Pure Music Installation Steps - Berkeley Audio Design Alpha USB User Manual

The Pure Music application uses iTunes to manage files and as a user interface, but the audio
data is played through its own engine, bypassing core audio in the Mac for bit-perfect output. It
also has the ability to switch sample rates on the fly in full coordination with the Alpha USB and
Alpha DAC, while maintaining bit accurate transparency.
Please follow the 27 steps below in exact numerical order to install and optimize Pure
Music for use with the Alpha USB.
1. Plug the Alpha USB into one of the USB ports on the Mac. See Note below.
2. Under the Apple Menu, click on "About This Mac".
3. Click on "More Info".
4. In the Contents column under Hardware, click on "USB".
5. In the USB Device Tree "Alpha USB Digital Output" should appear.
6. Make sure it is the only active device on its USB High-Speed Bus. See Note below.
7. If necessary, move the USB cable to a different port, or disable the conflicting device
and check again.
8. Quit the System Profiler.
9. Open the Audio MIDI Setup application in the Utilities folder.
10. "Alpha USB Digital Output" should appear on the list of devices.
11. It should NOT be selected as an output device. Select "Built-in Output" for music and
system sounds.
12. Quit the Audio MIDI Setup application.
13. Launch Pure Music.
14. If you have altered the default settings, go to Preferences under the Pure Music Menu.
15. Click the "Defaults" button near the bottom, and accept the action. PM will re-launch.
16. On the Pure Music menu bar under Metering, click on "Signal Metering" to un-select it.
17. Under the Music Server menu, click on "Memory Play" and "Disable DSP Options" to
select them.
18. Under the Pure Music menu, click on "Audio Setup "
19. In the Output Device area, select "Alpha USB Digital Output" in the drop-down list.
20. Check the box "Enable Exclusive Access ("Hog" Mode)".
21. Near the bottom of the window, click on the "Click to Apply Changes" button.
22. After PM re-launches, once again go to Pure Music > Audio Setup
23. To the right of the Hog Mode check-box is a box for "Native Integer Format Support".
24. Click to check the box. Note: Native Integer Format Support is not available at present
with the Lion operating system. For the Lion operating system do not check the box.
25. The menu should close and take you to iTunes with the message "Nonmixable Integer
Output Stream" (if selected) and "Select track and press return".
26. Select a track and press play or return.
27. The track should start playing through the Alpha USB, and on the Pure Music bar
above iTunes there should be a series of status messages in small green letters:
• Alpha USB Digital Output
• Native Sample Rate (xxx kHz)
• Playing from Memory
• Native Integer Device Stream (if selected)
• DSP Options disabled
Pure Music setup is complete.
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