Contents FCC Class B/European CE Compliance ............................... 3 Introduction ...................................................................... 4 What’s In the Box ............................................................... 4 Quick Start ........................................................................ 5 About the DMAN .............................................................. 5 Digital Audio Features of DMAN ....................................... 6 About Plug-and-Play ....
DMAN with 3rd Party Applications .................................. Audio Formats ................................................................ Troubleshooting .............................................................. DOS Troubleshooting ....................................................... Windows 3.1x Troubleshooting ......................................... Windows 95 Troubleshooting ........................................... Appendix - Technical Specs .........................................
FCC Class B/European CE Compliance WARNING: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a CLASS B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation.
Introduction Congratulations on your purchase of a DMAN Digital Audio Card and welcome to the world of Digital Hard Disk Recording. Please take the time to read this manual before installing your new card. There is a lot of valuable information in here about installing your new card and getting it working. If you take the time now to familiarize yourself with the installation and features of the card, it can save a lot of time and frustration.
Quick Start Guide Here's a list of the things you will need to do to get started: 1. Physically install the card in your computer. (Hardware Installation) (DMAN Typical Setup) 2. Install drivers and support software. (Windows 3.1x Software) (Windows 95 Software) (DOS Software) 3. If things aren't working, run the diagnostic software. (DMAN Diagnostics Utility) (Troubleshooting) (DOS Troubleshooting) 4. Configure your digital recording software.
Full duplex: the ability to record and playback at the same time. If you are using a multi-track digital recording program, such as Samplitude, SAW, or Cakewalk Audio, this is a very important feature. Full duplex would, for example, allow you to hear previously recorded vocal tracks while you’re recording the harmonies. MPU401 : a standard for MIDI interfaces, developed by Roland Corporation, back in the early days of MIDI. This is the most common PC MIDI interface under DOS.
About Plug-and-Play The PC ISA bus architecture requires allocation of memory and I/O address spaces, DMA channels, and interrupt request (IRQ) lines among all peripherals, yet there are no defined hardware or software mechanisms for allocating these resources. As a result, configuration of ISA cards is typically done with DIP switches and jumpers that change the decode maps for memory and I/O space and steer the DMA and IRQ signals to different pins on the ISA bus.
PnP Theory of Operation Think of PnP as digital aspirin. Device configuration occurs transparently in an all-PnP environment. At bootup, the BIOS and the operating system detect changes and attempt to allocate resources, eliminating the need to manually configure resources such as IRQ lines, DMA channels, I/O ports and memory space. Peripheral adapter cards are put to "sleep" and are then individually queried regarding which resources are programmable and over what ranges they may be programmed.
design practices as in the DMAN, the only way to make a noisy digital recording is to add the noise yourself! Digital Recording Dos and Don’ts Meters are not meant to ever go into the red. Digital recording is very unforgiving of clipping. Unlike analog systems, where tape saturation gives a nice smooth compression, digital distortion sounds like someone is breaking a pane of glass in your ear. Make sure that you give yourself lots of headroom both when recording and mixing.
DMAN Connections (see DMAN Block Diagram below) 1. Aux Line Input – A 10k ohm, stereo, line level 1 /8” jack. Handles input voltages up to 2 volts rms. Normal connections to this jack would be from the line level outputs of a mixer, mic preamp, the recording outs of an instrument amplifier or a CD player. The Aux Input is normally mixed with the line output and is not recorded when audio recording is enabled. 2. Line Input – A 10k ohm, stereo, line level 1 /8” jack.
DMAN Block Diagram 11
Hardware Installation To mechanically install the DMAN do the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Turn off your computer. Remove the cover and position the computer so that you can easily access its ISA slots. Select the ISA slot where you will install your DMAN card. Make sure it is a 16 bit ISA slot. If you don't know what “16 bit ISA slot” means, check the owner’s manual for your computer. A 16 bit slot consists of two in-line edgeconnectors instead of one.
3. 4. 5. Connect the DMAN MIDI Interface Cable to the matching DMAN connector at the back of the computer. Use the thumb screws on the cable assembly to attach it securely to the DMAN. If you don’t plan on using external MIDI, this step is not necessary. Attach any MIDI devices you have by connecting the MIDI Out of your controller keyboard to the MIDI In of the DMAN and MIDI Out connector of the DMAN to the MIDI In on your keyboard or tone module.
Daughterboard Installation (optional) DMAN provides a (26-pin header) daughterboard connector (see diagram 2) for installation of an optional wavetable synthesis daughterboard. The daughterboard interface is compliant with most de facto industry-standard daughterboards. Adding this daughterboard will give you built-in General MIDI (GM) synthesis and enable you to combine (with the use of appropriate software) MIDI sequenced sound with digitally recorded audio produced by DMAN. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Windows 3.1x Software Driver and Utilities Installation Included with DMAN is a set of Windows 3.1x Drivers and Applications diskettes which contain the Windows 3.1x drivers, Windows 3.1x utility applications, and DOS software utilities. The installation program on the first disk, SETUP.EXE, is run from Windows 3.1x and installs all the Windows and DOS software items. SETUP.
6. After you have selected the destination directory, the Setup program begins to copy the DMAN software there. As each software item is installed, its name is displayed. Also a percentage is displayed, indicating the percentage completion of the total installation. 7. Once all the files are installed from the first disk, Setup will prompt you for Disk 2. Remove Disk 1, insert Disk 2 and continue the installation by pressing the [ENTER] key.
configuration settings depicted below are typical settings. Yours may differ. Configuration Screen This dialog allows you to set the following parameters: WSS Address - This is the base address of the Windows Sound System controller (basically the controller for the D/A and A/D converters). Changing this Windows WSS setting will also change the related DOS WSS setting. WSS Interrupt - This is the playback/capture IRQ used by the WSS controller.
CD ROM - DMAN does not include a CD ROM interface. This checkbox should be unchecked to disable CD ROM support. FM Synthesis - Although the driver may support an FM synthesizer, there is no true FM synthesizer installed on the DMAN board. Ignore this field. Game Port - DMAN does not include a Game Port. This checkbox should be unchecked to disable Game Port support.
Windows 3.1x Driver Control Panel After installation, various Windows 3.1x driver parameters may be altered via the Drivers applet of the Control Panel. To open the Drivers applet, first open the Control Panel (usually in the Windows 3.1x Main group), then open the Drivers applet from within the Control Panel. The DMAN actually installs and uses two separate drivers for its digital audio and MIDI.
You now have the option of modifying the following resource settings: Duplex - Duplex modes determine whether DMAN can support simultaneous playback and capture (recording). Half duplex allows both playback or capture, but not at the same time. Choose this option if your machine has low-performance or there is only one DMA channel available for use. Full duplex is the default for the Windows 3.1x drivers and provides simultaneous capture and playback of audio data at the same sample rate.
Windows 3.1x Driver Setup - With PnP For PnP systems, the Base I/O address, IRQ, DMA playback and capture channels are all determined through the PnP mechanism. However, you may select the duplex mode from this dialog. For more information regarding duplex modes, see the “Audio Setup for Non-PnP Computers” section. MIDI (MPU401 ) Setup You may modify the Windows 3.1x MIDI driver settings through the Drivers Applet.
Interrupt - This sets the IRQ used by MPU401 MIDI input. The typical IRQ is 2/9. Note that IRQ 6 is also assigned to the floppy drive but in some cases may be shared with the MPU. Use IRQ 6 as a last resort. Windows 3.1x Utility Applications The DMAN Windows 3.1x setup program creates a Windows Group called Midiman Audio which contains several sound utilities.
Mixer - This button opens the Audio Mixer Control Panel application. Save - The Save button saves the current control settings to be used as the initial settings when Windows is loaded. OK - This button exits the Input Control Panel and keeps the current device settings for the duration of the current Windows session. Cancel - This button exits the Input Control Panel and restores the device setting values which were present when it was opened.
Dither - Clicking on the Dither box toggles dither on/off for 8-bit PCM audio. Dither improves 8-bit recordings. IMPORTANT: To enable AGC and the Volume Meter at the same time, you should first turn the “Vu On” checkbox off. Next, turn the AGC on, then turn the Vu On back on. Full Scale - The Full Scale window below the Dither box shows the maximum allowable input level to the Analog/Digital converter.
Cancel - This button exits the Input Control Panel and restores the device setting values which were present when it was opened. Master Volume - Controls the master volume for all audio inputs. When the Gang box is checked, both left and right channels are adjusted in tandem. When it is unchecked the left and right channels may be independently adjusted. When the Mute box is checked, all DMAN outputs are muted.
independently adjusted. When the Mute box is checked, the audio from the DMAN Aux In jack is muted. The Audio Transport The Audio Transport application allows you to record and playback digital audio files. Clicking on the Audio Transport icon nested in the Midiman Audio group will present you with the Audio Transport shown here. This section describes the buttons, controls, and displays on the Audio Transport control panel.
The Audio Transport control buttons are similar to those on a tape recorder: From left to right, these buttons are: Play - Plays the selected audio file. Stop - Stops playback of the selected audio file. Pause - Pauses play. Record - Starts recording the selected audio file. Beginning - Goes to the beginning of the selected audio file. Rewind - Goes backwards in the selected audio file until it reaches the beginning of the file or until you stop the rewind.
write protected and you cannot overwrite new data onto this file. Click on this box to toggle between write protection on/off. Defining a New Audio File When you select the open file button and specify a new audio file by entering a new filename, the Select Tape Format dialog box appears, allowing you to select the attributes of the new audio file. This section describes the file attribute options. Refer to “Select Tape Format Dialog Box” diagram below.
ADPCM - Provides 4:1 compression compared to 16-bit PCM format. The compression means this format uses less disk space but causes degradation in playback quality. m-Law - Provides 2:1 compression compared to PCM format. A-Law - Provides 2:1 compression compared to PCM format. Channels - Mono requires half the disk storage space as stereo, and usually provides sufficient quality for voice recordings. Sample Rate (kHz) - Higher sample rates provide better sound quality and require more disk storage space.
Where pathname is the path (drive and directory) of the application file, and filename is the name of the file to run. 3. Save and close the CSACBAT1.INI file. The following is an example of the command lines in the CSACBAT1.INI file that would cause Windows Write to start up when you select the user-defined button: [APPLETS] UserAppPath=C:\Windows UserApp=write.exe Another good use of the button would be to run a .WAV file editor.
Windows 95 Software Driver Installation Included with the DMAN is a Windows 95 diskette which contains the Windows 95 drivers and DOS software utilities. To install the Windows 95 drivers and DOS utilities, please follow these steps: 1. Previous sound card installations can interfere with the proper function of your new hardware. Consult the documentation for your previous soundcard, and remove all related driver software from the system prior to installing your new hardware. 2.
5. While installing the Windows 95 drivers, the installer program also modifies your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. It inserts the board initialization utility CS4232C.EXE in CONFIG.SYS and also adds a CS32MIX.EXE call to AUTOEXEC.BAT, which initializes the DMAN audio mixer on bootup. 6. After completion of the driver installation, if your system has no PnP or PnP is disabled, Windows 95 will require you to restart Windows 95.
This example shows the Midiman DMAN and Midiman WINMAN 4x4/S (another Midiman product) entries in the Windows 95 Device Manager device list. The DMAN is properly installed with no conflicts. The WINMAN 4x4/S, however, is not properly installed and this is indicated by the exclamation point overlapping its icon. If an exclamation point is ever displayed for the Midiman DMAN, you may go into the Device Manager and manually make the adjustments necessary to get DMAN up and running.
controls with your mouse, or click on the Mute checkbox(es) to mute device(s). WSS Playback Mixer Window WSS Properties Page You may configure the playback window to display or not display the various DMAN output devices. To do so, select Options, Properties from the Master Out menu. The Properties dialog box will then pop up, as shown below. WSS Audio Mixer Properties Dialog Box In this case the Playback mixer has been selected by default when entering this window.
Note also that this dialog box is used to switch between playback and recording displays. Under “Adjust Volume For:”, click on the radio button of the mixer you desire. Click the Recording button with the left mouse button to bring up the recording mixer. Shown are the devices that are allowed as inputs to the recording mixer. Again, unchecking a specific box will eliminate that device from the input mixer window, known as the “Wave Input” window.
panel of the Wave Input mixer shown below. To access the microphone’s advanced controls, click on the Advanced button. WSS Audio Input Mixer w/ Advanced Controls The figure below shows advanced options available for microphone control. Although there are no Tone Controls on DMAN, the microphone does have a 20 dB gain boost block that may be enabled or disabled via this dialog box.
Win 95 Sound Recorder Applet Additional features from the pull down menus include volume and speed adjustment, echo and reverse effects, and audio file insertion, mixing and sound quality conversion.
DOS Software Utilities The DMAN DOS software utilities are installed as a part of the Windows 3.1x drivers and utilities, or the Windows 95 drivers. IMPORTANT: The DOS utility programs must be run from the native DOS prompt, not from within Windows. For Windows 95 users, this means you should choose "Shutdown" from the Windows 95 Start menu and then select "Restart in MS-DOS mode" before running the DOS utilities. Windows 3.1x users should simply exit Windows to DOS before running the DOS utilities.
Diagnostics Test Box Select the associated test button to test each option. The status of each test is displayed to the left of each test button. A "fail" result does not necessarily mean a sound card hardware failure. For instance, the DMAN does not have the FM synth or joystick port features which are included in the test. These tests will fail simply because these features are not present.
DOS Sound Card Mixer The easiest way to control the sound parameters is with a mouse. Simply drag the solid black “sliders” to their desired positions and click on the Line, Mic, and Aux “checkboxes” to select the input source. The various parameters may also be controlled by using hot keys (Alt + highlighted letter), and the tab and arrow keys to increase/decrease left/right channels for each input.
DMAN with 3rd Party Applications Sooner or later you will want to use DMAN with some of the advanced 3rd party applications currently available. It is with these applications that the DMAN becomes a true multi-track digital audio recording tool. Although there are various setup parameters built into Windows for selecting audio quality, etc., the 3rd party applications usually work around those settings.
Audio Formats DMAN supports recording and playback in many audio formats. When selecting an audio format, you are usually trading off sound quality versus the amount of disk space the recorded audio will consume. In general, sound quality increases as the Sample Rate increases, as the number of bits used increases, as stereo is used instead of mono, and when the audio is not compressed (i.e., its format is PCM not ADPCM or A-Law).
Troubleshooting This section addresses potential problems that can occur in all operating system environments, with emphasis on hardware troubleshooting. Within the PC environment there is a limited number of hardware resources (addresses, IRQs, and DMA channels) available for use. Since audio cards require many resources, most audio card installation problems arise from improperly set IRQ and DMA values. The tables below list the IRQ and DMA channel assignments normally used in the PC environment.
Typical DMA Assignments DMA Channel 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 (16-bit) (16-bit) (16-bit) (16-bit) IBM PC Assigns This Channel To: Available Available Floppy Disk Available Hard Disk -- DMAN unable to use this channel. DMAN unable to use this channel. DMAN unable to use this channel. DMAN unable to use this channel. Problem: No Sound. Possible Cause 1: Volume control adjustment.
DOS Troubleshooting When you run DMAN DOS-based diagnostics application, each test passes or fails on the basis of meeting two criteria. Each test checks that DMAN can be contacted at the parameter in question, and also pauses for a period of time to ensure that no IRQ, DMA request, etc. is initiated by a device other than DMAN. Failing to reach DMAN or detecting the signal from another device will cause the test to fail. To fix communication conflicts, you may need to edit the initialization file CS4232.
specified in the "WssDmaPlay=" line of the [PNP] section. Possible settings are 0,1,3. NOTE: Sound Blaster and WSS share the same interrupt and playback DMA channel. Therefore, a conflict error with SB will also affect WSS configuration settings. CODEC Port Address: If the CODEC test fails, you may have a port address conflict. Change the I/O Port Address that the application is using to communicate with the sound card by changing the "WssIO=" line in the CS4232.INI file. Set it to 534, 608, E84 or F44.
Windows 3.1x Troubleshooting Problem: When starting Windows, you receive error messages such as “VSNDSYS.386 Not Found” or “CS32BA11.DRV Not Loaded”. Possible Cause 1: Your DMAN Windows driver is not completely installed or has been removed. Install/reinstall the DMAN audio drivers (see Windows 3.1x Software section). Possible Cause 2: You are experiencing a driver or resource conflict.
Problem: A 3rd party Windows MIDI program does not play or record MIDI to/from DMAN. Possible Cause 1: You have not installed an optional wavetable synthesizer daughterboard or you do not have a MIDI keyboard or sound module attached to the MIDI interface adapter cable. Possible Cause 2: The DMAN MIDI driver is not properly installed. Install/reinstall all DMAN audio drivers (see Windows 3.1x Software section). Possible Cause 3: You have not selected the DMAN MIDI driver from your application.
Windows 95 Troubleshooting If the installation has not been successful or if Windows ‘95 cannot resolve one or more hardware resource conflicts, the devices affected will be highlighted (note the exclamation mark in the icon) in the Device Manager page as discussed in the “System Properties - Device Manager” section of this manual. In theory, this should never happen in a fully-compliant, Plug & Play (PnP) system. However, there are a couple of circumstances in which it may: 1.
specific driver (because there can be more than one in an advanced system) for use with the application. Select the driver named “DMAN Audio Device Driver” as your audio driver. The manner in which this selection is made is dependent on the application (each one is a little different). Problem: A 3rd party Windows MIDI program does not play or record MIDI to/DMAN.
Appendix - Technical Specs Channel Volume Controls Over a range of 64 dB: Stereo Master Volume: Stereo Aux In: Stereo Line in: Stereo Digital Audio: Stereo Synth In: Mono Mic-in: 64 steps range 32 steps range 32 steps range 64 steps range 32 steps range 32 steps range External Audio Inputs Mic Input Line Input Aux Input Level: Impedance: Power supplied: Level: Impedance: Level: Impedance: 10 mV to 200 mV p-p max 600k ohms or 20k ohms 2.
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 any included cables which may become defective as a result of normal wear and tear.
