Multitrack Backing tracks and Media Player Help

[psamyiad]

Hey guys. I have recently purchased the M20d and have it coupled with a pair of L2m for small bar gigs - live guitar, male and female vocals over backing tracks.

 

The M20d 1.2 upgrade states the following in the marketing blurb:

 

"It is also possible to import multi-track backing tracks from external sources and utilize them in a live performance, making StageScape M20d the center of the production."

 

 

What format do the multitracks need to be? How do you go about letting media player know they are a multitrack backing track?

 

Has media player yet been upgraded with the option to 'stop' after each track rather than continue through the playlist and infinite loop?

 

 

I hope someone can shed some light on this as I don't appear to find anything else about it other than the press releases!

 

Thanks in advance,

 

 

Graham.

 

[jaminjimlp]

you need to put mp3's on a sd card or usb stick put it in the m20d and select media player on m20d and hit the tweak button then touch screen "deep tweak" then you can make "playlist" by selecting the mp3 on storage (ie: sd card, usb stick) a foot switch can be connected to the m20d to start and stop the media player. for every scene you save there can be a different play list.  

 

or connect a computer via usb connection

or Ipod, phone, mp3 player on aux in (17-18) 1/8 connection on M20D

and manage the songs that way. 

[LDBecker]

When I want to do this, I stream via WiFi from my iPad through my Apple Airport Express, which has a line out of it that I plug into the M20d - then I can control the music or whatever from stage. It works well!

 

Larry

[psamyiad]

Thanks guys. However, I can make a playlist from the SD card or USB, or playback iPad material via WiFi or 1/8" jack - but we could do this before the update to 1.2. 

 

The update states we can now 'import MULTITRACKS from external sources'. This I took to mean there was a multitrack media player - whereby each track could be manipulated individually, rather than a premixed MP3 / WAV.

 

Is this the case, or is it just badly worded?

 

Thanks,

 

Graham

[Digital-sound]

I would have to take a look and I will when I get a chance. But I am wondering if there is a way to do it in the recording section. When you record on the m20d, and then play back, you can adjust each channels level. I haven't tried an external recording, but maybe there is something in the recording section that lets you import a multi track recording and have each track on its own channel? That would be pretty useful and is probably what you are thinking?

 

What I would try, is to put your tracks in a folder on an sd card, and then see if you can see them in the recording window. There is nothing about it in the new manual. And even if you do see them in the recording window, I don't know how you would play through the mixer with the tracks. Which would obviously be the point. Maybe this feature was supposed to be added, but they didn't? It does say all over the Internet that it is a new feature in the current firmware....

[SiWatts69]

Further to Digital-sound's comments;

 

I've done this for rehearsals where people are missing.

 

SD card with RAW WAV files in a folder.

You need one WAV per channel (2 if it's a stereo pair)

The WAV filename must be [channel_number]_[channel name].wav AND there must be a channel set up on the M20d for it.

Example: "7_Snare.wav" "1_Dave Vox.wav" etc

[channel name] needs to match the assigned name for the channel on the M20d

 

Go to Record then select the session on the SD card.

Even if you've got 12 channels set up on the M20 but only (for example) 3 wav files, the wav's will be played back through the channel numbers defined in the wav filenames. So for my two named files above, channels 1 and 7. All the other channels will be available to use "live"

 

Note however, that you cannot simultaneously playback from the SD card and record to it.

[SiWatts69]

As a quick follow up, I did make a suggestion a few months ago that it would be a nice feature to be able to, when playing back the recorded inputs, select which of the batch of channels should be played back, muting the playback into specific channels but whilst leaving the channel open for a "live" input.

 

eg, we record a gig. The next time we play, a band member is missing. Same set list so we could playback the last gig but only playback the missing member, with the remainder of the band playing their parts live. We do it for rehearsals sometimes but to achieve it, I have to remove wav files from the SD card for those who will be present.

[psamyiad]

Excellent. So it is possible :) albeit with some features missing that could be implemented in the future.

 

I'm very new with the M20d so I will have a good play about over the coming weeks and get myself familiar.

 

 

Thanks for your input :)

 

Graham

[Digital-sound]

Note however, that you cannot simultaneously playback from the SD card and record to it.

But you can play through the mixer with the record playback playing? I guess you can leave the record window? I actually have done that to adjust the mix, so clearly I have answered my own question now.

 

Thanks SiWatts for the clarification.

[jw1232]

I've used this option, recording individual instruments to separate wave files stored in the same place as the recorded wave file as if you were going to playback a live recording. this enables you to mute instruments live and just playback the unmated instruments for your performance. here is the rub, the wave files take up a channel therefore you can not plug into that channel with a live instrument. your placement of the wave file needs to mirror the scene setting the same as a live recording playback. The last is it is extremely time consuming and does not give you a lot of realtime control and a very good heads up display of what song your pulling up etc. if you have to adjust mixer you have to get out of the record/ playback screen adjust and get back to playback to start and stop. 

 

I've have great success with Airport and a iPad using Track Program through air or1/8 input. trust me when I say the time you spend at home tweaking the tracks with the proper instrumentation and levels is nothing compared to the work to set up a multitrack player. Good Luck. 

[danutmusic]

Hey all! Please help me !!!

I gave the song to record multitrack and mastering now I home! Does anyone know how the finished product out effects, volume, parameters of the mixer? I removed the SD card I put in the mixer and laptop, there are trak sites only are raw without voice effect without setting them, then I did after song! It can save the edited song already in the mixer Line 6 on memory stik or SD card, and how?

[SiWatts69]

N

Hey all! Please help me !!!

I gave the song to record multitrack and mastering now I home! Does anyone know how the finished product out effects, volume, parameters of the mixer? I removed the SD card I put in the mixer and laptop, there are trak sites only are raw without voice effect without setting them, then I did after song! It can save the edited song already in the mixer Line 6 on memory stik or SD card, and how?

You are perhaps misunderstanding the recording options of the mixer:

 

You can record all 18 RAW inputs, unprocessed to individual WAV files. These are designed for later mixing and mastering in a DAW.

You can record the stereo main out MIX.

You can record inputs only, main outs only OR both

 

You cannot however use the 18 raw input recordings and record a finished mix in the M20d; you'd need to do the mix on the M20 and record via a recording device directly attached to the M20 main outputs.

[danutmusic]

SirWatts 69,   thank you so much for your help and reply!

 

Line 6 M20d has software for connecting the mixer to laptop via data cable?

[SiWatts69]

Refer to section 4.8 of the StageScape manual:

 

Streaming

The M20d will stream 20 channels of audio to your computer via USB, and receive a stereo return

stream back from your computer. The use case for this would be when you’d like to record M20d

unprocessed channels for editing in your DAW. Whenever a USB cable is connected to the M20d

PC port, the following alert will be displayed in the Multitrack Recording window:

“Multitrack recording to SD/USB storage is not available while connected to a computer.â€

Input Streaming Configuration

The M20d streams 20 inputs to your computer and a stereo stream back to the M20d as follows:

• Channels 1-16: M20d Mic/Line Inputs 1-16, pre-processing / pre fader

• Channels 17-18: M20d stereo Aux Input, pre-processing / pre-fader

• Channels 19-20: M20d stereo Main Outs, post-processing / post-fader

USB Stereo Return Stream:

The stereo return is streamed to the M20d’s stereo Aux Input (channels 17/18).

Note: In order to hear the stereo return, a Stage Icon Preset must be assigned to the Aux Input

using the M20d touchscreen UI. The Laptop preset is ideally suited for this purpose, and can be

found in the Stage Icon Gallery.

For USB audio streaming, you must download and install the Line 6 StageScape M20d

Driver at http://line6.com/software.

On that page you will find 3 drop down menus. On the All Products drop down menu select

StageScape M20d. On the All Software drop down menu select Drivers.

Select the OS of the computer you wish to use with your M20d. Once the download has completed,

find and run the StageScape M20d Drivers Installer, following the onscreen instructions.

In your DAW you will need to change your audio interface to ASIO StageScape M20d. Then create

new audio tracks in your DAW with inputs that correspond to the inputs on the M20d. Note: If

you are using the StageScape DX/MME driver, make sure that StageScape is selected as the

default audio device in Windows. Also, know that you will only get audio from inputs 1-2 if you are

recording with DX/MME.

The Windows StageScape M20d USB 2.0 audio driver uses WDM and ASIO, supported on 32

and 64 bit OS configurations. The Mac OS X StageScape M20d USB 2.0 audio driver uses Core

Audio, supported on 32 and 64 bit OS configurations.

[danutmusic]

Thank you so much for your help and reply!

[Art_Continues]

Hey,

 

sorry to re-awake this Topic again, but I am pretty down since I tried everything to get a set of waves running for demo-purpose but it simply won't let me playback my multitracks.

 

I have a Demosong, recorded through M20d, wich always works perfect - the "load session"-function works.

 

If I do it the way you described, it just wont Play and, somehow Logical to me, can't find a "session-file".

 

Then I tried to manipulate the "session.dat" in various ways, but nothing helps.

 

Maybe someone of you has an idea on that?

 

In a nutshell: Format is 48kHz, 32-bit-float (just as recorded through M20d), I used whether just the waves (correctly named after Input channels/Scene), or an existing recording with edited "session.dat" or even a Setup made, recorded waves and then substituted through other waves with the same names (so that the session.dat would have the right Content)....NOTHING works :-/

 

Thanks'n'best,

Andreas

[SiWatts69]

Not sure I entirely understand what you want to do.

You should *NOT* amend the session.dat file in any way.

 

 

Tell us what you want to achieve and we'll do out best to assist.

[Art_Continues]

Hey...okay, after reading again, my post seems quite weird to me as well ;-)

 

Basically, I want to playback a multitrack Setup. I have a set of wavefiles, which I want to playback on the m20d for demo-purposes (a "live-mixing" demo without anything plugged into the mixer). F. e. I have 9 tracks, they should be able to playback via the recording-window, and then be tweaked/mixed.

 

I know that - and how - this works, when using a multitrack record generated with the mixer itself.

 

But I heard, that it should work as well, using other wave-files in the right Format.

 

Does that make my questions a bit clearer?

 

Thanks'n'best,

Andreas

[SiWatts69]

I think so...

 

 

If I have it correctly... you want to be able to playback (and mix) a set of channel recordings but which did not originate on the M20d?

 

If so, you firstly need to create a recording session on SD card on the M20. It doesn't need to be extensive but MUST map your eventual channel lineup/setup

 

Take the SD card and place it in your computer.

Locate the recording session you just created on the car (typically a folder named Recording1, Recording2 etc)

Inside the named session will be a number of WAV files, one for each defined channel.

Each Wav file will be named based on the input channel setting on the M20, so for example if you have a Kick mic defined in channel 1, with the channel named "Kick Drum" there will be a corresponding wav file called "1_Kick Drum.wav"

There will be one file for every input channel you have defined in your setup.

 

Next, Locate your tracks you want to import.

Name the wav's identically to the names of the target wav files in the recording session folder, then copy them into the session folder, overwriting the original file with your new file. Repeat for all channels.

If when playing back, you want one of your channels to be a live channel (ie to not playback a recording) simply delete the relevant wav file from the session folder on the SD card.

 

Place the SD card into your M20 and it would now read the folder and playback your new WAV files into the correct channels.

[Art_Continues]

Oh dear...thanks for the fast reply, but unfortunately that's exactly what I tried before, and now from scratch again.

 

It wont load the session (in this case called "Recording") - so it sees the files and Folders on SD, as well as the session file...but won't load nor play back :-/

 

Any other ideas?

 

Maybe any incompatibility? With operating System or with the exported wav's I want to use?

 

I use a Win7 PC to set up/copy files on SD, the exported waves come from a Nuendo7-Project, in 48kHZ, 32-bit-float (basically the same specs, that the M20d generates)

I also tried once with a 44.1k-resolution...same s**** :-P

 

Oh, and the SD-Card is a Class10 SDHC, with 8GB space...

[SiWatts69]

Well, to be honest, I've done the above but only with files that were originally recorded on the M20. I've never pulled in an externally created WAV.

 

It could be some kind of compatability issue within the WAV format.

[Art_Continues]

Hmm...yes, I suspect whether this or something within the "session.dat".

 

However, thanks a lot for your help...much appreciated!

 

Best,

Andreas

[SiWatts69]

Don't touch the session.dat file at all.

 

In the odd circumstances I've tried to reload a folder I'd removed from SD card, where I'd removed session.dat, M20 doesn't recognise the contents at all. If I tried to copy a session.dat file back in, M20 still wouldn't recognise the files.

 

My suspicion is the formatting of the WAV files.

 

Good luck!

[Art_Continues]

Yeah!!!!!

 

Thanks to our conversation I finally figured the Problem out!!!

 

As you suspected - the formatting was the issue.

 

The M20d has an internal 32-bit Floating Point processing, but puts 48k/24-bit files out!

 

I exported the wav's in 24-bit PCM Format, and see there -> everything works fine, when Setting the demo up just as you initially prospected!

 

Hell yeah!

Merry X-Mas :-D

[cosmowatts]

Running Logic 10.3 Can't figure out how to run 6 tracks separately thru USB to my M20D.

Originally there was an ASIO driver when I used Cubase..and Windows... Mac Uses Core Audio  but is there a way to send out tracks to separate channels , I don't care about the latency as i need to use it live?

[Rewolf48]

Sorry but you can't run 6 tracks into the M20d over USB. The M20d appears as 18 input channels over USB to a computer (19/20 are main mix), but only 2 outbound channels (L+R on channels 17/18) active when Laptop is added to the stage.

 

The only way you can do what I think you want is to copy the 6 tracks onto an SD Card with the same numbering and names as the tracks that are recorded when you record in a Setup. Then you can can use the recording menu to select the recording and play it with the other channels all still responding to live input

[khall187]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but am I missing something here? 

The m20D FORCES us to auto "repeat" at the end of playback of a track? Is that correct??

 

We have a short 30 second clip that we want to open our shows with, and cannot just hit "Play" and walk away?

Every time the media player automatically repeats the track, without any option to turn it off that I can see.

If so, that's just an unbelievable oversight to me. 

[silverhead]

I’m afraid that’s the way it works. Not very flexible, I agree. And at this point in the product’s lifecycle I don’t think an update is coming. In your case I suggest you try using the M20D Remote app. One band member could use a remote device (e.g. iPad)  to turn the Media Player on/off at the desired time. (Note: Again, this product is not receiving firmware or Remote App updates at this time. Unfortunately the Remote App is not compatible with recent iOS updates.)

 

Another option might be to use a laptop rather than the SD card for the backing track. This Streaming feature uses the USB connection and Channels 17/18 to receive input from a connected computer. You would then control the play/stop of your intro from the laptop.