May I See A Menu Please

There’s amazing power and flexibility in the Menus and Screens built into the Mackie OS. This guide will serve as an excellent Quick Reference for each menu and screen.

The File Menu

Contains:

•New Session... (Ctrl+N)

•Open Session... (Ctrl+O)

•Close Window (ESC)

•Save Session (Ctrl+S)

•Save Session As…

•Save As Template

•Reset Template

•Desktop (Ctrl+D)

•Shutdown (Ctrl+Q)

Let’s take a quick look at each menu item.

New Session (Ctrl+N)

•Press Ctrl+N or click the File menu, drag down to New Session, and release.

•Select this to—wait, let me guess—start a new session.

•The OS will ask you to save changes to the current session, if necessary.

•Next, you get the chance to name the new session, select which folder it ends up in, create a new folder to put it in, or cancel.

•The session can be saved to the internal hard drive or to a 3.5" floppy disk.

•A session consists of all snapshots, automation data, and—if you choose—custom EQ, effects, and dynamics patches.

•A new session uses the Template as its initial status.

Open Session (Ctrl+O)

•Press Ctrl+O or click the File menu, drag down to Open Session, and release.

•Use this to open a preexisting session file.

•As soon as the session is opened, the faders and all other parameters move to their proper settings for the current time code location.

Close Window (ESC)

•Press Ctrl+W, ESC, or click the File menu, drag down to Close Window, and release.

•Closes the front window (Setup, Snapshots, Locator, Surround, Event List, Mix Editor Fat Channel, or any menu screen with a CLOSE icon in the upper right corner).

Save Session (Ctrl+S)

•Press Ctrl+S or click the File menu, drag down to Save, and release.

•Saves the current session to its assigned hard drive or floppy disk.

•If you don’t choose to activate the D8B automatic save feature, press Ctrl+S often to ensure against lost work—stuff happens.

Save Session As…

•Click the File menu, drag down to Save Session As…, and release.

•Enter a new file name (or use the default name) and select destination folder and/or drive.

•An extremely useful feature for saving variations of a session.

•Lets the current session be saved under a new name, leaving the original file untouched from that point on.

•Good for backing up session data under a new file name, or to a floppy or external drive.

Save As Template

All new sessions are based on the template. The Template is stored separately, but it can be updated at any point with the current static mix levels, setup parameters, and track attributes of any given mix. Simply pull down the File menu and initiate the Save Template operation.

The following are stored in the Template:

•Channel Name

•Noise Filter setting (in Channel List)

•Channel Layout (rearrangement)

•MDS Network settings

•Stereo/Surround setting

•Current Tempo (default to 120 bpm)

•Time View (SMPTE/BBT/Milliseconds)

•Mix Editor – Grid Setting (resolution—called Snap Grid in the pull-down), Enable Snapping, Snap to Cues, Snap to Grid

D8B Manual • Chapter 3 • page 51