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Delta 44 Manual
version: D44-110801
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
What’s in the Box? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
About the Delta 44 Digital Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Product Features & Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Minimum System Requirements . .
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Introduction Congratulations on your purchase of the Delta 44 Digital Recording Interface designed and built by M Audio. Even if you are experienced in digital recording, please take the time to read this manual. It will give you valuable information on installing your new card and the supporting software, plus help you to fully understand the function and use of the Delta 44. Once you’re up and running, you will quickly discover the power and brilliance, both in sound and design, of your Del
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Product Features & Specifications • 4x4 24-bit/96khz full-duplex recording interface. • PCI host card with external break-out box. • 4x4 analog I/O accepts balanced or unbalanced connections on 1/4” TRS jacks. • Analog I/O configurable for +4dBu, Consumer (approximately -4dBV), and -10dBV signal levels. • Analog dynamic range exceeding 103dB. •All data paths support up to 24bit/96kHz performance, no upgrades necessary. • Comprehensive digital mixing, routing, and monitoring capabilities contro
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3 2 4 1 Break-Out Box Front Panel: 1. Analog OUTS 1-4: These jacks output analog audio to a variety of external sources. Each jack is 1/4” TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve) and is compatible with 1/4” TRS (balanced) or TS (Tip-Sleeve unbalanced) connections. 2. Analog INS 1-4: These jacks input analog audio from a variety of external sources. Each jack is 1/4” TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve) and is compatible with 1/4” TRS (balanced) or TS (Tip-sleeve unbalanced) connections. Break-Out Box Back Panel: 3. Host Cable
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2. Start Windows and allow Windows’ Plug-and-Play to prompt you for the Delta 44 drivers via the Add New Hardware wizard. Install drivers and support software (see ‘Windows Software Installation’). 3. On the Mac, drag the Delta extension to the Extensions folder, and the appropriate ASIO driver to your application’s ASIO folder. Restart. If not using ASIO, set the Sound Manager to Delta (see Mac Installation). 4. Configure your digital recording software to use the Delta 44 as its active audio
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With your computer turned off: 9. Place the Delta 44 break-out box on a desktop in a convenient but secure place, or mount the unit in a 19” rack-mount chassis. Rack mounting may be accomplished with a universal rack-mount tray, using a 5mm screw through the tray and into the mounting hole on the bottom of the Delta 44 break-out box. 10. Connect one end of the supplied host cable to the 15-pin D-sub connector on the break-out box. 11. Connect the other end of the host cable to the 15-pin D-sub
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5. Windows is now ready to install the driver files from the specified location. Click ‘Next>’. Windows will start to copy the files and show you a progress report screen. 6. The Wizard reports that Windows has finished installing the software. Click ‘Finish’. Your Delta 44 is ready for action. After completion of the driver installation, Windows may require you to restart Windows. If it does request a restart, remove the Delta disk from the floppy disk drive and respond by clicking “Yes”. Th
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Windows NT 3.51 Installation 1. Install the hardware in your system, then power up your system & boot Windows NT Ver 3.51. 2. Click and open the “Main” group. 3. Click and open the “Control Panel.” 4. Click on the “Drivers” icon. 5. Click on the “Add” button. 6. Select the “Unlisted or Updated Driver” entry and push “OK.” 7. You will be prompted to insert the driver disk,, with the A: prompt appearing as the path. Insert the Drivers CD into your CD ROM drive. Type in the drive letter of your
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your software’s documentation) and you will be using the Sound Manager to communicate with your Delta 44, set Sound In and Sound Out to “Delta.” See the section “Hardware Settings Page” in the Delta 44 “Control Panel Software” section for information on selecting Sound Manger inputs and outputs. Your Delta 44 is now ready for use. Verifying Windows Driver Installation Windows displays the Delta 44 driver status in the Device Manager page of the System Properties dialog box. The Device Manager
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Verifying Delta Control Panel Software Installation In Windows, open the Windows Control Panel (do so via Start | Settings | Control Panel ). If your Delta 44 hardware and Delta Control Panel software are properly installed, the Windows Control Panel should display an “M Audio Delta H/W” icon. By double-clicking on that icon, you may launch the Delta Control Panel software. Also for convenience, you may create a shortcut on your desktop by dragging a copy of the “M Audio Delta H/W” icon from the
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preferred for semi-pro audio equipment and some consumer equipment that is too ‘hot’ for the ‘-10’ setting. The ‘Consumer’ setting offers approximately 6dB more headroom than does the ‘-10’ setting. Semi-pro and consumer devices’ signal levels vary from manufacturer-to-manufacturer and even product-to- product, so a little experimentation between Consumer and -10 settings may be required for optimal results. NOTE: In order to preserve its high dynamic range and minimize distortion, the Delta 4
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Synchronization For proper operation, the entire Delta 44 system is always synchronized to a single master clock. This master clock is derived from the internal crystal oscillators. When a WAV file is played through the Delta drivers, the software application playing the WAV file is responsible for setting the sample rate in the sound card hardware. The Delta 44 supports these sample rates by using either of its internal crystal oscillators and dividing the rate of that oscillator by some value
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each of these stereo devices down further to “left” and “right” mono devices. Most software will handle the outputs as stereo pairs but allow you to pan audio left or right within the pair. Therefore to send a mono output to OUT1 (for example), choose WavOut 1/2, then pan that track hard left. Note that each device name begins with “WavOut.” This is to remind you that these are software devices, and not always connected directly to the Delta 44’s output jacks. Instead they are connected to t
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Analog 1/2 Delta-44 Analog 3/4 Delta-44 WINDOWS MULTIMEDIA SETTINGS: Windows may be set up to use the Delta 44 as its default audio device, allowing system sounds to be sent out the Delta 44. This also enables you to use the Delta 44 with the sound applets included with Windows. To set this up, go to Control Panel | Multimedia. In the Audio Properties page, set the Playback and Recording devices to the Delta 44 input and output devices of your choice. Delta 44 Control Panel Software ON THE PC
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Monitor Mixer Page The Monitor Mixer is the first page that appears when the Delta Control Panel is opened, and controls the digital mixer built into the Delta 44’s PCI controller chip. As described in previous sections, the output of this mixer may be assigned to the OUT1/OUT2 analog outputs. At the same time, the mixer outputs may be recorded in stereo by software. The Monitor Mixer Page is essentially a collection of volume level faders, audio level (or ‘peak’) meters, and solo/mute controls
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that is 12dB ‘quieter’ than full-scale is referred to as “-12dB.” The meters are vertically color-coded into three sections: green, yellow and red. The green section represents a safe zone, ranging from approximately -48dB to -12dB. Most audio signals should appropriately fill this section of the meter. The yellow section ranges from -12dB to -3dB as the signal approaches a ‘hotter’ level. For best capture resolution, recording in this area is both safe and advised. The red section of the
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PAN: Each mixer input is considered “mono” and may be individually panned anywhere in the stereo output mix. A pan control is positioned directly under each input channel peak meter and has the appearance of a small vertical pointer. To make a coarse adjustment, click on the pan control with your mouse and drag it to the desired position. For finer adjustment (in 1% increments), you may click on the pan control to make it active, and then use the left/right or up/down cursor keys on your com
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Delta 44 board. To display this page, click the “Patchbay/Router” tab of the Delta Control Panel. ON THE MAC: Please substitute the name “SM/ASIO” where referrences are made to “WavOut.” SM/ASIO are the software outputs on the Mac, while WavOut are the software outputs on the PC. Substitute “Windows multimedia applet” with “Sound Manager Applet.” The leftmost vertical column of Patchbay/Router page, “H/W Out 1/2,” connects this hardware analog stereo pair to one of four stereo sources: 1. The
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Hardware Settings Page The Hardware Settings page of the Delta Control Panel gives you control over miscellaneous features of the Delta 44. To display this page, click the “Hardware Settings” tab of the Delta Control Panel. MASTER CLOCK: This section displays the source of the board’s master clock: Internal Xtal (crystal). Master clock operation is outlined in the Synchronization section of this manual. Internal Xtal is the default (and only) setting. The status display will always say “Lo
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MULTITRACK DRIVER DEVICES: The Delta 44 drivers may intelligently synchronize the beginning of recording and playback across all audio devices on the board. When using application software that is capable of using multiple channels simultaneously, select “Single and In-Sync” to ensure that all audio channels will begin playback and/or recording at the same time. Otherwise select “Independent” to allow the audio channels to play independently — this setting may be desirable if more than one app