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Fireface 800 - Full Compass

1. Some programs do not recognize the dynamic change of the number of ADAT channels there fore do not operate correctly in Double and Quad Speed mode A workaround is to use DDS After having set the desired sample rate the ASIO software recognizes the correct number of I O channels directly when started 11 2 Known Problems If a computer does not provide sufficient CPU power and or sufficient PCl bus transfer rates then drop outs crackling and noise will appear We recommend to deactivate all Plugins to verify that these are not the reason for such effects Additional hard disk controller both on board and PCI based aften violate the PCI specs To achieve the highest throughput they hog the PCI bus even in their default setting Thus when working with low latencies heavy drop outs clicks are heard Try to solve this problem by changing the default setting of the controller for example by reducing the PCI Bus Utilization The above note on PCI is not an error in this manual so far all FireWire controllers are con nected to the PCI bus Therefore the same problems known from usual PCI cards can occur with the Fireface 800 as well Further information is found in chapter 22 3 22 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME Another common source of trouble is incorrect synchronization ASIO does not support asyn chronous operation which means that the input and output signals not only have to use the same sample frequ
2. RME 27 4 Digital Outputs AES EBU SPDIF e 1x RCA transformer balanced galvanically isolated according to AES3 1992 Output level Professional 2 5 Vpp Consumer 1 2 Vpp Format Professional according to AES3 1992 Amendment 4 Format Consumer SPDIF according to IEC 60958 Single Wire mode sample rate 28 kHz up to 200 kHz ADAT e 2x TOSLINK e Standard 16 channels 24 bit up to 48 kHz e Sample Split S MUX 2 x 8 channels 24 bit 48 kHz equalling 8 channels 24 bit 96 kHz e In Quad Speed mode output of Single Speed sync frame Word Clock BNC Max output voltage 5 Vpp Output voltage 75 Ohm termination 4 0 Vpp Output impedance 10 Ohm Frequency range 27 kHz 200 kHz 27 5 MIDI 1 x MIDI I O via 5 pin DIN jacks Galvanically isolated by optocoupled input Hi speed mode Jitter and response time typically below 1 ms Separate 128 byte FIFOs for input and output 27 6 Transfer Modes Resolution Bits per Sample ASIO e 24 32 bit 4 byte stereo 8 byte This format is compatible with 16 bit and 20 bit Resolutions below 24 bit are handled by the audio application MME e 16 bit 2 byte e 16 bit 4 byte MSB e 24 bit 4 byte MSB e 32 bit 4 byte stereo 4 bytes stereo 8 bytes stereo 8 bytes stereo 8 bytes PEE mend jae MME interleaved supports 2 channel 4 channel 6 channel and 8 channel playback in the above formats The modes 4 6 8 channel playback are limited to the devices Fireface Analog 1 2
3. Bto 1 L 2 L3 4 6 6 71 O0 Pro P C_ Audio __ Emphasis Locked Sample Freq 0 Con P C_ Audio Copy Emphasis Mode It becomes obvious that the meaning of the following bits differs quite substantially between the two formats If a device like a common DAT recorder only has an SPDIF input it usually un derstands only this format In most cases it will switch off when being fed Professional coded data The table shows that a Professional coded signal would lead to malfunctions for copy prohibition and emphasis if being read as Consumer coded data This has actually happened in the past but today it would be more likely to have been implemented on purpose to force the costumer to buy a more expensive device Nowadays many devices with SPDIF input can handle Professional subcode Devices with AES3 input almost always accept Consumer SPDIF passive cable adapter necessary User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 57 28 6 Noise level in DS QS Mode The outstanding signal to noise ratio of the Fireface s AD converters can be verified even without expensive test equipment by using our famous D G Check tool or the record level me ter of Steinberg s WaveLab When activating the DS and QS mode the displayed noise level will rise from 109 dB to 104 dB at 96 kHz and 82 dB at 192 kHz This is not a failure This kind of measurement measures the noise of the whole frequency range at 96 kHz from 0 Hz to 48 kHz RM
4. even during playback Note Recordings with pre emphasis show a treble boost 50 15 us which has to be com pensated at playback Therefore when selecting Emphasis all analog outputs will be processed by a treble filter based on 50 15us which sounds like a high cut The Fireface s new output header is optimized for largest compatibility with other digital de vices e 32 kHz 44 1 kHz 48 kHz 88 2 kHz 96 kHz 176 4 kHz 192 kHz depending on the current sample rate Audio use Non Audio No Copyright Copy Permitted Format Consumer or Professional Category General Generation not indicated 2 channel No Emphasis or 50 15 us Aux bits Audio Use Professional AES EBU equipment can be connected to the Fireface 800 thanks to the trans former balanced coaxial outputs and the Professional format option with doubled output volt age Output cables should have the same pinout as those used for input see above but with a male XLR plug instead of a female one Note that most consumer HiFi equipment with optical or phono SPDIF inputs will only accept signals in Consumer format The audio bit in the header can be set to Non Audio This is necessary when Dolby AC 3 en coded data is sent to external decoders surround sound receivers television sets etc with AC 3 digital inputs as these decoders would otherwise not recognize the data as AC 3 16 3 MIDI Fireface 800 offers one MIDI I O via 5 pin DIN jacks
5. 2 to 8 channels at 16 bit resolution and up to 192 kHz sample rate Up to 48 kHz playback is also possible via the ADAT outputs of the Fireface For multichannel playback a WDM streaming device or the correct MME playback device of the Fireface 800 has to be selected in Control Panel Sounds and Multimedia Audio Also check use preferred device only PowerDVD s audio properties now lists several multichannel modes If one of these is selected PowerDVD sends the decoded analog multichannel data to the Fireface The option Interleaved in the Settings dialog has to be activated Certain MME playback devices of the Fireface support multichannel playback Interleaved with 2 4 6 and 8 channels Fireface Analog 1 2 Up to 192 kHz playback on the analog outputs 1 8 Fireface ADAT1 1 2 Up to 48 kHz playback on channels 13 20 Fireface ADAT2 1 2 Up to 48 kHz playback on channels 21 28 Thanks to TotalMix the software s playback channels can be routed to any hardware outputs Therefore a playback at 96 kHz using the analog outputs can also be done via both ADAT ports This also removes a limitation in some software like PowerDVD 5 which always uses channel 1 as first channel of a multichannel playback The channel assignment using PowerDVD is 1 Left 2 Right 3 Center 4 LFE Low Frequency Effects 5 SR Surround Right 6 SL Surround Left Note 1 Selecting the Fireface to be used as syste
6. ADAT format The DTRS recorder DA 98HR by Tas cam also uses this technique which is called Dual Line here Not before February 1998 Crystal shipped the first single wire receiver transmitters that could also work with double sample rate It was then possible to transmit two channels of 96 kHz data via one AES EBU port But Double Wire is still far from being dead On one hand there are still many devices which can t handle more than 48 kHz e g digital tape recorders But also other common interfaces like ADAT or TDIF are still using this technique Because the ADAT interface does not allow for sampling frequencies above 48 kHz a limita tion of the interface hardware the Fireface 800 automatically uses the described Sample Split method in DS mode One channel s data is distributed to two channels according to the follow ing table fAnalogin 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DS Signal 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Port ADAT1 ADAT1 ADAT1 ADAT1 ADAT2 ADAT2 ADAT2 ADAT2 As the transmission of double rate signals is done at standard sample rate Single Speed the ADAT outputs still deliver 44 1 kHz or 48 kHz 28 4 QS Quad Speed Due to the small number of available devices that use sample rates up to 192 kHz but even more due to a missing real world application CD Quad Speed has had no broad success so far An implementation of the ADAT format as double S MUX would result in only two channels per
7. ADAT to two ADAT splitter and SPDIF to ADAT converter 13 5 Analog digital Routing Matrix The Matrix in TotalMix enables you to route and link all inputs and outputs completely freely All the above functionalities are even available simultaneously can be mixed and combined in many ways Simply said the Fireface 800 is a perfect analog digital Routing Matrix 24 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 14 Analog Inputs 14 1 Line Rear The Fireface has 8 balanced Line inputs as 1 4 TRS jacks on the back of the unit The elec tronic input stage is built in a servo balanced design which handles unbalanced mono jacks and balanced stereo jacks correctly automatically adjusting the level reference d When using unbalanced cables with the XLR breakout cable be sure to connect the ring contact of a stereo TRS jack and pin 3 of a XLR jack to ground Otherwise noise may occur caused by the unconnected negative input of the balanced input One of the main issues when working with an AD converter is to maintain the full dynamic range within the best operating level Therefore the Fireface 800 internally uses hi quality elec tronic switches which allow for a perfect adaptation of all rear inputs to the three most often used studio levels The standardized studio levels do not result in a often desired full scale level but take some additional digital headroom into consideration The amount of headroom is different in different standard
8. Cut E that even in Stop mode several ADAT2 IV Single Speed programs keep the recording and T Professional SyneCheck Aussie Het playback devices open which means JT Emphasis WordClock Syne Input Word that any new settings might not be T Non Audio ADATIIn Sune Freq 44 1 kHz applied immediately SPDIF Freq ADAT2In Nolock __ 48 kHz SPDIFIn Lock p gt tem Clock TSO fee SPE EE Mode Slave The status displays at the bottom of Read Flash Memory Store in Flash Memory Fred 44 1 kHz the dialog box give the user precise information about the current status of the system and the status of all dante digital signals SyncCheck indicates whether there is a valid signal Lock No Lock for each input Word clock ADAT1 ADAT2 SPDIF or if there is a valid and synchronous signal Sync The AutoSync Ref display shows the input and frequency of the current sync source 8 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME Buffer Size The setting Buffer Size determines the latency between incoming and outgoing ASIO and GSIF data as well as affecting system stability see chapter 11 Under Windows MME this setting determines the DMA buffer size see chapter 9 4 GSIF and MME can be set from 48 to 256 samples Above 256 only ASIO is effected Inputs Input selection for the channels 1 7 and 8 Channel 1 can be the front Instrument input or the rear TRS jack or both simultaneously Channel 7 8 can be the front
9. DIGI96 series of audio cards It stands for the ability to pass through the computer s input signal at the interface directly to the output Since then the idea behind has become one of the most important fea tures of modern hard disk recording In the year 2000 RME published two ground breaking Tech Infos on the topics Low Latency Background which are still up to date Monitoring ZLM and ASIO and Buffer and Latency Jitter both found on the RME Driver CD and the RME web site How much Zero is Zero From a technical view there is no zero Even the analog pass through is subject to phase er rors equalling a delay between input and output However delays below certain values can subjectively be claimed to be a zero latency This applies to analog routing and mixing and in our opinion also to RME s Zero Latency Monitoring The term describes the digital path of the audio data from the input of the interface to its output The digital receiver of the Fireface 800 can t operate un buffered and together with TotalMix and the output via the transmitter it causes a typical delay of 3 samples At 44 1 kHz this equals about 68 us 0 000068 s at 192 kHz only 15 us The delay is valid for ADAT and SPDIF in the same way Oversampling While the delays of digital interfaces can be disregarded altogether the analog inputs and out puts do cause a significant delay Modern converter chips operate with 64 or 128 times over sampling plus digital filter
10. Direct Monitoring is globally de activated Link Faders Selecting this option all faders will be treated as stereo pairs Equals a held down Alt key Hotkey L Level Meter Setup Configuration of the Level Meters Hotkey F2 See chapter 18 9 Flash current mixer state A click on this entry stores all current mixer settings into the flash memory of the Fireface See also chapter 13 Stand alone Operation User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 39 18 9 Level Meter The Fireface 800 calculates all the display values Peak Over and RMS in hardware in order to be capable of using them independent of the software in use and to significantly reduce the CPU load The level meters integrated in TotalMix considering their size cannot be compared with DIGICheck chapter 21 Nevertheless they already include many useful functions Peak and RMS is displayed for every channel Level Meter Setup Menu Options or F2 or direct keyboard entry hotkeys makes various options available Display range 40 or 60 dB hotkey 4 or 6 Release time of the Peak display Fast Medium Slow Numerical display selectable either Peak or RMS Hotkey E or R Number of consecutive samples for Overload display 1 to 15 RMS display absolute or relative to 0 dBFS Hotkey 3 or 0 The latter is a point often overlooked but nonetheless p _ lt important RMS shows 3 dB less for sine signals This is L Fireface Mixer n mathematically correct but not very reasonabl
11. Shows the true resolution of audio signals as well as errors and DC offset Includes Signal to Noise measurement in dB and dBA plus DC measurement e Totalyser Spectral Analyser and Vector Audio Scope as one window function e Channel Status Display Detailed analyzis and display of SPDIF and AES EBU Channel Status data e Completely multi client Open as many measurement windows as you like on any chan nels and inputs or outputs To install DIGICheck go to the DIGICheck directory on the RME Driver CD and run setup exe Follow the instructions prompted on the screen Note The dedicated Meter Bridge known from RME s HDSP series a professional level display nearly without CPU load will be added soon to DIGICheck It can then be used with the Fire face 800 too User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 45 22 Hotline Troubleshooting 22 1 General The newest information can always be found on our website www rme audio com section FAQ Latest Additions The input signal cannot be monitored in real time ASIO Direct Monitoring has not been enabled and or monitoring has been disabled globally The 8 ADAT channels don t seem to work The optical output ADAT2 has been switched to SPDIF As can be seen in the block dia gram all channels and their assignments still exist but the optical transmitter has been dis connected from ADAT2 and is now fed from the SPDIF output channels 11 12 The ADAT2 playback devices are still usable
12. a new concept the Safety Buffer The Fireface 800 uses a fixed additional buffer of 64 samples on the playback side only which is added to the current buffer size The main advantage is the ability to use lowest latency at highest CPU loads Furthermore the fixed buffer does not add to the latency jitter see Tech Info the subjective timing is extraordinary Disadvantage the safety buffer s 64 samples needs to be considered when compensating off sets manually User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 55 28 3 DS Double Speed When activating the Double Speed mode the Fireface 800 operates at double sample rate The internal clock 44 1 kHz turns to 88 2 kHz 48 kHz to 96 kHz The internal resolution is still 24 bit Sample rates above 48 kHz were not always taken for granted and are still not widely used because of the CD format 44 1 kHz dominating everything Before 1998 there were no re ceiver transmitter circuits available that could receive or transmit more than 48 kHz Therefore a work around was used instead of two channels one AES line only carries one channel whose odd and even samples are being distributed to the former left and right channels By this you get the double amount of data i e also double sample rate Of course in order to transmit a stereo signal two AES EBU ports are necessary then This transmission mode is called Double Wire in the professional studio world and is also known as S MUX in connection with the
13. analog monitor output on the Left front is accessible through a ste reo 4 TRS jack This allows a Right direct connection of headphones In case the output should operate as Line output an adapter TRS plug to RCA phono plugs or TRS Shield plug to TS plugs is required The pin assignment follows inter national standards The left chan nel is connected to the tip the right channel to the ring of the TRS jack plug 62 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 30 CE FCC Compliance Statements CE This device has been tested and found to comply with the EN55022 class B and EN50082 1 norms for digital devices according to the European Council directive on counterpart laws in the member states relating to electromagnetic compatibility EMVG FCC This device has been tested and found to comply with the requirements listed in FCC Regula tions part 15 for Class B digital devices Compliance with these requirements provides a rea sonable level of assurance that your use of this product in a residential environment will not result in harmful interference with other electronic devices This equipment generates radio frequencies and if not installed and used according to the instructions in the User s Guide may cause interference harmful to the operation of other elec tronic devices Compliance with FCC regulations does not guarantee that interference will not occur in all in stallations If this product is found to be the s
14. at 16 bit reso C 16bit lution The lower 8 bits and therefore any signals C 20bit about 96dB below maximum level are lost en 24bit tirely On the other hand there is nothing to gain C 32bit from recording a 16 bit signal at 24 bit resolution this would only waste precious space on the hard disk It often makes sense to monitor the input signal or send it directly to the output This can be done at zero latency using TotalMix see chapter 18 Currently two solutions exist which enable an automated control of real time monitoring ZLM Zero Latency Monitoring allows monitoring in Punch I O mode with this the system behaves like a tape machine This method has been implemented in all versions of Samplitude by Magix and can be activated using the global track option Hardware monitoring during Punch As ZLM is limited to MME this mode is no longer supported in the Fireface 800 The other solution is Steinberg s ASIO protocol with our ASIO 2 0 drivers and all ASIO 2 0 compatible programs also Samplitude When ASIO Direct Monitoring has been switched on the input signal is routed in real time to the output whenever a recording is started 20 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 9 8 Analog Recording For recordings via the analog inputs the corresponding record device has to be chosen Fire face Analog x x Apart from the three reference levels the Fireface has no means to change the input
15. been designed to avoid conflicts in normal operation which is why the second ADAT device has been omitted Signal routing is identical for record and playback Device Device name in the audio application SR Sample Rate Device SR Routing SR Interface Fireface Analog 1 2 Fireface Analog 3 4 lt Fireface Analog 5 6 Analog 0 S i gt 7 7 Fireface Analog 7 8 Fireface Analog 9 10 10 10 N x B 1 L e lt Fireface SPDIF SPDIF 12 R e gt F 2 Fireface ADAT1 1 2 3 1 lt 4 E lt ADAT1 I O 1 5 de Fireface ADAT1 3 4 S Rl 8 1 7 f gt Fireface ADAT1 5 6 18 _ _ _ 4 N E ADAT2 I O n 19 6 aw Fireface ADAT1 7 8 7 rerl DAZ TE 20 dl Firefaee ABAT 243 8 Preface ABAFE H LI 96 kHz Routing F reface BOO MME User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 61 29 4 Connector Pinouts TRS jacks of analog input output The stereo 1 4 TRS jacks of the analog inputs and outputs are wired according to international standards Tip hot Ring cold Sleeve GND The servo balanced input and output circuitry allows to use monaural TS jacks unbalanced with no loss in level This is the same as when using a TRS jack with ring connected to ground XLR jacks of analog inputs The XLR jacks are wired according to international standards 1 GND shield 2 hot 3 cold TRS Phones jack The
16. by routing and mixing them in TotalMix to other outputs Playback works but record doesn t Check that there is a valid signal at the input If so the current sample frequency is dis played in the Settings dialog Check whether the Fireface 800 has been selected as recording device in the audio applica tion Check whether the sample frequency set in the audio application Recording properties or similar matches the input signal Check that cables devices have not been connected in a closed loop If so set the sys tems s clock mode to Master Crackle during record or playback Increase the number and size of buffers in the Settings dialog or in the application Try different cables coaxial or optical to rule out any defects here Check that cables devices have not been connected in a closed loop If so set the system s clock mode to Master Increase the buffer size of the hard disk cache Activate Busmaster mode for the hard disks In case of a recently done BIOS update of the motherboard Propably Load BIOS Defaults was loaded instead of Load Setup Defaults This sets the PCI Latency Timer to O default 32 Low Latency ASIO operation under Windows 2000 XP on single CPU systems To use ASIO at lowest latencies under Windows 2000 XP even when only having one CPU the system performance has to be optimized for background tasks Go to Control Panel System Advanced Performance Options Ch
17. click on its label too All three labels have changed to the colour orange which means they are selected Now moving any of these faders will make the other faders move too This is called building a group of faders or ganging faders maintaining their relative position Building groups or ganging can be done in any row but is limited to operate horizontally within one row If you usually don t need this you can at least gang the analog outputs The advan tage over holding the Alt key is that Alt sets both channels to the same level can be handy too while grouping via selection will retain any offset if you need one channel to be louder all the time etc Note if you move the mouse so that any channel reaches upper or lower maximum position and release the mouse button the relative position is lost Tip gang some submixes and watch all routing levels change like crazy in the Matrix view 20 3 Copy Routings to other Channels TotalMix allows to copy complete routing schemes of inputs and outputs Example 1 You have input 5 guitar routed within several submixes hardware outputs headphones Now you ll get another input with keyboards that should appear in the same way on all headphones Select input 5 open the menu Edit It shows Copy In 5 Now select the desired new input for example In 8 The menu now shows Paste In 5 to In 8 Click on it done If you are familiar with this functionality just use Ctrl C and Cir
18. frequency Via Pref Sync Ref preferred synchronization reference a preferred input can be defined As long as the card sees a valid signal there this input will be designated as the sync source oth erwise the other inputs will be scanned in turn If none of the inputs are receiving a valid signal the card automatically switches clock mode to Master To cope with some situations which may arise in studio practice defining a sync reference is essential One example An ADAT recorder is connected to the ADAT input ADAT immediately becomes the AutoSync source and a CD player is connected to the SPDIF input Try recording a few samples from the CD and you will be disappointed Few CD players can be synchronized The samples will inevitably be corrupted because the signal from the CD player is read with the wrong clock from the ADAT i e out of sync In this case Pref Sync Ref should be tempo rarily set to SPDIF 12 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME If several digital devices are to be used simultaneously in a system they not only have to op erate with the same sample frequency but also be synchronous with each other This is why digital systems always need a single device defined as master which sends the same clock signal to all the other slave devices Fireface Settings RME s exclusive SyncCheck technol ay Fireface 1 Fireface 2 DDS About ogy first implemented in the Hammer fa
19. level This would make no sense for the digital inputs but also for the analog inputs one can do without it It doesn t matter if the Fireface is operated at a mixing desk or a mul tichannel mic preamp in either case the level can be controlled directly at the source to match the Fireface s sensitivity perfectly The input sensitivity of the frontside analog inputs can be adjusted using their Gain pots to match any external source perfectly see chapter 14 10 Using more than one Fireface 800 The current driver supports up to three Fireface 800 All units have to be in sync i e have to receive valid sync information either via word clock or by using AutoSync and feeding syn chronized signals e f one of the Firefaces is set to clock mode Master all others have to be set to clock mode AutoSync and have to be synced from the master for example by feeding word clock The clock modes of all units have to be set up correctly in the Fireface Settings dialog e If all units are fed with a synchronous clock i e all units show Sync in their Settings dialog all channels can be used at once This is especially easy to handle under ASIO as the ASIO driver presents all units as one When using all channels of more than one Fireface 800 a FireWire 800 interface is necessary FireWire 400 will usually not suffice for operating more than one Fireface When using only one Fireface 800 a FireWire 800 interface does not improve perfo
20. the ASIO software and select ASIO Fireface as the audio I O device The ASIO system control button opens the Fireface s Settings dialog see chapter 8 Configuration Fireface 800 supports ASIO Direct Monitor ing ADM Please note Ger te konfigurieren Ger te Einstellungen Hinzuf gen Entfernen Ableton Live that currently Nuendo Poi aa A Cubase and Logic do nputs ASIO Fireface ASIO Treiber U g Default MIDI Ports 7 not support ADM com DiectMusic Eingangslatenz 1 134 ms pletely or error free ORION Ausgangslatenz 2 585 ms Clock Quelle Settings Using emulated MIDI drivers causes a drift bel ca Einstellungen Eing nge and delay between Video Player R 4510 Treiber im Hintergrund deaktivieren audio and MIDI Please Morie eim Direktes Mithoren use non emulated Zsitanzsige MME MIDI Ports Experte When the sample fre quency is set to 88 2 or 96 kHz the number of Hilfe Zur cksetzen ASIO ADAT channels is Alle zuriicksetzen E Abbrechen reduced to 4 per ADAT S E port At a sample rate of 176 4 or 192 kHz Quad Speed Mode the ADAT I Os are no longer available Nevertheless it will send out a synchronized ADAT signal at a quarter of the sample rate The ASIO driver corrects the number of channels when changing from Single to Double or Quad Speed The channel routing of both ADAT ports is shown in chapter 29 Ubermnehmen
21. working as a solo in place As soon as one Solo button is pressed all other Mute buttons are activated and light up 18 5 Hotkeys TotalMix knows only a few but very effective key combinations that make setting the mixer up considerably easier and faster The Shift key for the fine mode for faders and panpots has al ready been mentioned But the Ctrl key can do far more than changing the routing pairwise e Clicking anywhere into the fader area with the Citrl key pressed sets the fader to 0 dB 6 dB for the hardware outputs e Clicking anywhere into the pan area with the Ctrl key pressed sets the panorama to lt C gt meaning Center Clicking a Preset button while holding down Ctrl the original factory preset will be loaded e Using Ctrl and any number between 1 and 8 not on the numeric keypad will load the corresponding factory default preset Alt loads the user preset e Clicking the Card 2 button while holding down Ctrl opens a second TotalMix window The faders can also be moved pairwise corresponding to the stereo routing settings This can be achieved by pressing the Alt key and is especially comfortable when setting the SPDIF and Phones output level Even the Panoramas can be operated with Alt from stereo through mono to inversed channels But also the Mute and Solo buttons ganged or inversed switching At the same time TotalMix also supports combinations of these keys If you press Ctrl and Alt at the same time
22. 1 48 64 88 2 96 128 176 4 192 kHz User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 51 27 3 Digital Inputs AES EBU SPDIF 1 x RCA transformer balanced galvanically isolated according to AES3 1992 High sensitivity input stage lt 0 3 Vss SPDIF compatible IEC 60958 Accepts Consumer and Professional format copy protection will be ignored Lock Range 27 kHz 200 kHz Jitter when synced to input signal lt 1 ns Jitter suppression about 30 dB 2 4 kHz ADAT Optical 2 x TOSLINK Standard 16 channels 24 bit up to 48 kHz Sample Split S MUX 2 x 8 channels 24 bit 48 kHz equalling 8 channels 24 bit 96 kHz Bitclock PLL ensures perfect synchronisation even in varispeed operation Lock Range 31 5 kHz 50 kHz Jitter when synced to input signal lt 1 ns Jitter suppression about 30 dB 2 4 kHz Word Clock BNC not terminated 10 kOhm Switch for internal termination 75 Ohm Automatic Double Quad Speed detection and internal conversion to Single Speed SteadyClock guarantees super low jitter synchronization even in varispeed operation Transformer coupled galvanically isolated input Not affected by DC offsets within the network Signal Adaptation Circuit signal refresh through auto center and hysteresis Overvoltage protection Level range 1 0 Vss 5 6 Vss Lock Range 27 kHz 200 kHz Jitter when synced to input signal lt 1 ns Jitter suppression about 30 dB 2 4 kHz 52 User s Guide Fireface 800
23. 20 4 Delete BRouingS sees 43 20 5 Recording a Subgroup Loopback sss sese 44 21 DIGICheckK sese 45 22 Hotline Troubleshooting 22 1 cr TTT 46 22 2 Tee TT 47 22 3 FiteWife AUdIO os sis sierran nin ran nAn AAE EER 47 23 Accessories eee eee 48 24 TECH INFO 2 c 2n2 a2 ar ai ate anina nen 48 25 Warranty 2x22 carant norte aiii 49 26 Appendini 49 27 Technical Specifications G D nT ee stitch a aaa 50 2fe2 Digitaliatasthitta hhh tt AAA AAR eR tek 51 27 3 Digital Inputs E E E E 52 27 4 Digital OUuIpUuIS sees 53 2725 MIDI E E E E E 53 27 6 Transfer Modes Resolution Bits per Sample 53 28 Technical Background 28 1 Lock and SvncCheck eee 54 28 2 Latency and Monitoring sss esse eee eee 55 28 3 DS Double Speed sss eee 56 28 4 QS Quad Speed 56 28 5 AES EBU SPDIF ee 57 28 6 Noise Level in DS QS Mode sees 58 28 7 SteadyClock sese 58 29 Diagrams 29 1 Block Diagram Fireface eee eee 59 29 2 Channel Routing ASIO 96 KHZ sse cee 60 29 3 Channel Routing MME 96 HZ eee eee 61 29 4 Connector Pinous sese 62 30 CE FCC Compliance sese 63 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 1 Introduction Thank you for choosing the Fireface 800 This unique audio system is capable of transferring analog and digital audio data directly to a computer from practically any device The latest Plug and Play technology guarantees a simple installation even for the inexperienced user The numerous unique features and well thought o
24. 6M 3 m 9 9 ft 36005 Firewire cable IEE1394a 6M 6M 5 m 16 4 ft FireWire cable for any FireWire 400 device both sides 6 pin male Cable longer than 16 ft is not specified for FireWire 36003 Optical cable TOSLINK 0 5 m 1 6 ft 36004 Optical cable TOSLINK 1 m 3 3 ft 36006 Optical cable TOSLINK 2 m 6 6 ft 36007 Optical cable TOSLINK 3 m 9 9 ft 36008 Optical cable TOSLINK 5 m 16 4 ft 36009 Optical cable TOSLINK 10 m 33 ft Standard lightpipe with TOSLINK connectors RME approved quality TCOFF Time Code Option Fireface Time Code Option to be inserted in a rear slot adding LTC and Video synchronization inputs to the Fireface 24 TECH INFO Not all information to and around our products fit in a manual Therefore RME offers a lot more and detailed information in the Tech Infos The very latest Tech Infos can be found on our website section News amp Infos or the directory rmeaudio web techinfo on the RME Driver CD These are some of the currently available Tech Infos Synchronization DIGI96 series Digital audio synchronization technical background and pitfalls Installation problems Problem descriptions and solutions Information on driver updates Lists all changes in the drivers DIGICheck Analysis tests and measurements with the DIGI96 series A description of DIGICheck including technical basics ADI 8 Inside Technical information about the RME ADI 8 24 bit AD DA converter HDSP Syst
25. 8 Hardware Output Channel 1 Additionally the risk of feedbacks a basic problem of loopback methods is highly reduced because the feedback can not happen within the mixer but only when the audio software is switched into monitoring mode The block diagram shows how the software s input signal is played back and fed back from the hardware output to the software input A software monitoring on the subgroup record channels is only allowed as long as the monitor ing is routed in both software and TotalMix to a different channel than the active subgroup re cording one 44 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME Recording a Software s playback In real world application recording a software s output with another software will show the fol lowing problem The record software tries to open the same playback channel as the playback software already active or the playback one has already opened the input channel which should be used by the record software This problem can easily be solved First make sure that all rules for proper multi client opera tion are met not using the same record playback channels in both programs Then route the playback signal via TotalMix to a hardware output in the range of the record software and acti vate it via Ctrl mouse for recording Mixing several inputs signals for into one record channel In some cases it is useful to record several sources in only one track For example when using two
26. 8 kHz e Different software can not use the same channels at the same time If for example Cubase uses channels 1 2 this playback pair can t be used in Gigasam pler Studio GSIF nor under MME WaveLab etc anymore This is no limitation at all be cause TotalMix allows any output routing and with this a playback of multiple software on the same hardware outputs Note that the inputs can be used at the same time as the driver sends the data to all applications simultaneously ASIO Multiclient RME audio interfaces support ASIO multi client operation It is possible to use more than one ASIO software at the same time Again the sample rate has to be identical and each software has to use its own playback channels Again the inputs can be used simultaneously RME s sophisticated tool DIGICheck is an exception to this rule It operates like an ASIO host using a special technique to access playback channels already occupied Therefore DIGICheck is able to analyse and display playback data from any software no matter which format the software uses Multi Client and Multi Channel using WDM The WDM Streaming devices of our driver can operate as usual stereo devices or as 8 channel devices The option Interleaved in the Settings dialog determines the current mode Interleaved not active The WDM devices operate as usual stereo devices The multi client operation works as described above with WDM ASIO MME and GSIF Interleaved active The W
27. DAT1 7 8 MME DE MME WDM Fireface ADAT2 1 2 MME G 24 bitak Playback cursor MEEN Hi eal ae MME 5 reface l Increasing the number Y Get position from audi MME WDM Firetace ADAT 2 7 8 MME Perform short fade in when starting playback Correction sampl MME WDM Fireface Analog 3 4 MME WDM Fireface Analog 5 6 MME WDM Fireface Analog 7 8 MME WDM Fireface Analog 9 10 MME WDM Fireface SPDIF MME WDM Fireface ADAT1 1 2 MME WDM Fireface ADAT1 3 4 MME WDM Fireface ADAT1 5 6 MME WDM Fireface ADAT1 7 8 and or size of audio buffers may prevent the audio signal from breaking up but also increases latency i e output is delayed For synchronized playback of audio and MIDI or similar be sure to activate the checkbox Get position from audio driver S Es Vv Transport settings are global to all windows x Cancel The Fireface s ADAT optical interfaces support sample rates of up to 96 kHz using a standard ADAT recorder Single channel data at this frequency requires two ADAT channels achieved using the Sample Split technique This reduces the number of available ADAT channels from 8 to 4 Under Windows MME channels are routed to ADAT devices in double speed mode as follows e Only the four stereo pairs of the ADAT1 port are available e The ADAT2 port is no longer available This kind of implementation allows a problem free usage of both ADAT ports in Single and Double Speed as th
28. DM devices can also be used as 8 channel devices Unfortunately the Kernel Mixer active with any WDM playback then always occupies and blocks 8 channels at once even when WaveLab or the Media Player perform just a stereo playback 2 channels So If any stereo pair within an 8 channel group is used the whole 8 channel group is blocked As a result no second stereo pair of this group can be used neither with ASIO MME nor GSIF The Fireface provides three 8 channel groups the analog inputs 1 to 8 and the two ADAT ports Starting MME ASIO or GSIF playback on any of the stereo pairs of an 8 channel group prior to starting a WDM playback will prevent the Kernel Mixer from opening the 8 channel device as two of its channels are already in use The Kernel Mixer then automatically reverts to open a stereo device for a stereo playback Software which is capable of using more than one MME device usually uses the WDM MME devices A surround playback via Media Player should be possible without the need of recon figuration That s why the mode Interleaved is activated in the Settings dialog by default User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 19 9 7 Digital Recording Unlike analog soundcards which produce empty wave files or noise when no input signal is present digital interfaces always need a valid input signal to start recording Taking this into account RME have included three unique features in the Fireface 800 a com prehensive I O
29. Latency Val ues between 48 and 256 samples are available This setting is valid for MME ASIO and GSIF at the same time with values above 256 only effecting ASIO Our test computers allow to use even 48 samples without clicks but will show a higher basic CPU load then Therefore we rec ommend to use at least 64 samples Please note that this setting only defines the buffer size of the hardware The true and effective latency is configured within the MME application Attention the DMA buffers must not be larger than the application s buffers Playback will be stuttering and audio will be distorted Example when you set the Fireface to 256 you can t use 128 in any program But setting the MME buffer to 128 allows to use 128 and all higher values within the software Please also note that this is a you re welcome to try feature We can t guarantee that you will be able to use 3 or 6 ms with MME Simply check out by yourself which lowest setting your system and software allows Some motherboards with insufficient PCI bandwidth especially VIA based suffer from crackling at settings below 512 Be sure to set the buffer size to 512 or higher in such a case or trash the motherboard User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 17 9 5 Notes on WDM The driver offers two devices per stereo pair like Fireface Analog 1 2 and Fireface Analog 1 2 MME Fireface Analog 1 2 The devices having no MME at the end are WDM Streaming Devices WDM Stream
30. Lock LED on the front DIGITAL STATE will light up as soon as a word clock signal is detected To change to word clock as clock source active clock mode AutoSync and switch Pref Sync Ref to Word Clock The status display AutoSync Ref changes to Word as soon as a valid signal is present at the BNC jack This message has the same meaning as the green Lock LED but appears on the monitor i e the user can check immediately whether a valid word clock signal is present and is currently being used AutoSync Ref also displays the frequency Freq of the reference signal here the frequency of the current word clock signal measured by the hardware 32 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 18 TotalMix Routing and Monitoring The Fireface 800 includes a powerful digital real time mixer RME s unique TotalMix technol ogy allows for nearly unlimited mixing and routing with all inputs and playback channels simul taneously Here are some typical applications for TotalMix setting up delay free submixes headphone mixes unlimited routing of inputs and outputs free utilisation patchbay function distributing signals to several outputs at a time simultaneous playback of different programs over only one stereo channel mixing of the input signal to the playback signal complete ASIO Direct Monitoring integration of external devices effects etc in real time The block diagram of the TotalMix mixer of the Fireface 800 shows that the record signal a
31. S unweighted at 192 kHz even from 0 Hz to 96 kHz When limiting the measured area to 22 kHz audio bandpass weighted the value would be 110 dB again This can be verified even with RME s DIGICheck Although a dBA weighted value does not include such a strong bandwidth limitation as audio bandpass does the dis played value of 108 dB is nearly identical to the one at 48 kHz im DIGICheck Bit Statistic amp Noise AE File Function Options Help Subframe MSB Audio Data LSB AUX CUV RMS dB 3 RMS dBAtS DC dB 1 Let EEES RRR HHR ERR EERE 210 1085 Low 2 Rigt HAEE REER ERS AAEE o 221 ose Low Bits 4 8 12 16 20 24 Press F1 for help SR 192kHz The reason for this behaviour is the noise shaping technology of the analog to digital convert ers They move all noise and distortion to the in audible higher frequency range above 24 kHz That s how they achieve their outstanding performance and sonic clarity Therefore the noise is slightly increased in the ultrasound area High frequent noise has a high energy Add the dou bled quadrupled bandwidth and a wideband measurement will show a siginificant drop in SNR while the human ear will notice absolutely no change in the audible noise floor 28 7 SteadyClock The SteadyClock technology of the Fireface 800 guarantees an excellent performance in all clock modes Thanks to a highly efficient jitter suppression the AD and DA conversion always operates on
32. Single Speed SPDIF or AES input signal m Pelsen r SyneCheck AutoSync Ref L Emphasis Word Clock Sync Input ward Mine ADATIIn Syne Freg 44 1 kHz Input Level SPDIF Freg ADAT2In NoLlock System Clock Defines the reference level for the 40 khz cee ees Mode Slave rear analog inputs 1 8 Read Flash Memory Store in Flash Memory Freg 44 1 kHz Output Level Abbrechen Defines the reference level for the rear analog outputs 1 8 Phantom Power Phantom power 48V can be selected for each microphone input seperately Instrument Options Drive activates 25 dB additional gain for maximum sustain and brute distortion Speaker Emulation removes low frequency noise and cuts off higher frequencies Word Clock Out The word clock output signal usually equals the current sample rate Selecting Single Speed causes the output signal to always stay within the range of 32 kHz to 48 kHz So at 96 kHz and 192 kHz sample rate the output word clock is 48 kHz User s Guide Fireface 800 RME SyncCheck SyncCheck indicates whether there is a valid signal Lock No Lock for each input Word clock ADAT1 ADAT2 SPDIF or if there is a valid and synchronous signal Sync The Auto Sync Ref display shows the input and frequency of the current sync source Options Check Input verifies the current digital input signal against the settings in the record program When de activated a recording will always be allowed even w
33. The MIDI ports are added to the system by the driver Using MIDI capable software these ports can be accessed under the name Fire face Midi Using more than one Fireface the operating system adds a consecutive number to the port name like Fireface MIDI 1 etc Since driver version 1 6 the MME MIDI input port supports multi client operation A MIDI input signal can be distributed to several programs at the same time Additionally the GSIF 2 Low Latency MIDI port is available for use with Gigastudio 3 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 29 17 Word Clock 17 1 Word Clock Input and Output SteadyClock guarantees an excellent performance in all clock modes Based on the highly efficient jitter suppression the Fireface refreshes and cleans up any clock signal and provides it as reference clock at the BNC output see section 24 Input The Fireface s transformer isolated word clock input is active when Pref Sync Ref in the Set tings dialog has been switched to Word Clock the clock mode AutoSync has been activated and a valid word clock signal is present The signal at the BNC input can be Single Double or Quad Speed the Fireface 800 automatically adapts to it As soon as a valid signal is detected the WC LED is lit and the Settings dialog shows either Lock or Sync see chapter 30 1 Thanks to RME s Signal Adaptation Circuit the word clock input still works correctly even with heavily mis shaped dc prone too small or overshoot pro
34. Up to 192 kHz playback on the analog outputs 1 8 Fireface ADAT1 1 2 Up to 48 kHz playback on channels 13 20 Fireface ADAT2 1 2 Up to 48 kHz playback on channels 21 28 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 53 28 Technical Background 28 1 Lock and SyncCheck Digital signals consist of a carrier and the data If a digital signal is applied to an input the re ceiver has to synchronize to the carrier clock in order to read the data correctly To achieve this the receiver uses a PLL Phase Locked Loop As soon as the receiver meets the exact frequency of the incoming signal it is locked This Lock state remains even with small changes of the frequency because the PLL tracks the receiver s frequency If an ADAT or SPDIF signal is applied to the Fireface 800 the corresponding input LED starts flashing The unit indicates LOCK i e a valid input signal in case the signal is also in sync the LED is constantly lit see below Unfortunately LOCK does not necessarily mean that the received signal is correct with respect to the clock which processes the read out of the embedded data Example 1 The Fireface is set to 44 1 kHz internally clock mode Master and a mixing desk with ADAT output is con nected to input ADAT1 The corresponding LED will show LOCK immediately but usually the mixing desk s sample rate is generated internally also Master and thus slightly higher or lower than the Fireface s internal sample rate Result When re
35. User s Guide R INTELLIGENT AUDIO SOLUTIONS Fireface 800 The most powerful FireWire audio interface ever DVD i TotalMix 4ASiO 24 Bit 192 kHz Y SyncAlign ZLM SyncCheck 4 me adati raf SteadyClock z FireWire 800 400 Digital I O System 10 16 2 Channels Analog ADAT SPDIF Interface 24 Bit 192 kHz Digital Audio 56 x 28 Matrix Router MIDI I O Stand Alone Operation Contents 1 Mtrod cti N ieas aan an E 4 2 Package Contents eee d 2 System Reguirementse eee eee eee d d Brief Description and Characteristics 4 5 Hardware Installation sese 5 6 Driver and Firmware 6 1 Driver installation sees 5 6 2 Driver Update 2 0 0 2 sese 6 6 3 Firmware Update sss sese 6 6 4 Deinstalling the Drivers sese eee eee 6 7 First Usage Quick Sart eee 7 8 Configuring the Fireface 8 1 Settings dialog General eee eee 8 8 2 Settings dialog DDS sese 11 8 3 Clock Modes Synchronization 12 9 Operation and Usage 9 1 Connectors Display eee eee 14 9 2 Playback see 15 9 3 DVD Playback AC 3 DTS 16 9 4 Low Latency under MME eee 17 9 5 Notes on WDM eee 18 9 6 Multi client Operation sese eee eee 19 9 7 Digital Recording sss eee eee 20 9 8 Analog Recording eee eee 21 10 Using more than one Fireface sese eee 21 11 Operation under ASIO 2 0 Tiet General rierriko aiana naa 22 11 2 Known Problems sss eee eee eee 22 12 Operation under GSE 23 13 Stand alone Op
36. ace 800 RME 27 16 Digital Connections 16 1 ADAT The ADAT optical inputs of the Fireface 800 are fully compatible with all ADAT optical outputs RME s unsurpassed Bitclock PLL prevents clicks and drop outs even in extreme varipitch op eration and guarantees a fast and low jitter lock to the digital input signal A usual TOSLINK cable is sufficient for connection More information on Double Speed S MUX can be found in chapter 30 1 ADAT1 IN Interface for the first or only device sending an ADAT signal to the Fireface 800 Carries the channels 1 to 8 When receiving a Double Speed signal this input carries the channels 1 to 4 ADAT2 IN Interface for the second device sending an ADAT signal to the Fireface 800 Carries the chan nels 9 to 16 When receiving a Double Speed signal this input carries the channels 5 to 8 Can also be used as SPDIF optical input ADAT1 Out Interface for the first or only device receiving an ADAT signal from the Fireface 800 Transmits channels 1 to 8 When sending a Double Speed signal this port carries channels 1 to 4 ADAT2 Out Interface for the second device receiving an ADAT signal from the Fireface 800 Transmits channels 9 to 16 When sending a Double Speed signal this port carries channels 5 to 8 Can also be used as SPDIF optical output 16 2 SPDIF The SPDIF input is configured in the Settings dialog available by a click on the fire symbol in the Task Bar s system tray The Fireface 800 ac
37. ading out the data there will fre quently be read errors that cause clicks and drop outs Also when using multiple inputs a simple LOCK is not sufficient The above described problem can be solved elegantly by setting the Fireface from Master to AutoSync its internal clock will then be the clock delivered by the mixing desk But in case another un synchronous device is connected there will again be a slight difference in the sample rate and therefore clicks and drop outs In order to display those problems optically at the device the Fireface includes SyncCheck It checks all clocks used for synchronicity lf they are not synchronous to each other i e abso lutely identical the SYNC LED of the asynchronous input flashes In case they are completely synchronous all LEDs are constantly lit In example 1 it would have been obvious that the LED ADAT 1 kept on flashing after connecting the mixing desk In practice SyncCheck allows for a quick overview of the correct configuration of all digital devices So one of the most difficult and error prone topics of the digital studio world finally becomes easy to handle The same information is presented in the Fireface s Settings dialog In the status display Sync Check the state of all clocks is decoded and shown as simple text No Lock Lock Sync 54 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 28 2 Latency and Monitoring The term Zero Latency Monitoring was introduced by RME in 1998 for the
38. age At 10 dBV 12 to 15 dB headroom are common practice each mixing desk operating at 10 dBV is able to send and receive much higher levels Hi Gain is best suited for professional users who prefer to work balanced and at highest levels The above levels are also found in our ADI 8 series of AD DA converters the Multiface and even in our Mic Preamps QuadMic and OctaMic Therefore all RME devices are fully compati ble to each other 15 2 Headphones Channels 9 10 of the Fireface are available on the front via one 1 4 unbalanced TRS jack stereo output These channels use the same converters as the other Line outputs therefore offer the same technical data 119 dBA SNR Instead of using internal electronic switches their output level is changed step less with the VOL pot These outputs are special low imedance types ready to be used with headphones But they can also be used as high quality yet unbalanced Line outputs Like all other outputs channels 9 10 can also be controlled by TotalMix Left regarding level and monitoring of any input or playback channels Right submix like factory presets 1 and AF 2 Shield In case the output should operate as line output an adapter TRS plug to RCA phono plugs or TRS plug to TS plugs is required The pin assignment follows interna tional standards The left channel is connected to the tip the right chan Shield nel to the ring of the TRS jack plug User s Guide Firef
39. ampler active guitars and much more The Line inputs handle levels from 28 dBu up to 22 dBu Two LEDs display a present signal from 45 dBFS on and warn against overload 2 dBFS Channels 7 8 can be switched between Line rear microphone and Line microphone simulta neously in the Settings dialog The front Line input can be used simultaneously with the micro phone input This way up to three different sound sources Line rear Line front microphone may be recorded at the same time on one channel User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 25 14 3 Instrument The instrument input of the Fireface 800 has been optimized especially for guitar and bass A soft clipping function limits the level from 10 dBFS on and offers tube like distortion at full overload The extra Drive stage adds even more distortion and also increased sustain The Speaker Emulator gently shapes the sound for an optimal recording experience LIM The distortion caused by the clipping function of the instrument input is audible Depending on use and application the new harmonics can be nice or disturbing e The guitar s volume pot can blend from clean up to full distortion e A rhythm guitar s sound is enhanced by a popular tube like sound e All dynamic peaks of a slapped bass guitar are removed without audible artifacts e An accurately played clean acoustic guitar will sound crunchy e Steady tones sound distorted guitar keyboards bass Distortion can be com
40. ange the default Applications to Back ground tasks The lowest usable latency will drop from 23 ms to around 3 ms Notes on Input selection Front and rear inputs of the Fireface 800 can be used alternatively or together An inactive input will be muted The rear inputs are muted by an attenuation of 80 dB Therefore in specific cases the rear inputs can bleed through into the front inputs When using the front inputs make sure that no high level signals are present at the corresponding rear inputs 46 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 22 2 Installation After the driver installation the Fireface 800 is found in the Device Manager gt Settings Control Panel System lt category Sound Video and Gamecontroller A double click on RME Fireface 800 starts the properties dialog The well known entry Resources does not exist becuase the Fireface is an external device connected to the FireWire Controller The latter can be used to check interrupt and memory range The newest information on hardware problems can always be found on our website www rme audio de section FAQ Hardware Alert about incompatible hardware In case the Hardware Wizard does not show up automatically after installation of the card do not attempt to install the drivers manually An installation of drivers for non recognized hardware will cause a blue screen when booting Windows Possible causes for a Fireface not found automatically e The FireWire por
41. anges between the clock SPDIF Out Word Clock Out C vid sources Word Clock ADAT1 ADAT2 J ADAT2 V Single Speed SPDIF LTC and Video LTC Video T Professional SyncCheck AutoSync Ref when using the optional TCO mod L Emphasis word Clock Sync Input word ule Non Audio ADATIIn Sune Freg 44 1 kHz ADAT2In NoLock S ie SPDIFIn Lock mEes System Clock 0 Mode Slave Shows the current clock state of the Read Flash Memory Store in Flash Memory Freq 44 1 kHz Fireface 800 The system is either Master using its own clock or Slave OK Abbrechen AutoSync Ref E E Read Flash Memory A click on this button causes all settings to change to the ones stored in the flash memory of the Fireface Store in Flash Memory A click on this button transmits all current settings into the flash memory of the Fireface 10 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 8 2 Settings dialog DDS Usually soundcards and audio interfaces get their internal clock master mode from a quartz Therefore the internal clock can be set to 44 1 kHz or 48 kHz but not to a value in between SteadyClock RME s sensational Low Jitter Clock System is based on a Direct Digital Synthe sizer DDS This superior circuitry can generate nearly any frequency with highest precision DDS has been implemented into the Fireface with regard to the needs of professional video applications as well as to maximum flexibility The dialog DDS includes both a list of typical
42. artz based clock The end of these problems should have been the so called Superclock which uses 256 times the word clock frequency This equals the internal quartz frequency so no PLL for multiplying is needed and the clock can be used directly But reality was different the Superclock proved to be much more critical than word clock A square wave signal of 11 MHz distributed to several devices this simply means to fight with high frequency technology Reflections cable quality capacitive loads at 44 1 kHz these factors may be ignored at 11 MHz they are the end of the clock network Additionally it was found that a PLL not only generates jitter but also also rejects disturbances The slow PLL works like a filter for induced and modulated frequencies above several kHz As the Superclock is used without any filtering such a kind of jitter and noise sup pression is missing No wonder Superclock did not become a commonly accepted standard The actual end of these problems is offered by the SteadyClock technology of the Fireface 800 Combining the advantages of modern and fastest digital technology with analog filter techniques re gaining a low jitter clock signal of 11 MHz from a slow word clock of 44 1 kHz is no problem anymore Additionally jitter on the input signal is highly rejected so that even in real world usage the re gained clock signal is of highest quality User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 31 17 3 Cabling and Termination Wor
43. ate the unit needs to be reset This is done by powering down the Fireface for a few seconds A reboot of the computer is not necessary When the update fails status failure the unit s second BIOS will be used from the next cold boot on Secure BIOS Technology Therefore the card stays fully functional The flash process should then be tried again on a different computer 6 4 Deinstalling the Drivers A deinstallation of the Fireface s driver files is not necessary and not supported by Windows anyway Thanks to full Plug amp Play support the driver files will not be loaded after the hardware has been removed If desired these files can then be deleted manually Unfortunately Windows Plug amp Play methods do not cover the additional autorun entries of TotalMix the Settings dialog and the registration of the ASIO driver These entries can be removed from the registry by a software deinstallation request This request can be found like all deinstallation entries in Control Panel Software Click on the entry RME Fireface 6 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 7 First Usage Quick Start Connect the TRS jacks or the XLR connectors with the analog signal source The input sensitiv ity of the rear inputs can be changed in the Settings dialog Input Level assuring the highest signal to noise ratio will be achieved Try to achieve an optimum input level by adjusting the source itself Raise the source s output level until the leve
44. back TotalMix supports a routing of the subgroup outputs hardware outputs third row to the re cording software Instead of the signal at the hardware input the signal at the hardware output is sent to the record software This way complete submixes can be recorded without an exter nal loopback cable Also the playback of a software can be recorded by another software To activate this function click on the white label in the third row while holding down the Ctrl key The label s colour changes to red In case the channel has already been part of a group the colour will change from yellow to orange signalling that the group functionality is still active for this channel In loopback mode the hardware input of the corresponding channel is no longer sent to the recording software but still passed through to TotalMix Therefore TotalMix can be used to route this input signal to any hardware output Using the subgroup recording the input can still be recorded on a different channel As each of the 28 hardware outputs can be routed to the record software and none of these hardware inputs get lost TotalMix offers an overall flexibility and performance not rivaled by any other solution A 3 to 28 RME TotalMix Fireface 800 HDSP Mixer Hardware Input Channel 1 Loopback Mode B K K kan Block Diagram 06 2004 1 of 28 Solo Qs Mute o 5 l L 5 to 28 Loopback Audio Software Playback Ch 1 1 of 2
45. be routed and mixed to any hardware output third row e Lower row hardware outputs Because they refer to the output of a subgroup the level is usually only attenuated here in order to avoid overloads Routing is not possible Every single channel has various elements Input and playback channels each have a mute and solo button Below each there is the panpot realized as indicator bar L R in order to save space In the window below this the present level is displayed in RMS or Peak being updated about every half a second Overs are indicated here by an additional red dot Then comes the fader with a levelmeter The meter shows both peak values zero attack 1 sample is enough for displaying full scale by means of a yellow line and mathematically correct RMS values by means of a green bar The RMS display has a relatively slow time constant so that it shows the average loudness quite well Below the fader the current gain and panorama values are shown The white area shows the channel name the black area shows the current routing target Se lecting one or more channels is done by clicking on the white label which turns yellow then 34 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 18 2 Tour de TotalMix In the following chapters we will explain all functions of the mixer surface step by step Starting up TotalMix the last settings are recalled automatically When executing the application for the first time a default file is load
46. bels are floating They won t left the visible area when scrolling 19 2 Operation Using the Matrix is a breeze It is very easy to indentify the current crosspoint because the labels light up in orange according to the mouse position If input 1 is to be routed to output 1 use the mouse and click one time on crosspoint In1 1 The green 0 0 GB field pops in another click removes it To change the gain equals the use of a different fader position see simultaneous display of the mixer view hold Ctrl down and drag the mouse up or down starting from the gain field The value within the field changes accord ingly The corresponding fader in the mixer view is moving simultaneously in case the cur rently modified routing is visible Note the difference between the left side representing the inputs and software playback sources and the upper side representing the hardware outputs If you move a fader in row 1 or 2 in TotalMix only the specific levels max 2 of this routing will change in the Matrix But moving a fader in row 3 will make all vertically activated levels move at once for example 9 10 phones output A gain field marked orange indicates activated Mute status Mute can only be changed in the mixer view User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 41 19 3 Advantages of the Matrix The Matrix not always replaces the mixer view but it significantly enhances the routing capa bilities and more important is a brilliant way to
47. cepts all commonly used digital sources as well as SPDIF and AES EBU Channel status and copy protection are ignored In SPDIF mode identical signals are available at both the optical and the coaxial output An obvious use for this would be to connect two devices i e using the Fireface 800 as a splitter distribution 1 on 2 To receive signals in AES EBU format an adapter cable is required Pins 2 and 3 of a female XLR plug are connected 0 1 individually to the two pins of a phono plug The cable shielding is only con nected to pin 1 of the XLR not to the Shield phono plug n c The ground free design with transformers for coaxial digital inputs and outputs offers a trou ble free connection of all devices along with perfect hum rejection and full AES EBU compati bility 28 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME Special Characteristics of the SPDIF Output Apart from the audio data itself digital signals in SPDIF or AES EBU format have a header containing channel status information False channel status is a common cause of malfunction The Fireface 800 ignores the received header and creates a totally new one for the output sig nal Note that in record or monitor modes set emphasis bits will disappear Recordings origi nally done with emphasis should always be played back with the emphasis bit set This can be done by selecting the Emphasis switch in the Settings dialog SPDIF Out This setting is updated immediately
48. ch adapters are available in your local computer store also as complete cables 4 pin to 6 pin e Power on the notebook Switch on the Fireface when Windows shows the desktop 6 Driver and Firmware 6 1 Driver Installation After the Fireface has been switched on see 5 Hardware Installation the green arrow symbol appears in the task bar dialog Remove hard Misk 11 13 ware because Windows has detected an external hardware gt Insert the RME Driver CD into your CD ROM drive and follow further instructions which appear on your computer screen The driver files are located in the directory Fireface W2k on the RME Driver CD Windows now installs the driver of the Fireface 800 and registers it as a new audio device in the system After a reboot the symbols of mixer and Settings dialog will appear in the task bar see above The red Host error LED extinguishes In case the warning messages Digital signature not found Do not install driver not certified driver or similar come up Don t listen to Microsoft listen to us and continue with the installa tion In case the Hardware Wizard does not show up automatically after installation of the card do not attempt to install the drivers manually An installation of drivers for non recognized hardware will cause a blue screen when booting Windows Possible reasons why a Fireface is not found automatically e The FireWire port is not active in the system drivers o
49. chen sic sample rate Click Active to acti vate it Minimum step size 1 Hz Notes on the faders A mouse click within the fader area above or below the fader know will move the fader with the smallest step size up or down Holding the Ctrl key while clicking will cause the fader to jump to its center 0 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 11 Application examples DDS allows for a simultaneous change of speed and tune during record and playback From alignment to other sources up to creative effects everything is possible DDS allows to intentionally de tune the complete DAW This way the DAW can match instru ments which have a wrong or unchangeable tuning DDS allows to define a specific sample rate This feature can be is useful in case the system randomly changes the sample rate for unknown reasons It also prevents a change from Double Speed 96 kHz to Single Speed 48 kHz which would cause configuration and routing problems by the changed amount of ADAT channels 8 3 Clock Modes Synchronization In the digital world all devices must be either Master clock source or Slave synchronized to a master Whenever several devices are linked within a system there must always be a single master clock The Fireface s intelligent clock control is very user friendly being able to switch between clock modes automatically Selecting AutoSync will activate this mode In AutoSync mode the system
50. clicking with the mouse makes the faders jump to 0 dB pairwise and they can be set pairwise by Shift Alt in fine mode Also very useful the faders have two mouse areas The first area is the fader button which can be grabbed at any place without changing the position This avoids unwanted changes when clicking onto it The second area is the whole fader setting area Clicking into this area makes the fader jump to the mouse at once If you want to set several faders to m a for instance it is sufficient to click onto the lower end of the fader path Which happens pairwise with the Alt key pressed 36 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME Using the hotkeys O and P the complete row each of Input Playback and Output channels can be toggled between visible and invisible Hotkey S switches Submix view on off Those four hotkeys have the same functionality as the buttons in the View section of the Quick Access Panel The Level Meter Setup dialog can be opened via F2 as in DIGICheck Hotkey M toggles Mute Master on off and with this performs a global mute on off Hotkey X toggles the Matrix view on off see chapter 19 hotkey T the mixer view Hotkey L links all faders as stereo pairs Further hotkeys are available to control the configuration of the Level Meter see chapter 18 9 Key 4 or 6 Display range 40 or 60 dB Key E or R Numerical display showing Peak or RMS Key 0 or 3 RMS display absolute or relative to 0 dBFS 18 6 The Quick Acce
51. constantly scans all digital inputs for a valid signal If any valid signal is found the Fireface switches from the internal quartz System Clock Mode displays Master to a clock extracted from the input signal System Clock Mode displays Slave The difference to a usual slave mode is that whenever the clock reference fails the system will automatically use its internal clock and operate in Master mode AutoSync guarantees that record and record while play will always work correctly In certain cases however e g when the inputs and outputs of a DAT machine are connected directly to the Fireface 800 AutoSync may cause feedback in the digital carrier so synchronization breaks down To remedy this switch the Fireface s clock mode over to Master Remember that a digital system can only have one master If the Fireface s clock mode is d set to Master all other devices must be set to Slave The Fireface s ADAT optical and SPDIF inputs operate simultaneously Because there is no input selector however the Fireface 800 has to be told which of the signals is the sync refer ence a digital device can only be clocked from a single source The Fireface has been equipped with AutoSync an automatic clock source selection which adopts the first available input with a valid digital signal as the clock reference input The input currently used as sync reference is shown in the AutoSync Ref status field together with its sample
52. d clock signals are usually distributed in the form of a network split with BNC T adapters and terminated with resistors We recommend using off the shelf BNC cables to connect all devices as this type of cable is used for most computer networks You will find all the neces sary components T adapters terminators cables in most electronics and or computer stores Ideally the word clock signal is a 5 Volt square wave with the frequency of the sample rate of which the harmonics go up to far above 500 kHz To avoid voltage loss and reflections both the cable itself and the terminating resistor at the end of the chain should have an impedance of 75 Ohm If the voltage is too low synchronization will fail High frequency reflection effects can cause both jitter and sync failure Unfortunately there are still many devices on the market even newer digital mixing consoles which are supplied with a word clock output that can only be called unsatisfactory If the output breaks down to 3 Volts when terminating with 75 Ohms you have to take into account that a device of which the input only works from 2 8 Volts and above does not function correctly already after 3 meter cable length So it is not astonishing that because of the higher voltage word clock networks are in some cases more stable and reliable if cables are not terminated at all Ideally all outputs of word clock delivering devices are designed with very low impedance but all word clock
53. e Gain 23 dB e Maximum input level Gain 1 10 dBFS 10 dBu e Maximum input level Gain 9 10 dBFS 42 dBu s LIM LED 10 dBFS s SIG LED 40 dBFS e Mute gt 120 dB 50 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME DA Line Out 1 8 rear Resolution 24 bit Dynamic range DR 116 dB 119 dBA 44 1 kHz unmuted Frequency response 44 1 kHz 0 1 dB 1 Hz 21 1 kHz Frequency response 96 kHz 0 5 dB 1 Hz 43 5 kHz Frequency response 192 kHz 1 dB 1 Hz 70 kHz THD 103 dB lt 0 0007 THD N 100 dB lt 0 0001 Channel separation gt 110 dB Maximum output level 19 dBu Output 6 3 mm TRS jack servo balanced Output impedance 75 Ohm Output level switchable Hi Gain 4 dBu 10 dBV Output level at 0 dBFS Hi Gain 19 dBu Output level at 0 d BFS 4 dBu 13 dBu Output level at 0 dBFS 10 dBV 2 dBV DA Stereo Monitor Output Phones as DA but Output 6 3 mm TRS jack unbalanced stereo Maximum output level at 0 dBFS 17 dBu Output impedance 30 Ohm 27 2 Digital Clocks Internal ADAT In SPDIF In Low Jitter Design lt 1 ns in PLL mode all inputs Internal clock 800 ps Jitter Random Spread Spectrum Jitter suppression of external clocks about 30 dB 2 4 kHz Effective clock jitter influence on AD and DA conversion near zero PLL ensures zero dropout even at more than 100 ns jitter Digital Bitclock PLL for trouble free varispeed ADAT operation Internal sample rates 32 44
54. e for a level meter Therefore we had corrected DIGICheck s sae RMS display by 3 dB a full scale sine signal shows both a g s 0 dBFS Peak and RMS This setting also yields directly readable signal to noise values while other applications like WaveLab will show a value 3 dB better than actual because the reference is not 0 dB but 3 dB The value displayed in the text field is independent of the setting 40 60 dB it represents the full 24 bit range of the RMS measurement thus making possible a SNR measurement RMS unweighted which you would oth erwise need extremely expensive measurement devices for An ADI 8 DS connected to the Fireface will there fore show around 113 dB on all 8 channels This level display will constantly bring the reduced dy Ping Je ing fein 10 fein tt fel namic range of your equipment maybe of the whole 5 Phones Phones SPDIF SPDIF studio in front of your eyes Nice to have everything 24 f 15 bit but still noise and hum everywhere in the range around 90 dB or worse sorry but this is hard reality The up side about it is that TotalMix allows for constantly monitoring the signal quality without effort Thus it can be a valuable tool for sound optimization and error removal in the studio Measuring SNR Signal to Noise requires to press R for RMS and 0 for referring to 0 dBFS a full scale signal The text display will then show the same value as an expensive measurement system whe
55. e left channel 1 2 A real hassle In Matrix view you simply click on the corresponding routing point set the level via Ctrl mouse and move on You can see in the desk view how level and pan changes automati cally when performing the second fourth setting 20 TotalMix Super Features 20 1 ASIO Direct Monitoring Start Samplitude Sequoia Cubase or Nuendo and TotalMix Activate ADM ASIO Direct Moni toring and move a fader in the ASIO host Now watch the corresponding fader in TotalMix magically move too TotalMix reflects all ADM gain and pan changes in realtime Please note that faders only move when the currently activated routing currently visible routing corre sponds to the one in the ASIO host Also note that the Matrix will show any change as it shows all possible routings in one view With this TotalMix has become a wonderful debugging tool for ADM Just move the host s fader and pan and see what kind of ADM commands TotalMix receives The hardware output row faders are included in all gain calculation in every possible way Ex ample you have lowered the output level of a submix or just a specific channel by some GB The audio signal passed through via ADM will be attenuated by the value set in the third row 42 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 20 2 Selection and Group based Operation Click on the white name label of channel 1 and 2 in TotalMix Be sure to have channel 3 s fader set to a different position and
56. e routing for ADAT1 doesn t change However the hardware spreads the data differently e Channel 1 is transmitted via channels 1 and 2 channel 2 via 3 and 4 etc e The ADAT2 port transmits channels 5 to 8 Please refer to the diagram in chapter 31 Routing for record and playback is identical User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 15 9 3 DVD Playback AC 3 DTS AC 3 DTS When using popular DVD software players like WinDVD and PowerDVD their audio data stream can be sent to any AC 3 DTS capable receiver using the Fireface s SPDIF output For this to work the WDM SPDIF device of the Fireface 800 MME is not supported by every soft ware has to be selected in Control Panel Sounds and Multimedia Audio Also check use pre ferred device only The DVD software s audio properties now show the options SPDIF Out Use SPDIF or acti vate SPDIF output When selecting these the software will transfer the non decoded digital multichannel data stream to the Fireface This SPDIF signal sounds like chopped noise at highest level Therefore the Fireface 800 automatically activates the non audio bit within the digital data stream to prevent most SPDIF receivers from accepting the signal and to prevent any attached equipment from being dam aged Multichannel PowerDVD and WinDVD can also operate as software decoder sending a DVD s multichannel data stream directly to the analog outputs of the Fireface All modes are supported from
57. ed sending all playback tracks 1 1 to the corresponding hardware outputs with 0 dB gain and activating phones monitoring The faders in the upper row are set to maximum attenuation called m a in the following so there is no monitoring of the input channels We will now create a submix on analog outputs 7 8 Please start a multitrack playback In play back channel 1 middle row labeled Out 1 click onto the routing window below the label A list pops up showing a checkmark in front of AN 1 2 Click onto AN 7 8 The list disappears the routing window no longer shows AN1 2 but AN 7 8 Now move the fader with the mouse As soon as the fader value is unequal m a the present state is being stored and rout ing is activated Move the fader button to around 0 dB The present gain value is displayed below the fader in green letters In the lower row on channel 7 you can also see the level of what you are hearing from output 7 The level meter of the hardware output shows the outgoing level Click into the area above the fader and drag the mouse in order to set the panorama in this case the routing between channels 7 and 8 The present pan value is also being displayed below the fader Please carry out the same steps for Out 2 now in order to route it to output 8 as well Often signals are stereo i e a pair of two channels It is therefore helpful to be able to make the routing settings for two channels at once Hold do
58. em Notebook Basics Notebook Hardware HDSP System Notebook Basics The Audio Notebook in Practice HDSP System Notebook Basics Background Knowledge and Tuning HDSP System Notebook Tests Compatibility and Performance Many background information on laptops Tests of notebooks HDSP System TotalMix Hardware and Technology Background information on the digital mixer of the Hammerfall DSP Fireface FireWire 800 Compatibility Problems FireWire 800 under Windows XP SP2 Problems after installing Service Pack 2 48 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 25 Warranty Each individual Fireface 800 undergoes comprehensive quality control and a complete test at RME before shipping The usage of high grade components allow us to offer a full two year warranty We accept a copy of the sales receipt as valid warranty legitimation If you suspect that your product is faulty please contact your local retailer The warranty does not cover damage caused by improper installation or maltreatment replacement or repair in such cases can only be carried out at the owner s expense RME does not accept claims for damages of any kind especially consequential damage Liabil ity is limited to the value of the Fireface 800 The general terms of business drawn up by Syn thax Audio AG apply at all times 26 Appendix RME news driver updates and further product information are available on our website http www rme audio com If you prefer to read
59. en not only capable of handling standard frequencies but also any sample rate between 28 and 200 kHz Even the word clock input most often used in varispeed operation allows any frequency between 28 kHz and 200 kHz At 88 2 or 96 kHz If the ADAT input has been selected in Pref Sync Ref the sample frequency shown in the SPDIF In field differs from the one shown in AutoSync Ref The card automati cally switches to its Sample Split mode here because ADAT optical inputs and outputs are only specified up to 48 kHz Data from to a single input output is spread over two channels the in ternal frequency stays at 44 1 or 48 kHz In such cases the ADAT sample frequency is only half the SPDIF frequency 8 4 Limit Bandwidth This option allows to reduce the amount of bandwidth used on the FireWire bus A typical ex ample is the use of the Fireface with a laptop Only in seldom cases both ADAT ports are needed in many cases even both stay unused The option Analog SPDIF will reduce the amount of constantly transferred data from around 5 MByte 10 in both directions to only 2 MByte 4 in both directions The FireWire connection will be more stable reliable and robust leaving additonal bandwidth for other devices At the same time the CPU and system load is reduced as less channels have to be processed and to be transferred In TotalMix the corre sponding software playback channels will be replaced with empty plates Availab
60. ency but also have to be in sync All devices connected to the Fireface 800 must be properly configured for Full Duplex operation As long as SyncCheck in the Settings dialog only displays Lock instead of Sync the devices have not been set up properly When using more than one Fireface 800 all Firefaces have to be in sync see chapter 10 Else a periodicly repeated noise will be heared 12 Operation under GSIF Gigasampler Interface Windows 2000 XP The GSIF interface of the Fireface 800 allows direct operation with Gigastudio with up to 28 channels 96 kHz and 24 bit The new GSIF 2 0 is also supported with both audio and MIDI Gigastudio requires a lot of a computer s CPU performance Optimum performance is achieved with a stand alone GSIF PC The GSIF latency of the Fireface 800 can be set between 48 and 256 samples Above 256 only the ASIO latency will rise Such a setting can prevent perform ance problems on slower machines when using ASIO and GSIF at the same time Please note that the W2k XP driver fully supports multi client operation including the combina tion MME ASIO So for example Cubase Gigastudio and Sonar can be used simultaneously provided each of these programs use audio channels exclusively on the Fireface 800 For ex ample ASIO could use channels 1 2 and Gigastudio with GSIF channels 3 4 simultaneously and so on Simultaneous operation of GSIF and ASIO requires to use different channels For example if C
61. eration 13 1 10 channel AD DA Converter sessen 24 13 2 4 channel Mic Preamp sees eee eee 24 13 3 Monitor Mixer sees eee eee 24 13 4 Digital Format Converter sss sees eee eee 24 13 5 Analog digital Routing Matrix 24 14 Analog Inputs 14 1 Line Rear sss 25 14 2 Microphone Line Eont sese eee eee 25 14 3 Instrument eee eee eee eee 26 15 Analog Outputs IOT ING ak a a aaa a a Aes 27 15 2 l Leia nc adkadadnd aden Anas anaes 27 16 Digital Connections 162 SADA TTT 28 1622S S RII 1 ee Oo e Cet 28 l MID iccee oon a Con Oe Oe Oe aa 29 17 Word Clock 17 1 Word Clock Input and Output 00 ee 30 17 2 Technical Description and Background 31 17 3 Cables and Termination 32 17 4 General Operation eee 32 2 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 18 TotalMix Routing and Monitoring 33 18 1 Elements of the Surface eee eee 34 18 2 Tour de TotalMix T 35 18 3 SUDMI VIEW iaacitatastatadadatadadidadidadddadidadddadadadiaaad 36 18 4 Mute and Solo TTT 36 18 5 eia 36 18 6 Quick Access Panel 37 18 7 e TTT 38 18 8 Menu Options 0 s 2101252325511325 212 5211032523215 39 18 9 Level Meler TTT 40 19 The Matrix 19 1 Elements of the Surface eee eee eee 41 19 2 Te een nian 41 19 3 Advantages of the Marix eee eee 42 20 TotalMix Super Features 20 1 ASIO Direct Monitoring 42 20 2 Selection and Group based Operation 43 20 3 Copy Routings to other Channels sss sees eee 43
62. f the FireWire PCI or CardBus card have not been installed e The FireWire cable is not or not correctly inserted into the socket e No power After switching the Fireface on at least the red Host error LED has to be lit User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 5 6 2 Driver Update RME s driver updates often include a new fireface inf file To prevent Windows 2000 XP from using an old fireface inf or to copy some of the old driver files be sure NOT to let Windows search for the driver Instead tell Windows what to do Under Control Panel System Device Manager Sound Video and Game Controllers RME Fireface 800 Properties Driver you ll find the Update Driver button Select Install from a list or specific location advanced click Next select Don t search will choose the driver to install click Next then Have Disk Now point to the driver update s directory 6 3 Firmware Update The Flash Update Tool updates the firmware of the Fireface 800 to the latest version It re quires an already installed driver Start the program fireface_fut exe The Flash Update Tool displays the current revision of the Fireface s frimware and whether it needs an update or not If so then simply press the Update button A progress bar will indicate when the flash process is finished Verify Ok If more than one Fireface is installed all units can be flashed by changing to the next tab and repeating the process After the upd
63. get a fast overview on all active routings It shows you in a glance what s going on And since the Matrix operates monaural it is very easy to set up specific routings with specific gains Example 1 You want TotalMix to route all software outputs to all corresponding hardware out puts and have a submix of all inputs and software outputs on the analog output equals factory preset 2 Setting up such a submix is easy But how to check at a later time that all settings are still exactly the way you wanted them to be So far the only way to check that TotalMix is correctly set up this way is to activate Submix view step through all existing software outputs and have a very concentrated look at the fad ers and displayed levels of each routing That doesn t sound comfortably nor error free right Here is where the Matrix shines In the Matrix view you simply see a line from upper left to lower right all fields marked as unity gain Plus two rows vertically all at the same level setting You just need 2 seconds to be sure no unwanted routing is active anywhere and that all levels match precisely Example 2 The Matrix allows you to set up routings which would be nearly impossible to achieve by fiddling around with level and pan Let s say you want to send input 1 to output 1 at 0 dB to output 2 at 3 dB to output 3 at 6 dB and to output 4 at 9 dB Each time you set up the right channel 2 4 the change in pan destroys the gain setting of th
64. highest sonic level being completely independent from the quality of the incoming clock signal SteadyClock has been originally de veloped to gain a stable and clean clock from the heavily jittery MADI data signal the embedded MADI clock suffers from about 80 ns jitter Using the Fireface s input signals SPDIF and ADAT you ll most probably never experience such high jitter values But SteadyClock is not only ready for them it would handle them just on the fly Common interface jitter values in real a world applications are below 10 ns a W 10 0ns very good value is less than 2 ns The screnshot shows an extremely jittery SPDIF signal of about 50 ns jitter top graph yellow SteadyClock turns this signal into a clock with less than 2 ns jitter lower graph blue The sig nal processed by SteadyClock is of course not only used internally but also used to clock the digital outputs Therefore the refreshed and jitter cleaned signal can be used as reference clock without hesitation 58 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 29 Diagrams 29 1 Block Diagram Fireface 800 u ra CS 300 TOWN E Sau Gua TOA oL C Oe HN SO lt O sO O O O tO OL gt Ur H waydnog ozdo oL S ova CR wa E SL ova X30793 OHO 8 oor Ma OOS Ma upg Abt opnyg SMa OA 18916810 O Oe O S ueg Or Sel eur paeovepg 8 a He Jq g B R O Buiesaoa a e140 oL e o7 Os XIN EIOL
65. hod offers two major advantages e Presets modified by the user will not be overwritten when reinstalling or updating the driver e The factory presets remain unchanged and can be reloaded anytime Mouse The original factory presets can be reloaded by holding down the Cirl key and clicking on any preset button Alternatively the files described above can be renamed moved to a dif ferent directory or being deleted Keyboard Using Ctrl and any number between 1 and 8 not on the numeric keypad will load the corresponding factory default preset Alt loads the user presets The 8 factory presets offer not only a useful functionality for TotalMix but also a pretty good base to modify them to your personal needs Preset 1 Description All channels routed 1 1 monitoring of all playback channels via Phones Details All inputs maximum attenuation m a All playback channels 0 dB routet to the same output All outputs 0 dB Phones 6 dB Submix of all inputs and playbacks to channel 9 10 Phones All channels prepared for all routings to left right panning Level display RMS 3 dB l Note This preset is Default offering the standard functionality of a 1 O system Preset 2 Description All channels routed 1 1 input and playback monitoring via Phones As Preset 1 plus submix of all inputs 0 dB to channels 9 10 Phones Preset 3 Description All channels routed 1 1 input and playback monitoring via Phones and outputs As Prese
66. icking on the fire symbol in the Task Bar s system tray The mixer of the Fireface 800 TotalMix can be opened S Hah 11 13 e by clicking on the mixer icon in the Task Bar s system tray The hardware of the Fireface 800 offers a number of helpful well thought of practical functions and options which affect how the card operates it can be configured to suit many different requirements The following is available in the Settings dialog e Input selection Fireface Settings e Level of analog I Os Fireface 1 Fireface 2 DDS About e Configuration of digital I Os S Synchronization behaviour m Buffer Size Latency p Input Level m Options S fi d 48 Samples lt l C Lo Gain V Check Input e State of input and output Fe rascal a GG ces e Current sample rate a Le AI V TMS e Latency 1 Instrument _ F Output Level IV Interleaved 7 Line SIT a nigan Clock Mode Any changes made in the Settings 8 Line Microphoi z gt BEY Y AutoSync dialog are applied immediately C Master confirmation e g by clicking on OK nE Bandwidth PSE S sine Bel or exiting the dialog is not required Al channels x Z Mios I Mieto Word Clock However settings should not be C ADA ln c SPDIF In _ Instrument Options C ADAT2I changed during playback or record if C ADAT2 aT E it can be avoided as this can cause 7 Coail JV Speaker Emulation 5 unwanted noises Also please note SPDIF Out Word Clack
67. ing in order to move the error prone analog filters away from the audible frequency range as far as possible This typically generates a delay of one millisecond A playback and re record of the same signal loopback via DA and AD then causes an offset of the newly recorded track of about 2 ms The exact delays of the Fireface 800 are Sample Fequency Ke 341 3 602 05 1764 102 pnz oss os oas oas ee ee ae H 9 L CCC 08 ee Buffer Size Latency This option in the Settings dialog defines the size of the buffers for the audio data used in ASIO see also chapter 8 1 and 9 4 A setting of 64 samples at 44 1 kHz causes a latency of 1 5 ms for record and playback each In the above example this latency stayed completely unnoticed the newly recorded track was shifted only by the amount of the AD and DA converter s latency The reason for this is that the software naturally knows the size of the buffers therefore is able to position the newly recorded data at a place equalling a latency free system Since the soft ware can not determine the amount of external latency the AD DA converters etc are not part of the automatic correction The user has to add an offset in the software manually to compen sate such delays Safety Buffer FireWire audio differs significantly from RME s previous DMA technology DMA access is not possible at all with FireWire To be able to transmit audio reliably at lower latencies FireWire requires
68. ing is Microsoft s current driver and audio system directly embedded into the operating system WDM Streaming is nearly unusable for professional music purposes as all data is processed by the so called Kernel Mixer causing a latency of at least 30 ms Additionally WDM can per form sample rate conversions unnoticed cause offsets between record and playback data block channels unintentionally and much more Therefore for general operation RME recom mend not to useWDM devices WDM Streaming also replaces the former DirectSound Synthesizers and Samplers which achieved latencies below 10 ms using DirectSound are forced to use WDM in Windows XP And now operate at high latency Meanwhile most of these programs support ASIO as low la tency driver interface Several programs do not offer any direct device selection Instead they use the playback device selected in Windows under Control Panel Sounds and Multimedia Audio Such software often requires the special functions provided by WDM and therefore will operate better when using a WDM device Please note that selecting the Fireface to be used as system playback device is against our recommendations as professional interfaces should not be disturbed by system events The program Sonar from Cakewalk is unique in many ways Sonar uses the so called WDM Kernel Streaming bypassing the WDM mixer thus achieves a similar performance as ASIO and our MME driver see below The superior low latency
69. inputs with high impedance in order to not weaken the signal on the chain But there are also negative examples when the 75 Ohms are built into the device and cannot be switched off In this case the network load is often 2 x 75 Ohms and the user is forced to buy a special word clock distributor Note that such a device is generally recommended for bigger studios The Fireface s word clock input can be high impedance or terminated internally ensuring maximum flexibility If termination is necessary e g because the Fireface is the last device in the chain push the switch at the back beside the BNC socket see chapter 17 1 In case the Fireface 800 resides within a chain of devices receiving word clock plug a T adapter into its BNC input jack and the cable supplying the word clock signal to one end of the adapter Connect the free end to the next device in the chain via a further BNC cable The last device in the chain should be terminated using another T adapter and a 75 Ohm resistor available as short BNC plug Of course devices with internal termination do not need T adaptor and terminator plug Due to the outstanding SteadyClock technology of the Fireface 800 we recommend not to pass the input signal via T adapter but to use the Fireface s word clock output instead Thanks to SteadyClock the input signal will both be freed from jitter and in case of loss or drop out be reset to a valid frequency 17 4 Operation The green
70. io Devices Audio etc We strongly recommend switching all system sounds off via gt Control Panel Sounds lt Also HDSP should not be the Preferred Device for playback as this could cause loss of synchroniza tion and unwanted noises If you feel you cannot do without system sounds you should con sider buying a cheap Blaster clone and select this as Preferred Device in gt Control Panel Multimedia Audio lt The screenshot to the right shows a typical configuration dialog as a Tempo Time code Pe Audio Database amp CD Buming Ry Syne displayed by a stereo General ofl Audio Card S pie fe Appearance D Editing IS Display wave ed ito r After Playback Recording selecting a device MME WDM Fireface Analog 1 2 MME v MME WDM Fireface Analog 1 2 MME lt aud io data is sent MME WDM Microsoft Soundmapper MME WDM Fireface Analo 142 either to an analog or ES m m digital ADAT SPDIF Buta see it FE po rt depending on Latency 16bit 44 1kHz stereo 23 ms x V Convert mono to stereo which has been se lected as playback MME WDM Fireface Analog 5 6 MME MME WDM Fireface Analog 7 8 MME MME WDM Fireface Analog 9 10 MME MME WDM Fireface SPDIF MME MME WDM Fireface ADAT1 1 2 MME Preferred Playback Resolution 19 Auto Stop if drops ou MME WDM Fireface ADAT1 3 4 MME 16 bit e MME WDM Fireface ADAT1 5 6 MME device C 20bit Threshold 20 lug ADN Fireface A
71. ious submixes without any problem Playback Output Submix Also here RME s love for details can be seen If any parameter is being altered after loading a preset e g moving a fader the preset display flashes in order to announce that something was changed still showing which state the present mix is based on 56578 Save Card Presets 23 4 If no preset button is lit another preset had been loaded via the File menu and Open file Mixer settings can of course be saved the usual way and with long file names Up to three Firefaces can be used simultaneously The Card buttons switch between the cards Holding down Ctrl while clicking on button Card2 will open a second window instead of replac ing the current window content The number of ADAT channels is reduced automatically when entering Double Speed mode 88 2 and 96 kHz The display is adjusted accordingly and all fader settings remain stored even the invisible ones User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 37 18 7 Presets TotalMix includes 8 factory presets stored within the program But the presets can be changed at any time because TotalMix stores and reads the changed presets from the files pre set11 fmx to preset81 fmx These files are found in the hidden directory Documents and Set tings lt Username gt Local Settings Application Data RME TotalMix The first number indicates the current preset the second number the current card system This met
72. it short We cannot recommmend using three FireFaces at full load 84 channels with out running into a moral conflict There are considerably higher performing solutions available for these purposes like the HDSP MADI in combination with the ADI 648 The advantage of FireWire is in its portability and simple connection to various computers hot plugging and more One FireFice 800 can achieve a performance similar to a PCI card with an optimal PC An optimal PC has an undisturbed PCI bus Intel s motherboard D875PBZ e g has network PATA and SATA connected directly to the chipset No matter what you do with the computer FireWire audio is not being disturbed The same holds true for the ASUS P4C800 as long as you leave the additional SATA controller connected to the PCI bus unused Due to insufficient buffering within FireWire controllers single peak loads on the PCI bus can already cause loss of one or more data packets This is independent of the manufacturer and no RME problem To the contrary the FireFace 800 has a unique data checking which allows to continue playback in spite of drop outs Other devices on the other hand stop playback cause crashes or distorted playback or require a manual driver reset User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 47 23 Accessories RME offers several optional components for the Fireface 800 Part Number Description 36001 Firewire cable IEE1394a 6M 6M 1 m 3 3 ft 36002 Firewire cable IEE1394a 6M
73. ith non valid input signals Check Input is valid for MME only SyncAlign guarantees synchronous channels when using MME multitrack software This option should only be switched off in case the used software does not work correctly with SyncAlign activated TMS activates the transmission of Channel Status data and Track Marker information of the SPDIF input With Interleaved activated the WDM devices can also be used as 8 channel devices see chapter 9 6 Fireface Settings Clock Mode The card can be configured to use its Fireface 1 Fiteface 2 DDS About internal clock source Master or the r Buffer Size Latency r Input Level m Options clock source pre defined via Pref 48 Samples LoGain IV Check Input Sync Ref AutoSync l IT ee dB SyncAlign TS C A00 dB TMS Pref Sync Ref 1 Instrument v Dutput Level I Interleaved 4 i s i C HiGain Tarai v ite Used to pre select the desired clock 4 4dBu Pe source If the selected source isn t 8 jLine Microphor Z e 0 apy G se ag x aster available the system will change to Limit Bandwidth meee the next available one The current Alchanrels M Mic T Mic9 Pref Sync Ref clock source and sample rate is dis M Mics I Mic 10 a toe DoK played in the AutoSyncRef display SPDIF In r Instrument Options e Raa C ADAT2 T Drive SPDIFIn The automatic clock selection checks Coasial M Speaker Emulation 5 and ch
74. ked by moving the fader to m a This setting deactivates the rout ing why route if there is no level Click onto AN 7 8 in the routing window pull the fader down open the routing window again the checkmark is gone User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 35 18 3 Submix View Such a wide range of possibilities make it difficult to maintain the overview Because practically all hardware outputs can be used for different submixes as shown up to 14 completely inde pendent stereo submixes 7 4 channel submixes etc And when opening the routing windows you might see an army of checkmarks but you don t get an overwiev i e how the signals come together and where This problem is removed by the view mode Submix In this mode all routing windows jump to the routing pair just being selected You can then see immediately which channels which fader and pan settings make a submix for example AN 7 8 At the same time the Submix View simplifies setting up the mixer as all channels can be set simultaneously to the same routing destination with just one click 18 4 Mute and Solo Mute works pre fader thus mutes all active routings of the channel As soon as any Mute but ton is pressed the Mute Master button lights up in the quick access area It can switch all se lected mutes off and on again You can comfortably make mute groups to activate and deacti vate this way The same holds true for the Solo and the Solo Master buttons Solo is
75. l ways stays un altered but can be passed on as often as desired even with different levels The level meter of inputs and playback channels are connected pre fader due to the enormous routing capabilities The level meters of the hardware s outputs are connected post fader 5 2 Bs Ras S 5 52 x 8 0 0 oS SaS 8 ST ST S QO lt Z 2 2 BADGE ZZ ZZ 5S R 9 O of cL oE 9 9 amp ro L ToL TO Wto Fit x Yad ped 8 T ii T IIS t Kl sw AL osa Yoi 9 NGO O CS gt gt A A i N LS S T t p y s F l L F R l T L A z z z z M 12 9 nz nt s Ey f O Ae JO i O gt gt 19 gt gt a a L a nad 2 ga gt De Pd 28 4 W kE b aS gt Jead T P Yeed g ja Li SWN G slg SW JHE gt T lw N 2 LK Le o L os all Slll e 3 e lz i d P ls d LJ Z ao Q N S E Mba Bs LO NP User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 33 18 1 Elements of the Surface The visible design of the TotalMix mixer is mainly determined by the architecture of the Fire face 800 e Upper row hardware inputs The level shown is that of the input signal i e fader inde pendent Via fader and routing window any input channel can be routed and mixed to any hardware output third row e Middle row playback channels playback tracks of the software Via fader and routing window any playback channel can
76. l V Else the self updating menu will always let you know what actually will happen Tip have the Matrix view open when doing this It will show the new routings immediately so copying is easier to understand and to follow Example 2 You have built a comprehensive submix on outputs 4 5 but now need the exact same signal also on the outputs 6 7 Click on Out 4 Ctrl C click on Out 6 Ctrl V same with 5 7 you re done The Matrix shows you the difference between both examples Example 1 means copying lines horizontally while example 2 means copying rows vertically Example 3 Let s say the guitarist finished his recording and you now need the same signal again on all headphones but this time it comes from the recording software playback row No problem you can even copy between rows 1 and 2 copying between row 3 and 1 2 isn t possi ble But how to select while a group is active De selecting the group first Not necessary TotalMix always updates the copy and paste process with the ast selection This way you don t have to de activate any group selections when desiring to perform a copy and paste action 20 4 Delete Routings The fastest way to delete complex routings select a channel in the mixer view click on the menu entry Edit and select Delete Or simply hit the Del key Attention there is no undo in To talMix so be careful with this function User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 43 20 5 Recording a Subgroup Loop
77. l meters in TotalMix reach about 3 dB The analog line inputs of the Fireface 800 can be used with 4 dBu and 10 dBV signals The electronic input stage can handle balanced XLR TRS jacks and unbalanced TS jacks input signals correctly The front inputs signal level can be optimized using the Fireface s Gain pots A Signal LED and a Clip LED help to find the correct level adjustment The Fireface s digital outputs provide SPDIF AES EBU compatible and ADAT optical signals at the corresponding ports On the analog playback side the DA side a coarse adjustment of the analog output level at the rear jacks is available in the Settings dialog Output Level The output signals of channels 9 10 is available on the front Their output level can be set using the VOL pot This output is a very low impedance type which can also be used to connect headphones The function Store in Flash Memory Settings dialog and Flash current mixer state TotalMix allow to store the current settings into the Fireface 800 The unit then remembers all settings and loads these automatically when switched on With this the Fireface 800 can be used stand alone after setting it up accordingly replacing lots of dedicated devices see chapter 13 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 7 8 Configuring the Fireface 8 1 Settings dialog General Configuration of the Fireface 800 is done via its own settings dialog The panel Settings can be opened e by cl
78. le Settings All channels default activates all 28 input and output channels Analog SPDIF ADAT1 disables channels 21 28 ADAT2 Analog SPDIF activates all 10 analog channels plus SPDIF Analog 1 8 activates only the first eight analog channels User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 13 9 Operation and Usage 9 1 Connectors Display The front of the Fireface 800 features an Instrument input microphone inputs and Line inputs with Gain pots a stereo headphone output with volume pot and several status LEDs MIDI I indicates MIDI data received by the MIDI input MIDI O indicates MIDI data sent to the MIDI output The Digital State LEDs WC SPDIF ADAT TCO indicate separately for each digital input a valid input signal Addition BS H Z H J MONTOR ally RME s exclusive SyncCheck indicates B i gas ee eu ANALOG DIGITAL STATE if one of these inputs is locked but not syn G chronous to the others in which case the LED will flash See also chapter 8 3 Clock PHONES Modes Synchronization The red HOST LED lights up when the Fireface 800 has been switched on thus signalling the presence of operating voltage At the same time it operates as Error LED in case the FireWire connection hasn t been initialised yet or has been interrupted Error cable not connected etc Phones is a low impedance line output of highest quality which can produce a sufficient undis torted volume also when used with headphones The rea
79. ll enables an easy to use check and m Buffer Size Latency r Input Level r Options display of the current clock status 48Samples C LoGain S Se SyncCheck indicates whether there is Inputs ned SEO yncone npute C 10 dB V TMS a valid signal Lock No Lock for each 1 Instrument Y Output Level IV Interleaved input Word clock ADAT1 ADAT2 7 Line lt l HiGain s SPDIF or if there is a valid and syn El Irene 2 a AutoSync chronous signal Sync The AutoSync aa T LE Master s Limit Bandwidth Phantom Power S Ref display shows the input and fre he Ei eee eee oasis quency of the current sync source see Z Mics I Mico Word Clock a ADATI chapter 30 1 SPDIF In Instrument Options e Rae C ADAT2 I Drive C SPDIF In In practice SyncCheck provides the amp Coaxial Z Speaker Emulation e user with an easy way of checking SPDIF Quit Word Clock Qui whether all digital devices connected T ADAT2 Y Single Speed to the system are properly configured T Professional SyneCheck AutoSync Ref With SyncCheck finally anyone can x ae Word Clock Sync Input Word on 4udio master this common source of error prea Ra LErea_ H SPDIF Freq n Nolock o TA previously one of the most complex ieee SPDIF In Lock System Clock issues in the digital studio world SS J Mode Slave Read Flash Memory Store in Flash Memory Freg 44 1 kHz Thanks to its AutoSync technique and lightning fast PLLs the Fireface 800 is Abbrech
80. lock of all participating devices has to be syn chronous This is often impossible with devices limited to playback for example CD players as these have no SPDIF input thus can t use the self clocking technique as clock reference In a digital studio synchronisation is maintained by connecting all devices to a central sync source For example the mixing desk works as master and sends a reference signal the word clock to all other devices Of course this will only work as long as all other devices are equipped with a word clock or sync input thus being able to work as slave some professional CD players indeed have a word clock input Then all devices get the same clock and will work in every possible combination with each other Remember that a digital system can only have one master If the Fireface s clock mode is set to Master all other devices must be set to Slave But word clock is not only the great problem solver it also has some disadvantages The word clock is based on a fraction of the really needed clock For example SPDIF 44 1 kHz word clock a simple square wave signal has to be multiplied by 256 inside the device using a spe cial PLL to about 11 2 MHz This signal then replaces the one from the quartz crystal Big disadvantage because of the high multiplication factor the reconstructed clock will have great deviations called jitter The jitter of a word clock is typically 15 times higher as when using a qu
81. m playback device is against our recommen dations on system optimization as professional cards are not specialized to play back system sounds and shouldn t be disturbed by system events To prevent this be sure to re assign the selection after usage or to disable any system sounds tab Sounds scheme No audio 16 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME Note 2 The DVD player will be synced backwards from the Fireface This means when using AutoSync and or word clock the playback speed and pitch follows the incoming clock signal Note 3 In WinDVD 5 and 6 a channel separated 5 1 playback using the Fireface requires a change in the registry Start regedit go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software InterVideo DVD5 or 6 AUDIOCHAN and set its value to 4 hexadecimal Additionally select Waveout as Audio Renderer in the Audio configuration dialog Warning Changes to the registry are done at your own risk Danger of complete data loss 9 4 Low Latency under MME Buffer Size Adjustment Under Windows 95 or 98 the MME buffer size was nothing to worry about Latencies below 46 ms were not possible Meanwhile both computers and operating systems have become much more powerful and with Windows 2000 XP latencies far lower can be used SAWStudio and Sonar allowed to use such low settings from the start Sequoia was updated in version 5 91 WaveLab in version 3 04 In the Settings dialog the DMA buffer size is set using the list box Buffer Size
82. microphone input or the rear TRS jack or both simultaneously Limit Bandwidth Allows to reduce the amount of bandwidth used on the FireWire bus See chapter 10 4 All channels default activates all 28 input and output channels Analog SPDIF ADAT1 disables channels 21 28 ADAT2 Analog SPDIF activates all 10 analog channels plus SPDIF Analog 1 8 activates only the first eight analog channels SPDIF In va f l Fireface Settings E Xx Defines the input for the SPDIF sig 5 ax nal Coaxial relates to the RCA Fireface 1 Fireface 2 DDS About socket ADAT2 to the second optical Buffer Size Latency m Input Level Options TOSLINK input 48 Samples wi C LoGain V Check Input E e AR IV Syncalign SPDIF Out hs C 10 dBv TMS The SPDIF output signal is con 1 lanet I OutputLeve SI stantly available at the phono plug 7 Line gt oe Clock Mode After selecting ADAT2 it is also 8 Line Mictophor z EE B Y AutoSync routed to the second optical e PENER L Master TOSLINK output For further details Se ie Mey Tb wica Pret Syne Ret about the settings Professional Allchannels SHR mies I Micio Word Clock 7 e E ae C ADATII Emphasis and Non Audio please SPDIF In _ Instrument Options a pes refer to chapter 16 2 C ADAT2 I Drive C SPDIFI n Q Coaxial Vv Speaker Emulation s SPDIF Freq SPDIF Out word Clock Out c Displays the sample rate of the I ADAT2 IV
83. microphones when recording instruments and loudspeakers TotalMix Loopback mode saves an external mixing desk Simply route mix the input signals to the same output third row then re define this output into a record channel via Ctrl mouse that s it This way any number of input channels from different sources can be recorded into one single track 21 DIGICheck The DIGICheck software is a unique utility developed for testing measuring and analysing digital audio streams Although the DIGICheck software is fairly self explanatory it still includes a comprehensive online help DIGICheck 4 2 operates as multi client ASIO host and can therefore be used in parallel to any software be it WDM MME ASIO or GSIF both inputs and even outputs The following is a short summary of the available functions s Level Meter High precision 24 bit resolution 2 8 26 channels Application examples Peak level measurement RMS level measurement over detection phase correlation measure ment dynamic range and signal to noise ratios RMS to peak difference loudness long term peak measurement input check Oversampling mode for levels higher than 0 dBFS e Vector Audio Scope World wide unique Goniometer showing the typical afterglow of a oscilloscope tube Includes Correlation meter and level meter e Spectral Analyser World wide unique 10 20 or 30 band display in analog bandpass filter technology 192 kHz capable s Bit Statistics amp Noise
84. n measuring RMS unweighted 40 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 19 The Matrix The mixer window of TotalMix looks and operates similar to mixing desks as it is based on a conventional stereo design The matrix display presents a different method of assigning and routing channels based on a single channel or monaural design The matrix view of the Fire face 800 looks and works like a conventional patchbay adding functionality way beyond com parable hardware and software soutions While most patchbays will allow you to connect inputs to outputs with just the original level 1 1 or 0 dB as known from mechanical patchbays To talMix allows you to use a freely definable gain value per crosspoint Matrix and TotalMix are different ways of displaying the same processes Because of this both views are always fully synchronized Each change in one view is immediately reflected in the other view as well 19 1 Elements of the Surface The visible design of the TotalMix Matrix is mainly determined by the architecture of the Fire face 800 e Horizontal labels All hardware outputs e Vertical labels All hardware inputs Below are all play back channels software playback e Green 0 0 dB field Standard 1 1 routing ERI es bas KAARS e Black gain field Shows the current gain value as dB a ec red i e Orange gain field This routing is muted To maintain overview when the window size has been reduced the left and upper la
85. ne signals Thanks to automatic signal centering 300 mV 0 3V input level are sufficient in principle An additional hysteresis reduces sensitivity to 1 0 V so that over and undershoots and high frequency disturbances don t cause a wrong trigger The Fireface s word clock input is shipped as high imped ance type not terminated A push switch allows to acti vate internal termination 75 Ohms The switch is found on the back beside the word clock input socket Use a small pencil or similar and carefully push the blue switch so that it snaps into its lock position The yellow LED will be lit when termination is active Another push will re lease it again and de activate the termination Output The word clock output of the Fireface is constantly active providing the current sample fre quency as word clock signal As a result in Master mode the provided word clock is defined by the currently used software In all other cases the provided frequency is identical to the one present at the currently chosen clock input When the current clock signal fails the Fireface 800 switches to Master mode and adjusts itself to the next best matching frequency 44 1 kHz 48 kHz etc Selecting Single Speed in the Settings dialog causes the output signal to always stay within the range of 32 kHz to 48 kHz So at 96 kHz and 192 kHz sample rate the output word clock is 48 kHz The received word clock signal can be distributed to other devices by usi
86. nfiguration feature in stand alone operation that is without any connected com puter turns the Fireface into lots of dedicated devices Here are some ideas 13 1 10 Channel AD DA Converter When loading TotalMix factory default 1 into the unit the Fireface becomes a high quality 10 channel AD DA converter which also provides a monitoring of all 8 DA channels via channels 9 10 Preset 2 also monitoring all 10 inputs A small modification allows for a monitoring of all I Os via the SPDIF I O 13 2 4 Channel Mic Preamp Use TotalMix to route the 4 microphone inputs directly to the analog outputs This turns the Fireface 800 into a 4 channel microphone preamp The AD and DA conversion will cause a small delay of the signals of around 0 4 ms at 192 kHz see chapter 30 2 But this is not really relevant as it is the same delay that would be caused by changing the microphone s position by about 14 centimeter 5 6 inches 13 3 Monitor Mixer TotalMix allows ANY configuration of all I Os of the Fireface For example set up the device as monitor mixer for 10 analog signals 16 digital via ADAT and 2 via SPDIF Additionally To talMix lets you set up ANY submixes so all existing outputs can be used for different and inde pendent monitorings of the input signals The perfect headphone monitor mixer 13 4 Digital Format Converter As TotalMix allows for any routing of the input signals the Fireface 800 can be used as ADAT to SPDIF converter
87. ng the word clock out put With this the usual T adapter can be avoided and the Fireface 800 operates as Signal Refresher This kind of operation is highly recommended because e input and output are phase locked and in phase 0 to each other e SteadyClock removes nearly all jitter from the input signal e the exceptional input 1 Vpp sensitivity instead of the usual 2 5 Vpp dc cut Signal Adapta tion Circuit plus SteadyClock guarantee a secure function also with most critical word clock signals Thanks to a low impedance but short circuit proof output the Fireface delivers 4 Vpp to 75 Ohms For wrong termination with 2 x 75 Ohms 37 5 Ohms there are still 3 3 Vpp at the out put 30 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 17 2 Technical Description and Usage In the analog domain one can connect any device to another device a synchronization is not necessary Digital audio is different It uses a clock the sample frequency The signal can only be processed and transmitted when all participating devices share the same clock If not the signal will suffer from wrong samples distortion crackle sounds and drop outs AES EBU SPDIF and ADAT are self clocking an additional word clock connection in principle isn t necessary But when using more than one device simultaneously problems are likely to happen For example any self clocking will not work in a loop cabling when there is no master main clock inside the loop Additionally the c
88. ock modes slave and master e Automatic and intelligent master slave clock control e Unsurpassed Bitclock PLL audio synchronization in ADAT mode e Word clock input and output e Enhanced ZLM for latency free submixes and perfect ASIO Direct Monitoring e SyncAlign guarantees sample aligned and never swapping channels e SyncCheck tests and reports the synchronization status of input signals e 1x MIDI I O 16 channels high speed MIDI e 1 x Hi power headphone output e DIGICheck DSP Level meter in hardware peak and RMS calculation e TotalMix 1568 channel mixer with 42 bit internal resolution 4 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 5 Hardware Installation Desktop Computer e Use the power cord to connect the Fireface with any suitable power outlet e Connect computer and Fireface using the supplied 6 pin FireWire cable IEEE1394a In case your computer does not have any FireWire port PCl cards providing multiple FireWire ports can be added easily FireWire cards are available in your local computer shop e Power on the computer Switch on the Fireface when Windows shows the desktop Notebook e Use the power cord to connect the Fireface with any suitable power outlet e Connect computer and Fireface using the supplied 6 pin FireWire cable IEEE1394a In case your notebook does not have any FireWire port CardBus cards can be used to add them In case your notebook does not have a 6 pin jack or any supplied 6 pin to 4 pin adapter su
89. operation that was originally ex pected from WDM Kernel Streaming has not become reality This is not astonishing when ana lysing the driver model Early reports about a sensational performance around 1 ms latency at up to 100 CPU load have been quickly revealed to be faulty drivers operating at much higher latency than 1 ms Meanwhile Sonar supports ASIO too So simply test and try for yourself which driver interface will work better for you on your system Information on multichannel WDM is found in chapter 9 6 Fireface Analog 1 2 MME The devices with the MME suffix bypass the Windows Kernel Mixer This way they achieve nearly the same performance as RME s previous true MME drivers Also their behaviour off sets start stop multi client is identical So when not using GSIF or ASIO MME should be your preferred choice A small note on ASIO and GSIF these drivers are completely independent from WDM Stream ing They work and perform the same as our previous just WDM drivers 18 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 9 6 Multi client Operation RME audio interfaces support multi client operation This means several programs can be used at the same time Also all formats like ASIO MME and GSIF can be used simultaneously The use of multi client operation requires to follow two simple rules e Multi client operation requires identical sample rates l e it is not possible to use one software with 44 1 kHz and the other with 4
90. optical output Devices using this method are few so we decided to do without this format The SPDIF AES AES output of the Fireface 800 provides 192 kHz as Single Wire only 56 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 28 5 AES EBU SPDIF The most important electrical properties of AES and SPDIF can be seen in the table below AES EBU is the professional balanced connection using XLR plugs The standard is being set by the Audio Engineering Society based on the AES3 1992 For the home user SONY and Philips have omitted the balanced connection and use either Phono plugs or optical cables TOSLINK The format called S P DIF SONY Philips Digital Interface is described by IEC 60958 Connection XLR RCA Optical Mode Balanced Un balanced Impedance 110 Ohm 75 Ohm Level 0 2 V up to 5 Vss 0 2 V up to 0 5 Vss Clock accuracy not specified I 50ppm Il 0 1 Ill Variable Pitch Jitter lt 0 025 UI 4 4 ns 44 1 kHz not specified Besides the electrical differences both formats also have a slightly different setup The two formats are compatible in principle because the audio information is stored in the same place in the data stream However there are blocks of additional information which are different for both standards In the table the meaning of the first byte 0 is shown for both formats The first bit already determines whether the following bits should be read as Professional or Con sumer information Byte Mode
91. ource of interference which can be determined by turning the unit off and on again please try to eliminate the problem by using one of the follow ing measures e Relocate either this product or the device that is being affected by the interference e Use power outlets on different branch circuits or install AC line filters e Contact your local retailer or any qualified radio and television engineer FCC compliance statement Tested to comply with FCC standards for home or office use User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 63
92. ove removing low frequency noise removing high frequency noise a small bass and presence boost All frequency corrections are part of the Soeaker Emulation option The name is originated by the fact that guitar cabinets typically show a big level attenuation in the high frequency range making distortion sound less brilliant and harsh After activating this option a guitar completely distorted by LIM and Drive will sound excellent even when played directly into a mixing desk 26 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 15 Analog Outputs 15 1 Line The 8 short circuit protected low impedance line outputs are available as 1 4 TRS jacks on the back of the unit The electronic output stage is built in a servo balanced design which han dies unbalanced mono jacks and balanced stereo jacks correctly To maintain an optimum level for devices connected to the analog outputs the Fireface 800 internally uses hi quality electronic switches which allow for a perfect adaptation of all outputs to the three most often used studio levels As with the analog inputs the analog output levels are defined to maintain a problem free op eration with most other devices The headroom of the Fireface 800 lies between 9 and 15 dB according to the chosen reference level Reference 0 dBFS Headroom Hi Gain 19 dBu 15 dB 4 dBu 13 dBu 9 dB 10 dBV 2 dBV 12 dB With 4 dBu selected the according headroom meets the latest EBU recommendations for Broadcast us
93. pletely avoided by adjusting the input level to never exceed 10 dBFS so that the red LIM LED never lights up This may sound unusual at first But the AD converters of the Fireface 800 are much better than the dynamic ratio of any instrument re cording so when intentionally not recording at fullest level nothing is lost As far as monitoring is concerned TotalMix can compensate up to 6 dB and the final recording usually is normal ised within the software In fact a headroom of 10 dB does not show any noticeable disadvan tages Alternatively perfectly clean recordings at full level can be done via the Line inputs of the mi crophone channels Active instruments can be connected directly and be level adjusted per fectly with the Gain pots Passive e guitars require an additional impedance buffer Most guitar rists have one but don t know that they do Modern floor effect devices are active even in by pass mode and then operate as impedance buffer Drive Drive is an additional clipper for 25 dB more gain sustain plus substantially higher distortion It will simply blow you away Also well suited for bass guitar Speaker Emulation The basic idea of the Fireface 800 instrument input is not to alter the sound in a specific way but to pre condition the sound so that it gets much easier recorded and processed within the DAW application This is accomplished by an optimization of the input record signal via light pre clipping see ab
94. r panel of the Fireface 800 features 8 analog inputs and outputs the power socket ON 4 VF and all digital inputs and out 5 E 6 5 a 3 2 E 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ADAT1 I O TOSLINK BALANCED LINE LEVEL OUTPUTS ADAT2 I O TOSLINK can also be used as optical SPDIF input and output if set up accord ingly in the Settings dialog SPDIF I O coaxial RCA Fully AES EBU compatible by transformer coupling and level ad justment The SPDIF input is selected via the Settings dialog started by clicking on the fire symbol in the Task Bar s system tray The Fireface 800 accepts the commonly used digital audio formats SPDIF as well as AES EBU Wordclock I O BNC A push switch allows to activate internal termination 75 Ohms IEC receptable for power connection The specially developed internal hi performance switch mode power supply makes the Fireface operate in the range of 100V to 240V AC It is abso lutely short circuit proof has an integrated line filter is fully regulated against voltage fluctua tions and suppresses mains interference 14 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 9 2 Playback The Fireface 800 can play back audio data in supported formats only sample rate bit resolu tion Otherwise an error message appears for example at 22 kHz and 8 bit In the audio application being used Fireface must be selected as output device This can often be found in the Options Preferences or Settings menus under Playback Device Aud
95. rmance and does not help to achieve lower latency But connecting a hard drive to the Fireface hub functionality FireWire 800 will immediately increase performance and reliability e The cabling of FireWire 800 units is critical In real world operation it is not unusual that all Firefaces have to be connected directly to the 1394b ports of the computer using cables of similar length A long cable fromn the computer to the first Fireface and a short one from the first to the second Fireface can cause problems The driver takes care of the numbering of all Firefaces so that it doesn t change The unit with the lowest serial number is always Fireface 1 Please note e If the Fireface 1 is switched off Fireface 2 logically turns to the first and only Fireface If Fireface 1 is switched on later the numbering changes and the unit becomes Fireface 2 immediately e The driver has no control on the numbering of the WM devices Therefore it might happen that the WDM devices 2 are mapped to unit 1 especially when switching on more Fire faces during a Windows session A reboot with all Firefaces already operational should solve this problem Note TotalMix is part of the hardware of each Fireface Up to three mixers are available but these are seperated and can t interchange data Therefore a global mixer for all units is not possible User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 21 11 Operation under ASIO 2 0 11 1 General Start
96. rs O lt ioo Anes O s Sate e DE ce C4 sd ST yi sav gt Tu L E ii ren ano LYO sona aaun 41095 u iwaw ve ho oda 59 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 29 2 Channel Routing ASIO at 96 kHz This diagram shows the signal paths in ASIO double speed mode 88 2 96 kHz The devices available via the ASIO driver have been designed to avoid conflicts in normal operation which is why the second ADAT device has been omitted Signal routing is identical for record and playback Device Device name in the audio application Device name code Channel in ASIO host interface unit number Device 1 Analog 111 2 Analog 1 3 Analog 1 4 Analog 1 5 Analog 1 6 Analog 1 7 Analog 11 8 Analog 11 9 Analog 1 10 Analog 1 11 SPDIF L 12 SPDIF R 13ADAT 1 1 14 ADAT 2 1 15ADAT 3 1 16 ADAT 4 1 17 ADAT 5 1 18 ADAT amp 1 19 ADAT 7 1 20 ADAT 8 1 60 SR 96 kHz Routing 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 B 8 9 9 10 10 11 L 12 R 95 kHz Routing F retace 809 ASIC User s Guide Fireface 800 RME SR Sample Rate SR 95 KHz 48 kHz O CUO amp e O O Oo 48 kHz Interface A 7 log UO t A SPDIF T A ADAT1 10 Y A ADAT2 170 T 29 3 Channel Routing MME at 96 kHz This diagram shows the signal paths in MME double speed mode 88 2 96 kHz The devices available via the MME wave driver have
97. s and again differently implemented by different manufacturers Because of this we decided to define the levels of the HDSP 9632 in a most compatible way Reference 0 dBFS Headroom Lo Gain 19 dBu 15 dB 4 dBu 13 dBu 9 dB 10 dBV 2 dBV 12 dB With 4 dBu selected the according headroom meets the latest EBU recommendations for Broadcast usage At 10 dBV 12 to 15 dB headroom are common practice each mixing desk operating at 10 dBV is able to send and receive much higher levels Lo Gain allows to work with high levels best suited for professional users who prefer to work balanced and at highest levels The above levels are also found in our ADI 8 series of AD DA converters the Multiface and even in our Mic Preamps QuadMic and OctaMic Therefore all RME devices are fully compati ble to each other 14 2 Microphone Line Front The balanced microphone inputs of the Fireface 800 offer an adjustable gain of 10 to 60 dB The soft switching hi current Phantom power 48 Volt provides a professional handling of condensor mics The mic preamp s discreet Class A front end guarantess a superior sound quality With the balanced Line input which can be used alternatively or at the same time as the mi crophone the Fireface 800 becomes even more flexible 10 kOhm input impedance stereo TRS jack and adjustable input sensitivity in a range of 50 dB this all guarantees that the front side Line inputs can be used perfectly with keyboards s
98. signal status display showing sample frequency lock and sync status in the Settings dialog status LEDs for each input and the protective Check Input function If a 48 kHz signal is fed to the input and the application is set to 44 1 kHz Check Input stops the system from recording This prevents faulty takes which often go unnoticed until later on in the production Such tracks appear to have the wrong playback rate the audio quality as such is not affected The sample frequency shown in the Settings dialog see chapter 8 screenshot Settings is use ful as a quick display of the current configuration the board itself and all connected external equipment If no sample frequency is recognized it will read No Lock This way configuring any suitable audio application for digital recording is simple After select ing the required input Fireface 800 displays the current sample frequency This parameter can then be changed in the application s audio attributes or similar dialog The screenshot on the right shows a typical dialog s used for changing basic parameters such as sample frequency and resolution in an audio ap Channels m Sample Rate plication Mono C 96 kHz a Stereo C 88 2kHz Any bit resolution can be selected providing it is Dual Mono C B64kHz supported by both the audio hardware and the ar A software Even if the input signal is 24 bit the C Bbit i application can still be set to record
99. ss Panel This section includes additional options further improving the handling of TotalMix The Master button for Mute and Solo has already been described they allow for group based working with these functions In the View section the single rows can be made visible or invisible If the inputs are not needed for a pristine playback mix the whole upper row falls out of the picture after a click on the input button If the hardware outputs don t interest you either the surface can thus be re duced to the playback channels to save space All combinations are possible Submix sets all routing windows to the same selection as described before Deactivating Sub mix automatically recalls the previous view The mixer can also be made smaller horizontally and vertically This way TotalMix can be made substantially smaller and space saving on the desktop screen if you have to monitor or set only a few channels or level meters The Presets are one of the mightiest and most useful features of TotalMix Master Behind the eight buttons eight files are hidden see next chapter These con ALS tain the complete mixer state Just try it all faders and other settings follow the View changing of preset s in real time just by a single mouse click The Save but Input ton allows for storing the present settings in the present preset You can change back and forth between a signal distribution complete input monitoring a ste reo and mono mix and var
100. t 2 but all inputs set to 0 dB 1 1 monitoring Preset 4 Description All channels routed 1 1 input and playback monitoring via Phones and outputs As Preset 3 but all inputs mutet Preset 5 Description Playback monitoring to Phones As Preset 1 but all outputs except channels 9 10 Phones set to maximum attenuation Preset 6 Description All channels routed 1 1 monitoring of all playback channels via Phones and SPDIF As Preset 1 plus submix of all playbacks to SPDIF Preset 7 Description Monitoring of all playback channels via Phones and of all record playback chan nels via SPDIF As Preset 6 plus submix of all inputs to SPDIF Preset 8 Description Panic As Preset 4 but also playback muted no output signal 38 User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 18 8 Menu Options Always on Top When active checked the window of TotalMix will always be on top of the Windows desktop Note This function may result in problems with windows containing help text as the TotalMix window will even be on top of those windows so the help text isn t readable Deactivate Screensaver When active checked any activated Windows screensaver will be disabled temporarily Ignore Position When active the windows size and position stored in a file or prest will not be used The routing will be activated but the window will not change ASIO Direct Monitoring When de activated any ADM commands will be ignored by TotalMix In other words ASIO
101. t is not active in the system drivers of the FireWire PCI or CardBus card have not been installed e The FireWire cable is not or not correctly inserted into the socket e No power After switching the Fireface on at least the red Host error LED has to be lit e The PCI FireWire card is defective A report about incompatible FireWire 800 controllers is found in the Tech Info FireWire 800 Hardware Compatibility Problems 22 3 FireWire Audio FireWire audio is in several ways different from RME s earlier PCI audio interfaces First of all our cards have a PCI interface which has been developed by RME and optimized for audio FireWire on the other hand uses OHCl compatible controllers that have not been optimized for audio no matter from which manufacturer they are Our PCI data transmission is per channel while FireWire is working interleaved i e it transmits all channels simultaneously With the Hammerfall drop outs thus occur only on the last channels which is not always noticeable while a drop out with FireWire always concerns all channels and is thus perceived much clearer Apart from this RME s PCI audio cards establish a direct connection with the applica tion under ASIO Zero CPU load which is principally not possible with FireWire because communication has to be established by the operating system s FireWire driver Compared to our PCI cards the FireWire subsystem creates an additional CPU load at lower latencies To put
102. the information off line you can load a complete copy of the RME website from the RME Driver CD in the rmeaudio web directory into your browser Manufacturer IMM Elektronik GmbH Leipziger Strasse 32 D 09648 Mittweida Trademarks All trademarks registered or otherwise are the property of their respective owners RME DIGI96 SyncAlign ZLM SyncCheck DIGICheck and Hammerfall are registered trademarks of RME Intelligent Audio Solutions TMS TotalMix and Fireface are trademarks of RME Intelligent Audio Solutions Alesis and ADAT are registered trademarks of Alesis Corp ADAT optical is a trademark of Alesis Corp Microsoft Windows 98 and Windows 2000 XP are registered trade marks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp Steinberg Cubase and VST are registered trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH ASIO is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technolo gies GmbH Copyright Matthias Carstens 10 2004 Version 1 4 Current driver version W2k XP 1 4 Although the contents of this User s Guide have been thoroughly checked for errors RME can not guarantee that it is correct throughout RME does not accept responsibility for any misleading or incorrect information within this guide Lending or copying any part of the guide or the RME Driver CD or any commercial exploitation of these media without express written permission from RME Intelligent Audio Solutions is prohibited RME reserves the right to change specifications at any time without no
103. tice User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 49 27 Technical Specifications 27 1 Analog AD Line In 1 8 rear Resolution AD 24 bit Signal to Noise ratio SNR 110 dB RMS unweighted 113 dBA Frequency response 44 1 kHz 0 1 dB 5 Hz 21 5 kHz Frequency response 96 kHz 0 5 dB 5 Hz 45 3 kHz Frequency response 192 kHz 1 dB 5 Hz 74 kHz THD lt 110 dB lt 0 00032 THD N lt 104 dB lt 0 00063 Channel separation gt 110 dB Maximum input level 19 dBu Input 6 3 mm TRS jack electronically balanced Input impedance 10 kOhm Input sensitivity switchable to Lo Gain 4 dBu 10 dBV Input level for 0 dBFS Lo Gain 19 dBu Input level for 0 dBFS 4 dBu 13 dBu Input level for 0 dBFS 10 dBV 2 dBV Mute 80 dB Line In 7 10 Front e as AD but e Gain range via pot 50 dB e Maximum input level Gain 10 dB 22 dBu e Maximum input level Gain 60 dB 28 dBu s CLIP LED 2 dBFS s SIG LED 45 dBFS e Mute gt 120 dB Microphone e as AD but e Input XLR electronically balanced e Input impedance 2 kOhm e Gai range via pot 50 dB e Maximum input level Gain 10 dB 11 dBu e Maximum input level Gain 60 dB 39 dBu s CLIP LED 2 dBFS s SIG LED 45 dBFS e Mute gt 120 dB Instrument e as AD but e Input 6 3 mm TS jack unbalanced e Input impedance 470 kOhm e Signal to Noise ratio SNR 108 dB RMS unweighted 111 dBA e Gai range via pot 52 dB e Driv
104. ubase uses tracks 1 2 these tracks can not be used by Gigastudio Common Problems Please note that Gigastudio is running unexpectedly in the background thus blocking its as signed audio channels as soon as the Gigastudio MIDI ports are used even when Gigastudio itself hasn t been started This causes a lot of confusion as the driver seems to behave com pletely buggy and the user does not recognize the simple reason for it for example simulta neous operation of ASIO and GSIF on the same channels If Gigastudio starts up properly loads gig files too but won t play at all even when using the virtual keyboard Go to Hardware Routing and select a valid MIDI input port Note that blank is not valid but lt none gt is User s Guide Fireface 800 RME 23 13 Stand alone Operation The Fireface 800 has an internal memory to permanently store all configuration data These are Settings dialog Sample rate clock mode Master Slave configuration of the channels and the digital I Os TotalMix The complete mixer state The Fireface loads those settings directly after power on A simple yet useful application is to store the correct clock mode avoiding wrong clocking and noise disturbances in a complex setup caused by wrong synchronization Usually the unit will be configured by the Windows driver so for the time between power on of the computer up to the loading of the Windows driver its state might be wrong This total co
105. ut configuration dialog puts the Fireface 800 at the very top of the range of computer based audio interfaces The package contains drivers for Windows 2000 XP and Mac OS X Our high performance philosophy guarantees maximum system performance by executing as many functions as possible not in the driver i e the CPU but directly within the audio hard ware 2 Package Contents Please check that your Fireface 800 package contains each of the following RME Driver CD Cable IEEE1394a FW400 4 5 m 15 ft Power cord Manual 1 optical cable TOSLINK 2 m 6 6 ft 3 System Requirements e Windows 2000 SP4 Windows XP Mac OS X 10 3 or higher e FireWire Interface a free FireWire Port 400 1394a or 800 1394b Note Examples and detailed descriptions of suitable audio desktop systems can be found in the Tech Info RME Reference PCs Hardware recommendations Information on compatibility and performance of notebooks laptops is included in RMEs Tech Infos about notebooks HDSP System Notebook Basics and Tests A report about incompatible FireWire 800 controllers is found in the Tech Info FireWire 800 Hardware Compatibility Problems 4 Brief Description and Characteristics e All settings can be changed in real time e Enhanced Mixed Mode Analog ADAT and SPDIF I O simultaneously usable e 8 buffer sizes latencies available 1 0 1 5 2 1 3 6 12 17 23 ms e 8 channels 96 kHz 24 Bit Record Playback via ADAT optical S MUX e Cl
106. video frequencies so called pull up pull down at 0 1 and 4 and two faders which allow to freely change the basic sample rate in steps of 1 Hz d The DDS dialog requires the Fireface to be in clock mode Master The frequency setting will only be applied to the Fireface in this mode audio or brings up warning messages of the audio software Therefore the desired sample d Changing the sample rate in bigger steps during record playback often results in a loss of rate should be set at least coarsely before starting the software DDS Activates all settings of this dialog Fireface Settings Value Fireface a Fireface 2 DDS About Shows the sample rate as adjusted in DDS Value Coarse Fine this dialog The sample rate is defined l C S l vA 44143H 4 WAS by the basic setting Frequency the S e multiplier and the position of the acti vated fader Frequency kHz 48 048 01 Frequency 48 000 Sets a fixed basic sample rate which C 47 952 01 S be modified by multiplier and C 46 080 4 SSK C 45 937 4 2 D A T S a 40 1 Freq Multiplier baal Aisi Changes the basic sample rate into 44 100 Single Double oder Quad Speed 44 056 0 1 mode 32 000 Coarse S Fader for coarse modification of the p Freq Multiples 4 04 basic sample rate Click Active to I G Active G Active activate it Minimum step size 1 Hz Fine Fader for fine modification of the ba _Abbre
107. wn the Ctrl key and click into the routing window of Out 3 The routing list pops up with a checkmark at AN 3 4 Se lect AN 7 8 Now Out 4 has already been set to AN 7 8 as well When you want to set the fader to exactly 0 dB this can be diffi cult depending on the mouse configuration Move the fader close to the 0 position and now press the Shift key This activates the fine mode which stretches the mouse movements by a factor of 8 In this mode a gain setting accurate to 0 1 dB is no problem at all Please set Out 4 to a gain of around 20 dB and the pan close to center Now click onto the routing window You ll now see two checkmarks one at AN 3 4 the other one at AN 7 8 Click onto SPDIF The window disappears fader and panpot jump to their initial values the signal can now be routed to these channels You can continue until all entries have got a checkmark i e you can send the signal to all outputs simultaneously You will certainly have noticed that the signal at the outputs 7 8 did not change while you were routing channel 4 to other outputs and setting different gain values With all analog and most digital mixing desks the fader setting would affect the level for every routed bus not so for TotalMix TotalMix allows for setting all fader values individually There fore the faders and the panpots jump to the appropriate setting as soon as another routing is chosen The checkmarks are un chec

Fireface 800 - Full Compass

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