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On this FAQ page for the DIGI32 Series you will find many useful Tips and Tricks, information not found in the manuals, typical questions to the Hotline, Know How for and from insiders and much more. If you don't want to read the FAQ online, simply download it as text file: Download faq32e.zip
DIGI32, 24 Bit PCI Digital Audio Card System crashes after installation of DIGI32 (Top) The solution for this problem is explained in detail in
theTECH
Infopaper Installation.
DIGI32 always gets the same IRQ as the on board SCSI controller, even when the BIOS entries are changed. (Top) An on board SCSI controller in reality is a PCI device
without a slot. As a mainboard can handle only a limited number of PCI devices,
the on board controller shares the IRQ with one of the slots. Newest boards
having an AGP slot will share the IRQ for the AGP slot with one of the PCI
slots too.
The DIGI32 Series supports complete interrupt sharing! (Top) This should be nothing worth
to mention when talking about cards using a PCI bus interface - indeed it
is! Believe it or not: As far as we know RME's audio cards are still the
only ones in the world supporting complete interrupt sharing under Windows
95/98 and NT! Complete interrupt sharing means: SCSI controller and three
DIGIs, all using the same IRQ - no problem anymore!
Can I playback audio material, loop-back through a digital device and record at the same time? It must be possible thanks to full duplex! (Top) Only when the digital effect device allows itself to be used as a master, or two DIGI32s are in operation together. The DIGI32 is not able to act as a master, as is described in the manual. In this case there must be a master within the computer/effect device loopback, otherwise the sample frequency will loose sync and drift to an error condition.
How can I playback data with 8 bit or 22 kHz through the DIGI32? (Top) Microsoft supplies a small program for just such cases. It is installed with the audio options (audio- and video codecs etc) during the installation of Windows. Simply choose `Microsoft Audiomapper´ instead of the DIGI32 as the recording and playback device in your actual application. Please note that the Audiomapper outputs data to the preferred audio device in 'Multimedia', so DIGI32 has to be defined as standard multimedia device. For example, DIGI32 plays back an 8 bit / 11 kHz file with 16 bit and 32 kHz successfully in the correct sound level and speed, but it does sound fairly distorted.
Although I switch to 'Input' in the settings box of the Output Mode, there is no pass through of any signal. (Top) In this case your software is blocking the driver, which may be wished for. Cubase VST, for example, begins with continual recording and playback as soon as the program is started; changing the configurations in the settings box remains useless (apart from the choice of input.)
How do I regain access to the driver? (Top) The question arises 'do I really need to gain access?'. Cubase, for example, contains 3 different monitor options under Audio/System, which substitute our own in the settings box without any problems. Otherwise you can release the driver after deselecting 'File/Preferences/Audio active in background', when Cubase is not in foreground. In Samplitude it is possible to gain access to the driver without ending the program under 'Special/Close Audio Devices'.
My DIGI32 seems to be causing crackling occasionally; the cause of which cannot be defined. (Top) Crackling disturbances occur when overclocking the PCI bus. The use of the Cyrix CPU PR200 for example requires a memory clock of 75 MHz, which, on the other hand, produces a PCI bus clock of 37,5 MHz (as opposed to the specified 33 MHz.) We therefore advice against using this specific CPU together with our DIGI32 series cards.
I aborted the installation at the first attempt, and since then Windows 95 no longer asks me for the driver. How can I now install the DIGI32? (Top) In this case you have probably accidentally clicked the 'no longer ask for driver' button. The manual installation of a Plug and Play compatible PCI device is not achieved through hardware recognition. The hardware has already been recognized during the boot up of Windows and can be found in the Device Manager, although it is still nameless and is not to be found in the category 'Sound, video- and game controllers'. Please first try to start the automatic recognition of PCI devices by hitting 'Refresh' in the Device Manager. If this fails install the DIGI32 drivers to the 'unknown device' using 'Have disc' under 'Properties / Drivers'. It may be necessary to re-start the computer; afterwards the DIGI32 will be available as an audio device.
I own two DIGI32s. How can the device manager tell the difference between them when both are called DIGI32? (Top) The developers of Windows 95 did not expect the use of two identical pieces of hardware and that's why there is no automatic differentiation in the names. However, it is possible to be carried out manually very easily:
All you have done is change the names which appear in the device manager. BTW, the card and this entry will also be identified by Windows 95 through the PCI Enumerator and the internal slot number. Changes to the hardware configuration of your PC may result in swapping the two names.
Everything works fine, except with Cubase Score. (Top) Cubase Score works perfectly together with the DIGI32 when the correct settings in the setup dialog box from Cubase have been chosen. Firstly the DIGI32 must be registered as an input-output device under Audio/Hardware setting. Through 'further settings' Cubase must be informed that it is dealing with hardware using NO DMA transfer. Click 'Sync Reference' and then 'Sample position' in the windows on the right side. Then activate the exact same settings on the recording window and that's it.
With Cubase Audio XT full duplex is apparently only possible in mono or not at all! (Top) DIGI32 input and outputs require not only an identical sample frequency, but also the same channel mode, namely mono or stereo. So with Cubase Audio XT the hardware setting must be set to mono when recording a mono track. To record a stereo track 'record while play' is only possible having set the hardware settings to mono. Nevertheless mono or stereo track recordings can be played back simultaneously, independent of the mode, because the software automatically mixes the tracks before hand. With a SPDIF card, which basically only uses signals with two channels, the mono mode is actually absurd. That's why other programs such as Cubase VST or Samplitude work differently. They consequently work only in stereo, and if the user wishes to work with a mono track, then only one input channel of the DIGI32 is used.
I unpacked the downloaded driver, but the installation doesn't work. (Top) The archive contains two files with long names: audio32PCI.dII and audio32PCI.sys. Please make sure that the long names have not been substituted with DOS' 8+3 abbreviation. If this is the case then simply rename the files to the correct long ones.
What's the reason behind the slot numbers? (Top) The driver differentiates the
cards according to their internal slot number. These are not identical to
the slot numbers in the BIOS or those printed on the mainboard! These slot
numbers also appear in the device selection box of your application software,
for example: 'DIGI32 In (SLOT10)', so that the cards can be organized very
easily.
DIGI32/8, 24 Bit PCI ADAT Digital Audio Card I use a Yamaha 01V/Spirit 328 and hear heavy noise on 8 channels until the first usage of the DIGI32/8. (Top) The ADAT input of some devices
is unable to differentiate between a valid an invalid signal. These are Yamaha
01V (the extension board MY8AT), Spirit Digital 328 and the old 'Blackface'
ADAT. As the DIGI32/8 sends out a SPDIF signal until the driver is loaded
(when 'Force ADAT' is active, else until the first multitrack playback is
started) those devices try to synchronize on SPDIF and fail. Normally they
should stop this behavior or at least mute audio, but instead they simply
send white noise out of all 8 channels.
I have problems when using my old 'blackface' Adat with my DIGI32/8. (Top) The usage of DIGI32/8 and an Adat, where both inputs and outputs are connected so that record and playback are possible in both directions, requires one device to be always master. As the DIGI32/8 can't be master when in record mode the Adat has to be switched to master mode. This is done by changing the clock to INT (instead of DIG.) For the Blackface to use its internal clock hold 'SET LOCATE', then press 'DIGITAL INPUT'. The clock LED display now reads 'int'. Please note that neither Blackface nor XT support Full Duplex. You can't use the AD- and DA- converters of the Adat at the same time, or use the AD-converters for recording while playing back a tape.
Transferring audio data from a DA-88 to the DIGI32/8 using a FC-8 won't work. (Top) The FC-8 is a converter from Apogee that converts the audio data of a Tascam DA-88 recorder into the Adat format. But the converter's usage is restricted to a loop cabling with the Adat and the clock setting INT (master mode.) Because of this the FC-8 won't work with a DIGI32/8, because the card can't be master when in record mode.
How does the Multi Device driver work? (Top) The Windows driver of the DIGI32/8 is registered in the system as an 8-track device (using the so called Interleave mode) as well as a 4 x stereo device. The Channel Interleave mode is 'Windows Native' and therefore especially stress-free. If, for example, an 8 channel wavefile is played back through Windows own Media Player, the Player looks for an 8-track device, finds the DIGI32/8 and plays back the file correctly. Unfortunately the pioneers of the multitrack technology didn't use Windows own method, which is why there are not many programs known to us to exist at this time, which support this user friendly and fast mode (Cubase VST does in theory, but is not allowed as the dialog box resulting inside Cubase would irritate the user. As Multi Device works perfectly there is no need for Interleave Mode. Logic has a special MME setup tool that allows to change between 1x8 or 4x2 mode, but you will not notice any difference in performance or handling.) Instead the 8 channel operation has been mapped to a '4 x stereo' mode. All programs which really support multitrack recording offer the support of multiple devices for the separate outputs of differently recorded tracks. The DIGI32/8 can be used with such software because its driver also behaves like 4 separate stereo devices (Multi Device mode.) After many weeks of hard work we succeeded in
getting the same high performance in the Multi Device mode as in the Interleave
mode by using special hardware adaptors (that's why there is no difference
in Logic, and no need for Cubase to work in Interleave...)
ADAT and Multi Device: good and well, but how does SPDIF work? (Top) Quite automatically! When you playback a 'normal' 2 channel wave file (or your software only allows you to playback using two channels) the DIGI32/8 switches automatically to the SPDIF mode. In Samplitude you can change the ADAT to SPDIF mode or vice versa very comfortably using the button 'Multicard Mode'. Even if you use a 2 channel program like WaveLab
there are no problems. You will see, once again, a 4 x stereo device for
recording and playback in the device selection box, but it doesn't matter
which one you choose. The SPDIF mode automatically works with the device
in use, regardless of which one you have chosen.
I've set the input to Coaxial and connected the Dat (44,1 kHz is displayed.) But when I start a multitrack recording the ADAT signal in the optical input is used. (Top) Well, then the card automatically does the right thing...
If everything works so well automatically, why do I need a button 'Force ADAT'? (Top) While Cubase immediately opens all devices activated in the ASIO setup (so the card is in the ADAT mode like it should) other programs only activate the device in use at the time regardless of multitrack- or multicard operation. If, for example, in Samplitude you have a 16 track project where you do not play back and only record two tracks then the card would automatically switch to SPDIF operation. Here the button 'Force ADAT' can force the card into ADAT operation. If you use 'normal' 2 track programs to play
or record a stereo file, you're not only able to use SPDIF but also any ADAT
interface! Just activate 'Force ADAT' and choose the stereo pair in the device
list box that corresponds to the channels you want the data being transferred
to.
I would like to play back simultaneously from two different programs. The DIGI32/8 has enough tracks at hand. Will it work? (Top) Yes! Both the NT and the Windows
95 driver have independent stereo devices. Because of the SyncAlign function,
that allows sample aligned start of playback, all wave devices are stopped
as long as one of the used programs is still in stop or pause mode. Playback
will not start before all programs are switched to playback! You should adapt
the use of the programs you are using to this circumstance. Also we recommend
to check the 'Force ADAT mode' button, because the driver might first be
used from a 2-track program (thus switching in SPDIF mode) and will then
prohibit the usage of additional devices.
DIGI32 PRO, 24 Bit PCI Digital Audio Card Could you explain why the PRO card only supported up to 48 kHz at their inputs, and now supports up to 96 kHz? (Top) DIGI32 PRO was provided with the digital receiver
CS8412 until February '98. That's why no input sample rates higher than 50
kHz were possible at the digital input. As the new CS8414 got available (March
1998) we changed this chip, and now exclusively ship 'DVD ready' PRO cards.
On request it is possible to upgrade 'old' DIGI32 PRO's with the new 96 kHz
chip. The upgrade includes changing the receiver, a new EPROM and new drivers.
Because of the soldering it is necessary to send the card to your local distributor.
The upgrade will cost around 150 DM. |
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