Avid 99006567200 User manual

®

Eleven Rack User Guide

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Contents

Part I Playing Guitar through Eleven Rack

Chapter 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Quick Start Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

System Requirements and Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Getting Around This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Conventions Used in This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

About www.avid.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter 2. Hardware Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Eleven Rack Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Eleven Rack Back Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Chapter 3. Exploring Rigs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Rig Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Rig Select Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Rig Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Selecting Rigs Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

What’s In A Rig? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Rig View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Signal Chain Devices and Utility Settings in Rig View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Signal Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Rig Edit Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Saving Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

The Amps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

DC Custom Amps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

General Amp Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

The Speaker Cabinets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Speaker Breakup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Contents iii

The Microphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

The Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

General Effects Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Don’t Forget to Save! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Chapter 4. Eleven Rack Live Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Basic Live Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Using an Amp Onstage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Effects and Foot Controllers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

External Foot Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Display Mode and Visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Part II Setting Up and Using Pro Tools with Eleven Rack

Chapter 5. Installing and Connecting Eleven Rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Chapter 6. Eleven Rack Studio Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Using Eleven Rack as Your Pro Tools Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Listen to Your Sound from Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Analog Audio Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Digital Audio Input and Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

MIDI Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Using Eleven Rack with an Existing Pro Tools System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Chapter 7. Using Eleven Rack with Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Pro Tools Interface Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

External Processor Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

The Eleven Rack Control Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Accessing the Eleven Rack Control Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Rig View Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Master Control Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Guitar Recording with Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Recording Wet and Dry Signals when Using Eleven Rack as an External Processor . . . . . . . . . 82

Embedding Rig Settings in Audio Regions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Re-Amping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Controlling Eleven Rack Parameters with MIDI Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Eleven Rack User Guideiv

Chapter 8. User Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Exploring the User Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

User Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Part III Reference

Chapter 9. Eleven Rack MIDI Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

General/Frequently Used Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Amplifier Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Utility Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Miscellaneous MIDI Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Chapter 10. Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

About the Pro Tools Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

About www.avid.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Chapter 11. Compliance Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Environmental Compliance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

EMC (Electromagnetic Compliance). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Safety Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Contents v

Eleven Rack User Guidevi

Part I: Playing Guitar through Eleven Rack

1

2

Chapter 1: Introduction

To play guitar with Eleven Rack:

Quick Start Instructions

You’ve Got Eleven Rack, You’ve
Got Your Guitar. What’s Next?

Eleven Rack is a high-quality audio and MIDI in­terface, with classic guitar amp and effects pro­cessing built right in. This means that Eleven
Rack is useful when recording, gigging, and
practicing.

At home or in the studio, you can plug guitars,
microphones, and other instruments into
Eleven Rack, and record directly into a Pro Tools
session on your computer. You can use the amp
and effects modelling capabilities of Eleven Rack
to process signals as you record them, or to pro­cess previously recorded audio.

When away from the computer, you can use
Eleven Rack as a standalone guitar processor,
sending classic guitar tones straight to a venue’s
PA system, to a guitar amp, or both. You can also
simply plug in a pair of headphones and prac­tice by yourself.

1 Connect outputs from Eleven Rack to your

monitors or headphones:

• If you’re connecting to self-powered studio

Eleven Rack Main outputs (back panel)

• If you’re using a pair of headphones, con-

monitors, a stereo power amp and speakers,
or mixer inputs, use the Main outputs.

The Main outputs are line-level, rather than
mic-level outputs. When connecting to a
mixer or other device with microphone pre­amps, it is best to use the device’s line-level
inputs, if provided. If only inputs with pre­amps are available, adjust the preamp gain
on each channel to avoid clipping.

nect them to the Phones output.

You’re probably excited to start playing with
your new Eleven Rack right away, so let’s get
started!

Phones output (front panel)

Chapter 1: Introduction 3

2 Connect your guitar to the Guitar Input on

the front panel of Eleven Rack.

8 You can browse through Eleven Rack’s various

Rigs, by turning the Scroll wheel.

Guitar input (front panel)

3 Connect the power cable.

4 Make sure any connected amplifiers or pow-

ered monitors are turned off or muted.

5 Set the Eleven Rack Power switch to On. The

Eleven Rack logo will appear, and the Eleven
Rack will begin its warm-up process.

6 When the name of the first preset sound (or

Rig) is displayed, turn your amp or powered
speakers back on.

7 Try playing your guitar. Make sure the guitar’s

volume is turned up. How’s it sound? You may
want to adjust the output volume of Eleven Rack
by turning the Volume knob on the front panel.

Volume knob (front panel)

If you aren’t getting sound when you play
your guitar, make sure that the Rig Input
User Option is set to Guitar. For more infor­mation, see “Rig Input” on page 17

.

Scroll wheel (front panel)

9 Try adjusting the lit Control Knobs to change

the featured amp or effects settings. You can see
what kind of control each knob is assigned to on
the display. In the following example, the left­most knob controls Gain, the second knob con­trols Bass, and so on.

Control knobs and displayed knob assignments

10 Press some of the Effects Bypass buttons

(such as Dist, Mod, or Delay) to toggle the vari­ous effects on and off.

Effects Bypass buttons

Eleven Rack User Guide4

System Requirements and Compatibility

To use Eleven Rack as a standalone preamp and
processor for a Guitar or other instrument, you
need:

• A guitar, bass, or other electric instrument

• One or more of the following, for monitoring:

• A guitar amplifier

• A set of speakers, with an amplifier

• A set of headphones

• Cables to connect your chosen devices

To use Eleven Rack with Pro Tools, you need:

• One of the following:

• A qualified Mac or Windows computer run­ning Pro Tools 8.0.1 or higher (when using
Eleven Rack as a Pro Tools interface)

– or –

• A qualified Mac or Windows computer run­ning Pro Tools 8.0.1 or higher with an
Avid-qualified interface (when using
Eleven Rack as an external signal device).

• Included USB and power cables for use with
Eleven Rack

• Internet access for registration purposes

Avid can only assure compatibility and provide
support for hardware and software it has tested
and approved.

For complete system requirements and a list of
qualified computers, operating systems, hard
drives, and third-party devices, visit:

www.avid.com/compatibility

Getting Around This Guide

There are two main ways to use Eleven Rack. It
can be used as a live guitar processor (see Part I,
“Playing Guitar through Eleven Rack.”) Or,
Eleven Rack can be used as an audio interface
and effects processor with Pro Tools (see Part II,
“Setting Up and Using Pro Tools with Eleven
Rack.”)

Part 1: Playing Guitar through
Eleven Rack

You’re looking at it. Part 1 gives you an overall
view of Eleven Rack, its features and basic oper­ation.

• Chapter 1, “Introduction”

• Chapter 2, “Hardware Overview”

• Chapter 3, “Exploring Rigs”

• Chapter 4, “Eleven Rack Live Setup”

Part 2: Setting Up and Using
Pro Tools with Eleven Rack

In Part 2, you can learn how to set up and use
Eleven Rack as part of a Pro Tools recording and
mixing system.

• Chapter 5, “Installing and Connecting
Eleven Rack”

• Chapter 6, “Eleven Rack Studio Setup”

• Chapter 7, “Using Eleven Rack with
Pro Tools”

• Chapter 8, “User Options”

Chapter 1: Introduction 5

Part 3: Reference

In Part 3, we get into the technical (and very
useful) details behind the scenes.

• Chapter 9, “Eleven Rack MIDI Controls”

• Chapter 10, “Resources”

Registration

Conventions Used in This Guide

Pro Tools guides use the following conventions
to indicate menu choices and key commands:

:

Convention Action

File > Save Choose Save from the

File menu

Review the enclosed Registration Information
Card and follow the instructions on it to quickly
register your purchase online. By registering,
you become eligible to receive the following:

• Information regarding technical support

• Software update and upgrade notices

• Limited warranty on hardware

Warranty

Your warranty can be found on the Registration
Information Card.

Control+N Hold down the Control key

and press the N key

Control-click Hold down the Control key

and click the mouse
button

Right-click Click with the right mouse

button

The names of Commands, Options, and Settings
that appear on-screen are in a different font.

The following symbols are used to highlight im­portant information:

User Tips are helpful hints for getting the
most from your Pro Tools system.

Important Notices include information that
could affect your data or the performance of
your system.

Shortcuts show you useful keyboard or
mouse shortcuts.

Cross References point to related sections in
this guide and other related guides.

Eleven Rack User Guide6

About www.avid.com

The Avid website (www.avid.com) is your best
online source for information to help you get
the most out of your Pro Tools system. The fol­lowing are just a few of the services and features
available.

Product Registration Register your purchase
online.

Support and Downloads Contact Avid Customer
Success (technical support); download software
updates and the latest online manuals; browse
the Compatibility documents for system re­quirements; search the online Knowledge Base
or join the worldwide Pro Tools community on
the User Conference.

Training and Education Study on your own using
courses available online or find out how you can
learn in a classroom setting at a certified
Pro Tools training center.

Products and Developers Learn about Avid
products; download demo software or learn
about our Development Partners and their
plug-ins, applications, and hardware.

News and Events Get the latest news from Avid
or sign up for a Pro Tools demo.

Chapter 1: Introduction 7

Eleven Rack User Guide8

Chapter 2: Hardware Overview

Scroll

Effects Control

Mic input and controls

Power

switch

Vol ume
knob

Edit/Back
and Save
buttons

SW1 and SW2
buttons

wheel

buttons

Control knobs

Tap Tempo

and Tuner button

Phones

output

Guitar

input

Output

To Am p

1 (L)

Display

Eleven Rack Front Panel

Figure 1. Eleven Rack front panel

The Eleven Rack front panel provides the
following:

Power Switch

Use the heavy-duty Power switch to turn Eleven
Rack on and off. Eleven Rack will take a few sec­onds to warm up. When the Rig name appears
on the display, you’re ready to rock.

Before you power on Eleven Rack, make
sure any powered monitors or amplifiers
are turned off or muted, and take off any
headphones.

Volume Knob

Turning the Volume knob will simultaneously
adjust the output level of the Main outputs and
the Headphone output.

The Volume knob can also be set to control
other output volume settings in
Eleven Rack. For more information, see
“Volume Control” on page 94.

Chapter 2: Hardware Over view 9

Edit/Back and Save Buttons

Effects Control Buttons

Use the Edit/Back button to enter Rig View,
which gives you access to the inner workings of
the current Rig (preset). When in Rig View or
any other non-default view, you can Press
Edit/Back to step backwards to the previous
view. When you’re satisfied with the changes
you’ve made, press the Save button to save your
settings.

For more information on Rig View, see
Chapter 3, “Exploring Rigs.”

User Options Mode

Hold the Edit/Back button to enter User Options
mode, where many settings that change the be­havior and configuration of Eleven Rack can be
found.

For information on User Options mode, see
Chapter 8, “User Options.”

SW1 and SW2 Buttons

Use the SW1 and SW2 buttons to toggle various
switched behaviors on and off, and to navigate
through editing views in Eleven Rack. The part
of the display next to the SW1 and SW2 buttons
shows the current function of the buttons.

Use the Effects Control buttons to toggle effects
on and off by type. Press and hold any of the ef­fects buttons to access the controls for that ef­fect. Pressing the FX1 and FX2 buttons simulta­neously toggles the Wah effect on and off.

Tap Tempo/Tuner Button

Tap the Tap Tempo/Tuner button at quarter­note intervals to set the current Rig’s FX tempo.
Time-based effects (such as Delay and Tremolo)
can be set to synchronize with the new tempo.

Most Rigs are not set up to sync to Rig or Session
tempo by default. You may need to turn on the
Sync parameter in the effect you want to sync.

For more information on syncing effects, see
“Sync” on page 49.

If you want to save the new tempo setting with
the current Rig, press the Save button.

To access the built-in guitar tuner, hold the Tap
Tempo/Tuner button down for one second. The
display shows the Tuner view.

When one of the SW buttons are actively usable
in the current screen, it will be lit.

Scroll Wheel

Use the Scroll wheel to browse through Rigs,
navigate through sections in Rig View, and ma­nipulate applicable parameters throughout
Eleven Rack.

Eleven Rack User Guide10

Tuner v iew

The guitar signal can be muted by pressing SW1.
The reference pitch can be adjusted by turning
the lit Control knob. The default reference pitch
is A-440 Hz. This pitch is the standard reference
pitch that most tuners are calibrated to.

When you’re finished tuning, press any button
to return to the previous screen.

Mic Input and Controls

Display

Use the Mic input to record and/or process mic­level signals. Controls for preamp gain, phan­tom power, and pad are provided.

When using Eleven Rack as a standalone
preamp and processor, it’s important to note
that only one input type can run through the
Rig at one time. The Rig Input User Option
setting must be set to the correct input type,
or no audio will pass to the outputs. For
more info on selecting the input that feeds
the rig, see “Rig Input” on page 90.

When using Eleven Rack as an audio inter­face with Pro Tools, all inputs are usable si­multaneously (though the Rig is still limited
to processing one input type at a time).

48V (Phantom Power)

Use this switch for microphones that require
phantom power.

Most condenser microphones (such as an AKG
C3000) do require phantom power to operate.
Dynamic microphones (such as a Shure SM57)
do not require phantom power, but are not
harmed by it.

Although phantom power is safe for most
microphones, it is possible to damage some
ribbon mics with it. Always turn off phan­tom power and wait at least ten seconds be­fore connecting or disconnecting a ribbon
microphone.

If you are not sure about the phantom power re­quirements for your microphone, consult your
microphone’s documentation or contact the
manufacturer.

The Display is an LCD screen used to show Rigs,
settings, and data (such as firmware version). It
also works in tandem with the front panel Con­trol knobs and buttons, displaying the cur­rently-controllable parameters and their set­tings.

For more information on the interaction be­tween the display and the physical controls
on Eleven Rack, see Chapter 3, “Exploring
Rigs.”

Control Knobs

Use the Control knobs to access amp and effects
controls, as well as other Eleven Rack settings.
The controls are pre-assigned, depending on the
current mode. The knobs light up in different
colors, depending on their state:

Amber The current knob is assigned to an amp,
cab, or FX loop parameter.

Green The current knob is assigned to an effects
parameter.

Red The current knob is positioned differently
than the assigned control’s saved position in the
current Rig. You can match the knob position to
the saved parameter by turning the knob until it
lights Amber or Green again. If you want to save
your new settings to the current preset or a new
preset, press the Save button.

The above only applies when you are still
viewing the page you’re adjusting. For ex­ample, if you adjust Amp Gain, then scroll
to Distortion, then back to Amp, the Gain
control will not show as red. Keep an eye on
the Save light to be sure.

When a Control knob isn’t active in the current
screen, it is not lit.

Chapter 2: Hardware Over view 11

Phones Output

The Phones output is a 1/4-inch TRS jack that
drives a pair of headphones with the same signal
that is being sent out of the Main outputs of
Eleven Rack. This can be either the output signal
of the current Rig when using Eleven Rack as a
standalone device, or the output signal of
Pro Tools or other applications when using
Eleven Rack as an audio interface.

The headphone output level is adjusted in tan­dem with the Main volume when you turn the
Volume knob on the front panel of Eleven Rack
or adjust the Main volume from within
Pro Tools. If you want the headphone volume to
differ from that going to your speakers, you can
adjust the Headphone Offset setting in User Op­tions mode.

For more information on Headphone Offset,
see “Headphone Volume” on page 93.

Output To Amp 1 (L)

The Output To Amp 1 (L) is one of two outputs
specifically designed for connecting to the input
of a guitar amplifier or effects unit. It is an in­strument-level output. Since most amplifier in­put jacks are located on the amp’s front panel,
we put one of these jacks on the front panel of
Eleven Rack for easy patching.

You can select from specific points in the signal
chain to feed each Output To Amp jack. This lets
you choose the type of processing you want on
the output signal.

Guitar Input with True-Z

The Guitar input is a 1/4" TS, instrument-level
input. Designed for electric guitars, the jack also
works well with bass guitars, acoustic guitars
with pickups, and even vintage electric pianos.

Most recent keyboards have line-level out­puts and sh ould be conne cted to the Line in­puts on the back panel of Eleven Rack.

Eleven Rack features a special variable-imped­ance circuit called True-Z, which automatically
changes the input impedance of the Eleven Rack
guitar input depending on which amp or effects
model is first in the chain of the current Rig.

True-Z alters the frequency response of your gui­tar signal by loading your pickups in the same
manner as plugging into a real amp or effect.
This setting only effects instruments with pas­sive pickups.

When using an instrument with active (battery­powered) pickups, we recommend setting the
True-Z setting to 1M. This feature can be manu­ally controlled and saved as part of a Rig setting.

The Output to Amp 2 jack, which outputs the
right channel signal, is located on the back of
Eleven Rack. It can be used independently of
Output 1, or along with it for stereo amplifier
configurations.

The Output to Amp jacks can output a live gui­tar signal in real time as you play, or a pre-re­corded signal from Pro Tools, for re-amping pur­poses.

Eleven Rack User Guide12

When using Eleven Rack as a standalone
preamp and processor, it’s important to note
that only one input type can run through the
Rig at one time. The Rig Input User Option
setting must be set to the correct input type,
or no audio will pass to the outputs. For
more info, see “Rig Input” on page 90.

When using Eleven Rack as an audio inter­face with Pro Tools, all inputs are usable si­multaneously (though the Rig is still limited
to processing one input type at a time).

Eleven Rack Back Panel

FX Loop

Main output

Sends and Returns

Output To

AES/EBU

AC power input

USB port

S/PDIF

Exp. Pedal/

MIDI I/O

Line input

digital I/O

digital I/O

Footswitch
input

Amp 2 (R)

Figure 2 identifies each port on the back panel of the Eleven Rack.

Figure 2. Eleven Rack back panel

The Eleven Rack back panel provides the
following:

FX Loop Sends and Returns

The FX Loop Sends and Returns are a pair of 1/4­inch TRS inputs and outputs, which can be used
to insert a mono or stereo external effects pro­cessor into the guitar signal.

The Level switch lets you adjust the signal level
to be suitable for either a line-level effects pro­cessor (Rack FX) or a guitar-level effects proces­sors (Stompbox FX).

When sending and receiving mono signals,
use the Left/Mono input and output. You
can set the FX Loop to mono in this case, by
visiting User Options > FX Loop. For more
information, see “FX Loop” on page 92.

Main Outputs

The Main output section includes a stereo, XLR,
line-level analog output pair. Connect these to
studio monitors, a power amp, mixer, or PA sys­tem.

When using the Main outputs to feed a live
sound console, alert the sound engineer that
the signal you’re sending is line-level, rather
than mic-level.

Use caution when connecting the Main Out­puts to devices (such as mixers), which pro­vide 48V phantom power over the connec­tion. We recommend that you make sure
48V phantom power is disabled on these
devices before connecting your Eleven Rack.

The Gnd Lift switch is useful for suppressing
hum in some situations, but should usually be
left switched off unless it is really needed.

Chapter 2: Hardware Over view 13

Output To Amp 2 (R)

S/PDIF

The Output To Amp 2 (R) is one of two outputs
specifically designed for connecting to the input
of a guitar amplifier or effects unit. Like Output
to Amp 1 (L), it is an instrument-level output. It
can be used independently of Output 1 (located
on the front panel), or along with it for stereo
amplifier configurations.

The Output to Amp jacks can output a live gui­tar signal in real time as you play, or a pre-re­corded signal from Pro Tools, for re-amping pur­poses.

You can select from specific points in the signal
chain to feed each Output To Amp jack. This lets
you choose the amount of processing you want
on the output signal.

Digital Inputs and Outputs

Eleven Rack can support AES/EBU and S/PDIF
digital formats, but not both at once. For infor­mation on switching between digital formats,
see “Digital Clock/Input” on page 91

AES/EBU

The AES/EBU In and Out ports are balanced
three-conductor XLR connectors that can sup­port up to 24-bit, 96 kHz audio.

The AES/EBU format is used in many profes­sional digital converters, recorders, and signal
processors.

The S/PDIF In and Out ports are unbalanced
two-conductor phono (RCA) connectors that
can support up to 24-bit, 96 kHz resolution.

The Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format
(S/PDIF) is used in many professional and con­sumer CD recorders and DAT recorders. To
avoid RF interference, use 75-ohm coaxial cable
for S/PDIF transfers and keep the cable length to
a maximum of 10 meters.

AC Power Input

The AC power input accepts a standard IEC
power cable (included with Eleven Rack). The
power supply in Eleven Rack is universal, so
wherever you go, all you need is a standard IEC
power cable with the correct plug for your re­gion.

Line Inputs

The Line inputs accept one stereo or two mono
line-level analog signals. The Level switch lets
you select between +4 (for professional gear) or
–10 dBV (for consumer gear).

MIDI I/O

The MIDI In and MIDI Out ports are standard
5-pin MIDI ports, each providing 16 channels of
MIDI input or output. These ports can interface
with a variety of MIDI devices.

When Eleven Rack is used as a standalone pro­cessor, the MIDI jacks are used to communicate
with MIDI foot controllers, sending and receiv­ing program changes and continuous controller
data.

Eleven Rack User Guide14

When Eleven Rack is used with Pro Tools, you
can connect a MIDI keyboard or controller and
send MIDI data to Eleven Rack to control virtual
instruments in your Pro Tools session. You can
also send MIDI data from Pro Tools to your
MIDI-equipped gear.

Exp Pedal/Ext Footswitch Input

The Exp Pedal/Ext Footswitch input supports an
expression pedal or a momentary footswitch
(single or dual). You can control sweepable pa­rameters (such as Wah, Volume and Multi FX)
with an expression pedal, or switchable settings
(such as Rig switching, amp channel switching,
and effects on/off) with a footswitch.

USB Port

The USB port lets you connect Eleven Rack to
your computer for use with Pro Tools software,
another Pro Tools system, or for maintenance
tasks like updating firmware.

We recommend using the included USB cable to
connect Eleven Rack. If the included cable isn’t
available, use a high-quality USB cable, five me­ters (16 feet) or shorter.

Chapter 2: Hardware Over view 15

Eleven Rack User Guide16

Chapter 3: Exploring Rigs

To set the Rig Input User Option to match your

Overview

Eleven Rack is a powerful guitar signal processor
that delivers tones from a wide variety of ampli­fiers, speaker cabinets, microphones, and effects
units. The combination of all of this gear and
their control settings make up a Rig.

Eleven Rack comes loaded with over 100 Rigs
that showcase the range of tones our amps and
effects can achieve. The built-in Rigs are a good
place to start, but the power of Eleven Rack re­ally comes into play when you create your own.

input type:

1 Hold the Edit/Back button for one second to

enter User Options Mode.

2 Scroll to Rig Input using the Scroll wheel.

3 Press SW1 to enter the Rig Input User Option.

4 Use the illuminated Control knob to set the

input to the type you want to run through the
current Rig.

5 Press the Edit/Back button twice to return to

your previous view.

You can audition, manage, edit and create Rigs
from the front panel of Eleven Rack. When us­ing Eleven Rack with Pro Tools, the built-in
Eleven Rack Control window offers another
convenient way to do this work.

For details on working with Rigs from
within Pro Tools, see “The Eleven Rack
Control Window” on page 74.

Rig Input

The Amp/Effects processor inside Eleven Rack
can process one input signal at a time. To hear
your audio when using Eleven Rack as a stand­alone signal processor, you must set the Rig In­put User Option to the input you plan to use
(such as Guitar, Mic, or Line).

Rig Input and Pro Tools

When using Eleven Rack as an audio interface
with Pro Tools, all of the inputs on Eleven Rack,
as well as the output of the Rig, are available as
separate channels for recording.

The Rig Input setting is then used to choose
which input channel is processed by the Rig.
That input’s dry signal is still available for re­cording separately.

Chapter 3: Exploring Rigs 17

Rig Select Mode

When you turn on Eleven Rack, it’s already in
Rig Select mode. In this mode, you can turn the
Scroll wheel to find and select a Rig.

Details Mode

Rig Select Display Modes

The Rig Select page can be viewed four different
ways. To cycle through the display modes, press
the SW1 button.

Default Mode

This mode shows the Rig number and name,
and provides a set of amp or effects controls that
you can change without entering Rig View.

For more information about Rig View, see
“Rig View” on page 21.

Simple Mode

This mode lists the amp, cabinet, and effects
models that are used in the current Rig, plus
their on/off status.

Outputs Mode

This mode offers fast access to the output set­tings for the current Rig. It provides four lit con­trol knobs. These are labeled TO AMP 1 (Output
To Amp 1 volume), TO AMP 2 (Output To Amp 2
volume), AMP OUT (amp output volume), and
RIG VOL (Rig output volume).

This mode shows the Rig number and name in
the largest typeface possible. It’s perfect for see­ing from across a dark stage.

Eleven Rack User Guide18

Rig Organization

Rig name

Rig Bank

Rig number

Selecting Rigs Live

When using Eleven Rack in live performance sit­uations, we recommend using a footswitch ac­cessory or a dedicated MIDI foot controller to
switch from Rig to Rig. This lets you switch Rigs
more quickly and conveniently.

Eleven Rack has storage for 208 Rigs. Half of
these are user-editable Rigs, and the other half
are factory preset Rigs. You can also save and
store an unlimited number of your favorite Rigs
as plug-in settings files on your computer.

The 208 Rigs in Eleven Rack are arranged into
two sets of 26 banks, each containing four Rigs.
Each bank is marked with a letter from A to Z,
and a numeral from 1 to 4. Banks with upper­case letters are user banks, and those with lower­case letters are factory banks. For example, the
third preset in user bank D is referred to as “D3.”

User Rigs and Factory Rigs

By default, all 104 user Rigs are copies of the 104
factory Rigs. This gives you a place to start when
you set out to make your own Rigs. As you scroll
through, notice that when you get past the end
of the uppercase (user) Rigs, you’ll then begin to
see the lowercase (preset) Rigs.

The user Rigs are yours to edit, change, copy,
and mangle as you see fit. The preset Rigs will al­ways stay the same. If you make changes to a
preset Rig and want to save it, you can save it as
a new User Rig.

For info on using a footswitch accessory, see
“External Pedals” on page 92. For info on
using a MIDI controller, see Chapter 9,
“Eleven Rack MIDI Controls.”

Chapter 3: Exploring Rigs 19

What’s In A Rig?

Figure 3. Example of a common Eleven Rack Rig signal chain

Each Rig in Eleven Rack contains the following
devices for processing your guitar signal from in­put to output. Each device has settings you can
control. Also, some devices can be moved to dif­ferent points in the signal chain.

For more information on changing the order
of devices, see “Signal Routing” on page 24.

Signal Chain Devices

Each Rig contains a group of devices that make
up the processing signal chain. You can sculpt,
manipulate, and optimize the sound you’re run­ning through the Rig by adjusting settings in the
following devices.

Input Lets you manipulate the True-Z input im­pedance circuitry. In the Eleven Rack Rig, this
device is represented by the INPUT icon.

Amplifier Lets you select and tweak the amp of
your choice. In the Eleven Rack Rig, this device
is represented by the AMP icon.

Speaker Cabinet and Microphone Lets you
choose cabinet and microphone models to suit
the desired tone, and add realistic speaker
breakup effects to your signal. In the
Eleven Rack Rig, this device is represented by
the CAB icon.

Effects Lets you choose and manipulate an ex­tensive set of guitar effects, including Distor­tion, Modulation (such as Chorus and Flanger),
and Reverb. In the Eleven Rack Rig, Effects are
represented by a variety of icons, such as DIST
(for distortion) and DLY (for delay).

Output Lets you change the Rig volume and To
Amp output volume, and switch the Rig output
between mono and stereo. In the Eleven Rack
Rig, this device is represented by the OUTPUT
icon.

Utility Settings

Each Rig also contains the following “Utility”
settings, which can be found to the right of the
Output device in Rig View:

Display Lets you set the device whose controls
are displayed in Rig Select view (such as Amp,
Mod, or FX1). In the Eleven Rack Rig, this device
is represented by the DISPLY icon.

Tem po Lets you set the Rig tempo. In the
Eleven Rack Rig, this device is represented by
the TEMPO icon.

Pedal Lets you configure an external footswitch
or expression pedal accessory. In the
Eleven Rack Rig, this device is represented by
the PEDAL icon.

Meter Lets you meter the signal level at various
points inside the Rig and at the inputs and out­puts (analog, digital, and USB) of Eleven Rack.
This device is represented by the METERS icon.

Eleven Rack User Guide20

Rig View

Rig View lets you access every aspect of the cur­rent Rig, from the amp, cabinet, and micro­phone type, all the way to choosing effects, and
changing their order in the signal chain.

You can switch to Rig View from Rig Select View
by pressing the Edit/Back button on the front
panel of Eleven Rack.

Page Indicator

In Eleven Rack’s editing screens, a Page indica­tor appears on the display if there is more than
one page of controls. The Page indicator shows
the number of pages, as well as the name of the
page you’re viewing. Turn the Scroll wheel to
switch between pages.

Page indicator, showing page two of four

Signal Chain Devices and Utility Settings in Rig View

Rig View

Once you’ve entered Rig View, you’ll see a selec­tion of icons, each representing a different de­vice or utility setting within the current Rig.
Turn the Scroll wheel to select the element you
want to access.

As you scroll through the list, certain functions
will be assigned to the lit Control Knobs, (such
as choosing the type of amp or effect you want
to use).

When you’re finished editing, press the
Edit/Back button again to get back to the main
Rig Select mode.

If you make changes you want to save, be
sure to use the Save button before switching
to a different Rig. For details, see “Saving
Your Work” on page 25.

This section describes the functions of the signal
chain devices and utility settings pages found in
Rig View.

If the device or setting you select in Rig View has
additional controls, pressing SW1 (labeled
CONTROLS) takes you to a special page of addi­tional controls for that device. When you’re fin­ished, press Edit/Back to go back to Rig View.

For more details on accessing additional
controls, see “Rig Edit Mode” on page 24.

Input

Turn the lit Control knob to manipulate the
True-Z impedance circuitry in Eleven Rack.
When set to Auto, the input impedance is deter­mined by the first active effect or amp in the sig­nal chain. You can also choose a specific load
value to best match your pickups.

Chapter 3: Exploring Rigs 21

Amplifier, Cabinet, and
Microphone

AMP

Turn the lit Control knob to select the type of
simulated amp you want to use. Press CONTROLS
to access additional amp settings.

Effects

VOL

Press CONTROLS to access a Control page where
you can adjust the position and minimum vol­ume of the Volume pedal, using the lit Control
knobs.

CAB

By default, when Cab is selected in Rig View,
you can access the following controls:

CAB and MIC Turn the lit Control knobs to se­lect the type of cabinet and microphone you
want to use.

ON AXIS/OFF AXIS Press SW2 to toggle the mi­crophone position on or off-axis.

CONTROLS Press SW1 to reach two additional
pages of Cab controls. You can then scroll be­tween control pages with the Scroll wheel.

The two control pages let you access the follow­ing additional controls:

BYPASS (Page One) Press SW1 to bypass the
current cabinet and microphone model.

SPEAKER BREAKUP (Page Two) Turn the lit
Control knob to dial in the appropriate amount
of the Speaker Breakup simulation.

When playing Eleven Rack through a guitar
amp, you may want to bypass the Cab and
Mic simulations. With some amplifiers, the
additional tone shaping of the Eleven Rack
Cab and Mic processing may cause the tone
to sound “fizzy” or “muddy.”

WAH

Turn the lit Control knob to select the type of
Wah pedal you want to use. Press CONTROLS to
access a Control page, where you can adjust the
position of the Wah pedal.

DIST

Turn the lit Control knob to select the type of
Distortion effect you want to use. Press CON-
TROLS to access additional settings for the cho­sen Distortion effect.

MOD

Turn the lit Control knob to select the type of
Modulation effect you want to use. Press CON-
TROLS to access additional settings for the cho­sen Modulation effect.

FX1 and FX2

The FX1 and FX2 pages let you choose two addi­tional effects not found in the other categories
(such as compressor or graphic EQ) as well as a
variety of modulation effects, using the lit Con­trol knob. Press CONTROLS to access additional
settings for the chosen effect.

REV

Turn the lit Control knob to select the type of
Reverb effect you want to use. Press CONTROLS
to access additional settings for the chosen Re­verb effect.

Eleven Rack User Guide22

DLY

TEMPO

Turn the lit Control knob to select the type of
Delay effect you want to use. Press CONTROLS to
access additional settings for the chosen Delay
effect.

FX LOOP

Press CONTROLS to access a Control page where
you can adjust the gain and blend settings of the
FX Loop, using the lit Control knobs.

Effects and the FX Loop can be moved to
different locations in the signal chain of the
Rig. For that reason, when an effect or the
FX Loop is selected in Rig View, SW2 is la­beled MOVE. For more details, see “Signal
Routing” on page 24.

Output

RIG VOL

This volume setting is a tonally transparent vol­ume control, intended for making fine adjust­ments to the relative volume levels of different
Rigs.

Turn the lit Control knob to set the Rig tempo.
Any amp or effects settings that have a control
set to sync to a specific subdivision of Rig tempo
will lock to this tempo.

Press MIDI to toggle sync of Rig tempo to incom­ing MIDI clock (from the MIDI input of Eleven
Rack) on or off.

Press FINE to toggle fine tempo editing mode on
or off. In this mode, turn the Scroll wheel to ad­just the Rig tempo in tenths of a BPM, rather
than the coarse adjustments that are made with
the Control knob. Press FINE again to return to
the normal mode.

PEDAL

Turn the lit Control knob to choose the param­eter controlled by an external expression pedal,
if attached. The following choices are available:

Wah Lets you control the sweep of the Wah ef­fect.

Volume Pedal Lets you control the sweep of the
Volume Pedal effect.

TO AMP 1 and TO AMP 2

These volume settings let you optimize signal
level for the amp(s) or external processors you
are sending signal to.

MONO/STEREO Press SW1 to toggle between
mono or stereo or mono output.

Utility Settings

DISPLAY

Turn the lit Control knob to specify what con­trols are displayed in the Default view of Rig Se­lect mode.

Rig Volume Lets you control the overall Rig
volume.

Multi FX Lets you control up to four different
amp and/or effects parameters at once. Press
SW1 for options. There are four pages of op­tions, each one addressing one parameter that is
to be controlled.

On each page, set the device you want to control
and the parameter you want to sweep. The Toe
and Heel settings govern the range of the con­trol that is able to be swept.

If you set the Heel number higher than
the Toe number, the control can be swept
in reverse.

Chapter 3: Exploring Rigs 23

None No parameter will be affected when the
pedal is moved.

Rig Edit Mode

For information on toggling Eleven Rack
between expression pedal and footswitch
control, see “External Pedals” on page 92.

METER

Turn the lit Control knob to choose which sig­nal the meter shows. You can meter various
points within the Rig, or the input or output
level of any of the analog, digital, or USB
(P ro Tools ) I/ Os on Elev en Rack. T hi s funct io n is
useful for troubleshooting purposes (such as
finding clipping in the signal chain, or identify­ing a bad guitar cable).

Signal Routing

The position of many of the devices in the signal
chain can be changed. The order that devices are
plugged into each other can make a large differ­ence in the sound you get.

Most effects can be moved anywhere before or
after the amp and cabinet models. The FX Loop
can be moved to one of four places:

• The beginning of the chain

• Immediately before the amp and cab

• Immediately after the amp and cab

• Immediately before the final output

To move an effect:

1 Turn the Scroll wheel to select the effect you

want to move.

1 Press SW2 to enter Move mode.

When there are additional controls available for
the device or utility setting you’ve selected,
pressing SW1 (labeled CONTROLS) takes you to a
special editing screen for that device, called Rig
Edit Mode.

Control page for Green JRC OD effect

The Control knobs that are assigned to controls
in the current device will light amber, if you’re
editing Amp, Cab, or FX Loop settings, or green,
if you’re editing an effect. The display shows
what parameter each knob is assigned to, and
the current setting of each parameter.

When you turn a knob away from its saved set­ting, it will light red, to show you that the set­ting has changed. If you want to return a control
to its saved setting, turn the knob until it goes
back to amber or green.

SW1 and SW2 are assigned to various functions,
(such as BYPASS), which toggles the current ele­ment on and off, and other switched behaviors,
such as BRIGHT (bright switch).

Individual effects may be toggled on and off
at any time by pressing the corresponding
Effects Control button on the front panel of
Eleven Rack. The Wah effect can be toggled
on and off by pressing FX1 and FX2 simul­taneously.

2 Turn the Scroll wheel to move the effect to a

different position in the signal chain.

3 Press SW2 again to keep the change, or SW1 to

cancel the move.

Eleven Rack User Guide24