FIRESTUDIO 26x26 FireWire Recording System w/ Optical I/O User’s Manual v.1.1 PreSonus Audio Electronics, © 2008 All Rights Reserved.
PreSonus Limited Warranty PreSonus Audio Electronics Inc. warrants this product to be free of defects in material and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of original retail purchase. This warranty is enforceable only by the original retail purchaser. To be protected by this warranty, the purchaser must complete and return the enclosed warranty card within 14 days of purchase.
Table of Contents 1.) General Overview 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................4 1.2 Package Contents................................................................................................4 1.3 System Requirements ..........................................................................................5 2.) Installation and Hardware Overview 2.1 Installation (PC and Mac) ...............................................
1 Overview 1.1 Introduction Thank you for purchasing the PreSonus FIRESTUDIO. PreSonus Audio Electronics has designed the FIRESTUDIO utilizing high-grade components to insure optimum performance that will last a lifetime.
1 Overview 1.3 System Requirements Below are the minimum computer system requirements for your FIRESTUDIO. Windows - OS: Microsoft Windows XP SP1 - Computer: Windows compatible computer with FireWire port. - CPU/Clock: Pentium, Celeron with 1.6Ghz or higher - Memory(RAM): 512 MB (1 GB recommended) Macintosh - OS: MacOS X 10.4.x or later - Computer: Apple Macintosh series with on-board FireWire port. - CPU/Clock: PowerPC G4/Dual 1 GHZ or faster, all Intel-based Mac models.
2 Installation and Hardware Overview 2.1 Installation PC: The following is a detailed procedure for installation of your FIRESTUDIO Drivers: *YOU MUST INSTALL DRIVERS BEFORE CONNECTING YOUR FIRESTUDIO* 1.) Quit all currently running applications. 2.) Insert the Driver CD included with your FIRESTUDIO into your computer. (Do not connect your FIRESTUDIO to the computer at this time). 3.) CD should auto run.* (If not, navigate to CD and double click on FIRESTUDIO_Installer.
2 Installation and Hardware Overview Mac: *YOU MUST INSTALL DRIVERS BEFORE CONNECTING YOUR FIRESTUDIO* 1.) Quit all currently running applications. 2.) Insert the Driver CD included with your FIRESTUDIO into your computer. (Do not connect your FIRESTUDIO to the computer at this time). 3.) CD should auto run.* (If not, navigate to CD and double click on FIRESTUDIO_Installer.exe) *There are several parts to the installation of your FIRESTUDIO. The installer will take you through each step.
2 Installation and Hardware Overview 2.2 Hardware Controls and Analog/Digital Connections Your FIRESTUDIO can simultaneously record/playback a total of 26 inputs and outputs. The following will outline each connection type in detail from left to right on the front and back panels: Front Panel: a.) 48 Volt Phantom Power: These two switches will activate phantom power for microphone preamps 1-4 and 5-8 respectively. Phantom Power is only active on the microphone XLR input. b.
2 Installation and Hardware Overview c.) MIDI I/O: The standard MIDI input and output allow connectivity of any MIDI device to your FIRESTUDIO to be used in your DAW software. d.) BNC Wordclock I/O: These standard BNC connectors allow you to connect any device with BNC input or output to your FIRESTUDIO. This is to allow the FIRESTUDIO to function as a master clock, or to slave to any other device. e.
2 Installation and Hardware Overview 2.3 Standalone Operation Your FIRESTUDIO is capable of operating in Stand Alone mode without a computer. The settings you make in the FIRESTUDIO Control Console application will be stored in flash memory on the FIRESTUDIO itself, allowing you to disconnect the FireWire connection from your computer and use any routing setup or hardware setting already made.
2 Installation and Hardware Overview 2. Select VST Multitrack in the left column and then on the right side choose “ASIO PreSonus” for the ASIO Driver. 3. Click Switch. 4. Now click the File menu and New Project. Choose “empty” template and a “Destination Location” where your project will be saved to your computer.
2 Installation and Hardware Overview 5. Now click the Devices Menu and VST Inputs. Activate your additional input channels clicking the graphic power buttons. o Notice that the input channels are activated in pairs. Adding one audio track is MONO. Meaning it will record from 1 input channel. It can be switched to a STEREO track. Meaning it will look to record from 2 input channels for a left and a right signal. o Also, notice that your inputs are labeled for what they are.
2 Installation and Hardware Overview 7. Now click the Project menu, Add Track and Multiple. 8. This will add multiple tracks. Choose Audio for Track and set your Count to the number of audio tracks you want to add to your project. 9. Click Record Enable for each of your tracks. You will now notice a green level bar indicating the audio track is receiving signal. You can also click the Input Monitor if you want to monitor (listen to) the audio through Cubase while you record.
2 Installation and Hardware Overview 10. Expand an audio track to reveal additional buttons. One is a Stereo/Mono switch. Do this if you are recording a stereo source like the left and right outputs of a keyboard or other stereo sound device. 11. Finally, click the record button on the Transport Bar to begin recording. 12. Click the Help menu and Documentations. There you will find the Getting Started and the Operation Manual for Cubase LE. Use these to further familiarize yourself with Cubase LE.
3 Control Console 3.1 Control Console -Overview Please install the FIRESTUDIO drivers and open the FIRESTUDIO Control Console before continuing through this section of the manual. A hands-on approach is very helpful in learning all of the features the Control Console has to offer. The Control Console has two main tabs, found at the top left of the window, ‘Mixer’ and ‘Outputs/Router’. Click on either tab to access the Mixer or Matrix Router.
3 Control Console 3.2 Control Console - Mixer The Control Console’s Mixer is a flexible and easy-to-use solution for creating multiple mixes from your inputs and DAW playback streams, all with zero-latency. It is capable of creating 9 independent stereo mixes of all of your inputs and playback streams, and routing each mix to any stereo analog or digital output (except ADAT channels 9-16 when in 44.1k and 48k sample rates).
3 Control Console • The bottom row of tracks is colored in grey and includes all playback streams from your DAW software. • There are tabs at the very bottom of the window to access each mix 1-9. These tabs can be renamed to anything you like by double-clicking on the name, typing a new name, and hitting ‘enter’ on your keyboard. • In the upper right of the window there is a Mix File section with load and save buttons.
3 Control Console Note: All settings for the Mixer are stored in flash memory on the FIRESTUDIO, and will be recalled each time the FIRESTUDIO is connected to the computer and the Control Console is opened. Track Elements 1. Pan Bar: This allows you to pan the track left or right, and shows numeric readout of the current setting. 2. Fader, Level Meter, Clip: Control and monitor the level of the track. A red ‘C’ will illuminate when the track has clipped (click on the ‘C’ to reset). 3.
3 Control Console 3.3 Matrix Router The Matrix Router allows you to create custom routing of inputs and playback streams to any output for complete control of your studio. From simply routing a mix to a stereo output, to AD/DA conversion on the fly, to every input and playback stream having its own output, the Matrix Router can do it all quickly and easily. The following describes the layout of the Router and how it works*: • On the far left of the window there are two tabs, ‘Inputs’ and ‘Playback’.
3 Control Console • Below the two tabs is the Router Preset section. You will see a Default button, which sets the Router to a default state with all DAW returns routed to their respective outputs (ie; DAW 1/2 out of analog 1/2, etc). The user can save any routing scheme to any of the six presets by clicking on Save and then on the number they wish to save to.
3 Control Console MUTE. You will make these settings manually for the hardware output channels. • The matrix is arranged in columns (vertical) and rows (horizontal). The columns correspond to each hardware output on the FIRESTUDIO, and the rows correspond to individual input or playback sources. You can select one cell per column, and up to every cell per row. • When on the ‘Inputs’ tab, notice that the bottom row of the matrix includes a ‘quick selection cell’ for your playback streams.
3 Control Console • When the mouse is moved over any cell, you will see that cell highlight and name what you are routing, with a small popup window that lists what output you are routing to. Click on the cell to assign the routing for that source. • If you have routed a Mix to any output, that routing will be reflected in the Output Router section of the Mixer for that mix.
3 Control Console CONTROL CONSOLE EXAMPLE SETTINGS Example 1: All inputs routed to same channel outputs with optional Mix to SPDIF L/R output. Example 2: All analog inputs to same channel analog and digital outputs with optional Mix to SPDIF L/R output. Example 3: Analog input to digital outputs and digital inputs to analog outputs (AD/DA).
3 Control Console Example 4: All software (DAW) playback channels to all same channel Hardware outputs. Example 5: 8 channels of software (DAW) playback channels to 8 channels of analog and ADAT outputs. Example 6: 9 separate Mixes assigned to all FireStudio Hardware Outputs.
3 Control Console 3.4 Hardware Settings Click on the Hardware Settings tab to access the following: 1.) Sample Rate (PC Only*): You can set the sample rate to 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96k. When set at higher than 48k, the ADAT channel I/O is limited to 8 channels utilizing both ADAT ports and the Dual SMUX standard. A higher sample rate will increase both the fidelity of the recording you will make and the subsequent file size for every audio file. 2.
4 Applications and Example Settings 4.1 Expanding Your I/O You can easily connect additional microphone preamplifiers to expand your inputs and outputs on your FireStudio via ADAT/SMUX optical light pipe connectors. • The DigiMax FS can connect to the FireStudio using 88.2k and 96k sample rates via dual SMUX optical ADAT using 2 standard optical cables audio. • If you are recording with sample rate settings of 44.
4 Applications and Example Settings 4.2 Live Recording Live Recording Scenario 1: This setup scenario makes computer recording primary to the P.A. system or House Mix. This setup scenario allows the FireStudio to preamplify the signals that will be recorded by your computer and then mixed by the Main Mixing Console or P.A. system. 1. Connect all audio sources to the FireStudio +/- DigiMax FS to be used as a preamp and computer recording. 2.
4 Applications and Example Settings Live Recording Scenario 1 Diagram 28
4 Applications and Example Settings Live Recording Scenario 2: This setup scenario makes computer recording secondary to the P.A. system or the House Mix. This setup will allow the Main Mixing Console to preamplify the signals that will be mixed to the P.A. system and then recorded by the computer. 1. Connect all audio input sources to the Main Mixing Console or P.A. system. 2. Connect the direct or AUX outputs of the Mixing Console to the Line Level input channels of the FireStudio +/- DigiMax FS. 3.
4 Applications and Example Settings Live Recording Scenario 2 Diagram 30
4 Applications and Example Settings 4.4 Studio Recording In the project or professional studio, the FireStudio is extremely powerful and flexible. Here are a few typical set up examples. Create separate headphone mixes for each musician • Setup your recording software (DAW) respectively to record your input channels to individual tracks. Doing so is specific to your recording software (DAW).
5 Technical 5.1 Troubleshooting Please note that many technical issues can arise when converting a standard computer into a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). PreSonus will only provide support for issues that directly relate to your FIRESTUDIO. It may be necessary to contact the manufacturer of the computer, operating system and/or software to obtain additional technical support. PreSonus does not provide support for issues in regards to operating systems, additional hardware or software.
5 Technical 5.2 Technical Specifications Microphone Preamp (XLR Balanced) All measurements Microphone Input to Direct Output Frequency Response (+0,- 0.5dB) Frequency Response (+0/-3.0 dB) Input Impedance THD+N (unwtd, 1KHz @ +4dBu Output, Unity Gain) EIN (unwtd, 55dB Gain, 150 Ohm Input, 20Hz to 22KHz) S/N Ratio (Unity Gain, unwtd, Ref. = +4dBu, 20Hz to 22KHz) Common Mode Rejection Ratio (1KHz, 55dB Gain) Gain Control Range (+/-1dB) Maximum Input Level (Unity Gain, 1KHz @ 0.
