MOTU Audio Express User's Guide Page 1

™ 4pre User Guide for Windows 1280 Massachusetts AvenueCambridge, MA 02138Business voice: (617) 576-2760Business fax: (617) 576-3609Web site: www.mot

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CHAPTER 11 1 About the 4pre Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11The 4pre Rear Panel.

ABOUT THE 4PRE 12 6 inputs and 8 outputs All 4pre inputs and outputs can be used simulta-neously, for a total of 6 inputs and 8 outputs:All inputs an

ABOUT THE 4PRE 13 computer. This gives you maximum flexibility and compatibility with today’s ever-expanding universe of Mac and Windows computers.Th

ABOUT THE 4PRE 14 CueMix FX CueMix FX gives you complete control over the 4pre’s CueMix FX on-board mixer, which provides no-latency monitoring, mixi

CHAPTER 15 2 Packing List and System Requirements PACKING LIST The 4pre ships with the items listed below. If any of these items are not present in y

PACKING LIST AND SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 16

CHAPTER 17 3 Installing the 4pre Software OVERVIEW Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

INSTALLING THE 4PRE SOFTWARE 18 MOTU AUDIO DRIVERSASIO ASIO is an acronym for Audio Streaming Input and Output . The MOTU Audio ASIO driver provide

CHAPTER 19 4 Installing the 4pre Hardware OVERVIEW Here’s an overview for installing the 4pre: Important note before you begin! . . . . . . . . . . .

About the Mark of the Unicorn License Agreement and Limited Warranty on Software TO PERSONS WHO PURCHASE OR USE THIS PRODUCT: carefully read all the

INSTALLING THE 4PRE HARDWARE20CONNECT THE 4PRE INTERFACEYour 4pre audio interface is equipped with both a 9-pin FireWire B (400 Mbit/sec) connector an

INSTALLING THE 4PRE HARDWARE213 In Device Manager, open the Universal Serial Bus Controllers section.4 Look in the list of USB devices. An Enhanced U

INSTALLING THE 4PRE HARDWARE22CONNECT AUDIO INPUTS AND OUTPUTSHere are a few things to keep in mind as you are making audio connections to other devic

INSTALLING THE 4PRE HARDWARE23The 4pre on-board mixer also supplies 12dB of digital trim adjustment for the S/PDIF input pair, which can be adjusted

INSTALLING THE 4PRE HARDWARE24 PCI FireWire cards — If you plan to connect the 4pre to a PCI card and run the 4pre under bus power, the PCI card must

INSTALLING THE 4PRE HARDWARE25A TYPICAL 4PRE SETUPHere is a typical 4pre studio setup. In this example, no external mixer is needed. All mixing and p

INSTALLING THE 4PRE HARDWARE26CONNECT MULTIPLE MOTU INTERFACESYou can daisy-chain up to three MOTU FireWire interfaces on a single FireWire bus, with

INSTALLING THE 4PRE HARDWARE27Adding additional interfaces with a second FireWire busThird-party FireWire bus expansion products in the form of a car

INSTALLING THE 4PRE HARDWARE28

Part 2 Using the 4pre

3 Contents Part 1: Getting Started 7 Quick Reference: 4pre Front Panel 8 Quick Reference: 4pre Rear Panel 9 Quick Reference: MOTU Audio Console 11 A

CHAPTER315 MOTU Audio ConsoleOVERVIEWMOTU Audio Console gives you access to basic 4pre hardware settings, such as sample rate, clock source and more.A

MOTU AUDIO CONSOLE32‘GENERAL’ TAB SETTINGSSample RateChoose the desired Sample Rate for recording and playback. The 4pre can operate at 44.1 (the stan

MOTU AUDIO CONSOLE33S/PDIFThe S/PDIF clock source setting refers to the S/PDIF coaxial input jack on the 4pre. This setting allows the 4pre to slave

MOTU AUDIO CONSOLE34will make your software respond faster; raising the Samples Per Buffer will make it a little bit slower, but barely enough to noti

CHAPTER356 4pre Front Panel OperationOVERVIEWThe 4pre offers front-panel mixing via six rotary encoders and a bank of status LEDs.Push-button rotary e

4PRE FRONT PANEL OPERATION36MIXING WITH THE FRONT PANEL CONTROLSThe 4pre can operate as a mixer, and you can use the knobs on the front panel to contr

4PRE FRONT PANEL OPERATION37Controlling panIf a mix is selected and the pan LED is dark, as shown in (Figure 6-3), this indicates that the front-pane

4PRE FRONT PANEL OPERATION38on in the computer. Using the 4pre as a monitor mixer in this fashion is a good way to avoid latency (delay) issues that c

CHAPTER397 Configuring Host Audio SoftwareOVERVIEWThe 4pre provides multi-channel audio input and output for ASIO- and WDM-compatible audio application

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CONFIGURING HOST AUDIO SOFTWARE40If you are slaving the 4pre and your host software to SMPTE time code, follow the directions in “Syncing to SMPTE tim

CONFIGURING HOST AUDIO SOFTWARE41Cubase and NuendoIn Cubase or Nuendo, go to the Device Setup window. Click the VST Audio System item in the Devices

CONFIGURING HOST AUDIO SOFTWARE42SONARIn Cakewalk SONAR, you can use the MOTU ASIO driver or the MOTU WDM driver. Note that when using ASIO, only one

CONFIGURING HOST AUDIO SOFTWARE435 Check the 4pre inputs and outputs that you wish to use and uncheck the ones you don’t, as shown in Figure 7-7 on p

CONFIGURING HOST AUDIO SOFTWARE44Mix1 1-2 return busIn your host audio software audio input menus, you’ll see an 4pre input called Mix1 Return 1-2. Th

CHAPTER458 Reducing Monitoring LatencyOVERVIEWMonitoring latency is that slight delay you hear when you run an input signal through your host audio so

REDUCING MONITORING LATENCY46MONITORING LIVE INPUTThere are two ways to monitor live audio input with an 4pre: 1) through the computer or 2) via the 4

REDUCING MONITORING LATENCY47ADJUSTING THE AUDIO I/O BUFFERA buffer is a small amount of computer memory used to hold data. For audio interfaces like

REDUCING MONITORING LATENCY48Lower latency versus higher CPU overheadThe buffer setting has a large impact on the following things: Patch thru latenc

REDUCING MONITORING LATENCY49Using the CueMix FX applicationIf your host audio software does not support direct hardware monitoring, you run the 4pre

Part 1 Getting Started

REDUCING MONITORING LATENCY50

CHAPTER519 CueMix FXOVERVIEWCueMix FX is a cross-platform software application that provides graphic, on-screen control for the 4pre’s mixing features

CUEMIX FX52Many inputs to one output pairIt might be useful to think of each mix as some number of inputs all mixed down to a stereo output pair. CueM

CUEMIX FX53WORKING WITH A MIXEach mix has the following components: A stereo output with master fader Name Master mute (to enable/disable the enti

CUEMIX FX54Input panThe pan knob (Figure 9-1) for each input pans the input across the mix’s stereo outputs. If the input itself is grouped as a stere

CUEMIX FX55Figure 9-2: Typical hardware setup for Talkback and Listenback.Talkback / Listenback mic inputChoose the audio input to which your Talkbac

CUEMIX FX56Controlling Talkback and Listenback volumeTo control the volume of the Talkback and/or Listenback mics, adjust their input fader in CueMix

CUEMIX FX57DEVICES MENUIf you are working with more than one MOTU audio interface product, this menu displays all interfaces that are currently on li

CUEMIX FX58Choosing a channel to displayThe FFT window follows the currently chosen Scope channels (Figure 9-1 on page 52). View controlsYou can show

CUEMIX FX59In Min/Max mode, Min and Max set the lowest and highest displayed frequencies (in Hertz). Vertical controls (amplitude axis)The Ve r t i c

CUEMIX FX60View controlsThe View controls (Figure 9-11) provide several options for the oscilloscope display.Figure 9-11: View controlsView menuThe Vi

CUEMIX FX61Waveform RecognitionThe Waveform Recognition option searches through new audio data looking for a waveform which most resembles that which

CUEMIX FX62Magnitude is enabled, the trigger will look for both +0.500 and -0.500. You will see a second blue line appear in the display when Magnitud

CUEMIX FX63To adjust the left and right edges of the measurement area, click and drag the blue bars in the graph, or click and drag the blue numbers

CUEMIX FX64screen, try raising the Holdoff level. Once the transient is settled in the display and fairly stable, you may need to adjust the horizonta

CUEMIX FX65X-Y PLOTThe X-Y Plot window (Figure 9-17) graphs the amplitude of a stereo audio signal on a two-dimensional grid. For each unit of time (

CUEMIX FX66Choosing a channel to displayThe X-Y Plot follows the currently chosen Scope channels (Figure 9-1 on page 52).View controlsThe View control

CUEMIX FX67PersistenceThe Persistence controls (Figure 9-21) affect the appearance of data from when it is first displayed until it disappears from th

CUEMIX FX68PHASE ANALYSISThe Phase Analysis window (Figure 9-23 on page 68) graphs frequency versus phase difference versus amplitude of a stereo sign

CUEMIX FX69Line/ScatterChoose either Line or Scatter from the menu in the View section (Figure 9-24) to plot each data point as either a single pixel

Quick Reference: 4pre Front Panel 1. These four Precision Digital Trim™ rotary encoders provide triple-function control over the trim level, mix volu

CUEMIX FX70Horizontal and vertical controlsThe Horizontal and Ve r t i c a l controls (Figure 9-28) let you scale each axis of the grid and offset i

CUEMIX FX71outside the critical frequency range of the instrument being recorded, you can avoid phase problems among the mic signals.Tuni ng PA sys t

CUEMIX FX72TUNERThe Tu n e r window is an accurate and easy to use tuner.Opening the TunerEach MOTU audio interface has its own Tuner window. Choose

CUEMIX FX73Here is a summary of Configurations menu operations:Modifying a configurationThe name of the current configuration is displayed in the CueMix

CUEMIX FX74that is not currently being displayed, CueMix FX will jump to the appropriate tab to display the control you are adjusting.Share surfaces w

CHAPTER7510 MOTU SMPTE ConsoleOVERVIEWThe 4pre can resolve directly to SMPTE time code via any analog input, without a separate synchronizer. The 4pre

MOTU SMPTE CONSOLE76and switch to the incoming frame rate, except that it cannot distinguish between 30 fps and 29.97 fps time code, or 23.976 and 24

MOTU SMPTE CONSOLE77COMPANYCONFIDENTIALMOTUThe 4pre cannot freewheel address without clock. Therefore, the Freewheel Address setting will always be l

MOTU SMPTE CONSOLE78SYNCING TO SMPTE TIME CODEThe 4pre system can resolve directly to SMPTE time code. It can also generate time code, under its own c

CHAPTER7911 TroubleshootingThings seems like they are working fine, but the 4pre then just drops off line, and the computer can’t see it anymore.This i

1. These jacks provide stereo, 24-bit S/PDIF digital input and output at any sample rate up to 96kHz.2. These two balanced, quarter-inch jacks serve

TROUBLESHOOTING80TECHNICAL SUPPORTIf you are unable, with your dealer’s help, to solve problems you encounter with the 4pre system, you may contact ou

INDEX811394 connector 8, 12, 20, 2124-bitrecording 134-pin FireWire 234preconnecting multiple interfaces 26expansion 26installing 19power switch 35re

INDEX82Master Clock Source 32Master fadermix busses 53Mic/guitar inputstrim 53Mic/instrument inputs 8, 22connecting 25overview 12phantom power 7Mix 1

CHAPTER 9 Quick Reference: MOTU Audio ConsoleClick the tabs to access general MOTU interface settings or settings specific to the 4pre (or other conne