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
LR
3
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
–15 +15
–15 +15
–15 +15
250 5k
FLIP
CUE
010
F
G
1
010
2
010
1 2
3 4
GROUP ASSIGN
L
ODD R
EVEN
LINE
GAIN
HIGH
MID
LOW
AUX
PAN
MIC
LR
2
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
–15 +15
–15 +15
–15 +15
250 5k
FLIP
CUE
010
F
G
1
010
2
010
1 2
3 4
GROUP ASSIGN
L
ODD R
EVEN
LINE
GAIN
HIGH
MID
LOW
AUX
PAN
MIC
LR
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
010
F
G
1
010
2
010
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