background image

LAYLA

®

24 

 

LAYLA

®

LapTop

GINA

®

24

 

MIA

™ 

MIA

MIDI

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Owner’s Manual Version 3.1.1 for Windows 

 

 

 

Summary of Contents for LAYLA24

Page 1: ...LAYLA 24 LAYLA LapTop GINA 24 MIA MIAMIDI Owner s Manual Version 3 1 1 for Windows...

Page 2: ...t the type of power at your location contact your local power company 8 Grounding Does not apply to Gina24 Mia or MiaMIDI Precautions should be taken so that the grounding capabilities of the unit are...

Page 3: ...ician when any of the following occur a Objects have fallen or liquid has spilled into the unit b The product has been exposed to rain or water c The product does not operate normally or when a marked...

Page 4: ...herwise authorized in advance by the Echo Service Department Unauthorized service repair or modification will void this warranty To obtain factory service Contact Echo Digital Audio Corporation at 805...

Page 5: ...teria CA 93013 Echo Layla 24 Layla LapTop Gina 24 Mia and MiaMIDI are trademarks of Echo Digital Audio Corporation ADAT is a registered trademark of Alesis Corporation Windows Windows 98 Windows Me Wi...

Page 6: ...NECTING TO MIA 25 CONNECTING TO MIAMIDI 27 USING AUDIO SOFTWARE 29 GINA24 AND LAYLA24 29 MIA AND MIAMIDI 32 VIRTUAL OUTPUTS MIA AND MIAMIDI 33 CONSOLE3 WDM 34 RUNNING THE CONSOLE 34 CONSOLE WINDOW 34...

Page 7: ...CONTROLS 67 ADJUSTING MONITOR AND PLAYBACK LEVELS 67 SETTING CLOCK SOURCES AND OUTPUT CONTROLS 68 SYNCHRONIZING MULTIPLE DEVICES 68 THE FILE MENU 70 THE PREFERENCES PAGE 71 DIGITAL I O SELECTING THE S...

Page 8: ...APPENDIX D WDM WINDOWS DRIVER MODEL FAQ 93 APPENDIX E AN INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL RECORDING 97 APPENDIX F SPECIFICATIONS 103...

Page 9: ...s Introduction Thank you for choosing Echo Digital Audio We think you ll find your Echo product to be an extremely flexible high performance tool for your computer based hard disk recording system 9 I...

Page 10: ...Please note The cable included with the Gina24 system is a shielded audio cable that has been custom manufactured to exacting standards Use of any other cable such as a computer printer cable will sub...

Page 11: ...fast high capacity IDE or SCSI hard disk drive Windows 98 Me 2000 XP Peripheral audio equipment such as a mixer microphones studio monitors musical instruments etc In order to use Layla24 LapTop you l...

Page 12: ...ntrol Panel which can be found under Settings from the Start button On the control panel you will find an icon titled Sounds or Sounds and Multimedia After double clicking on this icon you will see a...

Page 13: ...lect Install Windows Drivers and follow the on screen directions 2 Once you have installed the appropriate driver for your version of Windows turn your computer off IMPORTANT Unplug your computer and...

Page 14: ...p An Esync cable comes with Gina24 and can be used to daisy chain several 24 bit Echo cards together Esync is a proprietary form of super clock that allows you to sync together multiple 24 bit Echo pr...

Page 15: ...pin DIN connector labeled MIDI S PDIF at the bottom of the PCI card bracket 12 You can now attach external audio devices to the connectors Information on attaching external devices to your particular...

Page 16: ...If you will not be mounting the box in a rack remove the backing from the four rubber feet and place one in each bottom corner of the interface unit Then be sure to locate the rack mount box in a sec...

Page 17: ...e screen While it is possible to hot dock the card by inserting it with the laptop powered up it is recommended the card only be inserted or removed with the power off If you have to remove the card w...

Page 18: ...s Analog Inputs and Outputs Layla24 has eight analog inputs and eight analog outputs on the rear panel The input and output connections can accept unbalanced or balanced signals via connectors By defa...

Page 19: ...a replacement cable from Echo ADAT S PDIF Optical I O Next to the COMPUTER connector is a pair of connectors labeled OPTICAL IN and OUT These connectors are used to transmit digital audio data among...

Page 20: ...75 ohm coaxial RG59 video cables are recommended Word Clock Next to the S PDIF ports are the Word Clock connectors These connectors allow you to synchronize one Layla24 to another Layla24 Layla or to...

Page 21: ...ce is for MIDI The MIDI ports can be used for receiving MIDI time code MTC or sending and receiving MIDI signals between your digital audio MIDI sequencing software and external sound modules etc MIDI...

Page 22: ...The input and output connections can accept balanced or unbalanced jacks via connectors By default the inputs and outputs are set to receive or send a 4 dBu signal You can also select 10 dBV for each...

Page 23: ...ctor is a pair of connectors labeled OPTICAL IN and OUT These connectors are used to transmit digital audio data via an optical signal You can use this port for ADAT 8 channels or for optical S PDIF s...

Page 24: ...audio data between digital audio devices via an electrical signal S PDIF data can use the full 24 bit sample width used internally on Gina24 When connecting devices to the S PDIF jacks on Gina24 the u...

Page 25: ...ptimum performance it is recommended that you use balanced signals when connecting to Mia s analog connectors Mia uses TRS connectors tip ring sleeve for connecting balanced line level signals The thr...

Page 26: ...ia When connecting devices to the S PDIF jacks on Mia the use of standard analog RCA audio cables is not recommended For reliable S PDIF operation 75ohm coaxial RG59 video cables are recommended 26 Au...

Page 27: ...receive or send a 4 dBu signal You can also select 10 dBV for each individual input and output see the description of the console below For optimum performance it is recommended that you use balanced...

Page 28: ...of the PCI card bracket The S PDIF connectors are used to transmit digital audio data via an electrical signal S PDIF data can use the full 24 bit sample width used internally on MiaMIDI When connect...

Page 29: ...the list for Gina24 will be similar For playback devices you should see Win98 WinMe VxD WinMe 2000 WinXP WDM Layla24 1 2 Analog Playback Layla24 1 2 Analog Out Layla24 3 4 Analog Playback Layla24 3 4...

Page 30: ...1 2 ADAT Record Layla24 3 4 Digital In Layla24 3 4 ADAT Record Layla24 5 6 Digital In Layla24 5 6 ADAT Record Layla24 7 8 Digital In Layla24 7 8 ADAT Record Please refer to the documentation for your...

Page 31: ...not used not used ADAT 3 4 Layla24 5 6 Digital not used not used ADAT 5 6 Layla24 7 8 Digital not used not used ADAT 7 8 In other words if you want to play or record using S PDIF set the hardware to e...

Page 32: ...tual Out Mia 7 8 Virtual Out Win98 WinMe VxD Win2000 WinXP WDM Mia 1 2 Analog Record Mia 1 2 Analog In Mia S PDIF Record Mia 1 2 Digital In You ll find these same input and output options available wh...

Page 33: ...appear to software as if they have eight separate outputs These are mixed together with Mia MiaMIDI s on board DSP to produce the actual or physical outputs that connect to external equipment without...

Page 34: ...running the console Show all Console3 windows and Start the tray icon If you select Start the tray icon a red Echo icon will be placed on your system tray This is called the launcher Double clicking t...

Page 35: ...us Audio played through the selected channels by an application any analog input and any digital input may be mixed to an output bus Screenshot of Layla24 Console3 main window other Echo hardware will...

Page 36: ...At the bottom is the label Analog out 1 2 This indicates you are currently controlling everything mixed to analog outputs 1 and 2 These channels correspond to the currently selected button on the bus...

Page 37: ...input to 10 dBV mode This button will affect the level of what you record as well as the monitor level Below the nominal level button is the peak meter for this channel labeled in decibels Under the p...

Page 38: ...in either S PDIF mode the S PDIF inputs will come in digital inputs 1 and 2 If you are in ADAT mode the console expands to display the eight ADAT digital inputs Playback Strips The controls for the le...

Page 39: ...el you can achieve the full 24 bit dynamic range of the system Clock and digital mode settings The area within the yellow outline on the upper right lets you select your sync source and digital mode I...

Page 40: ...ividual pieces of equipment will act independently of each other This scenario may be fine for some musical applications however it is not appropriate for situations where sample accurate synchronizat...

Page 41: ...neous channels of digital audio data over fiber optic cables Unlike wire cables fiber optic cables do not add noise or interference Layla24 and Gina24 can send out or master ADAT clock as well slave t...

Page 42: ...u have two Layla24s connected Simply set Layla24 1 to Internal for its input clock Now connect the first Layla24 to the second one via a BNC cable running from Word Clock Out on Layla24 1 to Word Cloc...

Page 43: ...Settings dialog gives you five different tabs to choose from Driver Console Digital I O GSIF and About Driver Here you can do two things lock the sample rate and tell the driver whether or not to syn...

Page 44: ...ity and consume a great deal of CPU power Locking the sample rate forces Windows to only use the hardware at the locked rate In general we recommend you set the sample rate first in your audio applica...

Page 45: ...cently opened session file with the current settings By default a directory with your card name is created and all sessions for that card are saved to it Sessions are not cross compatible between diff...

Page 46: ...a digital copy The S PDIF output defaults to the Professional format If you are recording from your Echo hardware into a consumer DAT deck CD recorder or Mini Disc recorder the device may not be able...

Page 47: ...all products 47 GSIF This window allows you to set the latency of GigaStudio in terms of samples Select the value here that provides the best tradeoff between performance and reliability WDM console a...

Page 48: ...WDM console all products 48 About This displays the console version and driver version numbers We feel that this is the single most exciting feature on the new console WDM console all products...

Page 49: ...y to use location From the console you can mix the virtual outputs control the output levels select clocks and adjust input monitoring Note While this portion of the manual primarily refers to Layla24...

Page 50: ...r monitors directly below the inputs that are being monitored and outputs on the right hand side The controls for a particular function stereo pair are then further grouped into a box that contains se...

Page 51: ...itor control pair directly below it on the console At the top of each monitor pair are radio buttons that allow you to selectively mute M or solo S each channel In the middle you will find a pair of f...

Page 52: ...set the level at which input pair 1 2 is monitored for each of the four stereo analog output pairs on Layla24 You would first find the monitor control that corresponds to inputs 1 2 the control on the...

Page 53: ...switches that switch between professional 4 dBu and consumer 10 dBV levels This allows you to connect either professional or consumer gear to each output You will also find level meters in the middle...

Page 54: ...utomatically disable those that are unavailable Depending on what external devices you have connected you may have as many as four out of five options available Layla24 Input clocks Digital Mode Switc...

Page 55: ...efully coexist with audio equipment from other manufacturers but be aware that operating alongside another product is not the same as operating with it In order for accurate synchronization to occur t...

Page 56: ...s or RCA cables Echo products will utilize the synchronization clock that is embedded in the S PDIF while it decodes the bitstream Your Echo digital audio system can only sync to S PDIF clock if the m...

Page 57: ...Suppose that Layla24 is the only audio device used in your system Since you have no other devices to synchronize with simply select Internal for Layla24 s input clock Layla24 will then use its own clo...

Page 58: ...h closes the Console window You can reopen the Console by clicking on the appropriate colored letter in the bottom left of the Windows taskbar The third option under the File menu is Exit which closes...

Page 59: ...or consumer The primary difference between the two is in the implementation of the SCMS copy protection bit which in the Consumer format prevents the user from making digital copies of a digital copy...

Page 60: ...see a pair of check boxes in an area labeled S PDIF Out Format one box is labeled Consumer and the other Professional Select the appropriate format for your DAT if you don t know which one to use and...

Page 61: ...you should leave this switch on If you have a program that is telling you that our hardware isn t full duplex chances are you can fix this by either disabling this switch or enabling Multi client audi...

Page 62: ...and clocking functions of Mia MiaMIDI and it brings these controls to a single easy to use location From the console you can mix the virtual outputs control the output levels select clocks and adjust...

Page 63: ...the left virtual output mixing controls in the middle and outputs on the right hand side The controls for a particular function stereo pair are then further grouped into a box that contains selection...

Page 64: ...p of each monitor pair are radio buttons that allow you to selectively mute M or solo S each channel In the middle you will find a pair of faders that will allow you to set the levels of the monitor s...

Page 65: ...itored Selection of the input is really just a matter of using the correct monitor control box A monitor setting will always affect the input pair that is directly above it To set the monitor for the...

Page 66: ...ing virtual outputs 1 2 and 3 4 to the analog outputs are shown above Just like the monitor controls there are duplicate controls for mixing to the digital outputs that are not shown To view these con...

Page 67: ...een the two levels Just like the monitor controls the output faders can be reset to default by pressing the Ctrl button and left clicking on the fader Adjusting Monitor and Playback Levels Mia MiaMIDI...

Page 68: ...ols for the digital outputs are shown Clock Source and Output Control buttons are at the bottom of the Console Synchronizing Multiple Devices Mia and MiaMIDI are designed to work alongside other audio...

Page 69: ...skips be sure that you have selected Digital as your input clock Now let s take a look at some possible configurations and how you might set them up from a synchronization standpoint Let s start simp...

Page 70: ...which closes the Console window You can reopen the Console by clicking on the blue M in the bottom left of the Windows taskbar The third option under the File menu is Exit which closes the current ins...

Page 71: ...consumer The primary difference between the two is in the implementation of the SCMS copy protection bit which in the Consumer format prevents the user from making digital copies of a digital copy Mia...

Page 72: ...s you to enable or disable dithering on the digital inputs It is off by default Most of the time you will want to leave this setting disabled The only time you will want to use dithering is when you a...

Page 73: ...ions will be ignored and the hardware will remain at that sample rate no matter what This feature is most useful in Multi client audio mode see below Suppose you have locked the sample rate to 44100 I...

Page 74: ...n Control Panel In the Control Panel window locate the icon for System and double click on it Click on the tab titled Device Manager Now locate the line titled Sound video and game controllers Finally...

Page 75: ...d is enabled In the Echo Properties window that appears you ll see a checkbox labeled Monitor during playback Uncheck the box to disable input monitoring during playback recheck it to enable input mon...

Page 76: ...e you own both Cubase VST multitrack audio and Reality software synthesizer You can now set Cubase VST to play out through outputs 1 through 6 and set Reality to play out through outputs 7 and 8 The d...

Page 77: ...our Echo product with the Gigasampler or Gigastudio software samplers Conversely when GSIF is enabled you will not be able to use the Echo DirectSound driver The first checkbox is called Enable Direct...

Page 78: ...und output that was missing before The third checkbox is labeled Lock DirectSound format This allows you to force the DirectSound driver to playback files at a certain sample rate and bit depth It als...

Page 79: ...form This form will be sent to our technical support staff and they will respond to you quickly Please fill out the form completely The best way to get the help you need is by giving us plenty of deta...

Page 80: ...ng the installation process you moved an existing card from one slot to another Windows keeps track of installed devices not only by peripheral type but also by physical location In moving a card from...

Page 81: ...Select Preferences under the File menu In the window that appears you ll see a pair of check boxes in an area labeled S PDIF Out Format one box is labeled Consumer and the other Professional Select th...

Page 82: ...hear a high pitched squealing sound or your S PDIF signal has gone crazy Solution Reset the sample rate Windows always sets the sample rate to 11kHz at startup Because S PDIF doesn t support this rat...

Page 83: ...t is an Interrupt A computer has two ways of telling when a device such as an audio card is ready to exchange data with a program One way is to have the computer periodically ask or poll the device to...

Page 84: ...lay card has built into it a list of what resources it requires including how many interrupts it needs and which ones it can use The BIOS will then configure each card and if needed assign an appropri...

Page 85: ...l not be assigned by Plug and Play to another card Or if you have a PCI card that doesn t like to share you may be able to reassign it to a different IRQ The first thing to do if you think you have an...

Page 86: ...rd has been identified you have a few different options One option is to simply remove the card from your system However you ve likely got the card in there for a reason so unless it s an old sound ca...

Page 87: ...st during the boot up routine Once you re in the BIOS control panel check to see if you are given the option of manually configuring your interrupts Some BIOS s such as those from Award allow you to c...

Page 88: ...Select the tab labeled Reserve Resources and make sure that Interrupt Request is selected 5 Click on the Add button and enter the IRQ that is being used by your legacy card 6 Windows may prompt you t...

Page 89: ...is resource setting cannot be modified If you are allowed to change the IRQ a window will appear that lets you choose from several different values Scroll through the different values until you find o...

Page 90: ...lication all running at the same time It s very flexible If you want to use multi client audio you need to enable it in the main driver properties page See the section entitled Additional Configuratio...

Page 91: ...es only Q What are the rules that I should follow if I want to use multiple audio applications at the same time Set all your applications to the same sample rate You can also use the sample rate lock...

Page 92: ...gram all at the same time Sure If you don t understand the question don t worry about it Q What s the downside to all this The main downside is that your computer may very well have a hard time keepin...

Page 93: ...t WDM and our hardware if you meet any of the following criteria You are running Windows 2000 or Windows XP You are running SONAR or some other audio application that talks directly to WDM drivers If...

Page 94: ...r This means it was natively developed for Windows 2000 that is it s not a legacy driver running on a newer OS However WDM drivers work differently again this is simplified Audio application Microsoft...

Page 95: ...WDM driver now incorporates PureWave mode which provides 24 bit support for applications that don t work with WDM drivers For more information please refer to the readme file that installed with the d...

Page 96: ...y don t you guys support WDM on Windows 98 or 98SE One of the problems we have with running a WDM driver is we are largely at the mercy of the WDM audio subsystem in Windows WDM audio in Windows 98 is...

Page 97: ...of numbers is played back through a digital to analog converter or DAC which converts the numbers back into an analog signal This signal can then be sent to an amplifier and speakers for listening In...

Page 98: ...ailable also determines the potential dynamic range of the device Moving a binary number one space to the left multiplies the value by two so each additional bit doubles the number of possible values...

Page 99: ...udio signals are represented by binary data each bit of audio information represents 6dB A 16 bit number can represent a total range of 96dB and a 24 bit number can represent a total range of 144dB 6...

Page 100: ...see with professional studio equipment such as mixers or with consumer equipment such as home stereos and CD players A 4 dBu signal has a voltage level of 1 23 volts and a 10 dBV signal has a voltage...

Page 101: ...common mode noise will still make it through although at a much reduced level How well an input amplifier rejects this common mode noise is called the common mode rejection ratio abbreviated as CMRR a...

Page 102: ...small as 137 dBu 7dBu 144dBu or approximately 10 nano volts That s 10 one billionths of a volt Transistors and resistors produce noise in this range just by having electrons moving around due to heat...

Page 103: ...ynamic Range 108dB A weighted THD n 0 001 20Hz 22kHz A weighted Nominal Input Level 4 dBu Maximum Input Level 18dBu Input Impedance 10K Analog Outputs x8 balanced TRS Frequency Response 10Hz 22kHz 0 2...

Page 104: ...balanced analog outputs with high performance 24 bit 128x oversampling digital to analog converters S PDIF digital I O with up to 24 bit resolution ADAT optical digital I O Headphone output with volum...

Page 105: ...110dB A weighted THD n 0 001 20Hz 22kHz A weighted Nominal Input Level 4 dBu Maximum Input Level 22dBu Input Impedance 10K Analog Outputs x8 balanced TRS Frequency Response 10Hz 22kHz 0 25dB Dynamic...

Page 106: ...outputs with high performance 24 bit 128x oversampling digital to analog converters S PDIF digital I O with up to 24 bit resolution ADAT optical digital I O Headphone output with volume control On boa...

Page 107: ...B Dynamic Range 106dB A weighted THD n 0 001 20Hz 22kHz Nominal Input Level 4 dBu Maximum Input Level 18dBu Input Impedance 10K Analog Outputs x2 balanced TRS Frequency Response 10Hz 22kHz 0 5dB Dynam...

Page 108: ...ing analog to digital converters Two balanced analog outputs with high performance 24 bit 128x oversampling digital to analog converters S PDIF digital I O with up to 24 bit resolution On board 24 bit...

Page 109: ...102 E Echo Console 34 62 Echo Console controls 51 64 Esync 41 57 G GSIF 77 H hardware installation 13 I input controls 64 input meters 51 install multiple Layla24s 80 interface box installing 18 22 i...

Page 110: ...e 97 sample rate lock 61 73 SAW compatibility mode 75 SCMS copy protection 59 71 81 selecting a slot 13 settings 74 software synthesizer 91 specifications 103 static electricity discharging 13 synchro...

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