Echo Darla24, Owner'S Manual

Page 1: ...1 DARLA24 by Owner s Manual Version 2 2 for PC Darla24 is designed and manufactured in the U S by Echo Corporation...

Page 2: ...ain factory service Contact Echo Corporation at 805 684 4593 9AM to 5PM Monday through Friday Pacific Time If necessary you will be given a return authorization number Products returned without an RA...

Page 3: ...t Menu 20 The Session Menu 21 The Monitors Menu 23 Console Controls 23 Monitor Controls 23 Output Controls 25 Adjusting Record and Playback Levels 25 Synchronizing Multiple Devices 25 Console Keyboard...

Page 4: ...ppendix A The Reporter Troubleshooting Guide 36 Appendix B General Troubleshooting Guide 38 Appendix C Resolving Interrupt Conflicts 39 Appendix D Introduction to Digital Recording 44 Appendix E Speci...

Page 5: ...s overall audio quality See Installing the Darla24 hardware for further details A compact disc containing the Darla24 Windows 95 Windows 98 Drivers the Echo Reporter system analysis software Syntrilli...

Page 6: ...24 The only way to be sure is to install the card in your system and see if it works Please note that we only support Intel CPUs and motherboards with an Intel chipset Your system may or may not work...

Page 7: ...resolution Times are expressed in Hours Minutes Seconds Change the Number of Tracks field to 2 and you ll see the maximum length available for a stereo track Change the field to 8 and you ll see the...

Page 8: ...ltaneous Tracks heading At the basic level these two fields show you how many simultaneous tracks of playback and recording your system will support For example if the readout was 15 for the Playback...

Page 9: ...er tells you your system seems a bit on the weak side Use your audio application in real world conditions then make the determination if your system can keep up with your needs Conversely if the Repor...

Page 10: ...before adding your Darla24 If you are uncertain as to whether any of these cards have ever previously been installed in your computer it might be wise to go ahead and perform the remainder of this st...

Page 11: ...Because most system sounds are sampled at very low sample rates typically 8 to 11 KHz each time they are played it will cause the sample rate clock on Darla24 to reset to the slower speed To turn off...

Page 12: ...the expansion slot where you would like to install Darla24 Place the screw in a safe place as you will need it later to complete installation 3 Insure that you have fully discharged all static electri...

Page 13: ...e cable to the rear of the audio breakout box and fasten the cable securely with the screws NOTE The cable included with your Darla24 system is a shielded audio cable that has been custom manufactured...

Page 14: ...ctory of the Darla24 CD ROM Click the Browse button in the Install Wizard this will cause the Install From Disk window to appear In the field labeled Copy manufacturer s files from enter the path D de...

Page 15: ...drivers are installed you should verify that Windows recognizes them You can do this by checking in the Windows Control Panel as follows Begin by clicking on the Windows Start button Then select Setti...

Page 16: ...se of your difficulties You can now exit back to the Control Panel window to check the Darla24 audio input and output devices that are available In the Control Panel window locate the Multimedia icon...

Page 17: ...Audio Playback section will reveal the available Darla24 devices You will be able to select from Darla24 1 2 Analog Playback Darla24 3 4 Analog Playback Darla24 5 6 Analog Playback Darla24 7 8 Analog...

Page 18: ...the devices assignable on a per track basis See your software owner s manual for details on how to make these device assignments Instructions for making these assignments in Cool Edit Pro Special Edit...

Page 19: ...ion From the console you can control input and output levels as well as adjust input monitoring The Echo Console software was automatically installed at the same time that you installed the Darla24 dr...

Page 20: ...ate an additional iteration of the console program In this way multiple devices Laylas Ginas or Darlas may be controlled using their own dedicated console The second option under the File menu is Exit...

Page 21: ...ation of the Console program controls So if you have more than one device Layla Gina Darla or Darla24 attached to your system you can use the same console to control them all using the Mixer Device op...

Page 22: ...pre defined settings The Auto Save Default Session option sixth on the Session menu automatically saves any changes made to the default session whenever the console is closed or a new session opened...

Page 23: ...w the input channels are the input monitor controls The input monitor controls allow you to monitor the record input signal via any of the available outputs on your Darla24 Each input channel pair has...

Page 24: ...ld first find the monitor control that corresponds to inputs 1 2 the control on the far left directly below the input control for channels 1 2 Clicking on the button within this box labeled 1 2 causes...

Page 25: ...vices Darla24 is designed to work alongside other audio equipment within a complete Windows system If you are planning on using Darla24 with other audio equipment please note the following The Darla24...

Page 26: ...ht mouse click Allows user to type in the desired level Ctrl left mouse click Set volume level to zero Ctrl Raise volume of selected control about 5 dB Raise volume of selected control about 1 dB Ctrl...

Page 27: ...he line titled Darla24 by Echo and double click This will bring up the Darla24 Properties window which we saw briefly at the conclusion of Darla24 installation We have previously seen the General scre...

Page 28: ...4 driver SAW expects an equal number of inputs and outputs on Darla24 For SAW compatibility the driver creates a non functional mirror of input channels 1 and 2 making an equal number of ins and outs...

Page 29: ...liseconds using an 8k buffer This may be changed in the dialog box found in menu Audio System then select the ASIO Control panel button Choose a buffer size between 1K and 64K The smaller the buffer t...

Page 30: ...hey do not support external synchronization 10 When running VST selecting menu Options Reset Devices followed by pressing the Play button results in no sound Simply press the Stop button twice to rese...

Page 31: ...M drive On the CD ROM is a folder called Syntrillium double click on this directory to open it Now locate the file in the Syntrillium directory called SETUP EXE Select this program and run it The SETU...

Page 32: ...ssignments however you ll need to set up the Preferred Multitrack Devices To do this click on either of the small numeral 1s at the far left of the track display doing so will bring up the Playback De...

Page 33: ...he Mix Gauge seems reasonably complete the meter is beyond of the way filled try reducing the Playback Buffer Size and raising the Background Mixing Priority Level higher values reduce the priority le...

Page 34: ...h Darla24 channel pair This additional mixing demands more processing power from your computer resulting in longer mix times and possible skipping during playback If your system is performing sluggish...

Page 35: ...letely We will not respond to you unless you fill out the form in its entirety We cannot help you unless you give us the required information We do ask you to please read through this manual and the s...

Page 36: ...t have an operational PCI Bios Upgrade to a PCI computer with BIOS version 2 1 or higher The Echo line of sound cards require PCI version 2 1 or later To alleviate this problem please purchase a PCI s...

Page 37: ...her solution is to add a faster hard disk to your system The Echo Reporter has found that your system may not be equipped with a Pentium or faster processor The algorithm we are using for processor de...

Page 38: ...ndicates that it has found new hardware and wants you to install a driver for it This hardware was working perfectly well before you installed Darla24 and the driver for this hardware was already inst...

Page 39: ...nterrupt conflicts Hopefully we ll be able to help you solve your problem without too much trouble What is an Interrupt A computer has two ways of telling when a device such as an audio card is ready...

Page 40: ...with an ISA card Plug and Play and Interrupts When your computer first starts up the BIOS will check each connector slot to see if a Plug and Play card is installed Each Plug and Play card has built...

Page 41: ...rst thing to do if you think you have an interrupt conflict is to determine which interrupt and which legacy card is causing the problem To do this run the Reporter software that came with your Darla2...

Page 42: ...lem at hand the next time you add another new Plug and Play card you may wind up with another conflict If you choose this option it is still a good idea to reserve the IRQ as described below Reserving...

Page 43: ...elect the tab labeled Reserve Resources and make sure that Interrupt Request is selected 5 Click on the Add button and enter the IRQ that is being used by your legacy card 6 Windows may prompt you tha...

Page 44: ...e rate On playback the process happens in reverse The series of numbers is played back through a digital to analog converter or DAC which converts the numbers back into an analog signal This signal ca...

Page 45: ...e 24 bit ADCs which means that the incoming signal can be represented by any of over 16 million possible values The output DACs are also 24 bit again over 16 million values are possible Darla24 proces...

Page 46: ...ate is lower than the frequency you are trying to record entire cycles of the waveform will be missed and the result will not resemble the proper waveform When the sample rate is too low the resulting...

Page 47: ...systems record the data directly to the computer s hard disk Today s hard disks are capable of storing large amounts of data though the performance of hard drives can vary substantially The Echo Repo...

Page 48: ...003 20Hz 22kHz A weighted Hardware Two TRS balanced analog inputs with precision 24 bit 128x oversampling analog to digital converters Eight TRS balanced analog outputs with high performance 24 bit 1...

Page 49: ...r service 35 contents 5 Cool Edit Pro installation 31 D Darla24 installation 6 digital to analog converter 44 driver installation 14 E Echo Console 19 Echo Console controls 23 Echo Reporter 5 6 36 37...

Page 50: ...EPORTER program errors 36 resolving interrupt conflicts 39 S sample rate 44 46 sample size 45 SAW compatibility mode 28 selecting a slot 12 software Installation 14 static electricity discharging 12 s...