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User Guide

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ProFire 610

Introduction 

Congratulations on your purchase of the M-Audio ProFire 610 audio interface  ProFire 610 is part of M-Audio’s 
award winning series of FireWire

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-based digital recording systems and features solid hardware design, robust 

driver technology, and a powerful Control Panel application to help you capture your best performances with the 
highest possible fidelity 

This rugged interface includes many features found on the flagship ProFire 2626 interface including a powerful 
DSP-based monitor mixer, high quality preamplifiers featuring Octane™ technology, two discrete headphone 
outputs, and an assignable Master Volume Control knob to facilitate many 
kinds of recording and mixing   Furthermore, the portable design and bus 
powered operation of ProFire 610 allow you to make professional-grade 
recordings anywhere—at the studio or on the road 

Even if you’re an experienced digital recording enthusiast, please take a 
moment to read through this User Guide and familiarize yourself with the 
features and operation of ProFire 610  You may also want to refer to your 
audio software’s documentation to better understand how ProFire 610’s 
features are integrated with the program  Your experience and enjoyment 
of your ProFire 610 will be greatly enhanced by a good working 
knowledge of your audio software 

NOTE

:   Do not connect or disconnect bus-powered M-Audio, or 3rd party FireWire 

devices while your computer is running (i.e. no “hot-plugging”). Make all 
FireWire cable connections while the computer is powered off.  See page 7 for 
more information about this topic.

What’s in the Box

Your ProFire 610 package contains:

•  ProFire 610 interface

•  Printed Quick Start Guide

•  6-pin to 6-pin FireWire cable

•  6-pin to 4-pin FireWire cable

•  FireWire Series CD-ROM containing drivers and documentation

•  Software Bundle CD-ROM

•  12VDC 2A Power Supply

 

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  About “1394” “iLink” and 

“FireWire”:

Some computer manufacturers 
may use a different nomenclature 
to refer to their FireWire 
connections, such as “iLink”, 
“IEEE 1394” or simply “1394.”  
These ports carry the same 
data and ProFire 610 can be 
connected to any of these ports.

Summary of Contents for Profire 610

Page 1: ...ProFire 610 User Guide English ...

Page 2: ...s 9 Connecting Line Level Inputs 9 Digital S PDIF Connections 9 Headphone Monitoring 9 Connecting the Analog Outputs 10 8 Software Control Panel 11 Mixer Tabs 11 Level Meter 12 Pan 12 Mute 12 Solo 12 Stereo Link 13 Level Fader 13 Channel Name 13 Settings Tab 13 Hosted Mode Sync Source 14 Hosted Mode Sample Rate 14 Hosted Mode ASIO WDM Buffer Size 14 Standalone Mode Sync Source 14 Standalone Mode S...

Page 3: ...o device 20 Routing your software outputs 20 Setting the sample rate and bit depth of your session 20 About Overdub Recording and Monitor Mixing 21 Using the Monitor Mixer 22 10 Standalone Operation 24 11 Digital Clocking 25 Scenario 1 ProFire 610 as Clock Master 26 Scenario 2 ProFire 610 Slaved to S PDIF Input 27 Scenario 3 Creating a Synchronized Digital Loop 28 12 MIDI 29 13 Troubleshooting 30 ...

Page 4: ...ad through this User Guide and familiarize yourself with the features and operation of ProFire 610 You may also want to refer to your audio software s documentation to better understand how ProFire 610 s features are integrated with the program Your experience and enjoyment of your ProFire 610 will be greatly enhanced by a good working knowledge of your audio software NOTE Do not connect or discon...

Page 5: ...reamp and A D D A converter Minimum System Requirements Minimum system requirements can be found on the ProFire 610 product packaging as well as the M Audio website A Note about Operating System Updates Please check the M Audio driver download page at http www m audio com drivers for the availability of an updated driver before you decide to install operating system updates Before new M Audio devi...

Page 6: ...hone Outputs These two 1 4 TRS headphone output jacks operate independently from each other The first headphone jack outputs the same audio signal as rear panel outputs 1 2 while the second headphone jack outputs the same audio signal as rear panel outputs 3 4 6 Phantom Power Button and LED 48V This button applies 48V phantom power to the XLR inputs on the front of the interface The LED next to th...

Page 7: ...output pairs 1 2 or 3 4 it will also affect the level of the first and second headphone outputs respectively The section Connecting the Analog Outputs includes a tip on how to configure the interface to give you three separate volume control knobs i e one knob for each headphone output and the Master Volume knob to control your speakers See page 10 of this guide for more information about this top...

Page 8: ... hot plugging Make all FireWire cable connections while the computer is powered off Reports have come to our attention of isolated problems when hot plugging IEEE 1394 aka FireWire devices including but not limited to devices of the M Audio FireWire family Hot plugging refers to making connections to1394 FireWire ports while one or more of the devices including the computer are still powered on Th...

Page 9: ...oFire 610 please refer to the printed Quick Start Guide Hardware Connections IC UITAR ASS EADPHONES 8 2 ABLE v ABLE ProFire 610 front XTERNAL ARD RIVE OMPUTER ONITORS IXER FFECTS 0ROCESSOR 0OWER 3UPPLY 4 I R E 7 I R E 3 0 IN OUT IRE7 IRE 3OUND ODULE EYBOARD 4 ProFire 610 rear 6 7 ...

Page 10: ...d output connectors on its rear panel These jacks can be used to send and receive digital data from any device that has coaxial S PDIF inputs or outputs NOTE Whenever audio devices are digitally interconnected through S PDIF you must set up proper digital synchronization among all of the devices to ensure error free transfer of audio The Digital Clocking section of this guide covers this topic in ...

Page 11: ...the Master Volume knob to either analog outputs 5 6 or 7 8 and use those outputs for your main monitors This prevents the Master Volume Knob from influencing the levels of headphone outputs 1 and 2 and effectively provides front panel volume controls for three unique stereo outputs If you already have a way of controlling the main monitor mix level e g through the use of an external mixer another ...

Page 12: ... the bottom of your Windows desktop Double click this icon to open the Control Panel Mac OS X users The ProFire 610 Control Panel can be found in System Preferences under Other NOTE The ProFire 610 Control Panel can also be opened from an ASIO compliant music program s audio setup page Mixer Tabs This section of the User Guide provides a basic overview of the ProFire 610 monitor mixers and describ...

Page 13: ...ion itself tab name changes do not affect your audio application in any way Level Meter Each channel s level meter will display the corresponding channel s input or output level Each meter offers an indicator to display recent level peaks The peak indicator s hold time can be configured through the Peak Hold setting in the view menu This menu is described in the Additional Functions section of thi...

Page 14: ...e tab key allows you to immediately jump to the next channel and begin naming it This lets you name all of the mixer channels quickly Settings Tab The Settings window provides controls for various ProFire 610 hardware and synchronization settings Note that the Control Panel provides separate drop down menus for hosted and standalone modes Hosted mode i e when the interface is used with a computer ...

Page 15: ...nchronization source while operating in Standalone Mode You can choose to synchronize to the internal clock of ProFire 610 or to have the interface lock to an incoming S PDIF signal Standalone Mode Sample Rate This drop down menu lets you select the sampling rate of the interface when operating in Standalone Mode Supported sample rates are 44 1 48 88 2 96 176 4 and 192 kHz If ProFire 610 is set to...

Page 16: ...ing scenarios you can use the Master Volume knob to simultaneously set the level of all speakers by checking the outputs that are connected to your speakers On the other hand if you are mixing in stereo using outboard equipment i e compressors reverb modules etc you can use the Master Volume knob to set the output level of the main outputs connected to your speakers while allowing the additional o...

Page 17: ...ave or Load will open a dialog window that allows you to browse to a folder of your choice and manage the Control Panel parameter files This is useful if you d like to save various configurations i e a multi tracking setup a surround mixing setup etc so that you do not have to manually reconfigure your system each time you work on a different type of project The Load Recent sub menu lists up to 10...

Page 18: ...ration of the meters at the top of the monitor mixer tabs i e the Analog Out 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and S PDIF Out L R tabs Meters Only View Selecting this option hides all of the buttons knobs and sliders for each of the monitor mixers and only displays the level meters This is a useful feature for users who have finished setting up monitor mixes and would like to use only the meters to simply observe i...

Page 19: ...ed TIP Peak levels can be cleared at any time by clicking the meters in any of the monitor mixers Hold Clips Only When this option is enabled only the clip indicator i e the top segment of the currently selected monitor mixer meter is held for the amount of time defined in the Peak Hold section see above This feature is included to help users spot clipping on the input channels more easily Help Th...

Page 20: ...ntain the highest possible audio fidelity the ProFire 610 Line Inputs do not feature attenuation or trim circuitry and are connected directly to the A D converter This means that any adjustments to that signal level must be made at the source If you have an output level control on the device that you ve connected to the line inputs adjust that output level control to change the recording level Mos...

Page 21: ...t port on the back of the interface By default the mixer allows all signals to pass through However if you have made changes to the Monitor Mixer tabs you may need to check the mixer tabs and make sure that input and output channels are not muted turned down or otherwise keeping signals from reaching the output ports Setting the sample rate and bit depth of your session ProFire 610 can operate at ...

Page 22: ...sily edited and mixed into a polished song For example if the guitarist is not happy with the solo it is possible to edit problematic notes re record the entire solo or even splice together the best parts of multiple takes to create one seamless performance This kind of detailed editing is generally not possible with live recording situations in which all sounds are captured at once To record over...

Page 23: ...r on channels one and two of the mixer The ten Software Return channels correspond to the outputs of your audio application 3 The last two channels on the right side represent the monitor mixer s master outputs that are sent to the mixer s associated hardware output pair on the rear panel of ProFire 610 Keep in mind that this mixer is for monitoring purposes only All signals received at the hardwa...

Page 24: ... channels and create a stereo mix that is then routed to the rear panel hardware outputs 1 2 The same principle applies when selecting output channels 3 4 5 6 7 8 or 9 10 from your audio application These signals are sent to their respective Control Panel tabs Analog 3 4 Analog 5 6 Analog 7 8 and S PDIF Out L R mixed with other signals if desired and then routed to their respective analog output p...

Page 25: ...attached to the FireWire Connectors 11 and switch on the interface Keep in mind that all Standalone Mode settings must be made while the interface is still connected to a computer i e ProFire 610 settings cannot be modified while the unit is operating in Standalone Mode The parameters in the Standalone Mode section of the Settings tab of the Control Panel determine how ProFire 610 will function wh...

Page 26: ...te timing in sending and receiving those words is critical Each device in your interconnected digital world must share the same timing in order to communicate correctly that is their clocks must be synchronized This synchronization is achieved by designating one device as the timing master and all other connected devices as slaves locking the slaves to the master Only one device in the chain can b...

Page 27: ...l then need to select external or slave on certain devices mode on your digitally connected device s This is usually an internal menu setting on the external device In Figure 1 below a DAT machine is connected to the coaxial S PDIF I O ProFire 610 is selected as the clock master and the DAT machine s synchronization source is set to external or slave DAT Slave ProFire 610 Master ...

Page 28: ...is is due to a lack of digital inputs on the CD player i e the device has no way to synchronize to an incoming signal In this scenario ProFire 610 can be configured to lock to the CD player or other external device through the S PDIF input In Figure 2 below the CD player is configured as the clock master while ProFire 610 is configured to synchronize to the S PDIF input CD Player Master ProFire 61...

Page 29: ...ther device i e the external digital device or your ProFire 610 can be configured as the clock master while the other device must be configured as the slave device 4 4 Certain devices automatically lock to any incoming S PDIF signal and do not give users the option of selecting the clock source of the device If your 3rd party device operates this way ProFire 610 should be configured as the clock m...

Page 30: ...ive MIDI Time Code MTC and other synchronization formats for locking to a hardware or software sequencer MIDI is an extensive protocol and covering it in detail is beyond the scope of this guide If you would like to learn more please refer to one of the many books and articles that have been written about this subject and are available online or through your local music retailer The diagram below ...

Page 31: ...and Game Controllers and locate the ProFire 610 listing If you see a question mark or exclamation point next to it or if you don t see it listed you may need to reinstall the driver software Make sure your audio software has been set up to use ProFire 610 Open your application s audio settings page and check to see if the correct ASIO WDM or Core Audio drivers have been selected If you re certain ...

Page 32: ... PC motherboards feature network adapters that may conflict with the FireWire port and result in streaming issues for attached FireWire devices Try disabling your network interface adapter NIC to see if the issue resolves This can usually be done through the system BIOS or the Windows Device Manager Please refer to your Windows or motherboard documentation to learn how to do this Windows XP Vista ...

Page 33: ...nline at www m audio com register to receive FREE product updates and for the chance to win M Audio giveaways ProFire 610 Tested to comply with FCC standards FOR HOME OR STUDIO USE WARNING This product contains chemicals including lead known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm Wash hands after handling 2008 Avid Technology Inc All rights reserved...

Page 34: ...31 Mac 0 820 391 191 e mail PC support m audio fr email Mac mac m audio fr fax 33 0 1 72 72 90 52 Web www m audio com M Audio Germany Kuhallmand 34 D 74613 Ohringen Germany Technical Support email support m audio de tel 49 0 7941 9870030 tel 49 0 7941 98 70070 Sales e mail info m audio de tel 49 0 7941 98 7000 fax 49 0 7941 98 70070 Web www m audio de M Audio Canada 1400 St Jean Baptiste Ave 150 Q...

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