrows to select Delete
and press CHNG.

2 Press the 5/b arrows to select a project folder

and press ENTER.

3 Press the 5/b arrows and select a project file

(.n d r file) and press ENTER.

4 A confirmation message appears. Press YES/NO to

execute/cancel the delete operation.

Load Last Project

The X-48MKII can default to loading the last project used
at startup. This is useful for working on long-term projects,
or when the X-48MKII is used as a playback device for live
or theater use.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click on the Windows menu and select Settings or

press Alt-F8 on the keyboard.

2 The Settings window will open. Click on the tab at

the bottom of this window titled Prefs.

3 At the top of the screen is a checkbox labeled Load

Last Project on startup. Check this box.

Front Panel Operation

1 On the front panel of the X-48MKII, press the PREF

button, press the 5/b arrows to select Load

Last Project and press CHNG.

2 Use the 5/b buttons to select On and press

ENTER.

RHSL Starts Rehearsal recording. This simulates

recording (changing input monitor modes
as selected) without actually punching into
record. It can also be used to set punch in/out
points.

REC Starts recording when pressed at the same

time as PL AY. It can start recording on its own if

One Button Record is set to on, (see

next section).

One-Button Record

This function allows recording to begin when the record
button is pressed by itself, instead of requiring both the
record and play buttons to be pressed at the same time.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click on the Windows menu and select Settings or

press Alt-F8 on the keyboard.

2 The Settings window will open. Click on the tab at

the bottom of this window titled Transport.

3 At the top of the screen is a checkbox labeled One

Button Record. Check this box.

Front Panel Operation

1 On the front panel of the X-48MKII, press the

PREF button, press the 5/b arrows to select One

Button Record and press CHANGE.

2 Use the 5/b buttons to select On and press Enter.

TC Chase

The TC Chase feature allows your X-48MKII to chase
incoming timecode.

Transport Operations

Local

The X-48MKII has six transport buttons you should already
be familiar with. These buttons are found on the front
panel and on the VGA display:

REW Rewinds the transport. After rewinding for

three seconds, it rewinds at a faster rate. After
another three seconds, faster still.

F FWD Puts the transport in Fast-Forward. It moves at

increasingly faster rates like the
Rewind button.

STOP Stops playback, recording or loop playback.
PL AY Starts playback, loop playback or loop

recording.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

Click TC Chase at the top center of the connected

display.

Front Panel Operation

• OnthefrontpaneloftheX-48MKII,presstheTC

CHASE button. The unit will chase time code

according to the setting made in the Settings
menu Time Code item.

NOTE

To set the timecode, click the Windows menu and select
the Settings item (or press Alt-F8 on the keyboard) to open
the SETTINGS screen. Click the Sync tab and select the
timecode next to the Timecode item.

30 TASCAM X-48MKII

5 – Recorder

Rehearse

The Rehearse feature allows you to hear the effects of
recording without actually recording to disk. This feature
is useful for testing auto-punch in and out points or for
rehearsing talent before recording.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

• ClickontheREH button in the transport section in
the top-right corner of the screen.

Front Panel Operation

• PresstheRHSLbutton.

This function, however, works only when “One-button
rehearsal” has been set, as described below.

One-button rehearsal

8

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings

item (or press Alt-F8 on the keyboard) to open the
SETTINGS screen. Click the Transport tab.

2 Put a check into the One Button Rehearse checkbox at

the top of the screen.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the PREF button.

2 Use the 5/b buttons to select One Button

Rehearse and push the CHNG button.

3 Use the 5/b buttons to select On and push the

ENTER/YES button.

Front Panel Operation

1 On the front panel of the X-48MKII, press the PREF

button. Use the 5/b buttons to select Use Pre/

Post-Roll and press CHNG.

2 Use the 5/b buttons to select On and press Enter.

3 Pre-roll and Post-roll times can also be changed in

the Preferences menu.

Varispeed

Varispeed playback changes the playback speed of the
recorder, re-sampling at the output to maintain the
selected sample rate. It can be useful when an instrument
cannot be tuned to match a recording or to speed up
or slow down a song’s playback (while simultaneously
changing the pitch).

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click on the Windows menu and select Settings or

press Alt-F8 on the keyboard.

2 Click the Sync tab.

3 Click on the checkbox labeled Varispeed. Use the

slider or click in the text box to specify the amount
of varispeed.

Recording as a timecode slave

In order to assure recording when functioning as a
timecode slave, if unlocked recording operations are
disabled and recording cannot be conducted. This is the
same as with TASCAM DTRS series and MX-2424 units. To
start recording when functioning as a timecode slave, the
unit must be locked (PLAY LED lit).

Pre/Post Roll

You can set the pre-roll and post-roll times for starting and
ending points when looping. For details about looping,
see “Loop Playback” on page 32.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click on the Windows menu and select Settings or

press Alt-F8 on the keyboard.

2 The Settings window will open. Click on the tab at

the bottom of this window titled Transport.

3 Click the checkbox labeled Enable Pre/Post-Roll. You

can click on the fields for pre-roll and post-roll to
specify how many seconds you require.

Recording and Playing Back

Input Monitoring

There are four options for input monitoring:

Normal input monitoring

Normal input monitoring puts any track that’s in record
in input monitoring. Whether the transport is in play,
record or stop, you will hear the input only and not what
is recorded. This mode is typically used for tracking.

Auto Input mode

When the recorder is in Auto Input mode, you will hear
the input when the transport is in stop or record. When
the transport is in play, you will hear what was previously
recorded. This mode is used for punch-in recording, so
that the artist and engineer can hear what was previously

TASCAM X-48MKII 31

5 – Recorder

on the track before recording over a section of that
performance.

ADR Monitoring Mode

ADR Monitoring Mode is similar to Auto Input, but puts
the track in input only when the transport is in record.
The track reverts to playback in stop or play to prevent
feedback.

All Input mode

All Input mode enables input monitoring for all tracks,
whether they are armed for recording or not. This mode is
often used for live recording.

Input monitoring can be set the following ways.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

• ForAutoInput,clickontheOptions menu, scroll
over the Auto Input submenu and select On or ADR.

• ForAllInput,clickontheOptions menu and select
All Input.

Front Panel Operation

• ToenableAutoInput,presstheAUTOINPUT

button on the front panel.

• ForAllInputmode,holdtheSHIFTbuttonwhile

pressing AUTO INPUT.

Putting Individual Tracks into Input

TIP

When auto input is off, you can set the input mode for
individual tracks.

Front Panel Operation

• PresstheRecordEnablebuttonsonthefront

panel. The Record indicator will flash on tracks that
are ready to record.

Punch Crossfade Time

To avoid an audio click when punching in and out of
record, the X-48MKII automatically fades into and out of
record. This crossfade time is very fast, but prevents an
audio pop. The crossfade time can be set between 0ms
(disabled) and 90ms in increments of 10ms.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

• ClickontheWindows menu and select Settings. Select
the Prefs tab and click the Punch Crossfades submenu.
Select the desired crossfade time.

Front Panel Operation

• PressthePREFbuttonandusethe5/b buttons
to select Punch Crossfade. Press the CHNG
button, select the desired crossfade time using the

5/b buttons and press CHNG again.

Undo/Redo

Unlike tape machines, you can undo a recording pass and
then put it back with redo. Undo/redo is only available
from the mouse/keyboard interface.

You can put tracks into input mode on a channel-by­channel basis.

1 From the Mouse/Keyboard interface, click the I

button next to any track number.

2 From the front panel, hold the SHIFT button and

press any track arming button.

Record Enable

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

• ClickontheR button to the right of the track
numbers on the left side of the screen in the Tracks
view. The button will flash red to indicate it is ready
for record.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation (only)

• ClicktheEdit menu and choose Undo or press
Control-Z on the keyboard.

• Toredoanoperation,clicktheEdit menu and select
Redo (or press Control-Y on the keyboard). You can

also use the History List to undo and redo. For
details, see “History List” on page 44.

Metering

You can change various settings for the GUI meters shown
at the top of the screen on a connected display.

TIP

If the GUI meters are not shown, click the meter button
or press the keyboard “1” key to show them. (The numeric
keypad “1” does not have this function.)

Meter button

32 TASCAM X-48MKII

5 – Recorder

Peak Hold

Turn Peak Hold on or off.

Pre-fader/Post-fader

Select whether the meters show the signals before (pre)
or after (post) the faders. (This option is disabled when in
mixer bypass mode.)

View Masters

Set the track level meter display area to show the GROUP
and AUX Master level meters.

Clear Overloads

Select to clear overload indicators.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Options menu and select the Meters item.

From this item, you can select Mode, Peak Hold, View
Masters and Clear Overloads.

2 Select the Mode item and click Pre-Fader or Post-Fader

to select whether the meters show the signals
before or after the faders.

3 Click the Peak Hold item, putting a check next to it,

to turn it on.

4 Click View Master, putting a check next to it, to

switch from showing level meters for the 48 tracks
to showing them for GROUP and AUX masters.

NOTE

You can also directly click the meters on the screen to
show the levels of the GROUP, AUX and stereo masters.

5 Click Clear Overloads to clear overload indicators.

NOTE

To set the length of time that overloads are shown, click
the Windows menu and select the Settings item. Click the

Prefs tab and from the Clear Overloads pulldown, select
1 second, 5 seconds, 30 seconds or Hold (∞).

Front Panel Operation

• Pre-Fader/Post-Faderselection

Use the 5/b buttons to select Meter Mode and

press the CHNG button.

Use the 5/b buttons to select Pre-Fader or

Post-Fader and press the ENTER/YES button to

change the setting.

• Changingthescale(MeterViewRange)

Use the 5/b buttons to select Meter View

Range and press the CHNG button.

Use the 5/b buttons to select -∞ to 0dB

(default), -24dB to 0dB or -12dB to 0dB
and press the ENTER/YES button to change the
setting.

TIP

A finer dB scale is useful, for example, when sending a test
tone to a recorder for adjustment of an analog I/O card or
a Dolby encoder.

Using Markers

Markers allow you to label sections of a recording for
visual reference and to locate back to later.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

• Tocreateamarker,clicktheEdit menu and
select New Marker or press the Enter key on your
keyboard’s number pad.

• Toaccessamemorylocation,opentheMarkers
window from the Windows menu. From here you can
select a memory location, rename it and locate to
it.

Loop Playback

You can loop a section of the timeline for playback or
recording. The loop plays back (with preroll and postroll
settings, if assigned) until the stop button is pressed.

Depending on the loop playback mode settings, the
number of times playback loops, for example, will differ.

1 Press the PREF button, and use the 5/b buttons

to select Meters and press the CHNG button.

2 Set the P e a k H old, Meter Mode and Meter

View Range items.

• PeakHoldsetting

Use the 5/b buttons to select P e a k H old.

Use the 5/b buttons to select On (default) or Off

and press the ENTER/YES button to change the
setting.

Loop button

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the loop button to enable loop playback

(button lights).

The beginning and stop points of the loop are shown
with blue triangles on the timeline ruler. By default,
both the start and stop points are set at 00:00:00:00.

2 Drag the loop start and stop points to the location

you want them.

In addition, you can also capture the current time

as the loop start or stop point by opening the I/O

TASCAM X-48MKII 33

5 – Recorder

Marker Properties screen (select from Windows menu)
and selecting Loop. You can also enter them directly
on this screen.

You can also capture loop points during loop

playback. Use the keyboard F key to set the start
point and the T key to set the stop point.

NOTE

The loop interval is not shown on the screen when the
loop function is off.

3 Press Play.

4 To disable the loop function, click the loop button

again.

Loop Mode

The X-48MKII has three Loop Modes:

Play Once and Cue

Play Once and Cue plays through the loop once, then
locates to the beginning of the loop (or pre-roll point if
enabled) and stops.

Play Once and Stop

Play Once and Stop plays through the loop once and then
stops at the loop end (or post-roll point if enabled).

Play Repeatedly

Play Repeatedly plays through the loop, locates to the
beginning of the loop (or preroll point if enabled) and
plays again, repeating until the stop button is pressed.

By default, the Loop mode is set to Play Once and Cue. To
change this behavior:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click on the Windows menu and choose Settings.

2 Select the Transport tab.

3 The submenu titled Loop Mode has the three choices

explained above.
You can also set the playback mode using the LOOP
MODE item on the I/O MARKER Properties screen (select
from the Windows menu).

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the PREF button. Press the 5/b buttons

until you select Loop Mode and press CHNG.

2 Select one of the three choices explained above

and press Enter.

Auto Punch

The Auto Punch function automatically drops into and
out of record when switched on. This is used to automate
a difficult punch in and out, such as one word in a lead
vocal or an ADR (automated dialog replacement) line that
will be attempted several times.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 First, set the punch in and punch out points. At the

default setting, the starting and ending points of
the last recording are automatically set as the in
and out points, respectively. You can disable this
automatic setting by opening the Transport tab of
the SETTINGS screen (select the Settings item from the
Windows menu), and remove the check mark next to
the Update Punch Points item. )

You can also drag the punch in and out points in

the timeline ruler, they are the red triangles that
fill the timeline ruler. You may want to zoom into a
waveform and set the markers manually if you’re
trying to replace or spot-erase some recorded
audio.

In addition, you can also capture the current time

as the punch in or punch out point by opening
the I/O Marker Properties screen (select from Windows
menu) and selecting Punch. You can also enter them
directly on this screen.

2 Hold the Shift button and click the Record button

on the onscreen transport to switch on Auto Punch
mode. The Record light will flash.

3 Move the transport to a location before the punch-

in point and press Play. When the transport reaches
the punch-in point it will punch into record. When
it passes the punch-out point it will go into play
again.

Front Panel Operation

1 First, set the punch in and out points. By default,

the recorder remembers the last timecode that
you punched into and out of record and uses
these for your punch in and out points. (To change
this behavior, press the PREF button to open the
Preferences menu and use the  and  buttons to
select Update Punch Points and change that
setting to Off.) You can use the Rehearse button
to punch in and out of record without actually
recording to set new punch in and out points.

2 To enter Auto Punch mode, hold the SHIFT

button and press RECORD. The Record light
will flash.

3 Move the transport to a location before the punch-

in point and press PLAY. When the transport
reaches the punch-in point it will punch into

34 TASCAM X-48MKII

5 – Recorder

record. When it passes the punch-out point it will
go into play again.

NOTE

Press the SHIFT and REC buttons again to disable Auto
Punch mode.

Loop Recording

You can also record while in loop mode. When you record
in loop mode (and non-destructive recording is selected),
a new audio file is written each time the recorder makes
a pass. You might use this feature when trying multiple
successive takes of a guitar solo, for example. To use the
loop recording feature, turn on both Loop Playback and

Auto Punch and press Play. (See previous sections.)

Audio pool

Select the Windows menu Audio Pool... item on the
connected display, or press Ctrl-P on the keyboard to
open the audio pool screen.

The audio pool screen shows all the audio files referenced
by the currently open project and allows the following
operations.

Relink

If an audio file that is referenced by an audio clip cannot
be found, click the name of that audio clip and click the
“Relink” button. The currently missing audio file will be
searched for and relinked automatically. A referenced
audio file can be lost when it has been moved manually
using the File Manager, for example, or the external drive
that it is on is disconnected.

Rename

You can change the file name of an audio file. Doing this
will not break links between audio files and audio clips.

Remove

You can remove references to audio files. Use this function
on audio files that are no longer necessary, for example.

Remove Unused

This removes audio regions that are not used in the
project from the audio pool. If you put a check next to the
Delete unreferenced audio files item before clicking OK, those
audio files will also be erased from the hard disk.

Using the VGA Recorder Interface

Meters

The X-48MKII displays meters on the top of the screen
by default. To show or hide these meters, click the meter
button in the middle of the display. For more about the
on-screen meters, see page 31, Metering.

Meter button

Naming Tracks

Each of the tracks can be named for easy reference and for
auto-naming recorded wave files.

To name a track:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation (only)

1 Click on the Tracks tab at the bottom of the screen

or press F1.

2 Double click on the track-name on the left side of

the screen, such as Track 1.

3 Type a new name and press Enter.

Scrolling

You can control the way that tracks scroll on the X-48MKII.

None

None means that playback will not change the view
selected in the screen

Auto-Scroll

Auto-Scroll means that the center line will remain
stationary and the waveform will move under that. The
playback line needs to move to the center of the display
first, but once it “catches up” it will remain there.

Page Flip

Page Flip tells the playback line to scroll across the screen,
then advance to the next chunk of timeline and scroll
across that. This is the same as the default view for Pro
Tools.

To change the scrolling behavior:

1 Click the Options menu and select Scrolling.

2 Choose either None, Auto-Scroll or Page-flip.

You can also click the Auto Scroll button in the top left
corner of the Tracks display:

Auto Scroll button

TASCAM X-48MKII 35

Timebar Format

The time ruler can be displayed in SMPTE time or in
samples.

To change this behavior:

1 Click the Options menu and select Timebar Format.

2 Choose either SMPTE or Samples.

You can also show a large display of the timecode

position in a separate window. Click Time Display in
the Windows menu to open the timecode position
display in a separate window.

Clip Properties

To specify information about a clip, open the Clip Properties
window:

1 Use the Smart tool to select a clip.

2 Under the Windows menu, select Clip Properties... or

press Control-2 from the keyboard.

• Youcancheckfilenamechanges,startpoint

and end point settings, audio clip movements
(timecode contained in broadcast wave files or
changes in playback position), track numbers and
other metadata (Coding History).

• Youcanalsospecifyafadeinandfadeouttime

and shape from this window, mute or lock the clip
position.

Another way to edit these values, without opening the
Clip Properties window, is to click the Info button in the
display. A new panel opens up below the transport with
the same clip options.

5 – Recorder

Current sample rate

•

Auto input (AUTO IN), all recordings safe (REC SAFE),

•

Timecode Chase (TC CHASE) and destructive recording
(DEST REC) status (indicators appear blue when
enabled)

Hard disk usage and remaining recording time

•

CPU load

•

Project name

•

Changing part colors on the track screen

Click Color Setup in the Option menu to open the Color
SETUP screen where you can change the color of clip

backgrounds, clip waveforms and other items, allowing
you to customize their appearance.

These color changes are saved with the project.

Synchronization

Requirements

In order to reliably synchronize the X-48MKII to another
device, two references are required:

Location reference

Usually, this is SMPTE (LTC) timecode input through the
unit’s TIME CODE IN connector or MTC timecode input
through the MIDI IN connector. This tells the X-48MKII
where in the timeline to go.

Info button

Navigating the Timeline

There are several ways to change the playhead position:

• Dragthebottomscrollbarleftandright,thenclick

in the track display to jump to that position.

• UsetheFastForwardandRewindbuttons,either

on-screen or on the front panel.

• Double-clickthetimecodepositionreadoutand

type in a new location with the keyboard.

• Useanexternalmachinecontroldevice(seenext

section on Synchronization).

Status Displays

To the right of the menu displays, you should see a screen
similar to the one above. This shows, from left to right:

Clock reference

A clock reference, typically word clock sent to the
X-48MKII through a BNC cable. This tells the X-48MKII how
fast to go once it gets to the right location.

The X-48MKII can run without an external word clock
source, but it will eventually drift out of sync. (You can
also use a digital audio signal such as AES/EBU as a clock
source.) You will also hear clicks and pops in the digital
audio if your entire studio is not resolved to a single
master clock.

Note that video clock is available on the X-48MKII, but
it cannot be used as the reference clock. Video clock is
only updated 60 times per second, where word clock is
updated 48,000 times or more per second. Long cable
runs can also cause video clock to go out of phase, which
may cause problems with digital consoles. Video clock
on the X-48MKII is used to define the frame edge of the
SMPTE input.

Word Clock

Word Clock sets the playback speed. Once the transport
position has been determined by the SMPTE input, the
unit follows the clock rate of the sample clock source
when playing back. (Set the clock source with the Source
item on the Sync tab of the SETTINGS screen (select the
Settings item from the Windows menu).)

36 TASCAM X-4 8MKII

5 – Recorder

Video Clock

Video Clock gives a precise frame edge to the SMPTE
timecode. Not available as a clock reference.

SMPTE Timecode

SMPTE Timecode is used as a location reference,
defining where in the timeline to locate to.

MIDI Timecode

MIDI Timecode (MTC) is sometimes used as a location
reference with MIDI sequencing software or computer­based DAW software

RS-422

In addition to receiving playback, record and other
transport commands, track record arming can also be
controlled

As these reference sources are all related, you can see
the importance of making sure that all of your devices
are resolved to the same clock reference. Another way to
look at sync on the X-48MKII is to examine the order that
things happen when the X-48MKII is online:

1. The X-48MKII either sees a transport command from
the RS-422 signal or sees SMPTE timecode and goes
into play.

2. The X-48MKII looks at either the SMPTE input or the
RS-422 to determine where in the timeline to
begin playback.

3. If enabled, the X-48MKII looks to the video clock input
for a more exact timestamp for the incoming SMPTE.

4. Once the X-48MKII is locked to the right SMPTE frame,
it starts playing at the rate dictated by its sample clock
source.

5. If the input SMPTE drops out or is otherwise
interrupted, playback (or recording) will stop while
the timecode is interrupted depending on the Chase
Freewheel setting. Moreover, if the input timecode and
the unit’s timecode drifts beyond the Relock Threshold
value, the input timecode will either be rechased or
the drift will be ignored and playback will continue
depending on the Chase Relock setting.

6. When SMPTE timecode stops or an RS-422 stop
command is received, the transport stops.

Sample Rate

A sample rate should be chosen when first creating a
project, with consideration to what will be done with the
final product. Your choices are:

44100 (CD standard)

•

48000 (DVD standard)

•

88200 (2x CD standard)

•

96000 (2x DVD standard)

•

42336 (44.1k conversion from film (24) to PAL (25))

•

44056 (44.1k pull-down)

•

44144 (44.1k pull-up)

•

45938 (44.1k conversion from PAL (25) to film (24))

•

46080 (48k conversion from film (24) to PAL (25))

•
47952 (48k pull-down)

•
48048 (48k pull-up)

•
50000 (48k conversion from PAL (25) to film (24))

•
84672 (2x 44.1k conversion from film (24) to PAL (25))

•
88112 (2x 44.1k pull-down)

•
88288 (2x 44.1k pull-up)

•
91875 (2x 44.1k conversion from PAL (25) to film (24))

•
92160 (2x 48k conversion from film (24) to PAL (25))

•
95904 (2x 48k pull-down)

•
96096 (2x 48k pull-up)

•
100000 (2x 48k conversion from PAL (25) to film (24))

•

If you change the sample rate after audio has been
recorded, that audio will play back at a different pitch. To
change the sample rate:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings

window.

2 Click the Sync tab and set the sampling frequency

using the Rate item in the Sample Clock section.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYNC button. Press the 5/b buttons to

select Sample Rate and press CHNG.

2 Select a sample rate from the list using the 5/b

buttons and press Enter.

3 When Changing Sample Rate OK? appears,

press the ENTER/YES button.

Clock Source

One of the most important settings on the X-48MKII is the
sample clock source, which governs playback speed and
keeps audio pops from happening. There are five choices.

Internal

Internal is the default. This can be used if the X-48MKII
is either used by itself, with an analog console or as the
master clock for the studio.

Word Clock

Word Clock should be used when you have an external,
dedicated master clock available. The word clock
generator needs to be set to the same sample rate as the
X-48MKII.

S/PDIF

S/PDIF clocks the X-48MKII from the digital audio signal
coming into the S/PDIF Digital Input.

TASCAM X-48MKII 37

5 – Recorder

TDIF Port 1

TDIF Port 1 clocks the X-48MKII from the digital audio
signal coming into the TDIF Digital Input channels 1-8.

If you have digital audio option cards installed (IF-AD24(X)
/ IF-AE24(X) ), those will show up as an available clock
source as ‘ADAT Card’ / ‘AES/EBU Card’.

When in doubt, use Word Clock as the reference source. To
change the clock source:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

• ClicktheWindows menu and select the
Settings window.

• ClicktheSync tab and click the Source item in the
Sample Clock section.

Choose your desired master clock from the list.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYNC button. Press the 5/b buttons to

select Sample Clock Source and press CHNG.

2 Select a clock source from the list using the 5/b

buttons and press Enter.

BNC Clock In/BNC Clock Out

These parameters allow the word clock signal input or
output to be multiplied or divided by 2, or used as-is. This
allows, for example, a 48 kHz word clock generator to be
used when recording at 96 kHz, or allows 48k and 96k
devices to be used at the same time.

To change these settings:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

BNC Word Clock Output Polarity

This setting allows the Word Clock signal outphase to be
reversed. This may be necessary in large systems or with
long cable runs.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings

window.

2 Click on the Sync tab and check the box labeled

Invert Word Out Polarity.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYNC button. Press the 5/b buttons to

select Word Out Polarity and press CHNG.

2 Use the 5/b buttons to select either Normal or

Inverted and press Enter.

Video Clock Frame-Edge Resolve

Video Clock in the X-48MKII can be used to define the
frame edge of incoming and generated timecode for
stability and repeatability. (But not as a sample clock
source, see ”Requirements” on page 35.)

To enable video clock:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu, select the Settings window

and click the Sync tab.

2 Check the box labeled Resolve to Video In in the Time

Code area.

1 Click the Windows menu and select the

Settings window.

2 Click the Sync tab and click the BNC In or BNC Out

item in the Sample Clock section. Choose a setting
from the list.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYNC button. Press the 5/b buttons to

select BNC Clock In or BNC Clock Out and
press CHNG.

2 Use the 5/b buttons to select a setting and

press Enter.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYNC button. Press the 5/b buttons to

select Resolve to Video In and press CHNG.

2 Press the 5/b buttons to select On and press

Enter.

Frame Rate

The X-48MKII syncs to any frame rate of SMPTE timecode:

30-frame non-drop (30 NDF)• is occasionally used in
music studios to sync console automation to a tape
machine (2” reel-to-reel tape may be striped with this
format)

30-frame drop (30 Drop)• is rarely used

29.97 non-drop (29.97 NDF)• is the standard for non-

broadcast post-production in the U.S.

38 TASC AM X-48MKI I

5 – Recorder

29.97 drop (29.97 Drop)• is the standard for broadcast
television post production in the U.S.

25-frame non-drop (25 NDF)• is the standard in Europe

24-frame non-drop (24 NDF)• is sometimes used for

HDTV production or film location recording

24.975 non-drop (24.975 NDF)• is 25-frame pull-
down, used to play 25-frame videos on American NTSC
monitors

23.976 non-drop (23.976 NDF)• is “HD pull-down,”
used to play down-converted HD videos on American
NTSC monitors

To change the frame rate:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings

window.

2 Click on the Sync tab and click the Frame Rate

submenu. Choose your desired frame rate from the
list.

Front Panel Operation

• PresstheSYNCbutton.Pressthe5/b buttons to
select Fram e Rate and press CHNG.

• Selectaframeratefromthelistusingthe5/b
buttons and press Enter.

Control Mode

Four control modes are available:

Internal

Internal is the default setting, the X-48MKII controls its
own transport and ignores the SMPTE timecode input.

SMPTE

SMPTE follows the SMPTE timecode input for location,
from the TIME CODE input on the rear panel.

MIDI (MTC)

MIDI (MTC) looks to the MIDI input for timecode.

Theater Play

Theater Play plays a section of the timeline, stops, and
waits for a Play command to play the next section.

Theater Play mode overview

8

Using the Theater Play mode, you can play back cues one
after another. This function is useful for triggering the
playback of musical cues and effects during theater and
radio performances, for example.

To activate this mode, use a mouse and keyboard or the
front panel of the unit to set the control mode to Theater
Play.

In this mode, you can playback and locate to cues.

Each cue contains two items of time data: the start point
and the stop point.

Cue number 1 starts at the time set for marker #0 and
stops at the time set for marker #1. Cue number 2 starts
at marker #2 and stops at marker #3. Cue number 3 uses
markers #4 and #5, and so on.

Before enabling Theater Play mode, a cue must be set
within the project.

The total number of markers in a project must be even
(e.g. #00–#07). If the total number of markers in a project
is odd, the transport will not locate to the final marker.

In this mode, press the PLAY button to start playback from
the beginning of the first cue (marker #0). Playback will
continue until the end of the cue (marker #1) and then
the transport will locate to the beginning of the next cue
(marker #2) and stop. When the unit is instructed to play
again, it will play this cue.

If you connect a footswitch to the FOOT SWITCH jack
on the rear panel of the unit, you can trigger playback by
pressing the footswitch. In other words, the footswitch
functions as the PLAY button in theater mode.

Theater Play mode operation

8

When the control mode is set to Theater Play, pressing

•
the FF or REW button will locate to the playback start

marker of the previous or next cue and standby.

During playback of a cue, press the STOP button to

•
stop playback at that point. Press the PLAY button

again to locate to the starting marker of that cue and
start playback again.

Recording is not possible when the control mode is set

•
to Theater Play.

The second line of the front panel display shows the

•
current cue number and the marker numbers assigned

to that cue when the control mode is set to Theater
Play.

During Theater Play, you can press the • REH button to
enable rehearsal mode, allowing playback from the
middle of a cue.

Click the Markers item in the Windows menu to open the
MARKERS screen. On the MARKERS screen, you can locate
to the cue you want, and play it back. In addition, you
can click the Theatre Playlist in the Windows menu to
open the THEATER PLAYLIST screen. On the THEATER
PLAYLIST screen, you can reorder cues as you like.

Put a check next to Enable Theatre Playlist to play back
cues in the THEATER PLAYLIST order.

To change the control mode:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings

window.

TASCAM X-48MKII 39

5 – Recorder

2 Click on the Sync tab and click the Control Mode

submenu. Choose the desired control mode from
the list.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYNC button. Press the 5/b buttons to

select Control Mode and press CHNG.

2 Select a control mode from the list using the 5/b

buttons and press Enter.

Chase Freewheel

Use the Chase Freewheel item to set how much drift
caused by input timecode dropouts and other gaps will
be tolerated before the unit stops chasing timecode.
Playback stops when drift exceeds this value.

When input timecode is next recognized, chase is
restarted (when in recording mode, it stays unlocked).

Use the following procedures to set freewheel to 0, 5, 10,
20, 50, 100 frames or ∞ (Infinite).

When set to ∞ (Infinite), the unit will continue playback/
recording regardless of input timecode.

To change the setting:

Only if not recording

Only if not recording shifts the transport in play but not in
record.

During recording, timecode drift is ignored and recording
continues.

Never

During both recording and playback, timecode drift is
ignored.

To change the re-lock setting:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings

window.

2 Click on the Sync tab and click the Chase Relock

submenu. Choose a setting from the list.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYNC button. Press the 5/b buttons to

select Chase Relock and press CHNG.

2 Choose a setting from the list using the 5/b

buttons and press Enter.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings

window.

2 Click on the Sync tab and click the Chase Freewheel

submenu. Choose the desired setting from the list.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYNC button. Press the 5/b buttons to

select Chase Freewheel and press CHNG.

2 Select a value from the list using the 5/b buttons

and press Enter.

Chase Relock

If the SMPTE drifts outside of the Chase Relock Threshold
window (see next section), this setting tells the X-48MKII
what to do.

Always

Always tells the transport to shift to the correct timecode
value, even if it’s in record.

If the threshold value is exceeded and rechase occurs,
recording mode will be disabled.

Chase Relock Threshold

This parameter governs how far out of sync the X-48MKII
can drift before the Chase Relock feature forces it back in
sync. (Or not, see previous section.) The range is AUTO, 1/3
frame, 1 frame, 2 frames, 5 frames or 10 frames.

During recording, if the chase relock threshold setting
is exceeded and rechase occurs, recording mode will be
disabled.

This setting can only be changed from the GUI interface.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation (only)

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings

window.

2 Click on the Sync tab and click the Relock Threshold

submenu. Choose a setting from the list.

40 TASCAM X-48MKII

5 – Recorder

Timecode Offset

This offsets the transport from the incoming timecode.
The offset can be either positive or negative.

To change the offset:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings

window.

2 Click on the Sync tab and click in the Time Code Offset

field. Type a new offset with the keyboard.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYNC button. Press the 5/b buttons to

select Chase Offset and press CHNG.

2 Use the CHNG and HOME buttons to cursor through

the display. Use the 5/b buttons to change the
offset. Press the Enter button to save your offset.

Chase Lock Deviation

Chase Lock Deviation displays the difference between
incoming timecode and the X-48MKII’s transport. It can be
useful if you think that the machine is drifting out of sync
or for troubleshooting. There is no setting to change, it’s
only a display of how far out of sync the machine is (ideally

0). To view this setting:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

Timecode Output Muting

This setting is useful when the device receiving timecode
cannot accept off-speed timecode, such as some console
automation systems.

Play Only

Outputs timecode only when the transport is running at a
normal play speed.

Mute FF/Rew

Mutes the timecode output when in FF or REW.

Mute Jog/Shuttle

Mutes the timecode when the transport is running at a
non-play speed such as shuttle.

None

The timecode is never muted.

To change this setting:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings

window.

2 Select the Timecode Output Muting submenu and

choose a setting.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYNC button. Press the 5/b buttons to

select Output Muting and press CHNG.

2 Select a setting and press Enter.

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings

window.

2 Select the Sync tab. Look at the Lock Deviation display

at the bottom of the screen.

Front Panel Operation

1 Press the SYNC button. Press the 5/b buttons

to select Chase Lock Deviation and press
CHNG.

2 Watch the lock deviation. When you’re finished,

press the Exit or Home button.

Advanced Recorder Operations

Audio File Naming

The X-48MKII can auto-name new audio files either based
on the project name or the track name. This setting can
only be changed from the GUI. Since there are no track
names visible when using the LCD, it defaults to naming
audio files based on the project name.

To change this preference:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation (only)

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings item

and then the Prefs screen.

2 Select the Audio File Naming submenu and choose

your preferred naming convention.

TASCAM X-48MKII 41

Track Key Punch

The X-48MKII can be set to enter record mode without any
tracks armed. Recording will then begin on any channel
whose track-arming button is pressed.

In other words, even when all track record arming buttons
are off, you can press the transport REC and P LAY buttons
to start recording mode. Then, recording will start when
you press a track record arming button.

To enable this function:

Mouse/Keyboard Operation

1 Click the Windows menu and select the Settings

window.

2 Select the Transport tab. Check the box labeled Track

Key Punch.

Front Panel Operation

5 – Recorder

1 Press the PREF button. Press the 5/b buttons to

select Track Key Punch and press CHNG.

2 Select either Off or On using the 5/b buttons

and press Enter.

Recording time

Sampling

frequencies

44.1 kHz

48 kHz

88.2 kHz

96 kHz

The above recording times are estimates. Actual times will vary depending on the effective data capacity of a drive, the

•

Quantization rates

16 bit 60 hr 33 min 121 hr 7 min 6 hr 33 min 13 hr 07 min
24 bit 40 hr 22 min 80 hr 44 min 4 hr 22 min 8 hr 44 min
32 bit floating 30 hr 16 min 60 hr 33 min 3 hr 16 min 6 hr 33 min
16 bit 55 hr 37 min 111 hr 16 min 6 hr 01 min 12 hr 03 min
24 bit 37 hr 05 min 74 hr 11 min 4 hr 01 min 8 hr 02 min
32 bit floating 27 hr 49 min 55 hr 38 min 3 hr 00 min 6 hr 01 min
16 bit 30 hr 16 min 60 hr 33 min 3 hr 16 min 6 hr 33 min
24 bit 20 hr 11 min 40 hr 22 min 2 hr 11 min 4 hr 22 min
32 bit floating 15 hr 08 min 30 hr 16 min 1 hr 38 min 3 hr 16 min
16 bit 27 hr 49 min 55 hr 37 min 3 hr 00 min 6 hr 01 min
24 bit 18 hr 32 min 37 hr 05 min 2 hr 00 min 4 hr 01 min
32 bit floating 13 hr 54 min 27 hr 48 min 1 hr 30 min 3 hr 00 min

number of projects and other factors.

The built-in hard disk data volume capacity is the built-in hard disk less the space taken by the system volume.

•

Built-in HDD data volume 960 GB Per 100 GB of external drive capacity

48 track 24 track 48 track 24 track

42 TASCAM X- 48MKII

6 – Editing

Edit Tools

I-Beam Tool

The I-beam tool is used to select a portion of a recorded
clip or clips. When the I-beam tool is dragged through
the middle of a clip, only that section will be edited. For
example, if you wanted to erase a cough in the middle of a
recorded voiceover, the I-beam would allow you to select
just that cough and then hit delete on the keyboard.
Double-clicking on a clip with the I-beam tool selects the
entire clip.

NOTE

Editing is only possible using the keyboard and mouse.
You cannot edit tracks from the front panel. So all of the
instructions in this chapter refer to the mouse, keyboard
and monitor interface. These instructions also assume
that you have selected the Tracks view at the bottom of
the screen or by pressing F1.

Mouse/Keyboard Operation (only)

1 Click on the I-Beam button in the top-left corner

of the screen (pictured above) or press F9 on
your keyboard.

2 Click and drag a portion or a complete clip in the

timeline, or multiple clips across multiple tracks.
Any editing functions you perform (i.e. cut, copy,
paste, delete) will be applied only to the portion of
the clip you selected and highlighted.

Object Tool

Press F8 to select the Object tool, or click the button
pictured above in the top-left corner of the screen.

This tool does different things depending where the
mouse is:

• Whenit’snothoveringoveraclip,itlookslikea

cursor (+) sign. You can click and drag over clips
to select multiple objects. (It doesn’t select only
portions of clips like the I-Beam).

• Whenyoumouseoverthebottomleftorbottom

right corner of a clip, you get a tool that looks like
a horizontal line with arrowhead on either side.
This tool allows you to change the beginning or
ending point of a clip. Drag the end point inward to
shorten a clip, or drag it back out to lengthen it (if
there is any waveform there).

• Mouseoverthetopleftortoprightcorner,and

the tool changes to a horizontal line under a white
arc. This is the fade tool, which allows you to add
a fade-in or fade-out to a clip. If clips on multiple
tracks are selected, the fade-in or -out is changed
on all of those tracks.

• Movetothemiddleofaclip,andyourcursor

changes into the finger tool. Click and drag to
move the clip (or multiple selected clips).

Smart Tool

Press F11 to select the Smart tool, or click the button
pictured above in the top-left corner. Like the Object tool,
this tool does different things depending where your
mouse is:

• Whenit’snothoveringoveraclip,orifitisoverthe

bottom half of a clip, it acts like the I-Beam tool.
Like the I-Beam tool, you can select a portion of a
waveform. However, unlike the I-Beam tool, you
can only select audio on a single track.

• Whenyoumouseoverthebottomleftorbottom

right corner of a clip, you get a tool that looks like
a horizontal line with arrowhead on either side.
This tool allows you to change the beginning or
ending point of a clip. Drag the end point inward to
shorten a clip, or drag it back out to lengthen it (if
there is any waveform there).

• Mouseoverthetopleftortoprightcorner,and

the tool changes to a horizontal line under a white
arc. This is the fade tool, which allows you to add
a fade-in or fade-out to a clip. If clips on multiple
tracks are selected, the fade-in or -out is changed
on all of those tracks.

• Movetothetophalfofaclip,andyourcursor

changes into the finger tool. Click and drag to
move the clip (or multiple selected clips).

• Double-clickonaclipwiththeFingertoolandyou

get the Clip Properties window. See page 35 for more
on this window.

Magnify Tool

Press F12 to select the Magnify tool, or click the button
pictured above in the top-left corner. The magnify tool
allows you to select a section of the timeline to fill the
screen. To use this tool, click and drag over the section you
want to focus on, such as a pair of clips on tracks 1 and 2.
When you release the mouse, those two clips will fill the
VGA screen.

TASCAM X-48MKII 43

6 – Editing

Selecting & Editing

Selecting Clips

To select complete clips, use the Object tool. To select a
portion of a clip or clips, use the I-beam or Smart tool. See
the previous section for more information.

Selecting Time

To select a range of time across all tracks, mouse over
the timeline above all of the tracks. No matter which tool
you’ve been using, the cursor will change into an I-beam
tool. Click and drag in the time ruler to select a time range
across all tracks. Your selection is displayed with in/out
point markers, described in the next section.

In and Out Points

Your selection range is displayed on-screen by the in and
out point markers, which look like small blue flags in the
timeline ruler.

To see exactly what has been selected, click the info
button. The screen will show information about your
selection start and end points as well as the length of the
selection. For an exact time selection, such as 00:02:00:00,
you can click in these fields and type in a new in point, out
point or selection length.

In addition, you can open the I/O Marker Properties screen
(select from the Windows menu) and select Selection to
input in and out points directly.

Info button

• AnothersetofbuttonsintheClip Properties window

allow you to move the clip either to the timecode
embedded in a Broadcast WAVE file (“Broadcast
Time”) or to the current Play Position.

Click OK or Cancel to confirm or ignore the changes.

Snap to Grid

Clips can snap to a grid for exact placement of imported
or recorded audio in the timeline. To access this feature,
click on the Options menu and select Snapping. This menu
has three settings:

Enable Snapping

Turns the snap feature on or off.

Draw Snap Grid

Displays vertical grid lines in the timeline for visual
reference.

Snap To

Snap To is another submenu that selects how fine the
snap grid is drawn. The options are Hours, Minutes, Seconds,
Frames or Subframes.

Cut, Copy, Delete, Paste

These commands do the expected edit functions to the
selected audio. Keyboard shortcuts are Control-X for Cut,
Cntl-C for Copy, Cntl-V for paste and Delete for Delete.
The only one that requires further explanation is Delete,
which does not actually delete the audio off the drive but
just removes it from the Edit Decision List (EDL). You can
always undo the operation or, if you have deleted a range
of a clip, pull the new clip’s head or tail to fill the deleted
space.

Clip Properties

There are three ways to call up this window:

• Withaclipselected,clicktheWindows menu and
select Clip Properties.

• Withaclipselected,pressControl-2onthe

keyboard.

• Double-clickaclipusingtheFingertoolinthe

Smart Tool.

This window gives you several options for working with a
clip:

• Youcannametheclip.

• Typeinexactstart,endandlengthtimes.

• Youcanalsospecifyanexactfade-inandfade-

out time and crossfade shapes, either linear,
exponential or reverse exponential.

• Clipscanalsobemutedorlockedbyclickingthese

checkboxes. Locking a clip makes it impossible to
edit until unlocked.

Repeat Paste

Repeat Paste (Control-Alt-V) pastes the audio in the
clipboard multiple times. You might use this feature to
create a loop that plays through a song or to fill a section
of film dialog with room tone for ADR. When you select
the repeat paste command, the system will prompt you to
ask how many times it should repeat the audio loop.

Crop

Crop (Control-U) cuts the head and tail of a clip outside
of the selected range. Select a range inside of a clip using
the I-Beam tool, then use the Crop command to shorten
its length to include only the selected range.

44 TASCAM X-48MKII

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

6 – Editing

Insert Time

This command (Cont rol-T) inserts silence into the
selected time range and shifts all audio after that selection
later. It’s the same as splitting the clip at the In point and
moving all audio after that point back the same amount
of time as the selection length.

Delete Time

This command deletes the time from the timeline
represented by the selected time range and shifts all
audio after that selection forward.

Split

The Split command (Control-E) slices a clip wherever
the timeline is. If you have selected a range of a clip, it
separates that selection into a new clip. This separation
would allow one part of a clip to be treated or editing
differently from the other part of the clip.

Play From Selection

This function (shortcut “P” on the keyboard) begins
playback from the beginning of the selection range. It
ignores the pre-roll setting, if any. You might use it to hear
the effects of an edit in context of the program.

2 Select the object tool.

When you move the cursor near the border of Clip

1 and Clip 2, it becomes the fade tool, which can be
used to adjust the fade-in or fade-out at the top of
the clips. At the bottom of the clips, it becomes a
double-headed arrow cursor, which can be used to
adjust the border between Clip 1 and Clip 2.

3 First, move the double-headed arrow cursor a little

to the right of the border and click to make Clip 2
active, and then move the border to the left.

4 You can also edit the crossfade once the clips

overlap. Move the double-headed arrow cursor a
little to the right of the border and click to make
Clip 1 active.

5 Drag right to adjust the crossfade.

History List

The History List command (Control-H) opens a window
that shows you every edit you’ve done in the project,
up to a maximum of 200 edits. You can press the Undo
and Redo buttons at the bottom of this window, or click
on a command in the list and it will undo that edit and
everything after it.

History is saved with a project, so undoing is possible
even after closing and reloading a project.

You can also Clear the history list. Check Delete unreferenced
audio file and press OK to delete all editing data, including
unused, unnecessary audio files, from the undo history.
After doing this, previous operations cannot be undone.

Moving clip borders and adjusting crossfades

As shown below, the following example of editing
involves three clips—Clip 1, Clip 2 and Clip 3.

1 Clip 2 is a recorded WAVE file that has been edited

to remove unnecessary beginnings and endings
and then copied and pasted into place. In this case,
the beginning and end of Clip 2 can be extended,
altering the borders with Clip 1 and 2.

6 You can also drag left to adjust the endpoint of Clip

1. This will not adjust the crossfade.

7 In step 4 above, move the double-headed arrow

cursor a little to the left of the border and click to
make Clip 2 active.

8 Drag left to adjust the crossfade.

9 You can also drag right to adjust the start point of

Clip 2. This will not adjust the crossfade.

TASCAM X-48MKII 45

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

6 – Editing

10 When adjusting the crossfade is possible, the fades

of Clip 1 and Clip 2 will not be adjusted, so the fade
tool will not appear even when the cursor is placed
at the top of a clip.

In addition, if you adjust the start point of Clip 2 or

the end point of Clip 1 in step 6 or 9, the clips will
no longer overlap, making it impossible to adjust
the crossfade. If you have done this, undo the edit
so that you can adjust the crossfade.

11 To readjust the clip border, fix the start point of the

clip on the right and the end point of the clip on the
left first. For example, adjust the border position
so that it is the same as in step 3.

12 To move the clip border further to the left, move

the double-headed arrow cursor little to the left of
the border and click to make Clip 2 active.

13 If you drag to the left, the crossfade will be

adjusted as in step 8, so drag to the right first.

Fade-in, fade-out and crossfade curves

Select the Object tool.

Double-click on a clip to open the CLIP PROPERTIES
dialogue or double-click on a crossfade to open the
CROSSFADE PROPERTIES dialogue. In each dialogue you can
alter fade curves.

Please refer to “Clip properties” on page 35 of this manual
for further information.

Audio Processing

Pitch/Time Stretch

Selecting this item from the Process menu opens the Time
Compression/Pitch Shift window. There are two options in

this window.

Time Compression allows the length of a clip to be changed
without changing the pitch. Use a mouse and keyboard to
set the length of a clip.

The start time for the clip remains the same while the end
point changes to reflect the new length. The clip’s fade in
or out remains non-destructive.

Pitch Shift allows the pitch of a clip to be changed without
changing the length.

Click OK to process the clip.

14 Then, drag to the left to adjust the clip border.

15 To move the clip border set in step 11 to the right,

place the double-headed arrow cursor little to the
right of the border and click to make Clip 1 active.

16 If you drag to the right, the crossfade will be

adjusted as in step 5, so drag to the left first.

17 Next, drag to the right to adjust the position of the

clip border.

Consolidate

Selecting this item from the Process menu merges all
selected clips or time into one audio file. Any crossfades or
fade ins/outs that were added to the clip are also written
to the new clip. This command may be used before
exporting all of the edits on a track as one long Broadcast
WAVE file.

Audio clips that are merged using the consolidate
function must be given a new name. When you execute
the Consolidate item from the Process menu a naming
screen opens.

46 TASCAM X-48MKII

7 – Mixer

Mixer Interface

Mixer Introduction

The X-48MKII includes a software digital mixer/router with
the following features:

48 playback channels, each with 4-band parametric EQ

•

and compression

Level, pan, solo and mute controls

•

Input and output source selection per track/channel

•

6 aux sends, pre or post-fader

•

6 stereo aux returns

•

12 stereo subgroups

•

Dynamic automation engine supporting mouse-drawn

•

break-point style automation

Mixer Bypass

When you first use the X-48MKII, the mixer section is
disabled to improve input to output delay and CPU usage.
Before using any of the mixer functions you need switch
off Mixer Bypass.

To do this:

1 Click the Windows menu and choose Settings

2 Select the System tab. Uncheck the box labeled Mixer

Bypass.

DSP View

Click the DSP button pictured above or press F6 on the
keyboard to open the DSP panel. When you open this
window, you should see five panes (you may need to click
the reveal triangle or scroll down):

Track

The Track section includes the fader, meter and pan
controls. There’s a record arming button, input monitor
button, solo and mute buttons. The Mix button sends that
track/channel to the Master output. You also get a field to
name the track and another input and output menu for
setting the source and destination for your track.

Aux Sends

Aux Sends shows the six aux sends and allows you to
send the selected channel to them. The Pre button, when
lit, makes these pre-fader sends. The On button turns the
send on or off. The knob at the bottom shows the amount
of that channel sent to the send.

Dynamics

Dynamics is a compressor for the selected track. Threshold
changes the channel’s compressor threshold and is
displayed in dBfs. Ratio is the amount of gain reduction
that occurs after the audio crosses the threshold. Attack
and Release control the amount of time until gain
reduction is fully-functional, and Soft applies a soft knee
for extreme ratio settings. On turns the effect on and off
and Gain is a post-compressor makeup stage.

Equalizer

The Equalizer section houses a four-band full parametric
EQ section. The On button at the top-right corner of this
panel switches the EQ on, and the On button above each
band switches that band on. (Note that you need to press
two On buttons to hear EQ, the master ON button and one
band’s ON button.) The Type pulldown menu gives you a
choice of Low Shelf, High Shelf, Peaking, Low Pass and High
Pass for each band. You can use the Gain, Frequency and
Q knobs to change EQ, or grab the dots in the graphic
display.

You can double-click number boxes for faders and pan

•
controls, as well as for AUX SEND, DYNAMICS, EQUALIZER

and other items on the DSP screen and directly input
numerical values.

Hold the keyboard Control key while clicking on the

•
pan control of a track to set the pan value to the center

(C).

Hold the keyboard Control key while clicking on the

•
fader of a track to set the fader value to 0 dB.

Hold the keyboard Shift key while clicking on the pan

•
or fader of a track and then drag to copy that pan or

fader value to other tracks.

Hold the keyboard Alt key while clicking on a control or

•
fader to make precise adjustments.

Mixer Tabs

There are six tabs at the bottom of the VGA display: Click
the tab or press the associated function key.

Tracks Track/waveform view (F1)

Ch. 1-24 First 24 channels of the mixer (F2)

Ch. 25-48 Second 24 channels of the mixer (F3)

Groups Subgroups and aux returns (F4)

Masters Master output (F5)

Big Meters Level meters for all 48 tracks are shown ll-

ing the screen.
All of the mixer channels, groups and masters are located
in one large window, so you can see channels 12-35 if
necessary.

TASCAM X-48MKII 47

7 – Mixer

Automation

To display automation, click the button pictured above
or press Alt-A. You can automate the level of a track
using this, and also play back automation from imported
projects. The edit tools change in this mode:

• UsetheCursortool(clickthe“+” button or press F8)

to write automation. Click and drag on a track to
write new automation points. Automation can be
enabled by track using WRITE switches.

• Ifyoumouseoveroneoftheautomationpoints

with the Cursor tool, your cursor turns into the
Finger tool. Click and drag any automation point
to change its level or time position. When writing
automation data, the fader for each track is shown
at the 0 dB line. The cursor position shows the fader
volume.

• Inautomationmode,theSmarttoolbecomesan

Eraser so that you can delete automation entries.

• UsetheI-beamtooltoselectautomation.Youcan

cut, copy, paste or delete automation from the
keyboard or Edit menu.

• PlaceachecknexttoPlayback Automation Bypass
under Options to disable automation during
playback.

Third-Party Plug Ins

Support will not be provided to use VST plug-ins from
Waves, Antares, or other companies. Installing them could
cause problems.

CAUTION

If problems should occur with the unit, reinstalling its
software from the System Restore CD might be necessary.

Routing

Each recorder track goes directly to the mixer channel that
has the same number as the track. Mixer channels can
be routed to various destinations, like physical outputs
or Groups. Click the bottom-most text display on a mixer
channel to reveal a menu of output routing choices, or
open the DSP View to see the same menu along with
other parameters of that mixer channel. You can change
the output to a group or pair of outputs for submixing
use, see the next section for examples.

Mixer Applications

Submixing

One of the typical uses for the subgroups is to combine
tracks when you do not have enough mixer inputs for
your session. For example, 17 tracks of percussion can be
combined into a stereo group then sent through a pair of
outputs to come up on a pair of faders on your console.

To use this feature:

1 Make sure Mixer Bypass is disabled, see “Mixer

Bypass” on page 46.

2 Click on the tab at the bottom of the screen where

your tracks are, such as Ch. 1-24.

3 Find your track in the mixer view. You can change

the level, pan it left or right, add EQ, etc.

4 Click the Output field at the bottom of the channel

strip. This opens a menu of options. Mouse over the

Groups submenu and choose a stereo group from 1
to 12.

5 Select the Groups tab at the bottom of the screen.

Click on the output field at the bottom of the group
channel. Select Stereo Outs and choose a pair of
outputs for your Group.

Monitoring While Recording

Another useful feature of the mixing engine is to monitor
tracks while recording. During a live event, the X-48MKII
can serve as a 48-track recorder as well as your monitor
mixer. Connect your mic preamps to the (optional) analog
inputs and connect the S/PDIF output to a D/A converter
or 2-track recorder, like the TASCAM DV-RA1000HD. You
can then monitor through the D/A converter or recorder
using headphones or monitors.

To set up the X-48MKII for record monitoring:

1 Make sure Mixer Bypass is disabled. (See “Mixer

Bypass” on page 46.)

2 Check your channel strips to make sure the MIX

button is on/green so that tracks are being routed
to the stereo mix out.

3 Click on the Masters tab at the bottom of the screen.

4 Click the Output field on the Master channel on the

right side of this window. This opens a menu of
options. Mouse over the Stereo Outputs submenu
and choose SPDIF.

5 Connect the S/PDIF digital out to the S/PDIF digital

in on your D/A converter or recorder. Change the
on-screen mixer channels to mix. Since the mixer
is after the recorder, any changes made to the
monitor mix will not affect the recording.

48 TASCAM X-48MKII

7 – Mixer

Final Mix

It is possible to complete your project entirely inside the
X-48MKII. You can add EQ and compression and automate
channel levels during mixdown. You will still need a
master recorder to monitor and capture the final mix, like
the TASCAM DV-RA1000HD.

To mix on the X-48MKII:

1 Click the Output field on the Master channel on the

right side of this window. This opens a menu of
options. Mouse over the Stereo Outputs submenu
and choose SPDIF.

2 Make sure that the Mix button is on/green for any

tracks/channels you want to go to the Master out.

3 Connect the S/PDIF digital out to the S/PDIF digital

in on your D/A converter or recorder. Change the
on-screen mixer channels and DSP settings to mix
your project.

TASCAM X-48MKII 49

8 – Specifications

Media and formats

Recording media

Hard disk

File system

NTFS

File format

BWF (Broadcast Wave Format)

Number of channels

48 channels (44.1/48/88.2/96 kHz)

Quantization rate

16 bit, 24 bit, 32-bit floating point

Sampling frequencies

42.336k (44.1k × 24/25), 44.056k (44.1k−), 44.1k, 44.144k

(44.1k+), 45.938k (44.1k × 25/24), 46.080k (48k × 24/25),

47.952k (48k−), 48k, 48.048k (48k+), 50k (48k × 25/24),

84.672k (88.2k × 24/25), 88.112k (88.2k−), 88.2k, 88.288k

(88.2k+), 91.875k (88.2k × 25/24), 92.160k (96k × 24/25),

95.904k (96k−), 96k, 96.096k (96k+), 100k (96k × 25/24) Hz

Note: + is 0.1% pull up, − is 0.1% pull down

Clock references

Internal, Word in, Digital slot 1/2, SPDIF IN, TDIF Port 1

Timecode frame

23.976NDF, 24NDF, 24.975NDF, 25NDF, 29.97DF, 29.97NDF,

30DF, 30NDF

TIME CODE IN, TIME CODE OUT connector

Connector: 6.3 mm (1/4”) TRS standard jack (Tip: HOT,

Ring: COLD, Sleeve: GND)

Format: Conforms to SMPTE standards

FOOT SW connector

Conector: 6.3 mm (1/4”) TS standard jack (Tip: HOT, Sleeve:

GND)

REMOTE connector

Connector: DE9 (Female, mm screws), Conforms to RS-

422, Sony 9-pin serial protocol (P2)

USB port (x4)

Connector: A type, 4 pin

Protocol: Conforms to USB 2.0 High speed (480 Mbps)

100/1000 connector

Connector: RJ45 LAN connector

100BASE-TX/1000BASE-TX Ethernet

VGA connector

Connector: DE15 (Female) VGA connector (inch screws)

MOUSE connector

Connector: Mini DIN connector (PS/2)

Keyboard connector

Connector: Mini DIN connector (PS/2)

eSATA connector

Connector: eSATA (External Serial ATA) 7 pin (Female)

Specifications: SATA2, 3 Gb/s

Digital audio input/output

TDIF connector (x6)

Conector: DB25 (Female) connector (mm screws)

Format: Conforms to TDIF-1 standards

Word length: 24 bit

S/PDIF IN/OUT connector

Connector: RCA connector

Format: IEC 60958-3 (S/PDIF)

Control input/output

WORD SYNC IN connector

Connector: BNC (Unbalance), TTL level, 75Ω termination

(auto on/off selection)

WORD SYNC TRU, WORD SYNC OUT connector

Connector: BNC (Unbalance), TTL level, 75Ω

MIDI IN, MIDI OUT connector

Connector: DIN 5 pin

Format: Standard MIDI format

General

Power

AC 100-240 V, 50-60 Hz

Power consumption

49 W

Dimensions (W x H x D)

483 x 184 x 439 mm/19.02 x 7.24 x 17.28 in.

Weight

13.7 kg/30.2 lb

Operating temperature

5 - 35°C/41 - 95°F

50 TASCAM X-48MKII

8 – Specifications

483 mm

425 mm

177 mm

184 mm

152.4 mm

465 mm

11 mm

3 mm

432 mm

Options

IF-AN24X

24-channel analog input and output card with 96 kHz­compatible connectors (D-sub 25-pin, inch screws)

IF-AE24X

24-channel AES/EBU input and output card with 96 kHz­compatible connectors (D-sub 25-pin, inch screws)

Dimensional drawings

IF-AD24

24-channel ADAT input and output card

Illustrations in this manual might differ from the actual product.

•

In order to improve the product, specifications and appearance could be changed without prior notice.

•

TASCAM X-48MKII 51

Functions controlled using a mouse and display

Function list Operation/Confirmation

Create new project

Open existing project

Save current project

Save current project with a different
name

Convert project to non-destructive
mode

Import OpenTL project

Export project as OpenTL or AAF

Import audio file

Open file manager screen

Open disk management screen

Open benchmark screen for hard disk
being used

Launch shared drive mode when
connected to a network

Set the built-in clock

Set the name of the X-48MKII

Open the Launch External
Application screen

Launch MX View for MX-2424 units

Launch TASCAM mixer companion

Shutdown the unit

Undo editing or recording, etc.

Redo the last undone operation

Copy the audio clip or selection

Cut the designated audio clip range
(and keep it in the copy buffer)

Delete that audio clip or designated
range

Paste the data in the copy buffer

Paste multiple times (number can be
set)

Trim around a designated range in an
audio clip and discard the rest

Divide an audio clip

Insert a period of silence at the
selected interval, shifting the existing
audio data to after it.

Delete the selected interval, shifting
the audio after it forward

Add a marker

Playback the designated range from
its starting point

Open the History List screen

Activate the I-Beam Tool for editing

VGA display, MENU Front panel operation (press

File q New Project… PROJ q 5/b q (New) q

File q Open Project… PROJ q 5/b q (Open) q

File q Save Project PROJ q 5/b q (Save) q

File q Save Project As… PROJ q 5/b q (Save As...)

File q Convert To Non-Destructive

File q Import Project…
File q Export Project…
File q Import Audio File… PROJ q 5/b q (Open) q

File q File Manager…
File q Disk Management…
File q Drive Benchmarking…

File q Drive Sharing…

File q Set Date and Time

File q Set X48 name...

File q Launch External
Application…

File q Launch MX View…
File q Launch Mixer Companion…
File q Shutdown… STANDBY/ON q
Edit q Undo
Edit q Redo
Edit q Copy
Edit q Cut

Edit q Delete

Edit q Paste
Edit q Repeat Paste

Edit q Crop

Edit q Split
Edit q Insert Time

Edit q Delete Time

Edit q New Marker
Edit q Play From Selection

Edit q History List
Edit q I-Beam and VGA icon

these buttons to open the

menu item)

CHNG

CHNG

CHNG

q CHNG

CHNG

9 – Appendix

Keyboard shortcut

Ctrl + N

Ctrl + O

Ctrl + S

Ctrl + Shift + S

— —

— Ctrl + Shift + I

— Ctrl + Shift + E

Shift + Alt + I

— Ctrl + F

— —

— —

— —

— —

— —

— —

—

— Ctrl + Z

— Ctrl + Y

— Ctrl + C

— Ctrl + X

— Delete (Backspace)

— Ctrl + V

— Ctrl + Alt + V

— Ctrl + U

— Ctrl + E

— Ctrl + T

— —

— Num + Return

— P

— Ctrl + H

— F9

52 TASCAM X-48MKII

9 – Appendix

Function list Operation/Confirmation

Activate the Object Tool for editing

Activate the Smart Tool for editing

Activate the Magnify Tool for editing

Select all audio clips on a track

Select all audio clips

Open the Pitch/Time Stretch screen

Open the Consolidate (for audio
clips) screen

Set mixer meter display to pre-fader

Set mixer meter display to post-fader

Turn peak hold ON/OFF

Change track meter display to
GROUPS and AUXES

Clear overloads

Select Solo Mix

Select Solo Exclusive

Unsolo the selected track

Select disk usage display

Select remaining recording time
display

Enable snapping

Show the snap grid

Set the snapping unit to hours

Set the snapping unit to minutes

Set the snapping unit to seconds

Set the snapping unit to frames

Set the snapping unit to subframes

Disable scrolling

Enable automatic scrolling

Set to scroll by page

Set the timebar unit to SMPTE

Set the timebar unit to samples

Open the Color Setup screen

Enable looping

Enable one button recording

VGA display, MENU Front panel operation (press

Edit q Object and VGA icon
Edit q Smart and VGA icon
Edit q Magnfty and VGA icon
Edit q Select All On Track

Edit q Select All

Process q Pitch/Time Stretch

Process q Consolidate

Options q Meters q Mode q
Pre-Fader

Options q Meters q Mode q
Post-Fader

Options q Meters q Peak Hold

Options q Meters q View Masters

Options q Meters q Clear
Overloads

Options q Solo q Solo Mix

Options q Solo q Solo Exclusive

Options q Solo q Clear Solos

Options q Disk Usage Display q
Disk Usage

Options q Disk Usage Display q
Record Time Remaining

Options q Snapping q Enable
Snapping

Options q Snapping q Draw
Snap Grid

Options q Snapping q Snap To

q Hours

Options q Snapping q Snap To

q Minutes

Options q Snapping q Snap To

q Seconds

Options q Snapping q Snap To

q Frames

Options q Snapping q Snap To

q Subframes

Options q Scrolling q None

Options q Scrolling q Auto-Scroll

Options q Scrolling q Page-Flip

Options q Timebar Format q
SMPTE

Options q Timebar Format q
Samples

Options q Color Setup
Options q Transport q Enable

Looping
Options q Transport q One

Button Record

these buttons to open the

menu item)

— F8

— F11

— F12

— Ctrl + A

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

— Ctrl + 6

— Alt + F12

Keyboard shortcut

(on the selected track)

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

TASCAM X-48MKII 53

Function list Operation/Confirmation

Disable Auto Input

Enable Auto Input

Enable Auto Input ADR Monitoring
Mode

Enable All Input

Enable All Safe

Enable automation writing

Set to ignore automation data during
playback

Check the X-48MKII software version

Open settings screen

Open Display Settings screen

Display information about the
selected audio clip

Open Audio Pool screen

Open Markers screen

Open I/O Marker Properties screen

Open Time Display screen

Open theatre playlist screen

Enable/disable Meter bridge display

Enable/disable Track Overview
display

Enable/disable clip property display

Enable/disable DSP screen display

Show Tracks screen

Show track 1-24 mixer screen

Show track 25-48 mixer screen

Show Groups mixer screen

Show stereo and AUX channel mixer
screen

Show large 48-track meter screen

Close all windows

VGA display, MENU Front panel operation (press

Options q Auto Input q Off
Options q Auto Input q On
Options q Auto Input q ADR

Options q All Input
Options q All Safe
Options q Automation Write

Options q Automation Bypass

Windows q About

Windows q Settings
Windows q Display Settings…

Windows q Clip Properties…

Windows q Audio Pool…
Windows q Markers
Windows q I/O Marker Properties
Windows q Time Display
Windows q Theatre Playlist
Windows q Panels q Meterbridge

Windows q Panels q Track
Overview

Windows q Panels q Information

Windows q Panels q Channel
DSP View

Windows q Tracks or Tracks tab
Windows q Ch.1-24 or Ch.1-24 tab
Windows q Ch.25-48 or Ch.25-48

tab
Windows q Groups or Groups tab
Windows q Masters or Masters tab

Windows q Big Meters (or the
screen tab on the connected display)

Windows q Clear All Windows

9 – Appendix

these buttons to open the

menu item)

AUTO/ALL INPUT Alt + F9

SHIFT + AUTO/ALL INPUT Alt + F9

—

AUTO/ALL INPUT Alt + F10

ALL SAFE/REC Alt + F11

—

—

—

— Alt + F8

—

— Ctrl + 2

— Ctrl + P

— Ctrl + 3

— Ctrl + 4

— Ctrl + 5

— —

—

—

—

— F6

— F1

— F2

— F3

— F4

— F5

— F7

— Ctrl + W

Keyboard shortcut

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

54 TASCAM X-48MKII

9 – Appendix

Front panel function list

Front panel Description

Track meter 1-48 Show each track’s signal level (−60 dBFS - 1 dBFS) and overload status

REC LED 1-48 Show each track’s record arming status

REC key 1-48 Use to arm each track for recording.

ERROR indicator Blinks when a system error occurs

STATUS indicator

SAMPLE RATE indicator Shows the currently selected sampling frequency

TIME CODE indicator Shows the currently selected frame rate

SYSTEM indicator

STANDBY/ON switch

Built-in DVD drive Use DVD discs to backup and restore projects and import and export files

Transport button Operate the recorder transport

Display Use to view information and settings

ENTER/YES button

EXIT/NO button

CHNG button Change setting items

CLEAR/HOME button Use to clear a setting or return to the LCD home position

5/b button

TC CHASE button Turn the timecode synchronization function ON/OFF

ALL SAFE/REC button

AUTO/ALL INPUT button

SHIFT button

PROJ button

DISK button

INP 1-24 button Open the input settings menu for tracks 1-24

INP 25-48 button Open the input settings menu for tracks 25-48

EXT MNT/UNMNT button Mount and unmount USB external storage devices

SYNC button

PREF button Open a menu where you can set various preferences

SYS button

BUSY indicator Blinks when the system is busy

MIDI indicator Lights when a MIDI command is input

DISK indicator Lights when the built-in hard disk is being accessed

SAMPLE LOCK indicator

DEST REC indicator Lights when in destructive (“tape”) mode

VARISPEED indicator Lights when varispeed is enabled

When syncing to an external clock source, lights when the unit is locked
and blinks when not locked

Turn unit (power) on and puts it into standby; press and hold for several
seconds to force the unit into standby

Use to confirm and execute items and move down levels in the settings
menu
Use to cancel operations and settings and move up levels in the settings
menu

Moves the cursor. When SHIFT is active, sets punch-in and punch-out
points

When SHIFT is not active, use to prevent/allow recording on all tracks.
When SHIFT is active, use to put all tracks into recording standby or take
them out of standby.
When SHIFT is not active, use to turn Auto Input mode ON/OFF. When
SHIFT is active, use to set input monitoring of all tracks.
Turn SHIFT ON/OFF. To use the shift function of buttons that have one,

When the SHIFT button is lit, press the button with the shift function

•
While pressing and holding the SHIFT button, press the button with the

•
shift function

Open the PROJ menu where you can create, open, save, erase and copy
projects
Open the DISK menu where you can check the open space on the built-in
hard disk and format it

Open the synchronization settings menu where you can set sampling
frequency, clock source and other audio synchronization and timecode
synchronization settings

Open the system settings screen where you can save and recall system
settings, as well as make MIDI and network settings

TASCAM X-48MKII 55

DISK

INP 1-24

INP 25-48

SYNC

9 – Appendix

Main unit settings menu Description

Free Space View open space on each hard disk

Quick Format Format external hard disks

IO Card Select 1-8 Select track 1-8 inputs

Input Routing 1-8 Set track 1-8 input routings

IO Card Select 9-16 Select track 9-16 inputs

Input Routing 9-16 Set track 9-16 input routings

IO Card Select 17-24 Select track 17-24 inputs

Input Routing 17-24 Set track 17-24 input routings

IO Card Select 25-32 Select track 25-32 inputs

Input Routing 25-32 Set track 25-32 input routings

IO Card Select 33-40 Select track 33-40 inputs

Input Routing 33-40 Set track 33-40 input routings

IO Card Select 41-48 Select track 41-48 inputs

Input Routing 41-48 Set track 41-48 input routings

Sample Rate Set the sampling frequency

Sample Clock Source Set the audio clock source

BNC Clock In Set the word clock input frequency

BNC Clock Out Set the word clock output frequency

Word Out Polarity Set the word clock output polarity

Frame Rate Set the timecode frame type

Control Mode Set the timecode synchronization mode

Output Muting Set the timecode output muting method

Chase Freewheel Set the freewheel time when functioning as a timecode slave

Chase Relock Set the relock when functioning as a timecode slave

Chase Relock Thresh Set the relock threshold value when functioning as a timecode slave

Chase Offset Set the time code offset when functioning as a timecode slave

Resolve to Video In Set to synchronize timecode output with VIDEO IN signal frame-edges

Chase Lock Deviation Display time difference between timecode input and internal timecode

56 TASCAM X-48MKII

9 – Appendix

Main unit settings menu Description

Auto Chase Turn Auto Chase mode ON/OFF

One Button Record Enable recording with just the record button

One Button Rehearse Enable activating rehearsal mode with just the rehearsal button

Update Punch Points

Track Key Punch Set whether REC keys 1-48 can be used to punch-in and punch-out

Use Pre/Post-Roll Turn pre-roll and post-roll ON/OFF

Pre-Roll Set the pre-roll time

Post-Roll Set the post-roll time

TimeCode Display Set the time axis display unit

Mixer Bypass Turn mixer bypass mode ON/OFF

Loop Mode Select the loop playback method

AES 2X Mode

S/PDIF Input SRC Turn the S/PDIF input sampling rate converter ON/OFF

S/PDIF Pro Mode Set the S/PDIF input professional mode

PREF

SYS

Auto Input Select the auto input mode

Punch Crossfade Set the crossfade time when punch recording

EDL Crossfade Shape Set the EDL crossfade shape type

Overload LED Time Set how long the (overload) indicator lights

Audio File Naming Set how names are given automatically to audio clips

Auto Save Turn the EDL automatic saving function ON/OFF

Auto Save Time

P2 Track Arm Set whether or not tracks can be armed over the Sony 9-pin connection

P2 Punch Delay

P2 Chase Control

Meters Make various meter display settings

Looping Turn loop playback ON/OFF

Scrolling Set track screen scrolling

Load Last Project

Settings View and save system settings

Midi Device ID Set the MIDI device ID

Network Make various address settings for the LAN network

About Show the software version

Set whether or not punch-in and punch-out point settings are
automatically updated when starting and stopping recording

Set the AES/EBU card transmission mode when using 2x sampling
frequencies.

Set the time interval between when saving when using EDL automatic
saving

Set the amount of delay until execution after receiving a punch-in
command over the Sony 9-pin connection
Set the target chase source (LTC or MMC) when commanded to chase
from the Sony 9-pin port.

Set whether or not to load the project that was in use the last time the
unit was shut down

TASCAM X-48MKII 57

Shortcuts

Category Function Keyboard shortcut

Move to beginning/end of edit contents Home / End

Naming Channels

Dialog Boxes

Editing

F-Keys

Move single letters at a time Left/Right Arrow keys

Select entire word Double-click on word

Move down/up rows Tab/Shift + Tab

New Project Ctrl + N

Open Project Ctrl + O

Save Project Ctrl + S

Open Settings Window Alt + F8

Save As… Ctrl + Shift + S

File Manager Ctrl + F

Export Project Ctrl + Shift + E

Import Project Ctrl + Shift + I

Open Import Audio window Alt + Shift + I

Open Audio Pool Ctrl + P
Nudge selection or region right/left by Nudge

value
Select entire track in Edit window Ctrl + A

Repeat Paste Ctrl + Alt + V

Redo Ctrl + Y

Crop Ctrl + U

Insert Time Ctrl +T

Split Ctrl + E

Cycle through Edit Tools ESC or simultaneously press both mouse keys

Select entire region in Edit window Double-click with I-Beam

Cut Ctrl + X

Copy Ctrl + C

Paste Ctrl + V

Undo Ctrl + Z

Display History List Ctrl + H

Delete (do not place in clipboard) Delete (Backspace)

Go to Song Start Home

Extend selection to Song Start Shift + Home

Go to end of session End

Extend selection to end of session Shift + End

Toggle Automation view Alt + A

New Marker Enter on numeric keypad

Play From Beginning of Selection P

Select I-Beam Tool F9

Select Object Tool F8

Select Smart Tool F11

Select Magnify Tool F12

Show Track Screen F1

Show Mixer CH 1-24 F2

Show Mixer CH 25-48 F3

Show Groups Mixer F4

Show Master Mixer F5

+/– on numeric keypad only

9 – Appendix

58 TASCAM X-4 8MKII

9 – Appendix

Category Function Keyboard shortcut

Show Big Meter F7

Toggle DSP CH display F6

F-Keys

Global

Recording and Playback

Timecode Data Entry

Clear entered numeric
value and stay in time
entry Retype value

Zoom

Toggle Auto Input (On/Off ) Alt + F9

Toggle All Input Alt + F10

Toggle All Safe Alt + F11

Toggle One Button Record Alt + F12

Fine adjust mode Ctrl + click on control

Increase or decrease track height Start + Up Arrow key/Start + Down Arrow key

Color Setup Ctrl + 6

Audio Pool… Ctrl + P

Markers Ctrl + 3

I/O Marker Properties Ctrl + 4

Time Display Ctrl + 5

Theatre Playlist Ctrl + 7

Clear All Windows Ctrl + W

Play/Stop 0 on numeric keypad

Rewind 1 on numeric keypad

F Fwd 2 on numeric keypad

Record 3 on numeric keypad

Stop recording spacebar

Start/stop playback spacebar

Solo-safe track Ctrl + click on track solo enable button

Punch In/Out of Record Ctrl + spacebar or F12

Stop recording & do undo Ctrl + . (period on a QWERTY keyboard)

Toggle TC Chase (Online) Ctrl + J or Alt + spacebar

Loop toggle Alt + L

Toggle Pre/Post Roll Ctrl + K

Create a marker Enter on the numeric keypad

Move sub-unit selection to the right . (period on a QWERTY keyboard)

Move sub-unit selection to the left/right Left/Right Arrow keys

Increment/decrement the current sub-unit Up/Down Arrow keys

Apply entered numeric value Enter

Clear entered numeric value & exit time entry ESC

Horizontal zoom in/out Ctrl + @ / [

Vertical zoom in/out Ctrl + Alt + @ / [

TASCAM X-48MKII 59

9 – Appendix

MIDI machine control (MMC)
protocol

List of supported MMC commands

STOP

PLAY

DEFERRED PLAY

FAST FORWARD

REWIND

RECORD STROBE

RECORD EXIT

CHASE

MMC RESET

WRITE

MASKED WRITE

READ

UPDATE

LOCATE

SEARCH

SHUTTLE

STEP

List of information fields that respond to WRITE,

*

MASKED WRITE, READ and UPDATE commands

SELECTED TIME CODE

SIGNATURE

UPDATE RATE

MOTION CONTROL TALLY

VELOCITY TALLY

RECORD MODE

RECORD STATUS

TRACK RECORD STATUS

TRACK RECORD READY

GLOBAL MONITOR

RECORD MONITOR

SONY P2 protocol

stop

play

sync, play

record

fast forward

rewind

cue, data

jog, forward

jog, reverse

shuttle, forward

shuttle, reverse

varispeed, forward

varispeed, reverse

select, ee, on

full, ee, on

full, ee, off

edit, on

edit, off

edit, preset

edit, field, select

current, time, sense

timer, mode, sense

NOTE

See the MIDI Machine Control 1.0 specifications for details
about how to use these commands.

X-48MK"

TEAC CORPORATION

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Phone: [phone]
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