Ping-Pong Recording
41
MD8—Owner’s Manual
Ping-Pong Recording
The ping-pong recording technique (also known as bounce down) is used to free up tracks
for further recording. This is accomplished by bouncing down (i.e., mixing and recording)
one or two existing tracks to an unused track. Those tracks can then be used for further
recording (in which case their contents are overwritten). You can thus record more than just
eight tracks using this technique. The only drawback is that once several tracks have been
bounced, you cannot adjust the individual sounds. You can, however, balance the levels and
apply EQ and effects during the actual ping-pong operation. The following illustration
shows the ping-pong technique.
Tape-based multitrack recorders always need at least one unused track for ping-pong oper-
ations. The MD8, however, provides eight-track playback with ping-pong. So you can record
on all eight tracks and then bounce them down to one of those tracks. This is possible because
the MD8 is able to read audio data from a track before writing new audio data to it. When
the ping-pong operation is complete, the previous audio data on that track is lost. However,
you can rehearse ping-pong operations. The following illustration shows eight-track play-
back with ping-pong.
Destination Track
Source
Tracks
Track 4
Track 5
Track 6
Track 7
Track 8
Track 3
Track 2
Track 1
Track 4
Track 5
Track 6
Track 7
Track 8
Track 3
Track 2
Track 1
LINE
GAIN
HIGH
MID
LOW
AUX
PAN
MIC
L
R
3
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
–15
+15
–15
+15
–15
+15
250
5k
FLIP
CUE
0
10
F
G
1
0
10
2
0
10
1
2
3
4
GROUP ASSIGN
L
ODD
R
EVEN
LINE
GAIN
HIGH
MID
LOW
AUX
PAN
MIC
L
R
2
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
–15
+15
–15
+15
–15
+15
250
5k
FLIP
CUE
0
10
F
G
1
0
10
2
0
10
1
2
3
4
GROUP ASSIGN
L
ODD
R
EVEN
LINE
GAIN
HIGH
MID
LOW
AUX
PAN
MIC
L
R
1
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
–15
+15
–15
+15
–15
+15
250
5k
FLIP
PB
MIC/
LINE
CUE
0
10
F
G
1
0
10
2
0
10
1
2
3
4
GROUP ASSIGN
L
ODD
R
EVEN
P
A
N
L
E
V
E
L
PB
MIC/
LINE
P
A
N
L
E
V
E
L
PB
MIC/
LINE
P
A
N
L
E
V
E
L
