ENSONIQ ZR-76 - Page 25

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Chapter 1ÑWelcome

ENSONIQ ZR-76 Musician's Manual14

The ZR-76 presents ENSONIQÕs innovative Idea Pad. If youÕve ever had fleeting magic slip through your

fingers when your were unable to recreate something youÕve played, youÕll appreciate the Idea Pad.

The Idea Pad is a special recorder thatÕs always running, automatically capturing everything you play.

Since itÕs always active, you can be confident that everything youÕve just played is safely stashed in the

ZR's memory. To retrieve your ideas, simply press the Idea PadÕs Recall Idea and Start/Stop buttons, and

youÕll hear your latest musical discovery intact, just as it sounded the first time. The Idea Pad will have

caught your idea, the sound you used, and the rhythm you were playing along with if you were jamming

with the Drum Machine.

The Idea Pad is also the perfect place to stash those sudden inspirations that send you running for your

keyboard in the middle of the night or day. Simply turn your ZR-76 on, play your new idea on the

keyboard before it evaporates, and the Idea Pad will capture it for you, fresh from your musical

imagination. No more stopping to set tempos, pick tracks or wait for your computer to boot up: the Idea

Pad gets your thoughts down quickly, before that initial spark has a chance to fade.

If the Idea Pad captures something youÕd like to keep, you can send your ideaÑalong with any Drum

Machine rhythm you were usingÑover to the ZR's 16 Track Recorder for further work.

As you perfect tracks in the 16 Track Recorder, the Idea Pad keeps listening to you, capturing take after

take that you can retrieve and audition at will.

The Idea Pad is described more fully in Chapter 6ÑThe Idea Pad.

The 16 Track Recorder is a digital MIDI sequencer adorned with powerful editing features that will help

you turn your inspirations into full-blown musical arrangements. In addition to standard recording

methods, the 16 Track Recorder offers such treats as looped ADD modeÑwhere the sequence plays over

and over and you can add music each time it cycles around. It includes handy scoop-erase functions. You

can record real-time volume and stereo panning changes on each of its 16 tracks. YouÕll also find several

useful methods for locating to various points within a sequence.

The ZRÕs Undo function allows you to restore any track to the state it was in before the last recording or

editing operation. And when youÕre working with the 16 Track Recorder, the Idea Pad keeps on going,

recording everything you do. As you refine your music take after take, the Idea Pad catches each one and

holds onto it for youÑwith the Idea Pad running, thereÕs no such thing as going a few takes too far. You

can always move an earlier take out of the Idea Pad and right back into the 16 Track Recorder.

The 16 Track Recorder can play Drum Machine rhythms on a special rhythm track. You can record Drum

Machine performancesÑyour inspired selection of variations and fillsÑon this track. You can even record

additional drum notes right on top of the rhythm. The tempo of any sequence can be tapped out or set

manually.

The 16 Track Recorder records each section of musicÑeach sequenceÑas a Standard MIDI file. When

youÕve finished taking advantage of the ZRÕs extensive recording track editing tools, you can save each

sequence to floppy disk and move over to your computer for further work in your favorite software

sequencer. Your computer can send MIDI back to your ZR-76, so that you can continue to use its sounds

and rhythms without missing a beat.

Your ZR-76 loads Standard MIDI Files (SMFs) from DOS-formatted floppies. The 16 Track Recorder can

immediately play SMFs created on a computer or other musical device. SMFs can also be easily converted

to ZR sequences, so that you can customize them to your needs or add new tracks recorded on your ZR-

76.

16 Track Recorder sequences can also be used as set-ups for live performance. By assigning the sounds

you use in a particular song to different tracks in the same sequence, you can use the sequence as a kind

of super-preset containing everything you need for that song. You can set up a whole setÕs worth of sounds

in this manner by creating a sequence for each song youÕll be playing, and saving the whole set as an ZR-

76 song.

The 16 Track Recorder is described more fully in Chapter 7ÑRecording.

The Song Editor is the command center for ZR-76 recording operations, providing total control over each

song, from its reference metronome to the manner in which the 16 Track Recorder records, to the lengths

and names of the songÕs component sections . The Song EditorÕs playlist function lets you line up your

ENSONIQ ZR-76 - Page 25

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