DigiDesign Mbox 2 Micro, Getting Started Manual

Page 1: ...Getting Started Mbox 2 Micro Version 7 4 ...

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Page 3: ... Synchronic TL Space Velvet and X Form are trademarks or registered trademarks of Digidesign and or Avid Technology Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners Product features specifications system requirements and availability are subject to change without notice PN 9320 58112 00 REV C 2 08 Comments or suggestions regarding our documentation email techpubs digidesign com...

Page 4: ... radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try and correct the interference by one or more of the following measures Reorient or locate the receiving antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected Cons...

Page 5: ...es 5 About www digidesign com 7 Chapter 3 Windows Configuration 9 Installation Overview 9 Connecting Mbox 2 Micro and Installing Pro Tools LE 9 Launching Pro Tools LE 11 Additional Software on the Pro Tools Installer Disc 11 Uninstalling Pro Tools 14 Chapter 4 Mac Configuration 15 Installation Overview 15 Installing Pro Tools LE 15 Connecting Mbox 2 Micro to the Computer 16 Launching Pro Tools LE ...

Page 6: ...ls Session 35 Opening and Playing Back a Pro Tools Session 36 Importing Audio from a CD 36 Creating an Audio CD from a Pro Tools Session 37 Recording MIDI in a Pro Tools Session 41 Appendix A Configuring MIDI Studio Setup Windows Only 45 MIDI Studio Setup 45 MIDI Patch Name Support 47 Appendix B Configuring AMS Mac OS X Only 49 Audio MIDI Setup 49 MIDI Patch Name Support 51 Appendix C Hard Drive C...

Page 7: ...Contents vii Appendix D Troubleshooting 59 Backing Up Your Work 59 Common Issues 59 Performance Factors 60 Before You Call Digidesign Technical Support 61 Index 63 ...

Page 8: ...Mbox 2 Micro Getting Started Guide viii ...

Page 9: ...nstallation of the Mbox 2 Micro on a Mac includes the following steps 1 Installing Pro Tools LE on page 15 2 Connecting Mbox 2 Micro to the Computer on page 16 3 Launching Pro Tools LE on page 17 4 Configuring your system for improved performance See Configuring Your Pro Tools System on page 21 5 Making Hardware Connections on page 34 Connect Mbox 2 Micro to an available USB port on your computer ...

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Page 11: ...ioSuite and AudioSuite plug ins optional software and elec tronic PDF guides Digidesign Registration Information Card Mbox 2 Micro Features The Mbox 2 Micro provides the following 1 8 inch TRS stereo output Adjustable level control for output volume 24 bit D A converters supporting sample rates of 44 1 kHz and 48 kHz USB powered operation Lanyard hole Mbox 2 Micro may not function properly if con ...

Page 12: ...se the Pro Tools Installer disc For complete system requirements refer to the compatibility page of the Digidesign website www digidesign com compatibility Compatibility Information Digidesign can only assure compatibility and provide support for hardware and software it has tested and ap proved For a list of Digidesign qualified computers operating systems hard drives and third party devices see ...

Page 13: ...it to quickly register your purchase online This is one of the most important steps you can take as a new user Registering your purchase is the only way you can be eligible to re ceive Complimentary technical support An update to the latest version of Pro Tools at no charge if you bought a system with older software in the box Future upgrade offers About the Pro Tools Guides This Getting Started g...

Page 14: ... use Adobe Reader or Apple Preview Mac only Conventions Used in This Guide Digidesign guides use the following conventions to in dicate menu choices and key commands Printed copies of the Pro Tools Reference Guide and other guides in the Pro Tools guide set can be purchased separately from the DigiStore www digidesign com Convention Action File Save Choose Save from the File menu Control N Hold do...

Page 15: ...bility documents for system requirements search the online Answerbase join the worldwide Pro Tools community on the Digidesign User Conference Training and Education Become a certified Pro Tools Op erator or Expert study on your own using courses avail able online or find out how you can learn in a class room setting at a certified Pro Tools Training Center Products and Developers Learn about Digi...

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Page 17: ... For details on Administrator privileges refer to your Windows documentation 2 Remove the protective USB dust cap from the Mbox 2 Micro 3 Insert the USB connector of the Mbox 2 Micro into any available USB port on your computer Wait for the Found New Hardware Wizard dialog to appear and leave it open Do not click Next If the Wizard begins to install drivers automatically press Cancel 4 Insert the ...

Page 18: ...ding to the next step 15 When installation is complete click Finish The USB LED on the Mbox 2 Micro illuminates green when it is receiving power and ready for use The Pro Tools Installer disc includes additional software for your system For more information see Additional Software on the Pro Tools In staller Disc on page 11 On Windows XP several messages are dis played during installation that can...

Page 19: ... When launching Pro Tools LE the first time you are prompted to enter an authorization code To authorize Pro Tools LE software 1 Make sure Mbox 2 Micro is connected to your com puter and powered on 2 Double click the Pro Tools LE shortcut on your desk top or the application icon in the Pro Tools folder in side the Digidesign folder 3 Enter the authorization code in the dialog making sure to type i...

Page 20: ...ndalone Windows Audio Drivers Digidesign Windows Audio Drivers can be installed on Windows systems that do not have Pro Tools software installed Use the standalone version of the Digidesign Windows Audio Drivers installer Digidesign Audio Drivers Setup exe which is available on the Pro Tools Installer disc Pro Tools Demo Session The Pro Tools LE Installer disc includes a demo session that you can ...

Page 21: ...er setups Using these templates will save you the trouble of having to create your studio setup from scratch every time you start a new session See the Pro Tools Reference Guide for information on using or customizing session templates To install factory session templates 1 Insert the Pro Tools Installer disc into your DVD drive 2 From your DVD drive locate and open the Additional Files LE Session...

Page 22: ... 1 Choose Start Control Panel 2 Under Programs click Uninstall a program 3 Select Pro Tools 4 Click Uninstall 5 Follow the on screen instructions to remove Pro Tools To remove Pro Tools from your computer Windows XP 1 Choose Start Control Panel 2 Double click Add or Remove Programs 3 From the Currently Installed Programs list select Digidesign Pro Tools 4 Click the Remove button 5 Follow the on sc...

Page 23: ...ls Installing Pro Tools LE Before connecting your Pro Tools LE interface to the computer you need to install Pro Tools LE software To install Pro Tools LE on Mac OS X 1 Make sure you are logged in as an Administrator for the account where you want to install Pro Tools For de tails on Administrator privileges in Mac OS X refer to your Apple Mac OS X documentation 2 Insert the Pro Tools LE Installer...

Page 24: ...t Mbox 2 Micro to your computer To connect Mbox 2 Micro to your computer 1 Remove the protective USB dust cap from the Mbox 2 Micro 2 Insert the USB connector of the Mbox 2 Micro into any available USB port on your computer The USB LED on the Mbox 2 Micro illuminates green when it is receiving power and ready for use The Pro Tools Installer disc includes additional software for your system For mor...

Page 25: ...o applications through your Digidesign hard ware and a Pro Tools demo session CoreAudio Driver The CoreAudio Driver is a multi client multichannel sound driver that allows CoreAudio compatible applica tions to record and play back through Digidesign hard ware The CoreAudio Driver is installed by default when you install Pro Tools Standalone CoreAudio Driver The CoreAudio Driver can be installed as...

Page 26: ...ed to common track and mixer setups Using these templates will save you the trouble of having to create your studio setup from scratch every time you start a new session See the Pro Tools Reference Guide for information on using or customizing session templates To install factory session templates 1 Insert the Pro Tools Installer disc into your DVD drive 2 From your DVD drive locate and open the A...

Page 27: ...ouble click the Uninstall Pro Tools file 3 Click Continue to proceed with the uninstall 4 Choose the type of uninstall you want to perform Safe Uninstall Leaves certain plug ins and system files needed for compatibility with some Avid products Clean Uninstall Removes all Pro Tools files including system files Digidesign plug ins and MIDI patch names 5 Click Uninstall 6 Enter your Administrator pas...

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Page 29: ...n chronization peripherals 5 Turn on your computer 6 Launch Pro Tools or any third party audio or MIDI applications Shut down your Pro Tools system in this order 1 Quit Pro Tools and any other running applications 2 Turn off or lower the volume of all output devices in your system 3 Turn off your computer 4 Turn off any MIDI interfaces MIDI devices or syn chronization peripherals 5 Turn off any co...

Page 30: ... for this setting to become available See your computer s documentation for steps on how to en ter the computer s BIOS and disable Hyper Threading Used in combination with the CPU Usage Limit setting the RTAS Processors setting lets you control the way RTAS processing and other Pro Tools tasks are carried out by the system For example For sessions with large numbers of RTAS plug ins you can alloca...

Page 31: ...PU Usage Limit settings allocate more pro cessing power to Pro Tools and are useful for playing back large sessions or using more real time plug ins The maximum available CPU Usage Limit depends on the number of processors in your computer and on the number of processors you specify for RTAS processing This value can range from 85 percent for single proces sor computers to 99 percent for multi pro...

Page 32: ...a lower setting may make it difficult to play or record tracks reliably with sessions containing a large number of tracks or a high density of edits or with systems that have slower or heavily frag mented hard drives DAE Playback Buffer Size settings higher than 1500 msec Level 2 allow higher track count higher density of edits in a session or the use of slower hard drives However a higher setting...

Page 33: ...ation option 3 Click OK 4 Restart your computer Plug in Streaming Buffer Size Structure Plug in Only This setting appears in the Playback Engine dialog only if the Structure sampler instrument plug in is installed on your system The Plug in Streaming Buffer Size deter mines the amount of memory DAE allocates for stream ing playback from disk with the Structure plug in This setting only affects pla...

Page 34: ...are Settings In the Hardware Settings dialog Pro Tools lets you set the default sample rate and clock source for your sys tem as well as a range of controls specific to each type of audio interface Default Sample Rate The Sample Rate setting appears as the default sample rate when you create a new session This setting is available in the Hardware Setup dialog only when no session is open To change...

Page 35: ... system drive using a backup utility such as Norton Ghost By doing this you can quickly restore your system configuration and set tings if you encounter any problems Optimizing a Windows System for Pro Tools Windows XP Only Before configuring your computer make sure you are logged in as an Administrator for the account where you want to install Pro Tools For details on Administra tor privileges re...

Page 36: ...en using Pro Tools the Windows System Standby power scheme must be set to Always On This helps pre vent long record or playback passes from stopping due to system resources powering down To configure Windows Power Management 1 Choose Start Control Panel 2 Double click Power Options 3 Click the Power Schemes tab 4 From the Power Schemes pop up menu select Always On 5 Click OK This sets System Stand...

Page 37: ...g Network Cards If applicable disable any networking cards other than a FireWire card that you might use to connect an external drive to your system To disable a network card 1 Right click My Computer and choose Manage 2 Under System Tools select Device Manager 3 In the Device Manager window double click Network adapters then double click the Network Adapter card you want to disable 4 Under the Ge...

Page 38: ...t the Don t show this message again option If performance has not changed run msconfig and return your computer Selective Startup back to Normal Startup Alternatively try disabling Startup items and non essential processes individually Optimizing a Mac System for Pro Tools Mac Only To ensure optimum performance with Pro Tools config ure your computer before using Pro Tools hardware and software Be...

Page 39: ...m the Apple menu and click Spotlight 2 In the Spotlight window click the Privacy tab 3 To prevent indexing of a drive drag its icon from the desktop into the list Disabling the Spotlight Shortcuts The Mac OS X Spotlight feature uses the same key com mands Pro Tools uses to start recording Com mand Spacebar and to record online Command Op tion Spacebar If you want to retain use of these key command...

Page 40: ...n audio drive that you used with a previous version of Pro Tools on the Mac enable jour naling To enable journaling 1 Launch the Disk Utility application located in Applica tions Utilities 2 Select the volume in the left column of the Disk Util ity window 3 Click Enable Journaling in the toolbar ...

Page 41: ...hole to fasten your Mbox 2 Micro to lanyard or key chain Output Level The Output Level control adjusts the output level of the 1 8 inch Stereo Output In Pro Tools this is the signal that is routed to Outputs 1 2 USB LED The USB LED indicates that the Mbox 2 Micro has re ceived power from its USB connection Once the USB light is on you can play back audio through the Mbox 2 Micro 1 8 inch Stereo Ou...

Page 42: ...o connect headphones Connect headphones with an 1 8 inch stereo con nector or adapter to the Headphone jack Connecting to a Sound System You can also connect the 1 8 inch Stereo Output to a stereo sound system such as a PA system or your home stereo system However you may need a stereo 1 8 inch to split RCA or 1 4 inch adapter depending on your sound system Be sure to turn lower Output Level befor...

Page 43: ...Xpand instrument plug in To create a Pro Tools session 1 Verify the hardware connections for the Mbox 2 Micro see Making Hardware Connections on page 34 2 Launch Pro Tools 3 Choose File New Session 4 In the New Session dialog set the session parameters as needed or leave them at their default settings For details on New Session settings see the Pro Tools Refer ence Guide 5 Choose where you want to...

Page 44: ...In Pro Tools open the Workspace browser by choos ing Window Workspace The Workspace browser is a window where you can find audition and manage your audio files 3 In the Workspace browser click the Audio CD icon to show the files on the CD 4 Click the speaker icon in the Waveform column to au dition the audio file Press the Spacebar to stop play back If you are just getting started with Pro Tools t...

Page 45: ...e to combine all your audible tracks into a single master audio file Af ter the new audio file has been bounced to disk you can burn it to a CD If you are bouncing down audio from 24 bit resolution to 16 bit CD resolution you should use a dither plug in on the main output for details see the Pro Tools Ref erence Guide Dragging an audio file from the Workspace browser to the Edit window Track List ...

Page 46: ...Mbox 2 Micro Getting Started Guide 38 Figure 2 Session audio selected and ready to bounce ...

Page 47: ...ure 2 on page 38 2 Choose File Bounce to Disk 3 In the Bounce Options dialog select Outputs 1 2 as the Bounce Source 4 Select BWF WAV for the File Type 5 Select Stereo Interleaved for the Format 6 Select 16 for the Resolution and 44100 for the Sample Rate 7 If you are changing the sample rate of the bounced file select a Conversion Quality setting For details see the Pro Tools Reference Guide 8 Se...

Page 48: ...layback of your mix during the bounce process though you can not adjust it Burning a CD After the bounce is completed you will have an audio file that is ready for burning onto a CD Quit Pro Tools and launch any common CD burning application to burn your bounced mix to CD Entering a name for the bounced file Bouncing to Disk dialog Make certain that you configure your CD burning application to cre...

Page 49: ...ng 1 Choose Setup MIDI Input Devices and make sure your input device is selected in the MIDI Input Enable window and click OK 2 Choose Track New and specify 1 Mono Instrument Track then click Create 3 Select View Mix Window Instruments to display the MIDI controls for the Instrument track 4 At the top of the Instrument track in the Mix window click the track s MIDI Input selector and assign the de...

Page 50: ... you will need to monitor your MIDI devices audio using its own headphone output or using an exter nal amp or mixer 6 In the Mix Window click the track s Record Enable button to enable the Instrument track for MIDI record ing 7 Make sure Options MIDI Thru is selected 8 Play some notes on your MIDI controller and look for the track s MIDI Velocity meter to move Remember MIDI is not audio and the MI...

Page 51: ...top in the Transport window or press the Spacebar The newly re corded MIDI data appears as a MIDI region on the track in the Edit window as well as in the Region List To play back MIDI data 1 If necessary click the track s Record Enable button to take the Instrument track out of Record mode 2 In the Transport window click Return to Zero to play back from the beginning of the track 3 Click Play in ...

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Page 53: ...evices Entire MIDI Studio Setup configurations created within MSS can be imported and exported MIDI Studio Setup Window The MIDI Studio Setup window is organized into three sections Interface controls are at the top of the window All the currently defined instruments are displayed in the Instrument Name list on the left side of the window A detailed view of MIDI parameters is shown in the Properti...

Page 54: ...MIDI Studio 2 Click Create 3 In the Instrument Name field type the name of your instrument and press Enter 4 Set a manufacturer and model for the new device from the corresponding pop up menus If the Manufac turer and Model pop up menus do not provide a name for your particular device choose None 5 From the Input pop up menu choose the input port on your MIDI interface that is connected to the MID...

Page 55: ...ata is sent from your MIDI interface to the MIDI device specified in the Instrument Name field Send Channels The Send Channels grid sets the send channels for the MIDI device specified in the Instrument Name field Receive Channels The Receive Channels grid sets the receive channels for the MIDI device specified in the Instrument Name field MIDI Patch Name Support Pro Tools supports XML Extensible ...

Page 56: ...Name Bank pop up menu appears in the upper left hand corner of the window Once patch names have been imported into Pro Tools they are available for that MIDI device in all sessions To clear patch names In the Patch Select dialog click the Clear button and click Done Patch Select button Edit window Patch Select button Mix window Patch Select dialog Patch Select button Patch Select button Change but...

Page 57: ...he window with each of its ports numbered 3 For any MIDI devices connected to the MIDI inter face click Add Device A new external device icon with the default MIDI keyboard image will appear 4 Drag the new device icon to a convenient location within the window 5 Connect the MIDI device to the MIDI interface by clicking the arrow for the appropriate output port of the device and dragging a connecti...

Page 58: ...for the Transmits and Receives options These determine which channels the device will use to send and receive MIDI External Device Icon Naming a new MIDI device For Manufacturer and Model names AMS refers to one or more files with the suffix middev in the directory Root Library Audio MIDI Devices Pro Tools installs a file that contains information for many commercially available MIDI devices named...

Page 59: ...me files midnam for the factory default patch names of many common MIDI devices These files reside in directories sorted by manufacturer in Library Audio MIDI Patch Names Digidesign To import MIDI patch names into Pro Tools 1 Verify the MIDI Device name in the Audio MIDI Setup window see Audio MIDI Setup on page 49 2 Verify the MIDI track s output is correctly assigned to the MIDI device 3 Click t...

Page 60: ...he Patch Name Bank pop up menu appears in the upper left hand corner of the window Once patch names have been imported into Pro Tools they are available for that MIDI device in all sessions To clear patch names In the Patch Select dialog click the Clear button and click Done Patch Select button Mix window Patch Select dialog Patch Select button Change button MIDI patch name files midnam can be edi...

Page 61: ...session For complete hard drive requirements see the Digi design website www digidesign com SCSI Hard Drives Digidesign recommends qualified SCSI hard drives and a qualified SCSI host bus adapter HBA card or on Win dows systems a qualified built in SCSI HBA connector on the motherboard For complete information on track count and the sup ported number and configuration of SCSI drives visit the Digi...

Page 62: ...a quick format Make sure Enable file and folder compression is not selected Set the Allocation unit size to Default Click OK 5 If the volume is Unallocated do the following In the Disk Management window right click the hard drive you will use for audio and choose New Partition In the New Partition Wizard window click Next When prompted select the partition type Follow the on screen instructions to...

Page 63: ... 7 Click Erase The drive appears on the Desktop with the new volume name Partitioning Drives Partitioning creates a logical volume or volumes on a physical drive almost as if you were creating virtual hard drives Partitions can then be formatted with the appropriate file system NTFS for Windows HFS for Mac Pro Tools only supports Basic drive types Do not convert the drive to a Dynamic type Disk Ut...

Page 64: ...k wherever it can find space In multitrack recording audio tracks are written in dis crete files spaced evenly across the disk While frag mentation of individual files may be zero the tracks may be far enough apart that playback will still be very seek intensive Also the remaining free space on the disk will be discontiguous increasing the likelihood of file fragmentation on subsequent record pass...

Page 65: ...d Maintenance 3 Click Performance Information and Tools 4 Click Advanced Tools 5 Click Open Disk Defragmenter 6 In the Disk Defragmenter window click the Defrag ment Now button To defragment an audio drive Windows XP 1 Right click My Computer and choose Manage 2 Under Storage choose Disk Defragmenter 3 In the Disk Defragmenter window choose the drive you want to defragment 4 Click the Defragment b...

Page 66: ...the required disk space for certain track numbers and track lengths to help you estimate your hard disk usage Table 1 Required hard drive space for audio tracks 44 1 kHz and 48 kHz sessions shown Number of Tracks and Length 16 bit at 44 1 kHz 16 bit at 48 kHz 24 bit at 44 1 kHz 24 bit at 48 kHz 1 mono track 1 minute 5 MB 5 5 MB 7 5 MB 8 2 MB 1 stereo track or two mono tracks 5 minutes 50 MB 55 MB ...

Page 67: ...h Carbon Copy Cloner Mac By doing this you can quickly restore your system configuration and set tings if you encounter any problems Common Issues Pro Tools Won t Launch Problem When you double click the Pro Tools application or a Pro Tools session file Pro Tools doesn t launch or dis plays an error message Possible Solutions Check to be sure your computer has the required amount of RAM to launch ...

Page 68: ...d start the computer Once the computer has fully restarted reconnect Mbox 2 Micro Performance Factors There are several conditions that may adversely affect the performance of Pro Tools These include Network Connections Close any network connections unless you are using them for network interchange of audio data Background Applications Any software utilities that run in the background or generate ...

Page 69: ...se is installed in the Digidesign folder when you in stall Pro Tools Answerbase is also available on the Digidesign website www digidesign com Website www digidesign com This is your best online source for information to help you get the most out of your Pro Tools system Gather Important Information Digidesign wants to help you resolve problems as quickly and efficiently as possible If you have th...

Page 70: ...e latest compatibility information on the Digidesign website www digidesign com compatibility Other Software If you are using other audio or video applications refer to the manufacturer s documentation for operational details Make note of any other software that was running when a problem occurred Diagnostic Information Note any DAE errors or other error codes you encounter Additonally note the ab...

Page 71: ...g Mac 55 Windows 54 drive maintenance 53 drive requirements 5 F FireWire requirements 53 G gain headphones 33 H hard drives drive formats 53 FireWire requirements 53 formatting 54 55 IDE ATA requirements 53 maintenance 53 56 optimizing 56 partitioning 55 requirements 5 SCSI requirements 53 space requirements 58 Hardware Buffer Size 22 headphones gain control 33 output 33 I I O Setup Windows 26 IDE...

Page 72: ...sion templates Windows 13 18 Pro Tools LE capabilities 4 configuration Windows 21 installing Mac 15 installing Windows 9 Q QuickTime installing Windows 11 R registration 5 registration information 5 removing Pro Tools Windows 14 19 RTAS Processors setting 22 S Sample Rate 26 screen saver disabling Windows Vista 11 screen savers 60 SCSI requirements 53 system shutting down 21 starting up 21 System ...

Page 73: ...Index 65 V volume control 33 W WaveDriver Windows 12 ...

Page 74: ...City CA 94014 3886 USA Tel 650 731 6300 Fax 650 731 6399 TECHNICAL SUPPORT USA Tel 650 731 6100 Fax 650 731 6375 PRODUCT INFORMATION USA Tel 800 333 2137 INTERNATIONAL OFFICES Visit the Digidesign website for contact information www digidesign com ...