FAQ Index

AW4416 Usage Questions
    How can I automix effects settings?
    How can I split one large recording into several songs?
    How do I turn dither on and off?
    How do you link two AW4416s together?
    How do I record to tracks 9 through 16?

Operating System Questions
    What is the current operating system?
    Where can I get the latest OS?
    How do I check my OS version?
    What is fixed in different OS versions? 
    How do I upgrade using the update CD?

Drive Compatibility and Questions
    What drives are compatible with the AW4416?
    How do I install a different hard-drive?
    Can I add my own external hard-drive?

Miscellaneous Questions
    Where can I buy one and what are the prices of the AW4416?
    How can I access 'test mode'?
    How can I get more gain on my MY8-AD expansion card?
    How do other 'real-world' users feel about the AW4416?
    How can I disconnect the CD-RW fan / make the AW quieter?
    Where can I buy a case for my AW4416?

How can I automix effects settings?

from ngold:

SCENES are changeable in real time and effects settings are saved in
SCENES. Input the scene change where you want it and you can change
effects settings in automix.

How can I split one large recording into several songs?

from lawbass:

Hi folks. I have come up with temporary internal solution that I don't recall seeing to avoid the bug that exists in 1.3 whereby large files from live recording, in my case a 4.2G file, will not split into individual or small files. The only requirement is that you have enough memory to start a "new song".

1. Go into your large file and place markers, such as 1. 1st song, 2. 2nd song. etc.

2. Make sure that all of your tracks are contiguous to each other, ie make sure all or at least all but 1 are subject to being paired, and do so.

3. Save, then use one of the functions that will let you insert a CDRW,then exit to the song list menu.

4. Start a new song, keeping library and memory, etc that you will want.

5. Once the new song comes up, save it and close it.

6. Go back to the large original file and open it.

7. Go to Edit, and choose Export. When the menu comes up, choose your first pair of contiguous tracks, tell the AW what "part" you want to export, (ie 1-4, or 5-7)and execute.

8. When it finishes, push "Song", then select your new song.

9. When your new song comes up, go to edit.

10. Choose .wav import (F4)

11. The tracks you burned to the CDRW will appear. Tell the AW which tracks you want the parts you have on the CDRW to be placed into, then push execute. Once it finishes, push SAVE! Then check it.

12. Once you confirm your imported parts, which are in actuality 2 separate tracks from your huge live recording of one song or section (however you have cut it), save again, and exit back to your large file.

13. Repeat process until finished.

14. Name your cut individual song, back it up to another CDR, then either start a new song if you have enough memory, or delete the new cut song once you have backed it up to CD, then start the process again with your next section/song.

I have just finished this process of "cutting" up a 4.2G live recording, and it worked like a charm. Somewhat tedious and entirely too time consuming, but until Yammie gets its act together and corrects the inability to export All tracks via .wav, and corrects the bug that will not recognize that a 4.2G file, if copied and then each cut in half, etc, as others have posted, are not all 4.2G(!!!!), this will work so you can go record someone or yourself live, and cut it up into individual files/songs.

Hope this helps someone. latest operating system is Mixer CPU Ver 1.30 and Sub CPU Version 1.00.  

How do I turn dither on and off?

from Ronny Morris:

The first diagram is the option card and s/pdif output dither page. When processing is finished, enable dither for the ST send to burner or s/dif and option out under the circled #1. If you are going to further process in a hardware editor or on the computer, leave the dither off.



The second diagram is the track dither. Dither TRK tab. Enable/disable track dither under the circled #2. There are only one or two applications that I can think of where you would need track dither. For 99% of AW users, leave the trk dither off when recording A/D.



The third diagram is a cut out section from the Block Diagram. It clearly shows that dither is after the stereo fader, bottom (AW internal, I don't have the y56k block diagram) on the output and at the top dither to the recorder direct and through the 1-8 bus routes and channels 1-16 direct and stereo. The first arrow denotes signal going to recorder when track dither is disabled.


 

How do you link two AW4416s together?

from Phil O'Keefe:

What's better than a Yamaha AW4416? In my opinion, it's the finest
stand alone DAW currently on the market... so what could be better?
How about TWO AW4416's? Why would you want or need that? Well, with
two AW's you get twice as many tracks... you also have the ability
to "fly" tracks from one AW into the other as needed via optional
digital interface cards such as the MY8-AT or the soon to be released
Waves Y56K. With this sort of setup, you can use the preamps on BOTH
AW's (16 total) and route them all over to record on a single AW's 16
tracks. This requires the lightpipe cards, and is beyond the scope of
what we're going to cover here, but if you're interested in how
THAT'S done, let me know and I'll type something up.

Sure, you can use a single AW and an outboard preamp with a lightpipe
out such as the Presonus Digimax, or use outboard preamps and a MY8-
AD card and get 16 tracks recorded simultaneously on a single AW. You
can also lock to a computer DAW for better editing as well as for
more tracks (BTW, this is highly recommended as the best way to edit
your AW tracks) or "lock up" an external digital tape deck or hard
disk recorder to gain those additional tracks, but there are certain
advantages to using two AW's instead. Since both AW's use the exact
same software and audio format, there's only one OS to learn. You
don't have to mentally "switch" between the commands for different
machines while working on them, and this can be a real aid to
productivity. Also, in the unlikely event that one device should
require repair, tracks from either can still be loaded and played
back via backup CD's from either AW4416.

Anyway, here's what you'll need:

Two AW4416's (duh!) with OS 1.3 or later installed
Two MIDI cables
One RCA/RCA format 75 ohm S/PDIF cable.

And here's how it's done:

INTRODUCTION:

There are two considerations when using two AW4416's together. One
concerns MIDI sync of the transports and involves MTC and MMC and the
second concerns word clock and digital cascade of the stereo output
busses, analog cascade of aux busses if needed for cue mixes, etc...
Also, as of the time of this writing, the final 2.0 AW OS software
has not been released. There are some slightly differnt screens in
the beta 2.0 software, and I imagine that these will remain
fundementally similar in the final version of 2.0. So for now, I'm
including the directions for 1.3, as well as POSSIBLE directions for
2.0. These directions work with the BETA version of 2.0 that I have
available to me, but this is subject to change...

So how do I accomplish all of this? Here's the step by step
instructions:

Let's call one AW "AW #1". This machine will be our MTC source as
well as our word clock master for the system. It will also be the MMC
slave. AW #2 will be the MTC slave, and will be a W/C slave as well.
It will function as the MMC master. In other words, you'll be using
the transport on this machine to control the rewinding, stop, play
etc of both AW's. HOWEVER, you will still need to perform any
routing, track arming, and punch in / out functions on the
appropriate AW as needed.

Connect a MIDI cable from AW #1's MTC Output jack into the MIDI input
of AW #2. Connect a second MIDI cable from AW #2's MIDI Out (NOT MTC
OUT!) jack into AW #1's MIDI in jack.

Connect a 75 ohm RCA cable from the digital out jack on AW# 1 to the
digital in jack on AW #2.

You'll now be getting a error message on AW # 2.... so let's take
care of that problem first. Don't worry, nothing's wrong or broken...
you just have to tell AW # 2 that it should use the Word Clock data
coming from AW #1 via the S/PDIF cable you just connected instead of
its own internal word clock. So, press SETUP | F4 on AW #2. This is
the "D. In Setup" (Digital Input setup) screen. You'll see a box
labelled "D. ST In". Click on that so that the box is "dark" (ie..
select this option). In a few seconds your error message on AW #2
will stop flashing at you. Why? Because AW #2 has now been set to get
its Word Clock information from AW #1 via the incoming S/PDIF signal,
which is carried (along with digital audio) over the S/PDIF cable you
just connected.

Word Clock has NOTHING to do with transport sync - it only concerns
digital sample rates remain in sync so as to avoid pops and glitches
in the digital audio signals.

While you're on this page, also notice the "Stereo Bus cascade"
button. You need to enable this too. This takes the signal coming in
over the S/PDIF cable and routes it directly into the stereo output
bus of AW #2. There's an attenuation control here as well, which you
may find useful for lowering the signal of the incoming signal.
Personally, I leave it full up all the time and lower the levels as
needed directly from AW #1 (ie by lowering the master [red] fader,
etc.) if I ever need to.

Now we need to tell AW #1 what we want sent out of that digital
output and into AW #2. So on AW #1, press SETUP | F2 (Patch Out). For
the "D. ST Out Assign", select "ST L/R". This sets up AW #1's S/PDIF
output to send whatever is coming out the main stereo bus of AW #1
into AW #2's digital input, which we just told to route to its stereo
output bus. In other words, we've now set up the two AW's so that the
main stereo output of BOTH AW's are coming out of the stereo output
of AW #2. At this point, anything you have connected to the stereo
outputs (and appropriately routed via AW #2's setup F2 screen) such
as a DAT recorder, monitor amps / speakers, etc. will recieve the
main stereo outputs of BOTH AW's. You can test this by pressing Play
on AW #1 and hearing its stereo output come out of the headphone jack
of AW #2... or out of your monitor speakers (assuming you have them
connected to AW #2).

So now we've locked the word clocks and digitally cascaded the AW's,
but the two transports are still not locked together. Go ahead and
try it... pressing "play" on one AW doesn't make anything happen on
the other one. So we need to do something about that so that anything
recorded on either machine will be able to "sync" to the other
machine, and so that they will play back in sync.

On AW #1, press MIDI | F2. Select MTC in the "Sync Out" section (this
may show up as "MTC Sync = Master" on later AW OS versions. In OS
2.0, you'll most likely have to press MIDI | F1 to get to this page).
With OS 1.3, you'll also need to select "Master" in the MTC Sync area
of this same page. You will also want to select MMC Slave in the MMC
section of this same page. In OS 2.0, you'll most likely find this on
the same page as well (MIDI | F1).

What we've just done is to tell AW #1 that we want it to transmit MTC
(MIDI Time Code), and act as the "master" time code source for both
systems. We've also told it that we want it to act as a MMC (MIDI
Machine Control) SLAVE. MMC is a protocol where transport commands
from an external device can be used to trigger the corresponding
transport functions of a second device. With the AW4416, the
transport that is in MMC slave mode can still function from its own
transport controls, but will also respond to incoming transport
commands.

If it will respond to its own transport commands (play, rewind, etc)
then why set up MMC? Because without it, you'd need to press "play"
on AW #2 (which would then sit and flash at you, but not actually
start playing because it's waiting for incoming MTC sync messages to
play in sync with) and THEN hit "play" on AW #1... which would then
start playback, and sending out MTC messages, which AW #2 would
receive, and finally, start playing in sync with. In other words,
without MMC, you'd have to press play on BOTH AW's, and WITH MMC, you
only have to press play on one of them (AW# 2)!

So now we have left to do is to set AW #2 to TRANSMIT MMC messages as
well as to slave to incoming MTC. Here's how it's done:

Press MIDI | F2 on AW #2 (again, for OS 2.0, you'll most likely have
to press MIDI | F1). Select "Sync Out=Off", "MTC Sync=Slave",
and "MMC=Master". "Sync Ave." can be left "off". In OS 1.3, you'll
also find the MMC Dev. (device) number "knob" on this page. Make sure
that this is set to the same device number (default is 1, and that's
what I use) for BOTH AW's. You also need to go to the MIDI | F1
screen of BOTH AW's (regardless of OS version) and make sure that the
MIDI Tx and Rx channels are all set to the same values for Tx and Rx
on BOTH machines. I use channel 1, but you can select any channel
you'd like, as long as they're all set the same for BOTH AW4416's. In
OS 2.0, you'll need to make all these same selections, but they'll
probably all be located on the MIDI | F1 page.

One last thing. while you're in the MIDI | F2 page (MIDI | F1 on OS
2.0) you'll see a area for "Sync Offest". Offset is a way where you
can tell a device to start playing at a certain timecode "point". For
basic needs, you don't need to concern yourself with this. Just leave
the default settings (all "zeros") for both machines.

I apologise if this seems complicated because of the different
explanations for the two different Operating Systems... There are
some differences between the two, and in my opinion, 2.0 is easier to
use as well as having far more capabilities. Most of the things you
need to adjust for locking the two AW's together with MTC and MMC can
now be found on one page, instead of the two you need to access under
OS 1.3. Again, this may be subject to change depending on what
the "final" release version of the AW 2.0 software looks like, so
let's not hold Yamaha to anything here...

Anyway, now that you've done all of this you're all set! Press "play"
on AW #2. AW #1 should start playing as well. Hit Stop on AW #2 and
AW #1 will also stop. If not, re-check your MIDI cable connections
and device settings. Remember, it will still be necessary to
hit "record" on each individual transport as and when needed, but all
playback commands can be handled from just AW #2 without having to
hit "play" on two different machines.

Now the only thing I have not covered is aux busses. Say you have
material on one AW, and want to monitor that as well as what you're
putting on to the second AW while doing overdubs. How in the world do
you get the cue mixes together?

You have to use analog outputs and inputs. When it comes to aux sends
and the AW, a little prior planning is in order. As you know, the AW
usually has aux 7 and aux 8 assigned to the internal effects. With
the Y56K, you can also use aux sends to route effects, but we'll not
go into that in depth here... But deciding how to utilize your aux
sends is important. I normally use aux 1-4 as effects sends for
external effects (via the omni outputs) or for Y56K effects sends. I
use aux 7-8 for the internal effects and that leaves me with aux 5-6,
which I use for cue (headphone) feeds.

Since my studio is fairly large and has seperate isolation, tracking
and control rooms, it's important for me to be able to provide a
seperate headphone mix to the performers which is frequently
different than what I'm listening to in the control room. I set aux 5-
6 as pre-fader sends and use them as my headphoone feed.

What about outputs? Well, I use the digital output of AW #2 to feed
into my computer, which is what I "mix down" to. For some of you,
this isn't an issue because you "mix down" to the AW's internal
stereo track and burn CD's inside of it. This is a perfectly viable
option, and will be even more powerful with the addition of the Waves
Y56K card's mastering effects. I hate to sound like an ad here, but
the L1 Ultramaximizer is used on the mastering of the majority of
albums out there these days for very good reasons... Anyway, in my
opinion, the AW could have used just two more outputs, but with
careful planning it has JUST enough. I use the following outputs on
AW #2 (Setup | F2):

D. Stereo Out Assign = St. L/R (to computer "mixdown" deck)
Stereo Out Assign = Aux 5/6  (to headphone distribution system)
Omni outs are assigned to Aux 1-4 for outboard effects units...


On AW #1, I set this same page as follows:

D. Stereo Out Assign = St. L/R (to digital in of AW #2 as described
earlier) 
Stereo Out Assign = Aux 5/6.

Now, if you route things this way, simply plug the Stereo Out of AW
#1 into two analog inputs of AW #2. This brings Aux 5/6 of AW #1 into
AW #2. Set those two input channels so tht they do NOT feed the
stereo output bus, but so that they DO feed aux 5/6 of the second AW.
Here's how to do this:

To set up the analog inputs, press Setup | F1. Select which channels
you want to use on the board as your inputs. Normally I use channels
23 / 24 for this purpose, but you can use any pair you'd like. So if
you're using 23/24, you'd select channels 23/24 on the Mixer Channel
Input Assign area of this page and set them to "AD XX" "XX" would be
whatever inputs you have the cable physically connected to. I usually
use analog inputs 7 and 8, but again, you can use whatever you want.

Once you've selected channels, hit the "View" key and then press the
SEL button for those channels. You should now be seeing the overall
view screen for each of those channels. you may want to link those
two board channels by hitting both "SEL" keys simultaneously. This
will "link" those two channels. Once you've done this, make sure that
you disable those channels from getting to the main stereo output bus
by removing (no longer dark) the ST buttons from the Pan / Routing
section of this View page. You'll also want to turn up Aux 5/6 for
these two channels. By doing this, the Aux 5/6 signal from AW #1 is
sent out of AW #1 via the Stereo output, comes into AW #2 via two
analog inputs, does NOT get routed to the stereo output bus, but DOES
get routed to the Aux 5/6 bus of AW #2, where it is mixed in with AW
#2's internal Aux 5/6 signals. You can then use the aux 5/6 controls
on AW #1 to acheive the proper "submix" cue feed, which you then use
the channel faders of these two channles of AW #2 to blend in with
the aux submix of AW #2. It's not elegant, but it does work, and it
allows you to get cue signals from both AW's at the same time and
send them out a common set of jacks on AW #2. 

I forgot to mention that I use the MONITOR outputs as my
main L/R outs to my studio main and nearfield monitors.

additional note from ripe:

Although the AW4416 will be synchronized with MTC,  people should
also realize MTC only transmits absolute timing messages.  This means
that the both AW4416 will need their tempo set to the same value
manually, this will ensure that any editing done based on BPM
(measures) will match up to the same point on both AWs.

How do I record to tracks 9 through 16?

          For a detailed explanation of this common question check out Fede's guide here.          

What is the current operating system?

The latest operating system is Mixer CPU Ver 2.00 and Sub CPU Version 1.00.  

Where can I get the latest OS?

The latest OS is here! 

Version 2.0:
for macintosh users: awos200.sit(1.2MB)
for PC users: awos200.zip(1.1MB)
manual supplement: Version 2.0 Supplement manual (v_2_E.pdf)

How do I check my OS version?

To check the OS Version, hold down [UTILITY] while powering on the AW4416.

What is fixed in Mixer CPU Version 1.03 or 1.10 or 1.20 or 1.30 or 2.00?

Here is the version info!

For info on the new features in version 2.00 check here...

I have the upgrade CD, now how do I upgrade the OS from the CD?

Here are the instructions on how to perform the upgrade [from D. Goodman].

1. Insert CD upgrade disk.
2. Turn off power.
3. While powering up, hold down the HOME and AUX1 buttons.
4. After the AW has booted up release the buttons.
5. After one minute the agreement will appear on the screen
6. Press ENTER.
7. As the softwware is updated the TRACK meter bars will light up. The
    update is done once all 16 track meters are lit up. This will take
    6-10 minutes.
8. Once all the 16 track meter bars are full (and blinking), turn off AW and turn back
    on.
9. The update is complete.

CAVEAT: do NOT turn machine off during installation, because it will
screw up the op system completely!!

What drives are compatible with the AW4416?

This is the drive compatibility list compiled from users and from Yamaha.

    Compatible CD-R/RW drives:
        YAMAHA CRW6416 (internal SCSI)
        YAMAHA CRW8424S-WP (internal SCSI)
        YAMAHA CRW8424S-AW (internal SCSI)
        YAMAHA CRW8824S-VK (internal SCSI)
        PLEXTOR PX-W124TSI/BS (internal SCSI)
        PLEXTOR  PlexWriter 8/20 series PX-R820Ti (internal SCSI)
        PLEXTOR  PlexWriter 8/20 series PX-R8220Te (external SCSI)
        YAMAHA CRW8424SX-WP (external SCSI)
        YAMAHA CRW8824SX-VK (external SCSI)
        PLEXTOR PX-W124TSE/BS (external SCSI)
        PLEXTOR PX-W124TSE/N (external SCSI)
        PLEXTOR PX-W124TSE/MAC (external SCSI)

    Hard-drives
        IBM DARA-212000 (12GB)
        IBM DARA-206000 (6GB)
        IBM DJSA-230 (30GB)   (IBM utility to erase drive is here) (see section on installing hard-drives below)
        IBM TravelStar IC25N040ATCS04 (40GB) (part# 07N8327) from googlegear.com

    Other drives
        Castlewood ORB (2.2 GB Removable media)
        Iomega JAZ 2GB (2GB Removable media)
        I・O DATA MOF-1300 (1.3GB MO)
        I・O DATA MOF-RM1300 (1.3GB MO)
        I・O DATA MOA-S640W (640MB MO)

How do I install a new/different hard-drive in the AW4416?

If you install a new hard-drive in the AW4416, you will need to make sure it is COMPLETELY ERASED, otherwise the AW will throw up an error on boot-up and never ask if you would like to format the drive.  For the IBM drives, you can use their 'drive fitness test' program to erase the drive.  Here is Eddie Sohn's account of installing a 30GB IBM drive in the AW...

i loaded the drive in a laptop and booted it up...it had full blown windows 98 installed on it.  i f-disked the drive and removed all the partitions.

Can I get the model with no internal hard-drive and add my own external drive instead?

You can use external drives, but you will only be able to use them for back-up, you CANNOT record audio directly to an external SCSI drive! The internal hard-drive is IDE.

Where can I buy/get prices on the AW4416?

Buy from zzounds.com using this link and help support our site!

    www.zzounds.com - good price of $2849.95 for HDCD model.

How do I enter 'test mode'?

To enter diagnostics mode, hold down [UTILITY] and mix layer [1-16] buttons on power-up...
Some test options will be greyed out because they use a special diagnostic board that fits in an option slot.

I installed the MY8-AD expansion card and the sound levels are too low, how do I get more gain?

If you are using unbalanced inputs (most synths are) the sound level will be too low, there are tiny white switches on the inside of the card you can use to increase the gain...

How do other 'real-world' users feel about the AW4416?

Here are some remarks from other AW4416 users...

(from Lee Flier)
To sum up, here's what I told him (Yamaha contact):

1) The jog wheel sucks!  (I explained how it works to my friend and, again,
he was pretty shocked, and said surely Yamma would address this in the
future and he would definitely ask the developers about it)

2) The main weakness in general in the AW is in the editing.  Besides the
fact that the jog wheel functionality (or lack thereof) makes it difficult
to locate precise edit points, it seems that once you've started editing a
tune you are liable to experience the out-of-sync tracks bug.  Also, when
you've punched in and out or copied and pasted a lot of track sections, the
Auto Input monitoring function can be erratic.

3) Put an index in the *%&# manual! (again, shock registered from my friend
about this - he's a technical writer and marketing copy writer for various
companies, so he was particularly appalled)

4) The tech support guy is a weenie, and Yamaha needs to be more responsive
to its customers and interact with them more in general.  For example their
web site could feature how-to articles by Yammy engineers, in-depth
interviews with people who are using AW's, describing what applications they
use them for and how they do things, an "official" user community where
Yammy people actually answer our questions and offer regular feedback, etc.

5) The effects are fair to middling but generally fine, the delays being the
best executed.  Reverbs are all right once you tweak them a bit, but I
prefer outboard reverb.  Prefer outboard dynamics for peak limiting, at
mixdown the onboard dynamics are acceptable.  EQ is quite good, you have to
really crank it to notice the difference but I've noticed that is true for
digital EQ in general vs. analog.

6) Mic inputs could use a little more gain, although they work fine for most
applications and I personally would rather use outboard pre's anyway.

On the positive side, I said:

1) It sounds great.  It really does.  Bottom line.  The converters are good
too.

2) The automation is great.

3) I love all the flexibility of being able to patch anything anywhere, add
expansion boards, etc. making the AW a tool that could be at home in a wide
variety of situations.

4) Where it counts most, the OS is stable.  That is, no crashes in the
middle of recording, nothing that has caused data loss.

5) The machine is solidly built and generally has a quality feel to it.

How can I disconnect the CD-RW fan / make the AW quieter?

Check out this article from Phil O'Keefe on disconnecting the internal CD-RW fan, it makes the AW much quieter!  Disconnecting the CD-RW fan