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Glossary 99
MD8—Owner’s Manual
Glossary
ATRAC—An acronym for Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding. This is the compression
technique used to fit the same amount of data as that of a 120 mm CD on a 64 mm MiniDisc.
Using the ATRAC system, the MD8 provides an 8-track recording time of 18 minutes.
ATRAC uses established psychoacoustic principles to compress audio data to approximately
one-fifth of its original size, with virtually no loss in sound quality. The threshold of hearing
principle states that the sensitivity of the human ear is frequency dependent. Two tones of
the same level but at different frequencies will not be heard at the same loudness. Another
principle used is the masking effect. That is, softer sounds become inaudible when louder
sounds at similar frequencies are present.
Bouncing—See Ping-Pong.
Bus—A common conductor used to collect and distribute audio signals. The MD8 has four
Group buses that feed the tracks, a Stereo bus consisting of left and right channels, an AUX
bus for the AUX SEND, and a CUE bus for the cue monitor.
Clipping—The unwanted distortion effect of overloading an audio circuit with a signal that
is too large. Care must be taken when setting the MD8 GAIN controls so as not to overload
the recording circuits. See Recording the First Track on page 17 for more information.
Confidence monitoring—Monitoring directly from a recording medium to make sure
that program material is being recorded correctly. On an analog tape recorder, signals are
picked up by the playback head immediately after being recorded to tape by the record head.
This allows for confidence monitoring. It is not possible on a tape recorder with combined
record and play heads. A DAT deck must have 4 heads (inside one drum) for confidence
monitoring.
Cue—There are two kinds of cue on the MD8: Monitor CUE. and Cue List cue. See Monitor
CUE, and Cue List.
Cue List—The Cue List function allows you to compile a cue list (i.e., a sequence of cues
for playback) using markers. Cues are loaded into memory for continuous, uninterrupted
playback. A new song can be created from the Cue List using the Cue List Copy function.
See Cue List Playback & Copy on page 59 for more information.
DAT—An acronym for Digital Audio Tape. DAT recorders are especially popular in record-
ing studios for recording the final stereo mix.
DI (Direct Inject)—A technique for connecting an electric guitar or bass guitar directly
to a mixer. The high output impedance of the guitar is matched with the low impedance of
the mixer input using a DI Box. Some instrument amplifier’s feature a DI connection.
EQ—An acronym for an audio equalizer. The MD8 input channels feature three-band EQ.
EXE—An abbreviation for Execute. This appears on the MD8’s display when you are
prompted to confirm a function.
Footswitch—A foot operated switch. Several MD8 transport functions and the punch
in/out function can be controlled using an optional footswitch.
Frame—An integral unit of the MD DATA disc format. One frame can hold 11.6 ms of data
(i.e., 512 samples of ATRAC sound data at 44.1 kHz). There are approximately 86 frames in
a second. Using the FrameDisp function you can select between 86 (MD) and 30 (MTC)
frames per second.
Group—A group is a connection of one or several input or track signals to a given track
on the MD8.
Line-Level Signal—A signal in the range from –20 dB to +20 dB. These are essentially
high-level signals. Most audio equipment outputs signals at line level. All MD8 inputs and
outputs support line-level signals. Contrast with Low-Level Signal.