RME Audio Fireface 400 User's Guide

User's Guide Fireface 400 Portable FireWire® at its best! FireWire 400 Digital I/O System 8 + 8 + 2 Channels Analog / ADAT

10 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME NTCARDBUS Power supply for Fireface 400. Robust and light-weight switching power supply, 100 V-240 V AC

100 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 38.2 Connector Pinouts TRS jacks of analog input / output The stereo ¼" TRS jacks of the analog i

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME11 CE / FCC Compliance CE This device has been tested and found to comply with the limits of the European Counc

12 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME13 User's Guide Fireface 400 Installation and Operation - Windows

14 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 9. Hardware Installation Desktop Computer • Connect computer and Fireface using the supplied 6-pin Fir

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME15 10.2 Driver Update RME driver updates often include a new fireface.inf file. To prevent Windows 2000/XP from

16 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 11. Configuring the Fireface 11.1 Settings dialog - General Configuration of the Fireface 400 is done v

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME17 Buffer Size The setting Buffer Size determines the latency between incoming and outgoing ASIO and GSIF data,

18 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME Options Check Input verifies the current digital input signal against the settings in the record program.

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME19 11.2 Settings dialog – Input Gain Mic Channel 1/2 of the Fireface 400 have digitally controlled microphone p

2 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME General 1 Introduction ...6 2 Package Cont

20 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME DDS Activates all settings of this dialog. Value Shows the sample rate as adjusted in this dialog. The s

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME21 11.4 Clock Modes - Synchronization In the digital world, all devices must be either ‘Master’ (clock source)

22 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME If several digital devices are to be used simultaneously in a system, they not only have to oper-ate with

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME23 12. Operation and Usage 12.1 Playback The Fireface 400 can play back audio data in supported formats only (

24 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 12.2 DVD-Playback (AC-3/DTS) AC-3 / DTS When using popular DVD software players like WinDVD and PowerDVD

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME25 12.3 Low Latency under MME (Buffer Size Adjustment) Under Windows 95 or 98, the MME buffer size was nothing

26 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 12.4 Notes on WDM The driver offers two devices per stereo pair, like Fireface Analog (1+2) and Fireface

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME27 12.5 Multi-client Operation RME audio interfaces support multi-client operation. This means several programs

28 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 12.6 Digital Recording Unlike analog soundcards which produce empty wave files (or noise) when no input

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME29 12.7 Analog Recording For recordings via the analog inputs the corresponding record device has to be chosen

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME3 22 Configuring the Fireface 22.1 Settings Dialog – General...40 22.2 Set

30 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 13.2 Known Problems If a computer does not provide sufficient CPU-power and/or sufficient PCI-bus transf

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME31 15. Using more than one Fireface The current driver supports up to three Fireface 400 and 800. All units hav

32 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 16. DIGICheck The DIGICheck software is a unique utility developed for testing, measuring and analysing

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME33 17. Hotline – Troubleshooting 17.1 General The newest information can always be found on our website www.rm

34 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 17.2 Installation After the driver installation the Fireface 400 is found in the Device Manager (<Set

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME35 18. Diagrams 18.1 Channel Routing ASIO at 96 kHz This diagram shows the signal paths in ASIO double speed m

36 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 18.2 Channel Routing MME at 96 kHz This diagram shows the signal paths in MME double speed mode (88.2 /

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME37 User's Guide Fireface 400 Mac OS X – Installation and Operation

38 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 19. Hardware Installation Desktop Computer • Connect computer and Fireface using the supplied 6-pin Fi

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME39 20.2 Driver Update In case of a driver update it's not necessary to remove the old driver first, it wil

4 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 32 TotalMix: The Matrix 32.1 Overview ...75

40 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 22. Configuring the Fireface 22.1 Settings Dialog - General Configuring the Fireface is done via its ow

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME41 Analog Inputs 1 Mic, 2 Mic Gain setting for the microphone preamps of input 1 and 2. The current gain is dis

42 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME AutoSync Ref. Displays the current clock source and sample rate of the clock source. SyncCheck SyncCheck

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME43 22.2 Settings dialog – Input Gain Mic 1/2 Channel 1/2 of the Fireface 400 have digitally controlled micropho

44 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME DDS Activates all settings of this dialog. Value Shows the sample rate as adjusted in this dialog. The s

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME45 22.4 Clock Modes - Synchronization In the digital world, all devices must be either ‘Master’ (clock source)

46 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME If several digital devices are to be used simultaneously in a system, they not only have to oper-ate with

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME47 23. Mac OS X FAQ 23.1 Round about Driver Installation The driver with the file suffix gz provided by RME is

48 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 23.3 Supported Sample Rates RME's Mac OS X driver supports all sampling frequencies provided by the

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME49 Multicard Operation OS X supports more than one audio device. Their simultaneous usage within one program had

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME5 User's Guide Fireface 400 General

50 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 25. Diagram: Channel Routing at 96 kHz This diagram shows the signal paths in double speed mode (88.2 /

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME51 User's Guide Fireface 400 Stand-Alone Operation, Connections and

52 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 26. Stand-alone Operation The Fireface 400 has an internal memory to permanently store all configuration

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME53 L.1 bis L.6, PH, SP, A.1 bis A.8 The output levels of these outputs can be defined in the range +6 dB down to

54 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 27. Analog Inputs 27.1 Line Rear The Fireface has balanced line inputs as 1/4" TRS jacks on the ba

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME55 27.3 Instrument / Line Front The instrument inputs 3/4 of the Fireface 400 are exceptionally flexible. Sever

56 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 28. Analog Outputs 28.1 Line The eight short circuit protected, low impedance line outputs are availabl

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME57 29. Digital Connections 29.1 ADAT The ADAT optical input of the Fireface 400 is fully compatible with all A

58 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME Special Characteristics of the SPDIF Output Apart from the audio data itself, digital signals in SPDIF or

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME59 30. Word Clock 30.1 Word Clock Input and Output SteadyClock guarantees an excellent performance in all cloc

6 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 1. Introduction Thank you for choosing the Fireface 400. This unique audio system is capable of transferr

60 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 30.2 Technical Description and Usage In the analog domain one can connect any device to another device,

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME61 30.3 Cabling and Termination Word clock signals are usually distributed in the form of a network, split with

62 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 31. TotalMix: Routing and Monitoring 31.1 Overview The Fireface 400 includes a powerful digital real-ti

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME63

64 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 31.2 The User Interface The visual design of the TotalMix mixer is a result of its capability to route h

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME65 31.3 Elements of a Channel A single channel consists of various elements: Input channels and playback chann

66 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME Back to AN1/2. Now you can change all the faders of all inputs and playback channels just as you like, th

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME67 Please set Out 4 to a gain of around -20 dB and the pan close to center. Now click onto the routing field. Yo

68 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 31.7 The Quick Access Panel This section includes additional options, further improving the handling of

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME69 Mouse: The original factory presets can be reloaded by holding down the Ctrl-key and clicking on any preset b

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME7 5. First Usage - Quickstart 5.1 Connectors and Front Panel The front of the Fireface 400 features instrument

70 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 31.9 The Monitor Panel The Monitor panel provides several options usually found on analog mixing desks.

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME71 Main Monitor Dim: Amount of attenuation of the Monitor Main output in dB. Activated by the Dim button in the

72 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 31.12 Hotkeys In many situations TotalMix can be controlled quickly and comfortably by the keyboard, mak

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME73 31.13 Menu Options Always on Top: When active (checked) the TotalMix window will always be on top of the Win

74 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 31.14 Level Meter The Fireface 400 calculates all the display values Peak, Over and RMS in hardware, in

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME75 32. TotalMix: The Matrix 32.1 Overview The mixer window of TotalMix looks and operates similar to mixing de

76 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME A gain field marked orange indicates activated mute status. Mute can only be changed in the mixer view.

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME77 33.2 Selection and Group-based Operation Click on the white name label of channel 1 and 2 in TotalMix. Be s

78 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 33.5 Recording a Subgroup (Loopback) TotalMix supports a routing of the subgroup outputs (=hardware outp

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME79 Recording a Software's playback In real world application, recording a software's output with anoth

8 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME The rear panel of the Fireface 400 features four analog inputs, six analog outputs, the power socket, and

80 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME Unfortunately, very often it is not possible within the record software to assign a different input chann

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME81 34. MIDI Remote Control 34.1 Overview TotalMix can be remote controlled via MIDI. It is compatible to the w

82 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 34.3 Setup • Open the Preferences dialog (menu Options or F3). Select the MIDI Input and MIDI Output po

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME83 34.5 Simple MIDI Control The stereo output faders (lowest row) which are set up as Monitor Main outputs in t

84 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 34.7 Stand-Alone MIDI Control When not connected to a computer, the Fireface 400 can be controlled direc

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME85 In stand-alone MIDI mode, the Mackie Control protocol also gives access to some settings of the Settings dial

86 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME87 User's Guide Fireface 400 Technical Reference

88 User's Guide Fireface 400 © 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 400 © RME89 36. Technical Specifications 36.1 Analog AD, Line In 5-8, rear • Resolution AD: 24 bit • Signal to Noise

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME9 5.2 Quick Start After the driver installation (chapter 10 / 20) connect the TRS jacks or the XLR jacks with t

90 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME DA – Phones, 7/8, front • as DA, but: • Output: 6.3 mm TRS jack, unbalanced • Output impedance: 30 Ohm

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME91 36.5 Digital Outputs AES/EBU - SPDIF • 1 x RCA, transformer-balanced, galvanically isolated, according to A

92 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 37. Technical Background 37.1 Lock and SyncCheck Digital signals consist of a carrier and the data. If

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME93 37.2 Latency and Monitoring The term Zero Latency Monitoring has been introduced by RME in 1998 for the DIGI

94 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME Therefore, in a digital loopback test a negative offset of about 3 ms occurs. This is no real problem, be

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME95 37.4 Number of Channels and Bus Load As explained in chapter 37.3, FireWire Audio does not reach the same pe

96 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 37.5 DS - Double Speed When activating the Double Speed mode the Fireface 400 operates at double sample

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME97 37.7 AES/EBU - SPDIF The most important electrical properties of 'AES' and 'SPDIF' can b

98 User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME 37.8 Noise level in DS / QS Mode The outstanding signal to noise ratio of the Fireface's AD-convert

User's Guide Fireface 400 © RME99 38. Diagrams 38.1 Block Diagram Fireface 400