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9. Operation and Usage
9.1 Playback
In the audio application being used, HDSPe MADI must be selected as output device. This can
often be found in the Options, Preferences or Settings menus under Playback Device, Audio
Devices, Audio etc.
!
WDM playback devices are not available if the number of WDM devices is set to 0 in the
Settings dialog.
Although the HDSPe MADI comes with extensive support for system audio, setting it to be the
Default Device for playback could cause problems, especially when working with ASIO. RME
also recommends switching off all system sounds (via Control Panel Sound, tab Sounds).
Increasing the number and/or size of audio buffers in the application (WDM) or the RME Set-
tings dialog (ASIO) may prevent the audio signal from breaking up, but also increases latency
i.e. output is delayed.
Note: Since Vista the audio application can no longer control the sample rate under WDM.
Therefore the driver of the HDSPe MADI includes a way to set the sample rate globally for all
WDM devices, found within the Settings dialog. See chapter 8.1.
9.2 DVD-Playback (AC-3/DTS) under MME
Popular DVD software players can send their audio data stream to any AC-3/DTS capable re-
ceiver via the HDSPe's MADI channels.
!
The sample rate must be set to 48 kHz in the MADI's Settings dialog, or the software will
only playback a stereo 2-channel downmix via SPDIF.
In some cases the HDSPe MADI output device has to be selected in >Control Panel / Sound /
Playback< and be set as Default, or the software will not recognize it.
The DVD software's audio properties now show the options 'SPDIF Out' or similar. When select-
ing these, the software will transfer the non-decoded digital multichannel data stream to the
HDSPe. Naturally a successful decoding also requires a MADI to AES converter like the RME
ADI-642, converting the playback signals to stereo AES3 or SPDIF.
Note: This 'SPDIF' signal sounds like chopped noise at highest level. The first 2 channels (Loud-
speaker) do not support digital AC-3/DTS playback.
Multichannel
PowerDVD and WinDVD can also operate as software decoder, sending a DVD's multichannel
data stream directly to the analog outputs of the HDSPe MADI. For this to work select the WDM
playback device 'Loudspeaker' of the MADI in Control Panel, Sound, tab Playback as Default.
PowerDVD's and WinDVD's audio properties now list several multichannel modes. If one of
these is selected, the software sends the decoded analog multichannel data to the MADI. To-
talMix can then be used to play back via any desired output channels, even the digital ones like
ADAT.
The typical channel assignment for surround playback is:
1 – Left
2 – Right
5 - SL (Surround Left)
3 – Center 4 - LFE (Low Frequency Effects)
6 - SR (Surround Right)
User's Guide HDSPe MADI © RME
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