32SD - How to insert a compressor on a recorded track

[James Elder]

Hello, I am new here. I have a question on how to (step by step) insert a compressor on a recorded vocal track, adjust the effect and hear the result before doing a mixdown? Also can I have the compressor effect inserted on the vocal track 6 and add a send effect to 2 acoustic guitar tracks 1 & 2?
This is all on a 32-SD.
Thanks very much!

 

[Mark Richards]

The stickey at the top of this DP24/32 forum titled "Definitive Summary of Effects" has the info you need. Scroll down to the "Details & Usage" section and you should find it there.

 

[James Elder]

Thanks Mark, but do you have to assign a send effect to an input to get it on the stereo bus for the effect to work on a recorded track?

 

[Mark Richards]

If you're new to all of this I highly recommend watching the free tutorial videos in the first sticky. The first post of the sticky has a link to the YouTube playlist. Tutorial 5 goes into effects in depth.

Re your question - no. You send the recorded track to the effect.

 

[David Porter]

I also highly recommend watching the videos. They are extremely valuable and informative.

Once again... I'm not looking at the block diagram... but I think your best bet is to run your recorded vocal track out one of the two sends and back to an available input. You'll be able to insert the input compressor on the way back in and monitor and tweak it to your liking before recording it.

One other option is to bounce it using the guitar effects compressor insert effect. But I think the input compressor has the better effect adjustments and would be your best option.

 

[James Elder]

Thanks Mark and David!! Yes, I am new to the 32SD. I’ve owned it for about 4-5 years, but just really started digging into it and using it.
I had different Roland recorders in the past, VS-880, VS-2000 and VS-2480 where the effects were very easy to use for me and easily assigned to any track.

 

[David Porter]

These are great machines. And while they're all different - I also owned and used the VS840 and VS880EX - I find the Tascam to be WAY more intuitive once you get the hang of it. (And it records in .wav files!)

Not to beat a dead horse.... but getting the block diagram in front of you and sitting through Phil's video series... you will gain a near global understanding of these machines.

 

[James Elder]

Great, will do. Thanks for the help and pointing me in the right direction. At 62, my brain isn’t as sharp as it used to be, even compared to 5 years ago. Guess that hard living in my younger years caught up with me...... ;-)

 

[James Elder]

Man, I am sorry, but this machine seems so complex compared to the Roland’s I owned. I watched the first 2 videos and.... WHEW!...... BOL!(brain overload) or BAYOHL ( brain after years of hard living). Just to create a song, you have to create a template song and reset all of the parameters, then set them to your liking. Geez, anybody else struggling with this box? Not knocking it or promoting Roland, maybe it’s just me....
Maybe I need to be sitting in front of the 32SD with it on while watching Phil’s videos!

 

[David Porter]

Well, I'm hearing you. It's just a matter of practice and getting used to the new work flow.

That bit of restoring the machine to a blank slate "known state" condition is definitely a little weird, at first. But it solves a problem that would be a real deal breaker if there was not this solution. I don't even think about it anymore. I'm starting new songs/projects all the time and it's just automatic to me now. Takes just a few seconds more at the beginning - and prevents all kinds of headaches as you get into the new project. I can remember the time before I knew about that trick. What a hassle.

Yes... I highly recommend either pulling the block diagram up on a computer screen of just holding the block diagram in front of you AND be sitting in front of the machine. I've watched all those video 2-3 times now.

Keep after it. It's worth it to get over the initial learning curve. I can remember being in your shoes. I loved my Rolands - I had both since approx 1998-99. I gave the 880EX to my son and the 840 is in storage. This machine is far superior, in my opinion of course.

Good luck!

 

[Mark Richards]

James, if there are preferred settings that you are ~absolutely certain~ you will be using all the time, for every song, then you could create a unique template with all those preferred settings as your starting point for each project (for example, if you always use Input H for guitar and record input H on track 1; always connect your mic to Input G and record Input G on Track 2; always use the same reverb settings for vocals; and always use the same guitar effects/settings). That can be a real time saver.

As David says, it just becomes part of your normal routine when you begin a new song:
* Turn on unit
* Load your protected template of preferences
* Save the loaded template as <name of new song>
* Start having fun.

Sorry for adding to your BOL.

 

[James Elder]

No problem. I did figure out by looking at the demo song that you can add reverb to a recorded track, in my case track 6 for vocals, by setting up effect and mixer settings......And.... make sure Master 1 send is set to 100 and I can hear the effect on the vocal track.