The elusive V-24s button in Digital Orchestrator Pro explained!

For those of you who have ever wondered what the grayed out V-24s button does
in the DOP SYNC SETTINGS window, here's the answer you've been waiting for!

When a Voyetra V-24s MIDI interface is installed in your system, the "V-24s" 
button in the Sync Settings window becomes active.  
This button launches the external Voyetra Setup Utility for the V-24s from 
within DOP.  

             
                            

The V-24s SMPTE (pronounced "simp-tee") output is easily activated from 
within the Voyetra Setup Utility. 


         


Does this mean you can generate SMPTE directly from DOP?

Well, no, not exactly.  
Computer-based MIDI sequencers cannot actually synchronize ("sync") to SMPTE.  




What they can do is sync to MIDI Time Code (MTC).


SMPTE vs. MTC:
--------------
SMPTE was made a standard by the Society of Motion Picture and Television
Engineers for synchronization of audio and video.  
It's basically a "time-code" reference consisting of an analog audio signal 
that is broken down into Hours, Minutes, Seconds, and Frames (H: M: S: F). 

MTC is a binary MIDI representation of "SMPTE time" that is transmitted at 
a rate of 24ppq (parts per quarter).  
MTC provides a convenient way to sync MIDI devices to SMPTE time.


GENERATNG SMPTE IN DOP USING A V-24s MIDI INTERFACE
---------------------------------------------------

STEP 1.  
To initiate SMPTE generation from within DOP, launch the V-24s Setup Utility 
by pressing the V-24s button in the Sync Settings window.

STEP 2.  
Press the Generate button.  This brings up the SMPTE Generator window.

           


In the V-24s SMPTE Generation window, you can enter the Frame Rate
and the Generator Offset Time (Hours: Minutes: Seconds). 
The Frame Rate is related to the number of Frames Per Second (fps).  

FRAME RATE 
----------
The different Frame Rates are:
  24 Frames Per Second (f.p.s.) – 8mm, 16mm and 35mm Film (USA)
  
  25 Frames Per Second (f.p.s.) – Film and video (Europe)
  
  "Drop" – Is actually a 30fps standard for video with an important 
           alteration.  It's called "Drop" because the actual frame 
           rate is approximately 29.97fps, so SMPTE counts to 30 frames 
           and "drops" a frame every 10 seconds to compensate for the 
           "extra" .03 frames per second. 
  
  29.97 f.p.s. – Approximate frame rate for Video (USA) 
           (most accurate for use with video machines in the USA).
  
  30fps –  Rounded up frame rate from 29.97 for video (US)



SMPTE OFFSET:
-------------
The Offset time in the professional world almost always starts with an hour 
of "1".  This goes back to the days of film when the reels were numbered, 
so Reel One was marked as Hour 1, Reel Two was Hour 2, and so on.  
As time marched on and film moved to video, the tradition of keeping 
the "hour" system in SMPTE remained.

SMPTE time is broken down into Hour: Minutes: Seconds: Frames.
"Frames" is directly related to the Frame Rate we spoke of earlier.  
So if your Frame Rate is 24fps, then the frames counter in SMPTE will only
count to 23 (0 is always counted as a number).  

In real world use, we don't need to worry about frames when entering an 
offset time for Striping or Generating SMPTE. All that is really necessary 
are the hours, minutes, and seconds.  For most purposes, the offset time 
does not need to be changed while generating, only for syncing later.

STEP 3. 
The next step is to record your SMPTE timecode to an audio track on an audio
recording device.

If you are using a multitrack recorder such as a 4 track or an ADAT, 
try and choose an outside track (1 or 4, 1 or 8).  Also try to record to 
a track that has at least one unused track between it and the next recorded 
track.  There is a good reason for this that may not be immediately obvious.

Audio from one track will often leak onto nearby tracks, even in a digital 
multitrack recorder! This leaking is called "Bleed".  Since SMPTE is basically
noise (to human ears anyway) it can disrupt the sound quality of the adjacent 
tracks if the sound of the SMPTE track bleeds onto them.  For this reason, 
it is best to keep the SMPTE as far away from recorded material as possible.  
Once you have selected a track to record to, connect the SMPTE audio output 
cable to the input of the selected track.

STEP 4. 
Press Record on the audio recording device and press the "Gen" button in the 
V-24s SMPTE Generation window.  The numbers will begin to count in the lower 
portion of the Generation window, and the System Monitor light on the external
box of the V-24s will blink steadily.

STEP 5.  
When you're finished, you've striped SMPTE!!!



______________________________________________________________________