Hey guys,
just came into a vs880 multitrack cheap to replace my 424 which died a few months back, and had a few questions regarding it.

Im just beginning to learn its ways and it seems like a cool machine, my question is what the best way of getting my recordings from it onto a computer without adding any extra recording processes and keeping it lossless.

It has an scsi port on the back, would it be possible to connect it to computer via like a scsi-usb cable? or by using zip disks? Probably a simple answer i just have no experience with digital stuff really..PEACE!

You can get an IDE to CF card so you can have everything save on mem cards. You can go the zip disk route. Or you can use the digital SPDIF output if you have a soundcard that has SPDIF in.

http://www.vsplanet.com/ubbthreads/ubbt ... ber=688373

Oh man I think I know which one you got, was it at Jane and Lawrence or something like that? I was trying to get the vs880ex that was at Victoria Park and Lawrence but they already sold it and since the money was burning a hole in my pocket I was considering that one. It's okay though because I realized I could always get one off ebay. Haha that store on Victoria Park and Lawrence had 2 SP 303s when I went in there lol. I was laughing because I had just bought one from Hamilton a few days earlier.

Anyway, check out this site ( http://www.ps139.com/vs880ex/ ) It talks a lot about the ex but generally the info is the same. I spent a lot of time on there trying to figure out if I really wanted one of these or what.

If you don't get a chance to read it through yet, since you were considering it, just know it says don't hook up your vs to your computer with SCSI. It says it will mess up your computer and the vs. I don't know if that is the same with a scsi/usb cable, but yeah, be careful

Thanks for the links guys, reading through em now

yeah Mecha it was the one at jane/wilson sort of area..I was surprised by the price just because Long&Mcquade has had a few for almost 200 before.

I actually hadn't previously noticed you were a Toronto head before though, there's actually a decent amount of us on here now.

PEACE!

More info can be found here: vsplanet.com

i just picked up a vs840ex last week for 100 bucks on ebay, its almost mint too. but i would think you would just record the output to the computer unless super high quality is an issue. The machine is a beast tho, i just learned how to record but it has routing and buses and a shit ton of effects. Maybe get your track mixed down to stereo and play it into a computer.

This is what I'm planning to do unless it really sounds different

Yay, okay I ordered mine off ebay last night, I'm just waiting for the shipping to be arranged. Now we can figure this ish out together lol as I heard these machines have a lot of potential but can be daunting unless you just want it to record.

Frig, I have the pieces of a beat on my 303 and I need to bounce some stuff down and assemble it. I don't have a card reader adapter thing for my computer yet so I can't just transfer everything to storage and clear my card to make anything new. I can't make any more beats until I get the vs. I tried using Garage Band one time to bounce some drums down to one track but it was so annoying. I'm used to cool edit but I can't use the computer that has it right at this moment.

Oh well lol for the next couple of days I guess I will just be practicing the beat and figuring out the exact arrangement I am going for.

cool man, the machine is pretty cool. it does have a shit load of features. and the EZ routing is a pain in the ass. make sure you skip that part of the manual and go for the easy way. setting up your recording manually. ill explain if you need me to. but the sound is pretty good. i like having 4 ins cause i got a 808, a 606 a boss dr202 and my computer( for synths) set-up in all 4 inputs. its pretty extreme!

Word after doing a bunch of reading I'm sort of thinking going the IDE to CF card or even IDE to SD card route if I can figure that out.

The reason I'm not down with the recording from it into computer is just because my computer is a piece of garbage, and that was one of the few reasons i was glad to move away from my tape recordings. If I had a better computer or the right equipment to record to computer I'd probably go that route.

Glad to see you grabbed yours mecha, I'm looking forward to really learning this thing.
PEACE

Yo if you figure out how to do it, let me know how it works out I would really be interested in doing that. Even just for storage reasons, it would be nice to keep the song files.

the site jetson and formal mentioned is really good.

i found this thread:
http://www.vsplanet.com/ubbthreads/ubbt ... ost1007641

which has this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oupd2hsqJlE

really makes the whole conversion seem not so difficult, i think i might order the parts i need when i get a chance, and take a shot at it. The idea of having things saved to sd/or cf would be really awesome.

I got mine last night. Some of the faders are acting homo and when I tried to open it up, I couldn't reach them . I'm just going to play around on it using the ones that work properly until I get a chance to bring it in to get the contacts cleaned or whatever. I really hope it's just the contacts. I feel like it is because when i first plugged it in most of the channels were being dumb but as I kept playing around with them they started clearing up. Then I stuck a q-tip with some alcohol in the front of one fader and it woke up a little bit more.

The card reader install looks pretty easy. I would just be annoyed to have it hanging out like that, but frig, it would certainly be worth it. After I get everything else it proper working order, I'm going to start getting things together to do that.

I guess Wizdumb owns this recorder too, you guys could get some knowledge from him too.
I've had 880's older brother - vs1680, but it was too complex for me, so I wont be much of a help here

yeah them roland multitrackers are like real studio recording with v-tracks and buses and all. its cool, if your in a fuckin band and wanna record a band and learn all that shit. just trying to overdub track for track is a bit tedious but once you learn how to do just that, then i can figure out how to bounce and add effects n shit.