JP2004265579A - Multi-track digital sound recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable integrated level control of a plurality of paired or grouped tracks by means of one fader in a device in which a digital mixer and a digital recorder of multitracks are combined. <P>SOLUTION: The several tracks to be grouped among the plurality of the tracks are assigned and the level control is commonly performed to the grouped tracks by using the operation output from one operator. Also, each of the plurality of the tracks has a plurality of virtual tracks and any one among these virtual tracks is made selectable for each of the plurality of the tracks. The several tracks to be grouped among the plurality of the tracks are assigned and the level control is commonly performed to the respective selected virtual tracks of the grouped tracks by using the operation output from the one operator. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a multi-track digital recording / reproducing apparatus which can record and reproduce audio data as digital data in an external storage device such as a hard disk device in a multi-track manner.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a recording / reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing various audio data as digital data in an external storage device such as a hard disk device has been known. As such a recording / reproducing apparatus, there is known a multi-track type in which a plurality of streams of input audio data are recorded on a plurality of tracks. In order to show the recorded range of each track, some conventional displays display the recorded range of each track in a bar graph with the time axis taken in the horizontal direction. The audio data recorded on each track can be reproduced by a predetermined operation.

  Some of such recording / reproducing devices have a so-called REMAIN display function because the capacity of a storage device for recording audio data is limited. In the related art, the free space of the hard disk device or the like is displayed in the main display.

  Further, in the conventional recording / reproducing apparatus, each track for recording / reproducing has been independently controlled in volume level.

  In the conventional device, since the level control of each track is controlled independently, it has not been possible to respond to a request to control a plurality of tracks recorded in stereo or multi-microphone at once.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and in a combination of a digital mixer and a multi-track digital recorder, a single fader can perform collective level control of a plurality of tracks formed in pairs or groups. The purpose is to be.

  To achieve this object, the invention according to claim 1 is a recording / reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing digital audio data in multi-tracks, and designates several tracks to be grouped among a plurality of tracks. Means and level control means for commonly performing level control on the grouped tracks using an operation output from one operator.

  The invention according to claim 2 is a recording / reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing digital audio data in multiple tracks, wherein each of the plurality of tracks has a plurality of virtual tracks, and any one of the virtual tracks is provided. Means for selecting each of the plurality of tracks, means for specifying some tracks to be grouped among the plurality of tracks, and using the operation output from one operator to Level control means for performing level control in common for each of the selected virtual tracks.

  According to the present invention, since a plurality of tracks are grouped and the level is controlled collectively by one operator, it is possible to respond to a request to collectively control a plurality of tracks recorded by stereo or multi-mic recording.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a system configuration of a multi-track digital recording / playback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The recording / reproducing apparatus includes a central processing unit (CPU) 101, a ROM (read only memory) / RAM (random access memory) 102, a hard disk device (HD) 103, an operator / display unit 104, an analog / digital Converter (ADC) 105, audio input terminal group 106, digital / analog converter (DAC) 107, audio output terminal group 108, digital signal processor (DSP) 109, CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable) 110, An external interface (I / F) 111, an I / F connector group 112, and a system bus 113 are provided.

  The CPU 101 is a processing device that controls the operation of the entire device. The ROM / RAM 102 is a storage device that stores various programs executed by the CPU 101 and uses the programs as a work area. The HD 103 is a storage device that secures an area for recording programs executed by the CPU 101 and various data to be used, and digital audio data. The operator / display unit 104 is a display device that is provided on an external panel of the device and that displays various types of operators for the user to operate and various types of information.

  The ADC 105 is an analog / digital converter that converts an analog audio signal input through the audio input terminal group 106 into a digital signal. The DAC 107 is a digital / analog converter that converts a digital audio signal input via the system bus 113 into an analog signal and outputs the analog signal to the audio output terminal group 108.

  The DSP 109 executes various microprograms based on instructions from the CPU 101, and performs mixing of digital audio signals, effect giving processing, volume level control processing, and the like. The CD-R 110 is a device for burning digital audio data recorded on the HD 103 onto a compact disc. The external I / F 111 and the I / F connector group 112 are interfaces for connecting external MIDI (Musical Instruments Digital Interface) equipment, SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) equipment, and the like.

  FIG. 2 is a panel external view of the recording / reproducing apparatus of this embodiment (the external appearance of the operation unit / display unit 104 in FIG. 1). Reference numeral 201 denotes a display unit, which shows a state where a track view screen described later is displayed. A shift key 210, an F1 key 211, an F2 key 212, an F3 key 213, an F4 key 214, and an F5 key 215 are provided below the display unit 201. Reference numeral 221 denotes a cursor movement key for moving a cursor displayed on the display unit 201. Reference numeral 222 denotes a data / jog dial for changing set values of various parameters and selecting a list. 223 is an enter key.

  This apparatus can perform recording and reproduction on a 16-track multi-track (each track is referred to as track 1 to track 16). The signal processing is basically performed by the DSP 109. Each track is provided with eight virtual tracks (hereinafter abbreviated as VT). The VT is a storage area that is allocated to the track and actually used when recording and reproducing the corresponding track. For example, when recording on track 1, first record on VT1, then record on VT2 (with the VT1 data as it is), and in either case, reproduce the desired VT as track 1, or record the VT1 recorded data and VT2. And the recorded data is recorded on the VT3, and the data of the VT3 can be reproduced as the track 1. That is, of the eight VTs 1 to 8, one selected VT is used for recording and playback of the track.

  Reference numeral 231 in FIG. 2 denotes an operator for the track 1 (TR1). Reference numeral 232 denotes an SEL key used when setting various parameters related to the track 1, 233 an ON key for specifying whether or not the track 1 is turned on, and 234 a fader () used for volume level control of the track 1 Control in the form of a slide volume). Similarly, similar operators are provided from track 2 (TR2) to track 16 (TR16). Reference numeral 241 denotes an operator set for controlling the output of the entire stereo 2ch. A REW key 251, an FF key 252, a PLAY key 253, a REC key 254, a PAUSE key 255, and a STOP key 256 are keys for instructing rewind, fast forward, playback, recording, pause, and operation stop, respectively.

  Reference numeral 263 denotes a recording track switch for selecting a track to be recorded. By turning on the switches printed with “1” to “16”, the track of the track number becomes recordable.

  FIG. 3 shows the state of each of the 16 tracks, and also shows the initial track view screen for making the settings. The number of each of the 16 tracks is displayed as "1" to "16" below the display of "T" shown in 301. “NAME” is an area for displaying the name given to each track. The name can be changed arbitrarily. The recording state of each track is shown by a bar graph in an area 302 on the right side thereof. The bar graph indicates the recording range by a band-like graph with the horizontal direction as the direction of the time axis. Reference numeral 402 in FIG. 4 shows a display example of the bar graph. This display example shows that tracks 1 and 2 are partially recorded, and that tracks 3 to 8 have recorded data (within the range of the displayed time axis). In FIG. 3, reference numeral 302 denotes an initial state, in which no track has been recorded, and therefore, it is blank.

  Reference numeral 303 denotes a currently set locate position. The locate position is a position on the time axis with the beginning of the music being 0. When recording, recording is performed from that position, and when reproducing, reproduction is performed from that position. The location is displayed as hours: minutes: seconds. In FIG. 3, since the screen is the initial screen, the top position is displayed as 00: 00: 00.000. Seconds are displayed to three decimal places.

  From the initial state of the track view initial screen as shown in FIG. 3, recording of each track is executed, and digital audio data is recorded on the hard disk device 103. At this time, since the storage capacity of the hard disk device 103 is limited, the present device has a function of displaying how much free space is available. In particular, the present apparatus not only displays the free space of the storage device, but also calculates and displays the remaining recordable time according to the number of tracks designated for recording at that time. This enables management according to the actual recording state.

  When a predetermined operation (here, pressing the shift key + F1 key) is performed from the track view screen, the locate display 303 in FIG. 3 is switched to a main (remaining time) display. Reference numeral 403 in FIG. 4 is an example of a remaining time display on the track view screen. The remaining time display 403 in FIG. 4 indicates that there is a recordable time of 13 minutes and 7 seconds according to the number of tracks currently designated for recording. The recording of each track is designated by pressing the recording track switch 263.

  FIG. 5 shows a wave (waveform) display screen of the track view screen. When a predetermined operation (here, pressing of the F2 key) is performed on the track view screen shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a wave display screen 501 as shown in FIG. The wave display screen 501 displays the front and rear tone waveforms centered on the current locate position. It is assumed that any track is selected on the track view screen before the F2 key is pressed, and a waveform is displayed on the wave display screen 501 for the selected track.

  Reference numeral 502 denotes a display of the current locate position. The upward arrow and the downward arrow shown in 503 are buttons for performing a vertical (amplitude) enlargement / reduction display of the displayed waveform. When the cursor is moved to the upward arrow using the cursor movement key 221 and the enter key 223 is pressed, the displayed waveform is enlarged and displayed in the vertical direction. When the cursor is moved to the downward arrow and the enter key 223 is pressed, the displayed waveform is reduced and displayed in the vertical direction. A button 504 is used to perform scaling in the time axis direction (horizontal axis). When the cursor is moved to the right arrow using the cursor movement key 221 and the enter key 223 is pressed, the displayed waveform is enlarged and displayed in the horizontal direction. When the cursor is moved to the left arrow and the enter key 223 is pressed, the displayed waveform is reduced and displayed in the horizontal direction. To delete the wave display screen 501, the user moves the cursor to the EXIT key 505 and presses the enter key 223.

  According to the wave display screen 501 as shown in FIG. 5, the waveform at the locate position can be monitored. That is, it is possible to confirm the recording state near the locate position at the waveform level. Further, on the wave display screen 501, the locate position can be set while confirming the waveform level. The setting of the locate position is performed by turning on the locate button 506.

  FIG. 6 shows a virtual track display screen. By selecting the lower tab portion 605 with the cursor from the track view screen and pressing the enter key 223, a virtual track display screen as shown in FIG. 6 can be displayed. Track numbers "1" to "16" and their track names are displayed below the display of "T" and "NAME" shown in 601. Below the display “602” of “VIRTUAL TRACK” on the right side, the numbers of eight virtual tracks (VT) of each track are displayed as “1” to “8”, and the currently assigned VT portion is inverted. It is displayed (indicated by white in the figure).

  In particular, in this device, pairing is possible with odd-numbered and even-numbered tracks. By performing pairing, level control of two tracks paired by one common fader can be performed collectively. A heart mark 603 indicates that tracks 1 and 2 are paired. Reference numeral 604 denotes a broken heart mark indicating that the tracks 3 and 4 are not paired. The pairing is set and canceled by moving a cursor to a target track and performing a predetermined key operation.

  FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of level control by a fader (234 or the like in FIG. 2) in the present apparatus. FIG. 7A is a conceptual diagram at the time of recording. Describing the track 1 (713), for the input signal (TRACK IN1) to the track 1, the operation value of the fader 1 (TRACK FADER1: corresponding to 234 in FIG. 2) indicated by 711 is obtained, and these are obtained by the multiplier 712. By performing the multiplication, the level of the input signal is controlled. The level-controlled input signal is recorded on the VT assigned to track 1 (here, VT1). The same applies to other tracks. The level control of each track is independently performed by each fader.

  FIG. 7B shows a conceptual diagram during reproduction. Regarding track 1 (721), operation of fader 1 (TRACK FADER 1: 234 in FIG. 2) indicated at 722 is performed on an output signal read from a VT (here, VT1) assigned to track 1. The level of the output signal is controlled by obtaining the values and multiplying them by the multiplier 723. The level-controlled output signal is output as track output TRACK OUT1. The same applies to other tracks. The level control of each track is independently performed by each fader.

  FIG. 7C is a conceptual diagram at the time of pairing. It is assumed that track 1 and track 2 are now paired. The level of input TRACK IN1 of track 1 is controlled by multiplier 732 in accordance with the operation value of fader 1 (731), and the result is recorded on a predetermined virtual track of track 1 (734). Similarly, the level of the track 2 is controlled by the multiplier 733 in accordance with the operation value of the same fader 1 (731), and is recorded on a predetermined virtual track of the track 2 (735).

FIG. 8 shows a main display processing routine when the main display described with reference to FIG. 4 is performed. In step 801, it is determined whether there is a main display operation event. Here, when the shift + F1 key is pressed on the track view screen, it is determined that a remaining display operation event has occurred. If there is a remaining display operation event, a recordable time (minute) is calculated in step 802. The calculation formula is shown below.
T = [[C × 131072 / B] / TRK] / [fs × 60]

However,
Selected sampling frequency: fs (Hz)
Number of free HD clusters: C (1C = 131072 bytes)
Recording bit length constant: B = 2 However, when recording 16 bits
B = 3 However, for 24-bit recording, the number of designated tracks for recording: TRK
And

  After step 802, the recordable time T is displayed in step 803, and the routine returns. If there is no main display operation event at step 801, the process returns.

  In the above formula, the number of empty bytes in the HD is obtained by C × 131072, the obtained number is divided by B to obtain the number of samples that can be stored in the empty portion of the HD, and the number of samples is divided by the designated number of recording tracks TRK to obtain one track. The number of samples that can be stored per unit is obtained, and the obtained number is divided by the number of samples per minute [fs × 60], thereby obtaining the recordable time in minutes.

  FIG. 9 shows the wave display processing routine described with reference to FIG. In step 901, it is determined whether there is a wave display instruction event. This is to determine whether the F2 key has been pressed on the track view screen as described above. If there is a wave display instruction event, in step 902, the waveform of the selected track is displayed in a time range corresponding to the time axis scale factor TIME, centering on the locate position, that is, the time position corresponding to the time position information LOCATE. The amplitude corresponds to the amplitude scale factor AMP. After step 902 or when there is no wave display instruction event in step 901, the process returns.

  FIG. 10 shows the track pairing processing routine described with reference to FIG. In step 1001, it is determined whether or not the virtual track display mode is set. If the mode is not the virtual track display mode, the routine returns. If the mode is the virtual track display mode, VT selection processing is performed in step 1002. This is to receive the cursor movement and select the VT of each track. Next, in step 1003, it is determined whether there is a pairing instruction event. If there is a pairing instruction event, it is determined in step 1004 whether or not the corresponding track number n of the selected VT is an odd number. If the number is an odd number, it is determined in step 1005 whether or not track n and track n + 1 have already been paired. If the pairing has been set, the pairing setting of track n and track n + 1 is canceled in step 1006, and the routine returns. If pairing has not been set in step 1005, pairing of track n and track n + 1 is set in step 1007, and the routine returns. If the corresponding track number n of the selected virtual track is not an odd number in step 1004, it is determined in step 1008 whether the pairing between the track n-1 and the track n has already been set. If the pairing has been set, the pairing between track n-1 and track n is canceled in step 1009, and the routine returns. If pairing has not been set in step 1008, pairing between track n-1 and track n is set in step 1010, and the routine returns.

  As described above, the pairing setting can be released. The track for which pairing has been set can be level-controlled by one fader as described with reference to FIG. 7C. In this embodiment, the pairing has been described. However, not only two pairs but also a group of three or more tracks, and the level control of the tracks of the group is performed by one track. You may make it perform with a fader.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a multi-track digital recording / playback apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Panel view of recording / playback device Track view initial screen diagram showing the status of each of the 16 tracks Diagram showing an example of remaining time display Figure showing the wave display screen of the track view screen Figure showing the virtual track display screen Conceptual diagram of level control by fader Flow chart of the main display processing routine Flow chart of wave display processing routine Flow chart of the track pairing processing routine

Explanation of reference numerals

  101: Central processing unit (CPU), 102: ROM (read only memory) / RAM (random access memory), 103: Hard disk drive (HD), 104: Operator / display unit, 105: analog / digital Converter (ADC), 106: Audio input terminal group, 107: Digital / analog converter (DAC), 108: Audio output terminal group, 109: Digital signal processor (DSP), 110: CD-R (Compact Disc) -Recordable), 111 ... External interface (I / F), 112 ... I / F connector group, 113 ... System bus.

Claims (2)

A recording and reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing digital audio data in multi-tracks,
Means for designating some tracks to be grouped among the plurality of tracks;
A multi-track digital recording / reproducing apparatus, comprising: level control means for commonly performing level control on the grouped tracks using an operation output from one operation element. A recording and reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing digital audio data in multi-tracks,
Each of the plurality of tracks has a plurality of virtual tracks,
Means for selecting any of the virtual tracks for each of the plurality of tracks,
Means for designating some tracks to be grouped among the plurality of tracks;
Multi-track digital recording / playback, comprising: level control means for performing common level control for each of the selected virtual tracks of the grouped tracks using an operation output from one of the operators. apparatus.

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