Alesis ALESIS M20 TRACK RECORD ENABLING AND M

ALESIS M20 REFERENCE MANUAL 1.06 5-1
CHAPTER 5
TRACK RECORD ENABLING AND
MONITORING
5.1 TRACK BASICS
The M20 can record a total of 10 tracks:
• 8 digital audio tracks. These record standard audio signals, either from the analog
inputs, optional AES/EBU card, or ADAT Optical Interface.
• 1 analog Aux track. This track records audio information from the Aux input, along with
any of the eight audio tracks routed to the Aux track. This provides quality scrubbing
(which is difficult to do solely in the digital domain) and the ability to hear audio from
the Aux output during rewind, fast forward, and autolocate operations. During Search
operations, the Aux track can be routed to any of the eight standard audio track outputs
(see section 6.5).
• 1 time code track. This track records only SMPTE/EBU time code information, and
stores this data digitally on tape. It receives its input from the Time Code In jack if the
TC Source is set to External (section 11.3), or from the Internal Time Code Generator if
the TC Source is set to Internal.
SMPTE vs. ABS time code: The ADAT ABS time reference is separate from this SMPTE
time code track, and is written in a subcode of the tape automatically as part of the
format operation covered in Chapter 4.
To record, a track must first be record-enabled (see section 5.4; the record enable button light
will flash).
Aux and TC track record enabling: The Aux and TC tracks cannot be record enabled
simultaneously. For example, if the Aux track is record enabled and the TC Track
record enable button is pressed, record will disable on the Aux track and the TC
Track will become record enabled. This will occur in any transport mode, so if a
record is in progress on the TC Track, pressing the Aux track record enable button
will punch-out of the TC Track.
You typically press the Play and Record transport buttons to allow track-enabled tracks to
begin recording, although you can also use a footswitch (section 8.6e) and/or program
automatic punch in points (sections 8.8a and 8.8c). During recording, any armed Record
Enable buttons stay lit steadily.