ESI ESU1808 User Manual

18-in/8-out USB 2.0 Hi-Speed

External Recording Interface

User’s Guide

Revision 1, November 2007

www.esi-audio.com

ESU1808 ESI

INDEX

1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................4

1.1 What’s in the box.................................................................................................................................................4

1.2 Key Features ........................................................................................................................................................4

2. Description of ESU1808............................................................................................................... 5

2.1 Front Panel........................................................................................................................................................... 5

2.2 Rear Panel............................................................................................................................................................7

3. Hardware Installation .................................................................................................................9

3.1 Minimum system requirements............................................................................................................................9

3.2 Installation ...........................................................................................................................................................9

4. Driver Installation...................................................................................................................... 10

4.1 Windows............................................................................................................................................................10

4.2 Mac OS X..........................................................................................................................................................11

5. ESU1808 Control Panel............................................................................................................. 13

5.1 Information Tab.................................................................................................................................................13

5.2 Control Tab........................................................................................................................................................13

5.3 Pull Down Menu (Windows).............................................................................................................................15

5.4 Pull Down Menu (Mac OS X) ...........................................................................................................................15

6. Hardware Monitoring / Mix Out..............................................................................................15

6.1 Enable Monitoring / MIX button .......................................................................................................................15

6.2 Monitoring volume for input channels...............................................................................................................16

6.3 Monitoring volume for playback channels.........................................................................................................16

6.4 Mono down mix for microphone inputs.............................................................................................................16

6.5 Mono down mix for Hi-Z instrument inputs......................................................................................................16

6.6 Monitoring the digital S/PDIF input signal........................................................................................................16

7. Audio Applications.....................................................................................................................17

7.1 Windows Multimedia setup...............................................................................................................................17

7.2 Latency setting and ASIO applications under Windows....................................................................................17

7.3 Mac OS X Audio MIDI Setup...........................................................................................................................17

7.4 Cubase LE 4.......................................................................................................................................................19

8. Technical Specifications ............................................................................................................ 21

9. General Information..................................................................................................................22

ESU1808 ESI

1. Introduction

Thank you for choosing the ESI ESU1808. ESU1808 shows the latest audio interface technology for external usage on notebook and desktop

computers. The USB 2.0 Hi-Speed audio interface for Mac & PC shows what is really possible with USB 2.0. ESI's new USB 2 Xtreme technology boosts USB audio to a new level, providing better performance for better results.

The 1U rack unit comes with not less than 18 input channels, 2 of them are high quality microphone preamps with balanced XLR inputs and +48V phantom power, 2 of them allow a direct connection of instruments (Hi-Z), 4 line inputs on the front for unbalanced and 8 line inputs on the rear for balanced signals and there is a coaxial S/PDIF input. There are 8 balanced analog output channels, one channel pair is also provided as coaxial S/PDIF output. Last but not least ESU1808 comes with a MIDI I/O port providing 16 input and 16 output channels.

All this makes ESU1808 a product that defines new standards for USB audio for professional applications. Never before you have seen this number of I/O channels on a USB audio product in this price range.

1.1 What’s in the box

- ESU1808 USB audio interface as 1U rack device

- Steinberg Cubase LE 4 DVD-ROM

- ESI ESU1808 Driver CD-ROM (incl. additional bundle software)

- User’s Guide

- USB cable

- external power supply

- cable for external power supply

1.2 Key Features

- 18-in / 8-out multi purpose USB 2.0 audio interface

- 2 microphone inputs with gain control, +48V phantom power, peak LEDs

- 2 Hi-Z inputs for direct instrument recording, peak LEDs, gain control

- 4 unbalanced (or balanced) line level inputs on front (1/4" TRS, -10dBv/+4dBu, ADC 107dB[a])

- 8 balanced (or unbalanced) line level inputs on back (1/4" TRS, +4dBu/-10dBv, ADC 107dB[a])

- 2 channel coaxial S/PDIF input / 2 channel coaxial S/PDIF output

- 1 MIDI input with 16 channels / 1 MIDI output with 16 channels

- 8 balanced/unbalanced line level outputs on back (1/4" TRS, +4dBu/-10dBv, DAC 112dB[a])

- headphone output with level control (1/4" stereo phone jack)

- independent analog monitoring control with mono mix function

- 18 channel recording and 8 channel playback at the same time – Full Duplex

- supported sample rates: 44.1kHz, 48.0kHz, 88.2kHz, 96.0kHz

- WDM, MME, ASIO 2.0, GSIF 2.0, CoreAudio and DirectSound support

- bundled with Cubase LE 4 DVD-ROM

- compatible with Windows XP (SP2; 32-bit), Windows Vista 32-bit and Mac OS X 10.4

ESU1808 ESI

2. Description of ESU1808

2.1 Front Panel

Input 1/2 - microphone inputs

Input 1/2 are provided as microphone inputs with balanced XLR connectors and independent GAIN control. You can use both inputs for dynamic and condenser microphones. If required, you can activate the +48V phantom power switch. The activation is indicated by an LED. The input level for each input is shown by the peak LEDs above the gain knob.

Input 3/4 – Hi-Z instrument inputs

Input 3/4 are provided as high impedance HI-Z inputs with individual GAIN control and a peak LED next to each input. Use these inputs if you are directly connecting an instrument like an electric guitar to ESU1808.

Input 5~8 – analog line inputs

Input 5~8 are provided as (by default) unbalanced line level inputs optimized for –10dBv input levels with 1/4" connectors. Unlike input 9~16 (which are located on the rear panel), the line inputs on the front panel are optimized for unbalanced signals.

ESU1808 ESI

Monitor control section

This section allows you to control the monitoring with 3 independent gain knobs and 3 function buttons.

INPUTS 1-8 controls the mixed level of all input signals from the front panel. INPUTS 9-16 controls the mixed level of all input signals from the rear panel. OUTPUTS 1-8 controls the mixed level of all playback signals from your audio applications. The result is either sent out via the MIX

OUT outputs on the rear panel and / or the headphone output. MONO A allows you to create a mono down mix for the signals from Input 1 & 2, MONO B

respectively creates a mono down mix for the signals from Input 3 & 4 in the monitoring signal. The H.P OUT switch allows you to switch between monitoring the mixed signal via the headphone

output (enabled) or the signal from output channel 1/2 only (disabled). A detailed description of monitoring signals with ESU1808 is provided in chapter 6.

Headphone Output

The headphone output is provided as a 1/4" phone connector labeled H.P OUT. The VOLUME gain knob next to it controls the playback volume of it. The headphone output sends out the same signal as the MIX OUT output on the rear panel if the H.P OUT switch (described earlier) is enabled. If that switch is disabled, the headphone output sends out the playback signal from output channel 1/2.

Status LEDs

Various LEDs on the front panel indicate the current operating status of ESU1808. The INTERNAL LED shows if ESU1808 is currently generating the digital master clock internally,

while DIGITAL IN indicates that ESU1808 is synching itself to the S/PDIF digital input signal. Next to that are the LEDs that are indicating the current sample rate. The supported rates are

44.1kHz, 48.0kHz, 88.2kHz and 96.0kHz. 6

ESU1808 ESI

The MIDI IN and MIDI OUT LEDs show activity of the MIDI I/O ports. The POWER LED is on when ESU1808 is switched on.

2.2 Rear Panel

Power section

The power section provides the connector for the included external power supply. Make sure to connect the power supply to this port securely. When turning ESU1808 on / off, use the POWER switch located here at the rear panel.

MIDI I/O

The MIDI IN and OUT connectors are provided on the rear panel. Use these connectors to connect ESU1808 to a controller keyboard, external sound module or other MIDI compatible devices.

S/PDIF Digital I/O

The S/PDIF digital IN and OUT connectors are located on the rear panel as well. The S/PDIF input equals input channel 17/18 while the S/PDIF output can send out any stereo from playback channels 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 or 7/8.

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