Darkglass Electronics ADAM User manual

OWNER’S MANUAL

QUICK START GUIDE
CONNECTIONS
INPUT
AUX IN
HEADPHONE OUTPUT
BALANCED OUTPUTS
DIRECT OUTPUT
MIDI IN
USB
SIGNAL CHAIN
BLOCK DIAGRAM
COMPRESSOR
DISTORTION
CABINET SIMULATION
MULTIBAND COMPRESSOR
BLEND
EQ
CONTROLS
SMART POTENTIOMETERS
TOUCH SENSITIVE SLIDERS
ROTARY FOOTSWITCH ENCODERS
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BASIC OPERATION
EDITING AND SAVING PRESETS
TUNER
BYPASS
PERFORMANCE LOCK
BLUETOOTH PAIRING
ADAM AS A USB AUDIO INTERFACE
SETTING UP THE DRIVERS
USB AUDIO SIGNAL ROUTING
DARKGLASS IR LIBRARY
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
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QUICK START GUIDE
Connect your instrument into the 1/4” INPUT.
Connect a compatible power supply (9V center
negative, min. 500 mA) to the power connector.
Connect at least one of the following:
· Headphones into the headphone jack
· USB-C cable between the USB connector and your
computer*
· Instrument cable between one of the balanced 1/4”
outputs and your amplifier’s input
· XLR cable between DIRECT OUTPUT and your
mixing desk or audio interface
ADAM is pre-programmed with three presets,
A, B, and C that are selectable via the dedicated
footswitches. Press and hold one of the footswitches
for two seconds to save your changes into a preset.
Adjust the level (and headphone volume, if applicable)
to your liking and start playing!
*Using ADAM as an audio interface may require
some extra steps depending on your operating
system
CONNECTIONS
INPUT
This is the primary instrument input on ADAM.
Connect your instrument or output from your pedal
board to the 1/4” mono jack.
AUX IN
The stereo input of ADAM enables the playback
of backing tracks while practicing or recording.
Connect your mobile phone, laptop etc. to the 1/8”
stereo jack.
HEADPHONE OUTPUT
The headphone output can handle headphones with
an impedance of 16 - 600 ohms.
Connect your headphones to the 1/8” stereo jack
and set the desired level from the dedicated
potentiometer next to the jack.
BALANCED OUTPUTS
The two balanced outputs add routing versatility and
the option of using ADAM as a fully equipped audio
interface.

Connect your studio monitors, amplifier or other
effects to the 1/4” balanced jacks using a TRS
connector (Tip +, Ring -, Sleeve GND). If you feed
an unbalanced input from these outputs, use an
instrument cable with a mono 1/4” plug.
DIRECT OUTPUT
An XLR output with a ground lift switch provides a
reliable standard connection to a mixing desk or an
external audio interface for a guaranteed low-noise
signal.
MIDI IN
A standard 1/8” TRS jack allows connecting an
external MIDI controller to ADAM for even more
flexibility. Read more about the MIDI capabilities at
https://www.darkglass.com/creations/adam/
USB
The USB-C port unlocks ADAM’s USB audio interface
capabilities and enables interaction with the
Darkglass Suite desktop app, allowing for software
updates and access to the Darkglass IR library,
containing hundreds of cabinet simulations.
SIGNAL CHAIN
BLOCK DIAGRAM
Input
Blend
EQ
Output
Compressor
Distortion
Cabsim
Multiband
Compressor

COMPRESSOR
This control allows setting the input
gain of the compressor that will
translate into how much the signal
is compressed while our intelligent
make-up gain algorithm keeps the
output of the compressor at usable
levels. The compressor has 5 ratios
available: 4:1, 8:1, 12:1, 20:1 and ALL IN.
DISTORTION
At the heart of the distortion circuit is
an accurate model of Nolly’s favorite
vintage distortion unit. In collaboration
with Darkglass, he used that as a
platform for developing 5 distinctive
distortion modes ranging from mild
and very articulate distortion to synth-
like fuzz sounds.
CABINET SIMULATION
ADAM supports Impulse Response
(IR) cabinet simulations and has 5
cabinet slots on board. The default IRs
have been captured by Nolly himself.
New IRs can be assigned to the 5 slots
using the Darkglass Suite (desktop or
mobile).
MULTIBAND COMPRESSOR
In the clean sidechain you will find a fixed multiband
compressor. This multiband compressor incorporates
Nolly’s personal settings that have been developed
with years of experience in the studio. There are no
controls for the multiband compressor.
BLEND
The blend control allows you to mix the distorted
signal with the clean sidechain signal.
EQ
Last in the signal chain is a programmable 6-band
graphic equalizer that allows you to tailor your sound
even further. The full description of this functionality
can be found in the “Controls” section of the manual.

CONTROLS
SMART POTENTIOMETERS
On ADAM, you will find five smart potentiometers:
Compression, Drive, Character, Blend, and Level.
These potentiometers are the main interface for
sculpting the signal chain and your overall sound on
ADAM.
The Compression potentiometer is the one-knob-
solution for compression on ADAM. This controls
the amount of input gain to the compressor and
intelligently applies the correct amount of makeup
gain so that your signal is always driven at the
appropriate level, no matter how much compression
is applied.
The Drive potentiometer adds distortion and drive to
your signal. Crank this knob to apply Nolly’s favorite
vintage distortion to the distorted part of the signal
chain.
The Character potentiometer changes the tone of
the distortion, adding brightness to the distortion
signal.
The Blend potentiometer mixes between the
distortion signal and the clean sidechain signal.
The Level potentiometer controls the master volume
of ADAM.
The smart potentiometers allow for their positions
to be stored in each preset, with the stored position
indicated by the ring of LEDs surrounding each
potentiometer.
With this, you can get a glance at your signal chain
settings when changing presets, regardless of the
physical potentiometer setting.
TOUCH SENSITIVE SLIDERS
At the center of ADAM are the touch-sensitive sliders
that control the 6-band graphic EQ at the end of the
signal chain.
Each slider has a -12 dB to 12 dB range. From left to
right, the frequency bands for each slider correspond
to a low shelf, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1.5 kHz, 3 kHz, and a
high shelf.

Controlling the touch sliders is easy - swipe upwards
to boost a frequency band or swipe downwards to
cut a frequency band.
When swiping, the position of the slider is also
reflected on the potentiometer LEDs. Double-tap
the slider to reset the band back to 0 dB.
Hint: The sliders respond to the direction of your
swipe on any part of the slider, so you can make
small adjustments without your finger covering the
actual position of the slider.
ROTARY FOOTSWITCH ENCODERS
Below the touch sliders are three rotary footswitch
encoders A, B, and C, which can be pressed or
rotated. These footswitch encoders enable many of
ADAM’s functions. Simply press A, B, or C to switch to
the preset stored in that footswitch.
The rotational position of each encoder is displayed
on the five LEDs under each encoder. Additionally,
when rotating, the position is shown on the
potentiometer LEDs - this is a visual aid that does not
affect the potentiometer configuration.
· Rotating Aallows you to change the compressor
ratio or bypass the compressor.
· Rotating Ballows you to change the distortion
mode or bypass the distortion.
· Rotating Callows you to change the active IR in
the signal chain or bypass the IR.
When none of the five LEDs are lit, the respective
compressor/distortion/IR is bypassed.

BASIC OPERATION
EDITING AND SAVING PRESETS
Editing and saving presets on ADAM is remarkably
easy. If any of the parameters are changed (i.e.
potentiometers, sliders, encoder rotation), the color
LED of your current preset will gently breathe,
indicating that the edit or audition mode is active.
Auditions are an easy way to try new sounds and
settings, which can be either saved or discarded.
When you find a sound that you would like to save,
the audition can be saved into any of the three
presets by pressing and holding one of the preset
footswitches for two seconds. All LEDs on ADAM will
flash rapidly a few times indicating that your edits
have been saved into a preset.
A new audition is always entered when changing any
parameter from an unedited/saved preset. This will
overwrite any previous unsaved auditions/edits.
During an edit/audition, you can change to any of
the three saved presets by pressing the footswitch
associated with that preset. After changing to a
preset, pressing the footswitch again will swap
between that preset and your active editing session.
For instructional videos on editing and saving the
presets, please visit https://www.darkglass.com/
creations/adam/
TUNER
To enter the tuner, press Band Csimultaneously.
To exit the tuner, press Band Csimultaneously or
one of the footswitch presets. ADAM will always
return to the last active preset. ADAM will not output
any audio when tuning.
ADAM features a five-octave chromatic tuner, which
can tune any note between B0 and A#5, allowing you
to dial in any guitar or bass tuning that you desire.
The tuning is derived from A4 = 440 Hz. Only one
note can be tuned at a time.
When the tuner mode is entered and there is no
input signal, two red LEDs on the two rightmost
sliders are shown by default. When an input signal
is received, the left section of sliders will update to
show the note that you are tuning.
A small indicator is displayed to the top right of the
note if it is a sharp note.

When tuning, the two rightmost sliders will update
to show how close your tuning is from the note’s
perfect pitch. Distance below the center line
indicates that the note is tuned flat, and distance
above the center line indicates that the note is tuned
sharp. The red LEDs will transition to green as you
approach the perfect pitch, and the slider and preset
LEDs will fully illuminate in green when you are on
perfect pitch.
BYPASS
To enter the bypass mode, press Aand B
simultaneously.
To exit the bypass mode, press Aand Bsimultaneously
or one of the footswitch presets.
In this mode, ADAM does not perform any processing
on the input signal, and passes the unprocessed
input signal through to the outputs. All LEDs are
turned off during bypass mode.
PERFORMANCE LOCK
To enter or exit the performance lock, press Aand C
simultaneously.
In this mode, all LEDs will gently breathe on ADAM to
indicate that it has been locked.
This mode prevents any accidental parameter
changes or edits to your presets. You can still change
between the saved presets A, B, and C, and enter the
tuner or bypass modes, but potentiometer updates,
slider touches, or encoder rotations will not respond
to any changes.
Tip: Enter the performance mode after the
soundcheck while playing live gigs.
BLUETOOTH PAIRING
To begin Bluetooth pairing with ADAM, press and
hold an encoder while simultaneously rotating the
encoder. The five LEDs under each encoder will
illuminate one-by-one, and pairing will begin when
all five are lit. Look for “ADAM” on your list of available
bluetooth devices.

ADAM AS A USB AUDIO
INTERFACE
Whatever your DAW of choice is, it’s compatible with
ADAM. You can record your processed signal to one
track and simultaneously record an unprocessed
copy to another track. Recording a stereo track at the
same time from the Aux input is also possible.
SETTING UP THE DRIVERS
If you are using a Mac, no additional drivers are
required to use ADAM as an audio interface.
If you are using Windows, please download the latest
USB audio drivers from https://www.darkglass.com/
suite/.
Please refer to the Darkglass website for more details
regarding USB audio.
DARKGLASS IR LIBRARY
The Darkglass Suite software currently comes with
an extensive library of IR files and hundreds more will
be added in the near future. The library consists of
both bass and guitar cabinets. Captures of Darkglass
Elite Series and Neodymium Series cabinets are
available, among others. Darkglass artists (including
Nolly) have also contributed to the library.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Input impedance: 1 MΩ
Output impedance: 220 Ω
Current consumption: ~500mA
Voltage: 9VDC (center negative)