CD FUNCTIONS OF ZOOM HD8/16 CD

Zoom HD8CD and Zoom HD16CD come with a Compact Disk (CD) drive which can be used to make backups of your projects, create an audio CD that can be used in any CD player for distribution as well as copying files into the Zoom HD8/16 hard disk to be used on your projects.

One of my readers mentioned that he was having difficulties using the CD functions of the Zoom HD8/16. Since I also experienced some difficulties and ruined several CDs until I learned how to use the CD functions, I can understand his concern very well. In this article I will write about the CD functions and their practical use. At the end I will also address some of the difficulties one might face, how to avoid them and ways around them.

There are three distinct reasons to use the CD drive of the Zoom HD8/16:

• Making backups of your projects
• Creating an audio CD
• Copying files or songs from other sources to the Zoom HD8/16

Making backups and restoring your projects
It is always good practice and common sense to make backup copies of your projects to ensure that if you have a hard disk crash you may be able to recover your valuable work. You may also want to backup selected projects for portability, for example to another recorder or to a computer where you may not be able to use the USB connection. You must also remember that the hard disc has a limited capacity. At one point you will have to delete some of your projects from the hard disk to make room for new projects.  At that time you may want to save your old projects on a CD for archiving and future reference.

The instructions for backup and restore are on page 146 of the Zoom HD8/16 manual. They are straight forward to follow. Here is a summary of it for your reference:


BACKUP

1. Insert blank CD into the Zoom CD drive.
2. From your project main screen press [SHIFT] and the pad 1 [CD-R/RW] keys simultaneously.
3. If you do not see “BACK UP” on the first line use the right cursor (little red arrow) until you read ‘BACK UP” and press [ENTER] key.
4. Verify that the bottom line shows “>SAVE” and press [ENTER].
5. Now the upper line will have “Save” and lower line will have a project number such as “No. 1:PRJ001”. At that time use the rotary dial to select the project that you would like to backup then press [ENTER].
6. The display will indicate the Project Size in Mega Bytes (MB), press the [ENTER] key.
7. The name of the folder name that will hold your backup files on the CD will be displayed. If you wish you may edit and change this folder name.
8. When you press the [ENTER] key the display will indicate “Save?” press [ENTER] and the backup will start. If the CD is full before the backup is complete “Disc1” will be ejected and you will be prompted to insert “Disc2”. At that time insert “Disc2” and press [ENTER].
9. When the backup is complete the disc will be ejected.

When you restore from CD you must enter the CDs in the same order as they were created. Mark all the CDs as “Disc1” “Disc2” etc. so that you know in which order you must insert them during the restore.

You can follow the same process to backup all the projects at one. The only difference is with step 4. At that step you must chose “>ALL SAVE” instead of “>SAVE”.

RESTORE

1. From main project screen press on the [ENTER] and pad 1 [CD-R/RW] keys simultaneously.
2. Press the curser right or left button which is a little red arrow until you read “BACK UP’ on the upper line then press [ENTER].
3. Press the curser right or left button which is a little red arrow until the upper line displays “LOAD” and then press [ENTER]. The CD tray will open automatically and the display will change to indicate “Insert” on the upper line and “Disc” on the lower line.
4. Insert the CD that is holding the backup of your project into the CD drive.
• If your single project backup was spanning across multiple CDs start with Disc 1.
• If your multiple project backup was spanning across multiple CDs then you must insert the CD volume where the project to be restored had started to be saved. If the project spanned to the next CD then Zoom will prompt you to insert it when the time comes.
5. Press the [ENTER] key and the display will change to indicate “Load” on the upper line, “PRJxxxx->No.y” on the lower line where xxx = Project name an y = project number to be assigned once the project is restored to disk.

Creating an audio CD
This function is used to create an audio CD which can be played on any standard CD player or DVD player that is capable to play audio CDs. You must create at least one master track for the project/projects that you would like to include in the audio CD. Other tracks or .WAV files cannot be added to an audio CD.

Zoom offers two methods to create an audio CD.

• Creating an audio CD by project
• Creating an audio CD by album: There are also two methods for creating a CD by album
• One track at a time (TAO)
• Selected list of tracks at once (DAO)

As long as the CD that’s being used has not been finalized more tracks can be added to it.  However a CD that is not finalized can only play on your Zoom recording device. Once it is finalized that CD can be played on any CD player or a DVD player that is capable to play audio CDs. It is not possible to add more tracks to a finalized CD nor delete tracks and reuse it. Rewritable CDs can be reused after deleting all the contents from it.

Creating an audio CD by project / One Track at a time:
In this method one master track can be chosen from a project and written to the CD following the instructions on the Zoom HD8/16 manual starting page 138.

1. From the “Project Utility” select the project which the master track will be written to audio CD.
2. Insert a blank CD into the Zoom HD8/16 CD drive.
3. From the main screen, hold down the [SHIFT] key and press pad 1 (CD-R/RW) simultaneously. You must see “>AUDIO CD” displayed on the second line of the display.
4. Verify that “>AUDIO CD” is on the display and press [ENTER] key. You must see “>BURN CD” displayed on the second line of the display.
5. Verify that “>BURN CD” is on the display and press [ENTER] key. The second line will show the time length of the master track to be written.
6. Press the [EDIT] key to see which V-Take of the master track was selected. You will see “Take Select” on the first line and the V-Take number such as “VTake1:Master1” displayed on the second line. If necessary listen to the track to verify if the correct master track is selected and if it is the wrong one then change to the correct V-Take.
7. After selecting the correct V-Take press the [EXIT] once key to go back then press the [ENTER] key.
8. The display will have “CD Track1” on the first line and “Burn?” on the second line.
9. When you press the [ENTER] key the selected track will start writing to the CD.
10. The writing time depends on the length of the track. The display will indicate “Complete” when the write operation is finished.

Creating an audio CD by album:
This method id particularly useful if you intend to create many copies of a CD that contains a list of song selections. Zoom HD8/16 allows the creation of song lists and save them so that they can be reused in the future.

Creating an album using the track at once (TAO) method:
In this method each song is written to the CD in a separate operation leaving a pause of two seconds between tracks.

Creating an album using the disc at once (DAO) method:
In this method all the selected tracks will be written to the CD at once without leaving any pause between songs.  The marker function can be used to create skip points but it is somehow cumbersome. DAO method is particularly useful for creating a soundtrack for a video shoot.

Weather you use the TAO method or DAO method the steps to create an audio CD by album are the same. Just follow the instruction at the Zoom manual page 140 or the step by step instructions down below:

1. Make a list of projects that you have on your Zoom HD8/16 hard disk and check each one to ensure that the V-Taker of the master track that you would like to include in the CD has been selected as the current track.
2. Insert the blank CD in the CD drive of your recorder.
3. Hold down the [SHIFT] key and press pad 1 (CD-R/RW) keys simultaneously.
4. The upper line of the display should have [AUDIO CD]
5. Use the cursor left/right keys (the little red arrows) until the upper line of the display indicates [Album] then press [ENTER] key
6. The upper line will read [Album] and the second line [Burn Type:DAO] or [Burn Type:TAO] select one of these options by turning the rotary dial then hit [ENTER] key.
7. The bottom line will change to [List:New] or [List:Old]. The first time you have select [List:New] since there is no prior list created. You can select [List:Old] to make more copies after the first one without going through the track selection process again. Press [ENTER]
8. Upper line will display [Track1] and lower line [End of Album]. At this time DO NOT press [ENTER]. This is a common mistake that many users do and then they are confused. Use the rotary dial and as soon as you turn it slightly the bottom line will change to a project such as [No. 1: PRJ001]. Turn the dial until you find the project that you would like to make your Track 1 on the CD. At this time you can hit the PLAY button to ensure that you selected the correct project.
9. Once the Track one is set use the right cursor key which is the little red arrow (again; do not hit the [ENTER] key). The upper line of the display will change to [TRACK2] and the lower line to [End of Album]. Repeat the same operations in step 8 to select the project for the following tracks.
10. Once you have selected all the tracks that you would like to include in the album while the upper line is indicating [TrackX] (where X is a number) and lower line [End of Album] you may now press the [ENTER] key.
11. The upper line of the display will have [Album] while the lower line will indicate [Burn?]. Press [ENTER] again.
12. It will take a while to write all the tracks to the CD. You may go for a cup of coffee now. When complete the disc will be ejected and the second line of the display will have [Next?].
13. If you would like to make a second copy insert a blank CD to the drive and press [ENTER]. Otherwise hit the [EXIT] key several times.

Copying files or songs from other sources to the Zoom HD8/16
You may find many different applications to use this feature on your own. A few of them that I find useful are as follows:

Copy the original recording of a song that you would like to record and play along while listening to it. This is particularly useful in order to keep the same tempo of the original song. Once you have recorded enough tracks or completed to record all the tracks you can delete the original song to make space for more recording.

Import commercially available drum patterns and phrase loops to the Zoom HD8/16 that you may want to use in your song. There are many of those available on the internet, some free and some for a fee. You can also use a drum machine or a sequencer to create your own. MIDI files created on your computer with MIDI software also can be imported to the Zoom HD8/16 either using the USB connection or a CD.

Finalizing a CD
In order to use the CD created on the Zoom HD8/16 on another device such a computer or a CD player you must first finalize it. However once a CD is finalized you can no longer add any more tracks or projects to it. In case of CD-R (write once) CDs it is not possible to delete contents or reuse them anymore. In case of CD-RW (rewritable CDs) you can erase all content of a finalized CD and reuse it. However you can not add tracks or projects after it is finalized.

The instructions to finalize a CD is on page 144 of the Zoom HD8/16 manual. Same page also contains the instructions to erase a CD-RW. They ar very straighforward and need no further clarification. 

Tips and techniques using CD
Now that Explained how to use the CD functions of the Zoom HD8/16 to save projects, make audio CDs and copy CD tracks to the Zoom recorder, I will add some interesting things that you can do using the CD functions as well as replies to frequently asked questions.

Play your instruments or vocals over an existing recording:
I noticed many amateur musicians playing a well known song on the stereo and recording an instrument solo over it.  It is also possible to copy the song from a music CD to one of the tracks of the Zoom HD/8/16. This way you can use the track as your background music, allowing you to follow the original tempo. Once you have completed recording all the tracks you can exclude the original song from the master track. This technique can also be used with some Karaoke CD’s where you use the Karaoke recording as your background band. Sometimes magazines supply CDs that contain the arrangement of a popular song without the solo. I have one such CD that came with the Guitar magazine where the rhythm arrangement to 1060ies famous instrumental song Apache from the British group Shadows is played but not the guitar solo. Such arrangements can be used as your background to your instrumental or vocal solos.

Creating an audio CD of individual tracks.
Individual tracks can be copied to a backup CD as it was described above. However they can not be added as a track on an audio CD. The only way to add one or more individual tracks to an audio CD is to save them as a V-Take of the Master Track. You can make up to ten V-Takes of the Master track per project. Since Zoom HD8 only has eight tracks this allows to save each track on a separate V-Take while Zoom HD16 users do not have enough V-Takes for all 16 tracks. If it is necessary to make audio tracks of all sixteen tracks separately on a CD  it is possible to make a second copy of the project to overcome this restriction.