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FAQ-DIGI96 FAQ-DIGI96 - Win 95/98 FAQ-DIGI96 - Win NT FAQ-DIGI96/8 FAQ-DIGI96 Pro/PAD

On this FAQ page for the DIGI96 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 faq96e.zip.

DIGI96 - 24 BIT PCI DIGITAL AUDIO CARD
DIGI96 USING WINDOWS 95/98
DIGI96 USING WINDOWS NT
DIGI96/8 - 24 BIT PCI ADAT DIGITAL AUDIO CARD
DIGI96 PRO AND PAD - 24 BIT PCI DIGITAL AUDIO CARD

Use applicable questions above.

DIGI96 - 24 Bit PCI Digital Audio Card

Under Logic Audio 4.0 the DIGI shows up in the Device Setup Program only as 2 (8) channel device, but not as 8 (2) channel device. (Top)

To see all possible device configurations of the DIGI96 series in the Device Setup program deactivate 'Check Input' in the settings dialog of the DIGI driver, AND apply an ADAT Signal when using any of the /8 models. After a rescan in the Device Setup program now all configurations will show up. Using the card as 2-channel (SPDIF) device additional requires the choice of 'Stereo only'. Remember the name (or define one by yourself) of the virtual device, and choose this one in Logic under 'Audio, Audio Hardware + Driver'.

System crashes after installation of DIGI96 (Top)

The solution for this problem is explained in detail in the TECH Infopaper Installation.

DIGI96 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.

As the drivers of the DIGI96 Series support complete interrupt sharing under Windows 95/98 and NT there is normally no need to assign a different IRQ to the SCSI controller.

The DIGI96 Series supports complete interrupt sharing! (Top)

This should be nothing worth mentioning 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 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!

Of course there are some restrictions to be noted. We can't guarantee interrupt sharing to work - for our cards we can, in combination with other manufacturer's devices we can't. In fact there is nearly no other manufacturer of SCSI controllers, graphics cards or network cards, that clearly tells you whether his product supports IRQ sharing or not! We just had to learn that older mainboards are able to prevent the system from sharing IRQ's...

But don't be put off: IRQ sharing is here and in most times it will work and be a pleasure. We had very good results with PCs that are not older than 2 years. Again we recommend boards from Asus and Gigabyte, because their BIOS enables you to set up the used IRQ per slot, thus being able to make sure that all used DIGIs get the same IRQ.

There's absolutely no IRQ sharing with devices working on ISA bus, like ISA bus cards or your PS/2 mouse port, and the EIDE Busmaster controller.

Can I playback audio material, loop-back through a digital device and record at the same time? (Top)

Yes, as far as there is one master present in this kind of 'loop cabling' or 'clock loop'. The easiest way to achieve this is to change the clock mode in the settings dialog of the DIGI96 from 'AutoSync' to 'Master'.

How can I playback data with 8 bit or 22 kHz through the DIGI96? (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 DIGI96 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 DIGI96 has to be defined as standard multimedia device. For example, DIGI96 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'.

I aborted the installation at the first attempt, and since then Windows 95 no longer asks me for the driver. How can I install the DIGI96? (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 DIGI96 driver to the 'unknown device' using 'Have disc' under 'Properties/Drivers'. It may be necessary to re-start the computer; afterwards the DIGI96 will be available as an audio device.

I unpacked the downloaded driver, but the installation doesn't work. (Top)

The archive contains 2 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: 'DIGI96 In (SLOT10)', so that the cards can be organized very easily.
  
bullet Tip: write the allocated slot numbers of the cards onto the computer housing, so that no long trial and error is necessary when inputs and outputs are connected to other devices.

DIGI96/8 - 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 DIGI96/8. (Top)

The ADAT input of some devices is unable to differentiate between a valid and invalid signal. These are Yamaha 01V (the extension board MY8AT), Spirit Digital 328 and the old 'Blackface' ADAT. As the DIGI96/8 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.

This is no fault of the DIGI96/8. We asked all companies about this, but as this is not a software but a hardware problem they did not expect any changes in near future.

I have problems when using my old 'blackface' Adat with my DIGI96/8. (Top)

The usage of DIGI96/8 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. You have the choice of switching the DIGI96/8 into Clock Mode 'Master' or the Adat 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 DIGI96/8 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 Clock Mode of the DIGI96/8 must be changed to 'Master', then everything works as expected.

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 DIGI96/8 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.

Hints on Configuration:

Samplitude:
The older versions of Samplitude do not close the device at stop. To start a second program you have to choose Special and 'Close Audio Devices' in Samplitude.

Cubase:
Cubase lets all devices not only opened but also running. Therefore the combined usage of Cubase and an external program is very easy. De-activate one (stereo-) bus in Master and activate (opposed to our manual) the option 'Audio in background active'.

Logic:
Start 'MME Setup', place the cursor on DIGI96/8 (1+2) and choose 3 for 'Number of Drivers' and 2 for 'Channels per Driver'. This will make Logic use 6 tracks, so 2 are free for an external use, which in this case is (7+8.)

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