GINA by ® Owner’s Manual Version 1.6 for PC Gina is designed and manufactured in the U.S.
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Table of Contents Introduction What You Should Have Received in the Gina Box System Requirements 5 5 5 Gina Installation Running the Echo Reporter Software The ECHODEL Program System Sounds Installing the Gina Hardware Installing the Gina Software Drivers Gina Audio Input & Output Devices 6 6 10 11 12 14 17 The Echo Console The File Menu The Edit Menu The Session Menu The Monitors Menu Console Controls EasyTrim Automatic Gain Control Monitor Controls Output Controls Adjusting Record and Playback Levels
Table of Contents Contacting Customer Service 38 Appendix A: The Reporter Troubleshooting Guide Appendix B: General Troubleshooting Guide Appendix C: Resolving Interrupt Conflicts Appendix D: Introduction to Digital Recording Appendix E: Specifications 39 41 44 49 53 Index 54 4
Introduction Thank you for choosing the Gina 20-bit Multitrack Digital Audio Recorder. We think you’ll find Gina to be an extremely flexible, high-performance tool for your computer-based hard disk recording system.
Gina Installation Complete Gina installation consists of performing a system check using the Echo Reporter software, installing the Gina PCI card, connecting the audio interface to the card, installing the Gina Windows drivers into your system and, if necessary, installing a multitrack audio recording/editing application. Running the Echo Reporter Software The Reporter is designed to provide you with an analysis of your computer system’s audio capabilities and its ability to work successfully with Gina.
After the test is completed you’ll see a results screen. Many of the parameters on the screen are interactive; you can change them to see how your disk performs under different conditions. For example, in the upper right corner of the screen you can see how large your hard disk is and how many minutes of recording time it will provide for a mono track recorded at 44.1kHz with 16-bit resolution. (Times are expressed in Hours: Minutes: Seconds.
You can adjust the parameters on the Hard Disk Performance screen to view your disk’s record and playback capabilities at various sample rates and bit-resolutions. You can also change the Size (bit-resolution), Rate (sample rate), and Number of Tracks fields. Though the original test was performed with default values of 16-bit 44.1kHz, you can easily see your disk’s performance reading and writing, say, 24-bit 48kHz data simply by selecting those values in the appropriate fields.
Similarly, by lowering the number of playback tracks, you’ll see the number of record tracks increase. • The readouts will generally show that you have fewer record tracks available than playback tracks. This is because writing data to a hard disk is a slower process than reading it back (due to the verify routines used when writing to disk). • The values you see should not be taken as absolute.
The Summary screen tells you if your system can support multitrack audio recording as well as alerting you to potential problems. If your system passed the Echo Reporter test, it’s time to move on to the next phase of installation. The ECHODEL Program If you have previously installed an Echo audio card, such as a Gina, Darla, or Layla, it will be necessary to remove the old drivers before adding your Gina.
program anytime you add an Echo audio card to your system, even if you are merely exchanging one card for an identical one (such as during a warranty exchange). Be sure to restart Windows after you run the ECHODEL program. System Sounds There is one final step to perform before installing the Gina hardware. We suggest that you turn off your Windows system sounds prior to installing Gina.
Installing the Gina Hardware Once you have run the Reporter software, have verified that there are no problems with your system, and have removed any old driver software with the ECHODEL program, it is time to install Gina into your computer. IMPORTANT - Unplug your computer and detach all peripherals before proceeding with the following steps. 1. Remove your computer’s cover. This operation differs from computer to computer.
5. Use the screw removed earlier from the protective backplate to attach the metal bracket at the back of the Gina card to the computer’s rear panel. 6. Replace the computer’s cover and secure it. Reattach its power supply cord and reconnect any peripherals that you may have removed prior to beginning the Gina installation. 7. Locate the Gina audio breakout box and the 25-pin audio connector cable. Place the breakout box near your computer in a convenient location on a level surface.
Installing the Gina Software Drivers Now that you have completed the hardware installation, you need to install the software drivers that allow Gina to interact properly with Windows 95/98 and your audio recording application. Turn on the power to your computer’s CPU. Caution: Lower the volume on your outboard mixer prior to rebooting. The Gina hardware can produce a loud pop when power is first applied to the computer.
If you are using Windows 98: After you have inserted the Gina CD-ROM disc and clicked next, you’ll see the message, “What do you want Windows to do?” Below that are two radio buttons. If it isn’t already selected, select the one labeled “Search for the best driver for your device (Recommended)”. Click on the Next button and a dialog will appear with several check boxes indicating places where Windows will look. If you are installing from a CD-ROM drive or from a floppy disk, click on the appropriate box.
Proper installation of the Gina drivers will result in the message, “The device is working properly.” If the message does not appear, check Appendices A, B and C for help in isolating the cause of your difficulties. You can now exit back to the Control Panel window to check the Gina audio input and output devices that are available. In the Control Panel window, locate the Multimedia icon and double-click on it. This will bring the multimedia Properties window into view.
Gina Audio Input & Output Devices The Gina driver installs into your computer as a series of stereo .WAV devices. Pulling down the Preferred Device menu in the Control Panels/Multimedia/Audio Playback section will reveal the available Gina devices.
You can view the Gina input and output devices in the Multimedia Properties/Audio windo w. You’ll find these same input and output options available when using your audio record/editing software, with the devices assignable on a per-track basis. See your software owner’s manual for details on how to make these device assignments. Instructions for making these assignments in Cool Edit ProGina Special Edition can be found on page 37 of this manual.
The Echo Console Included with your Gina is a “virtual control surface” application called The Echo Console. The Console allows you to control the audio I/O and clocking functions of Gina, and it brings these controls to a single easy-touse location. From the console you can control input and output levels, select synchronization clocks, adjust input monitoring, and activate the EasyTrim automatic input gain adjustment circuitry.
function/stereo pair are then further grouped into a box that contains selection buttons, a slider, and other controls and displays as determined by the function. The File Menu At the top left of the Console window you will find the File menu. By selecting the File menu, several configuration options become available to you. The first menu option is “New Console”. The New Console option allows you to create an additional iteration of the console program.
The Session Menu Users now have the ability to save and restore any number of different console states. A console state contains the state of each user-selectable console setting excluding color scheme and font. The “Open” option, first on the Session menu, lets you open a previously saved session. The “Save” option, second on the Session menu, lets you save any changes made to the current session.
the list. For those who like using the keyboard, pressing the corresponding number (displayed with an underline before the session name) also works. The Monitors Menu The “Group Mode” option, first on the Monitors menu, lets you toggle group mode on and off. See the Monitor Controls section below for a description of how this feature works. The “In-Line” option, second on the Monitors menu, cascades the monitors so there is a one to one correspondence between input and output channels.
relative placement with regard to each other. You can also activate the EasyTrim function (T). EasyTrim Automatic Input Gain Adjustment Circuitry EasyTrim is a feature that monitors the peak level of the input signal and automatically adjusts the input gain for maximum performance, i.e., the point that offers the greatest signal-to-noise ratio for the material being recorded.
recording. That way you can always be assured of getting the maximum dynamic range out of your Gina system. Monitor Controls Below the input channels are the input monitor controls. The input monitor controls allow you to monitor the record input signal via any of the available outputs on your Gina. Each input channel pair has a corresponding monitor output pair directly below it on the console. The monitor controls look similar to the controls for input.
Let’s say you want to set the level at which input pair 1/2 is monitored for each of the four stereo analog output pairs on Gina. You would first find the monitor control that corresponds to inputs 1/2 (the control on the far left, directly below the input control for channels 1/2). Clicking on the button within this box labeled “1/2” causes the control box to display the currently selected levels at which inputs 1/2 are being monitored at outputs 1/2.
Adjusting Record and Playback Levels Gina’s output volume adjustments are made in the digital domain. When you lower a volume slider, you are actually decreasing the number of available bits, thereby taking away from the potential dynamic range of the system. To avoid this, we suggest that whenever possible you leave the output sliders set to their maximum positions, and perform any necessary attenuation on your external mixer.
with Gina. Without such synchronization, the individual pieces of equipment will act independently of each other. This scenario may be fine for some musical applications; however, it is not appropriate for situations where sample-accurate synchronization is required. For this reason, Gina supports S/PDIF synchronization mode. Gina can slave to S/PDIF or generate a S/PDIF synchronization signal. Let’s take a brief look at this synchronization.
Console Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts To navigate between control groups: Ctrl + Tab Move to next control group. Ctrl + Shift + Tab Move to previous control group. To navigate between controls within a control group: Tab Move to next control. Shift + Tab Move to previous control. Ctrl + S Toggles between left & right Solo buttons. Ctrl + M Toggles between left & right Mute buttons. Ctrl + A Toggles between left & right Trim buttons. Ctrl + T Toggles between left & right +10/-4 buttons.
Sound, video and game controllers. Finally, locate the line titled Gina by Echo, and double-click. This will bring up the Gina Properties window, which we saw briefly at the conclusion of Gina installation. We have previously seen the “General” screen, so let’s move on to the “Settings” screen by clicking on the tab labeled Settings. The Settings panel is where you turn Monitoring During Playback on or off and set the mode of S/PDIF that is transmitted.
The “Monitor During Playback” Control In the default mode, Gina allows you to monitor your input signal whether you are recording, playing back, or simply idle. In some situations, such as when performing punch-in recording, it may be desirable to have the input signal muted until Record is enabled. In the Gina Properties window that appears you’ll see a checkbox labeled Monitor During Playback. Uncheck the box to disable input monitoring; recheck it to once again enable input monitoring.
SAW Compatibility Mode When using Gina with the Software Audio Workshop (SAW) program from Innovative Quality Software, there are some special considerations that must be accommodated by the Gina driver. SAW expects an equal number of inputs and outputs on Gina. For SAW compatibility, the driver creates a non-functional mirror of input channels 1 and 2 (making an equal number of ins and outs). To insure that Gina will operate properly with SAW, check the box labeled SAW Compatibility Mode.
Only those clock sources that Gina determines to be available will be enabled for selection.
ASIO Driver Installation The ASIO driver is automatically installed on your system at the same time the Echo Layla/Gina/Darla driver is installed. To use it: 1. If you already own a copy of Steinbergs’ VST program, skip to step 3. 2. On the installation CD, run the program: \Audio Software Demos\Steinberg\CubaseVST demo\VSTdemo.exe which will install a fully functional demo of this program.
10.When running VST selecting menu Options - Reset Devices followed by pressing the Play button results in no sound. Simply press the Stop button twice to reset the position pointer to the beginning of the buffer. Then press Play and sound will resume.
Installing Cool Edit Pro Special Edition Included with your Gina system is a special version of Syntrillium Software’s Cool Edit Pro, a powerful multitrack audio recording and editing application. To install the software: 1. Insert the Gina CD-ROM. 2. Press the Start button, and select Run… from the menu. Now select Browse… At the top of the window that appears, you will see a box labeled Look In:. Clicking on this box will result in a list of your disk drives to appear. Select your CD-ROM drive.
Cool Edit Pro: Assigning Gina’s Inputs & Outputs Gina’s inputs and outputs are assigned to tracks in two different ways, depending on the viewstereo waveform or multitrackin which you are working. In the stereo waveform view, select Options/Settings/Devices; in the window that appears you can define the Waveform Playback and Waveform Record devices. Simply highlight the Gina inputs and outputs you wish to use in the appropriate fields.
Cool Edit Pro: Optimizing Multitrack Performance Background mixingthe process Cool Edit Pro uses to allow a large number of tracks to play simultaneouslyrequires significant processing power from your computer. With larger sessions, your computer may become so occupied with mixing that you experience audio dropouts in multitrack playback. This will usually happen because the background mixing is not sufficiently complete (watch the Mix Gauge) before playback is initiated.
output devices vary, so may the settings you’ll need to use to maximize performance. Use the Multitrack Settings shown above as a starting place when adjusting your system to optimize the performance of Cool Edit Pro. Cool Edit Pro will take more time performing background mixing when you have your tracks assigned to multiple sets of Gina’s outputs. In this scenario, Cool Edit Pro creates a separate mix for each output device (each Gina channel-pair).
Contacting Customer Service If you experience any trouble with your Gina system please go to the support area of our website at www.echoaudio.com and check out the troubleshooting FAQ’s we have there. If you can’t find a solution to your problem there, please fill out the provided technical support email form. This form will be sent to our technical support staff and they will respond to you quickly. Please fill out the form completely.
Appendix A: The Echo Reporter Troubleshooting Guide After you run the Reporter program, your summary may contain one or more of the following problem/error messages. Consult the table below for suggestions on interpreting the messages and finding solutions. Message... Problem... What to do... * The Echo line of sound cards require Windows 95 or Windows 98 Your computer is using a Windows 3.xx or Windows NT operating system The Echo Reporter and Gina will only operate in Windows 95 or Windows 98.
*The Echo Reporter has found that none of the hard drives that were tested meet minimum performance standards with respect to transfer rate. Though your system supports the Echo line of sound cards, we recommend that you upgrade your hard drive(s), as your existing drive(s) are not capable of sustaining the minimum transfer rates required for reasonable performance Your computer has no physical hard drives that test at a transfer rate better than 500Kb/second.
Appendix B: General Troubleshooting Guide Problem: After installing Gina, one or more of your peripheral devices no longer functions properly. Solution: During the installation of your Gina, it is possible that an interrupt conflict was created. Please see Appendix C: Resolving Interrupt Conflicts for more information on this topic. Problem: You installed Gina and restarted Windows. Now Windows indicates that it has found new hardware and wants you to install a driver for it.
DAT deck that is not able to read the S/PDIF output from Gina, chances are Gina is transmitting in the mode that the deck is not equipped to handle. We have provided a software switch in the Gina driver that allows you to select which mode Gina transmits. To access this switch go to the Windows Start button and select Settings. Select the Control Panel, double-click on the System icon, and select the Device Manager tab.
source in the Console program, or made the selection on the Clocks menu in the Control Panel. Problem: Recordings made using the S/PDIF port contain occasional pops or skips. Solution: When recording with the S/PDIF port, you must manually select the S/PDIF clock as the input clock. This can be done using the Console program or from the Gina Properties screen in the Windows control panel.
Appendix C: Resolving Interrupt Conflicts While Plug-and-Play is often called “Plug-and-Pray,” it actually works quite well most of the time. We estimate that 95% of Gina installations will go without a hitchthat Plug-and-Play will properly assign resources to your card without any conflicts. The other 5% of you will likely experience interrupt problems caused by older, non-Plug-and-Play cards that are installed in your system.
wired to them. Older ISA cards (also called “legacy” cards) have you select which interrupt is used by configuring jumpers on the card. Newer Plugand-Play ISA cards have their interrupts selected by either the computer’s BIOS (the built-in program that starts the computer) or by Windows 95/98. The newer PCI (Peripheral Connect Interface) bus transfers data faster than ISA and was designed to support Plug-and-Play from the start. PCI connectors have only four interrupts wired to them (A, B, C, and D).
and use your MIDI card or play back audio via Gina, neither device will function properly. Or, maybe you have a SCSI card that had previously been assigned to IRQ 10. The BIOS may now decide to assign IRQ 10 to Gina, and move the SCSI card to IRQ 9. An interrupt conflict now exists between the SCSI card and the older MIDI card. In this case, you’re probably cursing at your new card (and possibly us) for messing with your SCSI interfaceafter all, everything worked fine before the new card was installed.
If you have lost your manuals and are having trouble figuring out which card may be causing a problem, you can try the brute force approach. Remove all legacy ISA cards from your system and then re-install them one at a time until the system quits working. The card that makes the computer stop working correctly will be the one that needs to be dealt with. Once the offending card has been identified you have a few different options. One option is to simply remove the card from your system.
Reserving an IRQ within Windows 95/98 Windows 95/98 also allows you to reserve interrupts for legacy use. In most cases this works just as well as reserving the IRQ in the BIOS. However, you may still have problems if you boot up an older version of DOS from a floppy where Windows 95/98 can’t do its Plug-and-Play magic. To reserve an IRQ within Windows 95/98 do the following: 1. Click on the Start button and select Control Panel under the Settings option. 2. Double click on the icon labeled System. 3.
Appendix D: An Introduction to Digital Recording Converting Sound into Numbers In a digital recording system, sound is represented as a series of numbers, with each number representing the voltage, or amplitude, of a sound wave at a particular moment in time. The numbers are generated by an analog-todigital converter, or ADC, which converts the signal from an analog audio source (such as a guitar or a microphone) connected to its input into numbers.
Sample Size The more bits that are used to store the sampled value, the more closely it will represent the source signal. In an 8-bit system, there are 256 possible combinations of zeroes and ones, so 256 different analog voltages can be represented. A 16-bit system provides 65,535 possible combinations. A 16bit signal is capable of providing far greater accuracy than an 8-bit signal. Figure B shows how this works. Figure B.
Sample Rate The rate at which the ADC generates the numbers is equally important in determining the quality of a digital recording. To get a high level of accuracy when sampling, the sample rate must be greater than twice the frequency being sampled. The mathematical statement of this is called the Nyquist Theorem. When dealing with full-bandwidth sound (20Hz−20kHz), you should sample at greater than 40,000 times per second (twice 20kHz). Gina allows you to sample at rates up to 48,000 times per second.
Storing Digital Data Once the waveform has been transformed into digital bits, it must be stored. When sampling in stereo at 48kHz using a 20-bit word size, the system has to accommodate 1,920,000 bits per second. Though this is a lot of data, it is well within the capabilities of personal computers. Most computer-based digital recording systems record the data directly to the computer’s hard disk.
Appendix E: Specifications Audio Performance Analog in to analog out !"Frequency Response: 10Hz – 22kHz, ±0.5dB !"Dynamic Range: 98dB !"THD+n: <0.
Index Echo Console · 19 Echo Console controls · 22 Echo Reporter · 5, 6, 40, 41, 53 ECHODEL.
S/PDIF cabling · 13 S/PDIF output mode · 30 S/PDIF output setting · 30, 43 S/PDIF recording · 42 S/PDIF resolution · 51 sample rate · 50, 52 sample size · 51 SAW compatibility mode · 31 SCMS copy-protection · 30, 42 selecting a slot · 12 software Installation · 14 static electricity, discharging · 12 summary screen · 9 synchronization clocks · 31 system requirements · 5 P PCI card, installation · 12 PCI slots · 12 Playback Buffer Size · 37 Playback Device · 36 Plug-and-Play · 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 Preferred
