Manual

1211
Setting Levels & Gain
ASP880 has plenty of analogue headroom,
running internally on +/-18V DC rails.
The unit can deliver up to +27.5dBu at the
analogue output DB25 on the rear of the
unit.
However it would be typical in modern
digital recording situations that ASP880 is
using our own internal pristine 115dB ADC
converters to produce a digital output for
recording via AES or ADAT digital output.
In this case, the ASP880 has a digital line-
up reference of +18dBu = 0dBFS (full scale),
therefore the analogue circuitry will have
anywhere from 4 to 9.5dB headroom above
digital maximum (don’t worry about it!).
As a target guide, we would recommend
that you turn up the ASP880 gain pots to
produce a -10dBFS peak signal level in your
DAW when recording. This will maintain
plenty of headroom and things often sound
better in the DAW if you record with lots of
headroom.
To do this, adjust the gain knob on ASP880
whilst observing the metering in your
interface or DAW application.
Input Conditioning
In order to correctly condition input signals,
ASP880 provides the following functions:
• +48V Phantom Power
• -10dB Pad (channels 1 & 2)
• Polarity Reverse
• Sweepable High Pass FIlter
P48 Phantom Power
Phantom power can be supplied on a per
channel basis by pressing the +48V switch
(1). This is supplied at 48V +/-4v @ 10mA
per channel and is fully compliant with the
DIN45596 specification. This is suitable for
any phantom powered condenser mics, or
ribbons with on-board active head amps etc.
-10dB Pad
The 10dB pad (2) can be used in conjunction
with the gain control to adjust any hot
signals on channels 1 & 2. Please note that
the actual attenuation value of this pad will
vary with micpre input impedance (lo, med or
hi) and therefore using your ears and eyes is
the best policy here!
ø Polarity Reverse
Polarity reverse (180 degrees) can be
applied to any channel to ensure that
multi-mic setups sound as full as possible.
ALWAYS REMEMBER TO CHECK PHASE.
To check phase coherency on multi-mic
setups, first always use careful microphone
placement and then press the
ø switch (3)
on various combinations of channels to find
the fullest, most solid low frequency
representation of the source.
On drum kit recordings typically you may find
either the kick drum out of phase with the
overheads, or the underneath snare mic out
of phase with the top snare mic etc. Some-
times, one overhead is out of phase with the
kick drum, so move mics first and then use
the polarity reverse switch to find the best
compromise.
Sweepable High Pass Filter
The sweepable HPF is 2
nd
order 12dB per
octave and can be used to increase head-
room and clean up low frequency rumble etc.
Engage this by pressing the switch (4)
and adjusting the frequency control (5).
The LED metering on the ASP880 will show
signal present at -48dBFS (-30dBu), slowly
ramping to -28dBFS (-10dBu) with a peak
LED warning of potential overloads at -2dBFS
(+16dBu). However please rely upon the
recording destination for accurate metering.
Hardware Features
Aim for -10dBFS peaks on the loudest sections
when setting gain & recording levels in the DAW!
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.