User's Guide
DIGI96 © RME
8
8.3 Digital Record
Unlike analog soundcards which produce empty audio files (just noise) when no input signal is
present, digital in/out cards must have a valid input signal to start recording.
To take this into account, RME has included two unique features in the DIGI96 series: an error
LED for the active digital input in use, and a comprehensive I/O signal status display showing
sample frequency and lock status.
The error LED indicates whether the card gets power and a valid digital input signal. Whenever
an error occurs (wrong input, invalid data, signal transmitting device delivers nothing) the LED
will light red. As soon as a valid input signal is present the LED will extinguish. The display of
the sample frequency (see chapter 9, picture Settings) in the Status display offers a similar
function. If no sample frequency can be recognized ‘Out Of Range’ will be shown, in case of an
error detection ‘No Lock’.
Therefore configuring the software to perform a digital recording is child´s play. After selecting
the required input
DIGI96
displays the current sample frequency. This parameter can then
be changed in the application’s audio attributes (or similar) dialog.
It often makes sense to monitor the input signal or send it directly to the output. The DIGI96
series includes a useful input monitor function, which can be set in the Settings dialog of the
DIGI96
driver (
Output/Automatic
). Activating Record or Pause in the application causes the
input signal to be passed directly to the digital and analog output. Under ASIO this settings has
no effect, as the monitoring behaviour is completely handled by the ASIO program itself.
To record under Sound Manager select
the DIGI96 as record device in the con-
trol panel Sound, Sound In. A click on
'Options' has no effect, further configu-
ration is done through the RME DIGI
Settings dialog.
Note that the card's input can't be chan-
ged in this Sound dialog. This is not a
bug but a feature. We have disabled the
input selection in all dialogs which call
Sound Manager functions. For a better
overview the currently active input is
displayed. Selecting an input is ONLY
done through 'RME DIGI Settings'.
8.4 Record while Play
DIGI96
allows the playback of audio data during the recording of further audio data, even at
different sample frequencies. This feature, known as
Enhanced Full Duplex
or
Record while
play
, is a must for multitrack harddisk recording, but it has to be supported by the recording
software.
