User manual M-AUDIO FAST TRACK ULTRA

[. . . ] Fast Track Ultra User Guide 1 1 Introduction Thanks for choosing M-Audio Fast Track Ultra. Fast Track Ultra has been designed to give you a professional, portable audio and MIDI interface for your Windows or Macintosh laptop or desktop computer. Using the convenience and dependability of the industry-standard USB 2. 0 bus, Fast Track Ultra provides your computer with an exceptionally flexible audio interface, offering unequalled routing power and versatility while delivering high-resolution, 24-bit audio to and from your computer at sampling rates up to 96kHz, and its on-board DSP gives you a useful selection of reverb and delay effects and versatile monitoring options. Fast Track Ultra also gives you sixteen channels of MIDI in and out ­ all in a sleek, rugged, lightweight and highly portable design. [. . . ] You will also want to configure the sync source to "external. " Refer to the section below on the Control Panel and your software's documentation for more information. Fast Track Ultra Setting the Sample Rate User Guide 8 The default sample rate for Fast Track Ultra is 44. 1 kHz. Most applications allow you to change the sample rate from within your audio software. It is recommended that you do not change the sample rate from the Control Panel while your DAW application is running, as this can cause some applications to exhibit unexpected behavior. In order to receive a digital signal via the S/PDIF input, you will need to change the Control Panel's clock setting (in the Settings tab) to "external, " after which Fast Track Ultra will automatically detect an incoming digital signal and receive its sample rate from that incoming S/PDIF source. 9 The Software Control Panel Fast Track Ultra's software Control Panel is designed to provide a simple, intuitive interface to control and monitor signals from your DAW and from Fast Track Ultra's inputs and outputs. To open the control panel: In Windows, open the Fast Track Ultra control panel by double-clicking on the M-Audio icon Start > Control Panel (Classic View). Double-click on the red M-Audio icon in the system tray, or from Windows XP Windows Vista In Mac OS X, click the "M-Audio Fast Track Ultra" icon in the system preferences window. The control panel offers eight tabs, providing monitoring options for all eight outputs as well as a number of additional features. The first four tabs provide access to each of eight monitor busses, allowing you to route any of the analog or digital inputs, as well as eight returns from your DAW, to any of its eight outputs. Fast Track Ultra Monitor Tabs User Guide 9 The four Monitor tabs are similar in layout and in operation. Each will allow you to monitor and control the routing of the eight hardware inputs, along with eight returns from your DAW, and send those signals to the tab's corresponding output pair. The Monitor tabs' outputs correspond to Fast Track Ultra's hardware outputs. Monitor outputs 1/2, 3/4, and 5/6 correspond to the six analog outputs 16 . Monitor outputs 7/8 correspond to the S/PDIF digital output 21 . Fast Track Ultra Input Channels User Guide 10 The first eight channels on each of the Monitor pages correspond to the six analog inputs and two S/PDIF digital inputs. The next eight channels are returns from your DAW application software. Any of these 16 channels can be sent to any of eight possible output busses by selecting the Monitor tab for the desired output pair and setting the levels for the input and software return channels respectively. Each channel provides the following: Level meter ­ monitors the channel's input level Pan control ­ sets the position of the signal within the left and right output channel pair Solo button ­ solos that channel's output signal in the output channels Mute button ­ mutes that channel's output signal to the output channels Link button ­ links a pair of channels together. When the Link button is active, changes made to one channel affect the adjacent (linked) channel as well. Level fader ­ controls the level of that channel's signal sent to the output channels. Send control ­ controls the level of that channel's signal sent to the internal DSP effects. Important: Note that changes made to the monitoring mix are completely independent from, and do not affect signals being recorded to your DAW. Therefore the Monitor mixer tabs for outputs 5/6 and 7/8 do not provide Send controls. Fast Track Ultra Output Channels User Guide 11 The right side of each Monitor tab provides level meters and faders for its corresponding stereo pair of outputs. Each Monitor tab's output faders control the output level sent to that pair of hardware outputs. The Monitor tabs correspond to each pair of hardware outputs: Monitor outputs 1/2, 3/4, and 5/6 correspond to the six analog outputs 16 . Between the sixteen channel inputs and the two channel outputs is a Bypass button. Activating this button will bypass the internal DSP effects, allowing you to monitor the channel returns without effects. [. . . ] · · · · · Check your audio connections and cables to make sure everything is plugged in correctly. Check the Control Panel to verify that the output volume levels are turned up, and that signal is present in the input meters. Check to see that the power button is enabled, and that the USB cable is connected to the unit and the host computer. Check the Front/Rear input selector switch to verify that you've chosen the proper input. < If you're trying to record a digital input to Fast Track Ultra and have no sound, or are experiencing clicks and pops in your recordings: · · · · · Make sure the input source on the Settings tab of the Control Panel is set to "external. " See the section about Word Clock for more information. [. . . ]