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Presonus Audio electronic FIREBOX manual

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Table of contents for the manual

  • Page 1

    User’s Manual Version 1.0 PreSonus Au dio Electronics, Inc., © 200 5[...]

  • Page 2

    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 on e year from th e date of original retail purchase. This warranty is enforceable only by the original retail purchaser. To be protected by this warranty, the purchaser must complete and return[...]

  • Page 3

    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 Cubas e LE 13 3 Controls & Connections 3.1 Front Panel Layout and D escripti ons 16 3.2 [...]

  • Page 4

    1 OVERVIEW 4 1.1 INTRODUCTION Thank you for purchasing the PreSonus FI REBOX. PreSonus Audio Electronics has designed the FIREBO X utilizing high-gra de 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[...]

  • Page 5

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

  • Page 6

    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 FI REBOX 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[...]

  • Page 7

    2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 7 Macintosh OSX (10.3.7 or later) The audio drivers for the FI REBOX ar e included in the CO RE AUDIO of Macintosh OSX 10.3.7 and later. Once you have verified that yo u are run n ing OSX 10.3.7 or later, conn ect your FIREBOX to a FireWire port on your comp uter (po wer for the unit will be supplied via the Firewire cabl[...]

  • Page 8

    2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 8 FIREBOX HARDWARE CONTROL PANEL (Window s 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 y our recording softw are. Clock Source : Drop down the menu to select t he FIREBOX’s digital sync source. INTERNAL SPDIF – Must[...]

  • Page 9

    2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 9 Macintosh - FIREBOX HA RDWARE CONTROL PANEL 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[...]

  • Page 10

    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[...]

  • Page 11

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

  • Page 12

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

  • Page 13

    2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 13 2.6 TEST YOUR FIREBOX WITH CUBASE LE In order to test your FIREBOX , do the followi ng: 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:[...]

  • Page 14

    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 wi thin the project: Record enable the track by pressing the Record Enable button.[...]

  • Page 15

    2 INST ALLA TION AND SETUP 15 Plug a microphone into channel one and turn o n 48V phantom power 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 shoul d see the input meter in the Cubase LE track info react to your speaking. Adjust trim so that the input leve[...]

  • Page 16

    3 CONTROLS AND CONNECTIONS 16 3.1 FRONT PANEL LAYOUT AND DESCRIPTION 1.Microphone / Instrument Pr e-Amplifier . Your FIREBOX is equipped with t wo 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[...]

  • Page 17

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

  • Page 18

    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 int o 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[...]

  • Page 19

    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[...]

  • Page 20

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

  • Page 21

    4 MIXER 21 FIREBOX Mixer Flowchart: To set up your Mixer application for zero latency recording (ex ample): 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 softw are in the SOFTWARE PLAYBA CK ch annel of the FIREBOX mixer. T[...]

  • Page 22

    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 ont ains information on the output of the mixer. Each input has the following functions: Pan (green vertical line.) You can click- drag the pan (stereo image) of each input by moving the green [...]

  • Page 23

    4 MIXER 23 Input (software playback ch annel) – This is the audio ret urn from your audio software. The same functions are availabl e as the other inputs including PAN (bal ance b etween left and right channels), LEVEL, SOLO and MUTE . This is a stereo channel. This channel picks up the audi o str eam that is sent from your software and enables y[...]

  • Page 24

    4 MIXER 24 OUTPUT SECTION Output Level (fader) – Adjusts the output level of the mixer. Global So lo Clear – Clears ( ON) or restores (off) solo’s that have been selected in in put cha nnels. Global Mute Clear – Clears (ON) or restores (off) mute’s that have been selected in input cha n nels. Playback to Phones – selects the audio strea[...]

  • Page 25

    5 APPLICA TION NOTES 25 5.1 MICROPHONES The FIREBOX works great with all types of microphones in cluding dynamic, ribbon and condenser microphones. Dynamic microphones and ribbon microphones are generally lower output devices and require no external power source. Condenser microphones are generally more sensitiv e than dynamic and ribbon microphone[...]

  • Page 26

    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[...]

  • Page 27

    6 TECHNICAL 27 No Sync (Red) – Macintosh Users –Open Audio MIDI Setup and change the Format sample rate speed to anything d ifferent. T his will re-establish synchronization and the Blue sync light will turn on. Once you hav e the blue sync light you can then reset the Format sample ra te to your desired setting. Audio Drop Outs – Can occur w[...]

  • Page 28

    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 m y FIREBOX it caught on fire and smoke came out of the top. What do I do? A: PreSonus has a distributor in almost every country. Therefore, PreSonu s does not authorize or condone exportation of [...]

  • Page 29

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