Applied Research and Technology (ART) TubeFire 8 Owner's Manual
TubeFire 8™
8 CHANNEL TUBE MIC-PREAMP SYSTEM
USER’S GUIDE
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS – READ FIRST
alerts you to the presence of uninsulated you to important operating and maintenance
dangerous voltage inside the enclosure. Voltage instructions in the accompanying literature.
that may be sufficient to constitute a risk of shock. Please read manual.
Read instructions:
Retain these safety and operating instructions for future reference. Heed all warnings printed here and on the equipment.
Follow the operating instructions printed in this user guide.
Do not open:
Aside from four vacuum tubes, there are no user serviceable parts inside. Refer any service work to qualified technical
personnel only.
Power sources:
Only connect the unit to mains power of the type marked on the rear panel. The power source must provide a good
ground connection.
Power cord:
Use the power cord with sealed mains plug appropriate for your local mains supply as provided with the equipment. If the
provided plug does not fit into your outlet consult your service agent. Route the power cord so that it is not likely to be
walked on, stretched or pinched by items placed upon or against.
Grounding:
Do not defeat the grounding and polarization means of the power cord plug. Do not remove or tamper with the ground
connection on the power cord.
Ventilation:
Do not obstruct the ventilation slots or position the unit where the air required for ventilation is impeded. If the unit is to be
operated in a rack, case or other furniture, ensure that it is constructed to allow adequate ventilation.
Moisture:
To reduce the risk of fire or electrical shock do not expose the unit to rain, moisture or use in damp or wet conditions. Do
not place a container of liquid on it, which may spill into any openings.
Heat:
Do not locate the unit in a place close to excessive heat or direct sunlight, as this could be a fire hazard. Locate the unit
away from any equipment, which produces heat such as: power supplies, power amplifiers and heaters.
Environment:
Protect from excessive dirt, dust, heat, and vibration when operating and storing. Avoid tobacco ash, drink spillage and
smoke, especially that associated with smoke machines.
Handling:
To prevent damage to the controls and cosmetics avoid rough handling and excessive vibration. Protect the controls from
damage during transit. Use adequate padding if you need to ship the unit. To avoid injury to yourself or damage to the
equipment take care when lifting, moving or carrying the unit.
Servicing:
Switch off the equipment and unplug the power cord immediately if it is exposed to moisture, spilled liquid, objects fallen
into opening, or the power cord or plug becomes damaged during a lightning storm or if smoke odor or noise is noted.
Refer servicing to qualified technical personnel only.
Installation:
Install the unit in accordance with the instructions printed in the user guide.
This symbol, wherever it appears, This symbol, wherever it appears, alerts
1
The ART TubeFire 8
8 Channel Tube Mic-Pre System
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS – READ FIRST ...............................................1
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................4
INSTALLATION...........................................................................................................4
AC Power Hookup..................................................................................................................................................................................4
Analog Audio Connections .....................................................................................................................................................................4
Firewire (IEEE 1394) (Sony iLINK®) Connections ..................................................................................................................................5
CONTROLS and JACKS ..............................................................................................5
FRONT PANEL ......................................................................................................................................................................................5
Instrument Input .....................................................................................................................................................................................6
Gain Control ...........................................................................................................................................................................................6
Pad Switch .............................................................................................................................................................................................6
+48V Switches........................................................................................................................................................................................6
Phase Switch..........................................................................................................................................................................................6
Low Cut Switch.......................................................................................................................................................................................6
LED Meter ..............................................................................................................................................................................................6
Output Control ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 6
Output Source Switches.........................................................................................................................................................................6
Headphone / Line Mixer .........................................................................................................................................................................7
Mix Level Control.................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Power Switch..........................................................................................................................................................................................7
REAR PANEL......................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Balanced Input Jacks – XLR & 1/4” TRS Combo Jacks .........................................................................................................................8
Balanced Output Jacks...........................................................................................................................................................................8
Output Level Switch ...............................................................................................................................................................................8
Wordclock Input and Thru Jacks ............................................................................................................................................................8
Firewire Jacks ........................................................................................................................................................................................8
HARDWARE OPERATION............................................................................................9
How to adjust the controls for the lowest noise ......................................................................................................................................9
How to set the Output Level switch (on the rear panel)..........................................................................................................................9
How to use the Headphone / Line Mixer Output..................................................................................................................................... 9
PC SOFTWARE OPERATION.....................................................................................11
Installing the Windows PC driver.......................................................................................................................................................... 11
Using the Windows PC driver panel .....................................................................................................................................................11
Changing the name of your TubeFire 8™ with a Windows PC............................................................................................................. 11
Changing the sample rate ....................................................................................................................................................................12
Adjusting system latency with a Windows PC ...................................................................................................................................... 14
Using the wordclock input with a Windows PC..................................................................................................................................... 15
Mac SOFTWARE OPERATION ..................................................................................16
Changing the sample rate with a Mac .................................................................................................................................................. 16
Using the wordclock input with a Mac ..................................................................................................................................................17
Creating an Aggregate Device with a Mac ...........................................................................................................................................18
APPLICATIONS.........................................................................................................19
Adding more TubeFire 8™ units to your system ..................................................................................................................................19
Typical applications ..............................................................................................................................................................................20
WARRANTY INFORMATION .....................................................................................21
SERVICE ...................................................................................................................22
TubeFire 8™ SPECIFICATIONS ................................................................................ 23
2
List of Figures
FIGURE 1 - Input Channel .........................................................................................................................................................................5
FIGURE 2 - Output Mix/Headphone section...............................................................................................................................................7
FIGURE 3 - Rear Panel.............................................................................................................................................................................. 8
FIGURE 4 - Block Diagram ......................................................................................................................................................................10
FIGURE 5 - Renaming your TubeFire 8™................................................................................................................................................ 11
FIGURE 6 - Control Panel Sample Rate ..................................................................................................................................................12
FIGURE 7 – Cubase Sample Rate Selection ...........................................................................................................................................12
FIGURE 8 - Sample Rate Indication......................................................................................................................................................... 13
FIGURE 9 - ART ASIO Driver buffer depth adjustment............................................................................................................................ 14
FIGURE 10 –Wordclock connections .......................................................................................................................................................15
FIGURE 11 - Audio/MIDI Setup Utility...................................................................................................................................................... 16
FIGURE 12 - ART Panel program ............................................................................................................................................................17
FIGURE 13 - Audio/MIDI Setup - Audio pull-down menu ......................................................................................................................... 18
FIGURE 14 - Aggregate Device Editor window........................................................................................................................................ 18
FIGURE 15 - ART Card control panel for multiple TubeFire 8™ units .....................................................................................................19
3
INTRODUCTION
The TubeFire 8™ is the answer to your recording and computer interface needs. Eight high quality vacuum
tube microphone preamps are packaged in a single rack high package. Our second generation discrete class–
A mic preamps provide clean quiet gain while maintaining incredible transparency. Either the analog mic
preamps, or the internal high quality D/A converters can drive the eight balanced outputs, selectable in banks
of two channels at a time.
Connect to a PC or Mac with the Firewire interface and give your computer eight analog inputs and eight
analog outputs.
The eight outputs are also summed into the headphone output thereby providing a mono or stereo mixer
function for low latency input monitoring, foldback monitoring from the CPU, and a mixed output of both.
Every input channel offers balanced 1/4" phone or XLR input, 70dB of gain, Pad switch, Low-Cut filter switch,
Phase Invert switch, and a wide range LED meter to monitor the preamp output levels. The clip indicators
monitor mic-preamp peak levels. Each channel has a variable output level control allowing you to use the tube
stage for warming effects and adjust to various system levels, or just to completely mute the channel.
INSTALLATION
The TubeFire 8 may be used in a wide variety of applications and environments. In a rack-mountable, allsteel enclosure, the unit is designed for continuous professional use. Mounting location is not critical. However,
for greater performance reliability we recommend that you not place the unit on top of power amps or other
sources of heat, or strong magnetic fields. The tube circuitry needs about a minute to “warm up” and stabilize
from a cold power up.
AC Power Hookup
The TubeFire 8 has an internal power supply. Only connect the unit to mains power of the type marked on
the rear panel. The power source must provide a good ground connection, and the ground pin on the mains
plug should never be defeated.
Analog Audio Connections
Audio connections to and from the TubeFire 8 are:
Rear balanced combo input: [XLR] Pin 2 = Hot (+), Pin 3 = Cold (-), Pin 1 = Ground
[1/4”] Tip = Hot (+), Ring = Cold (-), Sleeve = Ground
Rear balanced 1/4” output: Tip = Hot (+), Ring = Cold (-), Sleeve = Ground
Front 1/4” input: Tip = Hot (+), Ring = Cold (-), Sleeve = Ground
4
Firewire (IEEE 1394) (Sony iLINK®) Connections
The TubeFire 8 has two 6 pin Firewire ports located on the rear panel. Both ports are identical, and can be
used interchangeably.
Use a quality Firewire cable to connect the TubeFire 8 to your computer. NOTE: Make all connections
with both the Computer and TubeFire 8 powered off. First power on the computer, and after the
system OS has fully loaded, then power on the TubeFire 8. While Firewire is considered to be a “hot
swappable” technology, experience indicates that to avoid system errors and lockups, it is best to not
disconnect and connect the Firewire cable while the AC power is on.
Multiple TubeFire 8 units can be daisy-chained by using the ports on the rear panel, but care should be
taken to minimize the number of TubeFire 8 units placed on each Firewire buss due to bandwidth limits. The
TubeFire 8 utilizes Firewire 400 which handles 400Mbits/sec. Depending on the number of units running, you
may notice limits in sample rate and total channel count. Adjust your system configuration accordingly.
Individual cable lengths should be limited to 4.5m (14.76 ft.) maximum. Shorter is better.
CONTROLS and JACKS
FRONT PANEL
FIGURE 1 - Input Channel
5
Instrument Input
The 1/4” TS jack on the front panel provides a high impedance unbalanced input, and when used,
automatically switches off the mic pre-amp. (The rear combo jack’s 1/4” TRS balanced input is lower
impedance and is part of the mic pre-amp. The rear jack is not intended to be used with high impedance
microphones or instruments.) NOTE: The PAD switch is disabled and does NOT affect the gain when using the
Instrument input.
Gain Control
This control adjusts both the mic pre-amp gain as well as the instrument input gain. The gain markings apply
to the mic pre-amp without the Pad switch depressed. (The instrument input gain is lower than the markings.)
Please refer to the HARDWARE OPERATION section to learn how to optimize the gain control for low noise
operation.
Pad Switch
This switch reduces the mic pre-amp gain to prevent clipping when high-level microphone or line level signals
are applied to the rear panel XLR / 1/4” TRS combo jack input. This switch does NOT affect the instrument
input.
+48V Switches
These switches provide phantom power to each set of four XLR inputs. Use phantom power only when the
microphone you are using requires it. Doing so will extend the life of the TubeFire 8 as well as reduce the
possibility of a shock hazard.
Phase Switch
This switch selects the output phase of the channel. There is a 180 degree phase inversion through the
channel when the switch is lit.
Low Cut Switch
This switch inserts a 100Hz 6dB/Oct. Low-Cut filter into the signal path. The filter is designed to remove
rumble, pops, and wind noise, yet still sound natural.
LED Meter
The four segment LED meter indicates the signal level at the input of the A/D converter. In addition to
monitoring the A/D level, the CLIP LED monitors all of the gain stages within the preamp channel for clipping.
Output Control
The output control provides gain or attenuation to adjust to a variety of system operating levels. This control
sets the level sent to the A/D converter (as well as to the output jacks if selected by the output source
switches).
Output Source Switches
The Output Source switches select the signal sent to the output jacks and the Headphone output.
Depressing a switch selects a pair of preamp outputs as the source for the corresponding output jacks as well
as selecting the source for the headphone output mixer.
6
FIGURE 2 - Output Mix/Headphone section
Headphone / Line Mixer
All of the sources selected for the output jacks of the TubeFire 8™ are mixed together to provide a signal for
the Headphone/Line Mixer Output. Use the Output Source switches to select which channels are from the mic
preamps and which channels are from the computer in the headphone output mix.
You can use this function to check the operation of the input channels as well as for multi-tracking punch-ins.
NOTE: Signals sourced directly from the TubeFire 8™ preamps have zero latency whereas signals from the
computer may have a finite amount of latency depending on the computer and software set-up.
Mix Level Control
The Mix Level control adjusts the output level present at the headphone jack. This control mutes the output
when centered at 12 o’clock. Choose a stereo mix by turning clockwise or a mono mix by turning counterclockwise.
The stereo mix has odd numbered channels in the left channel and even numbered channels in the
right.
You can use the headphone output as a stereo line output as well as for driving headphones.
Power Switch
This switch controls and indicates that the unit is powered up and operational. When dimly lit, it indicates a
low power source or an internal problem.
7
Loading...