MOTU MicroBook II User Manual Download Page 2

 

About the Mark of the Unicorn License Agreement 
and Limited Warranty on Software

 

TO PERSONS WHO PURCHASE OR USE THIS PRODUCT: carefully 
read all the terms and conditions of the “click-wrap” license agreement 
presented to you when you install the software. Using the software or this 
documentation indicates your acceptance of the terms and conditions of that 
license agreement.
Mark of the Unicorn, Inc. (“MOTU”) owns both this program and its 
documentation. Both the program and the documentation are protected 
under applicable copyright, trademark, and trade-secret laws. Your right to 
use the program and the documentation are limited to the terms and 
conditions described in the license agreement.

 

Reminder of the terms of your license

 

This summary is not your license agreement, just a reminder of its terms. 
The actual license can be read and printed by running the installation 
program for the software. That license agreement is a contract, and clicking 
“Accept” binds you and MOTU to all its terms and conditions. In the event 
anything contained in this summary is incomplete or in conflict with the actual 
click-wrap license agreement, the terms of the click-wrap agreement prevail.
YOU MAY: (a) use the enclosed program on a single computer; (b) 
physically transfer the program from one computer to another provided that 
the program is used on only one computer at a time and that you remove any 
copies of the program from the computer from which the program is being 
transferred; (c) make copies of the program solely for backup purposes. You 
must reproduce and include the copyright notice on a label on any backup 
copy.
YOU MAY NOT: (a) distribute copies of the program or the documentation to 
others; (b) rent, lease or grant sublicenses or other rights to the program; (c) 
provide use of the program in a computer service business, network, time-
sharing, multiple CPU or multiple user arrangement without the prior written 
consent of MOTU; (d) translate, adapt, reverse engineer, decompile, 
disassemble, or otherwise alter the program or related documentation 
without the prior written consent of MOTU.
MOTU warrants to the original licensee that the disk(s) on which the program 
is recorded be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal 
use for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of purchase as evidenced 
by a copy of your receipt. If failure of the disk has resulted from accident, 
abuse or misapplication of the product, then MOTU shall have no responsi-
bility to replace the disk(s) under this Limited Warranty.
THIS LIMITED WARRANTY AND RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT IS IN LIEU 
OF, AND YOU HEREBY WAIVE, ANY AND ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, 
BOTH EXPRESS AND IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO 
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A 
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE LIABILITY OF MOTU PURSUANT TO 
THIS LIMITED WARRANTY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE 
REPLACEMENT OF THE DEFECTIVE DISK(S), AND IN NO EVENT 
SHALL MOTU OR ITS SUPPLIERS, LICENSORS, OR AFFILIATES BE 
LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, 
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF PROFITS, 
LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE, OR 
LOSSES SUSTAINED BY THIRD PARTIES EVEN IF MOTU HAS BEEN 
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THIS 
WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS WHICH MAY VARY 
FROM STATE TO STATE. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE 
LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL 
DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

 

Update Policy

 

In order to be eligible to obtain updates of the program, you must register the 
software at motu.com.

 

Copyright Notice

 

Copyright © 2012 by Mark of the Unicorn, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of 
this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a 
retrieval system, or translated into any human or computer language, in any 
form or by any means whatsoever, without express written permission of 
Mark of the Unicorn, Inc., 1280 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 
02138, U.S.A.

 

Limited Warranty on Hardware

 

Mark of the Unicorn, Inc. and S&S Research (“MOTU/S&S”) warrant this 
equipment against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 
TWO (2) YEARS from the date of original retail purchase. This warranty 
applies only to hardware products; MOTU software is licensed and 
warranted pursuant to separate written statements.
If you discover a defect, first write or call Mark of the Unicorn at (617) 576-
2760 to obtain a Return Merchandise Authorization Number. No service will 
be performed on any product returned without prior authorization. MOTU 
will, at its option, repair or replace the product at no charge to you, provided 
you return it during the warranty period, with transportation charges prepaid, 
to Mark of the Unicorn, Inc., 1280 Massachusetts Avenue, MA 02138. You 
must use the product’s original packing material for in shipment, and insure 
the shipment for the value of the product. Please include your name, 
address, telephone number, a description of the problem, and the original, 
dated bill of sale with the returned unit and print the Return Merchandise 
Authorization Number on the outside of the box below the shipping address.
This warranty does not apply if the equipment has been damaged by 
accident, abuse, misuse, or misapplication; has been modified without the 
written permission of MOTU, or if the product serial number has been 
removed or defaced.
ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF 
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, 
ARE LIMITED IN DURATION TO TWO (2) YEARS FROM THE DATE OF 
THE ORIGINAL RETAIL PURCHASE OF THIS PRODUCT.
THE WARRANTY AND REMEDIES SET FORTH ABOVE ARE 
EXCLUSIVE AND IN LIEU OF ALL OTHERS, ORAL OR WRITTEN, 
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. No MOTU/S&S dealer, agent, or employee is 
authorized to make any modification, extension, or addition to this warranty.
MOTU/S&S ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR 
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ANY BREACH OF 
WARRANTY, OR UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY, INCLUDING LOST 
PROFITS, DOWNTIME, GOODWILL, DAMAGE OR REPLACEMENT OF 
EQUIPMENT AND PROPERTY AND COST OF RECOVERING REPRO-
GRAMMING, OR REPRODUCING ANY PROGRAM OR DATA STORED 
IN OR USED WITH MOTU/S&S PRODUCTS.
Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties or 
liability for incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or 
exclusion may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, 
and you may have other rights which vary from state to state.
MOTU, AudioDesk, Mark of the Unicorn and the unicorn silhouette logo are 
trademarks of Mark of the Unicorn, Inc.

This equipment has been type tested and found to comply with the limits for a class 
B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to 
provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential 
installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency 
energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may 
cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no 
guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment 
does cause interference to radio or television equipment reception, which can be 
determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to 
correct the interference by any combination of the following measures:

• Relocate or reorient the receiving antenna

• Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver

• Plug the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the 
receiver is connected

If necessary, you can consult a dealer or experienced radio/television technician for 
additional assistance.

PLEASE NOTE: only equipment certified to comply with Class B (computer input/
output devices, terminals, printers, etc.) should be attached to this 
equipment, and it must have shielded interface cables in order 
to comply with the Class B FCC limits on RF emissions.

WARNING: changes or modifications to this unit not 
expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance 
could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.

Summary of Contents for MicroBook II

Page 1: ......

Page 2: ...entagainstdefectsinmaterialsandworkmanshipforaperiodof TWO 2 YEARSfromthedateoforiginalretailpurchase Thiswarranty appliesonlytohardwareproducts MOTUsoftwareislicensedand warrantedpursuanttoseparatewr...

Page 3: ...MicroBook II User Guide 1280 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge MA 02138 Business voice 617 576 2760 Business fax 617 576 3609 Web site www motu com Tech support www motu com support...

Page 4: ...hiswillpreventdamagetotheMOTUMicroBookduetolightningandpowerlinesurges 9 Servicing DonotattempttoservicethisMOTUMicroBookyourselfasopeningorremovingcoverswillexposeyouto dangerousvoltageandotherhazard...

Page 5: ...uick Reference MicroBook Top Panel 7 Quick Reference CueMix FX 9 About the MicroBook 13 Packing List and System Requirements 15 Installing the MicroBook Software 17 Installing the MicroBook Hardware 2...

Page 6: ...esigned with the high impedance characteris tics necessary to properly handle both passive and active guitar pickups To make your guitar sound and feel even more like it is plugged directly into a act...

Page 7: ...you adjust the input level for recording If you use these quarter inch jacks DO NOT plug a cable in to the stereo mini jack 5 This eighth inch stereo mini jack serves as a stereo line level analog ou...

Page 8: ...IC input and GUITAR input In Guitar Trim Mode see below these meters indicate the input level setting not signal activity 5 Three LED metering for the LINE OUTs 6 The VOL digital rotary encoder contro...

Page 9: ...four stereomixbusses UsetheMix tab to mix sources inputs host computer audio etc for each mix bus See The Mixes tab on page 43 3 Output settings include choosing what you will hear on each output a mi...

Page 10: ...A mixcangotoasmanyoutputs as you want Choosing Sine White or Pink produces a sine waveorwhite pinknoisefrom theMicroBook ssignalgenera tor item 8 on the previous page 3 If you want to apply EQ or dyn...

Page 11: ...ing and playback at industry standard sample rates from 44 1 to 96 kHz All inputs and outputs can be accessed simultaneously The MicroBook consists of a light and small aluminum alloy encased interfac...

Page 12: ...ftware for Mac OS X USB cable included With a variety of I O formats dedicated mic and guitar inputs and no latency mixing and processing of live input the MicroBook is a complete portable studio in a...

Page 13: ...e of audio material Low pass and high pass filters are also supplied with slopes that range from 6 to 36 dB The MicroBook s flexible effects architecture allows you to apply EQ and compression on ever...

Page 14: ...A B O U T T H E M I C R O B O O K 12...

Page 15: ...sion 10 5 or 10 6 v10 5 6 or later is required A large hard drive preferably at least 100 GB WINDOWS SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS The MicroBook system requires the following Windows system Pentium 4 CPU or equ...

Page 16: ...about software enhancements as soon as they become available Thank you for taking the time to register your new MOTU products OBTAINING YOUR MICROBOOK SERIAL NUMBER The MicroBook holds its serial numb...

Page 17: ...ected the MicroBook to your computer and switched it on Windows probably issued an alert notifying you that the MicroBook requires drivers followed by another window asking you to locate the drivers o...

Page 18: ...I N S T A L L I N G T H E M I C R O B O O K S O F T W A R E 16 Figure 3 1 AudioDesk for Mac OS X...

Page 19: ...NDOWS USERS INSTALL THE SOFTWARE FIRST PC installation goes much more smoothly if you install the MicroBook software previous chapter before you connect the MicroBook hardware this chapter CONNECT THE...

Page 20: ...ly engage 48V power when a device that requires it is plugged in 20 dB pad If the input signal is still too hot with the trim turned all the way down engage the 20dB pad by pushing the MIC knob or by...

Page 21: ...also be used as outputs for any purpose The quarter inch main outs are calibrated to produce a 4 dBu line level output signal Line out You can use the eighth inch stereo mini line out jack for output...

Page 22: ...ure 4 4 2 Adjust the settings for each input channel as desired The Focus button exposes further settings for the input in the Channel tab 4 3 Each input can be trimmed 4 Click the Channel tab 4 to ac...

Page 23: ...own power supply Most commonly these types of products have a DC power adapter that plugs into an AC wall outlet As you can see however this situation does not allow for remote battery operation as th...

Page 24: ...k in the computer with audio software or both During recording you can use the MicroBook s CueMix FX mixer to apply EQ and compression to what you are recording and monitor it via the main outs headph...

Page 25: ...AC OS X DRIVERS To install the MicroBook s Mac OS X audio drivers just run the installer on the MOTU Audio installer disc as detailed in chapter 3 Installing the MicroBook Software page 15 RUNNING CUE...

Page 26: ...igital Performer project to AudioDesk use SaveA CopyAs in Digital Performer s File menu and choose the AudioDesk 3 0 file format Then open the resulting AudioDesk 3 0 document in AudioDesk Exchanging...

Page 27: ...from the Input and Monitor menus as shown below in Figure 5 5 Figure 5 5 Enabling the MicroBook in Soundtrack Pro Garage Band In Garage Band go to the Audio MIDI preferences and choose MOTU MicroBook...

Page 28: ...9 For information about the Buffer Size setting see Adjusting the audio I O buffer on page 34 Figure 5 9 Enabling the MicroBook in Reason Reaper In Cockos Reaper access the Preferences and click Devi...

Page 29: ...ght hear a slight delay There are several ways to reduce this delay For details see chapter 7 Reducing Monitoring Latency page 33 WORKING WITH CUEMIX FX MIXING AND EFFECTS The MicroBook provides power...

Page 30: ...rocessing Rather input is routed directly to an output either with or without MicroBook based effects processing EQ or compression See 1 Live input from mic guitar etc enters the MicroBook Computer 2...

Page 31: ...dio data in and out of the computer The size of thebuffersdetermineshowmuchdelay you hear when monitoring live inputs through your audio software larger buffers produce more delay smaller buffers prod...

Page 32: ...ge 23 Digital Performer Figure 5 13 In Digital Performer and AudioDesk choose Setup menu Configure Audio System Configure Hardware Driver to open the dialog shown above and access the Buffer Size sett...

Page 33: ...r if the Performance meter is peaking try raising the buffer size If you are at a point in your recording project where you are not currently working with live patched thru material e g you re not rec...

Page 34: ...s mix automation or other real time effects that your audio software provides But for inputs that don t need these types of features CueMix FX is the way to go On the other hand if you really need to...

Page 35: ...tware page 15 RUNNING CUEMIX FX Before you run your host audio software launch CueMix FX to configure your MicroBook hardware Running CueMix FX confirms that the MicroBook hardware is connected powere...

Page 36: ...go to the Device Setup window chooseVSTAudio System and select MOTU Audio ASIO from the ASIO Driver menu Figure 6 3 Activate the inputs and outputs within Cubase or Nuendo as usual Figure 6 3 Activat...

Page 37: ...rom the ASIO driver menu as shown below in Figure 6 6 Figure 6 6 Enabling the MOTU Audio ASIO driver in Reaper SONAR In Cakewalk SONAR you can use the MOTUASIO driver or the MOTUWDM driver Note that w...

Page 38: ...s you don t Figure 6 8 on page 36 Other audio settings in SONAR There are a few other settings in SONAR that impact MicroBook operation 1 In the Audio preferences section choose Driver Settings 2 Choo...

Page 39: ...S The MicroBook provides powerful external mixing EQ and compression which you can operate hand in hand with your host software s complete mixing environment For example the MicroBook can serve as a m...

Page 40: ...W I N D O W S A U D I O S O F T W A R E 38...

Page 41: ...mixer allows you to apply no latency EQ and dynamics to inputs and outputs directly in the MicroBookhardware independentof the computer Input signals to the computer can be recorded wet dry or dry wi...

Page 42: ...1 could go to the headphones Mix 2 could go to the main outs Mix 3 could go to a piece of outboard gear connected to analog outputs 3 4 and so on You can also assign a mix to multiple output pairs For...

Page 43: ...computer Output channels The Outputs tab Figure 7 4 on page 44 gives you access to settings for each MicroBook output pair including EQ and dynamics processing These settings are applied to the signa...

Page 44: ...button Figure 7 2 to access the Channel EQ and dynamics tab settings for each input Figure 7 2 The Inputs tab Input name Channel focus Mono stereo paring Invert phase Input trim EQ dynamics graph EQ...

Page 45: ...MicroBook from your host audio software By bringing up this fader you can combine live inputs mic guitar and line 1 2 with any audio from the computer Stereo grouping The input channel strips in the...

Page 46: ...ed to the output from various sources Signal flows from top to bottom Settings in each Output tab channel strip are applied to the signal in order from top to bottom For example EQ occurs before Dynam...

Page 47: ...eters and the meter in the channel meter display above the tab if this area is displaying an input meter Click Pre to view levels before any EQ or dynamics processing click Post to view levels after E...

Page 48: ...ned by Scope Return channel settings Figure 7 7 For example if you want to mix inputs with effects and send the result to MicroBook outputs but you also want to send those same inputs dry no processin...

Page 49: ...nnels that are currently in focus via the Focus buttons Figure 7 1 The FFT curve is post filter Therefore the FFT shows the results of the EQ filter s being applied Spectrogram Choose Options menu Sho...

Page 50: ...requency and the horizontalaxisrepresentsthephaseof the left channel minus the phase of the right channel measured in radians In polar coordinates the radius represents frequency and the angle theta f...

Page 51: ...r power on or off devices connected to the MicroBook while recording or playing back audio Doing so may cause a brief glitch in the audio Monitoring How to monitor inputs Please refer to the documenta...

Page 52: ...14 Youmust beabletosupplythisnumberto receive technical support A brief explanation of the problem including the exact sequence of actions which cause it and the contents of any error messages which...

Page 53: ...er size 30 enabling MicroBook Driver 24 exchanging projects with AudioDesk 24 Disc replacing 49 Drivers installing 15 Mac OS X 23 Windows 33 DSP resources 39 Dynamic mic 4 Dynamics tab 42 E EQ tab 42...

Page 54: ...te 26 37 Samplers connecting 22 Scope Return Channel 46 Serial number 9 13 14 46 Setup 14 Show FFT 47 Spectrogram 47 Sig Gen tab see Signal Gener ator tab Signal Generator tab 7 45 Sine wave Software...

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