Aardvark Direct Pro Q10 Owner's Manual

Summary of Direct Pro Q10

  • Page 1

    Aardvark usa 202 east washington suite 306 ann arbor, michigan 48104 web: http://www.Aardvark-pro.Com e-mail: info@aardvark-pro.Com voice: 734-665-8899 fax: 734-665-0694.

  • Page 2

    Manual revision 1.5.

  • Page 4: Q10

    Q10 owners manual table of contents introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 what’s included . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 installing the ...

  • Page 6: Page

    Page 1 1 q10 introduction welcome to the wonderful world of computer recording the aardvark story aardvark has over a decade’s worth of experience in designing digital audio master clocks that make the world’s best recording studios sound even better. We’ve incorporated that expertise into the new d...

  • Page 7: Q10

    The direct pro q10 box should contain all of the following items: 1- direct pro q10 pci host card connects directly to the motherboard of your computer 1- direct pro q10 interface box 1- 6’ shielded 25-pin cable 1- direct pro driver cd--rom 1- digital audio software cd--rom 1- direct pro q10 manual ...

  • Page 8: Q10

    1. Please unplug you computer before connecting or disconnecting the direct pro q10 interface box and pci host card. Connecting or disconnecting the hardware with electricity present will cause physical damage to the direct pro q10 or your computer. It’s best to disconnect the power cable completely...

  • Page 9: Q10

    Q10 software installation windows xp/2000 driver & control panel installation 1. Before installing the drivers/control panel, make sure the aardvark pci card is physically installed, and the q10 breakout box is attached to the pci card via the 25-pin cable. Once this is verified, power up the comput...

  • Page 10: Q10

    Q10 software installation windows xp/2000 driver & control panel installation 5. You will be asked what directory the drivers should install in. Stick with the default folder and click next to proceed 6. A final verification will appear, showting you the location where the files will be installed. C...

  • Page 11: Q10

    Q10 software installation mac osx driver & control panel installation 1. Once the hardware is physically installed on your computer, plug the computer back in and power up. 2. Put the macintosh driver/control panel cd in the cd drive. On most machines, the contents of the cd will automatically appea...

  • Page 12: Q10

    Q10 software installation mac osx driver & control panel installation 8. An authenticate screen will appear, requesting a name and password. If these values are already filled in, click ok to proceed. If they are not filled in, enter the same name and password of whomever has admin privileges on the...

  • Page 13: Q10

    Q10 software installation windows 95 driver & control panel installation 1. When windows restarts, it will automatically detect the card you installed. Since it is a pci card, it will identify itself as a “plug and play” device. Windows will indicate detecting the hardware with these dialogs: 2. Ins...

  • Page 14: Q10

    ☛ q10 software installation windows 95 driver & control panel installation 5. Once windows has finished loading, the direct pro q10 control panel installation program may appear automatically. If not, go to my computer, find your cd-rom drive, and click the setup.Exe icon. 6. Click next when you see...

  • Page 15: Q10

    Q10 software installation windows 98 driver & control panel installation 1. When windows restarts, it should automatically detect the card you installed. Since it is a pci card, it will identify itself as a “plug and play” device. Windows will indicate detecting the new hardware with these dialogs: ...

  • Page 16: Q10

    ☛ q10 software installation windows 98 driver & control panel installation 6. If the welcome screen does not automatically appear, run setup.Exe from your cd-rom. This can be done from windows by opening your cd-rom drive (usually d: ) in my computer and double clicking the setup.Exe icon. 7. Click ...

  • Page 17: Q10

    ! Q10 front panel analog combo inputs the q10 has eight analog inputs located on the front of the interface box. (an additional s/pdif digital input is located on the back, we’ll get to that later) the inputs are designed to accept either 1/4” line level signals, such as the output of mixers, synthe...

  • Page 18: Q10

    ☛ • analog inputs 1 - 4 are equipped to provide 48v phantom power. Phantom power is activated by pressing the phantom button on the front panel. Phantom power is used with condensers and other powered microphones. If you are not sure your microphone needs phantom power, simply try the microphone wit...

  • Page 19: Q10

    ! Q10 front panel phantom power button pressing this button will light its corresponding led, and send phantom power to mics connected to xlr inputs 1-4. Phantom power is needed for powered microphones like condenser mics. As long as xlr mics or 1/4" line level devices are connected to inputs 1-4, i...

  • Page 20: Q10

    Q10 front panel monitor volume knob headphone volume knob headphone jack page 1 5 1 5 • the monitor volume knob: this controls the volume of the monitor l and monitor r outputs on the back of the q10. Allowing you to adjust the monitor levels from the front of the q10 • headphone volume knob: this c...

  • Page 21: Q10

    Q10 rear panel analog outputs q10 rear panel monitor outputs the q10 has eight stereo output pairs on the back of the interface box. Although these outputs can be used in many ways by tweaking the q10 software, outputs 1-8 are typically used if you want to send tracks to separate outputs, allowing y...

  • Page 22: Q10

    For those of you unfamiliar, s/pdif inputs and outputs look like rca jacks, but they process very different information. They allow you to transmit and receive audio digitally, so it is not subject to the signal degradation and interference that is present in analog transfers. S/pdif transfers a ste...

  • Page 23: Q10

    ☛ q10 rear panel word clock i/o q10 rear panel midi inputs and outputs the midi inputs and outputs are provided for interfacing with other midi products and producing midi time code (mtc). These are standard midi ports that will be recognized by any midi software. Don’t look for any midi controls in...

  • Page 24: Q10

    ! ☛ this is where you connect the q10 interface box to the q10 host card (pictured below) with the included 25 pin cable. Important: use only the included cable to connect the host card to the q10 unit or you may damage your q10 interface, host card or computer. Note: the extra shielding on the pci ...

  • Page 25: Page

    Page 2 0 2 0 ☛ ☛ q10 rear panel inserts as mentioned earlier, inputs 1-4 (either xlr mic or 1/4” line level) on the front of the q10 can be used with these effects inserts. Those of you unfamiliar with effects inserts may find the concept a bit odd at first, but we assure you, they’re very nice to h...

  • Page 26: Page

    Page 2 1 2 1 q10 connection diagram direct pro q10 o w n e r s m a n u a l.

  • Page 27: Page

    Page 2 2 2 2 q10 connection notes direct pro q10 o w n e r s m a n u a l.

  • Page 28: Q10

    Q10 software q10 control panel the q10 control panel is very powerful & easy to master. It may seem a bit complex at first, but it becomes user-friendly rather quickly. The control panel is the cornerstone of the q10, and provides unparalleled flexibility and power! All of the knobs and faders on th...

  • Page 29: Q10

    ☛ ☛ input gain at the top of each channel, there are 3 buttons that allow you to provide different levels of gain to the corresponding inputs. Just beneath these buttons is a trim knob, which allows you to fine tune the volume of the incoming signal. Note: although m1 and m2 are typically used with ...

  • Page 30: Q10

    ☛ q10 software q10 control panel input controls input meters these meters operate two different ways: if you click advanced, go to the meters section, and choose pre-fader, the meters will respond to the exact db level of the incoming signal. If you choose post-fader in the meters section, the meter...

  • Page 31: Q10

    Mute the mute button allows you to remove an incoming signal from the monitor mix. You should be aware that mute does not actually mute the input, and the signal can still be recorded. Mute simply removes the incoming signals from the monitor. This is helpful if you want to record microphones or oth...

  • Page 32: Q10

    Q10 software q10 control panel playback controls playback controls just to the right of the input controls are five groups of faders to control the output channels. Although it may seem like it, these faders are not hard wired to the hardware outputs on the back of the q10 these faders are used to b...

  • Page 33: Page

    Page 2 8 2 8 ☛ monitor on the far right there are faders labelled monitor. This allows you to boost and cut the main monitor mix. These faders typically affect the headphone output and the monitor l/r outputs. The monitor fader can affect the other 1/4" outputs if monitor l/r is connected to them th...

  • Page 34: Page

    ☛ page 2 9 2 9 ! ☛ routing the routing section allows you to control what signals are sent to each output on the back of the q10. A picture of the q10 outputs is provided, with a menu beneath each output. Double click a menu to access a list of signal paths that can be routed to an output. Note: wha...

  • Page 35: Q10

    Q10 software q10 control panel presets presets the q10 is very flexible, allowing you to have multiple configurations for different situations. You can load and save these various configurations by using the presets menu. The presets menu saves and loads the entire q10 software configuration, includ...

  • Page 36: Q10

    Advanced clicking the advanced button on the q10 control panel brings up a menu that provides access to additional features. General tab: registration: you may be asked for this number if you contact tech support. Other than that, you do not need to be concerned with it. Issue warnings on sample rat...

  • Page 37: Q10

    Q10 software q10 control panel advanced meters: • if you select post-fader, the q10 input meters to measure the incoming signal and any changes applied to that signal by the channel faders. • if you select pre-fader , the meters will measure the unaltered input signal, which is also the level that y...

  • Page 38: Q10

    ☛ asio and directx tab direct sound buffer size: this lets you choose a buffer size for fine tuning performance in directsound applications. This does not apply to multitrack software. Direct sound is most commonly used by software synthesizers, such as rebirth, fruityloops, retro, reality, and othe...

  • Page 39: Q10

    Q10 software motu digital performer™ & emagic logic audio™ quickstart the following guides are not intended to replace the manuals that came with your audio software. Your audio recording software already came with documentation and help menus to help you along. Rather, think of them as a supplement...

  • Page 40: Q10

    Q10 software motu digital performer™ & emagic logic audio™ quickstart motu digital performer (mac only): first, be sure you have copied the aardvark asio driver into digital performer's asio drivers folder. If you are unsure how to do this, please refer to step 10 of the mac installation instruction...

  • Page 41: Q10

    Steinberg cubase sx/sl /nuendo (mac & pc) for mac users, be sure you have copied the aardvark asio driver into digital performer's asio drivers folder. If you are unsure how to do this, please refer to step 10 of the mac installation instructions on page ((())). Open the program and go to the device...

  • Page 46: Q10

    On the advanced tab: · the data directory and picture directory must be different directories, regardless of where they are. · no checkmarks in enable read caching or enable write caching · a checkmark should be in "copy and manage imported files" · a checkmark should still be in "always use mme int...

  • Page 48: Q10

    Nemesys gigastudio™: go to the settings menu on the hardware routing tab the hardware choice is aardvark pro q10 multichannel sample rate 44.1 (or whatever sample rate you prefer), and bit depth 32 you can enable as many outputs as you wish. Keep in mind, though, that if you plan on using other soft...

  • Page 49: Q10

    Q10 support frequently asked questions presented below are answers to some common questions about the q10 and soundcards in general that may come up. We’ll try to cover as many as possible here. Question: what kind of cable do i need to use word clock? Answer: fortunately, most dealers sell cables c...

  • Page 50: Q10

    Question: can i put multiple q10 units in the same computer, or can i use the q10 with another aardvark card? Answer: up to four (4) aardvark products, q10 or otherwise, can be used in the same computer. In order for them to be synchronized, you must choose one of the cards as the master, and the ot...

  • Page 51: Q10

    Q10 support frequently asked questions question: what is the latency of the direct pro q10? Answer: this is not as simple a question as it seems. There are different types of latency that can occur on a system, and latency itself can vary a great deal depending on what audio software is used, and ho...

  • Page 52: Q10

    Problem: my inputs/outputs don’t seem to be working. Solution: with all of the variables involved with audio software and instruments, its tough to figure out what is at fault if something is not working correctly. Here’s a way to test your inputs and outputs simultaneously: first, go to routing and...

  • Page 53: Q10

    Q10 support troubleshooting general issues problem: when windows starts, the opening sound does not sound the way i’m accustomed to hearing it solution: the q10 is optimized for professional, high-resolution audio recording and playback. Most windows system sounds are low resolution. On pcs intended...

  • Page 54: Q10

    ☛ problem: i can’t hear my midi device through the q10 solution: be sure the audio outputs of your midi device are attached to the q10 midi inputs. Although midi is capable of transferring data, it is unable to transmit audio. Note: if you are using a midi device to trigger a virtual instrument or s...

  • Page 55: Q10

    Q10 support troubleshooting general issues problem: i can’t see the pan controls on the bottom of the q10 control panel. Solution: you need to increase the screen size your monitor accepts. Go to the windows control panel and select display. Then, select the settings tab. Your screen area should be ...

  • Page 56: Q10

    Problem: i am recording an instrument/microphone, and it’s only coming out of one side when it plays back solution: keep in mind that each input of the q10 is mono. In order to record a stereo signal, you must record two inputs at the same time. It is also possible to record a mono track, then send ...

  • Page 59: Q10

    Q10 support troubleshooting software specific issues problem: i’m trying to record a stereo track, but when i play it back, it only comes out on one side. Solution: this will happen if you’re try to record one input to a track, but the track is configured to record in stereo. If you are only recordi...

  • Page 61: Q10

    Q10 addendum configuring windows for audio the following are basic steps you can take to optimize windows for use with the q10. • disable windows system sounds: sounds such as the “ding” when a window appears, or the chimes that play when windows boots are example of windows system sounds. The major...

  • Page 62: Q10

    • create alternate hardware profiles for audio use and standard computer use: this is performed differently depending on the version of windows installed. Consult your windows documentation for exact steps on how to do this. When you create multiple hardware profiles in windows, you will be asked wh...

  • Page 63: Q10

    ☛ q10 addendum using multiple q10s up to four aardvark cards can be used on the same computer. Each unit requires its own pci card and breakout box. After installing additional q10s, your recording software will automatically recognize additional inputs and outputs available for use. When multiple q...

  • Page 64: Q10

    If you have 3 q10s: q10 #1 box- connect the s/pdif out to the s/pdif in of q10 #2, and connect the word clock in to the word clock out of q10 #2 in the panel for q10 #1, set "source select" to wc q10#2 box- it should already have two cables connected to box one. In addition, connect the s/pdif out t...