JoeCo BLACKBOX RECORDER, User Manual

Page 1: ...ccessful event You will find that this user manual is not a long document and can be read from cover to cover in a short while However we strongly recommend that you do read it just in case there are some aspects of the product that are not immediately obvious This manual covers all variants of the BlackBox Player BBP1U BBP1B BBP1D BBP1A BBP64MADI and BBP64Dante Also remember that the BlackBox Pla...

Page 2: ...s 16 Installation 19 Enabling the BlackBox Player Software 22 BlackBox Player In Use 23 Default Playlist 23 Preloading Songs 24 Headphone Monitoring 26 Summary of Combined Front Panel Controls 27 Using the Menu 27 Menu Structure and Operation 28 Setting up Adjustable Parameters 28 Playback Manage 34 Software Updates 38 Troubleshooting 40 Summary Of Alert Messages 41 JoeCo Conditions of Use 43 Soft...

Page 3: ...or use it in damp or wet conditions Do not place containers of liquid on it which might spill into any openings Ventilation Do not obstruct any ventilation If the equipment is to be operated in a flight case ensure that it is constructed to allow adequate ventilation Heat and vibration Do not locate the equipment in a place subject to excessive heat or direct sunlight as this could be a fire hazar...

Page 4: ...pment and cables and may result in undesired performance Ensure that all cables are located such that they cannot be stood on or tripped over Copyright Warning JoeCo BlackBox Player products are designed to enable you to reproduce material to which you own the copyright or material which the copyright owner has granted you permission to reproduce It is illegal to record reproduce distribute sell h...

Page 5: ...way it allows all replayed material to be properly mixed in with Live sound during a performance or when used in a multi speaker system setup A number of specific features have been added to make it suitable and safe in a Live environment including quick changes to the order of playback set list changes failover switching etc Applications will include Backing track replay for live solo artists Sup...

Page 6: ...layed or preloaded and ready to replay contains audio for playback In the BlackBox Recorder application this LED turns Red to indicate record ready on 64 channel systems there are 64 two colour LEDs which indicate the same information alongside the two vertical meters which indicate the levels on the PFL bus There are also indicators for Disk activity and Playback Lockout which is only relevant to...

Page 7: ...cables can be plugged into any external effects required before returning to the console On the BBP1A Lightpipe i o version the upper option area contains the Lightpipe i o connections and the lower row of D types are unbalanced analogue i o On the BBP1D AES EBU i o version the upper row of D type connectors provide digital i o normally configured to the Yamaha standard pin out and the lower row o...

Page 8: ...ere is not enough space in this manual to outline the operation of every workstation Alternatively these files can be created using the BlackBox Recorder itself Once the files have been created and copied onto a suitable disk you should not have to revise them again Decisions to be made before you create your audio files What sample rate All files must be at the same sample rate 44 1kHz 48kHz 88 2...

Page 9: ...laylists Once you ve decided on the above criteria you can start to create the playback files you will require File and Folder Names As a bare minimum the BlackBox Player requires its audio files to be named as follows nnn tt wav Where nnn is the song number between 001 and 999 and tt is the track number between 01 and 24 The dash and wav extension are also required and must not be omitted These p...

Page 10: ... For example 001 02 Herringbone Waltz Kick wav is easier to recognise as being the Kick drum track for the song called Herringbone Waltz than merely 001 02 wav To accommodate this it is possible to insert human readable names to the mandatory part of the file name in this way nnn tt Song Name Track Name wav where Song Name is the name of the song and Track Name is the name of each track within tha...

Page 11: ...c naming scheme and time stamping will keep the files well organised anyway Permissible Characters in File Names Any of the following characters can be used in files names Upper and lower case alphabet characters numbers and some extra characters including space as listed below ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 _ Remember that you should not use the dash except as a ...

Page 12: ...lly on plugging the disk into the BlackBox Player But you can always load a different playlist file from the menu So what is XML format XML is a very simple type of computer code and is the basis of HTML which is at the heart of the World Wide Web All statements in XML are enclosed in tags which are key words surrounded by triangular brackets An opening tag looks like this tag and a closing tag lo...

Page 13: ...f 2010 09 06 f s 002 s c load song 002 ready for playback and then play it when triggered N B it is not necessary to use the full song name By using the song number it is quicker to edit the order of play c s 021 s c note that songs can be in any order c s 001 s c temporarily cutting out the following two lines of the file s 007 s s 004 I did it my way s c s 009 s c another comment c s 011 s s 008...

Page 14: ...tctrim 00 00 03 23 tctrim This tag will trim or edit the start of a cue to remove unwanted audio material Absolute time is referenced against the BWAV files embedded timecode Relative time indicates how much time to trim off the start of the files e g 3seconds 23frames tcrate timecode rate tcrate e g tcrate drop tcrate This field will change the timecode rate setting in the BlackBox Player It will...

Page 15: ...ecode does not have to be in chronological order but the user must ensure that timecode values do not overlap The BBP will sort the list into timecode order with a warning c s 005 s tc 01 08 36 17 tc s 004 I did it my way s tc 01 11 07 27 tc s 010 s tc 01 14 05 06 tc tctrim 00 00 02 15 tctrim c trim 2 seconds and 15 frames off the start of song 010 c s 011 s tc 01 18 09 10 tc s 009 s tc 01 59 59 2...

Page 16: ...file Playback may be triggered using the PLAY button The STOP button will stop or pause playback The MARK buttons will load the previous song ready for playback The LOOP button will load the next song ready for playback All other commands can be accessed via the menus Wiring and control using a footswitch To enable footswitch control a footswitch must first be connected to the Footswitch LTC input...

Page 17: ...d when player active 1 through 9 Load CUE 1 through 9 as the next song to cue up Alt numeric keypad number Load a specific CUE number next Allows quick change to set list Right arrow MENU Left arrow BACK Up arrow previous menu item Down arrow next menu item By using the numeric keypad to enter a cue number while playing a cue the BlackBox Player will override the playlist sequence The Player will ...

Page 18: ...en in the example playlist file above playlist example2 txt see page 15 Adding a timecode override allows very subtle adjustment of replay timings with respect to video for lip sync etc It is also possible to trim the start of a set of audio files by adding a timecode trim This feature will commence playback from the trimmed time thereby editing the start of the cue non destructively Trim values c...

Page 19: ...as Unbalanced audio connections The BBP1B has Balanced audio connections The BBP1A provides digital Lightpipe connections which are supplemented with unbalanced analogue audio connections The BBP1D provides digital AES EBU connections which are supplemented with unbalanced analogue audio connections The BBP64MADI and BBP64Dante have dedicated outputs that conform to their respective standards BNC ...

Page 20: ... s so there s normally plenty of headroom JoeCo has already tested numerous USB2 drives from Western Digital Glyph Verbatim Samsung Buffalo Hitachi and others and found them to work well Some drives have power saving built into them which is particularly difficult to turn off completely and some of these drives have gone into sleep mode in the middle of being used We had added routines to try and ...

Page 21: ...ackBox can be used to reformat the drive to FAT32 see Disk Management in the BlackBox Recorder User Manual Power connection The BlackBox Player is supplied with an external power supply which plugs into the dc inlet at the rear right of the unit or left if you re looking at the rear as you read this The unit should be used with the power supply provided Checking that everything works Once you have...

Page 22: ...ack Manage menu and select Enable and Config Select Enable Playback Mode and you re ready to test operation Installing Player Software If you do not see Playback Manage in the MAIN MENU you need to obtain a licence key from your dealer or directly from JoeCo Use the data wheel to scroll down the MAIN MENU to near the bottom where you will find an item labelled licence Access this menu item by pres...

Page 23: ...to go through the operational issues and screens Default Playlist A Playlist file called Playlist default txt in the root folder will load automatically on power up or inserting the disk Other playlist files can be selected by entering the Playback Manage menu and choosing Select Playlist This will list all the playlist files that the BlackBox finds in the root folder of the drive and you can scro...

Page 24: ...r in which case a folder change command is required before and after the missing file Preloading Songs The core facility of the BlackBox Player is its ability to preload the next Song in the playlist so that it can start replay instantaneously When the playlist file has satisfied all of the criteria detailed above and all the audio files have been found the BlackBox Player is ready to go The curre...

Page 25: ...mber within the currently selected Playlist not the actual file song number and name which are displayed above This is so that in a normal live set the operator can easily see where they are in the sequence Play As soon as the BlackBox Player receives its trigger it will instantly start playing back the cued song This screen provides a solid green background and also displays the CUE number of the...

Page 26: ... playlist file for that particular folder which can then be edited as a text file on a computer When a previously recorded Song is loaded for playback the Green playback ready LEDs positioned underneath the meter section indicate which tracks are present and ready for playback Headphone Monitoring It is possible to monitor a summing mix a rough mix or individual pairs of tracks on the BlackBox Pla...

Page 27: ...ACK or Headphone monitor solo channel In STOP STOP or Fast rewind or Fast forward wind In STOP MARK Select Previous Song IN STOP LOOP Select Next Song Using the Menu The following section discusses the menu in more detail This section should be read in conjunction with the Menu section of the BlackBox Recorder User Manual which discusses some areas in more detail Throughout the menu operations the...

Page 28: ...e adjusted is selected the display changes to yellow text on a red background You can then use the control wheel to change the setting before confirming with the MENU button or rejecting your changes with the BACK button Some real time functions cannot be rejected with the BACK button Unavailable items or options are greyed out in light red text There are more details on the recorder specific func...

Page 29: ...the BlackBox Recorder finishes playing the last song in a folder it will go back to the first song in the same folder and start playing that song again With both these options selected the BlackBox Recorder will continuously loop all the songs within the selected folder Input This option is only available when using one of the models with both Digital and Analogue inputs Inputs can be switched in ...

Page 30: ... the first sample within the file The BlackBox Player can play back Broadcast WAV files synchronised to a source of Linear Timecode LTC MIDI timecode MTC or to the real time clock built into the unit itself The Player can only read timecode i e act as a timecode Slave it cannot generate timecode i e act as a timecode Master The BlackBox does not chase timecode or lock to it Sample rates Selectable...

Page 31: ...erface and are not relevant otherwise Local Control This enables the BlackBox Player to be controlled locally as well as remotely Enable local control if you need to quickly recover from mistakes or mis triggers disable it if you want to avoid finger trouble during a performance Link Mode and Link Preroll Used for linking multiple BlackBox Players together see relevant section in the Recorder manu...

Page 32: ...e device via MIDI The BlackBox allows for a remote controller to select and preload cues as well as set up the headphone mix for monitoring and soloing etc More details of the allowable parameter numbers are available in the End User section of the JoeCo website see page 52 for details of how to register Line In Mon This sets how the unit monitors the Line In signals on all channels The default po...

Page 33: ...he Setup menu Select which field you want to adjust Press MENU to edit the field with the data wheel and then Menu again to confirm and the Player moves onto the next field automatically Press BACK when finished Reset Resets the BlackBox back to its factory state useful if you ve forgotten what parameters you ve changed Monitor Monitor AGC This sets up the automatic gain control on the headphone m...

Page 34: ... Take Over options are disabled unless you designate this machine to be the backup machine in a pair of matched failover players Playback Config The first option under Playback Config is Enable Playback Mode All other operational aspects of the Player are determined by this selector without which the machine will work as a BlackBox Recorder Repeat Playlist is used when the unit is not being requir...

Page 35: ...lled via MIDI a footswitch or a JoeCoRemote while the Local Control option allows the front panel to still be operated at the same time Enable song track offsets allows you to play back songs where some tracks within the songs are time stamped to start at different times This is useful when you have already created your tracks from a DAW and subsequently need to add a click track that starts befor...

Page 36: ...sole or audio amplifiers When a system is set to Main the BlackBox Player will output a continuous tone from the channel selected under Failover Channel When set to Backup the unit monitors this channel for the tone generated by the Main system and automatically switches the relays to the Backup unit s audio if the tone from the Main unit fails power failure USB failure etc The output tone from th...

Page 37: ...alvanically isolated with inline diodes to prevent a failing system automatically triggering the other system JoeCo can also supply a Splitter Box for QWERTY keyboard control or for Timecode splitting It is also possible to control a pair of Failover players using MIDI or 9 pin commands MAIN SYSTEM SETUP MENU SETUP CONTROL Remote Mode footsw play MENU SETUP CONTROL Local Control ON tick this setti...

Page 38: ...me Manager is most relevant to the BlackBox Recorder software and is explained further in that User Manual Disk Manage Similarly use of the Disk Manager is explained in the BlackBox Recorder User Manual Software Updates It should be noted that JoeCo may release software upgrades from time to time either to add features or to cure bugs that have been found in the software though we have endeavoured...

Page 39: ...ir Download the new update file from the JoeCo website directly into the root folder of a USB2 hard drive or a FAT32 formatted memory stick note memory sticks or Pen drives are often formatted with FAT16 which will not work The file must be called update BBR and it must be placed in the root In the Update menu set the BBP to allow updates only and then plug the drive or memory stick into the USB2 ...

Page 40: ... the power supply is getting mains power and that the correct power supply is plugged correctly into the Player If you have access to a volt meter check that the power supply is producing at least 9V No display on LCD screen Check power supply as above Reboot turn power off wait 10 seconds and turn power back on again BlackBox Player not responding to controls Check if disk activity light is opera...

Page 41: ...tor to help you resolve the issues Summary Of Alert Messages Hold STOP button to stop displayed when STOP is pressed PLAYBACK LOCKED OUT can be displayed if PLAY is pressed and PLAYBACK LOCKOUT is on CONNECT VALID DISK displayed if PLAY or RECORD is pressed but disk is not connected DISK BUSY displayed if PLAY or RECORD is pressed but disk is busy reserved e g for song selection DISK TOO SLOW disp...

Page 42: ...SIGNAL displayed if Slave is not receiving clock and control from Master REMOTE CONTROLLED displayed when in remote control or slave mode and a disabled operation is attempted PLAY OUT OF RANGE when in remote control or slave mode PLAYBACK is attempted outside the time code limits of the selected Song DIGITAL INPUT MISSING A source of digital audio is not correctly plugged in DIGITAL SLIP A source...

Page 43: ...ined below Legitimate User a legitimate user hereinafter referred to as a User is a person or corporate entity or employee of a corporate entity who is the owner of a Product following its original purchase from JoeCo or an authorised JoeCo distributor or reseller or its subsequent purchase from a legitimate owner and has accepted the terms of this agreement using a Product on loan from its owner ...

Page 44: ...ty whatsoever for any claim arising from such use 2 Limitations of Liability Except for JoeCo s limited Hardware Warranty see Warranty Information in the relevant JoeCo User Manual or via the JoeCo website at www joeco co uk to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law JoeCo hereby disclaims all warranties and conditions with respect to the Product and any services performed by use of the Pro...

Page 45: ... ACCOMPANY ANY SUCH UPDATES IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE ADDITIONAL LICENCE TERMS THAT ACCOMPANY SUCH UPDATES YOU MAY NOT DOWNLOAD COPY INSTALL OR OTHERWISE USE SUCH UPDATES Definitions Used In This Agreement JoeCo JoeCo Limited Product Any product designed manufactured distributed or resold by JoeCo including the BlackBox Recorder which may be abbreviated to BBR and the BlackBox Player which may be...

Page 46: ...r Licence You the User are entitled to use all parts of the Software for the duration of the life of the Product If the Product is sold on to a third party a new user is entitled to the same use that is to use all parts of the Software for the duration of the life of the Product provided that they agree to all the terms of this Licence 3 Additional Charge Items From time to time JoeCo or third par...

Page 47: ...a inability to use or to continue to use the Product itself or any connected device damage to property damage based on inconvenience loss of time or interrupted operation and to the extent permitted by law damages for personal injury In no event will JoeCo s liability for any damages to the User purchaser or any other person exceed the price paid for the Product regardless of any form of the claim...

Page 48: ...xpressly excluded Warranty Information 1 Warranty Except as specified below JoeCo Limited hereinafter referred to as JoeCo warrants the hardware elements of this JoeCo Product hereinafter referred to as the Hardware to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one 1 year for parts and labour from date of original retail purchase provided that the Product is owned by the origi...

Page 49: ...uct requires repair because of abnormal use misuse abuse neglect or accident it will assess a fair repair or replacement fee The purchaser will have the option exercisable within thirty days of notification by JoeCo to pay this fee and have the Product repaired and returned or not pay this fee and have the Product returned un repaired at their expense Thereafter JoeCo reserves the right to dispose...

Page 50: ...ranty constitutes the entire warranty provided to you by JoeCo and supersedes all prior written agreements and all representations undertakings and promises given or implied by anything said or written by JoeCo or by an authorised JoeCo distributor reseller or representative JoeCo will not be bound by any modification or amendment of this Warranty unless it is in writing and signed by JoeCo In the...

Page 51: ...ponsible for shipment and for the risk of loss or damage during shipment JoeCo therefore recommends that such shipments are fully insured and sent by Registered Post Recorded Delivery or via a courier to guarantee receipt Where a Product is returned for repair outside warranty JoeCo will inspect the Product and provide the purchaser with an estimated fee for repair The purchaser will have the opti...

Page 52: ...In area select the New Registration Link and fill out your details It is important to fill out all your details including the full model and serial number of your JoeCo BlackBox Product Once your registration has been submitted it will be forwarded to JoeCo personnel who will need to approve your application before issuing you with a password Customer Support For any queries relating to the settin...