® LAYLA 3G ® GINA 3G Owner’s Manual Version 1.0.
Important Safety Instructions 1. Read Instructions - Be sure to read all of the safety and operating instructions before operating this product. 2. Retain Instructions - The safety instructions and owner's manual should be retained for future reference. 3. Heed Warnings - All warnings on your Echo product and in the Owner's Manual should be followed. 4. Follow Instructions - All operating and use instructions should be followed. 5.
Registering your product online at http://www.echoaudio.com/support/register.php allows us to register key information so that we may handle problems faster and inform you of advance information on upgrades and other news. Thank you in advance for registering. We hope you enjoy your Echo product.
©2004 by Echo Digital Audio Corporation 6450 Via Real Suite 1 Carpinteria, CA 93013 Echo®, Layla®, Gina®, PureWave™, and SuperChannel™ are trademarks of Echo Digital Audio Corporation. ADAT® is a registered trademark of Alesis Corporation. Tracktion™ is a trademark of LOUD Technologies Inc. Windows®, Windows Me®, Windows XP®, and Windows 2000® are registered trademarks of Microsoft, Inc.
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................. 7 WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE RECEIVED IN THE BOX ............................................... 7 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ....................................................................................... 8 INSTALLATION ................................................................................................... 9 LOG IN AS ADMINISTRATOR ...........................................................
APPENDIX A: GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE ........................ 41 APPENDIX B: MULTI-CLIENT AUDIO FAQ............................................... 46 APPENDIX C: WINDOWS DRIVER MODEL (WDM) FAQ ...................... 49 APPENDIX D: AUDIO SOFTWARE GUIDE ................................................ 52 APPENDIX E: PUREWAVE AND SUPERCHANNEL................................. 54 APPENDIX F: SURROUND SOUND...............................................................
Introduction Introduction Thank you for choosing Echo Digital Audio. We think you’ll find your Echo product to be an extremely flexible, high-performance tool for your computerbased hard disk recording system.
Introduction System Requirements In order to use Layla3G or Gina3G you’ll need the following: • A desktop computer with one of the following: • A genuine Intel Pentium III processor (or better) and a motherboard with a genuine Intel chipset OR • A genuine AMD Athlon processor and a motherboard with an AMD, Via, or Nvidia chipset • An empty PCI slot • A minimum 256Mb of RAM (512Mb highly recommended) • A fast, high-capacity IDE or SCSI hard disk drive • Windows Me/2000/XP • Peripheral audio equipment, such
Installation Installation Complete installation consists of logging in as an administrator, disabling Windows system sounds, installing the Windows drivers into your system, installing the PCI card, connecting the audio interface to the PCI card and to your other audio hardware, and installing Tracktion multitrack audio recording software. Log In as Administrator If you are using Windows 2000 or XP, you must be logged into your computer as an Administrator.
Installation Installing the PCI Card Once you have logged in as an administrator, and disabled the Windows system sounds, it is time to install the Echo3G PCI card into your computer. 1. Install the drivers. You should do this before inserting the PCI card. Insert the Echo Install CD-ROM into your machine. The Main Install Window should automatically appear. If it does not, simply go to “My Computer,” and doubleclick on your CD-ROM drive icon.
Installation slot. Centering the card over the slot and using a gentle rocking motion while pushing downward into the slot generally works well. Be careful not to force the card into the slot, or bend or twist it while it is being inserted, as this could result in the card being damaged. 7. Now use the screw that you removed earlier, from the protective back plate, to attach the metal bracket on the card to the computer’s rear panel. 8. Replace the computers cover, and secure it.
Connecting to the Audio Interface Connecting to the Audio Interface The Layla3G and Gina3G audio interfaces contain a wide variety of connections that allow great flexibility in operation. For optimal performance, it is critical to use the appropriate cabling and connectors. Analog Inputs and Outputs – Layla3G Layla3G’s front panel has two universal inputs (#s 1 – 2) with meters and trim knobs, a phantom power switch and light (+48v), and an amber power indicator light.
Connecting to the Audio Interface Analog Inputs and Outputs – Gina3G Gina3G’s front panel has two universal inputs (#s 1 – 2) with meters and trim knobs, a green phantom power light (+48v), and an amber power indicator light. There is also a ¼” headphone output jack, with a corresponding volume knob, which monitors analog outputs 1 and 2. Gina3G has six analog line outputs on the rear panel. The input and output connections can be used with balanced or unbalanced cables via the ¼” connectors.
Connecting to the Audio Interface To use a microphone, plug the microphone’s XLR cable into any of the universal inputs. Whenever an XLR cable is connected to a universal input, the microphone preamp is enabled and the gain range of the trim knob is set to range from +10 to +58dB. The input impedance of each microphone preamp is 1.5Kohms. Full-scale input is 9dBu with the trim set to minimum gain. Layla3G and Gina3G provide 48 volts of phantom power for microphones that require it.
Connecting to the Audio Interface The Computer Connector On the rear panel of the interface box is a connector labeled COMPUTER. It is the point at which the audio interface connects to the Echo3G PCI card inside your computer. An Echo3G connector cable was supplied to you for this purpose. This custom made cable is manufactured to certain specifications; if you need to replace it, you should only use a replacement cable from Echo.
Connecting to the Audio Interface S/PDIF Next to the Optical connectors is a pair of connectors labeled S/PDIF, IN and OUT. These S/PDIF connectors are used to transmit digital audio data between digital audio devices via an electrical signal. When connecting devices to the S/PDIF jacks, the use of standard analog RCA audio cables is not recommended. For reliable S/PDIF operation, 75-ohm coaxial (RG59) video cables are recommended. MIDI Both Layla3G and Gina3G are equipped with MIDI I/O connectors.
Connecting to the Audio Interface Word Clock (Layla3G only) Next to the S/PDIF ports on Layla3G’s back panel are the Word Clock connectors. These connectors allow you to synchronize one Layla3G to another Layla3G or to other digital audio devices equipped with a Word Clock connector. The Word Clock I/O uses a BNC connector. As with the S/PDIF I/O, a shielded 75-ohm (RG-59) coaxial video cable should be used.
Installing Tracktion Installing Tracktion Both Layla3G and Gina3G come bundled with the full version of Tracktion, audio multitrack recording, MIDI, editing, and sampling software. Install Tracktion from the Echo3G CDROM To install the software: 1. Insert the Echo3G Install CD-ROM 2. The Main Install Window should automatically pop up. If it doesn’t, go to “My Computer” and double-click on the CD-ROM icon. 3. From the Main Install Window, select “Install Tracktion.” Then, simply follow the Install Wizard.
Installing Tracktion Launching Tracktion and Assigning Inputs & Outputs Now it’s time to launch the actual program and set a few options: 1. Locate the Tracktion program on the “Start” menu or on the desktop. 2. Select the program from the menu (or double click on the icon) to launch the program. When Tracktion first runs, it takes you to the Projects page. Move the mouse pointer over various objects on the screen and you will notice that Tracktion uses pop-up help to tell you about the interface.
Installing Tracktion NOTE 1: If you can’t find some of your Echo product’s inputs or outputs, that means they are currently being used by another software program. You will have to shut down Tracktion, and disable them from the other software program. Most commonly, this is because you selected one of your Echo products’ output devices as the default playback device for Windows.
Audio Software Using Audio Software Understanding Wave Devices To audio software the Echo hardware appears initially as a group of stereo wave devices. (Using the SuperChannel feature will change this – for more info see Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel.) You can view the list of these devices either from within your audio software or from the Windows control panel. The items you see in the list will depend on which product you installed.
Audio Software And for recording: Layla3G Gina3G Layla3G 1/2 Analog In Layla3G 3/4 Analog In Layla3G 5/6 Analog In Layla3G 7/8 Analog In Layla3G 1/2 Digital In Layla3G 3/4 Digital In Layla3G 5/6 Digital In Layla3G 7/8 Digital In Gina3G 1/2 Analog In Gina3G 1/2 Digital In Gina3G 3/4 Digital In Gina3G 5/6 Digital In Gina3G 7/8 Digital In Please refer to the documentation for your audio software to find out how to assign inputs and outputs.
Audio Software Digital Mode Layla3G and Gina3G have a digital mode switch that lets you set how the hardware transmits and receives digital audio signals. The digital mode switch can be set to S/PDIF RCA, S/PDIF optical, or ADAT optical. We’ll use Layla3G for our examples below, but Gina3G works exactly the same.
Console Software Console3 A “virtual control surface” application called Console3 is installed with the driver. The console allows you to control the audio I/O and clocking functions of your Echo product, and it brings these controls to a single easy-to-use location. From the console you can control the output levels, select synchronization clocks, select the digital mode, and adjust input monitoring.
Console Software that output bus. Audio played through the selected channels by an application, any analog input, and any digital input may be mixed to an output bus. Screenshot of Layla3G Console3 main window – Gina3G will work similarly.
Console Software Bus Select The output bus select panel is the area outlined in green. Five different output busses are shown here: four analog busses in the top row and one digital bus on the bottom row. Each bus has its own button marked with either an A or D (Analog or Digital) and a channel number pair. The button in the “down” position is the currently active bus. In this case Analog 1-2 (A 1-2) is the active bus. Clicking on an output bus button simply selects the settings that are displayed.
Console Software The gang button, marked with a “G,” sets the gang mode. If you are in gang mode, the mute buttons and nominal level buttons will work together for the left and right channels; for example, clicking the mute on one channel activates the mute button on the other channel. Also, ganging the faders ties them together so they will maintain their relative placement with regard to each other.
Console Software Below the peak meters are the input monitor controls starting with the monitor pan slider. This control changes how the input channel is monitored between the two channels of the currently selected output bus. Holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on a pan slider will set the slider to the center position. Note that this does not affect your recording. Below the pan slider is the monitor mute.
Console Software Adjusting Playback Volume Output volume adjustments are made in the digital domain. When you lower a volume fader below 0dB, you are actually decreasing the number of available bits, thereby taking away from the potential dynamic range of the system. Therefore, we suggest that whenever possible you leave the output faders (Playback & Output Bus) set to 0dB, and perform any necessary attenuation on your external mixer.
Console Software Synchronizing Multiple Devices Layla3G and Gina3G are designed to work alongside other audio equipment. If you are planning on using Layla3G or Gina3G with other audio equipment, please note the following: The Windows drivers included in this package support multiple Echo products within the same system. In addition, your new Echo hardware will operate alongside other Echo products.
Console Software S/PDIF – The Sony/Phillips Digital Interchange Format is a serial bit-stream that has a clock signal embedded in the data stream. When recording from an S/PDIF source, whether via optical cables or RCA cables, Layla3G & Gina3G will utilize the synchronization clock that is embedded in the S/PDIF while they decode the bit-stream. Layla3G & Gina3G can only sync to S/PDIF clock if the master device is set to a sample rate between 30kHz and 100kHz.
Console Software the second one via a BNC cable running from Word Clock Out on Layla3G #1 to Word Clock In on Layla3G #2. Now select Word for Layla3G #2’s input sync. The second Layla3G will slave to the first one and your Layla3Gs will now operate in unison. No matter how many devices you are synchronizing, the concept is essentially the same. You are merely “daisy-chaining” devices together using compatible clocks.
Console Software Console Settings Clicking the Settings button above the playback strips shows a dialog box for altering console settings. The Settings dialog gives you six different tabs to choose from: “Driver,” “Console,” “Digital,” “GSIF,” “Surround,” and “About.” Driver Here you can do two things: lock the sample rate and tell the driver whether or not to synchronize wave devices.
Console Software Locking the Sample Rate Locking the sample rate can be very important, since Windows will frequently try to set the hardware to the highest rate it supports. Then, Windows sample rate converts between that rate and the rate at which you are playing or recording. For instance, you may be trying to play at 44.1 kHz, but Windows sets the hardware to 96 kHz and converts between the two. This is undesirable because you may be trying to do a digital transfer at a specific rate.
Console Software Console Sessions Console settings can be saved as a console session to be reloaded later. To save a console session, click the “Save” button in the console. To load a previously saved session, press the Load button in the console. The current session can be “fast saved” by pressing the F key; this will overwrite the most recently opened session file with the current settings. By default, a directory with your product name is created, and all sessions for that product are saved to it.
Console Software Digital I/O This lets you set the format of your S/PDIF outputs. Layla3G and Gina3G can transmit digital information in either of two formats: “professional” or “consumer.” The primary difference between the two is in the implementation of the SCMS copy protection bit, which, in the Consumer format, prevents the user from making digital copies of a digital copy. The S/PDIF output defaults to the Consumer format.
Console Software GSIF This window allows you to set the latency of GigaStudio in terms of samples. Select the value here that provides the best tradeoff between performance and reliability. The driver that comes with Layla3G/Gina3G fully supports GigaStudio 3, including support for GSIF 2 audio input and low-latency kernel-level MIDI input.
Console Software Surround Here you can find the controls for surround sound delay management. Please refer to “Appendix F: Surround Sound” under the heading “Delay Management” for more information. Windows XP Service Pack 2 may alter some of these settings.
Console Software About This displays the console version and driver version numbers.
Customer Service Contacting Echo Customer Service If you experience any trouble with your Echo hardware please go to the support area of our website at www.echoaudio.com, and check out the “QuickTips” & “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: Troubleshooting Guide Appendix A: General Troubleshooting Guide Problem: When you try to install the drivers from the CDROM, Windows gives you an error message. Solution: There are several things that could be causing the driver installation to fail. First, if you are trying to install the drivers on Windows 2000 or XP you must be logged in as an Administrator. If you are, and you’re still getting an error message, then it’s probably an issue with InstallShield.
Appendix A: Troubleshooting Guide Error code 1628 Follow the instructions at the website below: http://consumer.installshield.com/kb.asp?id=Q108464 Other error codes The ones listed above are the most common, but if you get a different error code try looking at this list for help: http://consumer.installshield.com/common.asp?source=all Problem: You installed your Echo product and restarted Windows.
Appendix A: Troubleshooting Guide Problem: You are running Windows 2000 or XP and your computer spontaneously reboots on you. Solution: You have probably experienced what Microsoft calls a “bug check”, but what everyone else calls the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). The default setting for the BSOD is not to show the BSOD, but to reboot the computer. This isn’t very helpful for tracking down problems.
Appendix A: Troubleshooting Guide equipment, this copy-protection bit can be turned off or on according to the user’s needs. In consumer products, the SCMS bit is always enabled. Unfortunately there is no way for the transmitting device to automatically detect which format the receiving device is able to accept. If you have a DAT deck that is not able to read the S/PDIF output from your Echo product, chances are it is transmitting in the mode that the deck is not equipped to handle.
Appendix A: Troubleshooting Guide doesn’t mean they are synchronized. Next, be sure that you have selected the desired input clock source in the Console for your Echo product. Problem: Recordings made using the S/PDIF input contain occasional pops or skips. Solution: When recording with the S/PDIF input, you must manually select the S/PDIF clock as the input clock. This can be done from the Console. Problem: On Windows startup you hear a high pitched squealing sound or your S/PDIF signal has gone crazy.
Appendix B: Multi-client audio FAQ Appendix B: Multi-client audio FAQ Q: What is “Multi-client audio”? Multi-client audio is a feature that lets you use different inputs and outputs on your Echo product with different software applications at the same time. This way, you can use several different audio applications with just one Echo product. Otherwise, you would have to use a different audio interface for each audio application.
Appendix B: Multi-client audio FAQ You should also turn off your system sounds. Most system sounds tend to be at 11 kHz or 22 kHz. Imagine that you're recording the best guitar solo of your life and someone clicks on something on the screen. The 22 kHz system sound will play out of an unused output and drop the sample rate of the whole system to 22, ruining your take. If you really want system sounds, go buy a $30 cheapo sound card and play them through that.
Appendix B: Multi-client audio FAQ Q: What's the downside to all this? The main downside is that your computer may very well have a hard time keeping up! If you fire up three different audio apps at once, your computer is probably going to struggle unless you have a really hot machine. The key here is memory, more memory, and a fast CPU.
Appendix C: Windows Driver Model (WDM) FAQ Appendix C: Windows Driver Model (WDM) FAQ Q: What is a WDM driver and why should I care? WDM stands for “Windows Driver Model.” A few years ago Microsoft realized they were asking hardware manufacturers to write a lot of different drivers: support for Windows NT, Windows 95, support for the wave API, support for DirectSound, etc.
Appendix C: Windows Driver Model (WDM) FAQ So you can see that there are several layers of software interposed between our driver and the application. This means we don’t have as much control over the interaction between our hardware and the audio software as we’d like. Unfortunately, this causes some pain; the worst of it is the WDMAUD wave driver breaks most of the software out there that supports 24-bit audio.
Appendix C: Windows Driver Model (WDM) FAQ http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q242/9/37.ASP?LN=ENUS&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=WDM%20audio&rnk=7&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRC H&SPR=W98SE Q: Does the WDM driver support the Windows volume control program? Yes. When you run it (Start/All Programs/Accessories/Entertainment/Volume control), you should see a volume slider in the “Line out” section. This is the same as the “Playback” slider in the Echo console.
Appendix D: Audio Software Guide Appendix D: Audio Software Guide You can use your Echo product with any audio software that supports the standard Windows audio APIs, WDM Direct KS, ASIO, and GSIF. That’s a lot of audio software! For most of them, all you need to do is read the software manual to learn how to use them with your Echo product. We’ll just touch on a few special subjects here. ASIO Software Your Echo product comes with a driver that includes full ASIO 2.0 support.
Appendix D: Audio Software Guide 2.0 Direct Monitoring”. This will cause our ASIO driver to reject any Direct Monitoring commands and prevent the mute on startup. Of course, it also means that you can’t use Direct Monitoring. Using SONAR Here are the required settings for using SONAR with our driver: Note: The settings below will need to be reset every time you reconfigure your wave devices. Go to Options/Audio. • On the “General” tab, set “Audio Driver Bit Depth” to 24.
Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel What is PureWave? While the Windows WDM audio architecture is fine for consumer applications such as games and watching DVDs, it is not entirely suitable for professional audio applications. PureWave is an Echo-exclusive feature that gives your audio applications a more direct connection to your Echo hardware, allowing your audio data to pass through unmodified.
Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel PureWave versus WDM With the WDM driver, you can run each wave device in either WDM mode or PureWave mode. Here’s a chart explaining the differences between the two.
Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel PureWave application guide The following table lists various professional audio software applications and how best to configure your Echo hardware for these various applications.
Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel Vegas 3 PureWave Wavelab PureWave or ASIO WinAmp PureWave WinDVD WDM This list is far from comprehensive. As a general rule, if your professional audio software offers ASIO or WDM Direct KS (kernel-streaming) modes then you should use those. If it only offers basic WDM mode, then try PureWave. If you are using an application that is not on this list, please contact Echo customer service, and we’ll add it to the list.
Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel What is SuperChannel? SuperChannel is an Echo-exclusive feature that allows you to customize how the various inputs and outputs on your Echo hardware are presented to Windows. When the WDM driver is first installed, the hardware is presented as a list of stereo inputs and outputs.
Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel Now you have only three wave devices – a six channel device addressing the first six analog outputs, a stereo device addressing the next two analog outs, and finally an eight channel device for the eight digital outputs. This is the basic idea of SuperChannel – it allows you to optimally configure your wave devices for your specific application.
Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel Wave device configuration You can use the “Wave device configuration” window to set up both PureWave and SuperChannel mode. This allows you to customize how your audio hardware is presented to Windows applications. To access the “Wave device configuration” window, open the console, click on the “Settings” button, select the “Driver” tab, and then click on the “Advanced…” button.
Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel PureWave buffer size – This box controls the overall latency of the PureWave driver. The lower the value, the lower the latency. You can try different values to find the best possible latency for your system. The controls found in the Outputs and Inputs sections of the Wave device configuration window work identically. Link buttons – Along the left hand side you’ll see a group of funny-looking black connectors. Notice that this column is labeled “Link.
Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel Once you have completed your changes, hit OK or Apply. On Windows 2000 and XP, you will be asked if you want to “Update now”, or “Wait until the computer restarts”. If you choose to “Update now”, your computer will be unresponsive for a period of time after clicking OK while the driver restarts. The delay time will depend on the number of channels you are grouping together. More devices will mean a longer delay.
Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel It is not always possible to Update on the fly. If you attempt to update on the fly and it fails you will see this message: In either case, just close down any open applications and restart your computer and everything will work properly. For Windows Me, you will need to reboot for your changes to take effect. Known issues In some cases only the first six channels of a device set to Super Channel greater than six will play back.
Appendix F: Surround Sound Appendix F: Surround Sound How to Playback a Surround Sound Mix You can listen to surround sound mixes without special pro audio software with both Layla3G and Gina3G. You can play surround sound Dolby Digital, Windows Media Audio, and DTS encoded data, among others. The following section will explain how to do this with Windows Media Player 9 on Windows XP. Windows XP Service Pack 2 may change some of these settings.
Appendix F: Surround Sound For instructions on using the console please refer to the “Console3” section of this manual. For instructions on how to use the SuperChannel feature, please refer to “Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel”. Here we’ve used SuperChannel to create an 8-channel analog output audio device for playback of a 7.1 surround mix.
Appendix F: Surround Sound Select the Audio tab at the top of the window and select your newly created SuperChannel audio device from the Sound playback Default device dropdown box. In this example our SuperChannel device is called Layla3G 1-8 Analog Out. Click the Apply button.
Appendix F: Surround Sound This window allows you to select the speaker configuration you’ll be using. Here we’ve selected 7.1 surround sound speakers from the Speaker setup dropdown box. Click the Apply button and then click OK.
Appendix F: Surround Sound 5.1 Surround Sound Example SuperChannel can also be used to play surround sound Dolby Digital, Windows Media Audio, and DTS encoded data in 5.1 surround sound. Just follow the same steps as above with the following exception: you should create a 6 channel audio device instead of 8, and you should select “5.1 surround sound speakers” instead of 7.1. You can use the same directions above for playback with Windows Media player, but you can also use other DVD player software as well.
Appendix F: Surround Sound Delay Management These controls can be found in the console by clicking the “Settings” button and selecting the “Surround” tab. They allow you to adjust the amount of delay added to the playback for each individual surround sound speaker channel. You can move the sliders anywhere from 0 to 250 ms; 0 ms means no delay.
Appendix F: Surround Sound Surround Sound over S/PDIF The WDM drivers support transmitting surround sound-encoded data in either Windows Media Audio or Dolby Digital formats via Layla3G and Gina3G’s S/PDIF outputs. The stream will bypass the kernel mixer and will be transmitted with bit-for-bit accuracy. In order to use this feature, follow these steps: • Select S/PDIF (RCA or Optical) digital mode in the Echo console.
Appendix G: An Introduction to Digital Recording Appendix G: 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-to-digital 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.
Appendix G: An Introduction to Digital Recording Each digit in the number is called a bit. The binary numbers expressed in figure A are sixteen bits long, and have a maximum value of 65,535. The more bits that are used to store the sampled value, the more closely it will represent the source signal. In a 16-bit system, there are 65,535 possible combinations of zeroes and ones; so 65,535 different voltages can be digitally represented. (see figure A above). Figure B.
Appendix G: An Introduction to Digital Recording Also important to the quality of a digital recording is the frequency with which the samples are stored, called the sample rate. In order for a waveform to be faithfully digitized, it must be sampled at a minimum of twice the highest frequency to be stored. Failure to sample frequently enough results in a kind of distortion called aliasing. (If you like technical issues, do some research on The Nyquist Theorem, which explains why this happens).
Appendix G: An Introduction to Digital Recording level of analog audio signals. The most common are dBu and dBV decibels. Both of these represent voltage levels and still double for every increase of 6dB. It is only the reference point, or 0dB level that is different. A 0dBV signal has a voltage level of 1.0 volts. A 0dBu signal has a voltage level of .775 volts. Since .775 is approximately 2dB less than 1.0, converting dBV levels into dBu levels is as simple as subtracting 2dB (2.21 to be exact).
Appendix G: An Introduction to Digital Recording Unbalanced and Balanced Inputs and Outputs An unbalanced signal, commonly used for guitars and consumer electronics, contains two components, a ground signal and a “hot” or active signal. The ground is the barrel of a ¼” connector and the shell of an “RCA” style connector. A balanced signal contains two active signals instead of one in addition to the ground. These are referred to as the “plus” and “minus” signals.
Appendix G: An Introduction to Digital Recording Balanced signals connect with either XLR connectors or TRS (tip, ring, sleeve) connectors. Your Echo product uses XLR connectors for microphones and TRS connectors for connecting balanced (or unbalanced) line level signals. The three sections of a TRS connector are used to transmit the three components of a balanced signal (T = plus, R = minus, S = ground).
Appendix G: An Introduction to Digital Recording In answering the second question, consider the fact that music is often compressed or amplified after it is recorded, and that some headroom is necessary when recording to avoid clipping. The only way that 96dB would be adequate is if all music were recorded so that the peaks were just under full-scale and no compressing or amplification was going to be applied after recording. Any time recorded music is amplified, so is the noise at the low end.
Appendix H: Specifications Appendix H: Specifications Layla3G - Audio Performance Analog Inputs (x2 balanced universal XLR/TRS & x6 balanced TRS): Universal Inputs (x2 balanced XLR/TRS): Frequency Response: 10Hz to 20kHz, ±0.1dB THD+n: <0.002% A-weighted Microphone Input Level (balanced XLR): EIN: -130dBu Dynamic Range: 112dB A-weighted Input Impedance: 1.
Appendix H: Specifications Analog Outputs (x8 balanced TRS): Frequency Response: 10Hz to 20kHz, ±0.1dB Dynamic Range: 114dB A-weighted THD+n: <0.002% A-weighted Linearity: ±0.5dB, 0dBFS to 100dBFS Crosstalk: <0.0002% @ 1kHz Nominal Output Level: +4dBu or –10dBV Maximum Output Level: +17.
Appendix H: Specifications Gina3G - Audio Performance Analog Inputs (x2 balanced universal XLR/TRS): Frequency Response: 10Hz to 20kHz, ±0.1dB THD+n: <0.002% A-weighted Universal Inputs: Microphone Input Level (balanced XLR): EIN: -130dBu Dynamic Range: 112dB A-weighted Input Impedance: 1.
Appendix H: Specifications Gina3G - Hardware Host Interface: PCI bus mastering card Two high quality mic preamps with phantom power (+48v) Six balanced ¼” analog outputs with high performance 24-bit 128x oversampling digital-to-analog converters S/PDIF digital I/O with up to 24-bit resolution ADAT optical digital I/O Trim control and level meter for analog inputs Headphone output with volume control On-board 56-bit / 100Mhz Motorola DSP 24-bit data resolution maintained throughout entire signal path Multip
Index Index A M ADAT...................................... 15, 31 adjusting record and playback levels ................................................... 29 analog resolution ........................... 72 analog-to-digital converter............ 71 microphone preamp .......................14 MIDI ..............................................16 MIDI time code..............................16 MTC...............................................16 multi-client audio...........................
Index T W technical support ........................... 40 troubleshooting guide.................... 41 TRS ............................................... 76 WDM .............................................49 website ...........................................40 Word clock...............................17, 30 U unbalanced.....................................
