AAton Cantar-X User manual

Brand: AAton

Model: Cantar-X

Type: User manual

Operator Interface

Circular displays 3

Data panel 3

Main selector 4

Push buttons 5

Three-crown-turret 5

Power

Power on/off 6

Battery check 6

Mini/Maxi Voltages 6

Files

Project name 7

Working day 7

File names with Filetags 7

Time

Calendar clock 8

Sync clocks 8

Fps and sampling rates 9

LTC-out generator 9

Test

Connect inputs 10

Dynamic or Phantom 10

Limiter, filters, attenuator 10

Mic Coupling 10

PPR

Pre-record buffer 11

Enter-edit Sc & Tk IDs 11

File shortening 11

Last file erasing 11

Rec.

Disk(s) detection 12

Modulometers 12

Instant solos 12

MixDown 12

Pan-pots 12

Tone generator 12

Slate mic 12

Warning beeps 12

Headphones level 12

Play

Files of the day 13

Play-marks 13

Backward/Forward Scrub 13

LTC-out frame rate 13

Browse

All days 13

All projects 13

Mon-outs

Monitoring banks 14

Check & create grids 14

AES-out 14

Powering AES in-out 14

Route-ins

Create/Modify dispatches 15

MS track declaration 15

Direct to disk AES 15

Audio set

Tone slate 16

AES activation 16

Precord adjust 16

Mic Preamp ganging 16

Line-out, Foldback levels 16

Tech set

Unmount Hdd 17

Calendar reset 17

Software install 18

Session

Project name 19

Hdd internal, external or both 19

Disk formatting 19

Delete a file 19

Push backup

Conversions 20

Short/Long Filenames 20

DVD±R 21

DVD-Ram mirroring 21 new!

Pull backup

Mac/PC through Cantar 21

Mac desktop direct to Hdd 21

Tutorials

Work-Flow 22

Majax & AutoConfo 23

Surround 5+1 24

Routing scheme 24

Connectors

Audio in/out 26

Remote, Power, TC 26

Aaton audio Cantar-X

v.1.29 user-manual

see ‘keep in touch’ on back cover

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.2

Operator Interface

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.3

Ergonomics

The Cantar interface is the easiest to use in the

most difficult environment :

• because the swivelling front panel always presents

the best viewing angle,

• because the largest display surface of all recorders

permanently shows the recording parameters,

• because the ultra large rotary main selector elimi-

nates deep diving in scrolling sub-directories,

• because it gives instant access to all recording and

monitoring configurations, even with gloves on.

Circular displays

They are used in four modes:

1. Modulometers

each display is a two track high precision (1dB)

metering instrument, the rightmost display shows

tracks 5/6 and 7/8. They also show internal disk,

external disk, DVD recorder presence, pre-buffer

memory activity, timeclock and mic preamp status.

2. Route-ins (inputs to tracks)

press the routing button [Route-ins] and the active

inputs appear on the tracks to which they are

routed. Rotating the Configuration crown you get

instant access to the up to fifteen preset ‘Route-ins’.

3. Mon-outs (tracks to outputs)

Press the monitoring button [Mon-outs] and rotate

the configuration crown, up to twenty-six preset

grids are monitored, both visually and in the head-

phones.

Stereo-left outputs show on the left ear circular dis-

play, monos on the central display, and stereo-right

on the right ear display. This is the most intuitive way

ever invented to show a listening grid.

4. Linear pan-pots

Slide the Solo-Mix-Pan switch to ‘Pan’, all the track

pan-pot positions show.

DataPanel

The rectangular DataPanel has two main usages:

in Record and Play it is used to key-in and edit the

scene and take IDs, and navigate in the files.

in Parameter Setting it shows the pathtree of each

parameter •the top line shows the chapter e.g.

TECH •the middle line shows the topic e.g. Bit

Depth, and the bottom line the Parameter value

e.g. 24bit.

Thanks to this lay-out and the twelve position main

selector, there is no dreaded sub-directories nor

scrolling menus!

Operator Interface

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.4

Main Selector

Six operational positions,

•REC •PPR •TEST •STOP •PLAY •BROWSE are

laid in the standard way, easy to actuate even with

gloves on.

Six setting positions,

•MON-OUTS •ROUTE-INS •AUDIO •TECH

•SESSION •BACKUP are the gates to parameter

programming. They show on the message panel line

1, alongwith the selected topic on line 2, and the

parameter value on line 3. No menu diving.

• Mon-outs 6 o’clock page 14

1 Solo grid

2 Phone grid

3 Line-out grid

4 Foldback grid

5 AES-out grid

• Route-ins 5 o’clock page 15

1 Inputs–>Trak

• Audio 4 o’clock page 16

1 Sample rate

2 Bit depth

3 Tone Slate level

4 Line-out level

5 Foldback level

6 TimeClock source

7 Ltc rate (camera)

8 Ltc out generator

9 Sc&Tk templates

10 Track7&8 use

11 AES power activation

12 PreRecord. lenght

13 Balance fader lock

14 Mic fader Linking

• Tech 3 o’clock page 17

1 Unmount Hdd

2 Backlight brightness

3 View Fader dB

4 Rec Beep

5 Clip Beep

6 Beep Level

7 Meter balistics

8 Batt Alert voltage

9 System day

10 Syst. time

11 Hdd power dwn

12 Serial com bluetooth

13 Factory Set

14 Max File Size

15 Low temp. control

16 Equipmt & Sftwr

17 Sftwr Install page 18

• Session 2 o’clock page 19

1 Project name

2 NewProjct

3 Hdd Used

4 FAT32 fmt

5 Delete File

• Backup 1 o’clock page 20

1 Working Day

2 Temporality

3 Tracks

4 Convert

5 Media Type

6 FileNames

7 MediaLabel

8 File to Cpy

9 Check

10 StartBackup

Operator Interface

PPR

REC

SESSION

TEST

TECH

AUDIO

BROWSE

BACKUP

STOP

PLAY

MON.OUTS

ROUTE.INS

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.5

Push-buttons

waterproof and silent.

In the Main Selector

in TEST, PPR, REC

[white] shows monitor-out configurations

[shift•white] PPR: opens/closes Scene edit, REC: puts an

event marker (not activated in v1.29)

[black] sends slate mic to line-out & foldback only

[shift•black] sends slate mic to all tracks

[red] toggles p(PU), w(wild track) t(sync) take des-

criptors (see page 11)

[shift•red] triggers tone generator; tone stays on if

[shift] is released first.

in PLAY

[white] stops. starts the player from the marker

[black] puts a marker on the played position

[shift•black] resets the player to 00

Bottom of the Swivelling Panel

[batt] selects a battery

[eye] displays tracks 7&8 on the 5&6 modulometer

[shift•eye] toggles Sc&Tk/Filetags, Backup order/

label

[jamtc] for more than 2 sec. sets the TCXO clock to

the LTC found on the Lemo-5 or SubD-15

[shift•jamtc] for more than 2 sec. sets the TCXO

clock from the calendar time

[arrows] In play, next file of the day. In settings, next

topic or parameter. In routing, next input

[shift•ok] continuous playback to next file

Left of the Linear Faders

[SMPup•o] SoloMixPan slider up, track solo

[SMPdwn•o] SoloMixPan slider down, jog controlled

pan-pot

Close to each Rotary Fader

[1] limiter on/off

[shift•1] phase invert

[2] mic solo, filter and balance access

[shift•2] phantom activation

[shift•3] 1+2 and 3+4 mic coupling

Three-crown turret

In sound recording operation the large all weather

crowns are constantly used to check and select the

various monitor-outs and route-ins configurations

with one hand only.

Monitoring crown

[1] Solo: the 5Mic, 4Line-in, 6AES inputs, and active

tracks are sent to the phones.

[2] Phones: the mixer output, the 7-8 tracks, the

A to Q configs are sent to the phones.

[3] Line-out

[4] Foldback

[5] Digi-out: the mixer output , the 7-8 tracks and

the output devoted R to Z configs are selectively

sent to these outputs.

Note: while configuring an ‘out’, the phones receive

the same signal audio signal.

Config crown

• In REC. pressing the monitor-outs button shows

the listening pattern on the three circular screens

which become ‘left-middle-right’ displays. Since this

doesn’t affect the recording, you can on-the-fly lis-

ten to and select another listening pattern with the

config crown.

• In REC. pressing the route-ins button shows the

routing configuration in use.

Note: for error protection the routing can’t be modi-

fied in REC. but switching to PPR during a recording

(up to 35 sec), allows you to select another routing

and go back to REC. not losing a sample of sound!

• In TEST and PPR the config crown browses the

fifteen “input to track” routings and activates the

latest one.

Jog crown

The ‘one finger’ jog is used to move the cursor in

the message panel, edit Scene & Take IDs, select high

pass filters, modulate the backlight, control the pan-

pots, and scrub the player.

Note: [Shift + Jog] 10x accelerates the jog effect).

Operator Interface

Monitoring crown

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.6

Start Stop

(9 o’clock)

To start Cantar up, main selec-

tor on STOP, press either

the front panel [batt-1] or

[batt-2] button 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 cur-

rently routed tracks. At startup, the message panel

shows batt-1 and batt-2 voltage, plus the system day

and hour.

To shut Cantar down, put the main selector on STOP,

maintain pressure on the [Shift] fat blue key then

[batt], ‘Goodbye’ shows.

Important notice: when in STOP the internal Hdd

sleep mode makes the current drain be a mere

270mA. To keep the high stability internal sync-clock

reference, do not switch off Cantar during the wor-

king day. The sleep mode activation can start one

second after STOP, see TECH chapter.

The twin battery safety

The low power high efficiency circuits used in Cantar

offer the longest working time of all portable multi-

track digital audio recorders.

With a single set of on-board NiMH batteries, the 15

hour Cantar outperforms all other portable digital

recorders.

The day Aaton Li-Ion batteries are available (March

2005) the 22 hour Cantar will approach the prover-

bial Nagra-4 endurance.

And with the twin battery system you will never be

taken by surprise.

Working on a cart from a cable connected mains

powered or heavy duty supply, ALWAYS leave one

battery onboard and activate both supply inputs.

The onboard battery will buffer the possible mains

power voltage drops or cable bad contacts; fur-

thermore, Cantar on STOP, moving the cart and

unplugging the power cable, it will run the TCXO

sync clock for hours.

Minimum voltage

An auto switch-over is done 300mV below the

operator’s set ‘Low Batt’ warning. It allows the

use of either 12.5V NiMH (10.8V warn ing, 10.5V

switch-over) or 14.4V Li-Ion (12.7 warning, 12.4V

switch-over).

A two beep alarm tone is heard and the display

shows ‘left/right bat low’. As soon as the power vol-

tage drops under10V, i.e. too low to run the recor-

der, both input are put on-duty.

If during a recording you must change a battery,

press the two buttons to activate them both before

you remove the depleted battery, this is a good

safety measure in case you would unplugg the wrong

one...

Maximum voltage

16.6V is the absolute maximum voltage to be applied

to all Cantar power sockets. This rule applies to the

firewire input socket as well.

Never connect a G3 G4 G5 MacIntosh desktop

which delivers 30V onto its firewire output to the

Cantar firewire socket. See Pull Backup chapter.

Battery check

In TEST the battery voltage is displayed every 10

seconds. This voltage also appears in all positions of

the main selector whenever you momentarily press

the batt-1 or batt-2 buttons; pressing longer on one

of these buttons forces the on-duty battery.

Power

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.7

An error free system

When 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’. Once created, a ‘project name’ regroups all

data related to it, such as the days of recording, the

tracks and the disks used... the project name is stored

in each audio file, there is no risk for a file to be lost

in a maze of terabytes.

Contrary to other machines the Cantar file sorting

system doesn’t rely upon disk partitions. Made of

Project, Working Day and Filetags, it allows for intui-

tive and safe retrieving of the audio files along the

post-prod chain. It is not operator-error prone.

1. Project

To give a new project a name (eight letters and/or

numbers), switch the main selector to SESSION (2

o’clock). Rotate 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

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 the project directory you would

have created in the mean time.

2. Working Day (see time next page)

The ‘working day’ is not related to the actual ‘time-of-

day’ tracked by syncing clocks; it is an interpretation

of the ‘human’ day. See time next page.

3. File Name (see tutorials also)

Made of filetag + take descriptor + status,

the Cantar file names instantly show the main para-

meters attached to a take.:

ST1254==123a;14R_12==PX.wav

• auto-filetag

the never twice the same auto-filetag ST1254 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 autoconfor-

mation between the polyphonic 16bit bounced files

sent to the editor, and the original monophonic 24bit

files going to Pyramix or Protools (through Titan3).

The auto-filetag, generated by Cantar itself, carries

two letters and six figures, it differentiates 6.7 million

takes... a location sound mixer lifetime!

The auto-filetags must remain untouched all the way

through to the final mix.

• take descriptor

the BWF format stores the Sc&Tk, the roll num-

ber IDs etc. within each audio file. These IDs are

called metadata and can be extracted at any time

then inserted in the file descriptor for the editor to

read them directly. The descriptor ==123a;14R_

12==appears between (=) signs to emphasize its

modifiable status as opposed to the filetag intangible

character. See PPR chapter (page 11) to know how

to handle the take descriptors.

• status

the two last characters of the filename

e.g. PX or _4

show the polyphonic (interleaved tracks) or mono-

phonic (independant tracks) status of the recorded

audio tracks. This allows the operator, without using

a metadata-reading software, to directly see what are

the audio files made of.

Files

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.8

Time (a)

One clock, three clocks

Time is the essence in a digital

audio recorder, two types of

times are in use: the «calendar

time» and the «syncing time»

Calendar time is kept for ever (four years) by an

always active low precision clock which automatically

creates folders in which are stored the audio files of

each working day.

Syncing time is kept by various clocks which ensure

image, metadata and sound sync

Clock-A: the internal 1ppm ‘time-of-day clock’ mas-

ter keeps the time with virtually no drift; this time is

used to stamp the sound files to the very same TC

as the one stamped onto the images by cameras and

in metadata-storage devices.

Clock-B: the internal ‘rec-run clock’ generates a

start of take TC which is two second incremented

over the preceding stop TC (requires a wired or

wireless link from Cantar to cameras & digislates).

Clock-C: the externally ‘slaved clock’ ensures that

sound files are stamped by the time generator of the

video camera itself (requires a wired or wireless link

from camera to Cantar).

One Calendar Clock...

The ‘days & hours’ calendar relies upon a medium

precision clock which permanently runs on a lithium

battery (like a watch). Its setup is of primary impor-

tance to the file management system. Its time 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 modify the ‘days and hours’ calendar time, go to

the main-selector TECH position and select “System

day” and “System hour”, press OK, a triangle points

to the modifiable element. Using the jog, select the

desired figure, with arrows move on to the next

figure. Press OK to validate.

A working day is from about 8 am to 4 am the next

day. If you switch off the batteries after midnight,

Cantar thinks the operator has gone to sleep. But

if your ‘working 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.

The ‘new working day’ is not related to the actual

time of day tracked by the syncing clock; 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. Conversely

if you want to start a new working day right after

midnight, you only have to switch off the battery and

immediatly switch on, then answer [Yes] to the ‘start

new day’ question. Cantar requests a Yes/No answer,

but since it happens once a day only, this rude beha-

vior remains acceptable.

... and three Syncing Clocks.

At start-up you will no doubt notice a blinking

intc or extc, depending upon the selected working

mode. This means that Cantar is waiting for the

time reference needed to stamp the sound files with

the precision requested to sync cameras and audio

recorders.

Sync clock-A: real time master ‘intc’

The internal sync clock can be initialized many ways:

Calendar init. : pressing [Shift•JamTC] for more than

two seconds forces the calendar days and hours

into the internal master clock. Stc (system calendar)

shows in the message panel.

If in a panic situation you forget to press [Shift•JamTC],

the calendar days and hours will be used by default and

the blinking intc icon will remind you to either ackno-

ledge this choice, or to jam the master clock by one of

three methods below.

LTC jaming : pressing [JamTC] for more than two

seconds makes a Lemo-5 entered Smpte LTC from

a recorder, camera, etc. jam the Cantar sync clock.

Jtc (LTC jammed) shows in the message panel. If

there is no LTC on the Lemo-5, ‘failed’ shows and the

intc icon keeps blinking.

ASCII jaming : used with AatonCode or Arri FIS time

recording film cameras, or video camera recording

free-run TC. The clocks of the camera are set by a

go-between time keeper such as an Aaton OriginC,

an Aaton GMT or an Ambient Clock-It trilevel gene-

rator. Atc (Ascii) shows in the message panel.

Keyboard init. : when the time must start from an

arbitrary origin such as 01:00:00:00 98-03-24-75

it must be keyed by the operator (available Nov.

2004).

As soon as the intc icon no longer blinks Cantar

behaves as a master clock and generates a 1ppm

accurate production timecode from its TCXO, i.e.

eight hour filming within +/- one frame.

Note: set your Hdd to sleep one minute after STOP.

The power consumption becoming a mere 270mA,

there is no need to power down Cantar during

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.9

the working day, this avoid the

loss of the 1ppm syncing time.

If you nevertheless want to

power down Cantar at lunch

time, the blinking intc icon at

powering up will remind you to

re-initialize Cantar and all equipments around.

Sync clock-B: rec-run master ‘intc’

In the pseudo-continuous ‘rec-run’ mode (one

second between takes) the time starts from an arbi-

trary origin such as 01:00:00:00 98-03-24-75 which

can be keyed by the operator. Cantar distributes

this so called time reference to equipments around

(the rec-run master mode will be available by Nov.

2004).

Sync clock-C: externally slaved ‘extc’

Select external in the TECH menu: extc blinks in the

leftmost circular display meaning that Cantar is wai-

ting to be slaved to an external LTC generator (such

as a video camera in record-run mode).

Knowing the audio recorder is usually put in REC.

before the camera can send a correct timecode,

Cantar monitors the incoming LTC and waits until

a stable coherent timecode shows on the Lemo5

or subD-15 connectors to take it into consideration.

It is thus normal that extc keeps blinking until the

camera is up to speed.

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.

AES clocking

Cantar totally eliminates AES clocking worries, the

extc choice above only deals with the LTC time used

to stamp the audio files, and should not be confused

with AES syncing.

To eliminate jitter –a catastrophy for audio quality–

Cantar always works from its internal clock, not from

external AES clocks. like other recorders do. Each

and every AES input is rephased by its own sample

rate converter to the point it is possible to enter non

synced AES sources, e.g. both from a Yamaha console

and an AES mike. All AES inputs are realigned to an

exact non jittering 48k before going to the tracks.

There is no need to word-sync AES accessories

feeding Cantar.

Camera fps & file sample rate stamps

In the sync sound world Cantar is perfectly inde-

pendant of the actual camera speed, but because

of some Avid software versions and Mac OS levels,

Cantar must stamp the BWF ‘format’ chunk with

either the actual recording sample rate or the ‘lazy

second’ sample rate depending upon the drifting or

non drifting camera world..

In the non-drifting world, the camera fps entry

[24] [25] [29.97DF] [30] is a simple reminder,

and does nothing to the audio files. Cantar records

44.100, 48000 or 96000 audio samples per very

second, and the ‘format stamp’ stores and shows the

recording sample rate.

In the drifting world (where the ‘Saturn lazy second’

lasts for 1.001 Earth second) Cantar records 44.100,

47.952, 48000 or 96000 audio samples per very

second, two modes are available:

mode A (fooling the Avid v.11.3.2)

if [23.98ND -.1%A] [29.97ND -.1%A] is selected,

the ‘format stamp’ shows the number of samples

contained in 1.001 sec:

e.g. Rec. at 48000, the stamp shows 48048.

e.g. Rec. at 47.952, the stamp shows 48000.

mode B

if [23.98ND -.1%B] [29.97ND -.1%B] is selected

the ‘format stamp’ shows the number of samples

contained in a very sec.

e.g. Rec. at 48000, the stamp shows 48000.

Note: the data panel shows [*] signs when the ‘lazy

second’ is triggered by a drifting camera fps selection.

e.g. 12*45*36*

Time (b)

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.10

Test

Microphone Prep.

10 o’clock

This position opens access to

the classical audio tests. It is

important to properly feed the

Cantar mic-preamps which offer the longest dynamic

range in one go with no pre-conditionners.

Audio inputs

Five microphones

M1, M2 and M5 on XLR3,

M3 & M4 on an XLR5.

Four lines

L1 & L2 on an XLR5, L3 and L4 on an XLR5.

Eight AES-IN

Tascam SubD25 (see pin-outs page 26).

Dynamic or Phantom mics

The default setting is Phantom.48V on all mic inputs.

When connecting a dynamic microphone switch-off

the phantom supply; the mic preamp gain is boosted

by12dB. Press [shift] (blue button) and button [2].

When the phantom power is desactivated, the small

triangle disappears from below the mic number on

the rightmost circular display.

Limiters

Press button [1] to on/off activate the limiter. A

triangle (dis)appears below the mic number on

the leftmost circular display. When the signal level

reaches the limiter zone (–8dB), the triangle 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 -1dB level, a CLIP icon appears at

the end of the modulometer scale and a beep can

be sent to the headphones.

The same limiting signal is applied to ganged

preamps.

Filters and Attenuators

The high-pass filter default setting is ‘linear’ on all mic

inputs. Press the mic fader button [2] and rotate the

jog to select a corner frequency/slope. A first bank

shows in the message panel it goes from 60Hz/-6dB

to 180Hz/-12dB and LFA, a second bank, identical to

the first one activates a -10dB attenuator which con-

verts the mic input into a line-input. While pressed

the button activates the solo-mic.

Note: to handle signals coming out of devices gene-

rating high line-out levels, the best solution is to

insert an external -26dB XLR3-XLR3 attenuator on

the mic input.

Mic Coupling

The five coupling types M1–>M2 and M3–>M4, or

M1–>M2-M3 or M1–>M2-M3-M4 or M1–>M2-M3-

M4-M5 are selected in the main selector AUDIO.

Phantom, Limiter and Highpass-Filters are identically

applied to coupled preamps. Phase inverters remain

independant.

Stereo-pairs

To link M1–>M2 (or M3–>M4) mic pairs, simulta-

neously press [Shift] and button [3]. Same operation

to delink. The left fader becomes the master, the

right fader the ±12dB balance.

Surround sounds

M1 (black rectangle marked) always is the master. To

activate the coupling press the button [3] between

the M1 and M2 faders. The slaved fader tuning range

is 12dB either side of the master set value.

To protect the tuning of a slaved preamp the modi-

fications can only be done while pressing its fader

button [2]. The memorized gain value is displayed in

dB on the control panel, the physical position of the

fader is shown by < > signs. There is no sudden

level change if re-activation takes place when the

fader has been put back into its < | > memorized

value.

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.11

Pre-Post-Record

11 o’clock

This selector position is unique

to Cantar, it gathers three essen-

tial functions: prerecord activa-

tion, take descriptor keying and file erasing.

Precording Buffer

The main selector being on PPR, the pre-record

buffer stores the sounds in a First-in/First-out (Fifo)

buffer memory and dumps them to the Hdd as

soon as REC is activated. The •REC icon blinks

under the disk(s) selected for recording. Once the

buffer is full, and the FIFO starts emptying the first-in

sound, the disk icon central platter disappears. This

is a way to check the pre-record buffer length. This

length is programmed (up to 35sec @48kHz) in

AUDIO SET.

Take Descriptor Input

While the main selector is on the Pre-Post-Record

position, scene and take IDs can be entered before

or after the recording of a given take.

Entering descriptors before Rec.

The default Scene & Take template goes like this :

Sequence = 3 figures + a b c d e r s t and space.

Scene = 2 figures + a b c d e r s t and space.

Gender = (w) for wild take, (p) for pick-up, (t) for

sync sound

Take# = 2 figures.

The Gender entry is done by scrolling w>p>t with

the main selector red button. The slate-sync sign is

(t) since (s) was confusing some users.

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 Sc&Tk template,

go to AUDIO SET.

Editing descriptors after Rec.

Once the recording is done, move the main selector

back to PPR. The Scene &Take IDs and the filename

of the future recording show. Press [shift•central

button], the data panel displays ‘Edit’ plus the file-

name and the Sc&Tk IDs of the last 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. Descriptors can later

be modified by selecting the file to edit in BROWSE,

then going to PPR, and performing the same editing

operations as above.

PPR File Shortening

To divide a file being recorded into shorter files and

enter a new Sc&Tk ID, make a quick REC to PPR to

REC. A new file is created which carries the same

scene ID but take +1. Not one audio sample is lost.

A short silent overlap is added to ease the splicing

work in post.

Depending upon operator’s decision or archiving

requirements, an automatic file closing and reope-

ning takes place during REC. Four length settings

are available: 260MB (30min at 24Bit, 48Ks/s), 690MB

(CD-R capacity), 2.0GB (FAT32 default setting), 4GB

(InDaw max. handling). The filetag is auto-incremen-

ted and the descriptor remains the same.

PPR File Erasing

If the file you’ve just recorded is a false start,

you might want to get rid of it. Open ‘Edit’ by

[Shift•central white button], click on the right arrow

or jog to get ‘Erase’. Press OK. Jog the “No” into

“Yes”, press OK to delete. To protect previous files

from manipulation errors, Cantar only erases the

last file; the latest main-selector position must have

been RECORD; and the power supply must not

have been switched off.

Note that “file” represents a “file group” sharing the

same Filetag, e.g. CD2234 represents the mono-

phonic files from CD2234_1 to CD2234_8..

To erase and format the complete HDD, see the

SESSION chapter.

PPR

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.12

Rec.

Disk Recording

12 o’clock

In REC a red LED lights up in

the data panel and a [•REC]

icon shows under the active

disk drive.

The internal-disk icon appears on the leftmost cir-

cular display, the external-disk icon appears on the

central display and the CD/DVD-Ram burner ap-

pears on the rightmost display.

Modulometers

In RECORD and TEST, the signal actually sent to a

track activates the modulometer. The pitch of the

scale is 1dB in the -35 to -12dB natural working zone

The ballistics emulate needle modulometers, the de-

cay time can be adjusted in TECH from 1 (fast) to 5

(slow for low temp assignments), default is 3.

The peak-meter is always on.

Instant Solos of Inputs and Tracks

When several inputs are routed to the same track,

the routing conﬁguration can be checked – even in

REC. – by pressing the ‘routing’ button top left of

the front panel. It is then easy to monitor a ques-

tionable mic by going to the SOLO position of the

Monitoring Crown or pressing the ‘Solo & Filter’ but-

ton [2] of the mic fader.

Comparing two tracks

The Solo-Mix-Pan selector being ‘operator side’,

the digi-mixer buttons become track solo actuators.

Maintening pressure on a button and then pressing

another one makes the first button send the track

to the left ear, and the second one send the track to

the right ear.

Mixdown

pan-pots: put the SoloMixPan selector in ‘Pan’. Each

track can be sent to the left T7 or right T8 track.

Press the linear fader button of the track to be pan-

poted and jog the marker to the left or the right

of the circular display. Complete left to complete

right, plus all positions in between. The center posi-

tion 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 ‘MS’ declared the pan

pot becomes unavailable since the tracks are ste-

reo monitoring decoded. A software modiﬁcation

is scheduled for October 2004, it will be possible to

send the M track to the left side of the mix.

levels: once you know what track goes on which

side of the mixdown, you can adjust the level of each

track using the faders.

To listen to the mixdown, put the monitoring-crown

in position [2], and select Phone=MX.

When accessed from the solo list, the mixer output

MX is stereo monitored and shows on the rightmost

modulometer.

Tone generator

In TEST, PPR and REC., [Shift•Red] records a 1Khz

tone on active tracks. Two levels can be selected in

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Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.13

Playback

8 o’ clock

This selector position opens

access to the files of the day

only.

Files of the Day

Main selector on PLAY, the last recorded file is played.

Arrows can be used to browse the files of the day.

Once selected, a file is immediately played, press the

[white] central button of the main selector to stop it.

On the message panel:

1. play-mark set by the [black] button or scrub jog.

2. playing status:

(square) stop [white] button

(>) play at sync speed [white] button

(x) 2x speed [shift•–>] Back to 1x [shift•<–]

(-) continue to next file [shift•ok]

3. elapsed time from start of take.

4. percentage already played.

5. real timecode of played sound.

6. unique filetag (or scene & take, see pic. caption).

7. take length.

[Esc] scrolls the characteristics of the played file such as

sample rate, bit depth, TC numeration.

Play-mark

If you want to make a pause, while the file is playing lay

down a play-mark with the [black] button, then stop

with the [white] button. Resume play by pressing it

again.

The latest created play-mark overwrites the former

one.

Scrub

Rotating the jog shifts the play-mark forward and

backward, resulting in a constant 1x forward playing

sound which is more intelligible than the stretched and

reversed sound generated by other scrubbing meth-

ods.

To ten times accelerate the search speed, press the

[shift] key. Each jog tick makes for a ten instead of a

one second jump.

LTC fps in Play

When playing back a recorded file, the frame rate of

the LTC sent to the Lemo-5 is the one which has been

applied during the recording of this file, not the frame

rate Cantar is currently set to. If you switch to REC, the

LTC-out instantly comes back to the frame rate setting

of the current project.

Browse

7 o’clock

This main selector position

opens access to all the folders of

the current project.

Wake up Hdd !

When in STOP the disk goes to sleep after one minute

or more (see TECH 9 ‘Hdd power down’), directly going

from there to BROWSE or PLAY shows “sleeping/no

disk detected”. To reactivate the disk make a quick

main selector back & forth movement. Obviously this

protection is not active on the REC side where the

system instantly wakes-up in less than 2 seconds!

All Days

Go to BROWSE . The current working day shows; to

go to other days, press the OK button opening access

to the bottom line, and use the jog and arrows. Validate

by OK, the cursor jumps back to the middle line.

Jog to ‘files’ and press OK. The last file of the day is dis-

played on the bottom line; browse the files by jog or

arrows, press OK to select a file.

You can now go to PLAY or to PPR to edit its ‘scene

& take’ IDs.

Note: [shift•eyeball] replaces “filename and length” by

“scene & take” in the message panel; this can help find

a file.

All Projects

To explore the complete Hdd you must successively

select the various projects it contains., then go to ‘All

Day Files’ (see above).

Play

1 2 3

[shift•eyeball] toggles

“filetag and length”

into “scene & take”

Browse

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.14

Monitoring the out-

puts

6 o’clock

This selector position opens

access to the creation/modiﬁ-

cation of the many grids which

connect the Mic, Line, AES inputs and Tracks to

the Cantar outputs. They are all instantly accessible

through the Conﬁg crown (wet forests and chilly

winds included).

Four Independant Banks

totally different signals can be sent to the head-

phones, to the four analog otputs (two lines and

two foldbacks) and to two AES outputs for HD

cameras.

Phones (position [2] of the monitoring crown)

Ph-Mx Ph-A Ph-B Ph-Q

Seventeen user’s grids A to Q + MX can be pro-

grammed for the headphones

Line-out (position [3] of the monitoring

crown)

LineO-MX LineO-R LineO-S LineO-Z

Nine user’s grids R to Z + MX are sent to the two

Line-out channels.

Foldback (position [4] of the monitoring

crown)

Fb-MX Fb-R Fb-S Fb-Z

Nine user’s grids R to Z + MX are sent to the two

Foldback-out channels.

AES out (position [5] of the monitoring crown)

Dg-MX Dg-R Dg-S Dg-Z

Nine user’s grids R to Z + MX are sent to the two

AES7/8-output channels.

Note: for fast access, the mixdown output (Mx) al-

ways is available as the ﬁrst choice of each bank.

Solos

A special position [1] of the monitoring crown is

used to scan and send the 31 in/out signals running

in Cantar to the headphones.

The Solo level shows on the rightmost modulome-

ter.

The Mic Solos can be momentarily monitored by

pressing the mic-ﬁlter button (2) and the Track So-

los by pressing the track solo buttons, see ‘Compar-

ing Tracks’ in the REC chapter.

Check the grid in use

In TEST, PPR and REC, the monitoring conﬁguration

in use shows by pressing the main selector [white]

central button. As long as it is held down the three

circular displays representing the left, center and

right channels provide a quick overview of the mon-

itoring grids without affecting the ongoing work.

Create/Modify a grid

Main selector on MON-OUTS,

create an headphone ‘hA’ grid in which track 3 goes

to the ear, track 4 to the right and tracks 1 & 2 to

the center (mono).

Put the monitoring crown in pos [2], [Ph] shows.

Rotate the conﬁg crown to [hA]. The selection cur-

sor blinks near the star * sign of the leftmost display.

Jog the cursor to the ‘track4 box’ of the left display

(left ear icon), press the main selector [black] but-

ton to conﬁrm / [red] button to erase. Then Jog to

track1 and track2 boxes of the central display, then

track3 of the right display (right ear icon).

Create a foldback ‘fA’ grid in which mic-5 directly

goes to the foldback left channel output.

Put the monitoring crown in pos [4], [Fb] shows.

Rotate the conﬁg crown to [fA]. The selection cur-

sor blinks near the star * sign of the leftmost display.

Jog the cursor to the ‘Mic5 pixel’ on the left display,

press the [black] button to conﬁrm.

AES-out

In TEST & REC the AES-out 1 to 6 deliver the signals

sent to tracks 1 to 6. Called Dig-Out, the 7&8AES-

out deliver stereo signals of the same nature as

those delivered on the Phone, Line-Out and Fold-

back outputs.

It is recommended to use the 7&8 AES outputs

when it comes to send a stereo mixdown to a video

camera featuring built-in AES inputs (such as the

Sony HD-Cam F900-SR) or to a standard beta cam-

era equipped with a miniature AES-to-Analog ste-

reo converter. Select [Do] = MX.

Note on AES in/out

The power consumption of the sample rate converters

and line drivers of the AES circuits is 110mA at 48Ks/s

and 200mA at 96Ks/s it is wise to put them off if AES is

not used. As soon as an AES in/out is requested by the

routing/monitoring selection, the display starts flashing

to remind the operator to switch the AES power on.

Factory presets

Twenty six MON-OUTS factory configurations are

stored as start-up templates..

Mon-outs

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.15

Inputs to tracks

5 o’clock

Any of the 15 inputs – line,

mic or AES – can be sent to

any track. Each circular display

shows the routing of the two tracks engraved on its

upper left side: 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6. The [Eye] button

toggles between 5-6 and 7-8 track monitoring.

Instant Check

The advantage of the large Cantar display is it al-

lows for an instant on-the-ﬂy check of the current

dispatch by pressing the routing button (top left of

the swiveling panel) during REC even.

In TEST and PPR this button lets the operator to

quickly select a preconﬁgured routing through the

conﬁguration crown.

Fifteen default conﬁgurations are factory preset and

can be replaced by user-deﬁned conﬁgurations.

Create/Modify

First rotate the main selector to ROUTE-INS (posi-

tion ﬁve o’clock of the main selector).

1 Inputs–>Trak

TrkRteA1 TrkRteA5 TrkRteC1 TrkRteC5

The last conﬁguration in use is displayed.

With the ‘Conﬁg’ crown, select the conﬁguration to

be modiﬁed: a blinking cursor awaits your orders

near the star icon of the leftmost circular display.

For your learning tests it’s easier to create a conﬁgu-

ration from scratch: ﬁrst erase an existing one by

pressing the main selector red button then jogging

through the three circular displays.

Example: to route Mic-1 to track 1, jog ﬁve positions

up to put the blinking cursor on the mic segment

[1] then press the main selector [black] button to

validate; to route Mic-3 to track 5 and Mic-4 to track

6, jog the cursor through tracks 2, 3, and 4 until you

land on track 5 (odd tracks are on the outer circle,

even tracks on the inner circle). Go to the pixel op-

posite Mic-3, validate [black] button and so on.

MS Declaration

If two tracks, say 5 & 6, carry the MS pair sounds

entered on Mic Inputs 3&4, activate the MS icon

which is lower left of the circular display (see op-

posite pic.).

The ﬁlename of the MS tracks carries an hyphen

instead of an underscore. This allows Cantar, Majax

and InDaw to automatically playback these tracks in

stereo.

Track Arming

Since Cantar does record totally independant Solo-

Tracks (also called BWF-Monophonics), there is no

space lost on unused tracks. Do not hesitate to as-

sign a stereo pair on tracks 5&6 while the boom is

on track 1 and the radio mic mix on track 2. If there

is no input sent to track 3 & 4, they are automatically

dis-armed and don’t waste disk space.

Direct to disk AES-in

The 8 AES inputs can directly be sent to the eight

tracks. In this case the 7to8 AES outputs are an

exact mirror of the 7to8 AES inputs.

The general routing allows for AES 1to6 inputs to

be routed to any track while the AES 7&8 inputs or

the Line-in 3&4 can be routed to tracks 7&8 (see

AUDIO SET) if there is no mixdown sent to these

7&8 tracks.

Route-ins

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.16

Audio parameters

4 o’ clock

Here are gathered the settings

which show in the audio files

delivered to the client and on

the generated audio signals.

1 Sample rate

44.1K (47.952) 48K 96K

2 Bit depth

16bit 24bit

3 ToneSlate

-20dB -18dB Off

4 Line-out Level

0dB -94dB Mute

The Line-out level is Jog adjusted from 0 to -94dB

and mute.

The track modulometer being at 0dB FS, the line-

out delivers a +8dBu signal; this means that a -18dB

FS reference tone delivers a -10dBu output, this is

10dB lower than common practice.

A Line-out two channel +12dB gain transformer

isolated accessory is available (see Connectors).

5 Foldback Lvl

0dB -94dB Mute

The Foldback level is Jog adjusted from 0 to -94dB

and mute.

6 TC source

Internal Clock External Clock

See Time clocks p. 8

7 Ltc stamp

24fps 25fps 23.98ndf*

See Camera fps p. 8

8 Ltc generator

On Off

See p. 17

9 ScTk tmplt

nnnX/nnX.tnn xxxxxxxx.xx

European or US type scene descriptor templates

10 t7t8 use

Mixdown Line 3&4 Aes 7&8

The signal recorded on tracks t7/t8 is coming from

either one of these sources: Line-input 3&4, Aes

input 7&8, or mixdown from the six fader mixer.

The ‘mix’ sign appears to the right of the track 7 and

track 8 squares of the circular display.

Note on Mixdown Film-directors and image editors

don’t want multitrack sounds; they do prefer a single

stereo pre-mix reﬂecting the sound of each scene.

At the end of the shooting day it is faster to burn

the mixdown on a CD delivered to the post facility

for dailies syncing.

11 AES power

Off On

Off for power saving, On if the AES in/outs are to be

used. AES inputs are accessible if they are powered.

If they aren’t the six AES icons are blinking.

12 Pre-Record.

1sec 35s

35sec at 8 tracks, 24bit, 48KHz means the static buf-

fer can store three minutes of 2 track,16bit sound.

13 Balance Faders

Unlocked Locked

See TEST chapter.

14 Mic grouping

1->2, 3->4 1->2-3 1->2-3-4 1->2-3-4-5

The four types of mic preamp ganging.

Audio set

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.17

Tech parameters

3 o’ clock

Here are gathered the operat-

ing parameters related to the

recorder day-in day-out use.

1 Unmount Hdd

Yes No

Unmounting the internal Hdd puts it out of the Cantar

central processor control while keeping it powered by

the batteries. This allows an external PC or Mac (see

warning below) to see the audio files and drop new

softwares. Once the Hdd is unmounted, leave the main

selector in TECH.

The Cantar Hdd is seen by the external computer as a

standard external disk.

To remount the disk you must first dump it out of the

laptop then rotate the main selector to any other posi-

tion than TECH.

Warning: The Cantar Firewire to Atapi board converter is instantly

toasted by the 33V out of (G3/G4/G5) Mac desktops. To directly

access to the Cantar internal Hdd from a Mac, either use a Mac

laptop powerbook (which delivers a safe 16V on its Firewire socket), or

extract the Hdd and directly connect it to the Mac desktop (the Lacie

Hdds handles 33V). No problem with PC Laptops or Desktops which

deliver a safe 12V FireWire.

2 Backlight

100% 65% 30%

Brightness adjustment of the displays

3 View dB

On Off

Fader levels are displayed in three banks : Mic, Line

and Mixer. Each time a fader is adjusted, its dB value

shows as well as the others faders in the bank.

4 Rec. Beep

On Off

5 Clip Beep

On Off

6 Beep Level

0dB -6dB -36dB

7 Meter Speed

1 Fast 3 Med 5 Slow

Should be ‘Slow’ in low temperature conditions.

8 BattAlert

10.8 Volts 13.2 Volts (see p. 6)

Auto switch-over is done 300mV below the opera-

tor set BattAlert. It allows the use of either 12.5V

NiMH (10.8V alert, 10.5V switch-over) or 14.4V Li-

Ion (12.7V alert, 12.4V switch-over).

9 System Day

2004y04m22d

The System/Calendar Day is used to sort the sound

files, they are stored in folders created and named after

the system day. Changing the system day may create

empty folders.

10 Syst. Time

00h32m24s

Enter the time of your watch (±5 minutes), especially if

you recently went through different time zones.

11 Hdd Power Down

01 min 250 min

In STOP the hard-drive accounts for nearly half of

Cantar’s power consumption, it’s good to put it in sleep

as soon as possible (the disk icon then blinks). To awake

it go to TEST, the disk is up to speed within 3 to 10

seconds, the prerecord buffer hides this speed ramp-up.

Cantar’s cold start to recording is a blazzing 2 to 3sec.

Note: while performing the Iddle Backup prevents

Hdd powerdown.

12 Serial Ext Com

Palm Factory

Select ‘Palm’ for bluetooth activation

13 Factory Set

No Yes Careful

All tech parameters are reset to factory default.

14 File Size Jump

206MB 690MB 2GB 4GB

Auto closure of the current file and opening of the

next one when a selected limit is reached.

Four file length settings are available: 260MB (30min

at 24Bit, 48Ks/s), 690MB (CD-R capacity), 2.0GB

(FAT32 limitation) default setting, 4.0GB (InDaw max

handling).

Tech set (a)

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.18

15 Temp °C

Lcd+02 Hd-12

If the display heater option is

installed, Lcd+02 monitors its

temperature control activity. It

takes about fifteen minutes to

reach the +2°C to +4°C equilibrium in a -15°C

environment. To save power Cantar should be in a

carrying bag. In low temp, the pos. 5 of the meter

speed is recommended.

‘Int-12’ monitors the Cantar internal temperature.

Below -5°C, a low temp specified Hdd such as the

Hitachi Endura must be installed.

16 Eqpt & Softw

Eq0456 1.30d

17 Software Install

No Yes Careful

• Get the latest firmware (can_1xx.flb) and put it on

your Mac/PC desktop.

As a registered owner you can get it from

http://soft.aaton.com/swcantar/

• Plug the two on-board batteries to be 100% sure

there is no power interruption during the following

operations. Start Cantar up, simultaneously pressing

the batt-1 and batt-2 buttons.

• Unmount the Hdd (first TECH parameter), then con-

nect Cantar to your computer by Firewire, the Cantar

internal Hdd shows on the PC/Mac laptop screen.

No MAC G3 G4 G5 desktop connection, read and use

‘Cantar Hdd outside’ page 21.

• Copy the can_1xx.flb file to the root of the Cantar

Hdd, then dump the disk icon out of your computer

desktop, and disconnect the Firewire cable.

• Remount the Cantar internal Hdd by rotating the

main selector to any other position than TECH.

• Once the Hdd shows (the leftmost disk icon is

no longer blinking) go to TECH–> Software Load,

OK, –>Yes, OK.

• If several versions are present on the Cantar disk,

choose the latest and press OK.

• All Cantar controls are out of commission dur-

ing the one minute software installation. Do not

touch anything until you read SUCCESS.

• Close the install session and shut Cantar down

by pressing the [shift] blue button.

• Rotate the main selector to STOP, then restart

Cantar up.

• Go to TECH –> ‘Software Version’ and check

that the new version is installed.

Cantar is protected against corrupted firmware

installation, if the new firmware version doesn’t

show up, redownload it from the Aaton site.

Note that you can install the N-n version by the

same process.

Software installation can also be performed

through an external Firewire connected disk. Plug

the disk to your computer and copy the (can_1xx.

flb) file to the upper level of the disk. Unplug it

and hook it up to the Cantar Firewire port. This

works because when installing a software version,

Cantar first looks for files on an external Hdd. If

none are found, then Cantar looks for files on the

internal drive.

Tech set (b)

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.19

Session/project

2 o’ clock

On this selector position are

gathered the settings related

to a given project title.

1 Project Name

AACANTAR SHADOWS

Factory preloaded AACANTAR is stored on the

internal Hdd. If the disk has been reformatted or

emptied by the rental facility, “no project” shows,

meaning there is no project folder in this disk

(see Hdd menu below). If you need to check the

names of the stored projects, go to ‘new project’.

2 New Project

>>>>>>>

The bottom line of the message panel shows the

various project stored in the Cantar HDD. Press

OK to create a NEW project. Once entered the

usual way, press OK to validate. You must have a

connected internal or external hard drive for this

operation to take place (see Hdd in use below).

3 Hdd in Use

Int Only Ext Only Int & Ext

Internal, external or both, you must specify where

the audio files are to be recorded.

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.

If external and internal discs are simultaneouly

recording, the message panel shows the available

space of the disc offering the lowest remaining free

space.

Q: I connect an external Hdd and wait for its

activity LED to become green. In SESSION,

I deselect ‘HD Int Only’ and validate ‘HD

Int+Ext... but the external Hdd doesn’t mount,

what’s wrong ?

A: Wait for the ext Hdd icon to be non-blink-

ing in the central circular display, then go to

‘HD Int+Ext’. If Cantar still doesn’t see the ext

Hdd, most of the time it is because the disk

has not been FAT32 formatted on a primary

partition. Format it on Cantar.

4 FAT32 formatting

Ext Disk Shift•Red

The internal Hdd is IEE.1394 connected. External

disks should preferably be LaCie FireWire Hdds,

size up to 120GB. When buying an Hdd ask your

vendor to deliver it FAT32, one Primary Partition

(not a Logical Partition).

Cantar formatting:

for absolute protection against erasure by unedu-

cated fingers, the internal Hdd must be extracted

and connected to the Cantar external Firewire

socket.

1 - Extract the internal Hdd to be erased.

2 - Switch-on Cantar (with no internal disk).

3 - Go to SESSION.

4 - Go to ‘Fat32 frmt.

5 - Go to “Ext” (external disk), press OK.

6 - Press [shift•red] buttons AT THE SAME TIME and

hold them pressed.

8 - Connect the Hdd to the Cantar FireWire

external socket.

9 - When the Hdd is identified (icon no longer

blinking) and that ‘formatting’ shows, release the

[shift•red] buttons.

10- Do not shake nor unplug the Hdd during the

formatting operation.

5 Delete a File

No Yes’

File deleting is well protected and works on full

working days only. For individual file deletion use a

laptop.

[OK] opens the DELETE AUDIO hidden Menu:

Day to delete, [OK]

‘2004-06-xx’ shows, select a day with <– –> then

[OK], this browses the files of the selected day.

Day to delete

‘2004-04-yy’ * shows. Jog to the next chapter:

Del. Int HD (or Del. Ext HD) [OK]

‘No 120Mo’ –> ‘Yes 120Mo’ [OK]

Original xx to 00 .. Bounce xx to 00

(this is the remaining volume to delete)

then ‘No 0.0Mo’ shows again.

[Esc] to reopen SESSION (and so on for succes-

sive day erasures)

Session

Cantar v1.29 user manual 2004 Sept 28 p.20

Push backup

1 o’ clock

This position gathers the settings

necessary to ensure the copy of

the Hdd files to other medias.

1 Working Day

2004-08-11 2004-08-26 2004-08-27

2 Temporality (Oct. 20, 2004 available)

Iddle Bckp Iddle Cnvrt All at end

Instead of backing-up the day at the end of the

session, it is possible to progressively save it dur-

ing iddle periods while Cantar is in TEST or STOP.

Iddle Bckp: backup is actually done on an external

Hdd or DVD-Ram burner, or the internal UJ-825

DVD-Ram burner. Iddle Cnvrt: Mono to Poly, 24

to 16bit conversions are performed and stored for

faster one-go backup at the end of session. All at

end: there is no iddle tasks, conversions and actual

backup are triggered by the operator at end of

session.

3 Tracks

All 1->8M 1->6 M 7-8 M

Pure Monophonic to Monophonic file copying.

The bit depht remains the original one.

4 Convert

(None) MxPoly24 MxPo16.bwf, etc

These conversions are applied to 7-8 tracks only:

•Monophonic to Polyphonic interleaving •24 to

16bit decimation •16bit dithering •.wav extension

(or .bwf for AatonXfer+Avid v7).

If your intention is to deliver converted files out of

the 7-8 track mixdown (see “Convert”) first make

your 1 to 7 selection. As soon as there is a pause on

the set, go to StartBackup without inserting a media

in the burner. The PreConvert will be performed

and stored on the hard drive, thus reducing the end

of day actual burning time by three to four minutes!

If in a hurry you must reactivate the recording, just

press the [Esc] button and swiftly go back to PPR.

5 Media Type

CD700Mb ExtHdd DVD-Ram DVD*R

Only use Aaton tested and approved DVD±R,

CD-R and DVD-Ram burners.

7 FileNames

Short Long w. Sc&Tk

Short (BA1234_1.wav) or Long with Sc&Tk

(BA1234==123A 12R w14==_1.wav)

Long filenames give direct access to scene & take

descriptors on PC desktops and editors’ timelines,

the text between [==] signs can be freely modified

by the editor.

If you back-up on an external Hdd, the file names

are forced to ‘short’ since long filenames are not

supported on Cantar recorded Hard Drives.

Note that the Majax software can later extracts

the scene and take descriptors from the file ‘bext’

chunk and add them to the short filenames to

make them long ones.

7 MediaLabel

CD 1/2

Cantar calculates and shows the number of disks

needed to perform the backup of the selected

Hdd files. Press OK and with arrows select the

one you want to burn. [Shift•Eye] shows the

MediaLabel name to write on the disk: CD_MXD_

2/5 means CDR, mixdown tracks, disk two in a five

disk group. When the burning starts, the message

panel displays the remaining data to be burnt.

Because of the unknown weather conditions, burn-

ing done, the disk is not ejected.

Long files: the size of the files can make it impos-

sible to together copy all the tracks of a long take

onto a single CD-R; for instance if a single mono-

phonic track is 200MB, and you have 6 tracks to

back up, you would need a 1.2GB disk. In this type

of situation, Cantar breaks the take into its individ-

ual files while minimizing the number of CDs. The

label becomes CD_2_D072, where [CD] is the

media, [_2] the track #, and [D072] the last four

characters of the filename.

8 Files to Copy

Not yet Archived All

In push-Backup, once a file is copied it receices an

‘Archived’ stamp. This avoids it to be copied all over

again. The use of this stamp is mandatory for the

Iddle Backup which progressively copies not yet

archived files. This stamp is also used when burning

a DVD±R at noon and the rest of the day’s work

in the evening!

To make new copies of already archived files, ‘All’

must be selected.

9 Check After Burn

Yes No

The checking operation lasts the same time as the

disk burning.

Backup (a)

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AAton Cantar-X User manual

Brand: AAton

Model: Cantar-X

Type: User manual

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AAton Cantar-X User manual

AAton Cantar-X User manual

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