Intel Fireface 800 User Manual

User's Guide Fireface 800 The most powerful FireWire® audio interface ever! FireWire 800 / 400 Digital I/O System 10 + 16

10 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 5.2 Quick Start After the driver installation (chapter 10 / 20) connect the TRS-jacks or the XLR connect

100 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 37.7 AES/EBU - SPDIF The most important electrical properties of 'AES' and 'SPDIF'

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME101 37.8 Noise level in DS / QS Mode The outstanding signal to noise ratio of the Fireface's AD-converters

102 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 38. Diagrams 38.1 Block Diagram Fireface 800

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME103 38.2 Connector Pinouts TRS jacks of analog input / output The stereo ¼" TRS jacks of the analog input

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME11 Optical cable for SPDIF and ADAT operation: OK0050 Optical cable, TOSLINK, 0.5 m (1.6 ft) OK0100 Optic

12 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Copyright © Matthias Carstens, 12/2007. Version 2.9 Current driver version: W2k/XP: 2.79, Mac OS X: 2.60

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME13 CE / FCC Compliance CE This device has been tested and found to comply with the limits of the European Counc

14 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME15 User's Guide Fireface 800 Installation and Operation - Windows

16 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 9. Hardware Installation Desktop Computer • Use the power cord to connect the Fireface with any suitab

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME17 10.2 Driver Update RME driver updates often include a new fireface.inf file. To prevent Windows 2000/XP from

18 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 11. Configuring the Fireface 11.1 Settings dialog - General Configuration of the Fireface 800 is done v

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME19 Buffer Size The setting Buffer Size determines the latency between incoming and outgoing ASIO and GSIF data,

2 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Important Safety Instructions ...5 General 1 Introduction ...

20 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Word Clock Out The word clock output signal usually equals the current sample rate. Selecting Single Spee

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME21 11.2 Settings dialog - DDS Usually soundcards and audio interfaces generate their internal clock (master mod

22 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Application examples DDS allows for a simultaneous change of speed and tune during record and playback. F

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME23 If several digital devices are to be used simultaneously in a system, they not only have to oper-ate with the

24 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 12. Operation and Usage 12.1 Playback The Fireface 800 can play back audio data in supported formats on

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME25 12.2 DVD-Playback (AC-3/DTS) AC-3 / DTS When using popular DVD software players like WinDVD and PowerDVD, th

26 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 12.3 Low Latency under MME (Buffer Size Adjustment) Under Windows 95 or 98, the MME buffer size was noth

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME27 12.4 Notes on WDM The driver offers two devices per stereo pair, like Fireface Analog (1+2) and Fireface Ana

28 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 12.5 Multi-client Operation RME audio interfaces support multi-client operation. This means several prog

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME29 12.6 Digital Recording Unlike analog soundcards which produce empty wave files (or noise) when no input sig

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME3 21 Firmware Update...41 22 Configuring the Fireface 22.1

30 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 12.7 Analog Recording For recordings via the analog inputs the corresponding record device has to be ch

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME31 13.2 Known Problems If a computer does not provide sufficient CPU-power and/or sufficient PCI-bus transfer r

32 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 15. Using more than one Fireface 800 The current driver supports up to three Fireface 800. All units hav

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME33 16. DIGICheck The DIGICheck software is a unique utility developed for testing, measuring and analysing digi

34 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 17. Hotline – Troubleshooting 17.1 General The newest information can always be found on our website ww

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME35 17.2 Installation After the driver installation the Fireface 800 is found in the Device Manager (<Setting

36 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 18. Diagrams 18.1 Channel Routing ASIO at 96 kHz This diagram shows the signal paths in ASIO double spe

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME37 18.2 Channel Routing MME at 96 kHz This diagram shows the signal paths in MME double speed mode (88.2 / 96 k

38 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME39 User's Guide Fireface 800 Mac OS X – Installation and Operation

4 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 32 TotalMix: The Matrix 32.1 Overview ...76

40 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 19. Hardware Installation Desktop Computer • Use the power cord to connect the Fireface with any suita

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME41 20.2 Driver Update In case of a driver update it's not necessary to remove the old driver first, it wil

42 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 22. Configuring the Fireface 22.1 Settings Dialog - General Configuring the Fireface is done via its ow

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME43 Inputs Input selection for the channels 1, 7 and 8. Channel 1 can be the front instrument input, or the rear

44 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Clock Mode The unit can be configured to use its internal clock source (Master), or the clock source pre-

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME45 22.2 Settings dialog - DDS Usually soundcards and audio interfaces generate their internal clock (master mod

46 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Application examples DDS allows for a simultaneous change of speed and tune during record and playback. F

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME47 If several digital devices are to be used simultaneously in a system, they not only have to oper-ate with the

48 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 23. Mac OS X FAQ 23.1 Round about Driver Installation The driver with the file suffix gz provided by RM

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME49 23.3 Supported Sample Rates RME's Mac OS X driver supports all sampling frequencies provided by the har

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME5 Important Safety Instructions ATTENTION! Do not open chassis – risk of electric shock The unit has unisola

50 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Multicard Operation OS X supports more than one audio device. Since 10.4 (Tiger) Core Audio offers the fu

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME51 25. Diagram: Channel Routing at 96 kHz This diagram shows the signal paths in double speed mode (88.2 / 96 k

52 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME53 User's Guide Fireface 800 Stand-Alone Operation, Connections an

54 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 26. Stand-alone Operation The Fireface 800 has an internal memory to permanently store all configuration

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME55 27. Analog Inputs 27.1 Line Rear The Fireface has eight balanced Line inputs as 1/4" TRS jacks on the

56 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 27.3 Instrument The instrument input of the Fireface 800 has been optimized especially for guitar and ba

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME57 28. Analog Outputs 28.1 Line The eight short circuit protected, low impedance line outputs are available as

58 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 29. Digital Connections 29.1 ADAT The ADAT optical inputs of the Fireface 800 are fully compatible with

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME59 Special Characteristics of the SPDIF Output Apart from the audio data itself, digital signals in SPDIF or AES

6 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME

60 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 30. Word Clock 30.1 Word Clock Input and Output SteadyClock guarantees an excellent performance in all

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME61 30.2 Technical Description and Usage In the analog domain one can connect any device to another device, a sy

62 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 30.3 Cabling and Termination Word clock signals are usually distributed in the form of a network, split

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME63 31. TotalMix: Routing and Monitoring 31.1 Overview The Fireface 800 includes a powerful digital real-time m

64 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME65 31.2 The User Interface The visual design of the TotalMix mixer is a result of its capability to route hardw

66 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 31.3 Elements of a Channel A single channel consists of various elements: Input channels and playback c

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME67 Back to AN1/2. Now you can change all the faders of all inputs and playback channels just as you like, thus m

68 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Please set Out 4 to a gain of around -20 dB and the pan close to center. Now click onto the routing field

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME69 31.7 The Quick Access Panel This section includes additional options, further improving the handling of Tota

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME7 User's Guide Fireface 800 General

70 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Mouse: The original factory presets can be reloaded by holding down the Ctrl-key and clicking on any pres

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME71 31.9 The Monitor Panel The Monitor panel provides several options usually found on analog mixing desks. It o

72 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Main Monitor Dim: Amount of attenuation of the Monitor Main output in dB. Activated by the Dim button in

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME73 31.12 Hotkeys In many situations TotalMix can be controlled quickly and comfortably by the keyboard, making

74 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 31.13 Menu Options Always on Top: When active (checked) the TotalMix window will always be on top of the

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME75 31.14 Level Meter The Fireface 800 calculates all the display values Peak, Over and RMS in hardware, in ord

76 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 32. TotalMix: The Matrix 32.1 Overview The mixer window of TotalMix looks and operates similar to mixin

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME77 A gain field marked orange indicates activated mute status. Mute can only be changed in the mixer view. A bl

78 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 33.2 Selection and Group-based Operation Click on the white name label of channel 1 and 2 in TotalMix.

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME79 33.5 Recording a Subgroup (Loopback) TotalMix supports a routing of the subgroup outputs (=hardware outputs,

8 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 1. Introduction Thank you for choosing the Fireface 800. This unique audio system is capable of transferr

80 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Recording a Software's playback In real world application, recording a software's output with a

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME81 Unfortunately, very often it is not possible within the record software to assign a different input channel t

82 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 34. MIDI Remote Control 34.1 Overview TotalMix can be remote controlled via MIDI. It is compatible to t

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME83 34.3 Setup • Open the Preferences dialog (menu Options or F3). Select the MIDI Input and MIDI Output port w

84 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 34.5 Simple MIDI Control The stereo output faders (lowest row) which are set up as Monitor Main outputs

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME85 Examples for sending MIDI strings*: - Set input 1 to 0 dB: B0 66 40 - Set input 17 to maximum attenuation:

86 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 34.7 Stand-Alone MIDI Control When not connected to a computer, the Fireface 800 can be controlled direc

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME87 In stand-alone MIDI mode, the Mackie Control protocol also gives access to some settings of the Settings dial

88 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME89 User's Guide Fireface 800 Technical Reference

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME9 5. First Usage - Quickstart 5.1 Connectors and Front Panel The front of the Fireface 800 features an instrum

90 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 35. TECH INFO Not all information to and around our products fit in a manual. Therefore RME offers a lot

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME91 36. Technical Specifications 36.1 Analog AD, Line In 1-8, rear • Resolution AD: 24 bit • Signal to Noise

92 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)

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME93 36.4 Digital Inputs AES/EBU - SPDIF • 1 x RCA, transformer-balanced, galvanically isolated, according to AE

94 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 36.5 Digital Outputs AES/EBU - SPDIF • 1 x RCA, transformer-balanced, galvanically isolated, according

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME95 37. Technical Background 37.1 Lock and SyncCheck Digital signals consist of a carrier and the data. If a di

96 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 37.2 Latency and Monitoring The term Zero Latency Monitoring has been introduced by RME in 1998 for the

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME97 Therefore, in a digital loopback test a negative offset of about 3 ms occurs. This is no real problem, becaus

98 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 37.4 Number of Channels and Bus Load As explained in chapter 37.3, FireWire Audio does not reach the sam

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME99 37.5 DS - Double Speed When activating the Double Speed mode the Fireface 800 operates at double sample rate