I also want to mention , that because most routing is handled in the VM3100 pro, and not by the sequencer, that this tutorial should work equally as well with Sonar, Cubase or Logic. I have used Sonar while going through the examples. With the VM3100 and YOUR sequencer, there are probably more ways to accomplish the same thing but at least you will know one way to accomplish the desired results after this tutorial.

You must become familiar with a few terms that I will use because it will make these instructions easier to read if we all talk the same "language".

1) When I mention "the Big Dial" I am referring to the largest digitizer on the VM3100. In the VM3100 manual it is called the VALUE Dial. It is the only large dial to the right hand side of the VM3100.

2) The "F1-F4" button may also cause a bit of confusion. There ARE buttons F1, F2,F3 and F4, but when I refer to the "F1-F4" button I AM NOT referring to these. There is a separate single button to the left of "F1" called the F1-F4 button which selects a MENU. Then F1,F2,F3,or F4 are used to make selections under that MENU. So the usual approach is to first hit "F1-F4" and then hit one of the FOUR F? buttons to select the final function.

3) To the right hand side of the mixer there is a LEFT ARROW, RIGHT ARROW, UP ARROW AND DOWN ARROW. When I refer to an "ARROW", I am referring to one of these.

RECORDING A TRACK WITH EFFECTS

The first task to accomplish is to take an already recorded DRY STEREO track of Audio and route it through the VM3100 ,through the effects and back into the computer to record a second NEW stereo track with the EFFECTS1 on the LEFT SIDE AND EFFECTS2 on the RIGHT SIDE. This task must also be handled completely internally in the DIGITAL REALM without patch cords. This example will use the INSERT EFFECT rather than SEND/RETURN type. Because of this, the newly created track will be mostly EFFECTS and you will need to mix it with your DRY track later to produce the desired result. I prefer this method, because I believe that it is better to MIX IN effects during the final mixdown. Many times an effect which sounded strong couldn't even be heard in the final mix. Also I have found that if too much reverb is used on DRUMS, the drums become quieter in some final mixes and sometimes more DISTANT when played on acoustic speakers. That is why I would rather adjust the effects mix during the final mixdown AND with many different speakers.

1) For this example, make sure that your source TRACK is playing to "WAV OUT 1/2" This will be the track that we want to generate effects FX for. All othe tracks should be using either 3/4 OUT, 5/6 OUT OR 7/8 OUT. Otherwise they will also be recorded with effects. You can always change their CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT later and add effects to them later. For this example we will not be concerned with TWEAKING effects, but rather just loading FX PRESETS already found in the VM3100 PRO.

2) Hit the "EFFECTS1" BUTTON and then select your favorite effect by turning the Big Dial until the effect that you like shows up in the DISPLAY. Then hit the "YES" button to select the effect.

3) Hit the "EFFECTS2" BUTTON and then select your other favorite effect by turning the Big Dial until the effect that you like shows up in the DISPLAY. Then hit the "YES" button to select the effect.

4) Next hit the "EZ ROUTING" BUTTON and then the "F1-F4" button. Then select "FX" by hitting F3. Turn the Big Dial until you see INS CH13. Notice that this will be sending FX1 (EFFECTS1) to Channel 13 (left side). If you remember from my review, audio RECORDED on channel 1 is PLAYED on channel 13 by default.

5) Next hit the RIGHT ARROW to select INSERT ROUTING for FX2 (EFFECTS2) now turn the Big Dial to INS CH14 Notice that this will be sending FX2 (EFFECTS2) to Channel 14 (right side). If you remember from my review, audio RECORDED on channel 2 is PLAYED on channel 14 by default.

6) Then hit "BUS ASSIGN PARAM VIEW" and next F3 for "OUT"

7) Keep hitting the RIGHT ARROW until you see Tr 1/2=CH1/2 (DEFAULT SETTING)

8) Turn the Big Dial to select Tr1/2=CH13/14 (the same thing in the display as at the top of this page). This will reroute recording back from 13/14 into 1/2.

9) Create an Audio track to record the FX track to, using your sequencer. With Sonar Create "AUDIO TRACK". The newly created track should have a source INPUT of 1/2 but it is better to send its OUTPUT to another channel such as 3/4 to prevent a nasty feedback loop.

10) Make sure that the vm3100 "AUDIO CH" GREEN LIGHT BUTTON is on for tracks 13/14 and adjust the slider so that your aren't overloading the track input. Use the METER in your sequencer for the track that you are recording to monitor the VU level.

11) ARM the track for recording by hitting the "R" button

12) HIT "RECORD" OR THE RECORD BUTTON ICON IN YOUR SEQUENCER.

You are now recording the track with effects to the new Audio Track. Your original track will still be intact.

RECORDING DIRECTLY FROM THE 9/10 OR 11/12 RCA PLUGS

For this example we will be recording from 9/10 into WAV IN 1/2

1) Hit the EZ ROUTING button and then "F1-F4" button. Then hit F2 for "OUT"

2) Hit the RIGHT ARROW over and over until you see "Tr1/2=1/2" in the display on the right side.

3) Then turn the Big Dial to select "Tr1/2=CH09/10". Now anything plugged into the 9/10 RCA plugs will be routed OUT to 1/2.

4) Record into your sequencer Audio Track with 1/2 as the input channel. That is it. You will be recording 9/10 into your new Audio track.

5) To control the volume of the incoming audio make sure that the "AUDIO CH" BUTTON LIGHT IS RED and use the 9-10 slider.

6) To record from the 11/12 RCA input, go back to step 3 and turn the Big Dial to "Tr1/2=CH11/12" rather than "Tr1/2=CH09/10".

IF YOU MESS UP YOUR VM 3100 PRO SETTINGS
You can reset back to the factory settings.

1) Hit the "SYSTEM" BUTTON.

2) Hit "F1-F4"

3) Hit "F4" for "INIT"

4) Turn the Big Dail to put checkmarks in "ALL" of the boxes.

5)I have found that after doing this on my system, SONAR gets very quiet. Cool Edit Sounds OK and Logic is also OK after a full reset, but I can't understand why Sonar is all of a sudden approximately 20 db quieter. IF YOU CONTINUE WITH THIS BE AWARE THAT THIS WILL ERASE ALL OF YOUR PERSONAL SETTINGS. IF YOU WANT TO GET BACK FACTORY PRESETS IT MAY BE BETTER IF YOU SAVE ALL OF YOUR MIXER SETTINGS FIRST TO A MIDI DUMP. SEE BELOW

6) Hit the "YES/ENTER" button 3 times.

SAVING YOUR VM 3100 PRO SETTINGS WITH A MIDI DUMP

1) Make sure that your VM3100 is connected to your computer through the RPC-1 interface.

2) Hit "SYSTEM"

3) Hit "F1-F4"

4) Then hit F3 "BULK"

5) Turn the Big Dail to put checkmarks in "ALL" of the boxes.

6) Make sure that your MIDI sequencer IS NOT set up to FILTER out SYSEX DATA.

7) The BULK DUMP is SYSEX DATA. Hit "RECORD" to record the data TO A NEW MIDI TRACK.

8) On the VM3100, hit the "YES/ENTER" button twice.

9) When you see "COMPLETED" on the VM3100 display stop the sequencer. For a full system dump it will take approximately 3 minutes.

10) Verify that the data has been recorded by checking your Event List or Event Editor

11) Save the settings to your hard drive. A good filename might be vm3100.cwp (Sonar) or vm3100.lso (Logic)

Another approach would be to record the SYSEX DATA along with your MIDI music and AUDIO tracks. This would allow you to start up the SEQUENCER with MIDI, AUDIO, AND MIXER SETTINGS ALL AT ONCE.

I have also tried to send and receive MIDI BULK in the "SYSX VIEW" under Sonar. This also works, but the DATA can't be viewed in the Event List when data is Sent/Retrieved this way.

LOADING YOUR VM 3100 PRO SETTINGS WITH A MIDI DUMP

1) Make sure that your VM3100 is connected to your computer through the RPC-1 interface.

2) Hit "SYSTEM"

3) Hit "F1-F4"

4) Then hit F3 "BULK"

5) Hit "F1-F4"

6) Hit F2 for "RCV" (receive)

7) Make sure that your MIDI sequencer IS NOT set up to FILTER out SYSEX DATA.

7) Hit "PLAY" on Sonar or Logic to send the data.

8) You will see "Receiving Data" and "Waiting" several times, on the VM3100 display, before the process is finished. With Sonar, I never saw "Completed" so I just shut off the power after the SEQUENCER went to the bottom of the Event List. (3 minutes later) When I restarted the VM3100, everything was OK ,but I can't make any promises here.

9) According to Roland sources, only after you see "COMPLETED" on the VM3100 display are you to stop your sequencer.

HIDDEN FEATURES

There are 11 "SELECT" buttons above the SLIDERS. Hitting combinations of these while powering up will put the VM-3100 into various MAINTENANCE-UPGRADE MODES. These were probably only intended for Roland Technicians so please consult with Roland before attempting to try any of these things.Here are the BUTTON combinations to be held down during power up.

1+4 Will initialize the USER AREA back to factory settings.

2+5 Will FLASH your VM-3100 with a MIDI SYSEX system update. You better know what you are doing before you do this. I'm not liable and neither is Roland if you cook your VM 3100. Update files can be found at the Roland website.

4+7 or 5+8 will test your hardware. This will check all of your LEDs LCDs Pots Pans and Sliders Midi I/O etc. A bit of ENGRISH HERE! Instead of BLINK the LEDs will BRINK ! LOL

6+9-10 will perform a DIF AT UPDATE. Maybe to make it read digital directly from my 48 khz DAT, I hope ?

7+11-12 I'm assuming those with the RBUS connection directly to their computer will FLASH the VM-3100 with a RBUS system update. You better know what you are doing before you do this. I'm not liable and neither is Roland if you cook your VM 3100. Update files can be found at the Roland website.

IS THE ROLAND STUDIO PACK FOR YOU?

USING THE ROLAND STUDIO PACK WITH SONAR 2.0

USING THE ROLAND STUDIO PACK WITH UNITY DS-1

THE WAY