Chapter 2: Playing Dark Fire With Rip And Your Computer; Hardware Setup - Gibson Dark Fire Applications Quick Start Manual

Chapter 2: Playing Dark Fire with RIP and Your
Computer
In this application, we'll use only the RIP for practicing guitar. This will also familiarize you with
how to use the RIP with subsequent applications, which is important—the RIP is the
connection between Dark Fire and your computer. If you need more information on RIP, such
as how to install its drivers or understand the difference among different FireWire connectors,
please refer to the full RIP owner's manual.

Hardware Setup

1. With your computer off, connect the RIP's FireWire connector to an available FireWire
connector on your computer.
2. Connect the RIP to its AC adapter. If the adapter is plugged into a barrier strip, make
sure the barrier strip is turned on.
3. Turn on your computer, and allow it to boot completely.
4. Open the Console. The easiest way is to double-click on the Gibson RIP Console
shortcut (called an "alias" on the Mac) that was placed on your desktop during
installation. Otherwise, for Windows, use the Start menu to go Start > Program > Gibson
RIP > Gibson RIP Console. For the Mac, from the Finder click on Go, open Applications,
and double-click on Gibson RIP Console.
5. The Console opens. If the console does not open, refer to the RIP owner's manual for
information on troubleshooting. Likely problems are:
The FireWire cable might be bad or not inserted fully.
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The drivers might not be installed correctly.
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The RIP's AC adapter might not be plugged in—the AC adapter is required for
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the RIP to work.
6. Plug Dark Fire into the RIP guitar input using the included stereo (TRS) cable. Turn the
Console analog out faders all the way down, as shown in the following screen shot, so
that you can bring the volume up gradually and avoid any possible damage to your
hearing. For monitoring through headphones, plug a set of headphones into the 1/8"
front panel Phones jack, and turn the volume control about halfway up. If you prefer to
monitor through a mixer or powered speakers, with your speakers turned off, plug the
RIP Line Outputs into your mixer or speaker inputs (output 1 is the left channel, output 2
is the right channel).
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