DARLA24 by ® Owner’s Manual Version 2.2 for PC Darla24 is designed and manufactured in the U.S.
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Table of Contents Introduction What You Should Have Received in the Darla24 Box System Requirements 5 5 5 Darla24 Installation Running the Echo Reporter Software The ECHODEL Program System Sounds Installing the Darla24 Hardware Installing the Darla24 Software Drivers Darla24 Audio Input & Output Devices 6 6 10 11 12 14 17 The Echo Console The File Menu The Edit Menu The Session Menu The Monitors Menu Console Controls Monitor Controls Output Controls Adjusting Record and Playback Levels Synchronizing Mu
Table of Contents Appendix A: The Reporter Troubleshooting Guide Appendix B: General Troubleshooting Guide Appendix C: Resolving Interrupt Conflicts Appendix D: Introduction to Digital Recording Appendix E: Specifications 36 38 39 44 48 Index 49 4
Introduction Thank you for choosing the Darla24 24-bit Multitrack Digital Audio Recorder. We think you’ll find Darla24 to be an extremely flexible, highperformance tool for your computer-based hard disk recording system.
Darla24 Installation Complete Darla24 installation consists of performing a system check using the Echo Reporter software, installing the Darla24 PCI card, connecting the audio interface to the card, installing the Darla24 Windows drivers into your system and, if necessary, installing a multitrack audio recording/editing application.
After the test is completed you’ll see a results screen. Many of the parameters on the screen are interactive; you can change them to see how your disk performs under different conditions. For example, in the upper right corner of the screen you can see how large your hard disk is and how many minutes of recording time it will provide for a mono track recorded at 44.1kHz with 16-bit resolution. (Times are expressed in Hours: Minutes: Seconds.
You can adjust the parameters on the Hard Disk Performance screen to view your disk’s record and playback capabilities at various sample rates and bit-resolutions. You can also change the Size (bit-resolution), Rate (sample rate), and Number of Tracks fields. Though the original test was performed with default values of 16-bit 44.1kHz, you can easily see your disk’s performance reading and writing, say, 24-bit 48kHz data simply by selecting those values in the appropriate fields.
Similarly, by lowering the number of playback tracks, you’ll see the number of record tracks increase. • The readouts will generally show that you have fewer record tracks available than playback tracks. This is because writing data to a hard disk is a slower process than reading it back (due to the verify routines used when writing to disk). • The values you see should not be taken as absolute.
The Summary screen tells you if your system can support multitrack audio recording as well as alerting you to potential problems. If your system passed the Echo Reporter test, it’s time to move on to the next phase of installation. The ECHODEL Program If you have previously installed an Echo audio card, such as a Darla, Gina, or Layla, it will be necessary to remove the old drivers before adding your Darla24.
program anytime you add an Echo audio card to your system, even if you are merely exchanging one card for an identical one (such as during a warranty exchange). Be sure to restart Windows after you run the ECHODEL program. System Sounds There is one final step to perform before installing the Darla24 hardware. We suggest that you turn off your Windows system sounds prior to installing Darla24.
Installing the Darla24 Hardware Once you have run the Reporter software, have verified that there are no problems with your system, and have removed any old driver software with the ECHODEL program, it is time to install Darla24 into your computer. IMPORTANT - Unplug your computer and detach all peripherals before proceeding with the following steps. 1. Remove your computer’s cover. This operation differs from computer to computer.
5. Use the screw removed earlier from the protective backplate to attach the metal bracket at the back of the Darla24 card to the computer’s rear panel. 6. Replace the computer’s cover and secure it. Reattach its power supply cord and reconnect any peripherals that you may have removed prior to beginning the Darla24 installation. 7. Locate the Darla24 audio breakout box and the 25-pin audio connector cable. Place the breakout box near your computer in a convenient location on a level surface.
Installing the Darla24 Software Drivers Now that you have completed the hardware installation, you need to install the software drivers that allow Darla24 to interact properly with Windows 95/98 and your audio recording application. Turn on the power to your computer’s CPU. Caution: Lower the volume on your outboard mixer prior to rebooting. The Darla24 hardware can produce a loud pop when power is first applied to the computer.
If you are using Windows 98: After you have inserted the Darla24 CD-ROM disc and clicked next, you’ll see the message, “What do you want Windows to do?” Below that are two radio buttons. If it isn’t already selected, select the one labeled “Search for the best driver for your device (Recommended)”. Click on the Next button and a dialog will appear with several check boxes indicating places where Windows will look. If you are installing from a CD-ROM drive or from a floppy disk, click on the appropriate box.
Proper installation of the Darla24 drivers will result in the message, “The device is working properly.” If the message does not appear, check Appendices A, B and C for help in isolating the cause 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 and double-click on it. This will bring the multimedia Properties window into view.
Darla24 Audio Input & Output Devices The Darla24 driver installs into your computer as a series of stereo .WAV devices. Pulling down the Preferred Device menu in the Control Panels/Multimedia/Audio Playback section will reveal the available Darla24 devices.
You’ll find these same input and output options available when using your audio record/editing software, with 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 Edition can be found on page 32 of this manual. This completes the installation of the Darla24 hardware and software.
The Echo Console Included with your Darla24 is a “virtual control surface” application called The Echo Console. The Console allows you to control the audio I/O and clocking functions of Darla24, and it brings these controls to a single easyto-use location. 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 drivers for Windows 95/98.
The console functions are grouped into three areas: inputs (in the upper left corner), monitors (directly below the inputs that are being monitored), and outputs (on the right hand side). The controls for a particular function/stereo pair are then further grouped into a box that contains selection buttons, a slider, and other controls and displays as determined by the function. The File Menu At the top left of the Console window you will find the File menu.
The Nominal Levels window lets you specify what type of equipment is connected to each input and output of Darla24. In general, consumer audio gear runs at the –10 dBV level, while professional equipment runs at +4 dBu. The fourth option under the Edit menu is “Mixer Device.” The Mixer Device option lets you choose the device that the current iteration of the Console program controls.
The “Save” option, second on the Session menu, lets you save any changes made to the current session. The “Save As…” option, third on the Session menu, lets you save any changes made to the current session under a different name. The “Delete…” option, fourth on the Session menu, lets you delete any session. The “Select Default Settings” option, fifth on the Session menu, lets you change to default session settings.
The Monitors Menu The “Group Mode” option, first on the Monitors menu, is not available for Darla24. The “In-Line” option, second on the Monitors menu, is not available for Darla24. Console Controls Let’s take a look at the control surface. The input controls are located in the upper left portion of the console surface. In the center of each input control is a pair of level meters. Unlike the console for Gina and Layla, Darla24 has no input controls, just the level meters.
The monitors are one of the most powerful functions of the console. When you are recording, these controls allow you to set the level at which each input signal will be monitored at each of the outputs, independent of the main output level control. When setting a monitor level, you must first select the input that will be monitored, and then select the output for which you will set the monitor level. Selection of the input is really just a matter of using the correct monitor control box.
Output Controls The right hand side of the console is dedicated to the controls for output channels one through eight. The available controls are: Gang, Mute, Solo, meter on/off and volume slider. Adjusting Record and Playback Levels Darla24’s output volume adjustments are made in the digital domain. When you lower a volume slider; you are actually decreasing the number of available bits, thereby taking away from the potential dynamic range of the system.
Console Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts To navigate between control groups: Ctrl + Tab Move to next control group. Ctrl + Shift + Tab Move to previous control group. To navigate between controls within a control group: Tab Move to next control. Shift + Tab Move to previous control. Ctrl + S Toggles between left & right Solo buttons. Ctrl + M Toggles between left & right Mute buttons. Ctrl + A Toggles between left & right Trim buttons. Ctrl + T Toggles between left & right +10/-4 buttons.
found on the Windows Control Panel. To access these controls, begin by pressing the Windows Start button. Select Settings, then Control Panel. In the Control Panel window, locate the icon for System, and double-click on it. Click on the tab titled Device Manager. Now locate the line titled Sound, video and game controllers. Finally, locate the 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.
input signal muted until Record is enabled. In the Darla24 Properties window that appears you’ll see a checkbox labeled Monitor During Playback. Uncheck the box to disable input monitoring; recheck it to once again enable input monitoring. Monitoring controls are also available on the Echo Console. SAW Compatibility Mode When using Darla24 with the Software Audio Workshop (SAW) program from Innovative Quality Software, there are some special considerations that must be accommodated by the Darla24 driver.
ASIO Driver Installation The ASIO driver is automatically installed on your system at the same time the Echo Layla/Gina/Darla/Darla24 driver is installed. To use it: 1. If you already own a copy of Steinbergs’ VST program, skip to step 3. 2. On the installation CD, run the program: \Audio Software Demos\Steinberg\CubaseVST demo\VSTdemo.exe which will install a fully functional demo of this program.
problem has been corrected. Therefore, you cannot use VST with multiple Darla24s because they 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 reset the position pointer to the beginning of the buffer. Then press Play and sound will resume.
Installing Cool Edit Pro Special Edition Included with your Darla24 system is a special version of Syntrillium Software’s Cool Edit Pro, a powerful multitrack audio recording and editing application. To install the software: 1. Insert the Darla24 CD-ROM. 2. Press the Start button, and select Run… from the menu. Now select Browse… At the top of the window that appears, you will see a box labeled Look In:. Clicking on this box will result in a list of your disk drives to appear. Select your CD-ROM drive.
Cool Edit Pro: Assigning Darla24’s Inputs & Outputs Darla24’s inputs and outputs are assigned to tracks in two different ways, depending on the viewstereo waveform or multitrackin which you are working. In the stereo waveform view, select Options/Settings/Devices; in the window that appears you can define the Waveform Playback and Waveform Record devices. Simply highlight the Darla24 inputs and outputs you wish to use in the appropriate fields.
Cool Edit Pro: Optimizing Multitrack Performance Background mixingthe process Cool Edit Pro uses to allow a large number of tracks to play simultaneouslyrequires significant processing power from your computer. With larger sessions, your computer may become so occupied with mixing that you experience audio dropouts in multitrack playback. This will usually happen because the background mixing is not sufficiently complete (watch the Mix Gauge) before playback is initiated.
output devices vary, so may the settings you’ll need to use to maximize performance. Use the Multitrack Settings shown above as a starting place when adjusting your system to optimize the performance of Cool Edit Pro. Cool Edit Pro will take more time performing background mixing when you have your tracks assigned to multiple sets of Darla24’s outputs. In this scenario, Cool Edit Pro creates a separate mix for each output device (each Darla24 channel-pair).
Contacting Customer Service If you experience any trouble with your Darla24 system please go to the support area of our website at www.echoaudio.com and check out the troubleshooting FAQ’s we have there. If you can’t find a solution to your problem there, please fill out the provided technical support email form. This form will be sent to our technical support staff and they will respond to you quickly. Please fill out the form completely.
Appendix A: The Echo Reporter Troubleshooting Guide After you run the Reporter program, your summary may contain one or more of the following problem/error messages. Consult the table below for suggestions on interpreting the messages and finding solutions. Message... Problem... What to do... * The Echo line of sound cards require Windows 95 or Windows 98 Your computer is using a Windows 3.xx or Windows NT operating system The Echo Reporter and Darla will only operate in Windows 95 or Windows 98.
*The Echo Reporter has found that none of the hard drives that were tested meet minimum performance standards with respect to transfer rate. Though your system supports the Echo line of sound cards, we recommend that you upgrade your hard drive(s), as your existing drive(s) are not capable of sustaining the minimum transfer rates required for reasonable performance Your computer has no physical hard drives that test at a transfer rate better than 500Kb/second.
Appendix B: General Troubleshooting Guide Problem: After installing Darla24, one or more of your peripheral devices no longer functions properly. Solution: During the installation of your Darla24, it is possible that an interrupt conflict was created. Please see Appendix C: Resolving Interrupt Conflicts for more information on this topic. Problem: You installed Darla24 and restarted Windows. Now Windows indicates that it has found new hardware and wants you to install a driver for it.
Appendix C: Resolving Interrupt Conflicts While Plug-and-Play is often called “Plug-and-Pray,” it actually works quite well most of the time. We estimate that 95% of Darla24 installations will go without a hitchthat Plug-and-Play will properly assign resources to your card without any conflicts. The other 5% of you will likely experience interrupt problems caused by older, non-Plug-and-Play cards that are installed in your system.
wired to them. Older ISA cards (also called “legacy” cards) have you select which interrupt is used by configuring jumpers on the card. Newer Plugand-Play ISA cards have their interrupts selected by either the computer’s BIOS (the built-in program that starts the computer) or by Windows 95/98. The newer PCI (Peripheral Connect Interface) bus transfers data faster than ISA and was designed to support Plug-and-Play from the start. PCI connectors have only four interrupts wired to them (A, B, C, and D).
try and use your MIDI card or play back audio via Darla24, neither device will function properly. Or, maybe you have a SCSI card that had previously been assigned to IRQ 10. The BIOS may now decide to assign IRQ 10 to Darla24, and move the SCSI card to IRQ 9. An interrupt conflict now exists between the SCSI card and the older MIDI card.
If you have lost your manuals and are having trouble figuring out which card may be causing a problem, you can try the brute force approach. Remove all legacy ISA cards from your system and then re-install them one at a time until the system quits working. The card that makes the computer stop working correctly will be the one that needs to be dealt with. Once the offending card has been identified you have a few different options. One option is to simply remove the card from your system.
Reserving an IRQ within Windows 95/98 Windows 95/98 also allows you to reserve interrupts for legacy use. In most cases this works just as well as reserving the IRQ in the BIOS. However, you may still have problems if you boot up an older version of DOS from a floppy where Windows 95/98 can’t do its Plug-and-Play magic. To reserve an IRQ within Windows 95/98 do the following: 1. Click on the Start button and select Control Panel under the Settings option. 2. Double click on the icon labeled System. 3.
Appendix D: An Introduction to Digital Recording Converting Sound into Numbers In a digital recording system, sound is represented as a series of numbers, with each number representing the voltage, or amplitude, of a sound wave at a particular moment in time. The numbers are generated by an analog-todigital converter, or ADC, which converts the signal from an analog audio source (such as a guitar or a microphone) connected to its input into numbers.
Sample Size The more bits that are used to store the sampled value, the more closely it will represent the source signal. In an 8-bit system, there are 256 possible combinations of zeroes and ones, so 256 different analog voltages can be represented. A 16-bit system provides 65,535 possible combinations. A 16bit signal is capable of providing far greater accuracy than an 8-bit signal. Figure B shows how this works. Figure B.
Sample Rate The rate at which the ADC generates the numbers is equally important in determining the quality of a digital recording. To get a high level of accuracy when sampling, the sample rate must be greater than twice the frequency being sampled. The mathematical statement of this is called the Nyquist Theorem. When dealing with full-bandwidth sound (20Hz−20kHz), you should sample at greater than 40,000 times per second (twice 20kHz). Darla24 allows you to sample at rates up to 96,000 times per second.
Storing Digital Data Once the waveform has been transformed into digital bits, it must be stored. When sampling in stereo at 48kHz using a 20-bit word size, the system has to accommodate 1,920,000 bits per second. Though this is a lot of data, it is well within the capabilities of personal computers. Most computer-based digital recording systems record the data directly to the computer’s hard disk.
Appendix E: Specifications Audio Performance Analog in to analog out Frequency Response: 20Hz – 22kHz, ±0.5dB Input Stage Dynamic Range: 113dB Output Stage Dynamic Range: 116dB Input + Output Stage Dynamic Range: >108dB THD+n: <0.
Index Echo Reporter · 5, 6, 36, 37, 47 ECHODEL.
Preferred Multitrack Devices · 32 Priority · 33 sample size · 45 SAW compatibility mode · 28 selecting a slot · 12 software Installation · 14 static electricity, discharging · 12 summary screen · 9 system requirements · 5 R Record Device · 32 REPORTER program errors · 36 resolving interrupt conflicts · 39 T S troubleshooting guide · 36, 38 sample rate · 44, 46 50
