2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 1

AATON CANTAR user-manual

Physical DescriptionMain selector 5Monitoring crown 5Configuration crown 5Jog crown 6Swivelling front panel 6Getting StartedPower on/off 7Battery check 7Display brightness 7The file sorting systemProject name 7Project creation 7Working day 8The FileTags 8TimecodeSystem setup 8Blinking TC icon 8Internal clock 9External clock (video cam) 9LTC-out generator 9Recording PrepConnecting inputs 10Dynamic or Phantom mics 10Limiter, Filter, Attenauator 10Mic Coupling 10Solo checking 10Routing Inputs to Tracks 11MS declaration 11PPR Pre&Post RecordKeying Scene & Take before ‘Record’ 12Editing Sc & Tk, right after ‘Record’ 12Editing Sc & Tk, later 12Erasing last recorded file 12Erasing any file 12MonitoringOutput grids 13Check, create a grid 13Headphone level 13Line-out and Foldback level 13Digital AES-out 13Factory preset grids 14Surround 5.1 15

MixDownMixDown activation 16Panning 16Track levels in the mixdown 16Listening to the mixdown 16Recording controls Physical Parameters 17Audio Levels 17Playing filesFiles of the day 18Flagging in-points 18Browsing the Project Files 18Audio SetupParameter Settings 19Parameter List 19TechnicalOperating parameters 20Software installationLoading a new version 21Disk unmounting 21Backups & Copies Disk Formatting 22Sorting Days and Files 22HD Disk copy 22CD-R Medias 22CD-R Long Files 22DVD-Ram 23Session managementNew Project 23Inside, Outside or Both? 23ConnectorsRemote, V-Sync, Power, TC 24Audio in/out 25

Cantar v1.13 p. 22004 Feb 26

audio levels, disk activity, etc.

tracks to l/c/r ouputs (26 routings)

inputs to tracks (15 routings)

The three states of the INSTANT-VIEW front panel

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Physical Description

line input

battery 2four line-input faders

five mic-input faders

shift key

main selector

mic coupler

limiter, filter, inverter, phantom

six track mixer faders

message panel

solo-mix-pan selectormonitoring crown

configuration crown

jog

six solo-pan buttons

mic input

disk housing lock

headphone level

monitoring crown

track routingview/select

timecode jamdisplay brightness battery control

digital mixer faders mic input fadersshift key

headphone socket

monitoringview

line input faders

message panel keys

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 4

mic1 mic2 mic3 mic4

mic5line4line3line2line1

mic1

mic 2

mic 3&4

mic 5

line1&2

line3&4

BATT 2BATT 1

sub-D 25 8 AES in/out

XLR5line out

3.5mm Jackfoldback out

sub-D 15remote control

video sync

1/4” Jackheadphone

CD/DVD+R BURNER

Lemo-5 TC

IEEE1384FireWire

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 5

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1 Warning tone2 Meters Mode3 Battery Alert4 System Time5 System Day6 HDD Power Down

7 Serial Com (Palm)8 Factory Set9 Unmount HDD

10 Equipement Number11 Software Version12 Software Loading

1 Period2 Work Day3 Tracks4 Media Type

5 File Name6 Media Label7 Start Backup

2. COPY BACKUP

1 Project2 New Project3 HDD in Use

1 3. SESSION

1 Sample Rate2 Bit Depth3 Tone Generator4 LineOut Level5 FoldBack Level6 TC Source

7 Ltc Rate8 Ltc-Out Generator9 Scene & Take Template

10 T7 T8 Mode11 AES Power12 Pre-Record Lenght

4. AUDIO SETUP

1 Inputs to Tracks1 5. ROUTING

1 Grid Phone Out1 6. MONITORING

RECORDPPR

TEST

STOP

PLAY

BROWSE

erase

validate

1. TECHNICAL

Main selector The wide general selector (see above) controls the main operating functions.Cantar features a position (which is new in the sound recording field) in between TEST and RECORD. Called PPR for Pre-Post-Record, it activates a static recording buffer and allows for sc and take keying prior to and after the recording.

Monitoring crownUsed to route and listen to ins & outs.* the monitoring crown being on Solo [1] the config. crown successively sends all the inputs (5Mic, 4Line-in, 6Digi-AES), and the activated tracks to the phones.* the monitoring crown being on Phone [2] the config. crown routes the MX mixer output, the 7-8 track stored mixdown, plus the phone devoted A to Q grids, to the phones (see monitoring grids page 12).* the monitoring crown being on Line-Out [3], Foldback [4], Digi-out [5], the config. crown routes the MX mixer output, the 7-8 track stored mixdown, plus the outputs devoted R to Z grids, to the selected output. Note: while monitoring an output, the phone receives an identical signal.Pressing the central button of the general selector shows the monitoring grid in use: the modulometers become left ear, center, right ear listening displays.

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 6

Configuration crownIn Monitoring mode --default status-- the configuration crown selects the active listening grid (see over), its action is immediate and not key protected, the operator can instantly jump from a listening config. to another one since it doesn’t affect the recording.In Routing mode -activated by pressing the routing button top left of the swivelling panel-- the configuration crown browses three banks of five “inputs to tracks” routing configurations: A, B, C, 1 to 5.Since modifying “inputs to tracks” routings can be destructive, they are protected by a key and not active during a recording.

Jog crownThe ‘one finger’ jog is the jack of all trades. It is used to move the cursor in the message panel, set Scene & Take IDs, select high pass filters, dim the modulometer light, control the pan-pots, etc.

Swivelling front panelThe message panel displays contextual information. Every position of the main selector displays a different set of data on the message panel. Via this panel, you can enter system time, Scene & Take IDs, project name, etc. It functions similarly to a standard cell-phone display.

The circular displays based on icons and pixels are used for modulometers, inputs to tracks routing, monitoring grids, and several physical parameters to be permanently controlled. The icons do not all show at once except during Cantar’s power-on phase. You will find examples throughout this manual as to what they display in each mode.

The routing button is a very important tool, it triggers the momentary display of the current ‘inputs to tracks’ routing on the three circular displays. It also activates the configuration crown which lets the operator select another routing configuration (TEST position only).

internal disk

internal or external TC clock

external disk DVD/CD burnertracks 1 & 2

right ear monitoringleft ear monitoring

tracks 3 & 4 tracks 5 & 6

monitoring & routing configurations

message panel

routing button

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 7

Getting StartedPower on/offTo start Cantar up, put the main selector on STOP (9 o’clock); press either batt-1 or batt-2 for a couple of seconds. All displays flash and the message panel lights up to confirm that Cantar has started correctly. On the leftmost circular display, the internal disk icon blinks for 3 to 5 seconds, the times it takes for the disk to wake up; it is surrounded by the icons of the currently routed tracks. At startup, the message panel shows batt-1 and batt-2 voltage, plus the system time and date.To shut Cantar down, put the main selector on STOP, maintain pressure on the blue [Shift] key then [batt]: ‘Goodbye’ shows on the message panel.

Battery check The battery voltage is displayed every 10 seconds while the main selector is on TEST (10 o’clock) or whenever you momentarily press the batt-1 or batt-2 buttons. Pressing longer on one of these buttons selects the on-duty battery. At 10.5 V an alarm tone can be heard and the display shows ‘left (or right) bat low’.As soon as the voltage of the active battery drops under10V, i.e. too low to run the recorder, both batteries are automatically put on-duty.If during a recording you have to change a battery, press the two buttons to put them in parallel before you remove the depleted battery, this is a safety measure in case you unplugg the wrong one...

Display brightnessTo adjust the display backlights, press on the eye icon of the front panel, and jog-dial to the desired luminosity (active in any position except STOP). The default brightness is 100%.

The file sorting systemMade of “Project, + Working day + UniqueFilename + TC”, the Cantar file sorting system is both ultra simple and very safe. It doesn’t rely upon disk partitions.

Project nameWhen you cold-start Cantar, it assumes you want to continue working on your latest project, which is therefore displayed at the bottom of the message panel.When you rent a Cantar, its project memory should be empty; the message panel should read “No Project” since it logically assumes that you’re about to embark on a new assignement.Once created, a ‘project name’ regroups all data related to the project, such as the days of recording, the tracks and the disks used... the project name is stored in the audio files as metadata, there is no risk for a file to be lost in a maze of terabytes.

Project creationTo give a new project a name (eight letters and/or numbers), switch the main selector to SESSION (3 o’clock). Run the jog to “New Project”, press OK. A triangle points the character to be modified. Run the jog to choose a letter, then press an horizontal arrow to move on to the next letter. Once the full name is entered, press OK.If you are in a pinch, and have no time to create a new project, directly go to RECORD, your audio files will be stored in a project called AACANTAR.Later on, with a lap-top you will move these audio files out of AACANTAR, into your project directory.

battery controldisplay brightness

internal disk icon

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Battery oneBattery two System timeSystem date

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2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 8

Working DayCantar thinks like this: a working day is from about 8 am to 4 am the next day. If there is a pause after midnight that lasts more than one hour, Cantar thinks the operator has gone to sleep. But if your ‘work day’ is continued in the wee hours after a midnight snack, you would probably not want it to be considered as a ‘new’ day. That is why Cantar asks ‘Start New Day?’, giving you the opportunity to decline the offer.Cantar tries to be smart about this, but it cannot foresee the sleeping patterns of the technicians, how hectic things are on location, etc. The ‘new working day’ is not related to the actual time of day (which is tracked by the machine); it is only an interpretation of the ‘human’ day. Thus, if you stop working at 2am one day, the audio files are still part of the (technically) ‘previous’ day folder.

Never twice the same FileTagThe unique FileTag is the base of the Aaton filing system. This is the safest way to sort huge amounts of files and never overwrite one. It also is the simplest way to insure unattended autoconformation between the polyphonic 16bit bounced files sent to the editor, and the original monophonic 24bit files going to Pyramix or Pro-tools (through Titan3). The FileTag of the file name is generated by Cantar itself, do not try to impose anything else and remember that it must remain untouched all the way through to the final mix.The Sc&Tk IDs are stored within each audio file, they are later extracted during the bounce to stereo tracks, and inserted in the filenames for the editor to read themdirectly. In the Backup chapter you will find how Cantar constructs these long file names.

TimecodeSystem Time SetupThe system ‘Day and Time’ setup is of primary importance to Cantar file management. It must be checked for coherence (±5 minutes) with the time-zone you are working in. Think about this when you get off a six-hour flight! The day and time show on the message panel when the main selector is on STOP.To change system ‘Day and Time’, go to TECHNICAL (1 o’clock) and jog to “System Day” or “System Time”, and press OK. The double triangle points to the modifiable element. Using the jog, adjust that element to the desired value, then press a horizontal arrow button to move on to the next adjustable item. Press OK to validate.

Waiting for a TC ReferenceWhen starting Cantar up you will no doubt notice a blinking “intc” or “extc”. This means that Cantar is waiting for a reference timecode to stamp the audio files either from its 1ppm accurate Internal Clock (intc or incl) working as a master or from a permanently linked External Clock (extc or excl) such as a video camera, Cantar is then in slaved mode. The choice between “intc” or “extc” made in AUDIO SETUP, is explained next page. The factory default is “intc” (internal clock). In an urgent situation press [Shift] then [jamTC] for more than two seconds: the internal system day & time will be used to load the internal timecode reference clock, Sys becomes Stc.

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2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 9

Internal Clock (master mode)Cantar itself generates the production timecode to be stamped in the audio files with its 1ppm clock (driven by a very accurate temperature compensated crystal oscillator). This clock can be set in three different ways: .* ASCII, by an OriginC. When shooting with cameras* recording TOD (time of day) on the film, and free-run TC on the tape, the internal reference clock is set by an ASCII message from an Aaton OriginC. * LTC Jam, by an Smpte generator (recorder, camera, etc.). Pressing [Jam TC] for more than two seconds the LTC timecode entering the Lemo-5 sets the internal reference clock. ‘Jtc’ shows. If at jamming there is no LTC on the socket, the message panel shows ‘failed’ and the ‘intc’ icon blinks.* SysTC, by the Cantar CPU system time permanently generated by a relatively accurate time keeper. Pressing [Shift + JamTC] for more than two seconds transfers the system time to the 1ppm clock. ‘Stc’ shows.

The TimeCode being set, the blinking stops and leaves a stable ‘intc’ icon. The time displayed in the message window is preceded by Atc (Ascii OriginC), Jtc (Jammed by LTC ) or Stc (System CPU time).The internal reference TC is available for the entire session until you shut Cantar power down. do not power down Cantar without a reason during the day, the internal reference timecode (1ppm) would be lost! In STOP position, the disk goes iddle after one to N minute (N is programmable), and the power consumption becomes a mere 270mA. When repowering Cantar the ‘Intc’ icon blinks again, you must reinitialize the reference clock, don’t forget to reinitialize all the equipments which were carrying the same TC as your Cantar.

External Clock (slaved to a Video-Camera)Through the Lemo5 or subD-15, Cantar may be hooked up to a permanent LTC generator such as a video camera in record-run mode. While in TEST, the time displayed in the message panel is preceded by ‘Extc’ if there is an active external timecode.Knowing that the audio recorder usually starts recording before the camera starts shooting and sending a correct timecode, Cantar doesn’t use the time received when triggering RECORD; it monitors the incoming LTC, and waits until a stable coherent timecode appears to take it into consideration. Don’t worry if the Extc acknowledge doesn’t show up instantly.At the end of the take, before closing the file, Cantar stamps the file TC using the latest valid timecode so as to eliminate spurious transmission errors and false camera starts.

LTC-out generated from a fileWhen playing back a recorded file, the timecode of this file is sent to the Lemo-5 regardless of the frame rate Cantar is currently set to. If you switch to record, the output TC folds back to the current setup frame rate..

*Film camera with Aaton or Arri time recording coder, or video camera genlocked to an Aaton GMT-1 or an Ambient TC/Trilevel generator.

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 10

Recording Prep

Connecting inputsCantar can mix fifteen inputs: 5 microphones:1, 2 and 5 on XLR3s, 3 and 4 on an XLR5; 4 lines: 1 and 2 share an XLR5, as do 3 and 4; 6 AES: 110 ohm SubD25 (see pin-out page 23). Cantar can also route the 8 AES inputs to the eight tracks, and as of version 1.05 directly route the AES 7&8 inputs to tracks 7&8 (see Audio Setup/AES Power).

Dynamic or Phantom micsCantar’s default setting is activated Phantom-48 on all mic inputs. To use a dynamic microphone you must switch the 48V supply off (the preamp gain is boosted by 12dB).To toggle from phantom to dynamic, turn the main selector to TEST (10 o’clock). Push the Shift key (blue button) and the right-hand button situated just below the mic fader. When the phantom power is deactivated, the small triangle disappears from below the mic number on the rightmost modulometer.

LimiterThe limiters increase the dynamic range before clipping occurs by applying a reduced gain once -8dB is reached. Push the left button of the pair below each mic fader to toggle limiter/no limiter. A triangle (dis)appears below the mic number on the leftmost display.

High-pass Filter and attenuatorThe default setting is ‘linear’ on all mic inputs. To select a corner frequency/slope couple as seen in the message panel [60Hz/-6dB to 180Hz/-12dB, LFA, and -10dB which converts a mic input into a line-input], press the right button of the pair and rotate the jog. This button is also be used to listen to that mic only (solo mic).

Mic CouplingThe 1&2 and 3&4 mic inputs can be paired by pressing the Control key (blue button) and the button located between the mic faders. Phantom, limiter and high-pass filter are applied to both inputs. The left fader becomes the master of the pair, the right fader the ±12dB balance.Coupling 1, 2, 3, 4, makes fader one become the master.

Solo checkingTo check inputs independently, put the main selector on TEST (10 o’clock) and the Monitoring crown on ‘1’. ‘So’ is displayed on the central display, browse the inputs using the Config. crown: Mic, Line, and Digi (Digi is accessible if it is powered, see Audio Setup/AES Power). Solo levels are monitored on the rightmost modulometer. When accessed from the Solo list (MX), the mixer is stereo monitored on modulometer tracks 5 & 6.

The Solo-Mix-Pan selector being in its ‘bottom’ position, the six digi-mixer top buttons become Track Solos. Maintening pressure on a button and pressing another one makes the first go to the left ear, and the second go to the right ear.

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 11

Routing Inputs to Tracks

Since Cantar doesn’t occupy disk space on unused tracks, do not hesitate to put your stereo pair on tracks 5&6 while the boom is on track 1 and the RF mic mix on track 2: this will leave tracks 3 & 4 unoccupied and not waste space.Routing is performed by linking any input – line, mic or digital AES – to any track. Each circular display is in charge of the two tracks engraved at its top left, i.e. 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6.

In TEST, PPR, and RECORD you can at any time check the routing setup by pressing the routing button top left of the front panel. In TEST and PPR this button allows you to select another routing scheme with the configuration crown. Fifteen factory default configurations are available (see TECHNICAL/Factory Set page 17) and can be replaced by ‘user-defined’ configurations.

To create or modify a routing configuration, rotate the main selector to ROUTING (5 o’clock). The last configuration in use is displayed. With the configuration crown, select the configuration you want to modify: a blinking cursor awaits your orders near the star icon of the leftmost circular

display. To erase an existing configuration, press the main selector red button, and keeping it pressed down, jog through the tracks. It’s easier to create a new configuration from scratch.Example: to route mic 1 to track 1, jog the blinking cursor to number 1 of the mic segment (jogging five positions up). To validate, press the main selector black button. If you now want to route mic 3 to track 5 and mic 4 to track 6, jog the cursor round through tracks 2, 3, and 4 until you land on track 5 (odd tracks are on the outer circle of pixels, even tracks on the inner circle). Go to the pixel opposite mic 3 and validate (black button).

MS declarationIf two tracks, say 5 & 6, carry the MS pair sounds entered on Mic Inputs 3&4, you must activate the MS icon (lower left of the pixel circle). The filenames of these tracks will carry an hyphen instead of an underscore. This allows Cantar and Aaton InDaw to automatically decode the MS tracks into AB stereo.

Routing mic1 to track 1, mics 3&4 to tracks 5&6 (MS declared)

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 12

PPR Pre&Post Record (11 o’clock)

Pre-Record activationAs soon as the main selector is on PPR, the •REC icon blinks under the detected disk(s). This disk icon central platter disappears as soon as the pre-record buffer reaches its AudioSetup programmed lenght (from 1 to 35sec @48kHz).

Key Scene & Take before ‘Record’The Cantar Scene & Take template goes like this : Sequence = 3 figures + a b c d e, r t and space.Scene = 2 figures + a b c d e, r t and spaceTaketype = ‘w’ for wild take, ‘p’ for pick-up, ‘s’ for sync sound (default)Take# = 2 figures.The Taketype entry is made by scrolling w>p>s with the main switch red button.Using the horizontal arrows, move along the IDs and increment them with the jog. Press OK to store, press again to exit. The Seq/Scn of the preceding file is maintained and the Take # is incremented by one. Modifying the Seq/Scn IDs makes the Take# fold back to 1. The message panel shows the filename of the ‘NEXT’ recording.To use another Scene & Take template, select it in ‘AudioSetup’ pos. 9.

Edit Sc & Tk, right after ‘Record’ Once the recording is done, move the main selector back to PPR. The Scene & Take IDs and the filename of the future recording show. When pressing [Shift+ main selector central button] the message panel displays ‘Edit’ plus the filename and the Sc&Tk IDs of the just recorded file. Press OK and use arrows and Jog as explained in the preceding paragraph. Press OK to confirm, then [Shift+ central button] to close the Edit menu.

Create new file, uninterrupted audioTo partition a long continuous recording over several shorter files, make a quick back and forth from ‘RECORD’ to ‘PPR’, a new file is created, it carries the same Seq&Scn IDs but Tk+1. Pre-Record insures slight overlaps.

Edit Sc & Tk, later Scene & Take IDs can be later modified by selecting the desired file in BROWSE (7 o’clock), and then going to the PPR position (same Editing operation as above).

Erase last recorded file If the file you’ve just recorded has some kind of defect, or is a false start, you might want to get rid of it entirely. [Control + main selector central button] opens the Edit. Click on the right arrow or jog to get ‘Erase’ . Press OK. Jog the “No” into “Yes careful”, press OK. The file is deleted. NB : To protect previous files from manipulation errors, only the last recorded file can be deleted. The latest main selector position must have been RECORD, and the power supply must not have been switched off. Cantar refuses to erase a file but the latest recorded, the only way to erase a file is to connect a PC to the Cantar internal hard drive. ‘File’ means a ‘file group’ sharing the same Filetag, e.g. CD2234 represents files from CD2234_1 to CD2234_8..To erase and format a complete disk, see the Back-Up chapter.

Erase fileNo

EDIT EA0181

Erase fileYes Careful

EDIT EA0181

032a/12Bw14

EDIT EA0181

Seq Sc Tk124a/12R s14

NEXT EA0180

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 13

Monitoring 6 o’clock

Output GridsThe six tracks, mic, line and digital inputs can be routed to the headphones. Seventeen (A to Q) user configured headphone grids can be stored.

The six tracks and all inputs can be routed to the Line-out, Foldback, and AES-7&8 outputs; nine (R to Z) user configured grids can be stored.

Two other factory grids are available: MX which monitors the six fader mixer ‘live’ output, and T7:8 which monitors the physically recorded 7 and 8 tracks. Note that selecting the Solos, MX and T7:8 monitoring grids makes the signal level appear on the rightmost modulometer.

Check an Output gridTo control the current monitoring grid in TEST or RECORD, press the main selector central button; as long as it is held down the circular displays representing the left ear, both ears (center), and right ear provide the operator a quick overview of the output grids without affecting the ongoing work.

Create an Output gridPut the main selector on MONITORING. Let’s create the headphone ‘hA’ grid in which tracks1 & 2 are sent to the center, track 3 to the right ear and track 4 to the left ear. Put the monitoring crown in pos. 2, [Ph] shows. Rotate the config. crown to get [hA] on the rightmost display. The blinking selection cursor is near the star of the leftmost display. Jog the cursor to the ‘track1’ box of the center display, and press the main selector black button to enter (red to erase); repeat the operation for ‘track2’ next to it, then ‘track3’ on the rightmost display, then ‘track4’ on the leftmost display.

Headphone levelThe headphone fader attenuation appears in the message panel whenever you modify the headphone control fader. This is the number which momentarily appears at power on.

Line-out and Foldback levelRotate the main selector to AUDIO. Jog to Line-out or Foldback, adjust the attenuation from 0 to -94dB and mute. Note that the track modulometer being at 0dB FS, the line-out delivers a +8dBu signal; this means that a -18dB FS reference tone deliver a -10dBu output. This is 10dB lower than the common practice.

AES-outThe stereo digital out is sent to the AES-7 and AES-8 outputs. They are used as a stereo output to a video camera with built-in AES inputs or equipped with the miniature Aaton AES-to-Analog converter. To get the mix-down on AES 7&8, select Do = MX.In ‘Test’ & ’Record’, the AES 1 to 6 deliver the signal sent to tracks 1 to 6. Called Dig-Out, the AES 7 & 8 deliver stereo signals like the Phone, Line-Out and Foldback outputs. In the «direct to disk 8 AES-in» the AES 7&8-out are mirroring the 7&8 inputs.

tracks 1 and 2 are sent to both ears, track 4 to the left, track 3 to the right ear

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 14

Factory preset grids The configurations below are delivered as factory defaults. They can be user modified.The Solo-Mix-Pan selector being in its ‘bottom’ position, the six buttons become Track Solos. Maintening pressure on a button and pressing another one makes the first go to the left ear, and the second go to the right ear.

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2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 15

5+1 surround

The microphone sideUse a Schoeps double MS “l-c-r-sl-sr” head. It is made of two cardioid and one ‘figure of height’ microphones internally connected to an XLR-7 socket (with Cantar the Schoeps decoding accessory is no longer necessary). Schoeps delivers an XLR-7 extension cable to which a home made “XLR-7 female to XLR-5 male plus XLR-3 male” Y-cable should be connected. * XLR-7: 1= gnd, 2=+Mfront, 3=–Mfront, 4=+Sfront, 5=–Sfront, 6=+Mrear, 7=–Mfront.* XLR-5 Mfront (yellow), Sfront (red): 1=gnd, 2=+M front, 3=–M front, 4=+S front, 5=–S front.* XLR-3 Mrear (grey): 1=gnd, 2=+M rear, 3=–M rear.

The Cantar side* The XLR-5 goes to the 3/4 mic inputs. Routed to tracks 3 and 4 which should be MS declared, the output is automatically left/right decoded for monitoring. The track 3 & 4 digi-faders being at 100%, the front stereo is heard. * The XLR-3 goes to the 5 mic-input and routed to track 5; the pan pot of this track should be put in central position (mono listening). The track 3 digi-fader being at 0% and the digi-fader 5 at 100%, the monitoring output becomes the sum of the S figure of eight mic on track 4 (a+ a–) and the M rear mic on track 5, the rear stereo is heard. It is thus easy to alternately listen to the front or rear MS; or both with a 5+1 double capsule headphone.

The Final Mix sideRemains to convert the Cantar recorded three tracks into the standard five track system. Export the Cantar files into a Pyramix, since the files are monophonic bwf the Pyramix multifilefixer first makes a 3 track media (hint: first modify the Cantar track 5 underscore into an hyphen, e.g. **0021_5.wav becomes **0021-5.wav).Launch Pyramix and make two MS strips, one for the front, one for the rear : lay down the 3 Track media on the MS tracks (the Pyramix CW (center width ), copy track 2 (S front) onto track 4 which becomes track S rear also. Reinject the M front onto the surround of the MS front (on top of that you can also make an extraction for the ‘sub’), here is your 5+1 sound.

Exprimented at NSM Switzerland by Francois Musy and Gabriel Hafner.

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 16

MixDown

MixDown activationMost image editors don’t want to work with multitrack sounds; they prefer a single stereo mixdown. It is wise to activate the mixdown recording to tracks 7 & 8 while recording multi tracks, since at the end of the shooting day it is quicker to burn the mixdown on the CD to be delivered to the post facility for telecine transfer and dailies syncing.Go to AUDIO SETUP (4 o’clock), jog to “Mixdown” and activate ‘On’. The “mix” letters appear to the right of the track 7 and 8 boxes. Panning the TracksPut the SMP* three position selector, –left of the mixer panel– in its ‘up’ position. Each track can be sent to the left and right mixdown tracks T7:8. Press the pan pot button –top of the linear fader panel– of the track to be redirected and jog the pan-pot marker to the left or the right of circular track display. You can pan from complete left to complete right, plus all positions in between. The center position provides mono monitoring. The value in dB of what is left for the other side shows on the message panel.When a track pair is declared ‘MS’ the pan becomes unavailable since these tracks are automatically decoded for stereo monitoring.

*The SMP ‘bottom’ position makes the buttons become Track Solo Monitoring actuators; maintening pressure and then pressing another one makes the first go to the left ear and the second to the right ear.

Mixdown Track Levels Once you have determined what track goes on which side/track of the mixdown (left on track 7, right on track 8), you can adjust the level of each track’s contribution, using the sliding faders. This can be done in TEST or RECORD.

Listening to the mixdownPut the output crown on headphone (pos. 2). Select ‘Ph = MX’. Adjust the mixing level of each track with the sliding faders. You are still free to check other monitoring grids while the mixdown takes place.

track 1 2 3 4 5 6 left to right progressive panning into the mixdown

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2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 17

Recording Controls

Physical ParametersIn RECORDING mode, a red LED lights up in the message panel, and a [•REC] icon shows under the active disk drive. The internal-disk icon appears on the leftmost circular display, the external-disk icon appears on the central display and the CD/DVD burner appears on the rightmost display.

The message panel middle and bottom lines show the clock reference (Atc, Ltc, Stc, Etc), the timecode attached to the file, the filename root and the duration of the recording. The message panel top line alternately shows three messsages: • battery voltage of both batteries,• remaining disk free space in Megabytes, Gigabytes and Terabytes.• available recording time under the current settings (depending on the number of tracks, sample rate, etc.),

Tone generatorIn RECORD as in TEST, the [Shift+ Red button] triggers a 1Khz -20dB tone, which shows up on the active modulometer tracks. Two levels can be selected in the TECHNICAL menu: –18dB and –20dB.

ModulometersIn RECORD as in TEST, the signal actually sent to a track activates its correlated modulometer. The modulometer ‘pitch’ is 1dB in the work zone, e.g. from -35 to -12dB. The ballistics is the same as that of a needle modulometer, the decay time can be adjusted in the TECHNICAL menu from 1 (fast) to 5 (slow), default is 3. The peakmeter is always on.

LimitersWhen the limiter does kick in (–8dB), the on-off limiter triangle of the relevant microphone starts blinking.In 24bit recording mode it is common practice to adjust the input gain so that a ‘normal’ signal does not go over the –20dB level. When the limiter is activated, the 32dB head-room above the –8dB kick-in point gives 24dB above the ‘no-limiter’ full scale. Thus the operator can count on a 44dB reserve over the ‘normal’ –20dB level.If the signal does reach the zero dB level, a CLIP icon appears at the end of the modulometer scale.

Inputs surveillance When several inputs are routed to the same track, the routing configuration can be checked – even in RECORD – by pressing the ‘routing’ button top left of the front panel. It is then easy to monitor the relevant inputs by going to ‘SOLO’ (position 1 of the MonitoringCrown).

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alternate top lines

Red LED

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 18

Playing files 8 o’clock

Files of the dayPut the main selector on PLAY: the last recorded file starts playing. The message panel shows the play/stop status, the jog entered in-point, the percentage already played, the current timecode, the filename and the elapsed time from start of file.

Use the horizontal arrows on the swivelling front panel to browse all the files recorded within the last working day. Once selected, the file is immediately played; to stop, push the main selector central button; another push, the file plays from the beginning. To make a pause, i.e. to continue from where you left off, you must lay down an in-point. Read on!

Flagging in-points This can be done even when a file is playing (and of course on stop). For instance, if you stopped playing the file at 00:30, rotate the jog to put an in-point at 00:29 then push the main selector central button to start playing at 00:29.

Note-1: to x60 accelerate the seeking speed, press the [Shift] key while rotating the jog wheel, each tick makes for a one minute instead of one second jump.Note-2: only one in-point can be entered. Placed before or after the first one, the new in-point replaces the former one; it is not stored in the file metadata. A future software version will allow for storing in-point and out-point flags.

Browsing the Project FilesPut the main selector on BROWSE (7 o’clock): by default Cantar opens the current work day. To browse other days, press the OK button to go down to the last line of the display and use the jog or arrows. Validate with OK; the cursor in the message panel goes back to the middle line; with the jog, toggle to ‘file’ and press OK. The last file of the selected day is displayed on the bottom line; browse the files of that day with the jog or arrows, press OK to select a file. You can now go to PLAY (8 o’clock) to play the file or go to PPR (11 o’clock) to edit its Scene & Take ID.

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inpoint

file name

status

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 19

Audio Setup (4 o’clock)

How to set a Parameter In the message panel the parameter descriptor is in the center line. To select a parameter, use the jog or the horizontal arrow buttons. When pressing the OK button, the cursor goes down to the bottom line showing the value of the parameter. Using the jog or the horizontal arrows, select the desired parameter value. Press OK to validate; a small ‘ok’ briefly appears at the bottom right to confirm the validation; the triangular cursor moves back up to the center line so as to allow the selection of another parameter.

Audio Parameter List

Sample Rate from 47952 up to 96096ks/s, defaults to 48000ks/s.

Bit Depth 16 or 24, defaults to 24 Bit.

Tone Generator -20dB, -18dB, Off. 1kHz tone on all activated tracks and ‘audio out’.

Line-out Level from 0 dB to -94 dB or Mute.XLR-5, two channel symmetrical output.

Foldback-out Level from 0 dB to -94 dB, and Mute.3.5mm stereo jack, two channel asymmetrical outputs.

TC Source Internal (Cantar 1ppm TCXO) or External (Video camera). defaults to Internal.

Ltc Rate from 23.98 to 30.00 Fps, Drop-Frame (DF) or Non Drop Frame (ND).

Ltc-out Generator On or Off. Defaults to Off

Scene & take Template two templates are available:* Sequence(999A) / Scene (99Z) and take x99 where x=w (wild sounds), x=p (pick-ups). These entries end up as 234A;12r w12 where (;) is a neutral separator, (+) is a OK separator, and (-) is a NG separator.* 7 char. and 3 char separated by a blank space.

T7-T8 attribution Off (unused), 6to2 MixDown, AES-in 7&8, Line-in 3&4.

AES Power On or Off, defaults to Off. The AES circuits consumption is 110mA at 48Ks/s and 200mA at 96Ks/s, It is wise to put them Off if the AES in/out are unused. As soon as an AES input is routed to a track, the display starts flashing as a reminder for the operator to switch the AES power on.

Pre-Record from 0 to 35 seconds @48kHz (17seconds @96kHz),defaults to 3 sec.

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2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 20

Technical menu (1 o’clock)

How to set a Parameter In the message panel the parameter descriptor is in the center line. To select a parameter, use the jog or the horizontal arrow buttons. When pressing the OK button, the cursor goes down to the bottom line showing the value of the parameter. Using the jog or the horizontal arrows, select the desired parameter value. Press OK to validate; a small ‘ok’ briefly appears at the bottom right to confirm the validation; the triangular cursor moves back up to the center line so as to allow the selection of another parameter.

System Parameters

Warning Tone On/Off. Audible ‘heads-up’ of the error messages or warnings displayed on the message panel.

Modulometer mode 1 (fast decay) to 5 (slow decay), default is 3.

Battery Alert from 10.5v to 12.5v. Minimum value is 10.5v. This does not control the battery emergency switch over.

System Time used to stamp files. Enter a time close to the time of your watch (say ±5 minutes), especially if you recently went through different time zones.

System Day used to organize the audio folders. Sounds are filed within folders named after the system day, changing the system day may create new and empty folders.

Hard-Drive Power Down saves battery power. The user can set the hard-drive power down based on how long it has been idle in STOP position. From 1 to 255mn. The hard-drive accounts for nearly half of Cantar’s power consumption, so it’s good to put it in sleep mode (the disk icon starts blinking). To spin the disk back up, go to TEST mode, the disk icon stops blinking after three to five seconds.

Palm/PC Port activates either the DB15 (RS232) or the BlueTooth port.

Factory Settings user’s technical parameters as well as routing and monitoring settings are erased and reset to factory defaults.

Unmount HDD puts the internal hard-drive out of Cantar control but keeps it powered (see next page).

Equipment ID the Cantar serial number is stored in the metadata of the sound files. It cannot be modified.

Software Version shows the current and stored software versions.

Software Loading the latest software version is permanently available on the cantar-users site, installing it is a quick and simple operation (see next page).

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 21

Loading a new software version (Technical)

• First download the ‘latest software version: 1.xx’ from http://sound.aaton.comand put it on your Mac/PC desktop.

• Verify Cantar is shut down and link your computer to the Cantar Firewire port using a 6p-6p cable. The Cantar internal disk automatically shows on your PC/Mac desktop. (If your PC is four pin Firewire socket equipped only, it can’t power the Cantar internal disk, see ‘Unmount HDD’ below).

• Copy the can_1xx.flb file to the root – highest level– of the Cantar hard disk.• Dump the disk icon out of your computer desktop, and disconnect the Firewire cable.

• Plug two on board batteries to be 100% sure there is no power interruption during the following operations:

• Start Cantar up, simultaneously pressing the two battery buttons.• Rotate the main switch to TECHNICAL -->Software Load, -->enter ‘Yes’. • If several versions are present on the Cantar disk, choose the latest and press OK. Note that you can revert to a former version by the same process.

• This is a four minute operation. All Cantar controls are out of commission while the new software is being loaded. Do not touch anything until you read ‘SUCCESS’.

• Shut Cantar down by pressing the [Shift] blue button.• Rotate the main switch to ‘STOP’’• Start Cantar up.• You can go to ‘Software Version’ to check that the new version has been installed.

Note: if you prefer to perform this software loading from an external Firewire connected disk, you could plug it into your laptop and copy the ‘can_1xx.flb’ file to the root of that external disk. Unplug the disk from the laptop and hook it up to the Cantar Firewire port; during ‘Sftwr Load’, Cantar will check the external disk first. Please follow the instructions above.

Unmount HDD (Technical)

This operation puts the Cantar internal hard-drive out of the processor control but keep it powered. This allows a PC laptop with a narrow Firewire connector (four point to six point cable) to see the disk even though it can’t power it. The Cantar disk is seen by the laptop as a standard external disk. Once the HDD is unmounted, leave the selector in the ‘Technical’ position.

To remount a disk which has been unmounted because of a Firewire 4 to 6 point connection, you must first dump the disk icon out of the computer desktop, then rotate the Cantar main switch to any other position than ‘Technical’.

Note: If the Firewire link to an external computer is a 6 to 6 point cable, it is easier and simpler to simply leave Cantar in complete powerdown and not to unmount its HDD.

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 22

Backups & Copies (2 o’clock)

Disk FormattingCantar carries IEE1394 LaCie 40 or 60GB disks. For the external disks on which to save your files, preferably use LaCie FireWire connected disks, size up to 120GB.When buying a new disk ask your vendor to deliver it FAT32, with one Primary partition (not a Logical partition). Keep a “PartitionMagic” software CDR ($90 at amazon.com) in your accessory case to allow you to erase and (re)format HDDs from any FireWire able wintel PC.A MAC with OS-X can directly reformat a hard drive under FAT32, please go to www.sound.aaton.com to get proper instructions.As soon as a new disk is connected, the latest used project name and working day are recalled from the Cantar flash memory.

Sorting Days and FilesThe following choices must be sequentially made• Period: one day and all days (‘all days’ is locked as it is not yet available)• Systel Day: the date.• Tracks: all tracks, tracks 1 to 6, mixdown tracks only.• Media Type: CD-R, External HDD, DVD-Ram, DVD±R.Send an email to Cantar-Support to get an updated list of tested DVD burners.

• File Names: short (BA1234_1.wav) or with Sc&Tk (BA1234==123A;12Rw14==_1.wav) for direct access to Scene and Take IDs from the editors’ timeline.If you back-up on an external HDD, the file names are forced to ‘short’ since long filenames are not yet supported by Cantar.

HDD Disk copyOnce the copy operation has been launched, it is wise to immediatly position the main selector on STOP. Since the display lights will switch off at the end of the copy, its completion will better show. Note: you can copy the Cantar disk into a Macintosh by connecting the laptop to the unpowered Cantar through a Firewire 6p to 6p cable. With a PC (using a 6p to 4p non powering cable) you must first switch-on Cantar to power its internal disk and unmount the disk from the processor to let your PC drive it (see Unmount Disk, page 22).

CD-R MediasCantar calculates the number of medias needed to perform the backup of the selected files, then composes a different “Media Label” name for each media. For instance

“CD_MXDN_005” means CD media, mixdown tracks only, element of a five media group. When CD-R burning starts, the message panel displays in Megabytes the remaining data to be burnt. Once the burning is completed, the CD-R is ejected.

CD-R Long FilesThe size of the files to be backed up can easily make it impossible to copy all tracks onto a single CD-R; for instance if one track takes 200MB on the hard disk, and you have 6 tracks to back up, you would need a 1.2GB disk. In this type of situation, Cantar breaks the planned backup down into individual tracks in order to minimize the number of CDs to be burned. The labels respect the following syntax : CD_2_D072, where CD is the media type, _2 for track 2, D072 for the last four characters of the filename.

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 23

DVD-RamDVD-RAM drive: LaCie D2 Multidrive, Disc: Panasonic 4.7G DVD-RAM Type II Single Sided Formatted: FAT32 on a PC running Windows 2000 (or Mac OS-X). Placed a blank disc in the drive, right-click on the drive icon (F:) and selected «Format». The Windows format utility asks you to select either UDF 1.5, UDF 2.0, or FAT32. Select FAT32, give the disc a volume label, and click OK. Formatting takes about ten seconds (physical format not selected). After connecting the DVD-RAM drive to the Cantar via the firewire port, power up Cantar. After a few seconds, the center modulometer indicates that an external drive is present by displaying a drive icon.In the Session Setup window, select Int&Ext HD, and rotate the main selector to the PPR position. Cantar set to record 4 tracks of 24-bit/48kHz with mixdown activa-ted for a total of 6 tracks 24/48 going to both drives. Every time you set Cantar to record, you see the disc activity light flashing on the DVD drive. When you stop recording a file, the red LED «record» indicator lightremains on for a few seconds. This correspond to the disc activity light on the DVD-RAM drive itself, since it is still writing data after the Cantar has stopped recording on its internal Hard Drive.Using the jog, scroll through the media labels of the backups to be done. Choose the one you wish to start with, press OK and go to Start Bckp (right arrow); press OK again, switch to YES using the jog and press OK. The backup of the label you specified starts. Once done, go back to Media Labels and choose the next one and so on until everything has been backed up.You can interrupt the process between two disks and return to it later. To simplify your work, don’t forget to write the media label, the date and project name onto the burned CDs as it comes out, so as not to waste time looking for the ones you haven’t done yet!

Session management (3 o’clock)

Current ProjectA new Cantar contains a factory preloaded AACANTAR project on the internal disk. If the disk has been reformatted or emptied by the rental facility, “no project” shows, meaning the disk selected in the HD menu (see below) contains no project folder. If you need to check the name of the current project, go to ‘new project’.

New ProjectThe bottom line of the message panel shows the current project ID. Press OK to create a NEW project. Once its name is entered the usual way, press OK to validate. You must have an internal or external connected hard drive for this operation to take place. See paragraph below.

Internal, External or Both?This let you specify where the files of your current project are to be recorded: on the internal drive only, on the external drive only, on both the internal and external drives simultaneously. Note-1: when listening to recorded files, only the internal drive is playing; to listen to the external drive files, switch to ‘Ext only’ and don’t forget to switch back to Int & Ext afterwards.Note-2: if an external and an internal discs are being used simultaneouly, the message panel displays the available space value of the disc offering the smallest amount of remaining free space.

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 24

SubD-15

18

15 9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

GND VIDEO IN LTC OUT WORD CLK RESERVED RESERVED RX TX

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

12V/250mA max out LTC IN RUN RESERVED RESERVED GND GND

Remote & Sync

1

2

34

LEMO 55

XLR 4 1

23

4

1 2 3 4GND NC NC POWER +

12V power

1 2 3 4 5GND LTC IN ASCII NC LTC OUT

Time code in/out

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Connectors

Remote, V-Sync, Power, TCSubD15, XLR4, Lemo-5

2004 Feb 26Cantar v1.13 p. 25

Audio in/outAnalog: XLR-3, XLR-5, Headphone: 1/4” jack. Foldback: 3.5mm mini-jack.Digital AES: 110 Ohm SubD-25

XLR 5 1

234

5

1 2 3 4 5

GND

Channel 1 Channel 2HOT + GND HOT + GND

Line inputs

XLR 3 1 2

3

1 2 3GND HOT + COLD -

Mic inputs 1, 2, and 5

XLR 5 1

234

5

1 2 3 4 5

GND HOT + COLD - HOT + COLD -

Line outputs

Channel 1 = left Channel 2 = right

XLR 5 1

234

5

1 2 3 4 5

GND HOT + COLD - HOT + COLD -

Mic inputs 3 and 4

Channel 1 = left or M Channel 2 = right or S

SubD-2513 1

1425

(open 13)

CHANNEL PAIR HOT + COLD - GND CHANNEL PAIR HOT + COLD - GND

1-2 24 12 25 1-2 18 6 19

3-4 10 23 11 3-4 4 17 5

5-6 21 9 22 5-6 15 3 16

7-8 7 20 8 7-8 1 14 2

AES inputs

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AES outputs

mic

mic

line-in

line-out

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