TerraTec PHASE 88 Rack User manual

TERRATEC PRODUCER PHASE 88 Rack
English Manual
Version 1.0, last revised: März 2004

CE Declaration
We:
TerraTec Electronic GmbH, Herrenpfad 38, D-41334 Nettetal, Germany hereby declare
that the product:
TerraTec Producer PHASE 88 Rack,
to which this declaration refers is in compliance with the following standards or standard-
izing documents:
1. EN 55013
2. EN 55020
The following are the stipulated operating and environmental conditions for said compli-
ance:
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 manufacturer reserves the right to change the contents
of this document and/or the associated products at any time without the provision of prior notice to
specific persons or organizations. The manufacturer shall not be held liable for damages of any
kind arising from the use, or the inability to use this product or its documentation, even if the
possibility of such damage is known. The information in this document is subject to copyright. All
rights are reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any
purpose without the express written permission of the copyright holders. Product and brand names
contained in this document are used for identification purposes only. All registered trademarks,
product designations or brand names used in this document are the registered property of their
respective owners.
©TerraTec®Electronic GmbH, 1994-2004. All rights reserved (16.03.04).
2 PHASE 88 Rack (English)

Important safety information
Please ensure that all analog devices are turned off before plugging them in. This
will protect you from any possible—albeit weak—electrical shocks, as well as
protecting your speakers and your hearing from sudden peaks. For digital devices,
be sure to at least lower the volume on your playback equipment.
PHASE 88 Rack (English) 3

Contents
Important safety information ........................................................................................3
Welcome!........................................................................................................................6
From opening the package to installation. ..................................................................8
Scope of delivery..........................................................................................................8
The setup—Short and simple for busy professionals. ..................................................9
Notes for Windows users:.........................................................................................9
Notes for Macintosh users: .....................................................................................10
Structure of the PHASE 88 PCI card..........................................................................11
The PHASE 88 rack housing......................................................................................12
Installation of the PHASE PCI card—step by step......................................................14
Driver installation in Windows.....................................................................................15
Driver installation under Windows 98 SE. ...............................................................15
Driver installation under Windows Me.....................................................................16
Installation under Windows 2000. ...........................................................................17
Installation under Windows XP. ..............................................................................18
Driver installation for Macintosh OS X........................................................................19
The connections of the PHASE 88 Rack audio system.............................................20
Analog outputs. ..........................................................................................................20
Analog inputs. ............................................................................................................20
Intermezzo: a cable and signal primer ....................................................................21
Digital interface (S/PDIF, RAW, AC3). .......................................................................22
MIDI interface.............................................................................................................23
WordClock I/O ...........................................................................................................23
The drivers (Windows operating system). .................................................................24
The Wave driver. ....................................................................................................24
The ASIO driver......................................................................................................24
The GSIF driver. .....................................................................................................25
The MIDI driver.......................................................................................................25
In detail—special properties of the drivers..................................................................26
32-bit data transfer. ................................................................................................26
DirectSound & WDM. .............................................................................................27
WDM sample rate (SR) interpolation. .....................................................................27
WDM kernel streaming. ..........................................................................................27
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The MAC OS X drivers. ............................................................................................... 27
The Control Panel........................................................................................................ 28
How does the Control Panel work? ........................................................................ 28
Analog Inputs............................................................................................................. 28
Digital Mixer............................................................................................................... 29
Settings. .................................................................................................................... 30
Master Clock. ......................................................................................................... 30
The I/O card. .......................................................................................................... 31
Channel 7/8 select. ................................................................................................ 31
Wave Playback/Record mode (Windows only)....................................................... 31
Digital Out. ............................................................................................................. 32
The DMA Buffer Transfer Latency (Windows only). ............................................... 33
The About page. ........................................................................................................ 34
The PHASE Control Panel in the Windows taskbar. .................................................. 35
Managing scenes and cascaded cards (Windows only)............................................. 36
ASIO Control Panel (Windows only). ......................................................................... 36
GSIF/ASIO multi-client ........................................................................................... 37
Card(s) used for ASIO............................................................................................ 37
Colors (Windows only)............................................................................................... 37
Additional tips on using the Control Panel.................................................................. 38
Cascading and internal synchronization................................................................... 39
Master/slave operation—synchronizing multiple PHASE/EWS systems................. 40
Tips, tricks & things worth knowing.......................................................................... 42
Multiple audio cards in a single system. ................................................................. 42
About IRQs and other interrupts............................................................................. 43
Always right on time—digital synchronization......................................................... 46
Dolby AC3 and DTS. .............................................................................................. 47
Useful information about digital cables (optical waveguides and AES/EBU)........... 47
Appendix A—Technical Data...................................................................................... 48
PHASE 88 Rack (English) 5

Welcome!
We're pleased that you've chosen a TerraTec Producer audio interface for your musical
endeavors and would like to congratulate you on your decision. With the PHASE 88 Rack
audio system, you've purchased a sophisticated piece of state-of-the-art studio equip-
ment. Thanks to its wealth of options and proven technology, it will serve you well—both
in demanding studio environments and day-to-day home recording for years to come.
We hope that this brochure is helpful to you while using the product. It is designed to
illustrate technical relationships based on practical examples from the studio environment.
However, it is designed not only for beginners, but also for those more advanced in this
complex matter: Ambitious professionals, too, will surely learn something new here and
there.
We hope you find this manual both informative and entertaining to read, and hope you
find lots of pleasure in the PHASE 88 RACK audio system.
Sincerely, Your TerraTec Producer Team
6 PHASE 88 Rack (English)

Here's an overview of what you can expect to find when you unpack the box:
Connection options and sound. The PHASE 88 Rack audio system is well-equipped
with professional connection options—including eight balanced analog inputs and outputs,
two microphone inputs, two separate MIDI interfaces, and one 2-channel digital input and
output each, and a WordClock I/O—that will soon make it the hub of your home or project
studio. Selected 24-bit/96 kHz converter modules, a signal-to-noise ratio of no less than
110dB(A) at the analog outputs and a sophisticated board design are the basis for crystal-
clear recording and the playback of high-resolution 5.1/7.1 surround productions.
For everything you need to know about connections, see Üpage 20.
Complex routing—very easy.As you know, a professional audio system is no sound
card for wild-eyed gamers, but the heart of your day-to-day studio work with your PC. And
despite the extensive routing options, the PHASE software always provides you with a
clear overview and—depending on the complexity of your switching needs—remains
transparent and intuitive.
For everything you need to know about the PHASE Control Panel, see Üpage 28.
The drivers provided for the PHASE 88 RACK System, too, leave nothing to be desired.
A highly developed software architecture guarantees problem-free use with all modern
Windows and Apple operating systems.
The ASIO drivers—thoroughly proven throughout years of application and often used as a
reference—allow the lowest possible latency between the software and audio interfaces.
For all about driver usage see Üpage 24 (Windows) and 27 (MAC OS).
PHASE 88 Rack (English) 7

From opening the package to installation.
Before installing the PCI card into your computer and running cables to the PHASE 88
RACK audio system, take note of any special points pertaining to the configuration of your
computer. Also refer to the manual of your computer and other studio peripheral devices
for their settings.
If you follow the instructions, the installation should run without any problems. If you still
have difficulties, please review carefully the relevant chapter in this manual.
Our service hotline team will be happy to help you if you have any other questions about
the product. The phone numbers can be found in the Appendix of this documentation.
Scope of delivery.
Start by making sure that the contents of the package are complete.
The PHASE 88 System package should contain the following items:
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PHASE 88 Rack 19'' module
PHASE 88 PCI card
1 WordClock adapter cable
External link cable (4m)
EWS®connect sync cable
PHASE 88 CD-ROM (driver and software)
This manual
Service request form
Registration documents
Besonic Premium Account
Please return the enclosed registration card to us at the earliest possible opportunity or
register online at http://www.terratec.net/register.htm. This is important for support and
hotline services.
8 PHASE 88 Rack (English)

The setup—Short and simple for busy professionals.
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Before installing the PCI card, please check the Sync-In and Sync-Out connections
(EWS®Connect) on the PCI card. If you do not have any other TerraTec PCI systems
with EWS®Connect connections in your computer, the following applies:
Sync IN (CN1)—set the jumper to 1-2; Sync Out (CN2)—this connector will remain
unused. If you have other TerraTec PCI systems with EWS®Connect connectors in
your computer, and want to synchronize them, please first read the chapter entitled
“Cascading and internal synchronization.” (Üpage 39)
The PHASE 88 Rack Audio Interface is a PCI card with bus-mastering support.
Please choose a slot that is as far away from the graphics card(s) and SCSI/RAID
controllers as possible—usually as close to the “bottom” as possible in most installa-
tions. Please keep the dangling S/PDIF connectors and heavy cables in mind which
may get in the way of other connectors below them.
You will need one (1) IRQ (additional IRQ tips in the appendix, see Üpage 43). If you
want to install multiple audio systems of the TerraTec range, you can do this in Win-
dows without difficulty—all PCI cards operate in IRQ-sharing mode (please note the
details on cascading here Üpage 39).
The driver installation in Windows (98SE to XP) follows the established defaults set by
the operating system manufacturer. You can find the drivers on the accompanying
CD-ROM or on the Internet at www.terratec.com/ in the SUPPORT area.
Notes for Windows users:
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The drivers have not been certified by Microsoft. You will receive a warning to this
effect in Windows 2000 and XP, which you can safely ignore. You can continue the
installation without concern.
After installing the drivers, open the “Device Manager” and check for yellow exclama-
tion marks.
Like the drivers, the PHASE Control Panel must also be installed. Functionality of the
card is not provided using the standard Windows Mixer. Open the installation via the
CD-ROM autostarter (or don't forget to download the control panel when you are
downloading the drivers in the Internet).
The WDM audio drivers can be selected in the applications as usual. ASIO drivers are
available in compatible programs; WDM kernel streaming is “not visible” (i.e. it is al-
ways available for applications and cannot be selected explicitly). The buffer sizes are
configured in the PHASE Control Panel.
PHASE 88 Rack (English) 9

Notes for Macintosh users:
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The PHASE 88 system is shipped with driver support for MAC OS 10 (OS X). In the
OS10 version, we recommend the Apple operating system update called “Jaguar”
(current version 10.2.6). A version update, which can be obtained for an extra charge,
contains some improvements specially geared towards audio applications.
The audio and MIDI connection using OS 10(X) is built exclusively on the OS10 core
audio/MIDI concept.
Multiple cards cannot be cascaded under the MAC OS at present.
10 PHASE 88 Rack (English)