PRESONUS FIREBOX manual

User’s Manual Version 1.0 PreSonus Audio Elect ronics, Inc., © 2005[...]

WARRANTY PreSonus Limited Warranty PreSonus Audio Electronics Inc. warrants this pr oduct to be free of defects in material and workmanship for a period of one year f rom th e date of original retail purchase. This warranty is enforceable only by the original retail purchaser. To be p rotected by this warranty, the purchaser must complete and retur[...]

T ABLE OF CONTENTS 3 1 Overview 1.1 Introduction 4 2 Installation and Set up 2.1 Computer Requirements 5 2.2 Installation of FIREBOX Drivers 6 2.3 FIREBOX Control Panel 7 2.4 FIREBOX Mixer 10 2.5 CUBASE LE – Quick Start Up 11 2.6 Testing your FIREBOX with Cubase LE 13 3 Controls & Connections 3.1 Front Panel Layout and Descriptions 16 3.2 Bac[...]

1 OVERVIEW 4 1.1 INTRODUCTION Thank you for purchasing the PreSonus FI REBOX. PreSonus Audio Electronics has designed the FIREBO X utilizing high-grade compone nts to insure optimum performance that will last a lif etime. The FIREBOX is t he most powerful recording interface of its size, with the ability to record and playback six inputs and eight [...]

2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 5 2.1 COMPUTER REQUIREMENTS Below are the minimum computer system requirements for yo ur F IREBOX. Windows - OS: Microsoft Windows XP - Computer: Windows compatible computer with FireWire port. - CPU/Clock: Pentium, Celeron with 900Mhz or higher (Dual 1.2 GHz recommended) - Memory(RAM): 256 MB (512MB recommended) Macintos[...]

2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 6 2.2 INSTALLATION OF FIREBOX DRIVERS Windows XP Installation Steps: - Quit all currently running applications - Insert CD-ROM Driver Installation incl uded with your FIRE BOX into your computer. (DO NOT CONNECT YO UR FIREBOX AT THIS TIME.) - CD should auto run. (If not, navigate to CD and double click on FIREBOX_Installe[...]

2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 7 Macintosh OSX (10.3.7 or later) The audio drivers for the FIREBOX ar e i ncluded in the CORE AUDIO of Macintosh OSX 10.3.7 and later. Once you have verified that you are runn ing OSX 10.3.7 or later, connect your FIREBOX to a FireWire port on your computer (po wer for the unit will be supplied via the Firewire cable). Y[...]

2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 8 FIREBOX HARDWARE CONTROL PANEL (Windows XP) Sample Rate : Drop down the menu to select the sa mple rate of the FIREBOX – 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96k. This must be set to the same sample rate in your recording soft ware. Clock Source : Drop down the menu to select t he FIREBOX’s digital sync source. INTERNAL SPDIF – Must b[...]

2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 9 Macintosh - FIREBOX HARDWARE CONTROL PA NEL The included CD-ROM contains Macintosh software for the FIREBOX Control Panel as well as the Mixer software. To install the FIREBOX Control Panel, drag and drop the following file to your hard drive: FIREBOX Control Once this file is saved to your hard drive, double click on i[...]

2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 10 High : Computer Processor 2GHz and higher Medium (default) : Computer Processor 1GHz to 2GHz Low : Computer Processor 800MHz to 1GHz 2.4 FIREBOX MIXER WINDOWS XP Once you have successfully installed your audio drivers, the FIREBOX Mixer will be available in your program files. You can l aunch the Mixer by clicking: Sta[...]

2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 11 2.5 CUBASE LE – QUICK START UP Once you have installed your FIREBOX drivers, if y ou plan on using the CUBASE LE software included with your FIREBOX , insert the CUBASE LE installation CD and run the installer. Make sure to keep your CD env elope sleev e handy to reference the serial number during installation. To se[...]

2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 12 ASIO Driver (pull down menu) – select PreSonus ASIO Driver. Click Switch to save PreSonus Driver Selection[...]

2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 13 2.6 TEST YOUR FIREBOX WITH CUBASE LE In order to test your FIREBOX, do the follow ing: Launch Cubase LE and make sure that y ou have selected the PreSonus FIREBOX ASIO driver as described above in Section 2.4. Create a new project:[...]

2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 14 Create one new audio track within your new project by clicking on Project ->Add Track-> Audio (or you can right click (ctrl- click mac) in the track space within the project: Record enable the track by pressing the Record Enable button.[...]

2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 15 Plug a microphone into channel one and turn on 48V phantom po wer if needed for the microphone. Turn up the channel 1 trim cont rol on the front panel of the FIREBOX while speaking into the microphone. You should see the in put meter in the Cubase LE track info react to your speaking. Adjust trim so that the input leve[...]

3 CONTROLS AND CONNECTIONS 16 3.1 FRONT PANEL LAYOUT AND DESCRIPTION 1.Microphone / Instrument Pre-A mplifier . Your FIREBOX is equipped with two custom designed PreSonus microphone / instrum ent preamplifiers for use with all types of microphones including Dynamics, Condensers, and Ribbons as well as instruments and line level signals. The awar d [...]

3 CONTROLS AND CONNECTIONS 17 NOTE: Active instruments are those that ha ve an internal preamp o r a line level output. Active i nstruments s hould be plugge d into a line input (3 or 4) rather than into an in strument input . In ot her words, don’t plug an active instrument into the combo jacks on channels 1 or 2. 3. Input Gain/Trim Control. Thi[...]

3 CONTROLS AND CONNECTIONS 18 3.2 BACK PANEL LAYOUT AND DESCRIPTION 12VDC Power Adaptor Input. This is where you plug the provided po wer supply into the FIREBOX. Please check t he power supply to ensure that it is the correct voltage and plug type for your country. Note that y ou can also power your FIREBOX with a six- pin FireWire port from your [...]

3 CONTROLS AND CONNECTIONS 19 MIDI stands for “Musical Inst rument Digital Interface”. However, the MIDI standard goes well beyond just instrumentation and sequencing. T he MIDI inputs and outputs allow connection and/or communication with external MIDI equipment. One function of this port is MIDI programming. This por t can also be used for MM[...]

4 MIXER 20 4.1 MIXER The FIREBOX includes a software MIXER/ ROUTER for flexible monitoring and routing of the audio signal befor e it hits your so ft ware program. This is helpful t o avoid the time it takes to process the audio you ar e recording – called latency. Therefore, you can mix the input signal going into the FIREBOX with the playback f[...]

4 MIXER 21 FIREBOX Mixer Flowchart: To set up your Mixer application for zero latency recording (example): 1. Record enable your desired track – turn off input monitoring function (or mute the track) in your software. 2. Select playback channels of the main output of your audio software in the SOFTWARE PLAYBACK ch ann el of the FIREBOX mixer. The[...]

4 MIXER 22 4.2 OPERATION OF MIXER The silver tracks represent the six possi ble inputs from the FIREBOX as well as the software playback. The blue section c ontains informatio n on the output of the mixer. Each input has the following functions: Pan (green vertical line.) You can click- drag t he pan (stereo image) of each input by moving the green[...]

4 MIXER 23 Input (software playback chan nel) – This is the audio return from your audio software. The same functions are available as the other inputs including PAN (balance bet ween left and right channels), LEVEL, SOLO and MUTE . This is a stereo channel. This channel picks up the audio str eam that is sent from your software and enables you t[...]

4 MIXER 24 OUTPUT SECTION Output Level (fader) – Adjusts the output level of the mixer. Global Solo Clear – Clears (ON) or restores (off) solo’s that have been selected in input chan nels. Global Mute Clear – Clears (ON) or restores (off) mute’s that have been selected in input channels. Playback to Phones – selects the audio stream out[...]

5 APPLICA TION NOTES 25 5.1 MICROPHONES The FIREBOX works great with all t ypes of microphones including dynamic , ribbon and condenser microphones. Dynamic microphones and ribbon microphones are generally lower output devices and require no external po wer source. Condenser microphones are generally more sensitiv e than dynamic and ribbon micropho[...]

6 TECHNICAL 26 6.1 TROUBLE SHOOTING Please note that many technical iss ues can arise when converting a standard computer into a DAW (Digital Audio Wor kstation). PreSonus will only provide support for issues that directly relate to the FIREBO X interface. It may be necessary to contact the manufacturer of the computer, operating system and/or soft[...]

6 TECHNICAL 27 No Sync (Red) – Macintosh Users –Open Audio MIDI Setup and change the Format sample rate speed to anything different. This will re-establish synchronization and the Blue s ync light will turn on. Once you have the blue sync light you can then reset the Format sample rate to your desired setting. Audio Drop Outs – Can occur when[...]

6 TECHNICAL 28 Power Issues Q: I just bought a FIREBOX from (dealer name goes here) in (cit y and state go here) and I live in Morocco. When I plugged in my FIREBOX it caught on f ire and smoke came out of the top. What do I do? A: PreSonus has a distributor in almost every country. Therefore, PreSonus does not authorize or condone exportation of a[...]

6 TECHNICAL 29 6.2 FIREBOX SPECIFICATIONS Preamp Bandwidth .......................................................................... 10Hz to 50kHz Preamp Input Impedanc e ...................................................................... 1.3k Ohms Instrument Input Impedance .................................................................... 1[...]