Steinberg V-Stack Operation Manual
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V-ST ACK 2 – 12 Installation and requirements for Windows About this chapter This chapter describes the system requirements and installation pro- cedures for V-ST ACK for Windows. Installing V-ST ACK for Mac OS X is described on page 21. Requirements To use V-ST ACK , you need the following: • A PC with either Windows XP or Windows 2000 installed. A USB Port is also required. For more details about the computer requirements, see below. • A compatible audio hardware. By audio hardware we mean an audio interface capable of recording and playing back digital audio using your hard disk as a storage medium. For use with VST System Link, the audio interface must have an appropriate ASIO driver (see page 14) and digital in- puts and outputs. For using V-ST ACK without VST System Link, audio interfaces with Windows Multimedia or DirectX drivers can be used, although we strongly recommend ASIO drivers for best performance. • To be able to play VST Instruments in V-ST ACK without using VST System Link, you will also need at least one MIDI interface.
V-ST ACK Installation and requirements for Windows 2 – 13 Computer requirements Hardware The absolute minimum requirements for running V-ST ACK on a PC are as follows: • A 233 MHz Pentium computer with 128 MB of free RAM or an equi- valent AMD processor. Recommended configuration for optimum performance: Dual PIII or Athlon procesor, 1 GHz or faster with 512 MB RAM. RAM VST Instruments don’t necessarily require a lot of RAM. However, if you are using a software sampler or drum machine, these typically play the samples from RAM memory. This means the amount of RAM in the computer limits the number (and size) of samples you can play. So, as a general rule, “the more RAM the better” applies. Wheel mouse Although a regular mouse will work perfectly fine with V-ST ACK , we recommend that you use a wheel mouse, as this will speed up para- meter editing considerably (allowing you to change parameter values by scrolling).
V-ST ACK 2 – 14 Installation and requirements for Windows Audio hardware V-ST ACK will run with audio hardware that meets the following basic specifications: • Stereo. • 16 bit. • Support of at least the 44.1kHz sampling rate. • Is supplied with a special ASIO driver, or a DirectX or Windows Multimedia compatible driver as described below. ❐ To be able to use V-ST ACK with VST System Link you must have an au- dio interface with ASIO drivers and digital inputs and outputs! About drivers A driver is a piece of software that allows a program to communicate with a certain piece of hardware. In this case, the driver allows V-ST ACK to use the audio hardware. For audio hardware, there are three different cases, each requiring different driver configurations: If the audio hardware has a specific ASIO driver Professional audio cards often come with an ASIO driver written es- pecially for the card. This allows for communication directly between V-ST ACK and the audio card. As a result, audio cards with specific ASIO drivers can provide lower latency (input-output delay), which is crucial when using VST Instruments. Furthermore, the ASIO driver provides the means to communicate with another computer via VST System Link. Audio card-specific ASIO drivers are provided by the card manufac- turers. Make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for the latest driver versions. ❐ We strongly recommend that you use ASIO compatible audio hardware (even if you don’t plan to use VST System Link).
V-ST ACK Installation and requirements for Windows 2 – 15 If the audio card communicates via DirectX DirectX is a Microsoft “package” for handling various types of Multi- media under Windows. V-ST ACK supports DirectX, or to be more precise, DirectSound, which is a part of DirectX used for audio input and output. This requires two types of drivers: • A DirectX driver for the audio card, allowing it to communicate with DirectX. If the audio card supports DirectX, this driver should be supplied by the audio card manufacturer. If it isn’t installed with the audio card, please check the manufacturer’s web site for more information. • The ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver, allowing V-ST ACK to communicate with DirectX. This driver is included with V-ST ACK , and does not require any spe- cial installation. • DirectX drivers allow you to use V-ST ACK as a stand-alone VST Instru- ment host, played via a regular MIDI interface. VST System Link function- ality is not supported. If the audio card communicates via Windows Multimedia system If the card is Windows compatible, it can be used in V-ST ACK . The card then communicates with Windows Multimedia system, which in turn communicates with V-ST ACK . This requires two types of drivers: • A Windows Multimedia driver for the audio card, allowing it to communicate with the Windows Multimedia system. This driver should be supplied by the audio card manufacturer, and is normally installed when you install the audio card. • The ASIO Multimedia driver, allowing V-ST ACK to communicate with the Win- dows Multimedia system. This driver is included with V-ST ACK , and does not require any special installation. • Windows Multimedia drivers allow you to use V-ST ACK as a stand-alone VST Instrument host, played via a regular MIDI interface. VST System Link functionality is not supported. Note also that with Windows Multimedia drivers, the latency is often too high to allow comfortable real-time VST Instrument playing.
V-ST ACK 2 – 16 Installation and requirements for Windows Hardware installation Installing the audio hardware and its driver 1. Install the audio card and related equipment in the computer, as de- scribed in the card’s documentation. 2. Install the driver for the card. There are three types of drivers that could apply: card-specific ASIO drivers, DirectX drivers and Windows Multimedia drivers: Specific ASIO driver If your audio card has a specific ASIO driver it may be included with the audio card, but you should always make sure to check the audio card manufacturer’s web site for the most recent drivers. For details on how to install the driver, refer to the manufacturers instructions. DirectX driver If your audio card is DirectX compatible, its DirectX drivers will most likely be installed when you install the card (as with the Windows Multi- media driver). If you have downloaded special DirectX drivers for the au- dio card, you should follow the manufacturer’s installation instructions. Windows Multimedia driver These drivers are normally included with all types of regular PC audio cards. Some are even included with Windows itself. Depending on whether the audio card is “Plug’n’Play compatible” or not, the installa- tion of the card is done differently: •If the card is “Plug’n’Play compatible”, Windows will detect the card once it is plugged in, and ask for the necessary driver disks. •If not, you need to use the “Add New Hardware” feature in the Control Panel to install the card and its drivers. Refer to the documentation that comes with the card. ❐Should you have an audio card but no driver, please check the manufac- turers web site, or ask your music or computer dealer for help.
V-STACKInstallation and requirements for Windows 2 – 17 Testing the Card To make sure the audio card will work as expected, perform the fol- lowing two tests: •Use any software included with the audio card to make sure you can play back audio without problems. •If the card is accessed via a standard Windows driver, use the Media Player application (included with Windows) to play back audio. Installing a MIDI interface Installation instructions for a MIDI interface should be included with the product. However, here’s an outline of the necessary steps: 1.Install the interface inside your computer or connect it to a “port” (con- nector) on the computer. Which is right for you depends on which type of interface you have. 2.If the interface has a power supply and/or a power switch, turn it on. 3.Install the driver for the interface, as described in the documentation that comes with the interface. It is likely that you will need a CD ROM or floppy disk supplied by the manufacturer of the MIDI interface. Also please make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for up- dated drivers.
V-STACK2 – 18 Installation and requirements for Windows Installing V-STAC K Defragment the hard disk If you plan to record audio on a hard disk where you have already stored other files, now is the time to defragment it. Defragmentation reorganizes the physical allocation of space on the hard disk in order to optimize its performance using a special defragmentation program. ❐It is crucial to the audio recording performance that your hard disk is op- timized (defragmented). You should make sure to defragment regularly. Installation To install V-STACK, simpy run the V-STACK installer application and follow the directions in the dialogs that appear. •At one point during the installation, you will be asked to fill in your serial number. You should have received this serial number when purchasing and downloading the program over the internet. If you purchased the CD version of the program, you will find the serial number on the registration card in your package. This completes the installation of your V-STACK program! Register your software! Registering your software will make sure you are entitled to technical support and kept aware of updates and news regarding V-STACK. If your computer has a working Internet connection, you can register on- line. From the Steinberg V-STACK program group on the Windows Start menu, select the Registration item and follow the instructions. You can also select this option from the Help menu of the program. If your computer does not have a working Internet connection, you can also register from another computer. The items on the start menu If you open the Windows Start menu, you will find a V-STACK group on the “Programs” submenu. This contains the following items:
V-STACKInstallation and requirements for Windows 2 – 19 •V-STACK Operation Manual. Opens the manual you are reading right now. •ASIO DirectX Full Duplex Setup. This is where you make settings if your audio hardware uses DirectX for audio play- back and recording. •ASIO Multimedia Setup. This opens a dialog with settings for the ASIO (Audio Stream Input Output) system, which handles audio playback in V-STACK if you are using the ASIO MME driver. This dialog can also be opened from within V-STACK. See the chapter “Setting up your system” in this manual. •V-STACK. This launches the actual program. There may also be additional items (such as Readme files) available on the Start menu. Please read all such files before launching V-STACK, since they may contain late information not included in the manual.
V-STACK2 – 20 Installation and requirements for Windows