background image

 

 

 

 

 

miniDSP Ltd, Hong Kong / 

www.minidsp.com

 / Features and specifications subject to change without prior notice

 

 

 

 

MINI

SHARC 

C

OMPACT 

4-

IN 

8-

OUT 

A

UDIO 

P

ROCESSOR 

B

OARD WITH 

FIR

 

C

APABILITY

 

 

User Manual 

Summary of Contents for MINISHARC

Page 1: ...miniDSP Ltd Hong Kong www minidsp com Features and specifications subject to change without prior notice 1 MINISHARC COMPACT 4 IN 8 OUT AUDIO PROCESSOR BOARD WITH FIR CAPABILITY User Manual...

Page 2: ...2 2013 V1 1 Added section for AN FP connectivity 28 08 2013 V1 2 Added clarifications for routing of I2S SPDIF 10 12 2013 V1 3 I2S slave configuration added 24 02 2014 V1 4 I2S master slave clarificat...

Page 3: ...2 3 USB 11 2 4 J1 expansion header 12 2 5 J2 expansion header 12 3 Off the shelf accessories and connection 13 3 1 VOL FP 13 3 1 1 Operation of VOL FP 13 3 1 2 Infrared remote control 14 3 2 DIGI FP 1...

Page 4: ...4 Restoring to defaults 32 6 8 Keyboard shortcuts 33 7 Signal Processing Blocks 34 7 1 Crossover 34 7 2 Parametric EQ 36 7 3 FIR filtering and design 38 7 3 1 FIR filtering overview 39 7 3 2 FIR filt...

Page 5: ...r latest version Mac OS X Intel based Mac with 1 GHz or higher processor clock speed 512 megabytes MB of RAM or higher Keyboard and mouse or compatible pointing device USB 2 0 port Mac OS X 10 8 or hi...

Page 6: ...digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installe...

Page 7: ...on page 8 The miniSHARC is a tried and proven hardware platform for audio processing applications It is used as the processing core of several miniDSP products For those seeking a ready made in the b...

Page 8: ...aps per channel 6 6 61444 Maximum FIR taps per channel 2048 2048 61444 PEQ bands per input channel 10 10 6 PEQ bands per output channel 10 10 Compressor block Max per channel time delay 3000 ms 1500 m...

Page 9: ...0 pin headers for J1 and J2 soldered This is so that you can solder your own headers or connections Straight headers for USB VOL FP and DIGI FP will be soldered in If the miniSHARC is ordered together...

Page 10: ...d the miniSHARC can be powered with a DC supply in the range of 5 to 24 V Use with powered accessories When the miniSHARC is used with any of the miniDSP accessories that take power from the miniSHARC...

Page 11: ...bly Although this is a commonly available cable typically used in computer hardware you should nonetheless confirm the pin out with the manufacturer or you could easily cause damage to your computer o...

Page 12: ...19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 2 5 J2 EXPANSION HEADER The user accessible pins in the J2 header are listed in Table 3 below This header contains all of the I2S input and output signals Table 3 J...

Page 13: ...n in the photograph 3 1 1 Operation of VOL FP To change the volume Rotate the control knob clockwise to increase the volume and counter clockwise to decrease it If the computer is connected and the pl...

Page 14: ...of the following remote control codes NEC Sony Philips RC6 To initiate the learning process drop down the IR Remote menu and select IR learning Click on the Learn button for an operation and then pres...

Page 15: ...he sample rate set by the miniSHARC plugin 48 or 96 kHz In addition it provides a USB Type B socket The DIGI FP requires that two cables supplied with the DIGI FP be connected to the miniSHARC A 14 pi...

Page 16: ...P and DA FP require that three cables supplied with the board be connected to the miniSHARC A 14 pin flat ribbon cable carries I2S and control signals The AN FP and DA FP also require separate 5V powe...

Page 17: ...s It also contains an SPDIF input level shifter and connection point The 5 VDC power connection to this board powers the miniSHARC To mount the miniDAC8 onto the miniSHARC the miniSHARC must have stra...

Page 18: ...k is always provided as an output by the miniSHARC and connected circuitry can choose whether or not to use it LRCLK The frame synchronization clock also known as the word clock This clock is equal to...

Page 19: ...ch either a 48 kHz or 96 kHz sample rate depending on the plugin loaded onto the miniSHARC In slave mode the connected device provides the I2S clocks and the connected device is assumed to be providin...

Page 20: ...r USB When the miniSHARC is put into input slave mode I2S_IN_BCLK and I2S_IN_LRCLK become inputs The miniSHARC clocks the I2S_DATA_IN1 2 signal according to the clocks provided on I2S_IN_BCLK and I2S_...

Page 21: ...in 8 and pin 9 of the J1 expansion header low This is easily accomplished by connecting them to pin 6 and or pin 5 GND 4 2 4 Summary of I2S clock modes Table 5 summarizes the various I2S clock modes T...

Page 22: ...rcuits 3 3V logic level All lines use a 3 3V logic level Ensure that connected circuits use a compatible level 1 8V for example will not work 4 4 S PDIF CONNECTIVITY Pins 1 and 2 of J2 are S PDIF inpu...

Page 23: ...on the first time the plugin is used If the plugin does not start properly see Troubleshooting 5 1 WINDOWS Prior to installing the miniDSP software download and install the following programs You will...

Page 24: ...downloaded from click on Anywhere Then download and install the following programs You will need to accept the license agreements in order to successfully complete the installation Latest version of...

Page 25: ...HITECTURE 6 1 MINISHARC 4X8 PLUGINS This screenshot shows the miniSHARC 4x8 plugin with the key areas highlighted 6 1 1 Input tab The Input tab displays a row of input channel control strips two for I...

Page 26: ...els along the top Each input output channel assignment is turned on and off by clicking the button corresponding to the two channels The labels displayed for the input and output channels can be chang...

Page 27: ...two input channels are as provided in I2S data 1 2 and the output channels are as produced on I2S data line 1 2 The S PDIF input and output are not accessible from this plugin The input and output co...

Page 28: ...n brings up an overlay that displays the level meter The plugin must be in online mode to display signal levels Gain adjustment The gain of each channel can be adjusted by moving the Gain Adjustment s...

Page 29: ...rings up an overlay that displays the level meter The plugin must be in online mode to display signal levels Gain adjustment The gain of each channel can be adjusted by moving the Gain Adjustment slid...

Page 30: ...cted configuration into the corresponding configuration preset of the processor After downloading the configuration data the plugin is in online mode and any changes to processing parameters will be d...

Page 31: ...me the plugin is synchronized to the processor the parameters will be downloaded to the processor as long as the Synchronize Config button is selected The configuration contained in the miniDSP hardwa...

Page 32: ...e mode the new configuration data will be downloaded to the processor immediately If the plugin is in offline mode the configuration will be loaded into the user interface only and will be downloaded...

Page 33: ...e next A blue grey surrounding box usually indicates the user interface element with the focus Shift Tab moves the focus in the opposite direction Up down arrows The up down arrow keys and in some cas...

Page 34: ...s and low pass filters Crossover filters can also be used to limit low frequency content delivered to a speaker or subwoofer to help protect it from over excursion Unlike conventional analog crossover...

Page 35: ...ee types of filter Butterworth BW Available in 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 and 48 dB octave Butterworth crossover filters are 3 dB down at the cutoff frequency Linkwitz Riley LR Available in 12 24 and 48 dB o...

Page 36: ...ng the combined response of all enabled parametric filters on that channel For example the screenshot above shows a response curve created with a low shelf boost filter at 100 Hz a dip at 500 Hz and a...

Page 37: ...ber of available filters on that channel by one from 10 to 9 for miniSHARC plugins or from 6 to 5 for the OpenDRC plugin Frequency For the PEAK and SUB_EQ filter types this is the center frequency of...

Page 38: ...rowse Opens a filter browser to select a file containing FIR filter coefficients See FIR filter file format below Unload FIR Deletes the currently loaded filter from the display and from the DSP memor...

Page 39: ...ned after working with an FIR filter design program see below The number of taps is set in the lower right corner click on the text entry box and type the desired number of taps then press Tab or Retu...

Page 40: ...ected make sure that the Bypass button is turned off If you clear the filter taps make sure that you also bypass the filter otherwise there will be no audio through that channel 7 4 INVERT AND MUTE Ea...

Page 41: ...ass button to see the curve as shown here In this example the threshold is set to 20 dB so the compressor will activate when the signal on that channel reaches 20 dB relative to full output The ratio...

Page 42: ...A biquad is the basic unit of processing that is used to create digital filters It can be described either with an equation or with a signal flow diagram as shown here A single biquad like this can pe...

Page 43: ...e can be generated by Room EQ Wizard REW or by other programs The design program must be set for a 48 kHz sample rate if using the miniSHARC 4x8 plugin and a 96 kHz sample rate if using the miniSHARC...

Page 44: ...to take effect 7 7 3 Biquad design software Following are programs that can be used to design your biquad coefficients 7 7 3 1 Biquad calculation spreadsheet The community developed biquad calculatio...

Page 45: ...og Devices SHARC 32 bit floating point processor Specific processing functionality depends on loaded plugin See Sections 6 and 7 of this manual Storage presets All settings controllable in real time f...

Page 46: ...Synchronize button and select the Synchronize option from the dialog 5 From the menus select Restore Upgrade Firmware The processor will be put into boot loader mode and the miniDSP upgrade utility wi...

Page 47: ...ad a configuration a Confirm the file format of your file xml b Confirm the version of the file 8 4 OBTAINING SUPPORT 1 Check the forums on miniDSP com to see if this issue has already been raised and...

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