M-Audio USB Audio Duo manual

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First and foremost, an user manual of M-Audio USB Audio Duo should contain:
- informations concerning technical data of M-Audio USB Audio Duo
- name of the manufacturer and a year of construction of the M-Audio USB Audio Duo item
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- safety signs and mark certificates which confirm compatibility with appropriate standards

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Usually it results from the lack of time and certainty about functionalities of purchased items. Unfortunately, networking and start-up of M-Audio USB Audio Duo alone are not enough. An instruction contains a number of clues concerning respective functionalities, safety rules, maintenance methods (what means should be used), eventual defects of M-Audio USB Audio Duo, and methods of problem resolution. Eventually, when one still can't find the answer to his problems, he will be directed to the M-Audio service. Lately animated manuals and instructional videos are quite popular among customers. These kinds of user manuals are effective; they assure that a customer will familiarize himself with the whole material, and won't skip complicated, technical information of M-Audio USB Audio Duo.

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Table of contents for the manual

  • Page 1

    Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 What’ s in the Box? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Quick Start Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

  • Page 2

    Introduction Congratulations on your purchase of the Duo, designed and manufactured by M-Audio. The Duo is a complete USB audio solution for your PC or Macintosh computer . W ith two inputs and two outputs of 24-bit audio and up to 96kHz sampling frequencies, coupled with two high quality mic preamps, the Duo utilizes the power and convenience of U[...]

  • Page 3

    Other aspects of the Duo, including use of the +4/-10 line level switches, phantom power , etc., are also covered in depth. Also, be sure and check out the section, “Optimizing Y our Sytem for USB Audio,“ later in the manual. So, please read on, and enjoy your Duo. Duo Features • 2 critically acclaimed DMP2 mic preamps with individual gain co[...]

  • Page 4

    Front Panel: 1. Line Level Input Switch: This switch will set the input line level for the Duo. W ith the switch in the out position, the Duo will operate at a +4dBu line level. Pressing and locking this switch to the in position will set the operating line level to -10dBV . 2. Pad Switch: One pad switch has been provided for each mic input on the [...]

  • Page 5

    Back Panel: 1. 9V AC Power Jack: This power jack accepts a 9v AC 1 Amp 2.5mm power supply . This power supply is included with your Duo, and ONL Y the proper supply should be used. 2. USB Connector: This jack accepts the device-end of a standard USB cable. 3. S/PDIF Out: This coaxial RCA digital audio output connector receives audio from one of two[...]

  • Page 6

    Bottom of Unit: At the bottom of the unit are two DIP switches that will set the sampling rate while the Duo is used in standalone mode. The Duo can be used as an A/D converter independent of the computer , using either the line inputs or the mic preamp inputs. The relative positions of these DIP switches will determine the sample rate at the S/PDI[...]

  • Page 7

    The Duo can be used with the Sound Manager on the Macintosh, or with the W indows Sound System in W indows, and therefore can operate as your system sound card. If your software is ASIO or EASI compliant, such as Steinberg’ s Cubase or Emagic’ s Logic , we suggest using the ASIO or EASI drivers. These drivers will allow you to monitor audio thr[...]

  • Page 8

    6. Y ou will then see W indows 2000 detect and automatically install the driver for the USB Composite Device. 7. W indows will detect and automatically install a number of drivers. As it does this, it will show the "Digital Signature Not Found" Dialog a few times. Pr ess "Y es" for each dialog. 8. Restart the computer after the [...]

  • Page 9

    driver . Note: If the "USB Composite Device" has already been installed then W indows will skip this step. This will occur if a USB audio device had previously been installed in your system. 3. W indows will report that “USB Duo New Har dware” was found. When the Add New Hardware W izard reports that it wants to search for a driver fo[...]

  • Page 10

    Double click on the Installer program. The Installer program installs all Duo extensions, and installs the ASIO driver in a folder named “Duo ASIO”on your desktop. 2. locate the program’s ASIO folder (it will be found within the pr ogram’s folder on your Macintosh HD). Drag the ASIO driver (located in the “DUO ASIO” folder created by th[...]

  • Page 11

    speakers, or a headphone amplifier , or to the inputs of a mixing console. Again, check your device’ s documentation for information on its operating line level, and see the section, “Using the Input and Output Level Switches.” The Duo’ s S/PDIF Out can be connected to any S/PDIF capable device, such as a DA T or MiniDisc with coaxial S/PDI[...]

  • Page 12

    jacks. Check your source or target device’ s documentation for more information on its operating line level. Using the Mic Inputs The Duo gives you two completely independent channels of high gain, ultra low noise pre-amps. Each channel provides low impedance microphone inputs on XLR connectors with optional phantom power . Dynamic, condenser , o[...]

  • Page 13

    Phantom Power Unlike dynamic microphones, many "condenser microphones" need to receive a DC voltage (generally 48v) from an external source before they can generate an output signal. If the condenser mic doesn’ t come with its own power supply , then phantom power must be applied from the pre-amp. Pressing the "Phantom Power" [...]

  • Page 14

    at either the Mic Inputs or the Line Inputs of the Duo. Y ou will, however , not be able to hear the software outputs fr om your computer in this case, so this option may only be useful to you when laying down your first r ecorded tracks, i.e., when there is no other audio playing back from your computer . In cases #1 and #2, the sampling rate for [...]

  • Page 15

    The USB Audio Configuration Manager , when it is first installed, defaults to the “ASIO/EASI” setting. If you are using an ASIO compliant program such as Steinberg’ s Cubase or Nuendo, or a program that uses “EASI” drivers such as Emagic’ s Logic, then you should leave the configuration manager set to “ASIO/EASI.” The Duo provides i[...]

  • Page 16

    3. Power down the Duo, then power it back up. This will reinitialize the Duo. 4. Go to Start | Settings | Contr ol Panel | Multimedia, and set the playback (and recor d) device to “USB Audio Device.” Click Apply , then click “OK” to close. There’ s no need to change the setting for your W indows Sound System M-Audio device, should you cho[...]

  • Page 17

    automatically during the normal installation procedure. The USB Audio Configuration Manager defaults to ASIO/EASI operation, so there’ s no need to change any settings there. NOTE: Y ou may have the Windows sound system set to “ USB Audio Device ” while the USB Audio Configuration Manager is set to “ ASIO/EASI ” for ASIO or EASI operation[...]

  • Page 18

    T o launch the ASIO or EASI control panel from the USB Configuration Manager: 1. Double click the M-Audio logo in your W indows System T ray , located on the right side of your W indows T askbar . (Y ou can also right-click the icon, then choose “Open M-Audio USB ASIO/EASI Control Panel.”) 2. Click the button, “Open ASIO/EASI Control Panel.?[...]

  • Page 19

    a selection. At the 24-Bit/Sample setting, both stereo input and output pairs are also available. The maximum sample rate will still be 48000 Hz. W ith both stereo pairs enabled at a Bitwidth setting of 24-bits, the Duo will also operate as a 2x2 audio device. In this mode, the Duo is capable of 48kHz or 44.1kHz at either 24- or 16-bits, as set by [...]

  • Page 20

    In the M-Audio USB ASIO Driver control panel, to the right of the Bitwidth section, you will see a “Latency” drop-down list that will set the Duo’ s buffer size. A lower latency setting represents a smaller buffer size, with the lower setting being desirable when using the ASIO drivers. How low you can set the latency will depend on several f[...]

  • Page 21

    NOTE: When switching the Duo drivers from ASIO use to Sound Manager use, after exiting the ASIO program it is necessary to reinitialize the Duo for use with the Apple Sound Manager . T o do so, exit your music program, then simply power down the Duo and power it back up. ASIO Operation on the Macintosh The Duo driver installation procedure creates [...]

  • Page 22

    W ith both stereo pairs enabled, i.e., Input 1&2 and Output 1&2, the Duo behaves as a “2x2” audio device at 16- or 24-bits, and at sample rates of 48kHz and below (that is, 48kHz or 44.1kHz). These two sampling rate options as well as bit depths will be selectable from within your music program. Clicking on any one of the active channel[...]

  • Page 23

    In the Duo Settings control panel, below the Maximum Sample Rate readout, you will see a drop-down list that will set the “Latency” that you will experience while monitoring input through your music program (this is achieved by varying the Duo’ s audio buffer size). Y ou should be able to find more information about input latency in your musi[...]

  • Page 24

    performance. Drives with low seek times that run at a minimum of 7200 RPM are best. • Y ou can’t be too rich or have too much RAM. It’ s a good idea to have at least 128MB, while 256MB or more will greatly enhance performance. T roubleshooting: Problem: No sound. Possible Cause1: Drivers have not been installed, or the Duo has not been proper[...]

  • Page 25

    Problem: I hear a ticking sound along with my audio. Possible Cause1: Use the Duo plugged directly into the computer ’ s USB port. On the other USB port, use only the computer keyboard and mouse with no other USB devices. Possible Cause2: This could be due to an internal device interfering with the USB bus. Refer to the section, “Optimizing Y o[...]

  • Page 26

    Soundcards, Ethernet adapters embedded on the motherboard, or connected via USB, ISA, or PCI. How many PCI/ISA slots do you have and are you using any USB hubs? 3. Are you recording to IDE or SCSI hard drives? These are extremely important pieces of information to know when calling us. Finally , Mac users using OS X must know what their System Admi[...]

  • Page 27

    Limited Lifetime W arranty MIDIMAN warrants that this product is free of defects in materials and workmanship under normal use so long as the product is: owned by the original purchaser; the original purchaser has proof of purchase from an authorized MIDIMAN dealer; and the purchaser has registered his/her ownership of the product by sending in the[...]