DigiGrid M
DigiGrid D M Table of Contents Introduction.............................................................................................................................................................................................4 1. GETTING STARTED........................................................................................................................................................................5 1.1 System Requirements..................................................................
DigiGrid M 6. Adding a Server................................................................................................................................................................................ 19 6.1 Applications of an External Server .................................................................................................................................... 20 6.1.1 eMotion ST mixer.........................................................................................................
DigiGrid M INTRODUCTION Thank you for choosing this DiGiGrid Desktop interface for SoundGrid systems. In order to get the most out of your product, please take some time to read this manual. We also suggest that you become familiar with our support sites, www.digigrid.net and www.waves.com/support, where you will find an extensive answer base, the latest tech specs, detailed installation guides, software updates, and current information about licensing and registration.
DigiGrid M 1. GETTING STARTED Aside from setting up your microphone preamps, there’s not much you need to know to begin working with your DiGiGrid M. 1.1 System Requirements • SoundGrid Studio runs on Mac and PC (consult the Waves website for current OS and DAW compatibility) • Compatible native DAW (Logic, Cubase, Nuendo, Ableton, Pro Tools Native, and many more). A list of SoundGrid-compatible hosts is available at the Waves websit.
DigiGrid M Since SoundGrid enables you to access an I/O device from any computer in the network, you will need to install the software on each connected computer. The DiGiGrid M installer consists of: • The DiGiGrid M hardware driver. • The SoundGrid ASIO/Core Audio driver, which serves as a bridge between the DAW and the SoundGrid network. • The SoundGrid Studio Application, which manages all SoundGrid network resources and assigns devices to computers.
DigiGrid M 2. HARDWARE DiGiGrid M Rear DiGiGrid M Front Panel 12 10 11 Guitar Gain: +6 to +30dB Reset Guitar Input Meter DC In Hi Z Guitar Input 1MΩ impedance Soundgrid Network MIX (Guitar Input Direct Listen): Routes mono feed of guitar input to monitor and headphone outputs, bypassing all other paths. MIX (Mic Input Direct Listen): Routes mono feed of microphone input to monitor and headphone outputs, bypassing all other paths.
DigiGrid M 3. SUGGESTED USES AND CONFIGURATIONS There are many ways to use your DiGiGrid M. There are certain factors to consider when incorporating a DiGiGrid M into your studio: your existing (or future) equipment, how you work, and what you need to accomplish. Project studios with one or two DAWs can share I/O resources. Studios with several rooms and many DAWs can stream audio between rooms and quickly swap out devices.
DigiGrid M 3.2 Adding More I/Os to Your System Add a DiGiGrid D and you gain one more individual headphone output and four more inputs. Connect the DiGiGrid D and DiGiGrid M to the DiGiGrid S switch. You can add up to eight SoundGrid I/O devices to a single host. Each of these can be accessed by any computer on the network. Audio and clock pass through the same Ethernet cable. This means of distributing clock is called “Sync over Ethernet” (SoE) and is used between all SoundGrid devices.
DigiGrid M 3.3 Adding a Server Adding a SoundGrid DSP server to a SoundGrid Studio system provides the processing power for the eMotion ST mixer and the StudioRack plugin. This enables low-latency recording and monitoring, and increases the number of plugins you can use simultaneously. Some DiGiGrid and SoundGrid I/O devices are equipped with internal servers. Consider the server and I/O as separate devices in the Devices Racks of the System Inventory page.
DigiGrid M 3.4 Multiple Computers with a Single DiGiGrid M If you want to stream audio between several computers in order to combine multiple mixes or elements, connect several DAWs to one DiGiGrid M interface. Each DAW can send and receive an audio stream, and any one computer can control the I/O. Any native DAW—or combination of different native DAWs—can be a part of this network, so each computer must have the DiGiGrid M software installed.
DigiGrid M 4. SOFTWARE SETUP AND CONTROLS A SoundGrid network is managed by the SoundGrid Studio Application. This application assigns and removes devices, oversees the network, patches between devices, and provides access to device control panels. To maintain network effectiveness, the SoundGrid Studio Application always runs in the background. Bring SoundGrid Studio to the front by clicking on the SoundGrid icon in the Mac Top Bar or the Windows System Tray.
DigiGrid M The first time you launch SoundGrid Studio, the Wizard will open. It scans the network, inventories its assets, and then configures the devices. If the Wizard does not start automatically, click the Start Auto Config button, which is next to the Network Port. Choose “NEXT” to start automatic configuration. This will take a few moments. Choose “CANCEL” to configure manually.
DigiGrid M The new device is visible in the rack slot. Unless changed by the user, it remains a clock slave and is colored green. Use the same menu to change the clock master assignment from one device to another or to remove the device from the rack slot. 4.1 Device Firmware Firmware is a small program that runs on a device in order to control it. It enables DiGiGrid M to communicate correctly with SoundGrid Studio.
DigiGrid M 4.1.1 Resetting the Unit If after an unsuccessful firmware update theDiGiGrid M is not recognized by MultiRack or SoundGrid Studio (the DiGiGrid M device does not appear in the Inventory panel), you can use the Reset button to try to recover the unit. The Reset button is on the DiGiGrid M side panel. • Turn off the unit. • Press and hold the Reset button. • Restart the unit while holding the button. • Release the Reset button once the device has fully booted.
DigiGrid M 5. CONTROL PANEL Access the DiGiGrid M Control Panel by clicking on the Gear symbol in the SoundGrid Studio Device Rack. From here you can control clock source, sample rate, clock type, and clock status. Pressing the “Hardware Control Panel” button on the Driver Control Panel app will open the control panels of all I/O devices assigned to your SoundGrid application. If none are assigned, nothing will happen.
DigiGrid M 5.1 Clock Page Use the Clock page to set the clock source and sample rate for the device and to assess clock status. Clock controls are on the left side of the page Status indicators are on the right. SOURCE sets the clock source Sync over Internet Internal 17 The DiGiGrid M sets its clock to the sample rate of the SoundGrid network. The device is a slave. The device is the clock master and as such it determine the sample rate of the SOE network.
DigiGrid M SAMPLE RATE sets the sample rate when Clock Source is set to Internal. Range: 44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96 kHz. LOCK STATUS INDICATORS C Three windows on the right side of the Clock control panel help you to quickly assess the network status of the DiGiGrid M . 18 STATUS Reports the presence or absence of sync between the M and the SoundGrid network. CURRENT CLOCK SOURCE Displays the current sync method. This may differ from the choice made in the Source menu.
DigiGrid M 6. ADDING A SERVER When you connect a server to the host computer and run the SoundGrid Studio Wizard, the server is assigned and configured for the host. Normally that’s all you need to do. The server appears in the SoundGrid Studio Server rack, and the DiGiGrid M is seen in the Hardware I/O rack. To assign, free, or rename a server, click on the arrow to reveal the list of available servers, select a server from the list, and remove or assign the server.
DigiGrid M 6.1 Applications of an External Server The external server gives you access to advanced features for mixing processing, and monitoring. 6.1.1 eMotion ST mixer The eMotion ST is the mixer element of the SoundGrid Studio System. It lets you run SoundGrid plugins with low latency for monitoring while recording. The eMotion ST mixer enables you to create personalized monitor mixes, with plugin processing done pre-, post-, or in parallel with your DAW.
DigiGrid M 6.1.2 StudioRack StudioRack is a plugin chainer for any DAW. It hosts up to eight plugins, controls them, assigns them to external controllers, and manages them. All this in a way that makes it easy to move from one DAW session to another and from one DAW platform to another. It enables users to create racks of processors with limitless parameters and flexible signal flows, which are easily inserted into any track of the session.
DigiGrid M 7. MOVING AUDIO IN A SOUNDGRID NETWORK You’ve configured the network and set up the DiGiGrid M. One last thing to do: Integrate your hosts into the SoundGrid network so that you can send audio to and from devices—and listen to it. In order to do this, the audio must be patched from one point to another. SoundGrid is a scalable and very flexible network, so audio must be patched.
DigiGrid M 7.1 Using an I/O Device with a DAW When using a DAW on a SoundGrid network, the SoundGrid ASIO/Core Audio driver serves as a bridge between DiGiGrid M and the DAW. It enables the I/O to communicate with the DAW, and it provides patch points for connections. Using the driver and routing audio through it involves two steps: patch between the I/O and the driver; then select the correct driver in your DAW as the playback engine.
DigiGrid M 7.2 Patching I/O to Driver and Driver to I/O When streaming audio to and from an DiGiGrid M and a DAW, you must assign DiGiGrid M inputs and outputs to the SoundGrid ASIO/Core Audio driver. (Alternatively, you may choose to monitor through the eMotion ST mixer. We’ll cover that option later in this section.) In the SoundGrid Studio Patch page, select the Device-to-Device tab. All device and driver channels are shown along both the horizontal and vertical axes.
DigiGrid M 25 Selecting the Driver in the DAW DAW I/O Setup When a DAW is part of a SoundGrid network, the SoundGrid ASIO/Core Audio driver must be its playback engine. Choose Waves SoundGrid from among your playback engine options. When you look at the I/O setup page of your DAW, what you see are driver channels whose default names represent what they are connected to. What they are connected to is determined in the Patch page of the SoundGrid Studio application.
DigiGrid M Note the relationship between the SoundGrid Studio Patch page and the DAW I/O Setup page. In the Patch page (left), DiGiGrid M analog channels 1–4 are patched to driver channels 1–4. The arrow on the upper left of the Patch indicates that signal flows from the DiGiGrid M to the driver. Now look at the DAW I/O. The 4 driver channels appear at the top, and are patched to DAW input channels 1-4.
DigiGrid M Driver Channel Names in your DAW SoundGrid Studio patches from the Waves SoundGrid ASIO/Core Audio driver to a hardware I/O device, a secondary driver (another computer), or the eMotion ST mixer. SoundGrid Studio transmits these names through the driver to the DAW. These will appear as the default names within your DAW. Most DAWs allow you to change the naming manually.
DigiGrid M Note: This transmission occurs while you launch your DAW and the driver handshakes with it. This means that any change of I/O name or eMotion ST channel name will not be visible in your DAW until you relaunch it. Some DAWs, such as Cubase, will let you reset the connection to the driver, saving you the need to relaunch the application.
DigiGrid M Here is an example of your DAW receiving input from another DAW on a secondary computer via networking: To ensure that the names have been updated in your DAW, you may need to follow certain steps, depending on your DAW. Here are a few examples. Pro Tools Go to Setup > I/O Delete and reset all I/O configurations to DEFAULT. 29 Cubase Go to Devices > Device Setup > Waves SoundGrid. Select RESET above the PORT System Name table. Logic Go to Mix > I/O Labels. Select Reset All Labels.
DigiGrid M Multiple Client Core Audio/ ASIO Driver The Waves SoundGrid ASIO (Windows) or Core Audio (Mac) driver lets you configure multiple hosts with the same local driver. This means you can use multiple DAWs on the same computer simultaneously. This allows you to record the same source to two DAWs on the same computer consecutively; route audio from multiple DAWs to a single I/O; and, if you have a SoundGrid server, route multiple DAWs to the eMotion ST mixer.
DigiGrid M 7.3 eMotion ST Mixer Patching The eMotion ST mixer enables you to create studio monitor mixes as well as personalized headphone mixes. Patch to and from the mixer using the eMotion ST input and output tabs on the left side of the interface. The green buttons indicate whether a channel is mono, left side of a stereo pair, or right side of a stereo pair. Toggle between these states by double-clicking on the button.
DigiGrid M 32 7.4 Device-to-Device Patching Choose this view to patch devices and drivers to each other. All device and driver channels are shown along both the horizontal and vertical axes. There are many ways to patch devices, but normally DiGiGrid M inputs are patched to the ASIO/Core Audio inputs for recording. For playback the patches are opposite, unless you choose to patch to the eMotion ST mixer for monitor mixing. For further details, refer to the SoundGrid Studio Application user guide.
DigiGrid M 8. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Mic Input Input Impedance Gain Range Frequency Response (Analogue To Analogue) Harmonic Distortion Noise EINTypically High Pass Filter 1K5Ω 0 To +70dB -3dB <10Hz To 100kHz 0.005% (40dB Gain) -127dB (70dB Gain) -3dB 100Hz 18dB/Octave Line Input Input Impedance Gain Range Frequency Response (Analogue To Analogue) Harmonic Distortion Noise / Min Gain 1MΩ +6 To +30dB -3dB <10Hz To 100kHz 0.
DigiGrid M XLR connectors Phase Termination Point Positive (+) Pin 2 Negative (-) Pin 3 Signal Ground Pin 1 Chassis Ground Case ¼” TRS connectors Phase Termination Point Positive (+) Tip Negative (-) Ring Signal Ground Sleeve 34
