Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 What’s in the Box? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Product Features & Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Minimum System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 PCI Adapter Card and Break-Out Cable: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Introduction Congratulations on your purchase of the Audiophile 2496. The Audiophile 2496 is a part of the “Delta” series of digital recording systems and interfaces, designed and manufactured by M Audio, and therefore benefits from the same solid hardware and software driver technology as the other members of the Delta series. Even if you are experienced in digital recording, please take the time to read this manual.
The Audiophile 2496’s break-out cable also includes MIDI I/O connectors. Provided are one input and one output for use with external MIDI equipment, such as sound modules and drum machines. The MIDI I/O may also be used to synchronize your computer to external devices via MIDI time code. Within the Audiophile’s PCI chip is a hardware digital mixer.
PCI Adapter Card and Break-Out Cable: 1 2 3 7 5 4 6 1. Analog INS 1&2: These jacks input analog audio from a variety of external sources. Each jack is female RCA, compatible with common male RCA cables. During stereo operation, the IN1 jack (with white-colored insert) is the left audio channel and IN2 (with red-colored insert) is the right audio channel. 2. Analog OUTS 1&2: These jacks output analog audio to a variety of external sources.
Quick Guide to Getting Started Here is what is required to get your Audiophile 2496 up and running: 1. Physically install the Audiophile 2496 card in your computer and connect the provided break-out cable (see ‘Hardware Installation’). 2. Start Windows and allow Windows’ Plug-and-Play to prompt you for the Audiophile 2496 drivers via the Add New Hardware wizard. Install drivers and support software (see ‘Windows Software Installation’). 3.
. Position the Audiophile 2496 PCI host card over the target PCI slot and fit the card loosely over it with the card in the upright position. Press the card gently but firmly downward into the slot until the card is completely and squarely seated in the slot. If the card seems difficult to seat, a slight rocking motion may help. 7. Fasten the Audiophile 2496 PCI host card’s metal bracket down into the screw hole on the back of your computer using the screw you removed in step 5 above. 8.
2. The ‘Add New Hardware Wizard’ will now ask how to locate the driver. “Search for the best driver for your device” is already selected. Click ‘Next>’. 3. Windows will give you a selection of locations to search. Make sure that only “Choose a Path” is checked, or click on the check box to do so. Insert the Drivers CD into your CD ROM drive. Type in the drive letter of your CD drive (we will assume here that it is D:\) and the path to the Delta drivers, which will be D:\DeltaSeries\Delta9X. Click ‘Next>’.
Windows NT Installation 1. Power up your computer after physically installing the Audiophile 2496 card. 2. Go to Start | Settings | Control Panel and double click on ‘Multimedia.’ Click the ‘Devices’ tab, then click the ‘Add’ button. 3. “Unlisted or Updated Driver” will be highlighted at the top of the list. Click OK. 4. The ‘Install Driver’ box will prompt you to insert the driver disk, and the A: prompt will appear as the path. Insert the Drivers CD into your CD ROM drive.
6. Go to the Apple menu |Control Panel | Sound. You should see the “built-in” sound icon, plus the Delta icon if your Audiophile 2496 is properly installed. If your music program does use ASIO, leave the Sound Manager driver set to “built-in” for both Sound In and Sound Out. If your program does not use ASIO (check your software’s documentation) and you will be using the Sound Manager to communicate with your Audiophile 2496, set Sound In and Sound Out to “Delta.
Verifying Windows Driver Installation Windows displays the Audiophile 2496 driver status in the Device Manager page of the System Properties dialog box. The Device Manager page is opened via the Windows Start button: select Start | Settings | Control Panel | System | Device Manager. With the Device Manager displayed, click on the ‘+’ next to “Sound, video and game controllers” to open a list of devices, the Audiophile 2496 being a device of that nature. Below is an example view of the Device Manager.
Verifying Delta Control Panel Installation, PC & Mac In Windows, open the Windows Control Panel (do so via Start | Settings | Control Panel). If your Audiophile 2496 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.
The Digital Monitor Mixer The Audiophile 2496 Digital Recording System has a hardware digital audio mixer built into its PCI controller chip. It accepts digital audio streams from all hardware inputs and all outgoing software audio devices, mixes them with 36-bit internal precision and then provides the mixed output to the analog outputs (H/W OUT1/OUT2 as a stereo pair) and/or the S/PDIF outputs.
For advanced users, the S/PDIF In option may be used to operate the Audiophile 2496 at non-standard sample rates. When the Audiophile is set to derive its master clock from S/PDIF In, the Audiophile’s sample rate will automatically match that of the incoming S/PDIF data stream. Therefore, sample rates anywhere between 22kHz and 100kHz are possible.
WINDOWS MME AUDIO OUTPUT DEVICES: All Audiophile 2496 analog and S/PDIF outputs may be used simultaneously for a total of 4 output channels. Within your software application(s), the names of the Audiophile 2496 audio output devices are: WavOut 1/2 Delta-AP WavOut S/PDIF Delta-AP “AP” in these names stands for “Audiophile.” WavOut devices allow playing a stereo audio stream to the analog hardware outputs (for WavOut 1/2), the S/PDIF hardware output (for WavOut S/PDIF), or into the hardware router or mixer.
Delta-AP1 Delta-AP2 Delta-AP S/PDIF L Delta-AP S/PDIF R Delta-AP Mon.Mixer L Delta-AP Mon.Mixer R Notice the S/PDIF In and Monitor Mixer names include “L” and “R” characters. “L” indicates the left channel of the stereo stream, while “R” indicates right channel. ASIO DRIVER OUTPUT DEVICES: The Audiophile 2496’s ASIO output devices appear in stereo pairs. Because each device is stereo, you may see “left” and “right” references within your software application.
Audiophile 2496 Control Panel Software ON THE PC: Once the Audiophile 2496 is properly installed, an “M Audio Delta H/W” icon will be displayed in your Windows Control Panel. By double-clicking on that icon, you will launch the Delta Control Panel software. You may also launch the Delta Control Panel software from the desktop if you have previously created a shortcut there (see “Verifying Delta Control Panel Software Installation” section for instructions on how to do this).
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 Audiophile 2496’s PCI controller chip. As described in previous sections, the output of this mixer may be assigned to the OUT1/OUT2 analog outputs and/or the S/PDIF Out digital output. At the same time, the mixer outputs may be recorded in stereo by software.
PEAK METERS: Each peak meter indicates an audio signal level in “dB relative to full-scale.” This means that a full-scale signal is referred to as “0 dB” and a signal 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.
from the physical Audiophile 2496 hardware inputs, hence the “H/W” at the front of each name. On the Mac, these inputs are labeled “SM/ASIO”, as these software streams will be receiving their digital audio either from the Sound Manager or the ASIO driver, depending on your selection. PAN: Each mixer input 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.
hardware analog stereo pair to one of five stereo sources: 1. The default setting, “WavOut 1/2”, connects ports OUT1 and OUT2 to your music software or Windows multimedia applet. In other words, when music software plays audio to the device named “WavOut 1/2 Delta-AP” it will be routed directly to the Audiophile hardware analog output jacks. 2. The second option, “Monitor Mixer,” connects ports OUT1 and OUT2 to the outputs of the Audiophile 2496 monitor mixer.
The next vertical column of Patchbay/Router page, “H/W Out S/PDIF,” connects the Audiophile’s hardware S/PDIF output to one of five stereo sources: 1. The default setting, “WavOut S/PDIF,” connects the S/PDIF Out port to your music software or Windows multimedia applet. In other words, when music software plays audio to the device named “WavOut S/PDIF Delta-AP” it will be routed directly to the hardware S/PDIF output port on your Audiophile card. 2.
S/PDIF In stream. NOTE: If “S/PDIF In” is selected as the master clock source, be sure to supply a valid S/PDIF signal to the board’s active S/PDIF input. Otherwise, erratic timing and/or improper sample rates will be experienced. Once a master clock source has been selected, its synchronization status is continually monitored and displayed below the master clock radio buttons. If internal crystal is selected, the status display will always say “Locked.
NOTE: When S/PDIF In is the master clock source, the digital monitor mixer will run at the sample rate received at the S/PDIF In. Since frequency response and sample rate are directly related, the mixer frequency response will be directly related to the sample rate of the S/PDIF input data. MULTITRACK DRIVER DEVICES: The Audiophile 2496 drivers may intelligently synchronize the beginning of recording and playback across all audio devices on the board.
selection, go to the File menu and “Save as Preferences.” VARIABLE SIGNAL LEVELS: The options in this section allow the user to match the Audiophile analog output levels to the operating signal levels of external audio equipment. Two level selections are available: ‘Consumer’ and -10dBV. The ‘Consumer’ setting is the least sensitive of the two settings, and ‘-10dBV’ the most sensitive. The ‘Consumer’ setting therefore has the most headroom and can accept the hottest signals.
with both optical and coaxial S/PDIF inputs. These controls do not apply to the Audiophile 2496. DIGITAL OUTPUT FORMAT: Within the “Digital Output Format” group, you choose the digital audio format of the S/PDIF output. The default setting, “Consumer,” is a true S/PDIF format and is recognized by all consumer devices. The alternate “Professional” setting is an AES/EBU type data stream, but electrically is S/PDIF.
you for some reason must send AC-3 in professional mode, be sure to set the Data Type to “Non-Audio” for the same reasons outlined in the above paragraph. Professional Format Advanced Settings (Emphasis): The user may choose to indicate or not indicate if pre-emphasis has been applied to the outgoing digital audio signal. The default is “None” and rarely will any user want to set the value to “CCITT” or “50/15uSec” unless the transmitted audio has been encoded with one of those types of pre-emphasis.
“Save,”or “Save as.” A dialog box will appear, prompting you to name the current configuration. Once you have done so, click the Save button. To save the current settings as your default, go to the File menu and choose “Save as Preferences.” In the upper right-hand corner of the control panel is a “H/W Installed” drop-down list.
The example below may at first look long and laborious, but you will find that most of the settings are factory defaults and will rarely need to be modified. Transferring from DAT to Audiophile 2496 1. Connect the DAT’s coaxial S/PDIF output to the S/PDIF In of the Audiophile 2496 break-out cable, using a good quality cable. Connect the Audiophile 2496 analog outputs to some type of amplified sound system. The sound system should be equipped with speakers or headphones.
monitor mixer will be completely bypassed. Once this assignment is made, you may play the DAT material at any time and verify that it is making it into the Audiophile 2496 successfully, by listening to the sound system. This can be done regardless of whether or not your recording software is open. Within your recording software, select “S/PDIF In Delta-AP,” as the audio input device. The Delta input appears as a stereo pair. 7. Start your software recording and then start your DAT material playing.
Au dio 24 ph 96 ile Au d in L in R ou tL o MI ut DI /S R /PD IF io L io t Ou R d Au t t u u o o in in I ID D A T S /P D IF M Audiophile 2496 MIDI Setup The Audiophile’s MIDI input and output ports may be connected to external MIDI devices. The diagram below shows connection to a MIDI controller keyboard, which is also being used as a sound module.
Troubleshooting Tips for Frequently Asked Questions Problem: No Sound. Possible Cause 1: The Audiophile 2496 hardware or software device drivers are not properly installed. See the installation sections of this manual for further information. Possible Cause 2: There is a resource conflict between the Audiophile 2496 and another device in your computer. Check the Audiophile 2496 configuration (Address, IRQ) against those of the other installed devices.
a card calibration (sometimes called “profiling”) the first time you use the software with a new audio card. Possible Cause 3: Some accelerated graphics cards use excessive amounts of system bandwidth, preventing the recording buffer of an audio card from keeping up with demand. This can cause clicks in the recording. Reducing or turning off the graphics card’s graphics acceleration feature often resolves this problem.
Appendix A - Technical Specs Analog Audio Peak Analog Input Signal: Peak Analog Output Signal: Max Converter Data Width: Dynamic Range: Outputs: Inputs: THD (at 0dBFS): Frequency Response: Input Impedance: Connectors: Digital Audio Maximum Word Width: Digital Input Format: Digital Input Sample Rate: Digital Output Format: +2dBV. +2dBV (Consumer setting), -4dBV (-10dBV setting). 24 bits. 104dB (a-weighted). 100.4dB (a-weighted). less than 0.002%, 22Hz - 22kHz, -0.4,-0.4dB. 10k ohms minimum.
Limited Lifetime Warranty MIDIMAN warrants that this product is free of defects in materials and workmanship under normal use so long as the product is: owned by the original purchaser; the original purchaser has proof of purchase from an authorized MIDIMAN dealer; and the purchaser has registered his/her ownership of the product by sending in the completed warranty card. This warranty explicitly excludes power supplies and included cables which may become defective as a result of normal wear and tear.
