ROLAND VS1680 - HOW TO BACKUP AS AUDIO / WAV FILES ( TASCAM DP32 )

[@KingCrimson82]

can we please just pause and admit that the roland is beautifull? that design is just so timeless.. i saw it in a music store mag in 1997 something beyond what i can afford..and when i got the money after my aunts death i bought one of these in 2000, i used it until 2017 thousands of hours thousands. Now i have to repair some buttons.

[@johnmorrell]

Yes, I totally agree. This was a complete game changer and a reliable sold piece of gear. Unfortunately, the medium for sharing the audio was very clunky - having to record everything onto cd to back it up - but my unit still works fine. I wish I could find a way to get the files off of and converted to wav files from all of those backup cds.

[@cedricjamesjr1]

I worked so many hours of overtime for mine. I love it but now I can't get my audio off of it and my Tascam does not have midi.

[@christopherdunn317]

The sad part nobody realizes the Roland is still better !

[@johnmorrell]

Yes, it's a wonderful recorder

[@Minipolice]

Hello John! I have no question but I can share my experiences with my vs-1680. I bought a SCSI cabinet and a Plextor scsi recorder. Older Plextor CD burners will work besides Rolands own. With the burner connected I could choose to export every track as a single wav-file to the cd. You have to choose this in the menu. Now I've upgraded my vs-1680 with a flash-card 16 gb, it worked with an adapter. I also have exchanged the input amplifier chip on the machine to a more expensive one and the recording noice has disappeared completely. This of course requires a little bit of soldering skills but the result is amazing. My old porta has got a new life. I haven't tried yet but I'm going to try Rolands import program on the flash card to see if it works. Tanks for your great video

[@garyspencer1711]

I'm very interested in some of the general details of "flash-card" conversion. Also, you stated that you replaced the input amplifier to lower noise floor .....but the actual input amplifiers are separate, individual, analog channels that are directly after the 8 input jacks. So, I sort of think that you replaced the system 20 bit codecs (there are 4 AKM 20bit codec chips - ADC's/DAC's combo) but this has little chance of lowering noise floor. Did you find pin-compatible 24 bit codec chips from AKM (or some other brand) ? Maybe you replaced all of the individual input opamps with a modern, ultra low noise, opamp ? That would definitely lower the audio band noise floor. Please comment when you get a chance. THANKS !

[@KingCrimson82]

for anybody wanting to backup data to a daw, you can go to the vs forum, they got a software with which you can use a scsi to usb adapter and just pull the files onto a pc..

[@pizzagogo6151]

Interesting: Aside from the expensive virdis software is there something else available?

[@cedricjamesjr1]

Do you have a link for that? Hopefully so.

[@NoQualmsTheArtist]

You're a fkn legend, this is exactly what I'm looking for, but instead I'll track it straight into my DAW. Thanks 👍🏾

[@johnmorrell]

You're welcome. I'm glad I was able to help you.

[@leerecordlabel]

thanks very much

[@johnmorrell]

You're welcome. I know this is a bit of a convoluted way to get the audio off the Roland, but I did manage to save my songs and ideas that would otherwise have been lost. If you have found another way or any way to modify or make this process easier, please pass that info along. Thanks.

[@jeanette3472]

Great instruction video, You really explains in a easy to understand way, but... It seems that there is no midi in the never versions ofTascam DP-32SD as of what I read from other buyers of that studio. Is that correct?

[@johnmorrell]

Hi Jeanette, yes, it seems there are two different models, but there are also workarounds. Check out this video to go over the differences and workarounds on both units. I have the unit with midi and the cd burner. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXXVp36FlpiNmK8

[@jeanette3472]

@@johnmorrell Thank you for taking time to answere. I will look in to that now. Have a nice day:)

[@johnmorrell]

@@jeanette3472 thanks, sorry for not being able to be more helpful. I hope you are able to get your recordings out of the 1680. Good luck.

[@TechTrailblazer4]

Great. I have a vs 2480 that doesn't play the tracks and when it does there is static. Can I swap my hard drive with another used vs to retrieve my songs?

[@johnmorrell]

I'm afraid i can't say yes or no to this question. I would imagine if you are able to take the drive from the Roland, and connect it to another computer that can recognise it, then, you should be able to extract files from it. The only question would be, what format would those files be. Roland used a format that was not WAV or anything similar. There is converter software available on the web, but I'm afraid I can't help more than that.

[@TechTrailblazer4]

@@johnmorrell yes thanks for insight. Its a great machine I prefer the hands on mixing when it all worked. The lack of technical support is the thing.

[@emachineseventyseven7164]

Can you expand the outputs on the 1680 using the optical cable to a audio interface.

[@johnmorrell]

I would have to refer you to the manual or someone else. I have unfortunately never used the optical output, so I'm unaware of its capabilities. Perhaps someone else knows. Sorry.

[@papa.alfredo]

Beautiful music, you should re produce it, would love to participate in it, many greetings from Germany

[@DocMastaTheArtist]

Where can I find the rca cable snake thing..

[@johnmorrell]

Hi, I bought it at Thomann. But I imagine any good music store would have or get you one. Amazon. It was called ' the sssnake SK422 '

[@thehouseofautumnspells258]

What about the SCSI output though? Can't that go out to an external hard drive as a backup? I am having a similar conundrum with a VS1824 that is making me LOSE MY MIND!!!!! idk what I'm doing

[@johnmorrell]

To the best of my knowledge, the Roland SCSI can only back up onto a cd burner, and that is a specific cd burner, you can't just use any burner.. A bit of online research will get you the name and make of it. It also backs the audio files up in a very specific format that needs to be decoded and there is a software someone created to do that, available online for Windows, but not Mac. Again, search the web. Home recording forums. If you want to continue using the Roland then backing up to their proprietary cd burner will work. You can just transfer the files back and forth, although, it takes a while, by todays speed standards. I have a number of songs backed up, and no cd burner any more. :-( This method of using an external and different multitrack recorder is just my way of being able to get all the old stuff off this machine ( the Roland ) in WAV format ( into the Tascam )and all tracks have the same starting position. I can then import them into any DAW or work on them in the Tascam. It's the only work around, Ive found as of yet, Ím sure other folks have found other methods. perhaps there's a way to connect the SCSI output to an external hard drive or such, but I don't know if that works. There are hardware mods that swap out the original hard drive for an SDcard. Those are available on ebay, but only in the USA as far as I've found. If you find a work around please share it here - I'm sure you are not alone with this situation.

[@BigSmella]

Yeah, seems we're all of us tempting digging up gold from our old VS-Rolands at this time and we're all going mad in the process!!!

[@johnmorrell]

@@BigSmella Indeed. Though, its been driving me nuts for ages trying to figure out how to do this.

[@chipco5150]

Looks fine John:-)

[@johnmorrell]

Thanks, I had given up hope on getting my music out of this VS1680. Reading your workaround was the inspiration for me to try again, and try something new.

[@sdal4929]

John, watched your video a bunch of times. i don't have access to a DP, (all sold out in the US). Are you saying the process you chose would not work going directly to a computer DAW? Also i noticed that you never went to the SYNC page on the 1680 during your setup. What should those settings be (MTC etc.)? Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[@johnmorrell]

Sorry for my late reply. It would probably work with a DAW, you could record each track according to the amount of inputs you have on your mac or pc. I have two, so it would have been a lot of work copying lots of individual tracks over, two by two. I wanted another multitrack unit, and this was a way to get a new recording device and get my songs off the Roland at the same time. Then the whole song and each track would be in sync, and could be dropped into a DAW afterwards if I wanted. I forget the MTC setting I used, but I'm sure you can see it when I show that page on the 1680. I'm glad the video has helped you, please post and updated ideas about how to do this or correct any mistakes or over complications I may have made.

[@paserpase2870]

This is when people don't wanna spend money to upgrade they just come up with a way to make it work what they have😂

[@johnmorrell]

Indeed! It really could have been upgraded by Roland, and made easier to get your music off the damn machine, instead of those cds and saved in that wierd unreadable format - but Tech changes so rapidly, its impossible for them to get it all right... When I bought this unit, it cost me an arm and a leg. Today I can do all this and more on a 6 inch ipad mini! Or a Tascam for a fraction of the price. But I wish Roland would make a new version of this unit. It would be a killer recorder given todays tech.

[@SlyDanger805]

My DP32SD doesn't have any Midi . Can it not be done without Midi ?

[@johnmorrell]

Getting the audio from the Roland is easy - just record any audio coming out of the VS into another recorder. Without midi you can do the same method - or similar - I use, the only difference will be that you may have a little bit of silence before your recording starts. Using Midi just allows both machine to start and stop at the same time. This means I have a 1:1 copy of my original recordings. But it's not necessary. Just start recording on your external recorder, and press play on the Roland, and you'll get all your tracks playing and recording / recorded at the same time, with just a bit of extra silence at the beginning. When you import it into a DAW, you can easily remove any unwanted silence before your tracks start, and edit / remix as you will. My version is not the only way. Midi is just a convenience, but you don't 'need' it for it to work. Good luck.

[@AndyMaySRM]

Is there any reason why a Tascam DP-24 would not work for this as well?

[@johnmorrell]

I used the midi to have everything start at the same time. But that was just for convenience. I'm sure it would work fine with the 24. Start record on the 24 and then click play on the VS and you have your tracks all synced.

[@AndyMaySRM]

@@johnmorrell Thanks for the reply and the video.

[@mr.shitebucket566]

Blimey talk about going around the houses.. Thomann do a MTK -12 Soundcraft mixer with built in USB straight to your computer/DAW.

[@mr.shitebucket566]

www.thomann.de/ie/soundcraft_signature_12mtk.htm

[@johnmorrell]

yes indeed. Back then, Roland made it a right pain in the arse to get your music off these machines. Tech today is on another level, but who knows how good that soundcraft will be in 20+ years! Mind you, I have finally got my hands on music and ideas I had completely forgot about from as far back as 1998 - so it was worth the hassle - I can't complain.

[@theprogrammerrolandmc3039]

@@johnmorrell no your roland is way ahead of that crappy tascam it has lightpipe and spdif you can get any audio interface with spdif or lightpipe

[@johnmorrell]

@@theprogrammerrolandmc3039 I'm well aware this is not the only way to do this, and if you would like to help others with this issue , you could make a video for everyone explaining the other ways you know using SPDIF and the Optical. That would be incredibly kind and helpful of you. Please feel free to add a link to your video here when you have made it. Thanks.

[@babyfather1982]

Do u have your on brand of hot dogs

[@johnmorrell]

Now that joke will be lost on non Americans! Short answer - No I don't do sausages or hot dogs - that'll be my namesakes in the States. People often send me photos of the John Morrell sausage packet labels though, so i have seen them.

[@theprogrammerrolandmc3039]

the roland has SPDIF and optical lightpipe why did you buy the tascam dp32 it is junk the older tascams 2488 / 2488 mk2 and tascam neo are all better than the dp32 it does not even have spdif

[@johnmorrell]

I bought it specifically for this task. I'm well aware this is not the only way to do this, and if you would like to help others with this issue , you could make a video for everyone explaining the other ways you know using SPDIF and the Optical. That would be incredibly kind and helpful of you. Please feel free to add a link to your video here when you have made it. Thanks.