Audio PC Setup - Roland VS-2480 Tech Support Help Site

Audio PC Setup

This section is for anyone running a VS-2480 with the Roland R-BUS card (s). It's a basic setup to help you along the way to obtain audio from the 2480 to your PC and back again. Note that the RPC-1 from Roland is in fact designed and built by M-Audio, not Roland themselves.

Follow these instructions for correct installation:

The dip – switches on the rear of the RPC-1 cards are for choosing the Clock source. In this case, the RPC-1 should be slaved to the 2480. To do this, the switch nearest to the RPC-1 cards 25 pin D-sub cable should be down, and the other switch should be up.

You will need to open the RPC-1 software (Roland RPC-1 H-W) to check the about tab for the version number.

It should be Version: 5.10.00.0033x6

The Panel Version should read: 1.02.08. If yours matches, then you have updated your drivers correctly. The RPC-1 software (Roland RPC-1 H-W) should be in your Control Panel folder. You can get the latest drivers here for PC and here (both) Mac1, Mac2 for Macintosh - this is the latest official software update from Roland and fixes the ASIO distortion / sync problems for audio software using the ASIO protocol (10.11.03). Here are the latest Delta R-BUS drivers. Download the drivers related to your specific card make and model.

Once you have checked for the Version in the About tab, choose the Hardware Settings tab and make the following changes:

Master Clock = External

MultiTrack Driver Devices = Single and in sync (Multiple Card Sync for 2 or more RPC-1 cards installed)

DMA Buffer size = 384

The Disable Control of…. And the Reset when idle… boxes should both be ticked.

Adjust nothing else in the other tabs – they do not apply to the Roland RPC-1 card. These are for the M-Audio card only.

You can save your setups, and I advise you to do so now. Call it whatever you want. I call mine RPC-1 PC Setup.

The External Clock Sample Rate should be set to the same sample rate as the 2480 project you are working on. This is because the 2480 will be sending its Master Clock to the R-Bus, and of course your PC software. So if you are like me, this can stay at 44.1 KHz. If you want to work higher, then you must have a 2480 project at the desired Sample Rate, and you must change the External Clock Sample Rate in the Roland RPC-1 H-W each time.

Remember also, that whenever you use your system, you must always turn the 2480 on first, leaving the PC the last thing in the chain to turn on. This is to ensure that the RPC-1 card (s) gets the correct Master Clock.

Now you need to go to the 2480 and check the following:

Hit the Utility button and then F3 to bring up the Project Parameter page. Make sure that the Master Clock is set to INT.

Dither and Digital Copy Protect should be OFF.

R-BUS Coaxial Sel and R-BUS Optical should be left alone for now as they are.

Still in Utility, you need to push the button for the SYNC Parameter page. Make sure the Sync Mode is INT. As a matter of interest, if you are running a sequencer on the PC and want to sync with Midi Time Code from the 2480, then make sure that you choose MTC in the R-BUS1 SYNC Gen. You will have to tell your software what type of synchronization you are using (MTC) and from where (Midi RPC-1). Then, when you play the 2480, as long as the Tempo of the 2480 matches the tempo of your software sequencer, you will see that they run in perfect sync!

Remember to set up (EZ Routing) the RPC-1 inputs and Outputs on the 2480! This can be a bit confusing at first, but I will try and help!

Press EZ Routing and View. Here, you should see that the R-Bus1 inputs are attached to IN 17-24. This merely means that the R-Bus 1 input is controlled by Input Channel 17, 2 by 18 and so on.

Press Output. Here you can see that the R-Bus1 outputs are paired in stereo to the AUX outputs 1 – 8. If they are not, then move them so that they are, just for now.

If you now flip to the Channel inputs 17-24, press the CH EDIT on Channel 17 and in the display, make 17 and 18 a stereo pair by choosing ChLINK On. This will pan them automatically, and put them both at 0 dB. Technically speaking, if you have set up your audio software correctly, the 2480 should play any signal coming from your RPC-1 to the speakers.

With multiple cards, the RPC-1 returns from your PC/Mac can be sent to any channel you desire via the EZ Routing page. Generally, with my 2 cards, I send them RPC-1(1) to channels 9 - 16, and RPC-1(2) to channels 17 - 24. This leaves the analog inputs channels 1 - 8 free for midi gear, FX returns etc.

Don't forget that the RPC-1 cards can also be used as FX sends from AUX send to your music software, and back again to your input channels! Great for Reverbs etc!!