USB User Manual

4
User's Guide Advanced Remote Control USB © RME
6. Overview
The ARC USB is a USB 1.1 MIDI remote control. Thanks to operating as UAC 1 class device it
is natively compatible to Windows and Mac OS X. As soon as it is present in the operating sys-
tem TotaIMix FX will detect it and communicate with it, without disturbing other remote controls.
Therefore it is also not necessary to switch the ARC USB on or off within TotalMix FX. It will just
work.
As soon as the ARC USB is connected to a computer any button press or wheel turning will
cause the respective action performed by TotalMix FX – and therefore also by the RME audio
interface.
Instead of being connected to a computer the ARC USB can also be connected directly to the
UFX II and UFX+, which currently are the only RME interfaces having an internal USB 1.1 host
with matching connector, to communicate with the ARC USB. This way of connecting is espe-
cially useful in stand-alone mode, where the ARC USB is also supported by the UFX II and
UFX+ (see chapter 8).
The ARC USB is bus powered, but draws only little current. Also it uses USB 1.1 as bus stan-
dard, which these days is uncritical due to its lower frequency and speed demands. USB 2 ca-
bles with 5 meter to 10 meter length, and cheap USB 2 cable extensions that usually make a
bus-powered interface fail will work perfectly for the ARC USB. Still at higher lengths RME rec-
ommends to use active USB 2 cables (also called extension or repeater cables), which are not
expensive and work over lengths of more than 20 meters.
The ARC USB can control several interfaces simultaneously, which happens automatically as
the Key Commands dialog in TotalMix FX is specific to the currently selected audio interface.
Just assign only the functions that are desired for each respective interface. After that the ARC
USB keys and the encoder wheel remote the respective interface where they have been as-
signed to, without the need to further switch or select anything in normal operation.
Note that identical assignments on multiple interfaces are not allowed. This is mostly visualized
by flickering/flashing buttons, or a jumping volume control.
The lower three keys have a useful diagnostic functionality.
Talkback: is lit dim as soon as the ARC USB is running on 5 V USB bus power.
Speaker B: is lit dim as soon as a USB communication is possible.
DIM: is lit dim as soon as a communication with TotalMix FX is established.
Therefore in normal operation all three lower keys are lit dim constantly.
The ARC USB comes with a standard set of Key Commands that already cover most usage
scenarios, printed directly beneath the keys:
Row 1 and 2: activating Snapshots 1 to 8.
Row 3: Mono, Volume Phones 1, Volume Phones 2, External Input
Lower keys: Talkback, Speaker B, Dim.
A set of stickers with all currently available TotalMix FX commands is included. These can be
used to label all keys reflecting the current user configuration.