RME Audio Fireface 800 manual

User's Guide Fireface 800 The most pow erful FireWire ® audio interface ever! FireWire 800 / 400 Digital I/O System 10 + 16 + 2 Channels Analog / ADAT / SPDIF Interface 24 Bit / 192 kHz Digital Audio 56 x 28 Matrix Router MIDI I/O Stand-Alone Operation MIDI Remote Control Stand-Alone MIDI Controlled Operation TotalMix ™ 24 Bit / 192 kHz 9 S[...]

2 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Important Safety Instructions .................................. 5 General 1 Introduction ............................................................... 8 2 Package Contents ..................................................... 8 3 System Requirements .............................................. 8 4 Brief [...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 3 19 Configuring the Fireface 19.1 Settings Di alog – G eneral .................................... 38 19.2 Settings Dialog – DDS ......................................... 41 19.3 Clock Modes - Synchroniza tion ........................... 42 19.4 Limit Bandwid th.............................................[...]

4 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 30 TotalMix: The Matrix 30.1 Over view .............................................................. 72 30.2 Elements of t he Matrix View ................................ 72 30.3 Us age ................................................................... 72 30.4 Advantages of the Ma trix .....................[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 5 Important Safety Instructions ATTENTION! Do not open chassis – risk of electric shock The unit has non-isolated live parts inside. No user serviceable parts inside. Refer service to qualified service personnel. Mains • The device must be earthed – never use it without proper grounding • Do not use def[...]

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User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 7 User's Guide Fireface 800 General[...]

8 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 1. Introduction Thank you for choosing the Fireface 800. This unique audio system is capable of transferring analog and digital audio data directly to a computer from practically any device. The latest Plug and Play technology guarantees a simple insta llation, even for the inexperienced user. The numerous un[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 9 5. First Usage – Quick Start 5.1 Connectors and Front Panel The front of the Fireface 800 features an instrument input, microphone inputs and line inputs with gain pots, a stereo headphone output with volume pot, and several status LEDs. MIDI/I indicates MIDI data received by the MIDI input. MIDI/O indicate[...]

10 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 5.2 Quick Start After the driver installation (chapter 10 / 19) connect the TRS-jacks or the XLR connectors with the analog signal source. The input sensitivity of the rear inputs can be changed in the Settings dialog (Input Level), assuring the highest signal to noise ratio will be achieved. Try to achieve [...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 11 Optical cable for SPDIF and ADAT operation: OK0050 Optical cable, TOSLINK, 0.5 m (1.6 ft) OK0100 Optical cable, TOSLINK, 1 m (3.3 ft) OK0200 Optical cable, TOSLINK, 2 m (6.6 ft) OK0300 Optical cable, TOSLINK, 3 m (9.9 ft) OK0500 Optical cable, TOSLINK, 5 m (16.4 ft) OK1000 Optical cable, TOSLINK, 10 m (33 ft[...]

12 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Copyright © Matthias Carstens, 08/2010. Version 3.1 Current driver version: Wi ndows: 3.016, Mac OS X: 2.74 Firmware 2.77 Although the contents of this User’s Guide have been thoroughly checked for errors, RME can not guarantee that it is correct throughout. RME does not accept responsibility for any misl[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 13 CE / FCC Compliance CE This device has been tested and found to comply with the limits of the European Council Direc- tive on the approximation of the laws of the me mber states relating to electromagnetic compati- bility according to RL2004/108/EG, and Eu ropean Low Voltage Directive RL2006/95/EG. FCC This [...]

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User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 15 User's Guide Fireface 800 Installation and Operation - Windows[...]

16 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 9. Hardware Installation Desktop Computer • Use the power cord to connect the Fi reface with any suitable power outlet. • Connect computer and Fireface using the s upplied 6-pin FireWire cable (IEEE1394a). In case your computer does not have any FireWi re port, PCI and PCI Express cards with Fire- Wire p[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 17 Possible reasons why a Fireface is not found automatically: • The FireWire port is not active in the system (drivers of the FireWire PCI or CardBus card have not been installed) • The FireWire cable is not, or not correctly inserted into the socket • No power. After switching the Fireface on, at least [...]

18 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME When the update fails (status: failure), the unit' s second BIOS will be used from the next cold boot on (Secure BIOS Technology). Therefore the unit stays fully functional. The flash process should then be tried again on a different computer. 11. Configuring the Fireface 11.1 Settings dialog - General [...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 19 Buffer Size The setting Buffer Size determines the latency between incoming and outgoing ASIO and WDM data, as well as affecting syst em stability (see chapter 13/14). Bandw idth Allows to reduce the amount of bandwidth us ed on the FireWire bus. See chapter 11.5. All channels (default) activates all 28 inpu[...]

20 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Input Status Indicates for each input (Word, optical, SPDIF coax ., TCO) whether there is a valid signal (Lock, No Lock), or if there is a valid and synchronous signal (Sync). The second row shows the sam- ple frequency measured by the hardware. In Clock Mode the clock reference is shown (Cur- rent…). See [...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 21 11.3 Settings Dialog – Gain Inputs Input selection for the channels 1, 7 and 8. Channel 1 can be the front instrument input, or the rear TRS jack, or both simultaneously. Channel 7/8 can be the front microphone input, or the rear TRS jack, or both simultaneously. Level Line In Defines the reference level o[...]

22 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 11.4 Clock Modes - Synchronization In the digital world, all devices must be either ‘Master’ (clock source) or ‘Slave’ synchronized to a master. Whenever several devices are linked wi thin a system, there must always be a single master clock. The Fireface's intelligent clock c ontrol is very use[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 23 At 88.2 or 96 kHz: If the ADAT input has been selected in Pref Sync Ref , the sample frequency shown in the SPDIF Freq. field differs from the one shown in AutoSync Ref . The unit automati- cally switches to S/MUX mode here, because ADAT optical inputs and outputs are only speci- fied up to 48 kHz. Data from[...]

24 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 12. Operation and Usage 12.1 Playback The Fireface 800 can play back audio data in s upported formats only (sample rate, bit resolu- tion). Otherwise an error message appears (for example at 22 kHz and 8 bit). In the audio application being used, Fireface must be selected as output device. This can often be [...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 25 12.2 DVD-Playback (AC-3/DTS) AC-3 / DTS When using popular DVD software players like WinDVD and PowerDVD , their audio data stream can be sent to any AC-3/DTS capable re ceiver using the Fireface's SPDIF output. For this to work, the WDM SPDIF device of the Fireface has to be selected in > Control Pa[...]

26 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 12.3 Notes on WDM The driver offers a WDM streaming device per stereo pair, like Fireface ADAT 1 (1+2) . WDM streaming is Microsoft's current driver and audio system, directly embedded into the operating system. WDM streaming is hardly usable for prof essional music purposes, as all data is proc- essed [...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 27 WDM Stereo device Double Speed Quad Speed Fireface Analog (1+2) Fireface Analog (1+2) Fireface Analog (1+2) Fireface Analog (3+4) Fireface Analog (3+4) Fireface Analog (3+4) Fireface Analog (5+6) Fireface Analog (5+6) Fireface Analog (5+6) Fireface Analog (7+8) Fireface Analog (7+8) Fireface Analog (7+8) Fir[...]

28 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 12.6 Digital Recording Unlike analog soundcards which produce empty wave files (or noise) when no input signal is present, digital interfaces always need a valid input signal to start recording. Taking this into account, RME added two important features to the Fireface 800: a comprehen- sive I/O signal statu[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 29 13. Operation under ASIO 13.1 General Start the ASIO software and select ASIO Fireface as the audio I/O device. The 'ASIO system control' button opens the Fireface's Settings dialog (see chapter 11 / 22, Configuration). When the sample fre- quency is set to 88.2 or 96 kHz, the number of ASIO A[...]

30 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 13.3 Known Problems If a computer does not provide sufficient CPU-pow er and/or sufficient PCI-bus transfer rates, then drop outs, crackling and noise will appear. Raisi ng the buffer size in the Settings dialog of the Fireface 800 helps in most cases. We also recommend to deactivate all PlugIns to verify th[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 31 The driver takes care of the numbering of all Fi refaces, so that it doesn't change. The unit with the lowest serial number is always 'Fireface (1)'. Please note: • If the Fireface (1) is switched off, Fireface (2 ) logically turns to the first and only Fireface. If Fireface (1) is switched [...]

32 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 16. Hotline – Troubleshooting 16.1 General The newest information can always be found on our website www.rme-audio.com , section FAQ, Latest Additions. The input signal cannot be monitored in real-time • ASIO Direct Monitoring has not been enabled, and/or monitoring has been disabled globally. The 8 ADAT[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 33 16.2 Installation After the driver installation the Firefa ce 800 is found in the Device Manager (< Settings/ Control Panel/ System >), category 'Sound, Video and Gamecontroller'. A double click on 'RME Fireface 800' starts the properties dialog. The well know n entry 'Resource[...]

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User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 35 User's Guide Fireface 800 Mac OS X – Installation and Operation[...]

36 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 17. Hardware Installation Desktop Computer • Use the power cord to connect the Fi reface with any suitable power outlet. • Connect computer and Fireface using the supplied 6-pin FireWire cable (IEEE1394a). • Power on the computer, then switch on the Fireface. Notebook • Use the power cord to connect [...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 37 18.2 Driver Update In case of a driver update it's not necessary to remove the old driver first, it will be overwritten during the installation. In case of problems t he driver files can be deleted manually by dragging them to the trash bin: /Applications/Fireface Mixer /Applications/Fireface Settings /[...]

38 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 19. Configuring the Fireface 19.1 Settings Dialog - General Configuring the Fireface is done via its own settings dialog. The panel 'Settings' can be opened by clicking on the fire icon in the dock. The mi xer of the Fireface (TotalMix) can be opened by clicking on the mixer icon in the dock. The F[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 39 Inputs Input selection for the channels 1, 7 and 8. Channel 1 can be the front instrument input, or the rear TRS jack, or both simultaneously. Channel 7/8 can be the front microphone input, or the rear TRS jack, or both simultaneously. Level In Defines the reference level for the rear analog inputs 1-8. Leve[...]

40 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Bandw idth Limit Allows to reduce the amount of bandwidth us ed on the FireWire bus. See chapter 19.4. All channels (default) activates all 28 input and output channels. Analog + SPDIF + ADAT1 disables channels 21–28 (ADAT2). Analog + SPDIF activates all 10 analog channels plus SPDIF. Analog 1-8 activates [...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 41 19.2 Settings dialog - DDS Usually soundcards and audio interfaces generate their internal clock (master mode) by a quartz. Therefore the internal clock can be set to 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz, but not to a value in be- tween. SteadyClock, RME's sensational Low Jitte r Clock System is based on a Direct Digital[...]

42 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Application examples DDS allows for a simultaneous change of speed and tune during record and playback. From alignment to other sources up to creat ive effects – everything is possible.. DDS allows to intentionally de-tune the complete DAW. This way, the DAW can match instru- ments which have a wrong or un[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 43 If several digital devices are to be used simult aneously in a system, they not only have to oper- ate with the same sample frequency but also be synchronous with each other. This is why digi- tal systems always need a single device defined as ‘master’, which sends the same clock signal to all the other [...]

44 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 20. Mac OS X FAQ 20.1 Round about Driver Installation The driver with the file suffix zip provided by RME is a compressed archive. Zip is directly sup- ported by OS X, a double click on the file is all one needs to do. The driver consists of a package file (pkg). A double click will start the OS X installer.[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 45 20.5 Supported Sample Rates RME's Mac OS X driver supports all sampling frequencies provided by the hardware. This in- cludes 32 kHz and 64 kHz , and even 96 kHz and 192 kHz . But not every software will suppor t all the hardware's sample rates. The hardware's capabilities can easily be verifi[...]

46 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 21. Using more than one Fireface OS X supports the usage of more than one audio device within an audio software. This is done via the Core Audio function Aggregate Devices , which allows to combine several devices into one. The current driver supports up to three Fireface 400 or 800. All units have to be in [...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 47 23. Hotline – Troubleshooting The newest information can always be found on our website www.rme-audio.com , section Sup- port, Macintosh OS. A report about incompatible Fi reWire 800 controllers is found in the Tech Info FireWire 800 Hardware – Compatibility Problems . The unit and drivers have been inst[...]

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User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 49 User's Guide Fireface 800 Stand-Alone Operation, Connections and TotalMix[...]

50 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 24. Stand-alone Operation The Fireface 800 has an internal memory to per manently store all conf iguration data. These are: Settings dialog Sample rate, clock mode Master/Slave, confi guration of the channels and the digital I/Os. TotalMix The complete mixer state. The Fireface loads those settings directly [...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 51 25. Analog Inputs 25.1 Line Rear The Fireface has eight balanced Line inputs as 1/4" TRS jacks on the back of the unit. The elec- tronic input stage is built in a servo bal anced design which handles unbalanced (mono jacks) and balanced (stereo jacks) correctly, automat ically adjusting the level refere[...]

52 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 25.3 Instrument The instrument input of the Fireface 800 has been optimized especially for guitar and bass. A soft clipping function limits the level from –10 dB FS on, and offers tube-like distortion at full overload. The extra Drive st age adds even more distortion and also increased sustain. The Speaker[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 53 26. Analog Outputs 26.1 Line The eight short circuit protected, low impedance line outputs are available as 1/4" TRS jacks on the back of the unit. The electronic output stage is built in a servo balanced design which han- dles unbalanced (mono jacks) and balanced (stereo jacks) correctly. To maintain a[...]

54 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 27. Digital Connections 27.1 ADAT The ADAT optical inputs of the Fireface 800 are fu lly compatible with all ADAT optical outputs. RME's unsurpassed Bitclock PLL prevents cli cks and drop outs even in extreme varipitch op- eration, and guarantees a fast and low jitter lock to the digital input signal. A[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 55 Special Characteristics of the SPDIF Output Apart from the audio data itself, digital signal s in SPDIF or AES/EBU format have a header con- taining channel status information. False channel status is a common cause of malfunction. The Fireface 800 ignores the received header and creat es a totally new one f[...]

56 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 28. Word Clock 28.1 Word Clock Input and Output SteadyClock guarantees an excellent performance in all clock modes. Based on the highly effi- cient jitter suppression, the Fireface refreshes and cleans up any clock signal, and provides it as reference clock at the BNC output (see section 35.9). Input The Fir[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 57 28.2 Technical Description and Usage In the analog domain one can connect any device to another device, a synchronization is not necessary. Digital audio is different. It uses a clock, the sample frequency. The signal can only be processed and transmitted when all participating devices share the same clock. [...]

58 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 28.3 Cabling and Termination Word clock signals are usually distributed in t he form of a network, split with BNC T-adapters and terminated with resistors. We recommend us ing off-the-shelf BNC cables to connect all devices, as this type of cable is used for most computer networks. You will find all the nece[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 59 29. TotalMix: Routing and Monitoring 29.1 Overview The Fireface 800 includes a powerful digital real-time mixer, the Fireface mixer, based on RME’s unique, sample-rate independent TotalMix technology. It allows for practically unlimited mixing and routing operations, with all input s and playback channels [...]

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User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 61 29.2 The User Interface The visual design of the TotalMix mixer is a re sult of its capability to route hardware inputs and software playback channels to any hardware outpu t. The Fireface 800 provides 28 input chan- nels, 28 software playback channels, and 28 hardware output channels: 56 channels don't[...]

62 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 29.3 Elements of a Channel A single channel consists of various elements: Input channels and playback channels eac h have a mute and solo button. Below there is the panpot, realized as indicator bar (L/R) in order to save space. In the field below, the present level is displayed in RMS or Peak, being updated[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 63 Back to AN1/2. Now you can change all the fader s of all inputs and playback channels just as you like, thus making any i nput and playback signals audible vi a the outputs AN1/2. The pano- rama can be changed too. Click into the area abov e the fader and drag the green bar in order to set the panorama betwe[...]

64 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Please set Out 4 to a gain of around -20 dB and the pan close to center. Now click onto the routing field. You'll now see two checkmarks, one at 'AN 3+4', the other one at 'AN 7+8'. Click onto 'SPDIF'. The window disappears, fader and pan ju mp to their initial values, the [...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 65 29.7 The Quick Access Panel This section includes additional options, further improving the handling of TotalMix. The Master buttons for Mute and Solo have already been de scribed, they allow for group-based working with these functions. In the View section the single mixer rows can be made vi sible or invis[...]

66 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Mouse: The original factory presets can be reloaded by holding down the Ctrl-key and clicking on any preset button. Alternatively the file s described above can be renamed, moved to a dif- ferent directory, or being deleted. Keyboard: Using Ctrl and any number between 1 and 8 (not on the numeric keypad!) wil[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 67 29.9 The Monitor Panel The Monitor panel provides several options usually found on analog mixing desks. It offers quick access to monitoring functions which are needed all the time in typical studio work. Monitor Main Use the drop down menu to select the hardware outputs where your main monitors are con- nec[...]

68 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Main Monitor Dim: Amount of attenuation of the Monito r Main output in dB. Activated by the Dim button in the Monitor panel. Stereo Pan Law The Pan Law can be set to -6 dB, -4.5 dB, -3 dB and 0 dB. The value chosen defines the level attenuation in pan center position. This setting is useful because the ASIO [...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 69 29.12 Hotkeys In many situations TotalMix can be controlled quickly and comfortably by the keyboard, making the mixer setup considerably easier and faster. The Shift -key for the fine mode for faders and panpots has already been mentioned. The Ctrl -key can do far more than changing the routing pairwise: •[...]

70 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 29.13 Menu Options Alw ay s on Top: When active (checked) the TotalMix window will always be on top of the Win- dows desktop. Note : This function may result in problems with windows containing help text, as the TotalMix window will even be on top of those window s, so the help text isn't readable. Deac[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 71 29.14 Level Meter The Fireface 800 calculates all the display values Peak, Over and RMS in hardware, in order to be capable of using them independent of the softwar e in use, and to significantly reduce the CPU load. Tip: This feature, the Hardware Level Meter , is used by DIGICheck (Windows only, see chap- [...]

72 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 30. TotalMix: The Matrix 30.1 Overview The mixer window of TotalMix looks and operates similar to mixing desks, as it is based on a conventional stereo design. The matrix display presents a different method of assigning and routing channels, based on a single channel or monaur al design. The matrix view of t[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 73 A blue field indicates phase inversion. This state is displayed in the Matrix only, and can only be changed within the Matrix view. Hold down the Sh ift-key while clicking on an already activated field. Mute overwrites the phase display, bl ue becomes orange. If mute is deactivated the phase inversion is ind[...]

74 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 31.2 Selection and Group-based Operation Click on the white name label of channel 1 and 2 in TotalMix. Be sure to have channel 3's fader set to a different position and click on its label too. All three labels have changed to the colour orange, which means they are selected . Now moving any of these fad[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 75 31.5 Recording a Subgroup (Loopback) TotalMix supports a routing of the subgroup out puts (=hardware outputs, bottom row) to the recording software. Instead of the signal at the hardware input, the signal at the hardware out- put is sent to the record software. This wa y, complete submixes can be recorded wi[...]

76 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME Recording a Softw are's playback In real world application, recording a software's output with another software will show the fol- lowing problem: The record software tries to open the same playback channel as the playback software (already active), or the playba ck one has already opened the input[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 77 Unfortunately, very often it is not possible within the record software to assign a different input channel to an existing track 'on the fly'. The l oopback mode solves this problem elegantly. The routing scheme stays the same, wi th the input channel 10 sent to any output via TotalMix, to the Comp[...]

78 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 32. MIDI Remote Control 32.1 Overview TotalMix can be remote controlled via MIDI. It is compatible to the widely spread Mackie Control protocol, so TotalMix can be controlled with all hardware controllers supporting this standard. Examples are the Mackie Control, Tascam US-2400 or Behringer BCF 2000. Additio[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 79 32.3 Setup • Open the Preferences dialog (menu Options or F3 ). Select the MIDI Input and MIDI Output port where your controller is connected to. • When no feedback is needed (when using only st andard MIDI commands instead of Mackie Control protocol) select NONE as MIDI Output. • Check Enable MIDI Con[...]

80 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 32.5 Simple MIDI Control The stereo output faders (lowest row) which are set up as Monitor Main outputs in the Monitor panel can also be controlled by the standard Control Change Volume via MIDI channel 1 . With this, the main volume of the Fireface is controllable from nearly any MIDI equipped hard- ware de[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 81 Examples for sending MIDI strings*: - Set input 1 to 0 dB: B0 66 40 - Set input 17 to maximum attenuation: B1 66 0 - Set playback 1 to maximum: B4 66 7F - Set Output 16 to 0 dB: B8 75 40 *Note : Sending MIDI strings might require to use programmer's logic for the MIDI channel, start- ing with 0 for chan[...]

82 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 32.7 Stand-Alone MIDI Control When not connected to a computer, the Fireface 800 can be controlled directly via MIDI. To unlock the special stand-alone MIDI control mode first activate MIDI control in TotalMix ( En- able MIDI control ), then transfer this state via Flash current mixer state into the unit. Tu[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 83 In stand-alone MIDI mode, the Mackie Control prot ocol also gives access to some settings of the Settings dialog : Element: Meaning in Fireface: SOLO Ch. 1 Input Level Lo Gain SOLO Ch. 2 Input Level +4 dBu SOLO Ch. 3 Input Level –10 dBV SOLO Ch. 4 Output Level Hi Gain SOLO Ch. 5 Output Level +4 dBu SOLO Ch[...]

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User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 85 User's Guide Fireface 800 Technical Reference[...]

86 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 33. TECH INFO Not all information to and around our products fit in a manual. Therefore RME offers a lot more and detailed information in the Tech Infos on our website, section Support. These are some of the currently available Tech Infos : FireWire Audio by RME – Technical Background FireWire 800 Hardware[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 87 34. Technical Specifications 34.1 Analog AD, Line In 1-8, rear • Resolution AD: 24 bit • Signal to Noise ratio (SNR): 110 dB RMS unweighted, 113 dBA • Frequency response @ 44.1 kHz, -0.1 dB: 5 Hz – 20.6 kHz • Frequency response @ 96 kHz, -0.5 dB: 5 Hz – 45.3 kHz • Frequency response @ 192 kHz, [...]

88 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME DA, Line Out 1-8, rear • Resolution: 24 bit • Dynamic range (DR): 116 dB, 119 dBA @ 44.1 kHz (unmuted) • Frequency response @ 44.1 kHz, -0.1 dB: 1 Hz – 20.1 kHz • Frequency response @ 96 kHz, -0.5 dB: 1 Hz – 43.5 kHz • Frequency response @ 192 kHz, -1 dB: 1 Hz - 70 kHz • THD: -103 dB, < 0.[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 89 34.4 Digital Inputs AES/EBU - SPDIF • 1 x RCA, transformer-balanced, galvani cally isolated, according to AES3-1992 • High-sensitivity input stage (< 0.3 Vpp) • SPDIF compatible (IEC 60958) • Accepts Consumer and Professional fo rmat, copy protection will be ignored • Lock Range: 27 kHz – 200 [...]

90 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 34.5 Digital Outputs AES/EBU - SPDIF • 1 x RCA, transformer-balanced, galvani cally isolated, according to AES3-1992 • Output level Professional 2.6 Vpp, Consumer 1.2 Vpp • Format Professional according to AES3-1992 Amendment 4 • Format Consumer (SPDIF) according to IEC 60958 • Single Wire mode, sa[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 91 35. Technical Background 35.1 Lock and SyncCheck Digital signals consist of a carrier and the data. If a digital signal is applied to an input, the re- ceiver has to synchronize to the carrier clock in order to read the data correctly. To achieve this, the receiver uses a PLL (Phase Locked Loop). As soon as [...]

92 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 35.2 Latency and Monitoring The term Zero Latency Monitoring has been introduced by RME in 1998 for the DIGI96 series of audio cards. It stands for the ability to pass-th rough the computer's input signal at the inter- face directly to the output. Since then, the idea behind has become one of the most i[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 93 Note : Cubase and Nuendo display the latency values signalled from the driver separately for record and playback. While with our former card s these values equalled exactly the buffer size (for example 3 ms at 128 samples), the Firefa ce displays an additional millisecond – the time needed for the AD/DA-co[...]

94 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 35.4 Number of Channels and Bus Load As explained in chapter 35.3, FireWire Audi o does not reach the same performance as PCI audio. On a standard computer with modern single PCI bus, about 100 audio channels can be transmitted per direction (record/playback). Exceedi ng this limit, any system activity - eve[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 95 35.5 DS - Double Speed When activating the Double Speed mode the Fireface 800 operates at double sample rate. The internal clock 44.1 kHz turns to 88.2 kHz, 48 kHz to 96 kHz. The internal resolution is still 24 bit. Sample rates above 48 kHz were not always taken for granted, and are still not widely used be[...]

96 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 35.7 AES/EBU - SPDIF The most important electrical properties of 'AES' and 'SPDIF' can be seen in the table below. AES/EBU is the professional balanced connection using XLR plugs. The standard is being set by the Audio Engineering Society based on the AES3-1992. For the 'home user&ap[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 97 35.8 Noise level in DS / QS Mode The outstanding signal to noise ratio of the Fire face's AD-converters can be verified even with- out expensive test equipment, by using record leve l meters of various software. But when acti- vating the DS and QS mode, the displayed noise le vel will rise from -109 dB [...]

98 User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 36. Diagrams 36.1 Block Diagram Fireface 800[...]

User's Guide Fireface 800 © RME 99 36.2 Connector Pinouts TRS jacks of analog input / output The stereo ¼" TRS jacks of the analog inputs and out puts are wired according to international standards: Tip = + (hot) Ring = – (cold) Sleeve = GND The servo balanced input and output circuitry a llows to use monaural TS jacks (unbalanced) wi[...]