Tascam Digital Workstation Controller US-224 Owners Manual

 
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3. Installation 
 
 
3.1 System Requirements 
 
 
 
PC: Minimum requirements
: Pentium II - 266 
MHz (or equivalent) processor running 
W indows 98 (Second or Millennium Edition), 
W indows 2000 or W indows XP, 96MB RAM. 
Recommended
: Pentium II 300MHz 
processor with 128MB RAM or better. 
(These requirements are for use with 
Cubasis VST. Other applications will have 
different requirements. Consult your 
applications manufacturer for further 
information.) 
 
NOTE:  The US-224 is not...

 
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MacOS: PowerPC running MacOS 8.6 or 
better, and a USB port. Any Macintosh 
computer with one or more USB ports 
running Mac O/S 8.6 or later (the US-224 
has not been tested with Mac O/S X as of 
this writing. Please check the website for 
updates). 
 
Very early iMac computers may need one 
(or more) firmware updates to use the US-
224. Which firmware update(s) is (are) 
needed depends on which Mac O/S version 
is installed in the early iMac. Apple provides 
details in its Apple Support Article...

 
13 In some cases, Add Hardware W izard may 
ask for the file US224W DM.SYS. Should 
this occur, click Browse and direct it to the 
path Windows/System32/Drivers. 
 
In some cases, Add Hardware W izard may 
ask for your W in98 CD-ROM if it is unable to 
find all the needed system files. W e suggest 
you have it handy. 
 
The Setup Complete dialog will appear.  
Click Yes, I want to restart my computer, 
followed by the Finish button. The computer 
will reboot. 
 
Connect the US-224 to the computer, plug...

 
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3.2.2 Macintosh  
 
 
Insert the CD-ROM into the computer, 
double-click on the US-224 installer, and 
follow its instructions. 
 
Connect the US-224 to the computer, and 
connect power to the unit. W hen the US-224 
is connected and powered up, the Mac will 
find the drivers itself. 
 
 
 
3.3 Setting Up OMS (MacOS 
Only) 
 
 
 
Cubasis, ProTools and several other 
applications rely on OMS for MIDI 
implementation.  OMS (Open Music System) 
is a standard for MIDI management on the 
Macintosh....

 
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 Certain devices, such as network cards 
and W inModems, can cause conflicts 
with the native handling of USB. Should 
you experience such conflicts, the 
offending device can usually be 
temporarily disabled in the Device 
Manager. Refer to your W indows 
manual for detailed instructions on how 
to resolve conflicts. 
 

 Assuming your computer has an IDE 
hard disk (most do), enabling Direct 
Memory Addressing (DMA) on will 
improve performance. Some programs 
(such as Cubase VST) allow you to...

 
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3.5 Notes on USB interfacing 
 
 
The USB protocol is an extremely versatile 
one, and much has been made of the 
possibility of  using multiple (over 100) 
devices on a single bus. W hile this is 
certainly a possibility, we recommend using 
as few other USB devices as possible in a 
system equipped with the US-224. The 
demands placed on the USB bus by passing 
multiple tracks of audio through it are 
considerable, and adding additional devices 
will risk reducing that bandwidth. 
 
NOTE:  The...

 
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4. Hooking up Audio and 
MIDI to the US-224 
 
 
 
4.1 Hooking up audio 
 
 
To monitor output from your computer, 
connect the analog outputs of the US-224 to 
your mixer, amplifier or powered monitors. 
Output volume is controlled by the LINE 
OUT level pot. If you’ve got a digital mixer, 
external D/A converter, or other device with 
S/PDIF input, you may prefer to monitor via 
the US-224’s S/PDIF output. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
To record audio from the US-224 into your...

 
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input is passed directly to the application 
without modification. To reduce the level of 
the digital audio signal at inputs A and B, 
you will need to reduce the output level of 
your digital source. 
 
Note about levels and gain structure here. 
The TRIM controls directly affect the input 
level at the A/D converters on the US-224, 
so it’s advisable to use the SIGNAL and 
OVER LEDs to help set your levels. Unlike 
analog tape, when recording digital audio, 
it’s important to keep your input...

 
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4.4 Monitor vs. Master Level 
 
 
 
It’s important to make a distinction between 
MONITOR LEVEL control and level of the 
stereo bus output, as controlled by the 
MASTER FADER.  
 
W hen using the US-224’s analog inputs, 
only the TRIM controls actually affect the 
input level to the audio software  application. 
W hen using the US-224’s Digital inputs, the 
digital audio data received at the US-224’s 
digital input is passed directly to the audio 
application without any gain or other...

 
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5. The US-224 Control 
Panel 
 
5.1  Main Page 
 
 
In the Control Panel’s main page, you can 
specify a number of options of the US-224’s 
ASIO handling. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Control Surface Protocol setting 
governs the type of MIDI messages used to 
send fader and button information from the 
US-224 to applications. The corresponding 
drop-down box allows you  to select from 
US-224 Native or US-428 emulation modes. 
For more information US-428 emulation 
mode, refer to chapter 8.  For use with...