Table of Contents
Advertisement
Quick Links
Advertisement
Table of Contents
Troubleshooting
Related Manuals for RME Audio Hammerfall HDSPe AES
Summary of Contents for RME Audio Hammerfall HDSPe AES
- Page 1 User's Guide Hammerfall DSP System ® HDSPe AES ™ TotalMix 24 Bit / 192 kHz ™ ™ ™ SyncAlign SyncCheck ™ SteadyClock PCI Express Digital I/O Card 32 Channels AES/EBU Interface 24 Bit / 192 kHz Digital Audio 32 x 16 Matrix Router 2 x MIDI I/O...
-
Page 2: Table Of Contents
12.3 Notes on WDM .............20 12.4 Multi-client Operation ...........20 12.5 Digital Recording ..........21 Operation under ASIO 13.1 General ..............22 13.2 Known Problems ..........22 Using multiple HDSPe AES ........23 DIGICheck Windows ..........23 Hotline – Troubleshooting........24 User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... - Page 3 25.8 Presets..............46 25.9 Monitor Panel............48 25.10 Preferences............48 25.11 Editing the Names ..........49 25.12 Hotkeys ..............50 25.13 Menu Options............51 25.14 Menu Fader Groups..........51 25.15 Level Meter ............52 User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME...
- Page 4 Technical Background 30.1 AES/EBU - SPDIF..........66 30.2 Lock and SyncCheck ...........66 30.3 Latency and Monitoring........67 30.4 DS – Double Speed ..........68 30.5 QS – Quad Speed..........68 30.6 SteadyClock ............69 30.7 Terminology ............70 30.8 Connector Pinouts..........71 User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME...
-
Page 5: General
User's Guide HDSPe AES General User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 6: Introduction
• DIGICheck DSP: Level meter in hardware, peak- and RMS calculation • TotalMix: 512 channel mixer with 42 bit internal resolution • SteadyClock: Jitter-immune, super-stable digital clock • Optional Time Code module (TCO) for external Video-/SMPTE synchronization User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 7: Hardware Installation
Note: If neither AES I/O 5-8 nor MIDI I/O is required, it is not necessary to install the Expansion Board at all. Optional TCO The optional Time Code Option is connected to the main board with a 10-pin flat ribbon cable. Further details can be found in the TCO manual. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 8: Internal Connectors
Controls termination of the word clock input. Placing the jumper on the upper two pins the word clock input is terminated with 75 Ohms (see printed label on the PCB). 7. Accessories RME offers several optional components. Additionally parts of the HDSPe AES, like the special breakout cables, are available separately. Part Number... -
Page 9: Appendix
RME does not accept responsibility for any misleading or incorrect information within this guide. Lending or copying any part of the guide or the RME Driver CD, or any commercial exploitation of these media without express written permission from RME Intelligent Audio Solutions is prohibited. RME reserves the right to change specifi- cations at any time without notice. - Page 10 For this the device has to be sent free to the door to: IMM Elektronik GmbH Leipziger Straße 32 D-09648 Mittweida Germany Shipments not prepaid will be rejected and returned on the original sender's costs. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME...
-
Page 11: Driver Installation And Operation - Windows
User's Guide HDSPe AES Driver Installation and Operation - Windows User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 12: Driver And Firmware
Windows will recognize the new hardware component and start its ‘Hardware Wizard’. Insert the RME Driver CD into your CD-ROM drive, and follow further in- structions which appear on your computer screen. The driver files are located in the directory \WDM on the RME Driver CD. -
Page 13: De-Installing The Drivers
Settings dialog, and the registration of the ASIO driver. Those entries can be re- moved from the registry through a software de-installation request. This request can be found (like all de-installation entries) in Control Panel, Software. Click on the entry 'RME Hammerfall DSP (WDM)'. -
Page 14: Configuring The Hdspe Aes
(see chapter 11.1). WDM Devices Not before Vista the OS had been capable to handle more than 32 WDM stereo devices. There- fore under W2k/XP it often makes sense to intentionally limit their number. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... - Page 15 HDSPe AES. Optimize Multi-client Mixing Default: on. Unchecking this option might solve compatibility problems in seldom cases, but will also introduce a short noise burst when multi-client playback starts. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME...
-
Page 16: Settings Dialog - Pitch
Therefore the internal clock can be set to 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz, but not to a value in be- tween. SteadyClock, RME's sensational Low Jitter Clock System, is based on a Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS). This superior circuitry can generate nearly any frequency with highest pre- cision. -
Page 17: Clock Modes - Synchronisation
To remedy this, switch the HDSP’s clock mode to 'Master'. RME’s exclusive SyncCheck technology enables an easy to use check and display of the cur- rent clock status. SyncCheck indicates whether there is a valid signal (Lock, No Lock) for each input (Word, AES, TCO, Sync In), or if there is a valid and synchronous signal (Sync). -
Page 18: Operation And Usage
Therefore the driver of the HDSPe includes a workaround: the sample rate can be set globally for all WDM devices within the Settings dialog, see chapter 11.1. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 19: Dvd-Playback (Ac-3/Dts)
(tab Sounds, scheme 'No audio'). Note 2: The DVD player will be synced backwards from the HDSPe card. So when using Auto- Sync and/or word clock, the playback speed and pitch follows the incoming clock signal. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 20: Notes On Wdm
RME's sophisticated tool DIGICheck is an exception to this rule. It operates like an ASIO host, using a special technique to access playback channels directly. Therefore DIGICheck is able to analyse and display playback data from any software, no matter which format it uses. -
Page 21: Digital Recording
Unlike analog soundcards which produce empty wave files (or noise) when no input signal is present, digital interfaces always need a valid input signal to start recording. Taking this into account, RME added a comprehensive I/O signal status display to the HDSPe AES, showing sample frequency, lock and sync status for every input. -
Page 22: Operation Under Asio
At the time of print the option 'Use System Timestamp' should be activated. The HDSPe AES supports both MME MIDI and DirectMusic MIDI. It depends on the used applica- tion which one will work better. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 23: Using Multiple Hdspe Aes
• Completely multi-client. Open as many measurement windows as you like, on any chan- nels and inputs or outputs! To install DIGICheck, go to the \DIGICheck directory on the RME Driver CD and run setup.exe. Follow the instructions prompted on the screen. -
Page 24: Hotline - Troubleshooting
16. Hotline – Troubleshooting The newest information can always be found on our website www.rme-audio.com, section FAQ, Latest Additions. The dialog 'New hardware component found’ does not appear: • Check whether the PCI Express interface is correctly inserted in the PCI Express slot. -
Page 25: Driver Installation And Operation - Mac Os X
User's Guide HDSPe AES Driver Installation and Operation – Mac OS X User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 26: Driver And Flash Update
First fit the card (see 5. Hardware Installation), then switch on the computer and install the driv- ers from the RME Driver CD. The driver file is located in the folder HDSPe Series. Installation works automatically by a double-click on the file HDSPe.pkg. -
Page 27: Configuring The Hdspe Aes
Preferred Sync Ref (AutoSync). System Clock Shows the current clock state and sample rate of the HDSP system. The system is either Mas- ter (using its own clock) or Slave (see Pref. Sync Ref). User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... - Page 28 8, TCO and Sync Internal, or if there is a valid and synchronous signal (Sync). The System Clock Mode display shows the input and frequency of the current sync source. Each input has its own frequency measurement and display of the input signal's current sample rate. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME...
-
Page 29: Clock Modes - Synchronization
Master, all other devices must be set to Slave. RME’s exclusive SyncCheck technology (first implemented in the Hammerfall) enables an easy to use check and display of the current clock status. The SyncCheck field indicates whether no signal (No Lock), a valid signal (Lock) or a valid and synchronous signal (Sync) is present at each of the digital clock source inputs. -
Page 30: Mac Os X Faq
19. Mac OS X FAQ 19.1 Round about Driver Installation The driver with the file suffix zip provided by RME is a compressed archive. Zip is directly sup- ported by OS X, a double click on the file is all one needs to do. -
Page 31: Various Information
Note: TotalMix is part of the hardware of each HDSPe system. Up to three mixers are available, but these are separated and can't interchange data. Therefore a global mixer for all units is not possible. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 32: Digicheck Mac
• Completely multi-client. Open as many measurement windows as you like, on any chan- nels and inputs or outputs! To install DIGICheck, go to the \DIGICheck directory on the RME Driver CD and run setup.exe. Follow the instructions prompted on the screen. -
Page 33: Connections And Totalmix
User's Guide HDSPe AES Connections and TotalMix User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 34: Connections
Pinout of the D-sub connector, Inputs Signal 1/2+ 1/2- 3/4+ 3/4- 5/6+ 5/6- 7/8+ 7/8- D-Sub GND is connected to pins 2, 5, 8, 11, 16, 19, 22, 25. Pin 13 is not connected. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 35: Aes/Ebu Outputs
GND is connected to pins 2, 5, 8, 11, 16, 19, 22, 25. Pin 13 is not connected. Connecting devices with coaxial SPDIF ports to the HDSPe AES outputs is accomplished by a simple cable adapter XLR/phono, as described above. Just use a female XLR connector. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 36: Midi
AES MIDI In 1 (2) etc. The third software-only MIDI port, HDSP MIDI In 3 (1), provides MTC, in case the TCO has been connected and receives a valid input signal. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 37: Word Clock
HDSPe AES automatically adapts to it. As soon as a valid signal is detected, the Settings dialog shows either Lock or Sync (see chapter 30.2). Thanks to RME's Signal Adaptation Circuit, the word clock input still works correctly even with heavily mis-shaped, dc-prone, too small or overshoot-prone signals. Thanks to automatic signal centering, 300 mV (0.3V) input level is sufficient in principle. -
Page 38: Technical Description And Background
If termination is necessary (e.g. because the card is the last device in the chain), change the blue jumper on the main board to the position shown printed on the PCB for 75 Ohms termination. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 39: General Operation
In Slave mode, the provided frequency is identical to the one present at the currently chosen clock input. When the current clock signal fails, the AES switches to Master mode and adjusts itself to the next, best matching frequency (44.1 kHz, 48 kHz etc.). User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 40: Totalmix: Routing And Monitoring
TotalMix provides the means to mix and monitor these on a single stereo output. • Mixing of the input signal to the playback signal (complete ASIO Direct Monitoring). RME not only is the pioneer of ADM, but also offers the most complete implementation of the ADM functions. - Page 41 User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME...
-
Page 42: The User Interface
Now move the faders up from all sources - input and playback channels - that you want to hear at the submix output. The following chapters explain step by step all functions of the user interface. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 43: Elements Of A Channel
Click into the area above the fader and drag the green bar in order to set the panorama between left and right. The level meters of the third row display the level changes in real-time. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... - Page 44 9 and 10. You can continue like this until all entries have got a checkmark, i. e. you can send the signal to all outputs simultaneously. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME...
-
Page 45: Submix View
As soon as one Solo button is pressed, the Solo Master button lights up in the Quick Access area. With this all selected Solos can be switched off and on again. You can comforta- bly make solo-groups or activate and deactivate several Solos simultaneously. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 46: Quick Access Panel
Windows' hidden directory Documents and Set- tings, <Username>, Local Settings, Application Data, RME TotalMix. On the Mac the location is in the folder User, <Username>, Library / Preferences / Hammerfall DSP. The first number indi- cates the current preset, the second number the current unit. - Page 47 Menu File, Save All Presets as and Open All Presets (file suffix .mpr). After the loading the presets can be activated by the preset buttons. In case the presets have been renamed (see chapter 25.11), these names will be stored and loaded too. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME...
-
Page 48: Monitor Panel
Dim: Amount of attenuation of the signals routed to the Monitor Main in dB. Monitor Main Dim: Amount of attenuation of the Monitor Main output in dB. Activated by the Dim button in the Monitor panel. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 49: Editing The Names
The preset button names are not stored in the preset files, but globally in the registry, so won't change when loading any file or saving any state as preset. But loading a preset bank (see chapter 25.8) the names will be updated. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 50: Hotkeys
Further hotkeys are available to control the configuration of the Level Meter (see chapter 25.15): Key 4 or 6: Display range 40 or 60 dB Key E or R: Numerical display showing Peak or RMS Key 0 or 3: RMS display absolute or relative to 0 dBFS User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 51: Menu Options
The password is stored unencrypted in the registry (Windows: Software, RME, hdspmix, Password). Undo Load Preset: Turns the mixer state back to the state before the last preset was loaded. -
Page 52: Level Meter
Thus it can be a valuable tool for sound optimization and error removal in the studio. Measuring SNR (Signal to Noise) is best done with RME’s free software DIGICheck. The function Bit Statistic includes three different RMS meters for exactly this purpose (RMS un- weighted, A-weighted and DC). -
Page 53: Totalmix: The Matrix
Matrix view. Hold down the Shift-key while clicking on an already activated field. Mute overwrites the phase display, blue becomes orange. If mute is deactivated the phase inversion is indicated again. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 54: Advantages Of The Matrix
Example: you have lowered the output level of a submix, or just a specific channel, by some dB. The audio signal passed through via ADM will be attenuated by the value set in the third row. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 55: Selection And Group Based Operation
The fastest way to delete complex routings: select a channel in the mixer view, click on the menu entry Edit and select Delete. Or simply hit the Del-key. Attention: there is no undo in To- talMix, so be careful with this function! User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 56: Recording A Subgroup (Loopback)
A software monitor- ing on the subgroup record channels is only allowed as long as the monitoring is routed in both software and TotalMix to a different channel than the active subgroup recording one. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 57: Using External Effects Devices
1 sent to any output via TotalMix, to the Compressor, from the Compressor back to any input. Now this input signal is routed directly to output 1, and output 1 is then switched into loopback mode via Ctrl-mouse. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 58: Ms Processing
Low Cut, Expander, Compressor or Delay. The most basic application is already available di- rectly in TotalMix: Changing the level of the side channel allows to manipulate the stereo width from mono to stereo up to extended, stepless and in real-time. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 59: Totalmix Midi Remote Control
1 - 8 select Main Monitor F10 - F12 Monitor Phones 1 - 3 *Tested with Behringer BCF2000 Firmware v1.07 in Mackie Control emulation for Steinberg mode and with Mackie Control under Mac OS X. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 60: Setup
TotalMix also supports the 9th fader of the Mackie Control. This fader (labelled Master) will con- trol the stereo output faders (lowest row) which are set up as Main Monitor outputs in the Moni- tor panel. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 61: Simple Midi Control
16 Controller numbers are used: 102 up to 117 (= hex 66 up to 75). With these 16 Controllers (= faders) and 4 MIDI channels each per row, up to 64 faders can be controlled per row (as re- quired by the HDSPe MADI). User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 62: Loopback Detection
MIDI output. As soon as it detects this special note at the input, the MIDI functionality is disabled. After fixing the loopback, check Enable MIDI Control under Options to reactivate the TotalMix MIDI. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 63: Technical Reference
User's Guide HDSPe AES Technical Reference User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 64: Technical Specifications
Word Clock • 1 x BNC • Max. output voltage: 5 Vpp • Output voltage @ 75 Ohm termination: 4.0 Vpp • Output impedance: 10 Ohm • Frequency range: 28 kHz – 204 kHz User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 65: Digital
The table shows that a Professional-coded signal would lead to malfunctions for copy prohibi- tion and emphasis, if being read as Consumer-coded data. Nowadays many devices with SPDIF input can handle Professional subcode. Devices with AES3 input almost always accept Consumer SPDIF (passive cable adapter necessary). User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 66: Lock And Synccheck
PLLs and data buffers. Therefore there can be a random error of ± 1 sample difference between the stereo pairs. The HDSPe AES exclusive SyncA- ® lign technology avoids this effect and guarantees sample synchronicity among all four stereo channels. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 67: Latency And Monitoring
30.3 Latency and Monitoring The term Zero Latency Monitoring has been introduced by RME in 1998 for the DIGI96 series of audio cards. It stands for the ability to pass-through the computer's input signal at the inter- face directly to the output. Since then, the idea behind has become one of the most important features of modern hard disk recording. -
Page 68: Ds - Double Speed
(Quad Wire), 96K frame (Double Wire), and as native 192K frame. In 48K frame Quad Speed mode, the HDSPe AES distributes the data of one channel to four consecutive AES channels. This reduces the number of available channels from 16 to 4. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 69: Steadyclock
Latest circuit designs like hi-speed digital synthesizer, digital PLL, 100 MHz sample rate and analog filtering allow RME to realize a completely newly developed clock technology, right within the FPGA at lowest costs. The clock's performance exceeds even professional expectations. -
Page 70: Terminology
S/MUX4. With MADI S/MUX4 is used as well, to transmit up to 192 kHz although the 48K Frame format is used. Note: All conversions of the described methods are lossless. The existing samples are just spread or re-united between the channels. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... -
Page 71: Connector Pinouts
Signal 1/2+ 1/2- 3/4+ 3/4- 5/6+ 5/6- 7/8+ 7/8- D-Sub Signal 1/2+ 1/2- 3/4+ 3/4- 5/6+ 5/6- 7/8+ 7/8- D-Sub GND is connected to pins 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 22, 23, 24, 25. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME... - Page 72 AES/EBU and SPDIF are biphase modulated signals, therefore polarity doesn't matter. Pins 2 and 3 are neither hot nor cold, they carry the same signal. But as AES3 uses a balanced trans- mission they are inverted in polarity. User's Guide HDSPe AES © RME...
Need help?
Do you have a question about the Hammerfall HDSPe AES and is the answer not in the manual?
Questions and answers