Re: Combining Sources to 1 tape out.
Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 8:34 pmThe Route to Tape function is actually a variation of the classic analog Direct Out function. In a classic analog console, each input channel has a patchable direct out connector. This patch point can be cabled into any "tape" input. It's designed to circumvent the additional amplification/noise/distortion introduced of routing the input channel to a summing bus; it's the cleanest and most direct pathway from an input channel outputted to a tape input.
The D8B's variation of this function is that there is a switching matrix that permits routing any input channel or eight bus summing channels to any one of the 24 available outputs to tape. It is strictly a one to one connection, just like the direct output patch points of an analog console. It has no summing nodes and only one source can be routed to only one output at a time.
Mixing any number of input channels together requires routing them to a summing bus, of which the D8B (like its name states) has eight. Those 8 busses are summing nodes that can be routed (just like any input channel) to any one of the 24 tape inputs. And like any input channel, each mix bus can only be assigned to one tape output at a time.
If the D8B behaved like you want it to, it would require at least 24 summing busses, in which case, the console probably would've been named the D24B. Sure, it could have been done, but it would've made the price of the console costly (more Sharc DSPs, DACs, circuit boards and hardware), and somewhat larger to accommodate 24 bus out connectivity on the rear panel.
An analogy of what you are wishing the 24 routing matrix to do is something like taking two (or more) patch cords from two (or more) direct outputs and plugging them into a mult and then connecting a cord from the mult into a tape input. Because the mult is just a passive straight wire connection, there are no buffering amplifiers preventing each input channel from loading down each other and causing distortion (and ultimately damaging each channel's output amplifier circuits).
The D8B's variation of this function is that there is a switching matrix that permits routing any input channel or eight bus summing channels to any one of the 24 available outputs to tape. It is strictly a one to one connection, just like the direct output patch points of an analog console. It has no summing nodes and only one source can be routed to only one output at a time.
Mixing any number of input channels together requires routing them to a summing bus, of which the D8B (like its name states) has eight. Those 8 busses are summing nodes that can be routed (just like any input channel) to any one of the 24 tape inputs. And like any input channel, each mix bus can only be assigned to one tape output at a time.
If the D8B behaved like you want it to, it would require at least 24 summing busses, in which case, the console probably would've been named the D24B. Sure, it could have been done, but it would've made the price of the console costly (more Sharc DSPs, DACs, circuit boards and hardware), and somewhat larger to accommodate 24 bus out connectivity on the rear panel.
An analogy of what you are wishing the 24 routing matrix to do is something like taking two (or more) patch cords from two (or more) direct outputs and plugging them into a mult and then connecting a cord from the mult into a tape input. Because the mult is just a passive straight wire connection, there are no buffering amplifiers preventing each input channel from loading down each other and causing distortion (and ultimately damaging each channel's output amplifier circuits).