Masterlist CD 1.4.1 & 2.01 Readme

Digidesign Service & Support

MasterList CD Release Notes

for Versions 1.4.1 and 2.0

December 11, 1997

Topics covered in these Release Notes:

 

New Features and Improvements in MasterList CD 1.4.1 and 2.0

Operational Information

Information not in your MasterList CD User's Guide

Known Problems

 

System Requirements

 

New Features In MasterList CD

MasterList CD version 2.0.1

 

Fixed problem with Ricoh MP6201S - Version 2.0.1 addresses a problem with version 2.0 whereby, under certain circumstances, an audio artifact was written at the end of the disc when burning a CD on the Ricoh MP6201S.

MasterList CD version 2.0

 

Host-based Operation - Version 2.0 adds host-based audio playback and processing capability to MasterList CD, removing the need for Digidesign audio hardware: It may now be used as a "stand-alone" application on a compatible Power Macintosh, utilizing the Macintosh's built-in sound output for monitoring. Running on a Power PC-equipped with Macintosh OS software and a Digidesign supported CD recorder, MasterList CD 2.0 allows the user to record direct to CD at 2x and 4x write speeds. Supported Digidesign hardware can be used to provide higher quality D/A output and monitoring, as well as digital output. (Please refer to the System Requirements section.)

Improved Meters - MasterList CD version 2.0 includes improvements to the responsiveness and accuracy of the output meters.

MasterList CD version 1.4.1

Fixed Problem with DDP Tape Writing - Version 1.4.1 addresses a prior problem with DDP tape writing whereby the the start time of the first item was not offset as required to compensate for the Begin Access Offset, resulting in truncation of the first track.

MasterList CD version 1.4

New CD Recorder Support - MasterList CD version 1.4. added support for the following CD Recorders:

Manufacturer Model Recommended Digidesign for

High-Quality CD-DA Production

Hewlett Packard SureStore 6020i Digidesign recommended

SureStore 6020es Digidesign recommended

Philips CDD-2600 Digidesign recommended

Ricoh MP6200S *

MP6201S Digidesign recommended

Yamaha CDR 400t/400c Digidesign recommended

* When analyzed on certain highly-sensitive CD Analyzers, CD-DA discs created using the Ricoh MP6200S may occasionally exhibit isolated instances of data errors in the vicinity where "Lead-In" data ends. While this does not affect the playing of such a disc, there is a possibility that a duplication facility using such a CD Analyzer may reject the disc for use as a professional CD-DA master. For this reason, the Ricoh 6200S is not recommended by Digidesign.

Operational Information

MLCD 2.0 and NuBus-based PowerPC System Performance

(Power Macintosh 7100 & 8100) - If using MasterList CD 2.0 on a supported NuBus-based PowerPC computer, image files are required for 4x CD writes and may be required for 2x writes. Users of these systems should check the performance of their system prior to writing a CD at 2x write speed by completing a Test Write pass first to determine if an image file will be necessary.

Pro Tools|24 Systems with SCSI Accelerators (MLCD 2.0 only) - CD writer should be attached to the Macintosh SCSI bus only. Do not attach your CD writer to a SCSI accelerator card. You may experience erratic behavior including system hangs.

Pro Tools 442 (I-Series) System Accelerator - As MasterList CD does not take specific advantage of the System Accelerator card, playing files from a drive connected to it may actually slow the performance of the disc writing feature, resulting in buffer underruns (a condition reported by MasterList CD when it can't write to the CD because the overall data throughput of the system is too slow). If you are uncertain, simply use the Speed Test feature in the Write Disc dialog and compare the speed test result when the drive is connected to the System Accelerator card versus the Macintosh SCSI bus. In most cases the Macintosh SCSI bus will be faster.

For best results, connect the hard disk(s) to the Macintosh SCSI bus, and always optimize the disks before writing the CD.

Do not connect the CD recorder to the SCSI bus of the System Accelerator (or to a Session 8 or Pro Tools III Disk I/O card). Instead, connect the CD recorder to the Macintosh SCSI bus.

Pro Tools 442 (I-Series) System Accelerator & Power Macintosh - Due to an incompatibility between the NuBus-based Power Macintosh and the System Accelerator, the System Accelerator should not be active when using MasterList CD on this configuration. To disable the System Accelerator, remove the A/ROSE and Pro Tools SysAxe files from your Extensions Folder and restart the computer. Having the System Accelerator active may cause corruption when writing from an image file.

Creating Large MasterList CD Documents - When making large MasterList CD documents, you should consider increasing MasterList CD's memory allotment in the Finder. This can be done by first quitting MasterList CD, selecting Get Info while the MasterList CD application icon is highlighted, and increasing the Preferred Size value. Doing this will decrease the amount of time it takes to open and edit the document, especially when many audio files are used by the document.

MasterList Documents with Many Index Points - The maximum number of indexes that may be displayed in the PQ window is 1600. If your document contains more than this number (Red Book standard allows 99 tracks, each containing 100 Index points, numbered 0 to 99), the PQ window will not be able to display all of the indexes and may instead appear empty. To overcome this graphic limitation, click on the small triangle to the left of the track's name to collapse the view of each track in the PQ window such that the index points are not all being displayed (though they will all be written to the CD correctly, depending on the maximum allowable number of index points for the CD recorder).

Maximum File Limit - While this is different on each CPU, there is a maximum number of open files that the Macintosh Operating System will allow. This number can be anywhere between 291 to 340 files, depending on the CPU/O.S. configuration. MasterList CD can detect when this maximum number has been reached, but not until after you have added (opened) the audio files and attempt to play back audio from the MasterList window.

Writing Image Files in Background - Performing operations in the Finder, such as mounting a hard drive volume while MasterList CD is writing an image file could result in a system hang. Avoid performing any SCSI-related operations until MasterList CD has finished writing the image file.

Information Not In Your User's Guide

MLCD 2.0 and Sound Manager: 44.1 kHz and 16 Bit Only - When using MasterList CD 2.0 without additional Digidesign hardware, all audio playback/monitoring from MasterList CD is through the Apple Sound Manager. Sound Manager's mixer component only supports 44.1kHz, 16-bit audio, and therefore MasterLists consisting of 24-bit and/or 48 kHz audio will be monitored at 44.1kHz and 16 bit resolution.

Note that as a consequence of using the Sound Manager for audio playback, multiple Sound Manager controlled sounds will not be able to play at once. For example, with MasterList CD and SysBeep; the first playing item takes priority.

Configuring Sound/Hardware Setup - There were late-breaking changes to some of the audio playback/monitoring functionality of MasterList CD which are not fully explained in your User's Guide. These are explained below:

With MasterList CD 2.0 running in stand-alone mode, audio playback will default to using the Apple Sound Manager for audio playback if no Digidesign hardware is present. Only the 16-bit option in the MasterList CD Sound menu will be available.

When using MasterList CD 2.0 with supported Digidesign audio hardware, you can configure your audio playback to be routed through your Digidesign system for higher fidelity output/monitoring or digital output. When MasterList CD 2.0 is installed on systems with Digidesign hardware already installed, playback will default to using the Digidesign audio hardware, not Sound Manager. This will be indicated in MasterList CD's Sound menu by the status of the Use Digidesign Sound Hardware command. A check next to this item means Digidesign hardware will be used for output. To configure your audio hardware directly from within MasterList CD, use the Digidesign Hardware Setup command in the Sound menu. This will display a standard Digidesign Hardware Setup dialog.

Important Note for Pro Tools III/Project PCI users - MasterList CD 2.0 does not currently support sound output through Pro Tools III or Project hardware, (NuBus or PCI). Therefore on all Pro Tools III, Project and Audiomedia II systems, MasterList CD 1.4.1 will automatically be installed with these selected installation packages.

Overlapping Crossfades with Multiple Track List Items - When applying an overlapping crossfade where the incoming list item contains multiple CD tracks, be aware that the start times of tracks within that item will be adjusted earlier by half the total length of the crossfade. This limitation is due to the fact that overlapping item crossfades set the index 1 of the incoming item to be midway through the crossfade transition.

Known Problems

Starting-up your Macintosh from a Macintosh CD-ROM Drive when a CD Writer is Present - You must first turn off your CD writer, or remove it from the Macintosh SCSI bus before starting up from the Macintosh CD-ROM drive.

Yamaha CDR 400 Buffer Underrun Reporting - The Yamaha CDR 400 will report the following error when in fact a buffer underrun has occurred: "A fatal error occurred while recording! (Code 04)." If this happens, it may be necessary to turn off the CD writer, then turn it back on again to release the system. This will allow you to access MasterList CD again.

Mac OS 8 Graphics Anomalies (MLCD 1.4.1 only) - The numerical display in the Gain Adjust sliders is illegible with the default system appearance of Mac OS 8. This can be corrected by disabling System Wide Platinum Appearance and changing the Charcoal font to Chicago.

To do this:

From the Apple Menu, go to Control Panels.

Select the Appearance Control Panel.

In the Appearance Control Panel, select Options.

In the Options window, change System Font from Charcoal to Chicago and uncheck System

Wide Platinum Appearance.

You will need to restart your computer after making these changes.

Writing DDP Tapes with Mezzo Master 1.1 - At this time, SCMS is not supported in the DDP format. Be sure to turn off SCMS settings in the PQ window before writing the DDP tape.

After selecting "Export As 8mm DDP..." from the File menu, the Mezzo Master welcome screen may appear or the alert "MasterList CD could not complete DDP tape write!" may appear. If the alert appears, reselect "Export As 8mm DDP..." from the File menu and the Mezzo Master screen should appear.

Using Dither on a PowerMacintosh 7100/66 - Digidesign has found that if dither is used for playback on a PowerMacintosh 7100/66, the audio will play back in a stuttered, garbled fashion. Though all attempts to find the cause of this problem failed, it should be noted that a disc written in this configuration will NOT suffer from the same audio playback problem.

System Requirements For MasterList CD version 1.4.1

One of the following Digidesign audio production systems: Audiomedia II, Audiomedia III, Sound Tools II, ProMaster 20, Session 8 for Macintosh, Pro Tools 442, PCI or NuBus-based Pro Tools III or Pro Tools Project system.

Apple Macintosh computer qualified for use with your chosen Digidesign system.*

(Note: As of this release, MasterList CD is not compatible with a Power Macintosh 6100.)

An external SCSI hard disk qualified for use with your chosen Digidesign system, with a minimum average access time of 18 milliseconds or faster and non thermal recalibrating during read/write operations. Contact the manufacturer of your CD recorder for their recommended hard disk list.*

* For the latest list of qualified CPUs and hard drives, contact your Digidesign dealer or call your local Digidesign office. (In the US, call 1-(800) 333-2137.)

DigiSystem INIT 3.1 or higher

System 7.5.5 or higher.

8 Megabytes of RAM minimum

32-Bit addressing must be enabled. Use the Memory control panel to enable 32-bit addressing.

14" or larger color monitor.

DDP tape writing requires Mezzo Master Software from Grey Matter Response and a compatible Exabyte tape drive.

One of the following compatible SCSI-based CD recorders:

Manufacturer Model Firmware Version

Hewlett Packard SureStore 6020i Version 1.07

SureStore 6020es Version 1.07

SureStore 4020i Version 1.25

JVC XR-W2001/S201 Version 2.35

XR-W2010 Version 1.35

Kodak PCD 225 Versions 1.05/1.07

Marantz CD 620 Version 1.25

Philips CDD 522 Versions 1.04/1.07

CDD 2000 Version 1.25

CDD-2600 Version 1.07

Pinnacle RCD-1000* Version 2.35, drive models

A & B

RCD-5020 Version 2.35

RCD-5040 Version 1.35

Ricoh RS 1060-C Version 1.31

RS 1420-C Version 1.4x

MP6200S Version 1.10

MP6201S Version 1.10

 

Sony CDW-900E Versions 1.12/1.14

 

CDW-CSP-920S/9211S Versions 1.1c/2.0b

CDU-924S/ CSP-940S/9411S Version 1.1C

 

Studer D741 Version 1.25

 

Yamaha CDE-100 1.06/1.07/1.08/1.09/1.1/1.11

CDR-102 Version 1.0/1.01

CDR 400t/400c Version 1.0d

The listed CD recorder firmware versions have been tested with MasterList CD Version 1.2, 1.3 and/or 1.4. Compatibility with firmware versions other than those listed cannot be guaranteed by Digidesign. Use the CD Writer Setup dialog to display the version of your CD recorder's firmware.

* Drive A models have serial numbers less than 4471180, and must have version 2.35 firmware to be compatible with MasterList CD. Contact Pinnacle Micro Technical Support to obtain this firmware. (Refer to the CD Recorder Specification Grid for Pinnacle Micro Contact Details.)

System Requirements For MasterList CD version 2.0

 

Qualified Power Macintosh compatible computer.*

 

An external SCSI hard disk qualified for use with your chosen Digidesign system, with a minimum average access time of 18 milliseconds or faster and non thermal recalibrating during read/write operations. Contact the manufacturer of your CD recorder for their recommended hard disk list.*

 

Apple System Software v7.6.1 or higher, running in 32-bit mode

8 Megabytes of RAM minimum

14" or larger color monitor.

Digidesign recommended CD writer (see the list of compatible writers in the MasterList CD 1.4.1 System Requirements section).

Supported Digidesign Systems for Higher Quality Output Monitoring (Optional):

Pro Tools|24

Audiomedia III

 

DDP tape writing requires Mezzo Master Software from Grey Matter Response and a

compatible Exabyte tape drive.