Alan Townsend takes a selection of the most common problems which readers of NewsLink have been experiencing and makes everything, once again, clear. If you wish to contribute a problem, or even a solution or an idea, write to Alan at INPUT, Roland (UK) Ltd, (Contact Details).

"I have heard that the new MC-500 has the ability to extract tracks that have already been merged together. I would find this facility very useful on my MSQ-700 so I wonder if it is possible to have it modified?"

It is not necessary to modify your MSQ-700, even if that were possible. Extracting tracks can be performed by observing the following procedure:

Start by connecting a MIDI cable from the MSQ-700's MIDI in to its own MIDI out, thereby creating a loop. Make sure that the Mix switch on the back of the unit is in the 'off' position. First press the multitrack button, then press the track button that holds the merged data. Next, press the selector button to the left of the display window until the Status indicator is illuminated. Press the MIDI Channel Set button, (in the lower left comer), and step through the channels with the Back and Forward buttons until the one you wish to extract appears in the window. Finally, press the Overdub button and select an empty track on which to transfer the extracted data and press the Load button. Only the MIDI channel you select will be transferred to the empty track. The original merged track remains unaffected. By repeating the operation for each MIDI channels you can separate all the original MIDI channels as they were before they were merged together onto a single track.

"What are the differences between the SBX-80 and SBX-10 Sync Boxes?"

The SBX-80 is designed to be used as a master controller; it can generate and read SMPTE timecode, and output MIDI and time base signals. The SBX-80 can also send Song Position information via MIDI. The SBX-10 does not have SMPTE timecode implementation. It is designed to be used as a click reading device or as a clock converter. The SBX-10 can read an incoming click, time base or MIDI signal and convert it to MIDI, Sync 24 and two simultaneous time base outputs.

"My Boss DR-110 Doctor Rhythm plays only to measure 15 even though I've programmed in a 60 measure song. Is there a fault?"

Your DR-110 is not faulty. You must remember to set the DR-110 to end on a particular bar each time you program a new song, The track is probably ending on the last bar of the song which was previously programmed. To re-program the end measure on the DR-110, push the DC (Da Capo) button after you choose the last measure and before you enter it with the Enter button.

"I have an SDE-1000 Digital Delay and I've been trying to control the delay effect using the Delay Time knob (*1 to *1.5) on the back of the unit. This seems to work sometimes but not at others. Is there an intermittent fault?"

The Delay Time knob on the back of the SDE-1000 enables you to increase the delay time indicated on the front panel by up to 50 per cent (*1.5). The normal setting is *1. To use this Delay Time knob, the Modulation switch on the front panel must be disengaged because these two functions share some of the same internal circuitry and cannot be used at the same time.