Lexicon Alpha Desktop Recording Studio manual

Owner’ s Manual C omplete reC ording sol ution[...]

IMPORT ANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS W ARNING FOR YOUR PROTECTION READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS: KEEP THESE INSTRUCTIONS HEED ALL W ARNINGS FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS DO NOT USE THIS APPARA TUS NEAR W ATER THE APP ARATUS SHALL NOT BE EXPOSED TO DRIPPING OR SPLASHING LIQUID AND NO OBJECT FILLED WITH LIQUID, SUCH AS VASES, SHALL BE PLACED ON THE APPARA TUS. CLEAN O[...]

Section Title DECLARA TION OF CONFORMITY Manufacturer’ s Name: Lexicon Professional Manufacturer’ s Address: 8760 S. Sandy Pkwy . Sandy , UT 84070, USA Declares that the product: Product name: Lexicon Alpha™ Note: Product name may be suffixed by the letters-EU. Product option: None Conforms to the following Product Specifications: Safety: IEC[...]

SERvICE INFO If you require technical suppo rt, contact Lexic on ® Profession al Customer Servi ce. Be prepare d to accurately desc ribe the problem. K now the serial number of yo ur unit, found on a sticke r attached to the bottom of the Alph a Studio™. If you have not alread y taken the time to fi ll out your warranty r egistrati on card and s[...]

T AblE OF CONTENTS T able of Contents 5 INTROdUCTION ......................................... 8 FEA TURES .................................................................................. 8 UNP ACKING THE ALPHA STUDIO TM ............................................. 9 COMPUTER MINIMUM REqUIREMENTS ...................................... 9 Windows [...]

WINDOWS ® SOFTW ARE SETUP .................................................. 16 Windows ® Vista and XP ......................................................................................... 16 MACINTOSH ® SOFTW ARE SETUP ............................................... 17 Mac OS .................................................................[...]

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INTROdUCTION Congratulations on your purchase of the Lexicon ® Alpha Desktop Recording Studio™. The Alpha Studio is a complete package of hardware and software that turns your USB-equipped computer into a professional multitrack recording workstation. Whether you use it for high-quality stereo location recording with a laptop computer , or for m[...]

UNP ACkINg ThE AlPhA STUdIO™ The Alpha Studio™ is shipped in one carton, containing the Alpha Studio Interface hardware, Steinberg ® Cubase ® LE 4 and Lexicon ® Pantheon™ plug-in software for Windows ® and Macintosh ® based systems. After unpacking, save all the packaging materials in case you ever have to ship the unit. Thoroughly inspe[...]

ThE FRONT P ANEl The Alpha Studio™ front panel offers the following features: ¼" INSTRUMENT INPUT JACK This ¼" jack accepts unbalanced, low-level, high impedance instrument sources such as electric guitar , acoustic guitar with a pickup, and electric bass. The input gain is adjusted using the Line 1/Inst knob on the front panel. When [...]

the faders on the Mixer screen of the software. T o hear only the live source input sig - nals plugged into the Alpha Studio TM , turn the Monitor Mix knob fully left to Direct . T o hear only the mix from the computer , turn the Monitor Mix knob fully right to Playback . The output from the Moni tor Mix control is routed directly to the Line and H[...]

ThE REAR P ANEl The Alpha Studio™ rear panel offers the following features: USB PORT The USB Port is used to connect the Alpha Studio to your computer and provides the Alpha Studio hardware with power . A standard USB cable is included. The Alpha Studio supports USB 2.0 full speed. LINE IN 1-2 These ¼" inputs can accept both balanced (3-con[...]

CONNECTINg TO ThE AlPhA STUdIO TM The Alpha Studio TM is both a 2 x 2 x 2 mixer and a USB audio interface that can be used in a variety of audio setups. This section describes how to make basic connections for the following applications: • Monitoring Audio • Recording Audio • Connecting a Recorder for Mixdown MONITORINg CONNECTIONS The Alpha [...]

AbOUT RECORdINg CONNECTIONS Analog audio signals are created by microphones, synthesizers, mixers, and instru- ments with magnetic pickups. Of these sources, microphones and magnetic instrument pickups have the lowest output level, and generally require the most amplification. Keyboards, preamps, and mixers output “line level” audio, which vari[...]

MIxdOWN CONNECTIONS After you record and mix your sessions in either Cubase ® LE 4 or other recording software, you may want to mix them down to a DA T , audio cassette, or other stereo 2-track recording device.[...]

CONNECTIONS dIAgRAM[...]

MACINTOSh ® SOFTW ARE SETUP Y ou should consult the Software Installation Guide on the included DVD to ensure the successful installation of the recording software and USB setup. If you haven’ t already installed the Cubase ® LE 4 and Lexicon Pantheon™ plug-in software, please do so before continuing on to the next section. MAC OS A USB devic[...]

USINg ThE lExICON ® AlPhA STUdIO™ 1. Connect the included USB cable to your computer and to the Alpha Studio TM and start Cubase ® LE 4. If you see the warning shown here, click OK . 2. Once Cubase LE 4 opens, go to Devices>Device Setup . 3. Under Devices , click on VST Audio System and select Alpha ASIO (for PC) or Lexicon Alpha In/Out (2) [...]

Recording Audio with the Alpha Studio TM 19 SECTION I – RECORDING AUDIO WITH THE ALPHA STUDIO ™ The diagram below shows how the Alpha Studio™ is connected for this particular setup. A. RECORDING USING THE MICROPHONE/LINE INPUT Mic Input Line In 1[...]

Recording Using the Microphone/Line Input 20 3. Select defaul t and click OK. 4. Select a location to st ore the project (or use the defaul t location) and click OK . Y ou may want to create a new folde r for every new project.[...]

Recording Using the Microphone/Line Input T o se t the input of the track to record: 1. Click the Pro ject me nu and selec t Add T ra ck > Au dio . When th e Add Aud io T rack dia log app ears , make su re the Confi gurat ion op tion is set to Mo no and c lick OK . 2. Make sure the Show Inspector button , located in the upper left corner of the [...]

3. In the Inspector , click the Left - Stereo In box and select Ster eo In - Righ t for the track inpu t source. (Stereo I n - Le ft relates to Line 1/Inst , Ster eo In - Righ t relate s to Li ne 2/Mic inputs.) 4. In the Audio 01 window , th e Record Enable butto n should alread y be r ed. If it isn't, clic k it s o that it turns red. Recordin[...]

Recording Using the Microphone/Line Input 23 5. In the Audio 01 window , m ake sure the Input Monito ring button is not lit.[...]

Recording Using the Microphone/Line Input 24 T o check the input level from the microphone or Line Input: 1. If you are using a mic and have connected the Alpha Studio™ to studio monitors, turn them down or off to avoid feedback. 2. If you want to hear the audio source in headphones, turn up the Alpha Studio Output Level knob and turn the Monitor[...]

Recording Using the Microphone/Line Input 25 Rewind and Play Buttons 5. T urn the Alpha Studio ™ Ou tput Level knob to adjust t he listening volu me, and make sure the Mo nitor Mix knob is somewh ere in the middle betwe en Direct and Playba ck . T o ov erdub a second track : 1. Click the Pro ject me nu and selec t Add T ra ck > Au dio . When t[...]

B. RECORDING A GUIT AR USING THE INSTRUMENT INPUT This secti on explains how to recor d using the ¼" Instru ment input jac k on the front panel. 1. Plug your electric, acoustic, or bass guitar into the Instrument inpu t jack on the front of the Alpha Studio™ hardware. Inst rumen t Jac k The Instrument input uses the same recording channel a[...]

T o set the input of the track to record from the 1-2 USB channels: 1. Click anywher e in the gray area (not on the buttons) of the Audio 01 window . 2. In the Inspector , click on the Left - Stereo In box and select Stere o I n > Le ft for the track inp ut source. (Stere o I n - Le ft relates to Line 1/Inst , Ster eo In - Right rela tes to Line[...]

SECTION II - USING SOFTW ARE INPUT MONITORING The previo us examples have tur ned off Cubase ® LE 4’ s In put Monitori ng software switch es while recordin g tracks, and used the Monit or Mix knob on the front of the Alpha Stud io™ hardware to direc tly monitor an input with out latency . Software moni- toring l ets you listen to softwar e-bas[...]

4. Left click on an Insert space and select Earlier VST Plug-ins , Lexicon ®, and Pantheon ™. 5. Choose Large Hall from the drop down menu at the top of the Pantheon™ Edit Window . Using Software Input Monitoring 29[...]

6. Because this is an insert effect, move the Mix slider to 50% (see the Pantheon manual for more details) . 7. Change the level to about -52dB. Now you will record with the Lexicon ® Pantheon Reverb on your track. Using Software Input Monitoring 30[...]

SECTION III - ADJUSTING THE BUFFER SETTINGS Audio latency is the minimum time required for a computer to store recorded audio from an audio interface into the recording application memory and playback that[...]

B. ADJUSTING THE BUFFERS IN MAC ® OSx 1. Open Cubase LE 4 and go to Devices>D evice Setup . 2. Click on VST Au dio System . 3. Click on Audio Buffer Si ze and select t he Number of Samples . 4. When you are finishe d click OK . 32 Adjusting the Buffer Settings[...]

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Specifications SPECIFICA TIONS Microphone Input: Female XLR Pin 2 Hot Input Impedance: 600 Ohms balanced GAIN: +50 dB EIN: −115 dB A-weighted @ +50dB gain (150 Ohm source impedance) Maximum Input Level: –7 dBu Frequency Response: +0, −0.5 dB 20 Hz - 20 kHz, ref. 1 kHz THD+N: <.005%, 20 Hz - 20 kHz Line Inputs: (2) 1/4" TRS balanced or[...]

Lexicon ® Alpha Studio ™ Signal Routing Diagram[...]

Harman Music Group 8760 South Sandy Parkway | Sandy , Utah 84070 U.S.A. Phone: 801-566-8800 | Fax: 801-566-7005 Alpha Desktop Recording Studio™ Questions or comments? Email us at: customer@lexiconpro.com or vis it our W orl d W ide W eb h om e pa ge at: www .l exi co npr o. com Part Number: 18-0346-C Copyright 2007 Lexicon Professional ®[...]