MACKIE HDR2496, Wav Files, Nuendo

[lwstudio]

Right....me and another producer are going to be working together on some projects.

In terms of multitracks, he has a Mackie HDR2496, I have a Nuendo system.

Now, what we want to do is be able to import those mackie files into Nuendo. I know you can do it via ADAT, but is there any other way? Does the mackie use WAV files to record? because i know some other simlar units do. Is there a way of putting that hard drive into my machine and reading the files. I know the SDR2496 has a USB port for file sharing with a PC. is there a simlar thing available?


Any help would be greatfully appreciated.

Romesh

 

[lorenzo gerace]

Hi

I belive the HDR is able to write .BWF (Broadcast Wave Files) that support time stamping, so if you record on a removable HD in the Mackie tray you could later pop it in a removable bay on your PC and load the files into Nuendo. In Pro Tools (I say this because I work with Pro Tools) the time stamping function lets you spot the audio regions exactly where they were recorded so there's no need to align tracks manually: I don't know if this feature is present in Nuendo too, but I'd look for it, it will save you time and headaches.
File transfer via Ethernet or USB is possible, but slower than just pulling an HD out of the Mackie and plugging it in the DAW, of corse you'd have to set a removable bay up on your PC, but it's a 10 minutes operation, and it will come in handy for lots of tasks (like keeping each project on a separate drive and swapping them as needed).

Hope this helps

L.G.

 

[lwstudio]

hi,

thanks for your reply.

one question i have...can i buy a normal IDE hard drive bay for my computer and use that. will the mackie drive just connect to the IDE hard drive connectors? I just want to copy the files from the HDR to the Nuendo hard drive. I dont want to edit off the mackie drive.

I have been told i need this firewire drive thing. can i do it with minimum fuss. If i put the mackie drive into my computer like i would with any other drive, would windows recognise the files?

basically, i need to edit and then send it all back into the hdr.

cheers for your help!

 

[lorenzo gerace]

OK

I just did (some 6 months ago) the thing you describe: I recorded a full 24 track session on a Mackie HDR's external (the one in the external bay) drive, pulled it out and put it back in my PC daw: the HDR formats the drive with its own system, but it's clearly recgnized by Windows, as a standard FAT 32 drive; the only thing you'll have to do is to realign the files, since the HDR splits a continuous file into smaller pieces each 15 (not sure about this lenght) minutes, but the files reassemble flawlessy without the minimal click or digital drop; this only happens if your recordings go over the 15 minutes (mine was a live concert recording so it did).

I heard about the firewire bay, and it sure will work, but if you get 2 standard IDE bays, you could put one in the Mackie, the other in your PC and swap the drive without the need of a firewire dock, I say this because the HDR I worked with was set up this way and the owner (the service company's engineer) used it just like I told you above, drive swapping. It definitely should work since the HDR records on standard IDE drives, so the cables and connectors should also be standard.

The only thing I cannot answer to is the other way around, PC to HDR, since I know the HDR makes a proprietary file that contains all of the infos about the file allocation and position; there's a software update for the HDR that enable it to see and open Pro Tools sessions, but I don't know about Nuendo, maybe you should post this question in the user conference over at the Mackie forum, they are really great and helpful.

Hope this is helpful

L.G.

 

[Axeman32]

I have a Mackie SDR and it is really pretty simple to transport files via USB back and forth providing your DAW can get to the raw .WAV files.

For a PC do the following:
1) On the Mackie go Setup>disk system>USBMS 2) hook up USB to your PC. 3) Wait until the PC recognizes the new hardware. 4) Open windows explorer. The Mackie shows up as an additional local drive. The folder setup is broken out by projects and then track data. 5) Drag and drop the files from Mackie to DAW or visa versa. 5a) Import the new file into the DAW project or 5b) On the mackie you have to place the file into the track edit>place>Audio Files>View>Select a track via track arm button. Place will drop it according to the Broadcast wave location parameters if desired.

One Note the Mackie does not like long file names so you may have to shorten them. Good luck!

 

[FloodStage]

The Mackie HDR and MDR only accept hard discs that are 30 gig or smaller. If you are moving files from the PC to the Mackie, make sure your hard disc isn't too big.

I'm don't know if the SDR shares this limit.

 

[lwstudio]

that's great if i can just pull the drive out of the HDR and into my system.

now can anyone shed some light as to putting stuff back into the HDR? does the HDR stuff show up as wave files?


Romesh

 

[lorenzo gerace]

Just check the post above from Axman32, it says how to do so.

Good Luck

L.G.

 

[AudioKing]

Axman's description will only apply to the SDR. The HDR does not have USB.

Romesh, I pull files off our HDR and into DP3.11 all the time. I do have a Firewire drive bay that accepts the M90-type drives. If you get the HDR-Pro kit from Mackie, it will give you the 1.4 software which will help things quite a bit. The HDR-Pro software will allow you to export your raw HDR files and sessions into ProTools format, so that's an added convenience should you ever need to take your stuff somewhere they're using PT.

For DP3 (and, I'm sure, Nuendo), the best way I've found it to work is to make sure you render your HDR audio files first and transfer those over. If you don't render the tracks, you'll spend hours importing every take and trying to figure out where they go. Much easier to render each track in one complete, separate WAV. Once the audio is rendered into WAVs, it's a simple drag-n-drop into Nuendo.

If you're running Nuendo on a PC, then you could also get an internal RH-58 drive for it an the M90-type drive from your HDR will plug right in.

Have fun! tm

 

[lwstudio]

so, lets do a check here...

hdr uses a normal ide drive which can be read with windows...

i can just plug this drive into my computer as i would with another drive.


is there some render feature then on the HDR? i dont know my way around it, the guy im working with does though.

thank you people!
Romesh