User manual TERRATEC PHASE88RACK FW

[. . . ] TERRATEC PRODUCER PHASE 88 Rack FW English Manual Version 0. 1, last revised: Oktober 2004 CE Declaration We: TerraTec Electronic GmbH, Herrenpfad 38, D-41334 Nettetal, Germany hereby declare that the product: TerraTec Producer PHASE 88 Rack FW, to which this declaration refers is in compliance with the following standards or standardizing documents: 1. EN 55020 The following are the stipulated operating and environmental conditions for said compliance: residential, business and commercial environments and small-company environments. This declaration is based on: Test report(s) of the EMC testing laboratory The information in this document is subject to change without notice and shall not be deemed as a warranty by the seller. No warranties, express or implied, are made with regard to the quality, suitability or accuracy of this document. [. . . ] The unit is also equipped with individual peak LEDs for each channel to help keep unintentional peaks and distortion in check. An additional status LED indicates whether a signal is available at the individual channels. The input levels can be adjusted using the gain controls for channels 7 and 8. High-quality condenser microphones also require 48V phantom power that can be activated for both microphone inputs using the button in the control panel for channel 8. As a result it is not possible to use one PHASE 88 Rack FW (English) 19 microphone with phantom power and one without. Practical tip: While recording, try to achieve as high a recording level as possible to get the greatest benefit from the wide dynamic range of the 24-bit converter. Always remember that a clean take is far more valuable than the best corrective plugin. Intermezzo: a cable and signal primer You may now be asking yourself: Why bother with analog Line-IN and microphone inputs?Cables obviously have the simple task of getting a signal from point A to point B. However, the quality and nature of a signal can vary widely depending on its source. In the case of microphones, for example, the currents and output voltages are very low, but the output impedance is quite high. As a result, microphone signals are very vulnerable to interference and require special microphone preamps. They are not only susceptible to interference from the magnetic fields of other cables, but also from fluorescent lights, fans and other electrical equipment. In contrast, line signals have already been amplified when they are sent on their way and are therefore no longer quite so vulnerable. While more current is flowing here (and the output impedance is quite a bit lower) and the output voltage is somewhat higher, it's still not enough to power a speaker directly--line signals also still need to be amplified. Examples of line signals are the outputs of keyboards, mixers or effects devices. Please never apply one to a Line-In--your hardware will appreciate it. ) And that finally brings us to the topic of "balanced" and "unbalanced" lines. Simply put, unbalanced lines consist of two conductors, a center conductor and a shield, while balanced lines have two center conductors (not to be confused with stereo lines). As both conductors have the same voltage but opposite polarity, the effects of any interference on the line are effectively canceled out. Professional microphones will therefore always use balanced lines (or they should, at any rate). Unbalanced connections may be adequate for line signals--but a balanced connection will always be better and more reliable. By the way: The old saying about a chain only being as strong as its weakest link also applies in the studio--especially there, in fact. [. . . ] Simply save all of your control and fader settings at the click of a button and reload them whenever you need them. And that's not all: you can also use the PHASE 88 Rack FW in stand-alone mode as a high-quality A/D or D/A converter. The values last saved in the Control Panel will be called up automatically whenever the 19" module is powered up without a connection to the computer. Stand-alone operating note: If the output of the digital mixer is not routed to the S/PDIF output, the analog inputs 7 and 8 will always be applied to it (MIC INs to S/PDIF Out). [. . . ]