Audient Sono User Manual

Guitar Recording Interface

User Manual V1.0

audient.com

Welcome and Thank You

Thank you for choosing this Audient Product

Sono was designed to be the ultimate audio interface for guitarists.

Sono provides a valve Guitar channel featuring a real high voltage 12AX7 and classic 3-band tone controls, plus power amp and cabinet simulation from Two Notes.

There is also two Audient console mic pre’s for great sounding recordings and optical inputs to expand your setup using ADAT or S/PDIF.

We’re sure Sono will become the centre of your guitar rig, whether you’re recording at the studio, practising at home or playing on the road.

Features Include:

•Classic Valve Guitar Preamp

•Two Console Mic Preamps

•Two Notes Power Amp and Cab Simulation

•3 Band Tone Control

•3 Customisable Hardware Presets

•Re-amp Output

•Optical Inputs via ADAT or S/PDIF

•Integrated Low Latency DSP Mixer

•High Quality Monitor and Headphone

Outputs

•USB2.0 Connectivity

Contents

Welcome and Thank you	2
Sono Overview	4
Box Contents	6
Saftey Information	7
Declaration of Conformities	9
Device Setup:	11
Installation on Mac	12
Installation on Windows	14
Hardware Features:	16
Guitar Pre-amp Channel	17
Mic Pres	21
Monitor and Headphone	22
Monitor Mix	22
Optical Input	22
Speaker Outputs	22
Headphone Output	23
To-Amp Output	23
Signal Flow Diagrams	24
Sono Application	30
Getting Started	29
Sono Application Menu	30
Mixer Overview	31
Channel Strips	32
Master Section	34
System Panel	35
Clocking	36
Routing Matrix	36
Talkback Setup	37
Firmware Update	38
Saving/Opening Presets	38
Keyboard Shortcuts	39

Two notes Remote Software	40
Overview	41
Initial Setup	42
Cabinets	43
Microphones	44
Rooms	45
Effects Rack	46
Saving Presets	47
Cabinet Manager	48
DAW Setup	49
Pro Tools Setup	50
Logic Pro X Setup	51
Cubase/Nuendo Setup	53
Other DAWs	55
Support & ARC	55
Specifications	56
Warranty & Contact	57
Service	59
Glossary	60

2		3

Sono Overview	Sono Overview

Mic Pre Gain

‘Mic Input To

Valve’

Indicator

Phantom

Power

Indicator

Three

Band Tone

Control Guitar

Preamp

Input Gain

Speaker	Headphone
Output
Level	Output
	Level

Monitor Mix

Control

Status Light

					Cab Simulation
Power
			Guitar Preamp
					Present Selector
Amp Drive
			Output Meter
Control
	Guitar		Preamp
	Output Volume

4

12V DC					Microphone To
	USB C Input		Speaker		Valve Switch
Power
			Outputs
Input

Power Switch				Phantom
				Power Switch
					Mic/Line
		Optical Input
					Input

Re-amp

Output

Guitar Input	Headphone
	Output

5

Box Contents and Setup

In your Sono packaging you should find the following items:

•Sono

•12V DC Power Supply with Regional Adaptors

•USB Type C cable

•USB Type C to Type A Cable

•Quick Start Guide

Please visit www.audient.com/products/ sono to download the latest Sono software supporting documentation and brochures for our product range.

The 12V DC power supply comes with interchangeable UK, EU, US and Australian

Socket Adaptors and will work across a broad range of Mains Voltages, making Sono globally portable.

We hope that you enjoy using Sono!

Safety Information

Important Safety Instructions

Please read all of these instructions and save them for later reference before connecting the DC power adapter to the mains and powering up Sono.

To prevent electrical shock and fire hazard follow all instructions on the 12VDC power supply. Sono itself does not operate with any high voltage mains supply inside the unit but appropriate safety measures should still be adhered to regarding the AC/DC supply.

Please ensure you only use the included Sono power supply. We cannot recommend the usage of third party power supplies. In the event of a power supply failure do not open the 12VDC supply. If required, please contact Audient support so that a suitable replacement can be sourced.

audient.com/support

Sono utilises an external switch-mode power supply that is very quiet and rated at 2A. This switch-mode design will accept any A.C line voltage from 100v to 240v @ 50/60Hz.

Therefore the unit will work anywhere in the world but please ensure your A.C mains line voltage is within this specification.

Consult a qualified technician if you suspect difficulties. Do not attempt to tamper with the power supply or mains voltages - HAZARDOUS TO HEALTH. Ensure that the appropriate international pin adapter is fitted to the power supply before insertion into the mains socket.

Valves must be replaced by a qualified technician.

! WARNING !

TO REDUCE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT EXPOSE THIS

APPARATUS TO RAIN OR MOISTURE.

NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE.

PLEASE REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL.

6		7

Safety Information

Important Safety Instructions

1.Read these instructions

2.Keep these instructions

3.Heed all warnings

4.Follow all instructions

5.Do not use this equipment near water

6.Clean only with dry cloth

7.Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other equipment (including amplifiers) that produce heat

8.Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or grounding-type plug. A polarized plug has two blades with one wider than the other. A grounding type plug has two blades and a third grounding prong. The wide blade or the third prong are provided for your safety. If the provided plug does not fit into your outlet, cosult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet

9.Protect power cords from being walked on or pinched particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles, and the point where they exit from the equipment Only use attachments/accessories specified by the manufacturer

10.Unplug this equipment during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time

11.Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel. Servicing is required when the equipment has been damaged in any way, such as power supply cord or plug is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the equipment, the equipment has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has been dropped

12.For products that are a mains powered device: The equipment shall not be exposed to dripping or splashing and no objects filled with liquids (such as vases) shall be placed on the equipment.

Declaration of Conformities

FCC Part 15B

This apparatus has been tested and found to comply with the limits of a class-A digital

device, pursuant to Part 15B of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television 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:

1.Re-orient or relocate the receiving antenna

2.Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver

3.Connect the equipment into an outlet on a different circuit from that to which the receiver is connected.

4.Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help

8		9

Declaration of Conformities

We, Audient Ltd, Aspect House, Herriard, Hampshire, RG25 2PN, UK,

01256 381944, declare under our sole responsibility that the product Sono complies with Part 15 of FCC Rules.

Operation is subject to the following two conditions:

1.This device may not cause harmful interference,

2.This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation

We, Audient Ltd, declare that the product, Sono, to which this declaration relates, is in material conformity with the appropriate CE standards and directives for an audio product designed for consumer use.

Audient Ltd has conformed where applicable, to the European Union’s Directive 2002/95/EC on Restrictions of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) as well as the following sections of California law which refer to RoHS, namely sections 25214.10, 25214.10.2, and 58012, Health and Safety Code; Section 42475.2, Public Resources

Please note that Audient Sono is exempt from the EC 1275/2008 power management requirement for the following reason:

Sono is designed with the musical instrument input being the primary functional input of the device. When a musical instrument is connected, Sono must be active to wait for a signal. During a recording session it can take a long time until a musical instrument is actually played. If Sono would go into a standby mode or similar, this will cause a disruption to a recording session as the user would expect the unit to be operational even if the musical instrument input is not being actively used.

Device Setup

10

MacOS Installation

System Requirements

•MacOS: 10.7.5 (Lion) or later (64 Bit)

•Mac: Intel CPU, 1GB RAM Minimum

Download the Latest Sono Software

Head to our website for the latest version of our Sono Software:

audient.com/products/downloads/sono

Open the downloaded .pkg file to start the installer. Follow the installer process through, heeding any instructions from the installer.

Connect Sono

Using the USB cable provided, connect Sono to your computer’s USB port. Then connect the included 12v DC power adaptor.

To USB Port

To Mains

Power (100v - 240v)

Status Light

Once connected, the status light of the Sono will illuminate.

If at any time the status LED turns off during normal operation please check all

connections and if further problems develop please contact Audient support.

12

MacOS Installation

4. Double Checking Connectivity

To ensure Sono has been detected by your computer, navigate to:

Macintosh HD > Applications > System

Preferences

Check that Sono is set as your audio device for both the input device and the output device. It’s also recommended to disable system sounds so you don’t get annoying dings while you are recording.

Menu/Task Bar Icons

On MacOS, the Sono icon appears in the menu bar in the top right hand corner of the screen. This gives you quick access to various functions of the Sono.

Show Mixer

If the mixer window has been hidden, this will bring it back to the forefront.

Quit

Fully closes the Sono mixer application.

About Sono

Displays information regarding the current version of the Sono mixer application.

Visit Sono Knowledge Base

Opens a browser windows for the Audient

Helpdesk with helpful articles and FAQ’s.

Check for Updates

The Sono app will check with the Audient update server for any available firmware updates for Sono.

13

Windows Installation

System Requirements

•Windows 7 or later (64 bit)

•Intel Core 2 @ 1.6 GHz, or AMD equivalent

•1 GB RAM Minimum

Connect Sono

Using the USB cable provided, connect

Sono to your computer’s USB port. Then connect the included 12v DC power adaptor.

To USB Port

To Mains

Power (100v - 240v)

Download the Latest Sono Software

Head to our website for the latest version of our Sono software:

audient.com/products/downloads/sono

Open the downloaded .exe file to start the installer. Follow the installer process through, heeding any instructions from the installer.

Once the installer has completed, we would recommend rebooting both the Computer and the Sono before use.

Status Light

Once connected, the status light of the Sono will illuminate.

If at any time the status LED turns off during normal operation please check all

connections and if further problems develop please contact Audient support.

14

Windows Installation

4. Double Checking Connectivity

To double check the connection, go to PC sound settings by following:

PC Settings > Control Panel > Hardware and

Sound > Sound

Here you can see whether Sono is visible to the PC and you can make it the computers default sound device by pressing ‘Set Default’. You would need to do this for both the ‘Playback’ and the ‘Recording’ Device to use both the inputs and the outputs of Sono

Sono Icon

Once installed, the Sono icon can be found in the Windows system tray (it may be in the hidden icons area).

Please note, on Windows, the Sono icon will only appear when the Sono is connected and powered on.

More details regarding the system tray menu can be found on page 33.

15

Hardware Features

Hardware Features

Guitar Preamp Channel

Sono includes a dedicated guitar channel utilising a High Voltage 12AX7 valve and can be treated just like the input of a classic valve amplifer. This section will explain the stages of the Guitar Preamp channel and how they can all be used to dial in your perfect tone.

The Signal Chain of the Guitar Channel can be seen to the left.

Each part of this chain is then discussed in more detail in the next few pages.

Guitar

Valve Stage 1

Input Volume

Control

Three Band Tone

Control

Valve Stage 2

Output Volume

Control

Analogue to Digital Conversion

Two Notes Torpedo

Processing

17

Hardware Features

Guitar Channel

Sono is designed to work with a wide variety of Guitars, including bases. The high impedance valve input means that regardless of whether you’re using a Classic Single Coil Blues Guitar, a humbucker equipped Rock Axe or a Modern

Active Pickup Metal Machine, you’ll still get the same response and feel as you would get from a valve amplifier.

Experimenting with the Volume and Tone control of the Guitar itself can often give great results. For example, changing the volume during a solo can change the amount of saturation you get from the Valve stages, adding another dimension of dynamics to your performance.

Valve Stages 1 & 2

The 12AX7 valve used in Sono is made up of two separate amplification stages inside a single glass envelope.

The first of these two valve stages is found directly after the guitar input of Sono. The Second stage is located after the three band Tone control, just before the output volume control.

These valves stages can both be pushed into harmonic saturation by increasing the level that is fed into them, giving you break-up or distortion.

The input valve stage can be pushed into harmonic saturation by simply increasing the level being fed into Sono. This can be done by

increasing the volume of your guitars output as explained above or through the use of pedals such as Boost’s or Overdrives.

The second stage can be distorted in the same manner, however, you can further control this saturation using the Input Gain and Tone Controls. This is explained in more detail in the sections below.

However, pristine clean tones can still easily be achieved with Sono by simply keeping the levels a little lower.

Input Control

The Input controls how volume is provided after the first valve stage. This then affects the amount of level being fed into the three band tone control and the second valve stage which will affect the tone achieved through these stages.

As explained previously, cranking this up to full can result in saturation whereas keeping it low will give you sparkling clean tones.

18

Hardware Features

Three Band Tone Control

The Three Band control allows you to boost or attenuate your Bass, Mids and Treble by roughly ±15 dB

How you set these depends massively on the guitar you are using and the genre you are playing.

If you are using a guitar with single coil pickups for example, rolling off a little treble can remove some of the harshness, or even turn it up to really cut through a dense mix.

Likewise, for a metal tone, adding Bass and Mids can help thicken up a tone and give a heavier sound.

Output Control

The Output control allows you to attenuate the signal after the second valve stage before the signal is fed into the A/D converter.

This means that if you’ve been really driving the input with lots of gain to cause saturation. You can then dial back the volume slightly so that you don’t clip the A/D converter which will cause unpleasant sounding hard clipping.

The meter to the right of the Output control can be used to gauge how much volume is being sent to the A/D converter. You would want to adjust the Output volume until the signal is peaking around the ‘Good’ light on the meter.

Two Notes Torpedo Processing

Finally, the guitar signal passes through Sono’s on-board Two notes power amp and cabinet simulation.

The drive control on Sono controls the amount of saturation given by the power amplifier simulation. This allows you to get the massive tones from a guitar amp turned up to 11, but at much more manageable levels.

Likewise, a small amount of Drive can give a subtle crunch to spice up a blues or jazz tone.

The Torpedo processing also offers a wealth of cabinets, microphones and tonal adjustments to fine tune your tone which can be adjusted using the Torpedo Remote application

More information about this can be found on page 39 of this manual.

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