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- A32 DANTE
- Owner's Manual
Ferrofish A32 DANTE Owner's Manual
Summary of A32 DANTE
Page 1
Owner’s manual ferrofish a32 dante professional 32 x 32-channel ad/da converter ferrofish – brüderstrasse 10, 53545 linz am rhein www.Ferrofish.De version 1.3.
Page 2
Important safety instructions safety instructions safety instructions safety instructions safety symbols used in this manual: this symbol is an alert that there are important maintenance and operating instructions in the literature. This symbol warns the user of uninsulated, potentially dangerous vo...
Page 3: Introduction
3 introduction thank you for choosing the a32 dante as your new converter! The a32 dante is an a/d - d/a converter with 32 x 32 analog inputs and outputs, 64 x 64 dante, 64 x 64 madi and 32 x 32 adat digital channels. Furthermore, the integrated fpga and dsp enable routing of all channels to every i...
Page 4: Operation
4 operation the a32 dante can be operated completely from the front panel by using the select pot and the menu button. The power button can be used as a „home- button” and for switching the unit on and off. For switching it off, keep the button pressed for longer than 3 seconds. When you do, a count...
Page 5: Headphones
5 headphones when turning the select pot on the main screen the headphone menu is shown. You can select the volume of the headphone output now: when pressing menu again, you can change the following: • source: choose between analog in / out, madi in / out, adat in / out, dante in /out and mix 1-7. •...
Page 6: Main Menu
6 main menu by pressing menu you engage the main menu. Use the select pot to choose the desired menu point and press menu to select it. The main menu lets you choose from the following options: clock here you select if the a32 dante should generate the wordclock by itself (master) or if it should li...
Page 7: Dsp
7 dsp in the dsp menu optional dsp plugins can be loaded and edited. Preset levels, gains and the routing of the a32 dante can be saved and loaded in up to six different preset slots. Help you can change the language of the help system here and lookup the firmware version of the a32 dante..
Page 8: Main Menu - Clock
8 main menu - clock the clock source menu lets you select the wordclock source and the sample frequency of the a32 dante. The numbers below the labels show the internally generated clock as master or the measured external sample rate. If no sample rate is detected, „---“ will be displayed. Master if...
Page 9: Smux/1
9 main menu – clock - smux operation internally the a32 dante always uses all 32 analog channels, but the number of digital madi, adat and dante channels is limited in relation to the smux mode currently in use. Smux/1 in smux/1 mode offers sample frequencies from 32khz to 48khz. Smux/2 when running...
Page 10: Main Menu - Mix
10 main menu - mix inside the mix menu you can select and modify one of the seven mix presets. The a32 dante provides a downmix of all analog and digital i/o’s which is sent to the stereo headphone output on the front panel of the unit. Select one of these mix presets by using mix 1 to mix 7 as sour...
Page 11
11 main menu - dante digital the dante digital menu shows all analog and digital inputs and outputs. All digital inputs and outputs are shown as dots with a traffic light color code. This presents an overview about the signal flow between the interfaces. The led traffic light colors have the followi...
Page 12
12 these screens allow a sophisticated analysis of the status of the dante interface. Additionally, you can change some fundamental dante settings directly in this screen, which is very handy if you don’t have access to the dante controller software from audinate on your computer. Ethernet ports: sh...
Page 13
13 preferred master: if this is set to on, the a32 dante is handled as a preferred clock generator. As long as no other device inside the dante network is flagged as “preferred master”, the a32 dante is chosen as the master wordclock device. Wordclock from a32: uses the a32 dante internal wordclock ...
Page 14
14 main menu - setup - gains the analog inputs of the a32 dante can each be set to different sensitivities. You can choose between three reference levels: +4dbu, +13dbu and +20dbu. Using the dsp, you can additionally set the reference levels from -8dbu to +20dbu in 1 db steps. The dsp always calcula...
Page 15
15 main menu - setup - levels the levels screen is similar to the gains screen described on the previous page and is responsible for the levels of the analog outputs. As with the inputs, you can set the level of each channel in 1db steps from - 8dbu to +20dbu. The a32 dante offers individual analog ...
Page 16
16 main menu - setup - routing the a32 dante features a sophisticated routing matrix. In the routing screen you can see a graphical representation on the left side and a list view on the right screen. To change the routing, do the following: • choose the output: turn the select rotary to highlight a...
Page 17: 1 - Optical
17 main menu - setup - madi the a32 dante provides a flexible madi routing using the two madi ports: 1 - optical the a32 dante only uses the optical madi input. No automatic switching between the formats will happen. 2 - optical the a32 dante uses the optical madi input. When the signal is lost, the...
Page 18: 1 - Separate
18 main menu - setup - midi the midi routing screen is intended to allow you to choose the way midi data is routed between midi and midi over madi: 1 - separate midi-over-madi und midi are separated. Midi commands and commands for controlling the a32 dante are being received from both ports and send...
Page 19: Bnc Termination
19 main menu - setup - settings inside the settings menu the following items can be changed: bnc termination the wordclock of the a32 dante is terminated internally with a 75 ohm resistor by default. When daisy chaining the wordclock of several units, you should leave this option set to on. If you’r...
Page 20: Redundant Power
20 only transfer 56 (smux/2: 28, smux/4: 14) channels. This setting corresponds to an early madi specification, which is capable of using the remaining bandwidth for varispeed. Nowadays varispeed is not commonly used in favor of having the full 64 channels. Redundant power when using two power suppl...
Page 21
21 main menu - setup - lock to prevent accidental or forbidden operation of the a32 dante, you can lock the front panel. The headphone screen is still accessible, but all other functions are locked. To lock the a32 dante front panel, enter the pin number printed on the bottom of the unit: after ente...
Page 22: Main Menu - Dsp
22 main menu - dsp the sharc dsp built into the a32 dante is used for routing, mixing and gain/level settings. But the dsp can do much more audio processing: using the usb connection, you can install ferrofish-dsp plugins, which are able to process audio effects with high accuracy and without latenc...
Page 23: Main Menu - Preset
23 main menu - preset the a32 dante’s gains, levels and the routing can be permanently stored in one of six preset slots. This lets you preconfigure the a32 dante and saves you time later by just recalling the presets. The preset menu lets you choose which preset to load: after selecting the number ...
Page 24: Main Menu - Help
24 main menu - help the help screen shows you the schematic structure of the a32 dante, you can look up the firmware version and you can set the language of the help system. The a32 dante provides a help system, which explains all key sections of the unit, to guide you through using the a32 dante wi...
Page 25
25 a32 dante analog inputs and outputs: d-sub25 all analog inputs and outputs are fully balanced and can send or receive levels of +4dbu, +13dbu or +20dbu. Each channel can be set independently. You can also set levels between these three reference levels, which will be achieved digitally using the ...
Page 26
26 a32 dante digital interfaces - madi madi is a professional audio format, which can transfer 64 channels over a distance of up to 2 kilometers. When connecting several madi devices in series you need to put them in a daisy chain. This means that you connect the output of the first device to the in...
Page 27: Frame Switch.
27 when using sample rates higher than 48khz, channels have to be bundled to transport that higher data rate. As a result, the maximum amount of usable channels is reduced according to the following chart: the original madi standard utilized a maximum channel count of 56 channels instead of 64 chann...
Page 28
28 a32 dante digital interfaces - adat adat is a very common digital multichannel interface standard invented by alesis. It is capable of transferring eight channels of audio at up to 48khz over an optical plastic fiber cable. The maximum length of an adat connection is limited to 10 meters. When us...
Page 29
29 a32 dante digital interfaces - dante dante is an audio-over-ip gigabit-ethernet-based protocol by audinate. It delivers uncompressed, multi-channel, low-latency digital audio data over standard networks, while using common network switches. Dante allows both the connection to an existing dante ne...
Page 30
30 a32 dante interfaces – bnc wordclock every digital audio system needs a wordclock frequency to work. This clock frequency can either be generated by the system itself (master mode) or it can be supplied externally (slave mode). There can be only one master clock in a digital system, all other con...
Page 31: Usb
31 a32 dante interfaces – usb and midi usb the usb port can be used to remote control the a32 dante. When connecting to the pc, the a32 dante will appear as a usb-midi device. Also, usb will be used to flash new firmware to the a32 dante. Please visit our website to check for a new firmware version....
Page 32: Remote Software
32 remote software the a32 dante can be controlled from a computer via the remote software. To do so, select one option to connect the pc with the a32 dante: usb interface connect the a32 dante using a usb cable with your pc. A usb-midi driver will be installed automatically, then the connection wil...
Page 33
Technical specifications madi i/o: optical (multimode) + coaxial interface (aes10) 64 channels @32khz, 44.1khz, 48khz 32 channels @64khz, 88.2khz, 96khz 32 channels @128khz, 176.4khz, 192khz* * both interfaces work independent to achieve full 32+32 channels midi over madi implemented latency: 3 samp...
Page 34
Headphone: independent stereo channel select any mono or stereo source select one of 5 mixes of all inputs and outputs digital volume control audio processor: sharc dsp adsp-21489 / 400mhz routing of all 128+128 channels mixing to headphone output independent mixing to selectable analog output pair ...
Page 35: Emc
Ce conformity emc this device fully complies to all harmonized standards for the approximation of laws of the member states for the electromechanical compatibility (emc:2014/30/eu) and european low voltage directive 2014/35/eu. Rohs this device has been produced with lead free solder according to th...
Page 36
Reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: • reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. • increase the separation between the equipment and receiver. • connect the equipm...
Page 37
Warranty every a32 dante is thoroughly checked and tested. Ferrofish grants a warranty of two years after purchase thru an authorized dealer or distributor. The invoice is needed as a proof-of-purchase. In case of an permanent malfunction or any other defect under warranty that can’t be fixed by sup...
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Although the contents of this owner’s manual have been checked for errors, ferrofish cannot guarantee that it is correct. Ferrofish does not accept responsibility for any misleading or incorrect information within this manual. Copying any part of the manual or any commercial exploitation of these me...
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Info@ferrofish.De, www.Ferrofish.De all rights reserved. © 2017 ferrofish gmbh, version 1.3.