RME Audio Hammerfall HDSPe RayDAT, User Manual

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User's Guide HDSPe RayDAT
© RME
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13.3 Known Problems
If a computer does not provide sufficient CPU-power and/or sufficient PCIe-bus transfer rates,
then drop outs, crackling and noise will appear. We recommend deactivating all PlugIns to ver-
ify that these are not the reason for such effects.
Additional hard disk controllers, both on-board and PCI based, often violate the PCI specs. To
achieve the highest throughput they hog the PCI bus, even in their default setting. Thus when
working with low latencies heavy drop outs (clicks) are heard. Try to solve this problem by
changing the default setting of the controller (for example by reducing the 'PCI Bus Utilization').
Another common source of trouble is incorrect synchronization. ASIO does not support asyn-
chronous operation, which means that the input and output signals not only have to use the
same sample frequency, but also have to be in sync. All devices connected to the Hammerfall
DSP must be properly configured for Full Duplex operation. As long as SyncCheck (in the Set-
tings dialog) only displays
Lock instead of Sync , the devices have not been set up properly!
When using more than one HDSP system, all units have to be in sync, see chapter 15. Else a
periodically repeated noise will be heard.
Hammerfall DSP supports
ASIO Direct Monitoring (ADM). Please note that currently Nuendo,
Cubase and Logic either do not support ADM completely or error-free. The most often reported
problem is the wrong behaviour of panorama in a stereo channel.
In case of a drift between audio and MIDI, or in case of a fixed deviation (MIDI notes placed
close before or behind the correct position), the settings in Cubase/Nuendo have to be
changed. At the time of print the option 'Use System Timestamp' should be activated. The
HDSPe RayDAT supports both MME MIDI and DirectMusic MIDI. It depends on the used appli-
cation which one will work better.
14. Operation under GSIF (Gigasampler Interface)
The GSIF interface of the Hammerfall DSP allows direct operation with Gigastudio, with up to
36 channels, 192 kHz and 24 bit. The new GSIF 2.0 is also supported with both audio and MIDI.
The GSIF latency of the HDSPe RayDAT can be set between 32 and 256 samples. Above 256,
only the ASIO latency will rise. Such a setting can prevent performance problems on slower
machines when using ASIO and GSIF at the same time.
Please note that the Windows driver fully supports multi-client operation, including the combina-
tion WDM/ASIO. So for example Cubase, Gigastudio and Sonar can be used simultaneously,
provided each of these programs uses its own audio channels exclusively. For example ASIO
could use channels 1/2 and Gigastudio (with GSIF) channels 3/4 simultaneously, and so on.
Simultaneous operation of GSIF and ASIO requires to use different channels. For example,
if Cubase uses tracks 1/2 these tracks can not be used by Gigastudio.
Common Problems
Please note that Gigastudio is running unexpectedly in the background (thus blocking its as-
signed audio channels), as soon as the Gigastudio MIDI ports are used – even when Gigastu-
dio itself hasn't been started. This causes a lot of confusion, as the driver seems to behave
completely buggy, and the user does not recognize the simple reason for it – for example simul-
taneous operation of ASIO and GSIF on the same channels.
If Gigastudio starts up properly, loads gig files too, but won't play at all even when using the
virtual keyboard: Go to
Hardware/Routing and select a valid MIDI input port. Note that blank is
not valid, but <none> is.