Tascam Digital Audio Production Environment SX-1 Reference Manual

							 TASCAM SX-1 Reference Manual 31
Part III– Locate, Transport, & Surround
Chapter 6 – Transport, Loop, Auto Punch
Transport Controls
Front Panel
These keys provide standard tape-style transport con-
trols for navigating through the currently loaded 
project.
JUMP Back By default, the left JUMP key moves 
the playhead to the the beginning of the first event in 
the project. However, it is possible to set this 
JUMP 
key to function differently. These settings are made 
in the LCD 
TRANSPORT screen (pictured below).
JUMP Forward By default, the right JUMP key 
moves the playhead to the end of the last event in the 
project. However, it is possible to set this 
JUMP key 
to function differently. These settings are made on 
one of the LCD’s 
PREFERENCES screens (the TRANSPORT 
screen pictured below).
LCD Jump Controls There are controls on the 
LCD’s 
TRANSPORT screen for setting Jump function-
ality.
Press 
SHIFT, then, from the LCD ACCESS MODE 
section, press 
SETTINGS/ PREFS. Use the NEXT PAGE 
soft key to scroll to this screen.
JUMP KEY MODE The Jump Keys can operate in 
one of 3 different modes:
FIRST LAST With this setting selected, the JUMP 
Left key will locate the playhead to the beginning of 
the first event in the project. The 
JUMP Right key 
will locate the playhead to the end of the last event in 
the project (this is how the TASCAM MX-2424 
works).
ABSOLUTE With this setting selected, the JUMP Left 
and 
JUMP Right keys jump to specific values. These 
values are entered in the Jump Left and Jump Right 
registers located directly below.
LCT POINTS With this setting enabled, the SX-1 will 
scroll through all Locate Points stored in the project 
in chronological order, upon repeated presses of the 
JUMP keys, even if they are not sequentially num-
bered that way.
JUMP LEFT & JUMP RIGHT Settings entered here 
will dictate where the playhead locates after a Jump 
Left or Jump Right in Absolute Jump Mode.
OFFSET This setting acts much like a pre-roll for the 
Jump commands. If the value is anything other than 
zero, the playhead will locate to the point dictated by 
the Jump mode, adding or subtracting the Offset 
value from the original location.
CUEING MODE This setting causes Fast Forward 
and Rewind to operate audibly at up to a maximum 
1.5 times the play speed while monitoring audio. The 
effect is much like Scrub, and is useful for situations 
when an external video deck is chasing the SX-1.
PLAY MODE This determines the behavior of the 
transport after any locate operation. There are three 
modes: 
						

							Part III–Locate, Transport, & Surround
32 TASCAM SX-1 Reference Manual
Immediate In this mode, the SX-1 stops after any 
locate operation. 
Automatic In this mode, the SX-1’s transport will 
immediately engage PLAY after any locate opera-
tion.
Deferred When the SX-1 is controlling external 
devices, pressing PLAY during a locate operation 
results in playback starting after the locate operation 
is complete.
REWIND This keym rewinds the project.
FAST FOWARD This key , fast forwards the 
project.
STOP This key ª stops playback.
PLAY This key Á starts playback and punches out 
of Record.
RECORD With a track record enabled and the trans-
port in PLAY, press this key º to punch in.
VGA Transport
Transport controls that mirror the front panel Tr a n s -
port Keys are available in the VGA screens’ Main Menu Bar. The Record key displays an “M” when 
Mixdown Mode is enabled.
LCD Transport
A variety of external devices can have their trans-
ports controlled directly from the SX-1’s Tr a n s p o r t  
Keys.
LOCATE POINTS Opens the screen where you can 
manage Locate Points (“Locate Points” on page 38).
REGISTER Opens the REGISTERS screen where you 
can view and adjust Loop, Autopunch, and Audition 
points.
EXTERNAL DEVICES Use this screen to manage 
the SX-1’s transport communication with external 
devices.
REC CHANNEL This parameter determines which 
channel strip on the SX-1 will act as the first channel 
for remote track arming. The above example has 
Channel 17 set for this value.
FRAME RATE This knob sets the project frame 
rate. Rates of 30, 29.97, 29.97 Drop, 25, and 24 
frames per second (fps) are available. To change the 
current frame rate, you must select 
Accept or Cancel 
from the tab that appears at the right of the screen.
SMPTE/TIMECODE OFFSET This parameter 
determines the amount of offset from incoming and 
outgoing timecode. Values can be entered by using 
the keypad.
Turning the knob accomplishes two things: the knob 
now acts as a cursor for the offset register (moving 
the cursor from hours to minutes to seconds, for 
instance), and it opens a dialog strip on the right side 
of the LCD screen:
TOGGLE SIGN When this key is 
pressed, the offset value changes from a 
positive offset (
+) to a negative offset (-), 
meaning that an offset of 
+00:00:02:00 
would play back two seconds later than 
the device generating the timecode, and 
that an offset of 
–00:00:02:00 would play 
back two seconds earlier.
CURSOR  Moves the cursor to the 
right by one value.
SMPTE FORMAT This key toggles the offset dis-
play to show one of the four timecode choices avail-
able in the SX-1. 
						

							Part III–Locate, Transport, & Surround
 TASCAM SX-1 Reference Manual 33
ZERO CURSOR This key clears any value that the 
cursor is currently selecting.
ZERO ALL This key clears the contents of the entire 
register.
ACCEPT Accepts the change.
CANCEL Declines the change.
ADD This key opens the ADD dialog. Use these 
selections to add the devices you want to control 
from the SX-1:
MMC OPEN Use this to add devices 
that accept Open Loop MIDI Machine 
Control Protocol to the list. This selec-
tion will be available in Version 1.5.
MMC CLOSED Use this to add 
devices that require Closed Loop MIDI 
Machine Control Protocol to the list. 
This selection will be available in Ver-
sion 1.5
P2 This selection adds a generic P2 
device. Generic transport, jog/shuttle 
wheel and track arming is available. With Auto 
Detect on, the SX-1 will sense from the P2 connec-
tion what kind of device is present, and should 
update its display accordingly.
DTRS This selection will add a DTRS tape machine 
(this family of machines includes the TASCAM DA-
88 and DA-78HR) to the list. This function will be 
available in Version 1.5.
ADAT Use this selection to create a device profile 
for controlling a connected ADAT. This selection will 
be available in Version 1.5.
EDIT This key opens the EDIT dialog:
RECS This selection sets the number of 
record channels that a device supports 
for remote track arming.
NAME With this selection you can 
name the devices in your list.
CHASE MODE This key opens the CHASE MODE dia-
log. Use these selections to specify whether the SX-1 
will operate as a master or slave, and the type of time 
code it will generate or recognize:
NONE No time code is generated or 
recognized.
LTC MASTER Specifies that the SX-1 
will generate Longitudinal Time Code.
LTC SLAVE Specifies that the SX-1 
will chase incoming Longitudinal Time 
Code.
MTC MASTER Specifies that the SX-
1 will send MIDI Time Code out its 
MIDI Out jacks. You can select the 
MIDI ports that are used to send MTC. 
This parameter is found in the 
Global tab of the VGA 
Tracks screen.
MTC SLAVE Specifies that the SX-1 will chase 
incoming MIDI Time Code at its 
MTC IN jack. 
						

							Part III–Locate, Transport, & Surround
34 TASCAM SX-1 Reference Manual
P2 Remote Machine Control in the SX-1
The SX-1 has full support for the Sony P2 Protocol 
for controlling video decks and other multitrack 
audio devices. Together with the Transport SOLO function, seamless video post-production edit inte-
gration is possible.
The Philosophy
The SX-1 will always try to send transport com-
mands to the machine that is the current Timecode 
Master. The settings in the Machine Control List (
LCD 
TRANSPORT
 Screen) and the state of the Transport 
SOLO keys determine which machine is the master.
The SX-1 will always contain 2 machines in this list, 
i.e. the HDR and the Sequencer/Automation. For 
simplicity, you are allowed to choose the Timecode master/slave state of the HDR only, because the 
Sequencer and Automation engine is always locked 
to the HDR’s current time. 
In order to use the P2 remote control port, it is neces-
sary to add a machine to the 2 internal machines 
already in the Machine Control List. This is possible 
by manually adding a device, or using the auto-detect 
feature of the SX-1.
General SX-1 Transport Controls
The SX-1 has a number of transport controls that are 
generally used for the internal HDR recorder and 
sequencer, but which also work when an external 
device is the Transport Master.• Main Transport Keys
• Locate buttons.
• Jog/Shuttle
• Auto Play Mode
• Cueing Mode
• Record Arms.
Customizing the Devices
It is possible to change the name of the device that 
appears in the list, or if the Auto-Detect function is 
used, the name will automatically be chosen to match 
the detected device. Similarly, the number of Rec 
Arm channels is user selectable, but auto-detect will 
attempt to match the capabilities of the detected 
device.
The Sony P2 protocol allows designating up to 4 
tracks as Analog, and any number as digital tracks. 
Most Analog VTRs only have 2 audio channels, so if 
the number of Rec Arm channels is set to 2, the SX-1 
will use Analog track commands to tell the external 
device which channels to arm. 4 Channel devices are 
also treated as analog, but once you select 8 or more 
Rec-arm channels for a device, the P2 Digital chan-
nel Rec-Arm protocol will be used. Multi-track audio 
recorders such as the Tascam DTRS and MX-2424 
series use this extensively, but the DA-88 notably has 
a programmable Rec-Arm assignment that includes a 
hybrid analog/digital mix.  Such a mixed setting will 
be unusable with the SX-1, so set the DA-88 to use 
all Digital P2 Rec-Arm designations.
If you have a device that has just 4 Digital channels, 
you will need to set the device to 8 channels in order to use the digital Rec-arm assignments in the P2 Pro-
tocol.
The user can specify which 
REC-Arm button on the 
SX-1 front panel starts the 
REC-Arm functions of 
each device. The Internal HDR, for example, defaults 
to channel 17, because that is where the default rout-
ing places the return signal from the HDR. If the 
starting channel places the last channel of the 
selected device off the end of the front panel, then the 
REC-arm assignment continues onto the next logical 
bank, i.e. it wraps around. This is useful if you have a 
MX-2424 selected that you wish to dump a whole 
session to in real-time, you will always be able to 
access all of the 24 record arm function buttons, even 
though the front panel shows 16 at any one time.
Select the start channel according to where the first 
signal from the external device is routed into the SX-
1’s mixer, or alternatively to the buss or channel 
that’s direct out feeds the first audio input of the 
external device.
If two machines overlap in their Rec-arm function 
assignments, then the SX-1’s front panel channel 
strips will show and operate the 
REC-Arm belonging  
						

							Part III–Locate, Transport, & Surround
 TASCAM SX-1 Reference Manual 35
to the first machine in the Machine Control List that 
contains that channel.
To customize a device, select it in the Machine Con-
trol List with the up and down arrows on the front 
surface (
DATA ENTRY keys) or the left most encoder 
knob. Press the 
EDIT soft menu button and then you 
will have the following choices.
IDS: Changes the ID number assigned to the exter-
nal device, not used for P2 devices.
RECS:  Toggles the number of REC-ARM channels 
between the supported values, which are 2, 4, 8, 16, 
24, 48 and 64.   The other possible values of 4, 32, 40 
and 56 are only available if the Auto-Detect feature 
recognizes the external machine as having that num-
ber of tracks to control.
NAME:  Allows editing the displayed name of the 
device. Only the first 9 characters will be visible in 
the LCD screen.
To change the starting channel for the Rec-Arm 
assignment, turn the 
4th encoder under the LCD 
screen to bring up a popup of the possible choices.
Note that the SX-1 internal Sequencer shows 64 Rec 
channels. This is because there are 64 output MIDI 
channels (4 outputs at 16 channels each). The 
sequencer itself has 128 tracks, and each of these 
tracks can be routed to any of the 64 outputs. The 
SX-1 uses a smart algorithm to determine which 
Sequencer track to 
REC-Arm, given the MIDI output 
track 
REC-arm channel pressed.
Working with External Timecode Sources
Most of the time, the only reason to want to control 
an external device from the SX-1 is when it is the 
Timecode Master, and you want the SX-1’s HDR and 
Sequencer to follow the external Video, for example. 
The SX-1 is capable of chasing and locking to Longi-
tudinal and MIDI Timecode variations (LTC and 
MTC). Since MTC is a low-precision signal that is 
further compromised by sharing the Midi data stream 
with regular note and controller information, the SX-
1 provides an MTC only input to pipe the Timecode 
information directly into the synchronization hard-
ware. If the MTC source is the same as your other 
MIDI data, then you can set the MTC input to be the 
regular MIDI Input.
The SX-1 will inspect the contents of the Machine 
Control List, and send the transport commands, jog/
shuttle speed and locate commands to the device that 
is the Timecode master, favoring LTC Master over 
MTC master if both exist. The exception to this rule 
is the Record button. Pressing Record (from any of 
the front panel, VGA UI or foot switch sources) will 
enable record for all of the devices in the list, if there 
is a channel for that device Rec-Arm enabled. Simi-
larly, exiting record by any means will exit record on 
all machines, not just the “Transport Master”. 
If after enabling Record, the 
RECORD Transport 
LED remains blinking, then you know that no 
REC-Arm controls are ON for the devices in the machine 
control list.
To Select the P2 device as your LTC master, first 
highlight the P2 device in the Machine Control List 
and then press the 
Chase Mode Soft Menu button. 
Pressing the 
LTC Master soft menu button will set the 
external machine to be the LTC Master. The SX-1 
will automatically change the HDR’s chase mode to 
LTC SLAVE for you.
From this point on, the SX-1 Front Panel will indi-
cate with the 
SYNC STATUS LTC CHASE LED On, 
and the 
LOCKED LED will be blinking, indicating 
that the SX-1 HDR and sequencer will lock and 
chase the external timecode. Note that the 7-segment 
display will advance a little, about 22 frames at 
30NonDrop, because the HDR “parks” 32000 sam-
ples ahead of the current Timecode. This is so the 
HDR can count and verify the incoming Timecode 
when it starts to move, and be ready to lock at play 
speed as soon as possible. 
						

							Part III–Locate, Transport, & Surround
36 TASCAM SX-1 Reference Manual
The P2 device could be your MTC master as well, 
just select MTC Master from the Chase Mode soft 
menu. The 
SYNC STATUS LEDs will change to 
MTC SLAVE.
If you just wish to have the SX-1 follow the external 
Timecode but not send out P2 commands, then you 
can just set the HDR Chase mode to LTC SLAVE or 
MTC SLAVE directly.  In this case, the SX-1 does 
not know where to send Transport commands, but 
you will be able to do one clever operation by latch-
ing the Record button.
Normally, when the HDR is set to Chase Mode LTC 
or MTC Slave, the transport buttons are assigned to 
no device. When the external Timecode starts mov-
ing, the HDR will chase and lock, and the PLAY 
LED will light solid. In this situation, you can use the 
Record button to punch in record channels on the 
HDR. If the Timecode was not moving, there is no 
way for the SX-1 to start recording. In this case, 
pressing the Record button will “latch” your request 
to go into record, and as soon as the HDR locks to the 
external Timecode, it will automatically do the punch 
in. This is useful if you have a project in a PC DAW that you wish to transfer to the SX-1 over MIDI and 
Audio. Set the SX-1 to 
MTC SLAVE, hit record and then 
go to your PC and press play. The SX-1 will chase 
and then automatically record for you. 
Note that the SX-1 has a restriction in this operation. 
If the external Timecode starts before midnight 
(00:00:00:00), then the SX-1 is unable to do the auto-
matic record for you more than 20 seconds before 
midnight.  In this case, the user will have to wait until 
the SX-1 has reached within 20 seconds of 
00:00:00:00 before pressing the Record button. Even 
in this case, the actual recording will not start until 
exactly 00:00:00:00, as no events may start before 
that time. 
The SX-1’s Timecode chase hardware can correctly 
follow Timecode that crosses 00:00:00:00 (mid-
night). It does this by treating any Timecode in the 
range 23:00:00:00 to 23:59:59:29 as being –
1:00:00:00 to –00:00:00:01. This allows a Timecode 
source to preroll and play back over the 00:00:00:00 
midnight boundary without the SX-1 jumping for-
wards a whole day. 
						

							Part III–Locate, Transport, & Surround
 TASCAM SX-1 Reference Manual 37
LOOP Section
Tracks can be looped during playback, rehearsal, and 
recording. The keys for setting the loop are found in 
this section.
ENABLED Press the ENABLED key to activate loop 
playback.
FROM/EDIT FROM After using CAPTURE to 
grab a time value, use the 
FROM/EDIT FROM key to 
store the loop start point, and 
SHIFT+FROM / EDIT 
FROM
 to adjust the loop start point.
TO/EDIT TO After using CAPTURE to grab a time 
value, use the 
TO/EDIT TO key to capture the loop 
end point, and 
SHIFT+TO/EDIT TO to adjust the loop 
end point.
TIP
Use the CAPTURE key in conjunction with the FROM/ 
EDIT FROM
 and TO/EDIT TO keys to set the loop 
points. Press 
CAPTURE and then the key for the loop 
point you want to set.
Auto Record Controls (AUTOPUNCH Section)
The keys in this section are for setting the automatic 
punch in and out recording points.
NOTE
It is important to note that once Autopunch is enabled, 
it is not necessary to press the transports 
RECORD 
key, as the SX-1 will automatically drop into record 
when the transport passes the Autopunch In point. 
When Autopunch is enabled, the transports 
RECORD 
key flashes as an additional indication.
ENABLED/ALL INPUT Press the ENABLED/ ALL 
INPUT
] key to activate Autopunch mode, and 
SHIFT+ENABLED/ ALL INPUT to activate the All 
Input monitor mode during Autopunch.
IN/EDIT IN Use the IN/ EDIT IN key to store the 
Autopunch input point, and 
SHIFT+IN/ EDIT IN to 
fine-tune the Autopunch input point.
OUT/EDIT OUT After using CAPTURE to grab a 
time value, use the 
OUT/ EDIT OUT key to store the 
Autopunch output point, and 
SHIFT + OUT/ EDIT 
OUT
 to fine tune the Autopunch output point.
TIP
Use the CAPTURE key in conjunction with the IN/ 
EDIT IN
 and OUT/ EDIT OUT keys to set the 
Autopunch points. Press 
CAPTURE and then the key 
for the Autopunch point you want to set.
REHEARSAL/AUTO MON Pressing the 
REHEARSAL/ AUTO MON key allows you to prac-
tice the Autopunch without actually recording. Press-
ing 
SHIFT+REHEARSAL/ AUTO MON enables All 
Input monitoring during an autopunch when the 
Rehearsal mode is active. 
						

							Part III–Locate, Transport, & Surround
38 TASCAM SX-1 Reference Manual
Chapter 7 – Locate Points
Creating Locate Points
CAPTURE KeyAll edit and location memory points are set using the 
CAPTURE/ USE AGAIN key. Registers that require 
this key to set memory points are listed below:
CAPTURE/USE AGAIN When CAPTURE/ USE 
AGA IN
 is pressed, the playhead’s current location is 
captured as a time value. To assign this location to a 
register, follow these steps:1Press 
CAPTURE.
2An LED next to the keys whose functions can 
be assigned the captured location point will 
flash. Press one of these keys and the cap-
tured point will be assigned to that register.
Create a Locate Point
1Cue the SX-1 to the spot where you want to 
capture a locate point.
2Press 
CAPTURE. The keys associated LED 
will light to show that the SX-1 has captured 
the time value.
The SX-1 will auto-number locate points for 
you if you wish. Simply press 
ENTER on the 
numeric keypad instead of first entering a number. The SX-1 will store the new locate 
point, incrementing any existing number by 
one digit.
3Press a number on the numeric keypad in the 
Data Entry section to assign the captured 
value to a memory slot/locate point.
4Press ENTER on the keypad to store the loca-
tion to that slot.
Recalling & Editing Locate Points
LOCATE Section These keys provide a way of 
locating directly to a specific position within the cur-
rent project.
Locate Points  LOOP  EDITING  AUTO PUNCH
keypad 0-999FROM/ EDIT FROM  BEGIN/ EDIT BEGIN IN/ EDIT IN
TO/ EDIT TO END/ EDIT END OUT/ EDIT OUT
SYNC POINT/ EDIT SYNC 
						

							Part III–Locate, Transport, & Surround
 TASCAM SX-1 Reference Manual 39
TIME Press the TIME key to open 
a time register window on the 
LCD screen (pictured left). Enter 
a value from the keypad and press 
ENTER to move the transport to that location.
BBT Press the BBT key to open a 
bars:beats:ticks register window 
on the LCD screen (pictured left). 
Enter a value from the Keypad and 
press 
ENTER to move the transport to that location.
LOCATE Use the LOCATE key 
to recall saved locate points and 
to enable the creation of new 
ones. Press the key once and a 
locate point register window 
appears on the LCD screen (pictured left). Use the 
Keypad to enter a stored locate point and press 
ENTER to move the transport to that location. Press-
ing the key twice in rapid succession will bring up 
the 
TRANSPORT screen’s Locate window where points 
can be named and managed.
VGA Locate Control
To reach this tab, press the TRACK key in the MAIN 
DISPLAY MODE
 section to recall the Track screen. 
Then click once on the 
Transport tab.
Locate Point This window allows you to see and 
select locate points associated with your current 
project.
Time This field has two functions. Firstly, it dis-
plays the time stamp of the currently selected (high-
lighted) locate point. Secondly, the selected locate 
point’s time stamp can be changed by entering a new 
time and pressing the 
STORE button.
Loop Enabled Turns the Loop function on. With 
Loop enabled, the SX-1 will play from the 
Loop From 
point to the 
Loop To point continuously.
Loop From Sets the Loop In point. Remember that 
for this location point, as well as all of the following 
time-based points, pressing 
CAPTURE first will grab 
the time value. From there you can store that value in 
any register (as indicated by the prompt indicators 
after you press 
CAPTURE).
Loop To Sets the Loop Out point.
Auto Punch Enabled Turns the Auto Punch 
function on. In this mode, with the transport in 
motion and in record, the SX-1 will automatically 
punch into the record enabled track when the trans-
port crosses the 
Auto Punch In point, and will punch out 
of record when the transport crosses the 
Auto Punch Out 
point.
Auto Punch Rehearsal Places the Auto Punch 
function in Rehearsal mode. In this mode, the SX-1 
will simulate an Auto Punch action (by switching to 
Input monitor at the Auto Punch In point and back to 
disk playback at the Auto Punch Out point). This 
allows you fine-tune your punch points for accuracy 
before recording anything.
Auto Punch In Sets the Auto Punch In point.
Auto Punch Out Sets the Auto Punch Out point. 
						

							Part III–Locate, Transport, & Surround
40 TASCAM SX-1 Reference Manual
LCD Locate Control
Direct access locate controls are also available 
through the LCD screen.
LOCATE POINTS
On this screen you can manage, create, recall, and 
edit your current project’s locate points.From the LCD ACCESS section, press 
TRANSPORT, then press the soft key next to LOCATE 
POINTS
 to recall this screen. Or, just hit the LOCATE 
button on the surface twice, in rapid succession.
SELECT ENTRY Scrolls through the locate points 
in the 
LOCATE POINTS window.
EDIT TIME Opens the EDIT TIME dialog and allows 
the selected locate point’s position (its time stamp) to 
be changed.
REGISTERS
On this screen you can enter values for a variety of 
location based settings directly from the keypad.
From the 
LCD ACCESS section, press 
TRANSPORT, then press the soft key next to 
REGISTER to recall this screen.
SMPTE FORMAT Switches between the different 
possible timecode displays: SMPTE, hours:minutes: 
seconds, bars:beats:ticks, feet:frames, or samples.
END PTS & DURATION Switches the Loop TO 
and the Auto Punch 
OUT fields between endpoint and 
duration (the length of the current selection) displays.
ADJUST IN/FROM & ADJUST OUT/TO This 
parameter becomes active when the 
Loop and 
Autopunch Duration fields are active. This setting allows 
the editing of the 
In/From and Out/To points separately. 
For example, this means that while lengthening 
Duration, you can decide whether to move the Out 
point to the right (further down the timeline), or the 
In point to the left (earlier on the timeline)—as one 
of them has to move to lengthen a duration.
SELECT PARAM Moves the cursor between the 
different location fields.
CHANGE FIELD Changes the value of the selected 
field.