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Set up

I've used the MRS-8 in a number of places -- In my front room on my lap - In the car, balanced on the steering wheel - in a cheap studio - In the middle of a lively party with beer spilling idiots jumping around -- And without doubt the best place to set up is on a table with plenty of room for you to step away when playing. Don't try to balance the MRS on one knee with your guitar on the other.

Before switching on

Insert the SD card
At the back of the unit there is a little door with the card reader inside.

Plug in your instrument
There are 2 inputs at the back of the MRS-8. One of them will be familiar to any one that has plugged into an amp. The other might look a bit weird. Its a Hybrid socket that excepts both 1/4" TRS (Standard Guitar connector) and male XLR.
If you are using a guitar, plug into INPUT1. If you are using a Microphone, Plug into INPUT2. (We will cover stereo and dual input recording in a different article)

Plug in your Headphones
The headphone socket is clearly marked at the back of the unit. Next to it is a volume control. Turn this to the 12 o'clock position (you may want to adjust this slightly later on depending on the strength of your headphones)

Don't plug in speakers!
There are master output sockets for RCA connectors. Don't worry about these for now.

Set the faders
Slide all the faders to the '0' position. Note: The '0' position is about 3/4 of the way up.

Set the input gain
Turn the volume dials on the top left so they are in the 12 o'clock position.

Switch on

Orange glow loading screen! Wait a few seconds for the system to be ready!

"PRJ 000" will display on screen.
The first bit stands for 'Project'. Each song you create will be called a project. It's a bit of terminology that is important to remember as Zoom sometimes call Rhythm progressions 'songs'.
The number will be automatically assigned. The next project you start will be called 001, the next 002 and so on.

To start a new project. press the [NEW PROJECT] button, wait for the system to load then press [ENTER]. All tracks will now be empty and all setting will be returned to default. The original Project is automatically saved.


Select an input
Look at the top left section of the unit. There is a button marked [MIC]. This can be either off, on or flashing.
  • Off means the inbuilt mic is not available (Some effect do not allow the use of the inbuilt mic. This will be covered in another article)
  • On means it is live
  • Flashing means it is available but not active

In our first example we will use the inputs so press this button until it is off or flashing.

To either side of the [MIC] button are two similar buttons. These are the input selection buttons. Press the button that corresponds with the input you selected earlier so it lights red (IE. if you used input 1, press the button on the left.)

select an input

Set the input gain
You need to adjust the input gain to insure that your instrument can be heard clearly but not too much or it will be distorted.

  1. Play your instrument while watching the little light next to the gain dial. This is called the 'peak' indicator.
    • What you want is for the light to just flicker when you are playing at your loudest.
    • input gain
  2. Adjust the input gain
    • If the light does not come on at all, turn the dial clockwise slightly until it does.
    • If the light is on constantly, turn the dial anti-clockwise until it just flashes.

Once the Gain peak is sorted, we need to adjust the Recording level.

Set the recording level
Next we need to adjust the recording level to insure there is no clipping (distortion due to excessive volume)

  1. press the [TRACK PARAMETER] button.
  2. cursor left until "INPUT" is displayed
    • 'INPUT" will not be available if you have not selected an input as described above.
  3. Cursor up or down until "REC LVL" is displayed
  4. Now, while playing, you will notice a bar rising and falling in the display screen. This is the volume of your instrument. What you want is for the bar to justreach "0" when playing loudly.
    • If the bar is not reaching '0', turn the main dial (the big circle to the right of the cursors) clockwise to increase the Recording level
    • If the bar is going passed the '0' mark, turn the main dial anti-clockwise.
  5. Once you are happy with the levels, hit [EXIT] a few time to get back to the main screen.

Now the levels are set for this instrument, DO NOT ADJUST THEM. Do not adjust the volume on your instrument or adjust the input gains. Volume adjustments will be made using the faders from now on.

Play!
The next thing to do is play. Get used to the sound coming through the headphones.


Next step: Recording on to a track