Purebits X4 Owner's Manual

AUDIO INTERFACE

MICROPHONE PRE-AMPLIFIER

OWNER'S MANUAL

Purebits

http://purebits.com

HARDWARE VR. 1.4

X4 Owner's Manual - Rev. 1.4 - page 1

Table of Contents

Precautions and warnings............................................................. 2

Introduction................................................................................. 3

Key features................................................................................. 3

Product features........................................................................... 4

What's in the package................................................................... 5

Installation................................................................................... 6

Generic Windows drivers................................................................ 6

ASIO drivers............................................................................... 10

Controls and Indicators............................................................... 10

Front Panel................................................................................. 10

Rear Panel.................................................................................. 13

Using the X4................................................................................ 14

Playing...................................................................................... 14

Recording, Microphone preamplifier, Phantom power........................ 19

Digital input/output...................................................................... 19

VU-Meters.................................................................................. 20

CE Declaration of Conformity....................................................... 20

END USER WARRANTY................................................................. 21

Precautions and warnings

Please read carefully this manual before operating the unit!

This device uses low voltage (5V) power supply from the computer USB port.
It must be used only on a CE compliant personal computer.

All registered trademarks and brand names used in this document are the registered
property of their respective owners.

X4 Owner's Manual - Rev. 1.4 - page 2

Introduction

X4 is an USB soundcard providing analog and digital input/output and a built-in
microphone/line preamplifier. It has been designed and manufactured for acoustics
measurement and Live Recordings purposes, but can be used also for general tasks.
X4 is completely plug&play in PC, Mac and Linux/Unix environments, does not require
any external power supply and is enclosed in a robust and light-weight aluminum
case.

Key features

Fully Compliant with USB 1.1

Bus powered (does not require any external power supply)

16-bit Delta-Sigma ADC and DAC

Sampling Rate:

- DAC: 32, 44.1, 48 kHz

- ADC: 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 32, 44.1, 48 kHz

Uses only Burr-Brown Codec and Operational Amplifiers in the audio signal path.
For more information about specifications and performance see the Burr-Brown (Texas
Instruments) website http://www.ti.com and search for PCM2906 (codec) and
OPA2353 (Opamp).

Available in 2 color options:

Black anodized aluminum enclosure Natural anodized aluminum enclosure

X4 Owner's Manual - Rev. 1.4 - page 3

Product features

2 channel IN / 2 channel OUT USB soundcard (16 bit, up to 48 kHz (*) sample
rate), compatible with all Windows versions (no driver required), Linux and Macintosh.
High accuracy A/D and D/A converters from Burr-Brown:

(*) The soundcard can operate also at a sample frequency of 96 kHz, but the audio bandwidth
is limited to 22 kHz.

No external power supply required. Powered from USB port.

Very robust anodized aluminum enclosure.
Compact size: 103 x 53 x 120 mm
2 color options: Anodized black or anodized natural

2 x 10 Led VU-Meter bar graphs, for accurate input level adjustment.

Can be used as Preamplifier for Microphone and line levels.
Input and output stages based on state-of-the-art Burr-Brown operational amplifiers

4 inputs, RCA connectors, mixable with stereo input JACK connector. Input 1 and 3
are downmixed to USB input Left. Input 2 and 4 are downmixed to USB input Right.
Suitable for Live recording, using 2 or 4 microphones, and for acoustics
measurements.

Separate switchable phantom power for channels 1/2 and 3/4, optimized for
Panasonic WM6x series electret microphonic capsules (3,6 V).

Input level adjustment realying on high accuracy Cermet potentiometers. Separate
knobs for inputs 1/3 and 2/4.

Separate Preamplifier/Monitor JACK stereo output. It can drive Line/headphone
loads.

USB soundcard stereo JACK/2 x RCA output. It can drive Line/headphone loads.

Line/Microphone input gain switch.

Digital Input / Output, Coaxial and Optical.

Manual selector switch for Coaxial or Optical input (the digital input signal can only
be recorded through USB, it is not buffered to monitor output).

X4 power consumption is 0.75W (all VU meter leds OFF); Peak: 1.75W (all VU
meter leds ON)

X4 Owner's Manual - Rev. 1.4 - page 4

What's in the package

X4 audio device

USB cable

One stereo Jack to 2 RCA converter

One stereo RCA-RCA cable

X4 Owner's Manual - Rev. 1.4 - page 5

Installation

Generic Windows drivers

The X4 device does not require any additional driver to operate.
Locate an USB port of your computer and connect, with the cable provided in the
package, the X4 device. The blu led in the front panel of the X4 will light. The first
installation from this point depends from your operating system.

Windows XP and 2000

After the X4 connection the system will display the message “Found new Hardware”
and will install automatically the required drivers.
After this step, the X4 will be ready to use.

Windows Millenium

After the X4 connection the system will display the message “Add new Hardware
Wizard”. Follow the instructions and enable (if asked) the option “Search for the best
driver”. After completing this procedure, the X4 will be ready to use.

Windows 98 SE

After the X4 connection, the system will display the message “Add new Hardware
Wizard”, that will refer to an USB Composite Device (the displayed name could be
different depending on the local and language version of the operating system).

X4 Owner's Manual - Rev. 1.4 - page 6

Click Next and the following window will appear:

Select the “Search for the best driver” option and click Next.

The following window will appear:

X4 Owner's Manual - Rev. 1.4 - page 7