Teac US-428 User Manual

TASCAM

TEAC Professional Division

Version 3.0 Edition

Universal Serial Bus
Digital Audio Workstation Controller

OWNER’S MANUAL

Important Safety Precautions

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CAUTION: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT REMOVE COVER (OR BACK). NO
USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL.

The exclamation point within an equilateral t riangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of im portant
operating and maintenance (servi cing) instructions in the literature accompanying the appliance.

For U.S.A

This appliance has a serial number located on the
rear panel. Please record the model number and
serial number and retain them for your records.
Model number ______________________

IMPORTANT (for U.K. Customers)

DO NOT cut off the mains plug from this equipment.

If the plug fitt ed is not suit able for the power poi nts in your home
or the cable is too short to reach a power point, then obtai n an
appropriate safety approved extension lead or consult you
dealer.

If nonetheless the mains plug is cut off, remove the fuse and
dispose of the plug immediately, to avoid a possible shock
hazard by inadvertent connection to the mains supply.

If this product is not provided wi th a mains plug, or one has t o be
fitted, then follow the instructions given below:

IMPORTANT: The wires in this mains lead are colour ed in
accordance with t he following code:

WARNING: This apparatus must be earthed.

s the colour s of the wires in the mains l ead of this apparatus
may not correspond with the coloured markings identifying the
terminals in your plug proceed as follows:

The wire which is coloured GREEN-and-YELLOW must be
connected to the terminal in the plug which is marked by the
letter E or by the saf ety earth symbol ç or coloured GREEN o
GREEN-and-YELLOW.

The wire which is coloured BLUE must be connected to the
terminal which is marked with the letter N or coloured BLACK.

The wire which is c oloured BROWN must be connected to the
terminal which is marked with the letter L or coloured RED.

CAUTION:

When replacing the fuse only a correctly rated approved type
should be used and be sure to re-fit the fus e cover.

IF IN DOUBT — CONSULT A COMPETENT ELECTRICIAN.

The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol, within equilateral triangle, is intended to alert the user to the
presence of uninsulated “dangerous vol tage” within t he product ’s enclos ure t hat m ay be of suf fic ient m agnitude
to constitute a ris k of electric shock to persons

WARNING: TO PREVENT FIRE OR SHOCK HAZARD,
DO NOT EXPOSE THIS APPLIANCE TO RAIN O
MOISTURE.

GREEN-AND-YELLOW : EARTH
BLUE : NEUTRAL
BROWN : LIVE

For U.S.

TO THE USER

This equipment has been tes ted and found to comply with
the limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant to Part 15 o
the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide
reasonable protection against harmful interference when
the equipment is operated in a c ommercial environment.
This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio
frequency energy and, if not installed and used in
accordance with the instruction manual, may cause
harmful interference t o radi o communications . Operation o
this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause
harmful interference in which case the user will be required
to correct the interference at his own expense.

CAUTION

Changes or modificati ons to this equipment not expressly
approved by TEAC CORPORATION for complianc e could
void the user's authority t o operat e this equipment.

For the consumers in Europe
WARNING

This is a Class A produc t. In a domest ic environm ent, this
product may cause radio interference in which case the
user may be required to take adequate measures.

Pour les utilisateurs en Europe
AVERTISSEMENT

Il s'agit d'un produit de Clas se A. Dans un environnement
domes-tique, cet appareil peut provoquer des interférences
radio, dans ce cas l'utilisateur peut être amené à prendre
des mesures appro-priées.

Für Kunden in Europa
Warnung

Dies is eine Einrichtung, welche die Funk-Entstörung nach
Klasse A bes itzt. Diese Ei nrichtung k ann im W ohnbereich
Funkstörungen versursachen ; in diesem Fall kann vom
Betrieber verlang werden, angemessene Maßnahmen
durchzuführen und dafür aufzukommen.

2

SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

Read all of these Instructions.
Save these Instructions for later use.
Follow all Warnings and Instructions marked on the audio
equipment.

1) Read instructions — All the safety and operating instructions should

be read before the product is operated.

2) Retain instructions — The safety and operating instructions should
be retained for future reference.

3) Heed Warnings — All warnings on the product and in the operating
instructions should be adhered to.

4) Follow instructions — All operating and use instructions should be
followed.

5) Cleaning — Unplug this product from the wall outlet before cleaning.
Do not use liquid cleaners or aerosol cl eaners. Use a damp cloth for
cleaning.

6) Attachments — Do not use attachments not recommended by the
product manufacturer as they may cause hazards.

7) Water and Moisture — Do not use this product near water _ for
example, near a bath tub, wash bowl, kitchen sink, or laundry tub; in a
wet basement; or near a swimming pool; and the like.

8) Accessories — Do not place this product on an unstable cart, stand,
tripod, bracket, or table. The product may fall, causing serious injury to a
child or adult, and serious damage to the product. Use only with a cart,
stand, tripod, bracket, or table recommended by the manufacturer, or sold
with the product. Any mounting of the product should follow the
manufacturer’s instructions, and should use a mounting accessory
recommended by the manufacturer.

9) A product and cart combination should be moved with care. Quick
stops, excessive force, and uneven surfaces may cause the product and
cart combination overturn.

10) Ventilation — Slots and openings in the cabinet are provided for
ventilation and to ensure reliable operation of the product and to protect it
from overheating, and these openings must not be blocked or covered.

The openings should never be blocked by placing the product on a bed,
sofa, rug, or other similar surface. This product should not be pl aced in a
built-in instal lation such as a bookcase or rack unless proper ventil ation
is provided or the manufacturer’s instructions have been adhered to.

11) Power Sources — This product should be operated only from the
type of power source indicated on the marking label. If you are not sure of
the type of power supply to your home, consult your product dealer or
local power company. For products intended to operate from battery
power, or other sources, refer to the operating instructions.

12) Grounding or Polarization — This product may be equipped with a
polarized alternating-current line plug (a plug having one blade wider than
the other). This plug will fit into the power outlet only one way. This is a
safety feature. If you are unable to insert the plug full y into the outlet, try
reversing the plug. If the plug should still fail to fit, contact your electrician
to replace your obsolete outlet. Do not defeat the safety purpose of the
polarized plug.

13) Power-Cord Protection — Power-supply cords should be routed so
that they are not likely to be walked on or pinched by items placed upon
or against them, paying particular attention to cords at plugs,
convenience receptacles, and the point where they exit from the product.

14) Outdoor Antenna Grounding — If an outside antenna or cable
system is connected to the product, be sure the antenna or cabl e system
is grounded so as to provide some protection against voltage surges and
built-up static charges. Article 810 of the National Electrical Code,
ANSI/NFPA 70, provides information with regard to proper grounding of
the mast and supporting structure, grounding of the lead-in wire to an
antenna discharge unit, size of grounding conductors, location of
antenna-discharge unit, connection to grounding electrodes, and
requirements for the grounding electrode.

"Note to CATV system installer:

This reminder is provided to call the CATV system installer’s attention to
Section 820-40 of the NEC which provides guidelines for proper grounding
and, in particular, specifies that the cable ground shall be connected to the
grounding system of the building, as close to the point of cable entry as
practical.

Declaration of Conformity

Model Number : US-428
Trade Name : TASCAM
Responsible Party: TEAC AMERICA, INC
Address : 7733 Telegraph Road,

Telephone Number : 1-323-726-0303
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC

Rules. Operation is subject to the following
two conditions:
(1) This device may not cause harmful
interference, and (2) This device must accept
any interference received, including
interference that may cause undesired
operation.

Montebello, California,
U.S.A.

3

Contents

1. Introduction ................................... 6

1.1 Overview................................... 6

1.2 Features.................................... 6

1.3 Special Note Regarding

Programming of the US-428.......... 6

1.4 What’s in the package............. 7

1.5 Nomenclature used in this

manual............................................ 7

2. Controls and Indicators ................ 8

2.1 Front Panel............................... 8

2.2 Rear Panel................................ 9

2.3 Front Panel Descriptions....... 10

2.4 Rear Panel Descriptions........ 12

3. Installatio n................................... 13

3.1 System Requirements........... 13

3.2 Installa tio n.............................. 14

3.2.1 Windows.......................... 15

3.2.2 Macintosh........................ 16

3.3 Setting Up OMS (MacOS Only)

...................................................... 16

3.4 Tuning Your PC...................... 17

3.5 Notes on USB interfacing...... 19

4. Hooking up Audio and MIDI to the

US-428.............................................. 20

4.1 Hooking up audio .................. 20

4.2 Hooking up MIDI .................... 21

4.3 Using the Input Monitoring . .. 22

4.4 Monitor vs. Master Level....... 22

6.1.1 Audio Control Panel........ 26

6.1.2. ASIO Control Panel........ 26

6.1.3 VST Remote..................... 27

6.2 Setting the Sample Rate and Bit

Depth............................................ 27

6.3 Input Enabling........................ 27

6.4 Transport Controls and Locate

Points ........................................... 28

6.5 Mute/Solo............................... 29

6.6 EQ controls............................ 29

6.7 Aux Buttons........................... 30

6.8 Data Wheel............................. 30

6.9 BANK Controls and FADER

NULL............................................. 30

6.10 ASIO2 Direct Monitoring..... 31

7. A Sample Recording Session in

Cubasis............................................ 32

7.1 Setting Up............................... 32

7.2 Recording Your Tracks ......... 33

7.3 Overdubbing.......................... 34

7.4 Mixdown................................. 34

8. Other Applications and Operational

Modes............................................... 36

8.1 Cubase VST - Windows......... 37

8.2 Cubase VST – MacOS............ 38

8.3 Nuendo - Windows and M acOS

...................................................... 40

8.4 ProTools – Windows and

MacOS.......................................... 41

5. The US-428 Control Panel........... 23

5.1 Main Page.............................. 23

5.2 Buffer Size Adjustment ........ 24

5.3 The Chromatic Tuner............ 25

6. Interfacing with your Audio

Software........................................... 26

6.1 Selecting the US-428 as your

Audio Device................................ 26

4

8.4.1 Setting up SoundManager

Support..................................... 46

8.5 Digital Performer (MacOS) .... 48

8.6 Cakewalk and Sonar............. 53

8.7 eMagic Logic .......................... 53

8.8 Propellerheads Reason......... 54

8.9 Native Instruments B4........... 57

8.10 Syntrillium Cool Edit........... 59

8.11 Notes on Other Applications60

8.11.2 Four Control Banks Mode

.................................................. 60

8.11.2 Keystroke Emulation ... 65

9. Technical Support....................... 67

9.1 Troubleshooting .................... 67

9.1 Troubleshooting FAQs.......... 68

9.2 Tech Support Contacts ......... 69

9.3 Software Downloads.............. 69

9.4 Programming the US-428...... 69

Appendix A - MIDI Implementation

Chart................................................. 70

Appendix B – Control Protocol....... 71

Appendix C - US-428 Technical

Specifications.................................. 77

5

1. Introduction

1.1 Overview

The US-428 is a USB controller
primarily designed for Digital Audio
Workstation (DAW) software
applications. Its design incorporates a
four-input, two-output 24-bit audio
interface, a dual MIDI interface, and a
control surface for your most-used
mouse functions.

Our goal was to create a device to make
your DAW software as easy to use as a
Portastudio. The transport and other
controls are designed and laid out to
look and function just like a Portastudio
– if you’ve ever used a tape recorder,
you know how to use the US-428.

Because the US-428 is USB based, it’s
the ideal companion to any desktop- or
laptop-based digital recording setup.
And since it’s as compact as a laptop, it
can be combined with one to create a
complete portable digital audio
workstation solution.

1.2 Features

The input section comprises a 24-bit
audio interface, capable of st reaming up
to four simultaneous t racks of audio into
your computer. Inputs include two
balanced XLR mic inputs, two balanced
1/4” TRS inputs, two 1/4” unbalanced
line inputs (switchable to high­impedance, for direct input of a guitar,
bass or other hi-Z source), and an
S/PDIF digital input. Outputs include a
pair of unbalanced line outputs on RCA

connectors, S/PDIF output, and
separate headphone output.

The US-428 also features two
independent MIDI I/O ports, allowing
you to send and receive data and MIDI
Time Code from your MIDI-based
keyboards and other devices. You can,
for example, use one port for MIDI
modules and devices, and the other to
synchronize your MIDI Time Code
capable Portastudio, DTRS or other
multitrack tape machine with your digital
audio software.

The US-428’s control surface includes a
variety of controls which make working
with audio software faster and easier.
The channel section of the control
surface consists of eight channel faders
(plus one master fader), eight mute
buttons, a switch to toggle Solo and
Mute functions, and individual record­ready and select switches. The master
section features four Aux Sends, a
dedicated EQ module (with continuous
controllers for level, frequency and Q, as
well as four band-selection buttons), a
data wheel and four application-defined
soft keys. Dedicated transport and
locate controls offer one-button access
to these often-used funct ions.

1.3 Special Note Regarding Programming of the US-428

The many faders, switches and other
controls on the US-428 make it an
extremely versatile device. The basic
operational premise behind the US-428

6

is that of a simple controller unit ; that is,
most of the hardware controls on the
US-428 are sending out simple MIDI
controller messages to and from the
host computer’s audio application. For
simplicity’s sake, this manual details the
US-428’s operation in conjunction with
Steinberg’s Cubasis VST (which is
included with the US-428); however the
basis of the US-428’s MIDI control
protocol allows other applications to
readily send and receive US-428 control
surface messages. Thus the US-428
can be used to control a wide variety of
applications, from DAWs to virtual
synths, video editing programs and
more.

In many cases, communication with a
particular application can be
accomplished using the application’s
ability to redirect or “map” the US-428
control surface messages to the
application. By making the programming
specifications publicly available both in
this manual and on our website,
TASCAM has encouraged the creation
of new applications for the US-428.
Setup and operation with many other
currently supported applications are also
described in section eight of this
manual. As support is added for
additional applications, we will be
posting up-to-date news and details on
our website at www.tascam.com. There
you’ll also find an online users’ group,
where users will be encouraged to post
MIDI maps of their own creation, and
TASCAM product specialists will be on
line to help answer questions and field
suggestions.

1.4 What’s in the package

The US-428 package contains the
following items. When opening the
package, please make certain that all
the included items are present. If

anything is missing, contact the dealer
where you purchased it.

 US-428 Controller
 AC Adaptor PS-P428 (7.5 VAC,

1000 mA)

 USB Cable

 CD-ROM containing driver

software and Cubasis VST

1.5 Nomenclature used in this manual

The following conventions will be used
in this manual:

ALL CAPS will be used to designate
physical buttons, faders, controllers and
LED indicators on the US-428.

BOLD CAPS will be used to designate
physical connectors on the US-428

Italics will be used to designate soft ware
dialog messages

Underlined Italics will be used to
designate software menu functions and
on-screen controllers.

7

2. Controls and Indicators

2.1 Front Panel

1 INPUT C/D Select and LEDs
2 INPUT Trim Pots
3 OVERLOAD LED
4 SIGNAL LED
5 Channel MUTE and SOLO switches and LEDs
6 REC and SELECT LEDs
7 REC and SELECT switches
8 CHANNEL faders
9 MASTER fader
10 MIDI and USB Status LEDs
11 LINE OUT and HEADPHONES Level Controls

12 AUX 1 through 4 Select Switches
13 User Soft Keys
14 EQ Module
15 Data Wheel
16 Fader NULL
17 INPUT MONITOR
18 BANK Selection Switches
19 TRANSPORT Controls
20 PAN Control
21 LOCATE Controls

8

2.2 Rear Panel

22 PHONES jack
23 OUTPUT L/R jacks
24 INPUT C and D
25 LINE/MIC / GUITAR switch
26 INPUT A and B
27 POWER switch

28 POWER jack
29 USB jack
30 MIDI Out 1 and 2
31 MIDI In 1 and 2
32 Digital In and Out
33 MIC INPUT A and B

9

2.3 Front Panel Descriptions

1. INPUT C+D button

toggles inputs C and D between the
unbalanced analog inputs (1/4”) and the
digital S/PDIF inputs.

ANALOG LED

indicates analog signal input to inputs C
and D.

DIGITAL LED

indicates digital signal input (via S/PDI F)
to inputs C and D. When glowing
steadily, indicates valid digital input.
When flashing, indicates an input error
on the digital inputs. Refer to the ASIO
control panel for error details.

2. INPUT TRIM A - D

input level adjustment. Rotate clock wise
to increase input level of analog
sources.

3. OL LED

indicates an overload on the input level
to the respective channel. (Specifically,
a level of
–2.5dBFS.) Only functions on analog
input.

4. SIGNAL LED

indicates the presence of audio signal
on the respective channel. (Specifically,
when input level exceeds –42 dBFS.)
Only functions on analog input.

5. MUTE switch

toggles mute or solo status for selected
channel.

MUTE LED

when illuminated, indicates mute status
of selected channel. (W hen SOLO LED
is on, the associated channel’s MUTE
LED’s indicate solo status when lit)

SOLO switch

toggles between mute and solo status.

SOLO LED

when illuminated, indicates MUTE
buttons and LEDs are toggled to solo
status.

6. SELECT LED

indicates selected status of channel.

REC LED

indicates record status of selected
channel.

7. SELECT button

selects channel for editing, recording,
etc.

REC button

when held, pressing the SELECT button
toggles the selected channel(s) ’ record­ready status.

8. CHANNEL FADERS 1 through 8

send continuous controller information
for banks of eig ht f aders, as selected by
the BANK switch.

9. MASTER FADER

controls level to the stereo bus output,
and/or sends MIDI controller inf ormation
to the host.

10. MIDI In LED’s 1 & 2

indicates presence of incoming MIDI
data at MIDI input 1 or 2.

MIDI Out LED’s 1 & 2

indicates transmission of MIDI data f r om
MIDI output 1 or 2.

USB LED

indicates an active USB connection.

11. LINE OUT

controls the level to the RCA (analog)
outputs.

HEADPHONE OUT

controls the level to the headphone
outputs.

12. AUX 1 through 4

selects the host application’s auxiliary
sends 1 through 4.

13. ASGN

Application specific key.
(In Cubasis, ASGN + Aux 1 or 2 will
enable the Aux Send for the selected
channel. ASGN + EQ band switch will
enable the EQ for the selected channel.)

F1 through F3

Application specific function keys. In
Cubasis VST, these keys perform the
following functions:
F1 - Open Audio Mixer window (when
Bank 1 is selected); open MIDI Mixer
(when Bank 2 or 3 selected).
F2 - Open VST FX Send window.
F3 - Toggle between open windows.

14. EQ GAIN

controls the gain level of chosen band of
EQ in the host program’s inter nal EQ.

EQ FREQ

controls the center freq uency of chosen
band of EQ in the host program’s
internal EQ.

EQ Q

controls the bandwidth surrounding the
center frequency of the chosen band of
EQ in the host program’s inter nal EQ.

EQ HIGH

selects the highest band of EQ in the
host program’s internal EQ (up to a
maximum of four bands).

EQ HI MID

selects the upper midrange band of EQ
in the host program’s internal EQ (up to
a maximum of four bands).

EQ LO MID

selects the lower midrange band of EQ
in the host program’s internal EQ (up to
a maximum of four bands).

EQ LOW

selects the lowest band of EQ in the
host program’s internal EQ (up to a
maximum of four bands).

15. DATA Wheel

sends continuous controller information
to application. (In Cubasis, functions as
a shuttle wheel if no AUX LED’s ar e lit,
or as Aux Send level if Aux key is
selected.)

16. Fader NULL

when pressed, disengages physical
faders from the application. Used to
match US-428’s faders with those of the
software application’s internal mixer.
When using FADER NULL, the selected
channel’s REC and SEL LED’s indicate
the US-428’s fader position relative to
the associated channel in Cubasis’
mixer.

17. INPUT MON ITOR

toggles Input Monitor adjust mode.
When the associated LED is on, the
FADER and MUTE switches for channel
strips 1,2,3 and 4 control the level of
Inputs A,B,C and D to the US-428’s
stereo output.

18. BANK Selector

pages between successive banks of
eight faders.

11

19. REW

transport rewind.

FFWD

transport fast f or ward.

STOP

transport stop.

PLAY

transport play.

RECORD

transport record.

20. PAN

controls L-R panning on selected track .

21. LOCATE << and >>

moves transport to L and R locate
points.

SET

holding SET and pressing << and >>
buttons sets L or R locate points, either
on the fly or while stopped.

2.4 Rear Panel Descriptions

22. PHONES jack

standard 1/4” stereo headphone output.

23. OUTPUT L/R jacks

unbalanced (RCA) analog audio output
of stereo bus.

24. INPUT C and D

unbalanced analog inputs C and D.

25. LINE/MIC / GUITAR switch

switches between line level and Hi-Z
(inputs C & D).

26. INPUT A and B

balanced analog inputs A and B.

27. POWER switch

push on/push off power switch.

28. POWER jack

input for AC Adaptor PS-428

29. USB jack

input for USB connection to host
computer.

30. MIDI Out 1 and 2

MIDI outputs 1 and 2.

31. MIDI In 1 and 2

MIDI inputs 1 and 2.

32. Digital In and Out

S/PDIF digital input and output.

33. MIC INPUT A and B

Balanced XLR Inputs A and B.

12

3. Installation

3.1 System Requirements

PC: Minimum requirements

200 MHz (or equivalent) processor
running Windows 98 (Second or
Millennium Edition), Windows 2000 or
Windows XP, 96MB RAM.
Recommended:

Pentium II 300MHz
processor with 128MB RAM or better.
(These requirements are for use with
Cubasis VST. Other applications will
have different requirements. Consult
your application's manufacturer for
further infor m ation.)

NOTE: The US-428 is not supported
under Windows 95. We also do not
recommend Windows98 First Edition,
due to its limited USB implementation. A
fast EIDE hard disk is required for
throughput of multiple audio tracks.
96MB RAM is the minimum
recommended, but with all digital audio
programs, you’ll have better results with
more RAM. An SVGA graphics card is
suggested (min. 256 colors, 800x600
resolution or better).

Although this product has been checked
for use with standard configuration
computers which meet the specifications
above, we cannot guarantee the
operation of the product, even with
computers meeting the specifications,
due to differences in architecture and
implementation between computers.

Chipsets are also a concern with USB
audio. We’ve found that the most
dependable motherboards are ones
which utilize Intel-based chipsets. You
can determine your chipset by going into
the Device Manager. On the Windows
98 desktop, right click on My Computer,

: Pentium

and select Properties. Click on the
Device Manager tab, and then click on
the plus (+) sign next to Universal Ser ial
Bus Controllers. (see illustration 3. 01)

The following chipsets have been
successfully run with the US-428:

 Intel 82371 AB/EB PCI to USB

Universal Host Controller

 Intel 82371 SB PCI to USB

Universal Host Controller

 Intel 82801 AA PCI to USB

Universal Host Controller

 ALi PCI to USB Open Host

Controller

Some other chipsets, notably those
specifying Open Host Controllers or
OHCI (rather than Universal Host
Controllers or UHCI), have been subject
to occasional incompatibilities. While
most OHCI systems have no problems
with the US-428, occasionally some
older OHCI systems will exhibit
problems. We have found that, in the
majority of these cases, a PCI-based
USB card utilizing an Opti-chip controller
will work dependably. These cards (also
available in PCMCIA format for laptops)
are available through a number of
manufacturers. Please consult the
TASCAM website for further information.

13

Illustration 3.01 - Determining your USB Controller

MacOS: PowerPC running MacOS 8.6

or better, and a USB port. Any
Macintosh computer with one or more
USB ports running Mac O/S 8.6 or later
(the US-428 has not been tested with
Mac O/S X as of this writing. Please
check the website for updates).

Very early iMac computers may need
one (or more) firmware updates to use
the US-428. Which firmware update(s)
is (are) needed depends on which Mac
O/S version is installed in the early
iMac. Apple provides details in its Apple
Support Article #58174.

PowerBook G3 Series (or later) with
built in USB (or using a 3rd party
PCMCIA USB Card) have been tested
and work fine. Additionally, older
PowerMac computers using 3rd party
PCI-based USB cards also have been
tested and work fine. Any iMac, G3 or
G4 will work fine as well. A MacOS
version earlier than 8.6 will not
implement full USB support, and is not
recommended. Again, plenty of RAM
and fast drives are suggested.

3.2 Installation

Because the US-428 is a USB device,
connection is pretty straightforward.
Simply plug the USB cable into the US­428, and the other end into your
computer.

Make certain that your computer’s USB
host port is enabled. (Normally, most
standard PC BIOS settings default to
enabled, but make certain t hat it hasn’t
been turned off in the BI O S) .

NOTE: Handle the enclosed CD-ROM
with care. If it becomes dirty or
scratched, it will be impossible for a
computer to read it, and the software
cannot be installed. If t he disc becomes
unreadable, a charge will be made for
its replacement.

Do not attempt to play the enclosed CD­ROM using an audio CD player, as this
may cause damage to hearing, as well
as to speakers, etc.

Use only the enclosed USB cable to
connect the US-428 and the computer.
Do not use other types of cable for this
purpose, as some cables contain
resistors. If you attempt to use such a
cable, the audio input and output will not
work properly, and the sound level will
be inaudible or very faint.

14

3.2.1 Windows

The US-428 v3 drivers are available on
the CD as executable installers. You’ll
find two executable installer files on t he
disk, labeled as
“US428_Win9x_Install_3_05.exe” (for
Windows 98 Second Edition and
Millennium Edition) and
“US428_Win2k_Install_3_05.exe” (for
Windows 2000 and Windows XP).

Note that we have also included the
individual driver files as a ZIP file, for
users wishing to install via Windows
Hardware Manager. However, we
recommend using the installers, as they
will also locate and uninstall any files
pertaining to older versions of the US­428 drivers.

Also included on the CD are previous
(v2.0) drivers for your convenience.

To install under Win98SE or ME:

Note: The US-428 will run under W in98
SE (Second Edition) or ME (Millennium
Edition). Due to its limited USB
capabilities, First Edition Win98 is not
recommended.

Note: Run the Installer with US-428
turned OFF.

 Double click on the executable file

US428_Win9x_Install_3_05.exe.
(The blue US-428 icon). The
installer will run.

 Click the "Setup" button. The

Welcome dialog box will appear.

 Click the "Next" button. The driver

files will be installed to your hard
drive.

In some cases, Add Hardware Wizard
may ask for the f ile "US428WDM.SYS".
Should this occur, click Browse and
direct it to the path

Windows/System32/Drivers.

In some cases, Add Hardware Wizard
may ask for your W in98 CD-ROM if it is
unable to find all the needed system
files. We suggest you have it handy.

 The Setup Complete dialog will

appear. Click "Yes, I want to restart
my computer", followed by the Finish
button. The computer will reboot.

 Connect the US-428 to the

computer, plug it in, and turn it on.
The Windows plug- n-play will notice
a new USB device and start the Add
New Hardware wizard, which will
find the needed f iles on it s own. This
will take about 30-60 seconds.

The drivers are now installed and the
US-428 is ready to operate.

To install under Win2K or Windows
XP:

Note: Run the Installer with US-428
turned OFF.

 Double click on the executable file

US428_Win2k_Install_3_05.exe.
(The blue US-428 icon). The
installer will run.

 Click the "Setup" button. The

Welcome dialog box will appear.

 Click the "Next" button. The driver

files will be installed to your hard
drive.

15

NOTE: You may be prompted by a
message informing you that the
software you are about to install does
not have a digital certificate. Simply
click “Continue the installation anyway”
and proceed.

 If you are prompted to restart your

computer, do so.

 Connect the US-428 to the

computer, plug it in, and turn it on.
The Windows plug- n-play will notice
a new USB device and start the Add
New Hardware wizard, which will
find the three needed files on its
own. This will take about 30-60
seconds.

The drivers are now installed and the
US-428 is ready to operate.

To install using Windows New
Hardware Wizard:

 Unzip the driver files into a new

(empty) folder on the hard disk .

 Connect the US-428 to the

computer, plug it in and tur n it on

 The Windows plug-n-play will notice

a new USB device and start the Add
New Har dware wizard.

 Choose "Search for a suitable driver

for my device" and press Next

 Enter the path where the drivers are

stored and press OK

 After Windows finds the "firmware

download" driver, click Next

 Click "Finish" · The other driver

components will be automatically
discovered and loaded

 Click "Finish" if prompted, and

reboot if prompted

Illustration 3.02 - Windows 98 New Hardware Wiz ard

3.2.2 Macintosh

 Insert the CD-ROM into the

computer, double-click on the US­428 installer, and follow its
instructions.

 Connect the US-428 to the

computer, and connect power to the
unit. W hen the US-428 is connected
and powered up, the Mac will find
the drivers itself.

3.3 Setting Up OMS (MacOS Only)

Cubasis, ProTools and several other
applications rely on OMS for MIDI
implementation. OMS (Open Music
System) is a standard for MIDI
management on the Macintosh. Since
the US-428 relies on MIDI controller
commands for its communication with

16

the host computer, you will need to
install OMS. (The exception is Digital
Performer, which utilizes FreeMIDI. The
v3 drivers support OMS and FreeMIDI
independently.)

To set up OMS to work with the US-428:
 First, run the OMS installer. If you

do not have the current version of
OMS, it may be freely downloaded
at www.opcode.com

 Locate the “US-428 Drivers” folder,

which was placed on your desktop
when you ran the US-428 installer.
In this folder, locate the US-428
OMS driver. Drag the US-428 OMS
driver into the OMS folder inside
your System folder. Do not drag
this file into the Opcode folder on
your hard drive – it will not work
correctly.

 Restart your computer. Then turn

on the US-428 and start the OMS
Setup application (located in the
Opcode folder on your hard drive).

 Select “New Studio Setup” from the

File menu. When prompted to select
a serial (modem or printer) port,
leave both selections unchecked.
Click yes and continue. OMS will
assess all the MIDI ports attached to
your computer and build OMS
instruments for the ones it
recognizes.

 When the setup is complete you

should see a list of all your
connected MIDI ports. At the least
you should see four icons pertaining
to the US-428 specifically: the US­428 icon, US-428 MIDI ports 1 and
2, and US-428 Control port.

(Ports 1 and 2 correspond to the US­428’s physical MIDI ports. US-428
Control is the “virtual” MIDI port with
which the US-428 and its control surface

.

communicate with your host
application.)
Once OMS setup is successfully
completed, you can proceed with setting
up the US-428 with your chosen
application. Please refer to the specif ic
documentation for your application for
more details.

3.4 Tuning Your PC

A few words about computers and
audio. Much has been written about the
best ways to optimize your PC for
handling audio applications, and
generally speaking, it’s a much deeper
topic than we’ve got space for in this
manual. But here are a few basic points
to help you get the best out of your
audio programs:

 Don’t run extraneous applications.

While it ’s likely you’ll sometimes use
your computer for applications other
than audio, it’s strongly
recommended that you avoid
running other applications at the
same time you’re running audio
programs. Processing digital audio
requires considerable overhead fr om
your computer, so don’t overtax the
system by running other applications
(especially graphics or internet tools)
that can steal those resources.

 Certain devices, such as network

cards and WinModems, can cause
conflicts with the native handling of
USB. Should you experience such
conflicts, the offending device can
usually be temporarily disabled in
the Device Manager. Refer to your
Windows manual for detailed
instructions on how to resolve
conflicts.

17

 Assuming your computer has an IDE

hard disk (most do), enabling Direct
Memory Addressing (DMA) on will
improve performance. Some
programs (such as Cubase VST)
allow you to configure the DMA as
enabled on install. If you’ve not
already done this, here’s how to
configure the DMA transfer mode:
On the W indows desktop, go to the
Start menu, Settings, Control Panel,
System. In the System Properties
window, select the Device Manager
tab. Click on the plus sign next to
Disk Drives, and highlight the IDE
disk listing, then click on the
Properties button. Check the DMA
box under options. (see illustration

3.03)

Illustration 3.03 - Enabling DM A on your IDE drives

In addition, a number of simple
hardware modifications and
enhancements can substantially
improve your computer’s handling of
audio, as well as your track count and
DSP capability.

 Increase the amount of RAM in your

system. While most digital audio
software will function with a
minimum of 32 MB, increasing your
computer’s RAM to 96, 128 or even

256 MB will markedly improve
performance.

 Consider the addition of a dedicated

hard disk for audio; preferably one
with a high spindle rate (over 7200
RPM is recommended for most
audio applications). Using different
drives for program and audio data
speeds up the seek time for the
audio track data. (Note that simply
partitioning a large drive will not
have the same effect, as the
computer will still be accessing the
same physical drive.) For best
results, add a SCSI or Wide-SCSI
drive and SCSI controller card. SCSI
(and particularly Wide and UW-SCSI
protocol) are capable of
considerably higher data transfer
speeds; you’ll notice a dramatic
increase in track count and in the
amount of signal processing plug -ins
your computer can handle. Note
that some of the recent UDMA-66
drives have proven to be almost as
fast (and certainly cheaper);
however, they are still limited in the
amount of physical drives allowed
and the bus length.

 If you’re presently using a PCI-

based graphics card, and your
motherboard has an AGP slot,
consider getting an AGP-based
graphics card. This will decrease
traffic on the PCI bus and allow for
faster screen redraws.

Special Note: For even more detail on
optimizing your PC for audio, please
refer to the PDF document
PC_Optimization.pdf included on the
US-428 CD-ROM. This document is
also available on the TASCAM website.

18

3.5 Notes on USB interfacing

The USB protocol is an extremely
versatile one, and much has been made
of the possibility of using multiple (over

100) devices on a single bus. W hile this
is certainly a possibility, we recommend
using as few other USB devices as
possible in a system equipped with the
US-428. The demands placed on the
USB bus by passing multiple tracks of
audio through it are considerable, and
adding additional devices will risk
reducing that bandwidth.

NOTE: The drivers of many other USB
devices, especially CD burners,
scanners, printers, and cameras, are
written to poll the USB buss on a regular
basis (usually once every millisecond).
This can lead to dropouts, clicks, pops
and other artifacts in your audio. We
strongly suggest unplugging any non­essential USB devices while recording
with the US-428. (USB keyboards and
mice are the notable exceptions – in
most cases they are passive devices
with very minor bandwidth
requirements.)

Another well-documented advantage of
USB is the ability to “hot-plug” devices
(that is, plug them in and out without
powering the computer down). While
this applies to the US-428 as well, we
recommend against plugging or
unplugging, or powering the unit on or
off, while running your audio application.
Doing so can result in audible pops, or
even hanging or crashing the progr am .

You’ll find a listing of web links and
resources on hard disk recording on our
website at www.tascam.com.

19

4. Hooking up Audio and MIDI to the US-428

4.1 Hooking up audio

To monitor output from your computer,
connect the analog outputs of the US­428 to your mixer, amplifier or powered
monitors. Output volume is contr olled by
the LINE OUT level pot. If you’ve got a
digital mixer, external D/A converter, or
other device with S/PDIF input, you may
prefer to monitor via the US-428’s
S/PDIF output.

Illustration 4.01 - Connecting audio to the US-428

To record audio from the US-428 into
your computer, simply connect a device
to the appropriate input. Microphones
should be plugged int o the INPUT A or
B XLR inputs.

Note that the US-428 does not supply
phantom power, so if you’re using
condenser mics, you’ll need an external
preamp or power supply. You can
connect line-level sources (e.g.,
keyboards and sound modules) into one
of the four LINE I NPUTS (A through D).
If you wish to plug in a guitar, bass,
or other high-impedance source, simply
use input C or D, and move the sliding
switch next to the input connector to the
“Guitar” position. Finally, dig ital sources
(e.g., CD players, DAT’s etc) may be
connected to the S/PDIF INPUT.

The inputs of channels A and B are
available as either balanced XLR mic­level inputs or balanced TRS (1/4”) line­level inputs. While both sets of inputs
are capable of functioning
simultaneously, in actual practice this is
not recommended, as the signal level of
the inputs will be summed and very
likely interfere with each other.

Inputs C and D are switchable between
the unbalanced 1/4” analog inputs C
and D and the
S/PDIF digital input. The input source is
selected by pressing the INPUT C+D
switch.

Input level for analog sources is
regulated by the TRIM level pots
(diagram), located directly above the

20

faders. To use digital audio input , switch
the INPUT C+D selector to Dig ital. The
INPUT C and D TRIM controls do not
affect digital input. Sampled audio from
the S/PDIF digital input is passed
directly to the application without
modification. To reduce t he level of the
digital audio signal at inputs C and D,
you will need to reduce the output level
of your digital source.

A note about levels and gain structure
here. The TRIM controls directly affect
the input level at the A/D converter s on
the US-428, so it’s advisable to use the
SIGNAL and OVER LEDs to help set
your levels. Unlike analog tape, when
recording digital audio, it’s important to
keep your input level close to 0dB, but
never to exceed it. If the input level is
too high, the audio signal will clip - not a
desirable sound. If the input level is too
low, then the dynamic range that the
US-428’s A/D’s are capable of is not
being used, and the signal will be closer
to the noise floor than it
needs to be. In either case, this can not
be fixed after the tracks have been
recorded, so it’s important to make this
adjustment carefully.

Illustration 4.02 - Input trims and level indicator LED’s

4.2 Hooking up MIDI

The two MIDI in and out jacks are
independent, giving you a total of 32
channels of MIDI I/O. Simply connect
the MIDI out of your keyboard or other
device to a MIDI in jack on the US-428,
and vice versa. If you’ve got a MIDI sync
box, you can dedicate one of the two
MIDI I/O’s to sending and receiving
MTC (MIDI Time Code). This allows you
to sync tracks from your MTC-capable
Portastudio, DTRS multitrack, or any
other machine that accepts time code
with your digital audio software, for
transferring tracks back and forth for
editing and processing.

21

4.3 Using the Input Monitoring

In digital audio, the amount of time it
takes for the input signal to pass
through the circuitry of the unit and the
software processing and arrive at the
outputs will sometimes result in an
audible delay. (This is commonly
referred to as “audio latency”.) This
added delay can be confusing when, for
example, you’re trying to overdub to
previously recorded tracks.

The INPUT MONITOR mixer built into
the US-428 eliminates this problem by
providing a way to listen to the signals
you’re recording directly, without any
computer processing delay. When the
INPUT MONITOR button is depressed,
the first f our channel faders control the
input levels of inputs A, B, C or D t o the
US-428’s internal mixer. Changes in
these levels affect the monitor and
headphones outputs, but have no eff ect
on the audio levels seen by the audio
software application. The first four
MUTE buttons also affect the four
inputs, and PAN is also available in this
mode; the four inputs come up panned
to center, but can be SELected and
PANned anywhere within the stereo
field.

NOTE: In INPUT MONITOR mode

faders 5-8 are inactive.

NOTE: All the controls mentioned here
are also accessible via the ASIO control
panel, which displays the current status
of the INPUT MONITOR section.

NOTE

E

4.4 Monitor vs. Master Level

It’s important to make a distinction
between MONITOR LEVEL control and
level of the stereo bus output, as
controlled by the MASTER FADER.

When using the US-428’s analog
inputs, only the TRIM controls actually
affect the input level to the audio
software application. When using the
US-428’s Digital inputs, the dig ital audio
data received at the US-428’s digital
input is passed directly to the audio
application without any gain or other
modifications.

When monitoring audio playback from
the application via the US-428, the level
is controlled by that track’s software
gain control (which, in turn, is controlled
by the US- 428’s channel FADERs), the
MASTER FADER, and the LINE OUT or
PHONES OUT level controls.
The LINE OUT and PHONES level
controls directly affect the audio levels
that appear on the LINE OUTPUT and
PHONES jacks, respectively. The audio
level produced at the DIGITAL
OUTPUT is not affected by either
control.

The MASTER FADER is the final level
control affecting the digital stereo output
to the application, consequently
changes made to the MASTER FADER
level will also affect the output level to
the speakers.

Thus, if you want to simply reduce the
volume of your listening environment,
you’ll want to use the MONITOR
LEVEL control to do this without
affecting the level of your stereo mix.

22

5. The US-428 Control Panel

5.1 Main Page

In the Control Panel’s main page, you
can specify a number of options of the
US-428’s ASIO handling.

Illustration 5.01 - Control Panel Main Page

The Control Surface Protocol setting
governs the type of MIDI messages
used to send fader and button
information from the US-428 to
applications. The corresponding drop­down box allows you to select from a
number of options, including US-428
Native, JL Cooper CS-10 emulation
(both standard and Pro-Tools specific),
Native Instruments B4, and two diff erent
Four Controller Banks m odes. For more
information on the various “non-native”
modes, refer to the specific chapters
pertaining to these applications and
uses. For use with most DAW
applications, it’s recommended that you
leave the default “US-428 Native”
selection.

The Master Fader always sends
changes in position via MIDI. It can also
be used to make the US-428 itself
change the output level coming fr om an
application. (This is useful f or programs
that do not have their own master
volume control, such as Sound Forge.)
In Cubasis, select the MIDI only option.

The Status area provides a view of the
US-428’s current settings:

 Clock source: Internal or

Digital In

 Sample rate: 44100 or 48000
 Resolution: 24 Bit or 16 Bit
 Digital input:

 Signal:

o Red - no digital input
o Green - digital input

active

 Fmt:

o Red - improper format
o Green - proper S/PDIF

format

 Lock:

o Red - digital in not ready

to record,

o Green - digital in ready to

record

The Input Monitor area is a viewable
and controllable version of the US-428
INPUT MONITOR mixer. Here you can

23

control the level and position of each
US-428 input as it will appear on the
LINE OUTPUT, DIGITAL OUT, and
PHONES connectors. Three controls
(level, pan and mute) are available for
each input A, B, C and D. Note that
these controls can also be changed
from the US-428 by pressing the INPUT
MONITOR switch on the unit, and using
channel strips 1-4. If you make the
changes this way, the controls displayed
in the US-428 Control Panel will be
updated to reflect the new values.

Any settings shown in the input monitor
section of this control panel can be
saved as one of four Snapshots. To
save your settings as snapshot number
1, for example. click on “ Save” and t hen
click on “1”. Any snapshot can then be
recalled by just clicking on its
corresponding button.

You can also control the input monitor
settings that will be used when the US­428 first starts up. You can choose
either the last settings in effect at the
previous system shutdown, or any one
of the four snapshots.

safety against other system activities
interrupting the audio and producing
clicks, pops or other audible artifacts.
Smaller buffers provide lower latency
when using the computer to send input
audio to output channels in order to
monitor the input. The initial driver for
the US-428 had a fixed buffer size. This
version of the driver lets users select
which buffer size works best for their
computer and audio application. Note:
This adjustment does not affect the
latency of the US-428’s hardware input
monitor, which is always less than an
ultra-low 1.5 ms.

To adjust the buffer size, run the US­428 Control Panel and go to the System
tab. The Audio Latency slider lets you
change the buffer size f rom a minimum
of 256 samples (128 samples on the
Mac) to a maximum of 2048 samples.
All audio programs t hat use the US-428
must quit before a new audio latency
setting takes eff ect. Using Cubase VST
at 44.1 kHz sampling rate, a 256 sam ple
buffer size gives appx. 12 ms of
monitoring latency, while a 2048 sample
buffer gives appx 43 ms latency.

5.2 Buffer Size Adjustment

The US-428 Control Panel contains a
second page, tabbed “System”. On this
page the buffer size can be adjusted.
Smaller buffer sizes will result in lower
latency, but requires a faster system .

About Buffer Sizing:

The US-428 driver temporarily stores
input and output audio samples in
buffers. Larger buffers provide more

24

Illustration 5.02 – System Tab

5.3 The Chromatic Tuner

Open the US-428’s control panel and
select the “Tuner” tab.

In the “Input” sect ion, select the US-428
input channel that you want to tune (A,
B, C, or D).

Play a note and adjust the trim knob for
that input until the signal is strong, but
not clipping.

The “Level” meter on the screen should
display bright green segments without
lighting the top red seg m ent.

If desired, you can change the Tuning
Standard in the “Reference” section.
Normally, the Tuning Standard is set to
440 cycles per second for a middle “A”
note, but you can use the up/down
arrows to change it to a number
between 430 and 450 cycles per
second.

As you play, the detected note will be
displayed below the Tuning lights (A# or
E, for example). If the note is sharp, the
“Sharp” arrow and a Tuning light to the
right of ‘0’ are bright red; if the note is
flat, the “Flat” arrow and a Tuning light
to the left of ‘0’ are bright red.

The numbers below the tuning lights
indicate how far out of tune the note is,
in cents (100 cents is one semitone).
When t he note is in tune, the center ‘0’
light and both the Flat and Sharp arrows
are bright green.

Illustration 5.03 – The Chromatic Tuner Page

Note: The chromatic tuner consumes
some CPU bandwidth in your system.
Therefore, when you finish using the
tuner, we recommend that you either
select another control panel tab or close
the control panel.

25

6. Interfacing with your Audio Software

This section is intended to present the
basic concepts needed to interface the
US-428 with an audio software
application. It’s important to note that
different programs will implement some
of the features described here
differently. As it would be beyond the
scope of this manual to detail the
operation of each individual program,
we’ll discuss the concepts presented
here as they relate to the operation of
the US-428 with the Cubasis VST audio
software included in the US-428
package. Details on using the US-428
with a number of other applications may
be found in section eight of this manual.
Please refer to the manual for your
particular audio application for further
details.

This discussion, however, is not
intended to replace your software’s
users’ manual. If you’ve got questions
specific to Cubasis (or your digital audio
software of choice), please refer to the
User Manual for the program for further
detail.

6.1 Selecting the US-428 as your Audio Device

6.1.1 Audio Control Panel

In Cubasis, open the Audio Control
Panel (see illustration 6.01). It’s located
in the Audio pulldown menu, under
System. Select the ASIO Device pull­down menu, and select ASIO US-428
Driver. If your software only supports 16

bit recording, a 16 bit driver has also
been included.

Illustration 6.01 - Cubasis Audio Control Panel.

In the Audio Control Panel, you can
select the number of audio channels you
wish to use, as well as the sampling
rate, Disk Cache settings, and MIDI to
Audio offset. See the Cubasis manual
for more inform at ion on t hese set t ings.

6.1.2. ASIO Control Panel

In the Audio Control Panel, click on the
button marked ASI O Control Panel. The
US-428 Control Panel will appear. In
Cubasis, make certain the protocol is
set to US-428 Native Mode. Refer to
chapter five, US-428 Control Panel for
information on these setting s.

26

6.1.3 VST Remote

In Cubasis, the program will
automatically recognize the US-428 as a
remote controller unit. In most other
applications, you will need to select the
US-428 as the program’s remote
control. To do this in Cubase (full
versions), for example, select the VST
Remote option from the Audio menu,
and choose the US-428 option (See
illustration 6.03). You will also need to
set the Input and Output devices to “US­428 Control Port” and the “Remote”
setting should match the sett ing chosen
in the US-428 Control Panel (see
illustration 6.03).

The US-428 control protocol includes
two separate drivers for 16-bit or 24-bit
operation. This selection is made in the
Audio Control Panel (see illustration

.

6.04)

Illustration 6.03 - Cubase VST Remote Panel

6.2 Setting the Sample Rate and Bit Depth

The US-428 supports sample rates of

44.1kHz and 48kHz. In the Audio
Control Panel, select the pull-down
menu for Sample Rate and select either

44.1 kHz or 48 kHz.

Illustration 6.04 - VST/24 Audio Control Panel

6.3 Input Enabling

You will need to enable the inputs on
Cubasis. Open the Audio Input window
(see Illustration 6.05) and select any
one mono track or stereo pair.

Illustration 6.05 - Input window

27

NOTE: Cubasis supports only one input

for recording (though this can be a
mono or stereo track). To fully ut ilize the
US-428’s four input capabilities, you’ll
need to run it with a full version of
Cubase VST, Emagic Logic, Cakewalk,
or another application that supports
multiple inputs on record.

NOTE

Then select the inputs on Cubasis’
internal mixer. Hold Control and left click
on the input selector above the channel
strip, and select the desired input. Verif y
that the designated channels' inputs
("IN") are selected, and the associated
channels are receiving signal. (see
illustration 6.06)

Illustration 6.06 - Input selection window,

showing Mutes and Solos

Highlight a tr ack in the arrange window,
and that track will automatically be
Record- Enabled. (see illustration 6.07)

Illustration 6.07 - Record Enable

Verify that the drop-in and drop-out
features in Cubasis (on the transport
bar) are not enabled (or if so, that they
are enabled at the desired locate
points). Press the RECORD button on
the US-428. Cubasis will issue a one or
two bar countoff (depending on what’s
set in Cubasis’ Metronome preferences
menu), then commence recording.

6.4 Transport Controls and Locate Points

The transport controls on the US-428
are set up to directly correspond to the
on-screen transport controls in Cubasis.
So, for example, pressing PLAY on the
US-428 will activate the PLAY mode in
Cubasis. Pressing STOP will halt
playback on Cubasis. Pressing REW or
FFWD will activate Cubasis’ transports
to Rewind or Fast Forward, respectively.
The DATA WHEEL, when AUX is not
selected, will also act as a shuttle wheel
for the transport. Rotating the wheel
clockwise will advance the song position
forward, and rotating it counter-

28

clockwise will move the transport
backward.

Cubasis will record audio or MIDI into
the track that is highlighted on the
Arrange screen (see above). Pressing
RECORD will start Cubasis into a count­off, after which it will begin recording
audio or MIDI data into the selected
track.

Illustration 6.08 - Transport Bar

The locate points function m uch like the
left and right m ouse buttons in Cubasis.
To jump to the Left locate point, press
the LOCATE << button, and to jump to
the right point, press the LOCATE >>
button.

To set locate points, hold the SET
button and press the << or >> butt on to
set the corresponding locat e point. This
will work when the transport is stopped
or when moving, allowing you to set
locate points on the fly.

6.5 Mute/Solo

The MUTE buttons toggle the Mute
function in Cubasis’ VST Channel Mixer
for the selected channel. When a
channel is muted, there are two
indications: the Mute button in the
Cubasis VST Channel Mixer’s display
will be activated, and the MUTE LED on
the US-428 corresponding t o the muted
track(s) will be illuminated.

The SOLO switch works by toggling the
status of the MUTE switches to SOLO

mode. When the SOLO button is
pressed and the SOLO LED is lit, the
MUTE buttons act as SOLO buttons,
soloing the selected channel(s). (See
illustration 6.06)

6.6 EQ controls

The US-428 control surface has
dedicated EQ controls that let you make
changes to the setting on up to four
bands of EQ in the internal m ixer of your
audio recording program. I n the case of
Cubasis, the US-428’s LOW and HIGH
EQ buttons address the lower and upper

bands of Cubasis’ two bands of internal
EQ, respectively.

Press one of the EQ band selection
buttons (LOW, LOW-MID, HI-MID or
HIGH) to activate the associated band
of internal EQ in the soft ware. Once you
have activated a particular band, the
EQ GAIN control regulates the amount
of equalization, in dB, which is added or
subtracted from the signal. The EQ
FREQ controls the center frequency
around which the EQ cut or gain is
centered. The EQ Q controls the width
of the band of frequencies affected by
the EQ GAIN control.

To open a selected channel’s EQ panel
via the US-428, press one of the EQ
selection buttons and then the
SELECT key on any channel, and the
EQ/Aux Send panel for the selected
channel will open.

29

6.7 Aux Buttons

The AUX buttons 1 through 4 select the
corresponding AUX SEND in the
software. When an AUX LED is
illuminated, the selected AUX level is
controlled via the DATAWHEEL. To
open a channel’s Aux Send panel in
Cubasis, press one of the AUX SEND
buttons, and then the SELECT k ey on
any channel; the EQ/Aux Send panel for
the currently selected channel will
open.

Illustration 6.10 - EQ Control Panel in Cubasis

Illustration 6.11 - EQ Control Panel in VST/32

6.8 Data Wheel

The DATA WHEEL acts as a continuous
controller, and is capable of a variety of
functions. In Cubasis, when an AUX LED is
illuminated, the level of the selected AUX
Send is controlled via the DATAWHEEL.
When no AUX LED’s are selected, the
DATAW HEEL functions as a shuttle wheel,
moving the transport in the direction the
wheel is turned.

6.9 BANK Controls and FADER NULL

The BANK SELECT keys page between
successive banks of eight faders.
Selecting any of the eight faders will
control the corresponding channel in the
software’s internal mixer.

30

The US-428 will support an unlimited
number of channels. I t is only limited to
the maximum amount of channels your
audio software will support.

When changing to a different bank of
faders, you may find that the fader on
the US-428 is now out of position with
the associated channel’s fader in
Cubasis. Pressing the FADER NULL
button will disengage the US-428’s
faders from the program, allowing you
to move the US-428’s fader to match the
fader in the software’s internal mixer.
The REC and SEL LED’s function as
up/down indicators, guiding you to the
correct fader position. For best results, it
is recommended that FADER NULL
function be utilized with the transport
stopped.

6.10 ASIO2 Direct Monitoring

Some audio programs that can use
ASIO 2 for audio input and out put, such
as Steinberg’s Cubase VST, support a
feature called “Direct Monitoring.” This
lets the program’s user interf ace control
hardware input-to-output monitoring
paths. Without Direct Monitoring
enabled, the latency is controlled by
your buffer size setting (see section 5.2)
and your program can add ef fects such
as reverb and EQ in both the monitor
and record paths. With Direct Monitoring
enabled the latency is ultra-low (less
than 1.5ms), but you can’t hear effects
in the monitor path (althoug h t hey will be
recorded if enabled).

To enable Direct Monitoring in Cubase
VST, open the Audio Control Panel. In
the “Monitoring” section of the window,
check “ASIO Direct Monitor.” (You also
need either “Record Enable Type” or
“Tape Type” monitoring enabled.)

31

7. A Sample Recording Session in Cubasis

Okay. You’ve got your US-428
connected to your computer, and you’ve
loaded the drivers. Your audio software
is loaded, and you’re ready to cut some
tracks. Let’s walk through a typical
recording session with the US-428 and
Cubasis.

NOTE: This chapter is intended as a
quick start guide toward recording and
mixing with Steinberg Cubasis and the
US-428. It is in no way meant to be a
comprehensive guide to Cubasis. For
full details on the Cubasis application,
please refer to the Steinberg Cubasis
manual on the US-428 CD. You’ll find
Windows and MacOS versions.

7.1 Setting Up

Before starting Cubasis, m ake sure that
the US-428 is turned ON, that its USB
cable is connected to your computer’s
USB port, and that t he device has been
initialized.

NOTE: When tur ning the US-428 on or

off, or launching or closing the
application (e.g. Cubasis VST), turn
down the LINE OUT and PHONES
LEVEL controls.

When Cubasis VST is running, do not
turn off the US-428, or disconnect the
power supply. Also, you should not
disconnect or connect the cables of the
US-428 or any other USB equipment
while Cubasis VST is running.

If you launch Cubasis or another audio
program before the US-428 has been
initialized, the software will not “see” the
US-428 and you will not be able to

operate the software’s controls, perform
MIDI I/O, or record or play back audio.
Likewise, many software applications
don’t expect that devices will be
removed while the program is running.
So make sure to exit your audio
application programs before
disconnecting or turning of f the power to
the US-428.

It is also advisable, as with all audio
devices, that you turn your amplifier or
powered monitors off until the program
is up and running, to avoid audio spikes.

Once you are certain that the US-428 is
up and running, start the Cubasis
application by double- clicking on its
icon on the screen. Open the Audio
Control Panel and select the US-428 as
your audio device (see “Selecting the
US-428 as your audio device” in
previous chapter.) If you don’t see the
US-428 listed in your Audio Control
Panel, make sure it’s been installed
correctly by referring to the section on
Troubleshooting.

Select the ASIO Control Panel, and
choose a sample Rate (44.1kHz or 48
kHz). Your Audio Clock Source should
be set to internal, unless you’re using
S/PDIF digital input (INPUT C and D
set to DIGITAL), or otherwise slaving
Cubasis to an external source.

NOTE

Select the Disk Caching Scheme.
Option 1 is “Virtual Tape Recorder”,
used primarily when your tracks are
linear and of longer duration. Option 2
corresponds to “Audio Sequencer”, and
is more applicable when using loops
and shorter segments of audio. Option
3, “Tape Recorder/Sequencer”, is your
best choice when working with a
combination of short audio clips and
longer linear tracks. (For further

32

information on Disk Caching, please
refer to the Cubasis VST m anual.)

If you’re using Cubasis, the program
automatically connects to the US-428
control surface and LEDs, but if you’re
using another program, you will
probably need to select the “US-428
Control Port” MIDI In and Out devices
in that program’s MIDI Setup menu.

If you’re using the US-428’s internal
MIDI interface, you’ll need to enable it in
the Options/MIDI Setup menu. Each of
the US-428’s independent MIDI Ins and
Outs can be enabled separately. For
more information on setting up VST’s
very sophisticated MIDI functions,
please refer to the VST m anual.

Connect your audio sources to the US-

428. Connect an analog source via the
XLR or 1/4” inputs, or a digital source
via the S/PDIF input.

7.2 Recording Your Tracks

In Cubasis, choose the input(s) you wish
to enable on the US-428. In the Audio
menu, select Input, and click on the
input pair (or pairs, in Cubase VST)
you’ll be using on the US-428. The
green Input icons will light in VST’s Input
window for active inputs.

Select the Audio track (s) to record to by
highlighting that track in the Arrange
window.

NOTE: All four will only appear if you’ve
enabled their Inputs, as described
above. If this is the first t rack recorded
in a given project, Cubasis will probably
respond with a dialog box asking you
for a path to save the audio files. It is
highly recommended that you create a
unique folder for each song or project,
as audio .WAV files can accumulate

very quickly on your hard disk, and
keeping them organized can get pretty
complicated.

Once you’ve enabled your tracks, you’ll
want to monitor audio through them to
set your levels. Open Cubasis’ Monitor
Mixer (Audio/Monitor menu), and make
certain you’ve assigned your channel
inputs and enabled them. You should
see audio signal on those channels’
meters (assuming you’re sending signal
from your source).

If your input signal is too high, the OL
LED will glow steadily red. If the signal
level is too low, you might only see a
flicker, or nothing at all, on the SIGNAL
LED.

You can regulate the input level of the
input source in several ways. First,
make sure that the signal you’re
sending to the US-428 is within a
reasonable range – it should illuminate
the green SIGNAL LED, but the red OL
LED should only flicker occasionally.
You can then fine adjust the level with
the TRIM knobs for the selected
channel(s).

NOTE: The SIGNAL and OL LED’s do
not function with digital input.

In the case of digital input, input level is
regulated by the output level of the
source, and passed directly to the
software application without
modification.

On Cubasis’ Transport Bar, you can
enable the recording to drop in or out of
Record based on the locate points
you’ve set. If you do not wish to enable
this function, make certain the buttons
for drop in and drop out are not enabled.

Press the RECORD button on the US-

428. If you’ve got the metronome’s
Count-off function enabled, you’ll hear a
one or two bar countoff, and then t he

33

program will enter Record mode. It will
stop recording when it reaches the drop
out point, or if none is enabled, when
you hit the STOP button.

Cubasis will now create a display of the
track(s) you’ve just recorded. This can
take a few seconds to a few minutes,
depending on how long the recorded
tracks are and how many there are.
You’ll then see the tracks appear in your
arrange window.

7.3 Overdubbing

To overdub more tracks, simply select
and enable additional tracks as you did
the previous ones, and repeat the
procedure. You can monitor the tracks
you’ve already recorded via the US­428’s outputs, while recording
additional tracks into Cubasis via the
US-428’s inputs. Be sure to assign
each track to its own channel in the
program’s internal mixer. For more
information on Cubasis’ mixer
functions, including groups and output
assigns, please refer to the Cubasis
manual.

When overdubbing , you can also select
the INPUT MONITOR mode by pressing
the INPUT MONITOR button on the
US-428. When the corresponding LED
is illuminated, channel strips 1,2, 3 and 4
can be used to adjust the level, pan and
mute status of inputs A, B, C and D,
respectively. This will enable the first
four faders as Input level monitors,
allowing you to hear the inputs at the
source, in sync with the previously
recorded tracks.

7.4 Mixdow n

You can control the mix of the channels
you’ve recorded via the US-428. Make
certain you’ve got the correct bank
selected - the small on-screen window
that indicates “VST Mixer 1-8”, or “GM
Mixer 1-8” or “GM Mixer 9-16” is your
best indication of the currently selected
bank. The LEDs next to the BANK
buttons on the US-428 also indicate the
selected bank:

 VST Mixer =  only
 GM Mixer 1-8 = and 
 GM Mixer 9-16 = only.

You can change the level of a track by
adjusting its corresponding f ader on the
US-428 control surf ace. To adj ust other
parameters on a particular channel, f irst
press the SELECT k ey for that channel
on the US-428. The selected channel
will be highlighted below that channel’s
fader on the screen.

Moving the channel fader on the US-428
will adjust the relative volume of the
selected channel in Cubasis. The
corresponding fader on screen will
update as you move the US-428’s fader.

The PAN control on the US-428 will pan
the selected channel from Left to Right
on the stereo buss. To open the EQ
panel, select the desired channel and
then press ASGN and select any of the
four bands of EQ on the US-428’s EQ
pod. The EQ’s level, center frequency
and Q can then be controlled via the
US-428’s EQ knobs.

To select a channel’s FX sends, select
the desired channel and then press
ASGN and select any of the four AUX
buttons. The level of the Aux send is
controlled via the DATA WHEEL.

34

Once your tracks are recorded, mixing
can be automated on Cubasis’ internal
mixer. By selecting W rite on the mixer
panel in Cubasis, your fader moves, EQ
and FX settings and changes, panning ,
etc., can all be recorded into Cubasis’
automated mixer settings. To play back
the automated mix, select Read on the
mixer panel. (You can play back existing
mix moves while continuing to update
your mix by selecting both Read and
Write.)

For more detail on Cubasis’ mixdown
procedure, refer to t he Cubasis m anual.

35

8. Other Applications and Operational Modes

As we’ve mentioned throughout this
manual, the US-428 is an extremely
versatile device. Its capabilities as a
controller go well beyond those we’ve
described thus far with the bundled
Cubasis program. Clearly it would be
impossible to fully document the US­428’s operational details with each
application, but we’ve attempted in this
chapter to give a brief overview of some
of the many other currently supported
operational modes and interfaces of the
US-428.

It’s also important to note that the US­428 is fully functional as a 16- and 24-bit
audio interface and 32 channel MIDI
interface with virtually all Windows and
MacOS compatible applications. Even
those applications which do not support
the US-428 as a controller can still use
the US-428 as an audio MIDI interface.

Since the US-428’s release, TASCAM
has been working together with
developers from all over the
professional audio industry to create
support for new applications with the
US-428. While we’ve included
documentation on a number of currently
supported applications here, the
development of new support for the US­428 is ongoing and expanding. We
recommend you visit the US-428 area of

www.tascam.com

information, and check out the online
users’ forum as well.

These individual documents are also
available on the CD-ROM, as well as on
our website. As new application support
becomes available, we will be posting
the information for free download.

for current news and

36

8.1 Cubase VST - Windows

The US-428 is fully supported under
Cubase v5.xx for Windows, including
ASIO 16 and 24 bit drivers and control
surface mapping. Not e that the US-428
is fully functional as both an audio and
32 channel MIDI interface in earlier
versions of Cubase as well. In the
previous version (v3.7x), partial
functionality of the controller surface is
supported; however, to fully utilize the
features of the US-428 under Cubase
VST, it is necessary to run v5.00 or
later.

The full version of Cubase VST (as well
as VST Score and VST/32) support a
four band fully parametric EQ on each
channel. Of course, it’s supported on the
US-428 - each of the four bands of VST
are controlled by the four associated EQ
band selector buttons.

Before setting up the US-428 to work
with Cubase, please install the US-428 v

3.0 drivers. Begin the setup procedure
below with the US-428 plugged in and
powered on. If you have not already
done so, install Cubase VST

NOTE: Several revisions and bug fixes
were implemented in subsequent
updates to VST 5. W e suggest you visit
Steinberg’s website and make sure
you’ve got the most current version.

Installing under Cubase 5.0 and later:

 Open the Cubase application.
 From the OPTIONS pulldown menu,

choose REMOTE SETUP / SETUP.

o Under REMOTE, select US-

428.

o Select US-428 CONTROL

for INPUT and OUTPUT.

 Under the OPTIONS / AUDIO

SETUP / SYSTEM menu, locate the
ASIO DEVICE selector and choose

one of the US-428’s ASIO drivers
(16 or 24 bit) as the device.

 Under VST INPUTS, make sure both

pairs of inputs are open (g reen input
indicators are lit).

Note: these parameters save with the
song and are not globally remembered.
You will need to save the song as
DEF.ALL if you want the US-428 remote
setup to load automatically.

 Open the US-428’s Control Panel

(Device Manager). From the
pulldown menu, select “US-428
Native”.

You should now be ready to use
Cubase 5.0 with the US-428.

With Cubase 3.7 and earlier:

 Open the Cubase application.
 From the AUDIO pulldown menu,

choose SYSTEM. In the ASIO drop­down menu, select the US-428 16­or 24-bit ASIO drivers.

 From the OPTIONS / VST REMOTE

menu, select CS-10. Select the US-
428 CONTROL PORT for the in and
out communication.

 You should now be ready to use

Cubase 3.7x.

Note that support under older versions
of Cubase is limited. You will not have
access to unlimited fader channels or all
EQ and Aux sends. Full control will only
be available in VST 5.0 and later.

37

8.2 Cubase VST – MacOS

The US-428 is fully supported under
Cubase v5.00 for MacOS, including
ASIO 16 and 24 bit drivers and control
surface mapping. Note: the US-428 is
fully functional as both an audio and 32
channel MIDI interface in earlier
versions of Cubase as well. In v4.1,
partial functionality of the controller
surface is supported; however, to fully
utilize the features of t he US-428 under
Cubase Mac, it is necessary to run
v5.00 or later.

Before setting up the US-428 to work
with Cubase, please install the US-428
MacOS v2.00 drivers, and set up the
OMS. (Refer to the enclosed
documents on setting up both the
drivers and OMS.) Begin the setup
procedure below with the US-428
plugged in and powered on.

Installing under Cubase 5.0 and later:

Open the Cubase application.
From the O

choose M

OMS C

OMPATIBILITY, select IN AND OUT.

Still under the O
S

YSTEM menu, open the INPUT FROM

menu and enable all inputs shown for
the US-428 (MIDI 1, MIDI 2 and

ONTROL)

C

Under the Options / Remote Setup
menu, select S

VST R

EMOTE dialog, select the US-428,

and US-428 C

NPUT and OUTPUT communication.

I

PTIONS pulldown menu,

IDI SETUP / SYSTEM. Under

PTIONS / MIDI SETUP /

US-428

ETUP, and in the resulting

ONTROL PORT for the

 Under the O

S

YSTEM menu, locate the ASIO

DEVICE selector and choose one of

PTIONS / AUDIO SETUP /

the US-428’s ASIO drivers (16 or 24
bit) as the device.

Note: these parameters save with the
song and are not globally remembered.
You will need to save the song as
DEF.ALL if you want the OMS MIDI
setup to load automatically.

 Open the US-428’s Control Panel

(Apple menu). From the pulldown
menu, select “US-428 Native”.

You should now be ready to use
Cubase 5.0 with the US-428.

With Cubase 4.1 and earlier:

 Open the Cubase application.
 From the O

choose M
OMS C

OUT.

PTIONS pulldown menu,

IDI SETUP / SYSTEM. Under

OMPATIBILITY, select IN AND

 Still under the Options / MIDI Setup /

System menu, open the I

NPUT FROM

dialog and enable all Inputs shown
for the US 428 (MIDI 1

AND 2 AND

US-428 CONTROL)

 Note: these parameters save with

the song and are not globally
remembered. You will need to save
the song as DEF.ALL if you want the
OMS MIDI setup to load
automatically.

 From the O

PTIONS / VST REMOTE

menu, select CS-10. Select the US­428 C

ONTROL PORT for the in and

out communication.

38

 From the O

PTIONS / AUDIO / SYSTEM

menu, select the ASIO device tab
and choose one of the US 428’s
ASIO drivers (16 or 24 bit) as the
device.

Note: these parameters save with the
song and are not globally remembered.
You will need to save the song as
DEF.ALL if you want the OMS MIDI
setup to load automatically.

You should now be ready to use
Cubase 4.1.

39

8.3 Nuendo - Windows and MacOS

The US-428 is fully supported under
Nuendo v1.xx for Windows and Mac,
including ASIO 16 and 24 bit drivers and
control surface mapping. We suggest
you make sure you’ve got the most
current update.

Before setting up the US-428 to work
with Nuendo, please install the US-428
v3.0 drivers. (Refer to the document on
installing the US-428 drivers with either
Win98SE/ME or Win2000.) Begin the
setup procedure below with the US-428
plugged in and power on. If you have
not already done so, install Nuendo.

Installing the US-428 under Nuendo:

Open the Nuendo application
From the D

D

EVICE SETUP.

Select the A
“T

ASCAM US-428” f rom the device menu

and click A
appear on the list of loaded devices on
the left side of the window.
Highlight US-428 and click the S
tab. Select US-428 C

NPUT and MIDI OUTPUT.

MIDI I
Highlight VST M

RIVER pull-down menu, select ASIO

D
US-428

(16- or 24-bit) driver.

Highlight D

US-428 MIDI 1 or 2 from the INPUT and
O

UTPUT drop-down menus.

From the D

NPUTS. Make sure at least one pair of

I

inputs for the US-428 are set t o act ive.

EVICES menu, choose
DD/REMOVE tab. Select

DD. TASCAM US-428 should

ETUP

ONTROL PORT for

ULTITRACK. In the ASIO

EFAULT MIDI PORTS. Select

EVICES menu, choose VST

If you’re running Nuendo for the first
time, you’ll need to create a new proj ect .
Select F

MPTY PROJECT.

E

ILE/NEW PROJECT, and choose

You’ll then need to add tracks to the
project. Select the P

ROJECT/ADD

TRACKS menu. This can be done one-

at-a-time by choosing the type of track
(

AUDIO, MIDI or GROUP), or by selecting

ULTIPLE.

M

Once you’ve created Audio tracks, you
can open the VST Mixer (D

M

IXER, or press F1 on the US-428 or F3

EVICES/VST

on your computer keyboard). You
should have control of Nuendo’s faders,
mutes, transports and other basic
functions, as well as EQ and Aux sends.
The controller mapping for the US-428
within Nuendo largely follows the same
protocols as Cubase and Cubasis.
Refer to the US-428 manual for more
info on these functions. Refer to the
Nuendo manual for more info on basic
operations of the program.

40

8.4 ProTools – Windows and MacOS

The US-428 can control Digidesign's
Pro Tools software application on both
the MacOS and the PC. Digidesign
offers a free version, ProTools Free, that
is an attractive application for use with
the US-428. On the Macintosh it uses
SoundManager for audio, and W indows
Multimedia (MME) on the PC. You can
see compatibility details and can order a
free CD-ROM of Pro Tools Free at

www.digidesign.com

Note: At the time of this writing, the
downloadable MacOS version (5.0.1)
supports the use of remote control
hardware, but the Windows version
does not. The CD-ROM version of
ProTools Free, however, contains
control hardware support in both MacOS
and Windows versions, and thus should
be quite compatible with the US-428. If
you have the downloaded Windows
version, you can download the
additional files necessary for control
hardware support. As of this writing,
this file is located at:

http://download.digidesign.com/support/
digi/windows/pt/MIDIControllers501.zip .

Pro Tools Free: This free software
application offers eight tracks of digital
audio and 48 tracks of MIDI. You can
record up to two inputs simultaneously,
and use the US-428 control surface to
control mixing, plug-ins, automation, and
more.

Before using the set-up information
provided in this chapter, first install Pro
Tools Free (and OMS if you’re on a
Mac) as described in the ProTools
document "PT FREE Quick Start
Guide.pdf" that comes with the Pro

.

Tools Free download. Make sure that
Pro Tools Free is working using your
computer's built-in speaker before
proceeding further. You can use the
sample project provided with Pro Tools
Free to test it.

To use the US-428 in this set-up, you
must have version 2.00 or later of the
US-428 driver installed on your system.
Before using this set-up document , first
read the documentation on installing the
US-428 drivers.

ETTING UP THE US-428

S

Pro Tools Free can only use Sound
Manager input and output on the Mac or
Windows MME input and output on the
PC. Note that this is not required
though. For example, you can use the
US-428 to control Pro Tools while
sending Pro Tools’ audio I/O through a
different device, even the Mac’s built-in
sound system.

Version 2.00 and later of the US-428
driver includes special emulation
software to let the US-428 act lik e a JL
Cooper CS-10™ attached to Pro Tools.
This is different than the normal CS-10
emulation mode since Pro Tools uses it
in some special ways. In the US-428
control panel, select “Pro Tools® CS-10”
for the control protocol.

You might need to adjust the audio
latency for your system. Do this in the
System tab of the US-428 control panel.
Using a smaller setting will reduce the
audio input to output latency through
Pro Tools Free, but also increases the
chance of audio drop outs. A setting of

41

1024 works well on many computers. If
you get an error message when playing
that says “You’re running out of CPU
power. Take out some plug-ins to free
up CPU power” then you should first try
increasing your latency setting. You
might also adjust your CPU usage limit
under the Setups/Hardware… menu
item. For advice on low-latency input
monitoring, see the Input Monitoring
section below.

ETTING PRO TOOLS TO USE THE US-428

S

ONTROL SURFACE

C

 Start Pro Tools and load or start a

new session, then do the following:

 Open the US-428 Control Panel.

Select CS-10 P

ROTOOLS from the

pulldown menu.

 Under MIDI/Input Devices… make

sure that “US-428 Control Port” is
checked

 Choose Setups/Peripherals and

select the “MIDI Controllers” button

 On line #1 select “CS-10” under

“Type”

 Select “US-428 Control Port” under

“Receive From” and “Send To”

 Select “8” under “# Ch’s”
 Click “OK” in the Peripherals window

To test the set-up, you should be able to
move a fader or press a transport key
and see that Pro Tools is responding.

OW TO USE THE US-428 WITH PRO

H
TOOLS

The original CS-10 has 8 faders, a row
of 8 keys and LEDs above these keys, a
data wheel with a button on each side of
it, left/right keys, up/down keys with
LEDs, transport keys, 6 potentiometer
knobs, and 10 general purpose keys.
The Pro Tools interface for this device
maps all these controls onto Pro Tools
features. Since the US-428 has a
different (but similar) set of controls, the

“Pro Tools CS-10” protocol emulates a
CS-10 while communicating with Pro
Tools.

NPUT MONITORING

I

With Pro Tools Free, you can monitor
your inputs using on-screen controls,
including listening to plug-in effects
applied to input in real time. As an
engineer, this can be quite handy, but
as a performer it is less than ideal since
the input to output latency (time delay
from input to output signal) is tens of
milliseconds long. That's long enough to
ruin your timing if you are trying to
record while listening to previously
recorded tracks (overdubbing).

For ultra-low latency monitoring (<

1.5msec), you can instead use the US­428's hardware input monitoring feat ure.
Using this technique, you won't hear
plug-in effects being applied to your
inputs, but your timing will be rock solid.
Here's how to do it:

 For record enabled tracks, assign

their output to an unused bus. This
way, you won't hear Pro Tools’ high
latency monitor output.

Push the "INPUT MONITO R" key on



the US-428. Now the first 4 channel
strips control the input monitor level
of the 4 inputs.

 Adjust the mute, level, and pan

settings for the 4 inputs.

 Push "INPUT MONITOR" again to

exit this mode.

You can adjust your hardware input
monitor settings at any time, even in the
middle of a recording pass.

42

Illustration 8.01 – Pro Tools Keys

M

ODIFIER KEYS

Modifier keys are held down to alter t he
action of a knob or other key. The Shift ,
Control, Option, Alt and/or Command
keys found on your keyboard are also
mapped to US-428 keys, and either the
keyboard or US-428 key gives the same
behavior. In the key summary on the
last page, a listing like “SET+PLAY”
means hold down the SET key and then
press the PLAY key. This is the same as
holding the keyboard SHIFT and
pressing PLAY.

RANSPORT CONTROLS

T

The five transport keys on the US-428
operate exactly like the on-screen
transport buttons. This includes some
special behaviors. You can hold the
SET key and press PLAY to play in half­speed mode. You can hold the ASGN
key and press RECORD to cycle
through the different record modes
(Normal, Destructive, Loop,
QuickPunch).

If "Audio During Fast Forward/Rewind"
is not selected under
Setups/Preferences.../Operation, then
you can tap the REW or FFW D keys to
move backward or forward in steps.
(The step size depends on your
selected time display mode.) Or you can
hold down the REW or FFWD keys to
move the time line continuously.

ASS THROUGH NULL" CONTROLS

"P

In using the US-428 with Pro Tools, the
physical faders and rotary control
positions at times will not match their
on-screen counterparts. When you
move a control, like a level fader, pan
control, or effect parameter knob, it will
not affect the on-screen control until it
has moved past the on-screen position,
called the null point. The on-screen
control will then stay locked to the
physical control after this. Once you
have stopped moving the control, it will
still stay locked until the Touch T imeout
time has passed. Then, once again, you
have to pass through the null point to
regain control. (You can adjust the
Touch Timeout setting in
Setups/Preferences.../Automation.)

HANNEL STRIPS

C

Each channel strip has controls for level,
mute, solo, select, and record enable.
The channel strip fader controls the
corresponding on-screen level fader, but
remember that you must move it
through the on-screen posit ion before it
takes effect. As you start to move a
fader that is not locked to its on-screen
counterpart, either the HI-MID or LO­MID LED will light up to show you which
direction you need to move the fader to
reach the null point.

You can press the MUTE keys to
mute/unmute a channel. The MUTE light
displays the current MUTE state for that

43

channel. If you press the SOLO k ey, the
SOLO LED will light up and you are in
SOLO mode. Now the MUTE keys
become SOLO keys for the 8 channels,
and the MUTE lights become SOLO
lights. Press the SOLO key again, and
you are back in MUTE mode.

Pressing a SELECT key selects a track
for panning, send level, or plug-in
parameter control, and deselects other
tracks. Once selected, its on-screen
name will be highlighted in green. Hold
the SET key and press SELECT to
toggle the selection of a track for editing,
deleting, etc. Its on-screen track name
will get a white background.

You can move to different banks of 8
channel strips by using the BANK keys
(<BANK and BANK>). Pressing these
will move the selection by 8 to the right
or left (or as far as possible) and the
MUTE and REC lights will be updated
for the currently active channel strips.
The currently selected track f or panning,
etc. will also move (and the same green
LED will stay lit).

HANGING PARAMETERS

C

When a track is selected, you can use
the four rot ary knobs in different ways to
control the track's pan setting, send
levels, and plug-in parameters. There
are different sets of parameters for a
track that these f our knobs can control.
The "top" set includes pan, and five
send levels. With a track selected, you
get to its top parameter set by holding
LOCATE> and pressing the HIGH key.
The HIGH LED lights to show that the
top set is selected.

Now you can move the PAN knob
(through the null point!) to change the
pan setting for the selected track. You
can also change the send level for all
five sends, A through E. (See the
summary at the end for details.) Hold

the SET button while moving a knob for
finer control.

On screen you can select any plug-in
and display its settings. The track f or the
plug-in, if it is diff erent than the select ed
track, will have its name highlighted in
red. Load the "4-band EQ II" plug-in in
an insert. Now press the LOW button
several times. As you do, a set of plug­in parameters is highlighted ( up to 6 at a
time for a plug-in). T he set goes to the
bottom then cycles back to the top. Now
try turning an EQ knob back and forth.
Once it moves through the parameter's
null point, you can control it with the US­knob. All six plug-in parameters selected
can be controlled (only 4 are used per
set for this EQ). See the summary at the
end for details, and for more on using
plug-ins with Pro Tools, see "DigiRack
Plug-Ins Guide.pdf" that came with Pro
Tools.

CRUBBING AND SHUTTLING

S

The data wheel on the US-428 can be
use to scrub and shuttle audio in Pro
Tools, and to create selections of data
for editing. Here's a brief example of
how to use these features to select
some audio. Please refer to the CS-10
chapter of the MIDI Controller Guide
(listed below) for lots of details.

This description assumes that "Edit
Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle" is
disabled under
Setups/Preferences.../Operation. Press
F3 to go into shuttle mode, and move
the data wheel to shuttle the cursor near
your desired start point. Press F2 to go
into scrub mode. Scrub the audio with
the data wheel to find your approximate
start point. Now hold down SET and
scrub towards the end point. Hey, you're
creating a selection. Press <BANK to go
to the start of the selection, hold down
SET and F1, and scrub more finely,
adjusting the exact selection st art point.

44

Press BANK> to do the same to trim the
end point. Now press F2 or STOP to exit
scrub mode.

You can switch between scrub and
shuttle modes at any time, and can
leave scrub or shuttle mode by pressing
the button with the lit up LED or STOP.
Note that the normal tr ansport controls,
and much else, are disabled when in
scrub or shuttle mode. Again, the Pro
Tools documentation has much more
details about using a MIDI controller f or
such functions. Check it out.

OOM/SCROLL/EDIT

Z

Several key commands, listed in the
Summary, exist to perform various
zooming, scrolling, and editing
functions.

IND OUT MORE

F

More information about how Pro Tools
uses external MIDI controllers, and the
CS-10 in particular, can be found on
Digidesign’s web site. Their guide can
be found at:

www.digidesign/support/docs/MIDI_Con
trollers_Guide.pdf.

45

8.4.1 Setting up SoundManager Support

The Macintosh Sound Manager is a
standard 2-channel software interface
for playing and recording sound on a
Mac. The audio inputs and outputs
(speakers) that are built into any
Macintosh use the Sound Manager
interface, and essentially every Mac
application that uses sound supports it.
This includes not only audio recording
and editing programs, but also games,
video editors, web browsers, MP3
players, and even Macintosh beeps and
system sounds. Even some audio­oriented program only support Sound
Manager I/O, such as Digidesign’s Pro
Tools Free. The Sound Manager input
and output sources are selected by
control panels. The control panels used
are different in MacOS 8.6 and 9.0, and
are explained separately below.

MacOS 9.0

The “Sound” control panel in MacOS 9.0
is used to select Sound Manager inputs
and outputs. With this control panel
active, click on the left of the window
where it says “Output” to display the
possible Sound Manager output
devices. On the right, click on “US-428”
to select it as the Sound Manager
output. The US-428 has its own output
volume controls, so the output volume
slider can only be able to mute or
enable sound output. Moving the
volume slider to the rig ht or click ing on it
will send a system beep out the US-428
outputs.

When you click “Input” on the left, the
available input devices appear on the
right. Click on “US-428” to select it as
the Sound Manager input device. Below
it are two choices for “Input Source”:
either A:B or C:D. You can select eit her
as the enabled input pair.

When an applicat ion is using the Sound
Manager inputs, this “Input Source” field
is grayed out, displaying the current
inputs but preventing you from chang ing
them here. You can still change the
input pair without quitting your program,
however. To do this, bring up the US­428 control panel and go to the System
tab. You will find a selection there
labeled “Sound Manager Input.” Here
you can change the input pair at any
time, even when an audio program is
active. The grayed out “Input Source”
field in the “Sound” cont rol panel “Input”
section will display any input changes
you make.

MacOS 8.6

The “Monitors and Sound” control panel
in MacOS 8.6 has a “Sound” section. It
displays the currently selected Sound
Manager output and lets you select
among several “Built In” input sour ces. It
cannot be used to select the US- 428 as
the Sound Manger input or output.

The “Sound” control panel has a
selection line at the top to let you
choose among “Alert Sound,” “Sound
In,” “Sound Out,” and “Volume”
windows. (Note: If your “Sound” control
panel does not have all these options,
you should use the alternate “Sound”
control panel found in Apple
Extras/Sound Control Panel.) With
“Output” selected, you can choose “US­428” as the Sound Manager output.
Since the US-428 has its own output

46

volume control, its slider under “Volume”
in this control panel is only used to
enable or mute the US-428 output.

Under “Sound In” you can select the
“US-428” instead of the Mac’s Built-in
sources, but it doesn’t let you select
between the US-428’s A:B and C:D
input pairs. To do this, go to the “US­428” control panel’s “System” t ab. T here
you will find a field labeled “Sound
Manager Input” that selects between the
two input pairs. You can change this
setting at any time, even while a
program is using the Sound Manager
I/O.

47

8.5 Digital Performer (MacOS)

The US-428 is supported in Digital
Performer v2.7 and later . Bef or e sett ing
up the US-428 to work with Digital
Performer, please install the US-428
MacOS v3 drivers, and set up either
OMS or FreeMIDI. (Refer to the
chapters on setting up both the drivers
and OMS. Information on setting up
FreeMIDI may be found in the Digital
Performer documentat ion)

Begin the setup procedure below with
the US-428 plugged in and powered on.

Locate the Digital Performer Control
Surface Plugin on the US-428 CD-ROM.
(If you’ve downloaded the driver from
our website, locate the folder on your
hard drive.) Drag it into the P
folder within the D

IGITAL PERFORMER

folder.

MPORTANT: The Control Surface Plugin

I
must be in the P

IGITAL PERFORMER folder, along with

D

LUGINS folder within the

the Digital Performer application itself.
Failure to use the correct folder will
result in non-performance.

Next, verify that the ASIO drivers are
installed correctly. Open the ASIO

RIVERS folder within the DIGITAL

D
PERFORMER folder. Verify that this f older

contains both the US-428’s 16 bit and
24 bit ASIO drivers. (If not you can copy
them from the US-428 folder on the
Desktop, which was created during
installation.)

Open the US-428 Control Panel (Apple
menu). Select US-428 N

ATIVE from the

pulldown menu.

LUGINS

Open Digital Performer. Select an
existing project, or open a new one.

From the B

ASICS / MOTU AUDIO SYSTEM

OPTIONS menu, select CONFIGURE
H

ARDWARE DRIVER. From the pulldown

menu that appears, select the ASIO
device option, and then select one of the
US-428’s ASIO drivers.

Select the B

ASICS / CONTROL SURFACE

SETUP menu. From the HARDWARE

pulldown menu, select the US-428 as
the Control Surface. Select US-428

ONTROL PORT from the MIDI

C

OMMUNICATION drop down menu. If

C

you wish to use the MIDI ports on the
US-428, you must go to the B

ET INPUT FILTER menu and check the

S
box marked A

EVICE.

D

CCEPT INPUT FROM MMC

ASICS /

Controller Surface Mapping
Note: The S

ET and REC ENABLE buttons

act as shift keys, and should be held
down while pressing other buttons to
modify their behavior.

Transport Controls:

STOP Stop, or rewind if already stopped
PLAY Play toggle
REC Record toggle and one-touch recording
REW Fast rewind (REW
FFWD Fast forward (FFWD
SET + REW Slow rewind (REW

flashing)
SET + FFWD Slow forward (FFWD
flashing)

LED lit)

LED lit)

LED
LED

(If you select Fast or Slow Forward
mode while playing, Digital Performer
will play at double or half speed.)

48

<<LOCATE Go to beginning of song
LOCATE>> Go to end of song
SET + <<LOCATE Set Memory Start to current
time
SET + LOCATE>> Set Memory End to current

time

Channel Controls:

The US-428 has 8 channel strips and a
master fader. The master fader controls
the volume for any and all tracks that
contain master faders. Regular channel
strip faders never af fect a master fader
track.

Each channel strip contains a fader, a

S

ELECT button, a SELECT LED, a

R

ECORD LED, a MUTE button, and a

UTE LED. The eight channel strips

M

affect a bank of eight contiguous tracks
within Digital Performer’s Mixing Board
window. The set of tracks being
controlled may be changed as described
in the “Bank Selection” section below.

The channel fader directly controls the
volume of a track (unless it’s a master
fader track). Select a track by pressing

ELECT button. The corresponding

the S
S

ELECT LED will light. Pressing a SELECT

button will deselect any previously
selected track(s). With the T

RACK

window active, the currently selected
track is highlighted.

Pressing S

ET + SELECT will toggle the

select state of a track. This may be
used to select or deselect multiple
tracks, or to change the set of selected
tracks.

The P
for the selected track(s). Holding S

AN knob will control the panning

ET

while panning gives you finer control.
The R

the S
pressing a S

EC button acts lik e a shift key with

ELECT buttons. Holding REC and

ELECT button toggles the

record enable state f or that tr ack. S
R

EC clears all record-enabled tracks.

ET +

The M
solo status of a track. W hen the S

LED

UTE buttons control both mute and

OLO

is unlit, pressing a MUTE button

toggles the mute status of a track, and

UTE LED’s reflect the mute status of

the M
the track. Pressing the S

OLO button

toggles the Global Solo State, indicated
by the lit S
is lit, pressing a M
solo state of the track, and the M

OLO LED. W hen t he SOLO led

UTE button toggles the

UTE LED

reflects the solo status of the track.
(When the last track’s S

OLO is cleared,

the Global Solo Status is automatically
cleared by Digital Performer, and the
tracks’ mute status is once again
shown.) S
when the S
solos when the S

ET + SOLO clears all mutes

OLO led is not lit, or clears all

OLO LED is lit.

Aux Send Controls:

Audio tracks have four aux send levels
and aux send mutes. (To see them,
display the send field in the track
window.) To change these controls,
select a track(s) and press the A

UX2, AUX3 or AUX4 button. Its LED will

A
light, indicating that the D

ATA WHEEL

UX1,

now controls that function. Moving the

ATA WHEEL will now control the

D

selected Aux Send level for the selected
track(s). Holding S

D

ATA WHEEL allows for finer control.

Pressing the currently selected A
button will turn off the A

D

ATA WHEEL will resume normal

operation. Pressing a different A

ET while moving the

UX

UX LED and the

UX

button will select a different Aux Send to
be controlled. Pressing S

ET + an AUX

button will toggle the corresponding
send mute status for the selected
track(s).

49

Bank Selection:

<<BANK Shift 8 tracks to the left
BANK>> Shift 8 tracks to the right
SET + <<BANK Shift 1 track to the left
SET + BANK>> Shift 1 track to the right

If less than 8 track s remain to the lef t or
right, the bank buttons will shif t as many
tracks as available. The <<BANK

LED is

lit if you can shift further left, and the
BANK>>

LED is lit if you can shift furt her

right. Perform ing any banking operation
will automatically bring the Mixing Board
window to the front.

Note that banking actions are disabled if
the R

EC button or any SELECT but ton is

being held down. This is to prevent
banking during a possible updating of
tracks' automation data.

Fader Nulling:

When changing banks, a physical fader
position might not match the
corresponding channel’s on-screen
fader’s position. Pressing the N

ULL

button places the US-428 into Null mode
and lights the N
the fader strips’ red R

LED’S display whether the fader is too

high (R

EC LED on) or too low (SEL LED

ULL LED. In this mode,

EC and green SEL

on). When both are lit, the physical
fader matches the on-screen fader’s
position. Press N

ULL again to return to

normal operational mode.

Window Navigation

F1 Toggle Mixer window to front/back
F2 Toggle Track Overview window to
front/back
F3 Cycle through the open windows

SET + F1 Enter Insert Parameter mode
SET + F2 Save open file
SET +F3 Close the front window

GAIN Scroll window right/left
FREQ Scroll window up/down
Q Zoom window horizontally
in/out
SET +Q Zoom window vertically in/out

EQ Controls
If you place a P

ARAEQ 4-BAND effect in

the topmost insert slot for an audio
track, the US-428 can directly control
that EQ. Pressing the L

O, LOMID, HIMID

or HI buttons will activate the EQ
controls for the first (leftmost) selected
track. When the EQ contr ols are active,
one of the L

O, LOMID, HIMID or HI LEDs

will be lit. Pressing the button below
that led will deactivate the EQ controls
(which is different f rom deactivating the
EQ inserted effect).

With the EQ controls active, the
following controllers are f unct ional:

GAIN Change filter gain for selected EQ band
SET + GAIN Fine filter gain adjust
FREQ Change filter frequency for selected EQ

band

SET + FREQ Fine filter frequency adjust
Q Change filter bandwidth for selected EQ
SET + Q Fine filter bandwidth adjust

SET + Lo, LoMid, HiMid or Hi Cycles

through various filters (and bypass) for selected
EQ

S

ET + NULL Toggle EQ bypass switch

status

You can also use the PARAEQ 2-BAND
effect in the top inser t position, in which
case only the LO and LOMID bands are
available.

50

Insert Parameter Controls

Pressing S

ET + F1 lights the F1 LED

indicating that insert parameter control
mode is active. In this mode you can
control parameters for insert B, C, D or
E for the leftmost selected track. The
topmost insert slot (A) is reserved for

ARAEQ 4-BAND insert and direct

the P
control by the normal EQ functions
described in the previous section:

 Select a track (when multiple track s

are selected, the leftmost/lowest is
used)

 Insert an effect in one of the lower

four slots for that t rack

 Press S

ET + F1 (F1 led will light)

 Press L

O, LOMID, HIMID, or HI to

select an insert slot. The effects
window will appear for the selected
insert.

Now the Data Wheel will
increment/decrement parameter 1 for
the selected effect. Holding Set while
turning the data wheel will change the
parameter faster . Press F3 to move up
a parameter number, or press F2 to
move down a parameter number. This
will allow you to access any effect
parameter.

The Q knob contr ols the parameter one
above the D
the parameter two above it, and G

ATA WHEEL. FREQ controls

AIN

controls the parameter three above it.
This gives you simultaneous access to
four consecutive parameters. These
knobs also respond to holding the S

ET

button for faster changes.
Pressing S

ET + NULL will toggle the

bypass for the selected insert effect.

You can exit insert parameter control
mode by pressing F1 or any A

UX button.

You can also press any of the EQ
buttons to change which effect on a
track you’re controlling. You can also
select a different track and parameter
slot.

Automation Controls
S

ET + RECORD Cycle selected

tracks through automation record modes

ET + PLAY Cycle selected tracks

S

through automation play modes

S

ET + STOP Turn automation off for

selected tracks.
To change the automation state for a

master fader, hold the R

EC button down

to select it before pressing the above
buttons.

In Latch modes, the movement of a
control (fader, pan, knob, wheel) starts
updating that parameter. In Touch
mode, the S

ELECT button acts as the

touch sensor for that track. Holding a

ELECT button “touches” that track’s

S

parameters and begins updating;
releasing S
The R

ELECT stops the updating.

EC buttons act as touch sensors

for the master f ader .
The B

buttons (A
disabled when any S

ANK, EQ and DATA WHEEL

UX 1-4, ASGN and F1-3) are

ELECT button is

being held down. This prevents
disruptions while automation data is
being used.

51

Two notes related to using the US-428
for automation and the BASICS /

A

UTOMATION SET-UP dialog box:

If you wish to disable a Global
Automation Enable type (e.g., Pan), you
must do it for both Audio and MIDI.
The Enable Automation Types under
Track Automation Configuration should
be set to All. It is not possible to
enable/disable automation on a track­by-track basis.

Note that using the S

ELECT button when

in a touch mode touches all the tracks’
automation types. If you have
automation data recorded for a track
and want to update just the pan, for
example, latch mode may be easier.
Also, Send Level and Mute automation
moves are only made visible on the
mixing board screen if the send’s output
is assigned.

52

8.6 Cakewalk and Sonar

As of this writing, Cakewalk have not yet
completed their support for the US-428
in either Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 or
Sonar. They have assured us and their
users that they intend to do so soon.
For information on the current status of
official support, please contact
Cakewalk directly.

You will, however, find StudioWare
panels created by Doctor Dale, a US­428 owner and long-time
Cakewalk/Sonar user. While these
StudioWare panels are not officially
supported by TASCAM, they have been
an overwhelmingly popular download on
the US-428 Users’ Page, and we have
included them on the CD with the
author’s permission. You can also find
them on our website (and we suggest
you check there for available updates),
and Doctor Dale is available to support
them directly. Documentation is also
included.

8.7 eMagic Logic

eMagic have supplied an environment
for the US-428, which is included on the
CD. They have also been supplying
regular updates to this environment, so
we suggest you check the TASCAM and
eMagic websites for current info.

For specific information on using the
US-428 with the Logic environment,
please refer to the accompanying
documentation.

53

8.8 Propellerheads Reason

This chapter will show you how to use
the TASCAM US-428 as the audio
output and control input for
Propellerhead’s Reason software
synthesizer. It assumes that you have
version 3 drivers (or newer) f or the US­428 installed, and is based on version

1.0.1 of Reason. For more on Reason,
please go to www.propellerheads.se.
The screenshots used here are from a
PC, but the Mac versions are essentially
identical.

Mac Only Note: To use the US-428 for
Reason’s audio output, make sure you
have copied your current US-428 ASIO
drivers into the “ASIO Driver” folder
where the Reason program is located.

Bring up the US-428’s control panel,
and select “Four Control Banks (Pots)”
under Control Surface/Protocol. This
protocol is recommended since it gives
you lots of virtual controls that Reason
can understand, namely 33 faders, 96
knobs, and 71 buttons. Please see
separate documentation on this control
protocol for details on its use.

If you intend to control Reason’s master
mixer fader from the US-428 (using the
428’s master fader, or any other
continuous control), the select “Master
fader sends MIDI only.” Otherwise
select “Master fader affects application
output and sends MIDI.”

Next, go to the “System” tab of the
control panel. In most computer set -ups,
you will be able to run at the lowest
latency with Reason. This depends on
your computer, and on the complexity of
your Reason performance. I f you notice
any click-like distortion in your output
from Reason, you should try quitting
Reason, increasing the latency setting in
the control panel, and then restarting
Reason.

Illustration 8.04 – US-428 Control Panel (S ystem Page)

Start Reason and select the
Edit/Preferences… menu item. Now
select the “Audio” page. Under “Audio

Illustration 8.03 – US-428 Control Panel (Main Page)

54

Driver” select “ASIO US-428 ASIO
Driver…” either the 24-bit or 16-bit
version. Also set your sample rate.

Now go to the “Advanced MIDI” page of
the Preferences, and select “US-428
Control Port” under “Remote Control.”
This tells Reason to receive US-428
control surface input to control Reason
knobs, faders, and buttons. You can
now close the Preferences window.

Illustration 8.05 – Reason (Audio Page)

Illustration 8.06 – Reason (Advanced MIDI Page)

Under the Options menu, make sure
that “Enable MIDI Remote Mapping” is
checked, or select it once if it isn’t. This
lets control surface input affect the
Reason controls. To set-up the m apping
between US-428 buttons, faders, and
knobs, and the virtual Reason controls,
make sure that “Edit MIDI Remote
Mapping” under the Options menu is
also checked.

Illustration 8.07 – Reason (MIDI Rem o te P age)

To map a US-428 control t o a particular
Reason control, first use your mouse to
click on the control. The “MIDI Remote”

55

window will pop up. The first time you do
this in a session, you will need to check
the “Learn from MIDI’ box. Now simply
move the US-428 control you want to
use (fader, knob, button) and Reason
will automatically identify it and map it to
the Reason control the you previously
selected. You can select “OK” and now
Reason’s screen will show the channel
number and controller/note number over
the newly-mapped screen control.

Once we have set-up all the controls,
you can uncheck Options/Edit MIDI
Remote Mapping (which will leave the
screen cleaner). You can also save this
set-up file and use it as a template for
other projects.

56

8.9 Native Instruments B4

The US-428 Control Panel now includes
the addition of another Control Surface
Protocol in the drop-down box: "Native
Instruments B4", for mapping the US­428's control surface to Native
Instruments' B4 virtual organ. (NOTE: A
demo version of the B4 can be
downloaded from the Native Instruments
website at
www.native-instruments.com

NOTE: The following setup procedures
must be done with the B4 running as a
standalone application, rather than in
VST Instrument mode.

AUDIO SETUP:

In the B4 system menu:

• Under "Audio Port" choose ASIO

• Under "Audio Settings" choose

"ASIO US-428 (24 bit)"

• Also under "Audio Settings" use
the buffer size slider to set a
value that is EQUAL TO the
value chosen in the US-428
Control Panel. Ideally, best
results will be achieved with a
buffer size setting of 256 to 512.

• Note that if you change the
setting in the US-428, you will
have to update the setting in the
B4 the next time you start the
program. Failure to do this will
result in noise.

• Under "Audio Routing" click the
Audio In "All Off" button, and
click the Audio Out "Default"
button.

).

MIDI SETUP:

• Under "MIDI Settings" make sure
that you've selected the proper MIDI
IN ports. (For example, if you're
feeding a keyboard into US-428
MIDI In 1, choose:

o US-428 Port 1
o US-428 Control

(You MUST include "US-428 Control"
port, or the faders and other surface
control will not work)

• Also in this dialog, select

o Upper manual = Channel 1
o Lower manual = Channel 2
o Pedal = Channel 3

o Leave MIDI Input filtering

disabled.

Control Surface Mapping:

TIP: If you click on the characters “B4”

at the upper right of the B4 program,
you can rapidly switch between
Keyboard and Control views.

Keyboard View: Here you can access
the drawbars, rockers, expression
pedal, and Leslie speed. There are
three banks, accessible with the BANK
L and BANK R buttons on the US-428.

57

Bank 1:

• Faders 1-8 + master =

DRAWBARS 1-9 ON THE UPPER MANUAL

• Mute 1 = VIB LOW ON/OFF

• Mute 2 = VIB UP ON/OFF

• Mute 3 = ROTATOR SPEED

FAST/SLOW

• Mute 4 = PERC ON/OFF

• Mute 5 = DRIVE ON/OFF

• Mute 6 = ROTATOR ON/OFF

• Mute 7 = VELOCITY ON/OFF

• Data Wheel = EXPRESSION

PEDAL

Bank 2:
With EQ High activated:

• GAIN = TREBLE SLOW

• FREQ = TREBLE FAST

• Q = TREBLE ACCEL

• PAN = TREBLE TONE

With EQ Hi Mid activated:

• GAIN = TUBE AMP DRIVE

• FREQ = TUBE AMP VOL

• Q = TUBE AMP BODY

• PAN = TUBE AMP BRIGHT

With EQ Lo Mid activated:

• GAIN = MIC BALANCE

• FREQ = MIC PAN

• Q = MIC SPREAD

• PAN = MIC DISTANCE

With EQ Low activated:

• GAIN = BASS SLOW

• FREQ = BASS FAST

• Q = BASS ACCEL

• PAN = BASS TONE

With Aux 1 activated:

• GAIN = PERC VOLUME

• FREQ = PERC DELAY

• Q = PERC HARMONIC

• PAN = KEYCLICK AMT

With Aux 2 activated:

• GAIN = VIBRATO MIX

• FREQ = VIBRATO DEPTH

• Q = PERC HARMONIC

• PAN = KEYCLICK AMT

(Similar to Bank 1 except):
 Faders 1-8 + master =

DRAWBA RS 1-9 ON THE LOWER MANUAL

Bank 3:
(Similar to Bank 1 except):

• Faders 1-6 =

DRAWBARS 1-6 ON THE PEDAL MANUA L

Control View: All the previous controls

operate as before, and the EQ switches
and controls also allow these settings:

58

8.10 Syntrillium Cool Edit

As this manual is being completed, the
current version of Cool Edit is 1.2a.
While there is no controller surface
support for the US-428 in this version,
Syntrillium has confirmed that the
version 2.0 update will contain full
support for the US-428.

If you are a Cool Edit user, you can still
run the US-428 as a high-quality audio
and MIDI interface even now. And since
Syntrillium expects to release the next
update very soon, chances are by the
time you read this support for the US­428 will have been implemented. Check
with Syntrillium for current information
on the status of US-428 support. When
it is available, we will also post
information and setup documentation on
our website.

59

8.11 Notes on Other Applications

The US-428’s functionality can be
expanded even further in a number of
ways. Section 8.11.1 details the US­428’s Four Control Banks Mode – this
special mapping of the US-428’s control
protocol allows it to send out a
significantly increased number of
controller messages by creating four
distinct layers of controls, switchable
with a single modifier key. This is very
useful for controlling such complex
multi-layered applications as
Propellerheads’ Reason (detailed in
section 8.8), as well as many of the
currently-available virtual synths.

Section 8.11.2 details using the US-428
with keystroke emulation to address
applications which do not support
standard MIDI controller commands.
While these applications are not
officially supported by the US-428, many
additional uses for the US-428 have
been developed by creative users
worldwide. We have set up an area on
the TASCAM website, the US-428
Users’ Page, where users can share
resources and information on new and
creative uses for the US-428.

Please note that the applications
described in Section 8.11.2 and on the
US-428 Users’ Page are not officially
supported by TASCAM. Support is
offered by the individuals who have
created these individual controller maps.
Please bear in mind that these are
private individuals, sharing their
knowledge and creativity voluntarily – if
you need to contact any of the
individuals listed here or on the Users’
Page, be considerate of their time and
their generosity, and reasonable in your
requests.

8.11.2 Four Control Banks Mode

These two control protocols are
intended to provide better control of
software synthesizers and samplers by
allowing the US-428 to generate scores
of MIDI controller messages, not just a
dozen or so. It does this in several
ways, most importantly by supporting
four independent “banks” of control
surfaces.

The two protocols, which are listed in
the US-428 control panel as “Four
Control Banks (Pots) ” and “Four Control
Banks (Encoders)”, are alm ost identical.
They only differ in how the rotary
encoders are interpreted. Each prot ocol
is described in detail below. There is
also a .GIF file included which
summarizes controller and note
numbers, and gives a graphical
representation of the contr ol banks.

The purpose of this protocol is to
provide an operational mode in which
users can program the US-428 to work
with software synths and other
applications requiring the mapping of a
large number of messages. The ability
of the US-428 to work in this mode will
enable users to create their own
templates for use with virtual synths and
other applications.

Banks

There are four banks, or sets, of
controls. Think of each bank as a
“layer”….the US-428’s control surface
sends out a different set of messages
for each bank. The active bank is

60

indicated by its associated AUX LED
(e.g., AUX 1 is lit for Bank1; AUX2 is lit
for Bank2, etc.). Banks can be selected
directly by pressing one of the AUX
buttons; they can also be selected
sequentially with the BANK button.

(When you first select the Banks
protocol, it opens with Bank1 active.)

MIDI Notes and Controllers ­Nomenclature used in this document

Some button presses result in the US­428 sending a MIDI Note On message
to the application via the US-428 Control
Port, while other actions may send a
MIDI Controller message. The note or
controller number sent depends, in most
cases, on the currently active bank. For
example, Fader 1 is listed as:

Fader 1 MIDI Controller (0 + 32*B)

The “B” here means the Bank number
minus 1. W hen Bank 1 is active, B = 0;
when Bank 4 is active, B = 3. This
means that moving Fader 1 sends the
current fader position as a MIDI
controller message (a value of
0…..127), with the MIDI controller
number being 0 in Bank1, 32 in Bank2,
64 in Bank3, and 96 in Bank4. This
allows the single physical Fader 1 to act
as four differ ent controllers, one in each
bank.

MIDI messages are always sent and
received on channel 1 of the US-428
Control Port, except for “Global
Controls” (described below), which are
sent and received on channel 2.

MUTE Buttons

Pressing a MUTE button sends a MIDI
Note On message with a velocity of 127.
Releasing the button sends a Note On
message with a velocity of 0. The SOLO

button acts like a shift/modifier key for
the MUTE buttons. Pressing the SOLO
button (SOLO LED is lit) causes the
MUTE buttons to transmit a different
note than when the SOLO LED is not lit.

When SOLO LED is off:

MUTE 1 button sends MIDI note (0 + 32*B)
MUTE 2 button sends MIDI note (1 + 32*B)
MUTE 3 button sends MIDI note (2 + 32*B)
MUTE 4 button sends MIDI note (3 + 32*B)
MUTE 5 button sends MIDI note (4 + 32*B)
MUTE 6 button sends MIDI note (5 + 32*B)
MUTE 7 button sends MIDI note (6 + 32*B)
MUTE 8 button sends MIDI note (7 + 32*B)

When SOLO LED is on:

MUTE 1 button sends MIDI note (8 + 32*B)
MUTE 2 button sends MIDI note (9 + 32*B)
MUTE 3 button sends MIDI note (10 + 32*B)
MUTE 4 button sends MIDI note (11 + 32*B)
MUTE 5 button sends MIDI note (12 + 32*B)
MUTE 6 button sends MIDI note (13 + 32*B)
MUTE 7 button sends MIDI note (14 + 32*B)
MUTE 8 button sends MIDI note (15 + 32*B)

SELECT Buttons

In much the same manner as with the
MUTE and SOLO buttons, the SELECT
buttons can also send one of two
possible MIDI note messages. The REC
button acts like a shift/modifier key for
the SELECT buttons. The note sent
depends on whether the REC button is
lit or not.

When REC LED is off:

SELECT 1 button sends MIDI note (16 + 32*B)
SELECT 2 button sends MIDI note (17 + 32*B)
SELECT 3 button sends MIDI note (18 + 32*B)
SELECT 4 button sends MIDI note (19 + 32*B)
SELECT 5 button sends MIDI note (20 + 32*B)
SELECT 6 button sends MIDI note (21 + 32*B)
SELECT 7 button sends MIDI note (22 + 32*B)
SELECT 8 button sends MIDI note (23 + 32*B)

61

When REC LED is on:

SELECT 1 button sends MIDI note (24 + 32*B)
SELECT 2 button sends MIDI note (25 + 32*B)
SELECT 3 button sends MIDI note (26 + 32*B)
SELECT 4 button sends MIDI note (27 + 32*B)
SELECT 5 button sends MIDI note (28 + 32*B)
SELECT 6 button sends MIDI note (29 + 32*B)
SELECT 7 button sends MIDI note (30 + 32*B)
SELECT 8 button sends MIDI note (31 + 32*B)

In any given bank, the last active
SELECT button will be remembered. If
you last used SELECT 3 in Bank 1, and
then changed to Bank 4, when you
return to Bank 1 SELECT 3 will be
active.

Channel Faders

Moving any of the 8 channel faders
sends the current fader position as a
MIDI controller message:

FADER 1 sends MIDI controller (0 + 32*B)
FADER 2 sends MIDI controller (1 + 32*B)
FADER 3 sends MIDI controller (2 + 32*B)
FADER 4 sends MIDI controller (3 + 32*B)
FADER 5 sends MIDI controller (4 + 32*B)
FADER 6 sends MIDI controller (5 + 32*B)
FADER 7 sends MIDI controller (6 + 32*B)
FADER 8 sends MIDI controller (7 + 32*B)

In any given bank, the last known fader
positions for all 8 channel f aders will be
remembered. When switching between
banks, the FADER NULL function may
be used to align the f ader positions just
as it is in Native Mode.

The Pan Knob

Turning the PAN knob sends a
controller message. The MIDI controller
number used depends on the selected
bank, but also on the currently lit

SELECT LED. If “S” represents the
currently lit SELECT LED number, t hen
the PAN knob sends:

MIDI controller (7 + S + 32*B)

Again, the “B” here means the Bank
number minus 1. This means that
moving the PAN with SELECT LED 1 lit
sends a MIDI controller message (a
value of 0…..127), with the MIDI
controller number being 8 in Bank1, 40
in Bank2, etc.

PAN/SELECT 1 sends MIDI controller (8 + 32*B)
PAN/SELECT 2 sends MIDI controller (9 + 32*B)
PAN/SELECT 3 sends MIDI controller (10 + 32*B)
PAN/SELECT 4 sends MIDI controller (11 + 32*B)
PAN/SELECT 5 sends MIDI controller (12 + 32*B)
PAN/SELECT 6 sends MIDI controller (13 + 32*B)
PAN/SELECT 7 sends MIDI controller (14 + 32*B)
PAN/SELECT 8 sends MIDI controller (15 + 32*B)

Each bank simulates 8 fixed-position
pan pots initially centered at MIDI value

64. Turning the PAN knob one click left

decreases the value by 8, down to 0;
turning it to the right increases the value
by 8, up to 127.

Holding the SET button places the PAN
knob in fine mode, and the increments
increase and decrease in values of 1.
(Note that once SET is released and
PAN returns to coarse mode, the values
will re-align to multiples of 8. For
example, if the curr ent value is 60 when
SET is released, t he next two clicks will
be 64 and 72.)

EQ Knobs

Much like the PAN knob, the EQ knobs
simulate fixed-position pan pots. In each
of the four banks, each of the three EQ
knobs sends a different MIDI controller
message depending on which EQ band
LED is lit. (Three EQ knobs times four
EQ bands times four banks.) Pressing

62

an EQ bank button lights the associated
LED, and the last selected EQ band for
each of the four banks is r em embered.

To describe the MIDI controller numbers
used for the EQ knobs, we will number
the EQ bands from bottom to top; LO=0,
LO MID=1, HI MID=2, HI=3. “E”
represents the currently-active EQ
band/LED:

GAIN knob sends

MIDI controller (18 + 3*E + 32*B)

FREQ knob sends

MIDI controller (17 + 3*E + 32*B)

Q knob sends

MIDI controller (16 + 3*E + 32*B)

The values sent follow the same rules
as described for the PAN knob,
including coarse and fine control with
the SET button.

Data Wheel

The DATA wheel will also send 4
different MIDI controller number
messages in each of the four banks.
The controller number sent depends on
whether the ASN, F1, F2 or F3 LED is
lit.

If we label the currently-lit LED as"F",
and number the buttons as ASN=0;
F1=1; F2=2; and F3=3, then the DATA
wheel sends MIDI controller number:

DATA Wheel sends
MIDI controller (28 + F + 32*B)

Again, the same rules apply as with the
PAN and EQ knobs, including the
coarse and fine increment modes as
modified by the SET button.

Global Controls

Some of the US-428 controls have the
same behavior in all four banks. These
include the MASTER fader, LOCATE
buttons, and transport buttons. All of

these global controls are t ransmitted on
MIDI channel 2 of the US-428 control
port (as opposed to all the bank-related
controls, which transmit on channel 1 of
the control port).

MASTER fader sends MIDI controller 7
REW button sends MIDI note 0
FFWD button sends MIDI note 1
STOP button sends MIDI note 2
PLAY button sends MIDI note 3
RECORD button sends MIDI note 4
<LOCATE button sends MIDI note 5
LOCATE> button sends MIDI note 6

Controlling LED’s

Some LED's may be controlled by the
application. LED's are turned on with a
Note On message with a velocity of 127,
and turned off with a Note On message
with a velocity of 0. Four banks of MUTE
and REC LED's can be controlled by
sending messages to channel 1 of the
Control port. Transport LED's can be
controlled by sending messages to
channel 2.

MUTE 1 LED MIDI note (0 + 32*B)
MUTE 2 LED MIDI note (1 + 32*B)
MUTE 3 LED MIDI note (2 + 32*B)
MUTE 4 LED MIDI note (3 + 32*B)
MUTE 5 LED MIDI note (4 + 32*B)
MUTE 6 LED MIDI note (5 + 32*B)
MUTE 7 LED MIDI note (6 + 32*B)
MUTE 8 LED MIDI note (7 + 32*B)

REC 1 LED MIDI note (8 + 32*B)
REC 2 LED MIDI note (9 + 32*B)
REC 3 LED MIDI note (10 + 32*B)
REC 4 LED MIDI note (11 + 32*B)
REC 5 LED MIDI note (12 + 32*B)
REC 6 LED MIDI note (13 + 32*B)
REC 7 LED MIDI note (14 + 32*B)
REC 8 LED MIDI note (15 + 32*B)

REW LED MIDI note 0
FFWD LED MIDI note 1
PLAY LED MIDI note 3
RECORD LED MIDI note 4

63

Four Controller Banks (Encoders)

This protocol is nearly identical to the
"Four Controller Banks (Pots)" protocol.
The only difference is the treatment of
the rotary encoders (GAIN, FREQ, Q,
PAN and DATA Wheel).

Instead of emulating potentiometers, a
turn one click to the right would send a
MIDI value of 68 (or 65 if SET is held
down). A turn one click to the left would
send a MIDI value of 60 (or 63 is SET is
held down). The result mak es changing
banks "seamless" to the user.

Initialization

When one of these protocols is first
selected, SEL 1, LO and ASN are
selected

(AUX1) is selected. In "Four Controller
Banks (Pots)" mode, all rotary controls in all
four banks are set to the physical fader
positions. The channel faders in the other
three banks are set to 0 value.

in all four banks, and BANK1

Illustration 8.02 – US-428 Four Controller Layers

64

8.11.2 Keystroke Emulation

As we’ve mentioned throughout this
manual, the US-428 is a very versatile
device, capable of controlling a wide
variety of software applications. The list
of applications that have been tested by
TASCAM and approved for use with the
US-428 can be found on the US-428
News area of the TASCAM web site.

But beyond these approved software
applications, the US-428 can also be
used for slightly less comprehensive
control of a number of other
applications, by utilizing keystroke
emulation.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The files and
documents in this section have not
undergone full TASCAM quality control
testing. Use these resources at your
own risk. TASCAM assumes no liability
for any damage to the US-428, your
computer, peripheral devices or stored
files of any variety as a result of your
use of files or documents that are
referenced on this page. Also, TASCAM
does not assume any responsibility for
other content that may be viewable or
downloadable from any of the links on
the US-428 Users’ Page.

Many of these files and documents have
been created by US-428 users. While
TASCAM has made every effort to
check their reliability, the support of
these applications is not guaranteed.
our primary source for questions and
general support will be the individuals
supplying the applications. Many of
these applications may be under
continuing development, so we
recommend you check the US-428
Users’ Page on a regular basis.

Once again, an important reminder:
Support for the following applications is
offered by the individuals who have

created these controller maps. Please
bear in mind that these are private
individuals, sharing their knowledge and
creativity voluntarily – if you need to
contact any of the individuals listed here
or on the Users’ Page, be considerate of
their time and their generosity, and
reasonable in your requests.

Some Info On Keystroke Emulation

In its Native mode, the US-428
communicates with the host application
by sending MIDI controller messages to
the program's GUI (Graphic User
Interface). While this is certainly the
preferred method of communication, a
number of software applications still do
not recognize MIDI controller
commands. The US-428 can still
communicate with many of these
programs though, by means of
keystroke emulation. Essentially, this
involves the host computer using a
small applet to translate the US-428's
incoming MIDI controller commands to
keystrokes, which are then recognized
by the software.

This applet, Florian Bome's MIDI
Translator, is available f rom t he author’s
website, www.bome.com
recommend you check there to obtain
the current version and additional
information. With the author’s
permission, the current version has
been included on the US-428 driver CD­ROM. The author has also been kind
enough to provide documentation, which
you will also find on the CD-ROM.

You will also need an application to
route the MIDI signal within your PC. (If
you’re running any DAW software and
using virtual synths, chances are you’ve
already got one installed.) With the
author’s permission, we’ve included Jim

; we

65

Johnson’s MIDI Thruway
(www.technotoys.com
merge/thru/f iltering/channelization utility.
There are several other good virtual
MIDI port emulators available on the
web, such as:

Hubi’s Loopback Device
(http://members.nextra.at/hubwin//midi.h

tml)

MIDI Yoke (http://www.midi-ox.com

A Word About Backup: The world of
computer recording is a complex one.
Particularly on the Windows platform,
the sheer number of possible
configurations of har dware and software
almost guarantee inconsistent results
between users of the same products.

It is with this in mind that we repeat the
time-honored adage: "If it matters, back
it up." Backup programs come in many
shapes and sizes. Especially in systems
optimized for audio, we recommend
drive imaging software as the best
backup solution. Drive imaging sof tware
creates an actual image of your hard
drive; in the event of a crash (or if, for
example, you've installed a new driver
which is conflicting with your existing
setup), a disk imaging application will
allow you restore your system to the last
(presumably working) configuration
you've saved.

The US-428 Users’ Page

As we’ve said, your best and most
current source of infor mation on the US­428 is the TASCAM website. Linked to
the US-428 Downloads page, you’ll find
driver updates, compatibility inf ormat ion,
troubleshooting documents, and our
Online Users’ Forums. You’ll also find
the Users’ Page, where US-428 owners

), a MIDI

)

can share their own custom controller
maps for various applications.

The Users’ Page is located at:

http://www.tascam.com/products/us428/
DAW_page.cfm, or linked f rom the main

US-428 downloads page. We
recommend you check the Users’ Page
for the current list of submissions.

Important note: TASCAM makes no
guarantees for the support of these
applications. Your primary source for
questions and general support will be
the people supplying the applications.
We recommend you check their
websites for information, and that you
email the authors directly with any
questions. Be sure to read the
accompanying documentation before
asking for help.

On the Users’ Page you’ll find mapping
protocols, created by US-428 Users,
which utilize Bome’s MIDI Translator.
As this manual goes to press, support
exists for such applications as Adobe
Premier, Win Amp, Sonic Foundry’s
Vegas and Acid, Windows Media
Player, and several others. As this list is
updated regularly, we recommend you
check the Users’ Page for current
information and updates.

66

9. Technical Support

9.1 Troubleshooting

When inst alling the US-428 for the first
time, if you experience any unusual
behavior, here are some things to
check:

Audio Drivers

ONTROL PANEL / SYSTEM / DEVICE

In C
MANAGER (Win98SE/ME) or CONTROL
PANEL / SYSTEM / HARDWARE / DEVICE
MANAGER (Win2000), find the Audio
control panel. It's called S
AND GAME CONTROLLERS in Win98SE,
or S

OUND & MULTIMEDIA in W98ME and

Win2K. You should see two entries for
the US-428:

 TASCAM US-428
 US-428 WDM Interface

ONTROL PANEL / MULTIMEDIA, select

In C

UDIO tab.

the A
 Under P

LAYBACK, US-428 OUT

should appear in the drop down
menu

 Under R

ECORDING, US-428 A:B and

C:D should appear in the drop down

menu

MIDI Drivers:
In C

ONTROL PANEL / MULTIMEDIA, select

the MIDI tab. When S
is selected, you should see:

 US-428 Port 1
 US-428 Port 2
 US-428 Cont r ol

OUND, VIDEO

INGLE INSTRUMENT

In C

ONTROL PANEL / MULTIMEDIA, select

EVICES tab. Under AUDIO DEVICES,

the D
you should see:

 Audio f o r US- 428
Under M

IDI DEVICES AND INSTRUMENTS

you should see:

• MIDI for US-428. Expand by clicking
on the plus (+) sign and you should
see:

o US-428 Port 1
o US-428 Port 2
o US-428 Control

(Ports 1 and 2 correspond to the US­428's physical MIDI I/O ports. US-428
Control is the "virtual" USB MIDI port
with which the US-428 and its control
surface communicate with your
application.)

EFORE CONTACTING US

B

If you're unable to solve an installation
problem, you've got several options for
help.

• First, we recommend you visit our
website at www.tascam.com, and
check for any updates, FAQ or
breaking news.

• Also on our website, you'll find our
always lively Online User Forums,
where you can read posts from other
users and get answers from other
users and TASCAM moderators.

• You can also email us at
[e-mail], or
contact our telephone support.

67

Please see the Contact page of our
website for worldwide contact
information.

Before contacting us with your query,
please have the following information
available:

• Type of Computer (PC or Mac),
processor type and speed, and (if
possible) motherboard

• Type of USB Host controller ( see the
US-428 manual for details)

• Installed RAM, type of hard drive(s)

• Type of graphic card

• What O S ar e you running?

• If running Windows98SE, have you

installed the HotFix?

• What other hardware is installed in
this computer? SoundBlaster or
other audio cards? Other USB
devices/hubs? Scanner, CD burners,
WinModem, etc?

• What application(s) are you running?

• If running the bundled Cubasis

application, is/was another version
of Cubase or Cubasis installed?

• What plugins to you have installed?

Please provide us with full details of
your problem, including:

• Any errors or oddities encountered
during setup and installation

• Items listed above that do not
appear

• Any error messages encountered.
Please try to copy or quote them in
full.

• Any behavior that may cause errors,
especially repeatable ones.

9.1 Troubleshooting FAQs

NOTE: While this manual contains some
basic FAQ’s, you will find a much more
detailed FAQ document on the US-428
CD-ROM. The FAQ is also updated on
a regular basis, so we suggest you
check the TASCAM website for the
current version.

Q. I don’t see the US-428 in Cubasis’
Audio Control Panel.
A. Check to see if the US-428 is

installed correctly within your OS. In
Windows, go to the Device Manager
(My Computer/Control Panel/Setup),
and click on the Sound, video and
Game controllers tab to make sure the
US-428 is installed and operating
correctly. Also check to see that your
USB cable is connected securely, and
that the unit is powered up before
booting Cubasis.

Q. I’ve connected audio to the US­428, but can’t hear anything.
A. Make sure your input levels are

sufficient. The green INPUT LED’s
should light to indicate the presence of
analog audio signal at the inputs. Make
sure your monitor or headphone levels
are turned up, and connected correctly.

Q. My audio is distorted.
A. Check to see if the signal is

overloading. The red OL LED’s should
only occasionally flicker. In t he case of
a digital input, try reducing the output
level of the source.

Q. I can see a response on screen
from Cubasis to the US-428, but I
don’t hear any audio.
A. Make sure your audio signal path is

correctly routed. Make sure the
channels you’re trying to monitor are
not in Input mode. Make sure your
output level is turned up. Make sure

68

that the US-428 ASIO driver (16 or 24
bit) is selected.

Q. I can hear audio, but I see no
response to the US-428 on screen.
A. Make sure you’ve got the US-428

selected in the VST Remote menu.
Make sure you’re looking at the cor rect
BANK of faders on screen.

TE

9.2 Tech Support Contacts

If you’ve got questions on the US-428,
your best source of help is to post them
to our US-428 Online Users’ Forum,
located on our website at

www.tascam.com

Specialists are on line to field quest ions,
but don’t be surprised if your quest ion is
answered by another user. The BBS is
also a forum for discussion, comments
and ideas on the US-428. You’ll find
users of a variety of software platforms,
so someone’s likely to be familiar with
your program of choice.

Also, since many of the situations you’re
likely to encounter will be related to the
software you’re using, it’s a good idea t o
check not only our website, but the
websites and resources of the software
program’s manufactur er as well.

If you’ve got a hardware or other
problem and need to speak to us, you’ll
find a full list of contacts for TASCAM
worldwide on our website.

. TASCAM Product

9.3 Software Downloads

Since US-428 support is continually
expanding, the chances are good that
by the time you read this there will be
updates available. We strongly
recommend you check back reg ularly at

www.tascam.com

updates and other important
information.

for news, driver

9.4 Programming the US-428

The US-428 has been one of
TASCAM’s most popular new products,
and has built up a tremendous base of
users since its release. Many of these
users have helped to “push the
envelope” and create an ever-growing
list of uses for the US-428. And while
programming MIDI cont roller information
isn’t for everyone, we’ve felt certain
since its release that the development of
new and different applications for the
US-428 is of interest to many users. I n
an effort to foster the creative
development of the US-428’s application
base, TASCAM has made the
programming specifications for the US­428 publicly available. You’ll find basic
information on the US-428’s Control
Protocol on the T ASCAM website. It is
also included in the appendices of this
manual.

69

Appendix A - MIDI Implementation Chart

Function Transmitted Recognized Remarks

Basic Channel Default Changed X

X

Mode

Note
Number
Velocity Note ON

After Touch Keys
Pitch Bender X X Through

Control Change X X Through
Program Change

System Exclusive X X Through
System Common :Song Pos

System
Real Time
Aux Messages :Local ON/OFF

Default
Messages
Altered

True Voice
Note OFF
Channels

True #

:Song Sel
:Tune
:Clock
:Commands

:All Notes OFF
:Active Sense
:Reset

X
X

……

X

……

X
X
X
X

X

……

X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X

Mode 1 : OMNI ON, POLY Mode 2 : OMNI ON, MONO O:Yes
Mode 3 : OMNI OFF, POLY Mode 4 : OMNI OFF, MONO X: No

X
X
X
X

X Through
X

X
X
X

X Through

X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X

Through
Through

Through
Through

Through

Through
Through

70

Appendix B – Control Protocol

Purpose

Provide simple, effective integration between the US-428 and host software applications.

Introduction

The US-428 provides digital audio I/O, MIDI, and control surface func tions in a single affordable
USB-based product. W hile the audio and MIDI I/O follow established which are easily interfaced
with host applications, full integration of the control surface as pects of the US-428 requires a set
of messages to be defined which per mits two-way comm unication of control inf ormation between
the host application and US-428.

Functional Groups

The US-428's control surface are divided into several major functional groups:

a) Transport and Locate switches and status LED's
b) Per-channel controls (faders, switches, and LED's)
c) Bank switching buttons and LED's
d) EQ switches, continuous EQ and pan knobs, and associated status LED's
e) Function switches, LED's and continuous "data wheel"

Communication model

Standard MIDI controller and sysex messages will be used to com m unicate between the host and
US-428. In many cases, the commands transmitted by the US-428 are identical to those
generated by the JL Cooper CS-10 controller. In general, it is desired that overall system "state
information" be maintained by the host application, rather than in the US-428. As an example,
here is how a change in transport state from STOP to PLAY might be communicated:

1. User presses PLAY button on US-428.

2. Play-button command is sent via USB to host application as MIDI .

3. Application receives Play message from the "US-428 Control" Midi input device.

4. Application switches to PLAY m ode, just as if user had performed the operation with a

mouse-click.

5. Application sends Transport Update message to "US-428 Control" Midi output device,

which is sent via USB to the US-428.

6. US-428 interprets transport-update command, and responds by activating the PLAY LED.

In this example, the US-428 doesn't "know" the state of the transport. It has simply sent
command indicating the button-press, and responded to the trans port-update command from the
host by lighting the appropriate transport LED.

71

Transport/Locate command set

The US-428 contains a s et of s tandard tr ans port s witches: REW, FFWD, ST OP, PLAY, and REC.
In addition, dedicated status LED's are used to com municate the current transport state to the
user. The LED's indicate REW , FFW D, PLAY, and REC. (Note that there is no LED to indicate
STOP.) Additionally, there are three locate switches, which can be used to set and locate to
markers established on the host application's timeline. SET is intended to be used as a SHIFT
key, along with either the < or > button to drop a marker at the application's current time.

US-428 to Host Messages (transmitted at button-down):

• TRANSPORT_REWIND

o Button-down: BF 13 7F
o Button-up: BF 13 00

• TRANSPORT_FFWD

o Button-down: BF 14 7F
o Button-up: BF 14 00

• TRANSPORT_STOP

o Button-down: BF 15 7F
o Button-up: BF 15 00

• TRANSPORT_PLAY

o Button-down: BF 16 7F
o Button-up: BF 16 00

• TRANSPORT_REC

o Button-down: BF 17 7F
o Button-up: BF 17 00

• LOCATE_LEFT (non CS-10)

o Button-down: BF 18 7F
o Button-up: BF 18 00 7.

• LOCATE_RIGHT (non CS-10)

o Button-down: BF 19 7F
o Button-up: BF 19 00

• SET_LOCATE (non CS-10)

o Button-down: BF 1A 7F
o Button-up: BF 1A 00

Host to US-428 Messages (transmitted when host transport-state changes:

• UPDATE_TRANSPORT_LED:

o State is REWIND: F0 4E <UNIT> 12 01 13 <STATE> F7
o State is FFWD: F0 4E <UNIT> 12 01 14 <STATE> F7
o State is STOP: F0 4E <UNIT> 12 01 15 <STATE> F7

(Note: US-428 has no STOP LED: message is defined for future devices)

o State is PLAY: F0 4E <UNIT> 12 01 16 <STATE> F7
o State is REC: F0 4E <UNIT> 12 01 17 <STATE> F7

Where:

• <UNIT> is device ID. Should be transmitted as 0 for now.

• <STATE> == 0 turns LED OFF

• <STATE> == 7F turns LED ON

72

Per-channel Control command set

The US-428 includes a set of 8 channel-s trip controls and LED's . Each channel-s trip includes the
following controls:

a. linear fader for gain control
b. Mute/Solo switch and LED
c. Record-enable LED
d. Select switch and LED

Three modifier switches affect the channel strip indicators:

a. A momentary NULL switch and LED (to aid the user in matching the fader sliders with the

"virtual" value maintained by the application software). W hen the application receives a
NULL button-down message, it com pares its internal fader values with the most recently­received physical fader positions for the currently- active bank of eight channels, and
sends out mes sages which light the REC and SELECT LED's to indicate the dir ection the
user needs to move each of the faders to agree with the application's vir tual fader levels.
When the user releases NULL, the application sends REC and SELECT LED update
messages which will cause them to revert to their "native" function (indicating r ecord and
channel-select status).

b. A REC ( record) button which acts as a "shift" key, enabling the track select switches to

affect the record-enable status of the corresponding track in the application software.

c. A MUTE/SOLO mode button, which toggles the function of the mute buttons and

indicators, making them activate a SOLO function on their associated track.

US-428 to Host Commands:

1. FADER_POSITION: BF 4x vv x = [0..7], vv = [0..7F]

2. MUTE_SWITCH:

a. Button-down: BF 0x 7F
b. Button-up: BF 0x 0 x=[0..7]

3. SELECT_SWITCH:

a. Button-down: BF 2x 7F
b. Button-up: BF 2x 00 x=[0..7]

4. NULL_SWITCH

a. Button-down: BF 28 7F
b. Button-up: BF 28 00

5. REC_EN_SWITCH:

a. Button-down: BF 29 7F
b. Button-up: BF 29 00

6. SOLO_SWITCH:

a. Button-down: BF 2A 7F
b. Button-up: BF 2A 00

73

Host to US-428 Messages:
Note: In these messages, <STRIP #>is a number in the range [0..7], corresponding to the

channel-strip #, and <STAT E>is either 0x00 (LED OFF) or 0x7F (LED ON) . T ransmit<UNIT> as
0 for now.

1. UPDATE_MUTE_LED: F0 4E<UNIT>12 02<STRIP #> <STATE> F7

2. UPDATE_SEL_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 03<STRIP #> <STATE> F7

3. UPDATE_REC_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 04<STRIP #> <STATE>F7

4. UPDATE_NULL_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 05 <STATE> F7

5. UPDATE_SOLOMODE_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 06 <STATE> F7

Note: following message forces US-428 to send current f ader position messages to host via the
Us-428 Control Port

6. DUMP_FADER_POS: F0 4E<UNIT>12 10 <STRIP #> <STATE>F7

Bank-Switching Command Set

The US-428 has two s witches that allow the us er to s elec t the bank of application channels that is
addressed by the eight channel-s trips. For example, an application with 32 virtual tracks would
define 4 banks of eight channel s trips eac h. T he Bank- L and Bank -R switches let the user quic k ly
shift the control surfac e to address any bank of eight channels. Ther e are two LED's adjacent to
the Bank-L and Bank-R switches, which indicate that pressing the button will cause the
application software to switch to the next lower or higher bank , respectively. It is OFF when there
are no further virtual fader banks available in that direction.

US-428 to Host Commands

• BANK_LEFT:

o Button-down: BF 10 7F
o Button-up: BF 10 00

• BANK_RIGHT:

o Button-down: BF 11 7F
o Button-up: BF 11 00

Host to US-428 Messages:

1. UPDATE_BANK_LEFT_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 07<STATE> F7

2. UPDATE_BANK_RIGHT_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 08<STATE> F7

where<STATE> is either 0x00 (LED OFF) or 0x7F (LED ON) <UNIT>is device ID. Should be
transmitted as 0 for now.

EQ Knobs and Band Selection Command Set

Three continuous-turn r otary encoders allow the user to set the Gain, Frequency, and Bandwidth
of a band of parametric EQ. The contr oller number s used are the sam e as the J L Cooper CS-10,
however instead of an absolute 0..7F value, the increment/decrement of the encoder is
transmitted. T he application must understand when the logical limit of the EQ contr ol has been
reached, and provide on-screen feedback to let the user know that he is at the minimum or

74

maximum setting for the control. This prevents "wrapping" and discontinuous changes in the
values of the parameters being sent. A pan encoder knob is also def ined; its operation is similar
to the EQ encoders.

US-428 To Host Commands:

1. SELECT_EQ_HI

a. Button-down: BF 2C 7F
b. Button-up: BF 2C 00

2. SELECT_EQ_HIMID

a. Button-down: BF 2D 7F
b. Button-up: BF 2D 00

3. SELECT_EQ_LOMID

a. Button-down: BF 2E 7F
b. Button-up: BF 2E 00

4. SELECT_EQ_LO

a. Button-down: BF 2F 7F
b. Button-up: BF 2F 00

5. EQ_GAIN_CHANGE:

a. BF 48 vv, vv = 2's complement using 7 data bits

6. EQ_FREQ_CHANGE

a. BF 49 vv, vv = 2's complement using 7 data bits

7. EQ_BW_CHANGE

a. BF 4A vv, vv = 2's complement using 7 data bits

8. MASTER_FADER

a. BF 4B vv, vv=2's complement using 7 data bits

9. PAN_CHANGE

a. BF 4D vv, vv = 2's complement using 7 data bits

Host to US-428 Messages:

1. UPDATE_EQ_HI_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 09<STATE> F7

2. UPDATE_EQ_HIMID_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 0A<STATE> F7

3. UPDATE_EQ_LOMID_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 0B<STATE> F7

4. UPDATE_EQ_LO_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 0C<STATE> F7

where <STATE>is either 0x00 (LED OFF) or 0x7F (LED ON)<UNIT> is device ID. Should be
transmitted as 0 for now.

Function switches, LED's, and cont inuous data wheel

A row of four AUX buttons is used to se lect an ef fect (aux-s end) level f or the selec ted channel(s ).
When the user selects and AUX1-4 button, this fact is transmitted to the host, indicating that
future movements of the data wheel will affect that parameter.

Another row of four switches includes an ASN ( track - sourc e assign) button, and three application­definable function buttons. A typical use of the function buttons would be to enable/disable
effects, or to mimic the function of the computer's arrow keys, to allow the user to switch from
track to track , switch between controls in a dialog, etc. The ASN button is intended to allow the
user to quickly determine the input-sourc e for a track, by selecting this button and then using the
data wheel to cycle through the possible input-sources for the selected track.

75

A data wheel is provided for general-purpose param eter modif ication. In addition to the aux-send
level setting described above, the data could be used for scrubbing, locating, or any other
purpose the application programmer desires.

US-428 to Host Commands:

1. AUX_SWITCH

a. Button-down: BF 3x 7F
b. Button-up: BF 3x 00, where x=[0..3] (for AUX1, AUX2, AUX3, AUX4)

2. ASN_SWITCH

a. Button-down: BF 34 7F
b. Button-up: BF 34 00

3. FN_SWITCH

a. Button-down: BF 3x 7F
b. Button-up: BF 3x 7F, where x=[5..7] (for FN1, FN2, FN3)

4. DATA_WHEEL (identical to JL Cooper CS-10)

a. BF 60 vv, vv = 2's complement using 7 data bits

Host to US-428 Messages:

1. UPDATE_AUX_FN_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 0D<AUX#> <STATE> F7

2. UPDATE_FN_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 0E <FN#> <STATE>F7

3. UPDATE_ASN_LED: F0 4E<UNIT> 12 0F<STATE> F7

where
<AUX> is in the range [0...3] corresponding to LED's [AUX1·AUX4]

<FN#> is in the range [0...2] corresponding to LED's [FN1·FN3]
<UNIT> Transmit as 0 for now.
<STATE> is either 0x00 (LED OFF) or 0x7F (LED ON)

.

76

Appendix C - US-428 Technical Specifications

General

Frequency Response

20 Hz - 20KHz, /0.5 dB / -0.3 dB
LINE A/B to LINE OUT
LINE TRIM max, -28dBu input
LINE OUT Level -10dB position

Noise Level

Better than -82dBu Din Audio
Better than -88dBu A Weight
MIC A/B to LINE OUT
LINE TRIM min, 150 ohm terminated
LINE OUT Level -10dB position

Signal Processing Delay

Less than 2 ms
MIC/LINE to LINE OUT Cue Monitor
Fs = 44.1KHz

THD

Within 0.07%
MIC A/B to LINE OUT

LINE TRIM max, -28dBu input
LINE OUT Level -10dB position
Crosstalk: Better than -80 dB at 1KHz
LINE TRIM max, -28dBu input
LINE OUT Level -10dB position
Click: Less than -35 dBu
Fader Attenuation: Better than -90 dB at 1 KHz
Mute Level: Better than -90 dB at 1 KHz

Dimensions:

14" x 11.5" x 3.25" (35.5 x 29.5 x 8 cm)

Weight: 2.05 Kg (4.5 lbs)
Power Consumption:
Version Voltage Hz Power Consumption

DM 100 50/60 7.5 (50Hz)
T/C 120 60 7.5 (60Hz)
EUR 230 50 7.5 (50Hz)
UK 240 50 7.5 (50Hz)
AUS 240 50 7.5 (50Hz)

Input / Output Connectors

MIC INPUT A/B (Analog)
Connector: XLR-3-31

( 1:= GND, 2:= Hot, 3:= Cold ) : Balanced

Input Impedance: 2200 ohm

Nominal Input Level (Trim max.): -63 dBu
Nominal Input Level (TRIM min.): -16 dBu
Maximum Input Level: 0 dBu (TRIM min)

LINE INPUT A/B
Connector: 1/4" TRS

(Tip:Hot; Ring:Cold, Sleeve:GND)

Input Impedance: 22kOhm
Nominal Input Level (Trim max.) -43 dBu
Nominal Input Level(TRIM min.): +4 dBu
Maximum Input level: +20 dBu (TRIM min)

LINE INPUT C/D
Connector: 1/4"

(Tip:Hot; Ring:GND; Sleeve:GND) Unbalanced
Input Impedance 47Kohm at MIC/LINE
680Kohm at GUITAR

Nominal Input Level (Trim max.): -46 dBu
Nominal Input Level(TRIM min.): -10 dBV (-7.8

dBu)
Maximum Input Level: +6 dBV (+8.2 dBu)
(TRIM min)

LINE OUTPUT
Connector: RCA pin jack, Unbalanced
Output Impedance: 100ohm
Nominal Output Level: -10 dBV (-7.8 dBu)

(LINE LEVEL -10dB)
Maximum Output Level: +16 dBV (+18.2 dBu)
(LINE LEVEL max)

PHONES OUTPUT
Connector: 1/4" TRS Stereo

(Tip:L, Ring:R, Sleeve:GND)
(when nominal impedance 40 Ohms loaded)

DIGITAL IN
Connector: RCA pin jack
Format: IEC958 TYPE2
Input impedance: 75ohm
Input Level: 0.5Vp-p

DIGITAL OUT
Connector: RCA pin jack
Format: IEC958 Type 2
Output Impedance: 75 ohm
Output Level: 0.5Vp-p
MIDI IN 1,2
Connector: 5P DIN
Format: Standard MIDI Format
MIDI Out 1,2

(Analog)

(Analog)

(Analog)

(Analog)

77

Connector: 5P DIN
Format: Standard MIDI Format
USB
Connector: USB Down stream connector
Format: USB

ADC / DAC

A/D Converter

24Bit, 64 times oversampling

Delay: 30 samples
D/A Converter

24Bit, 128 times oversampling

Delay: 30 samples

Audio Performance

MIC Input (A,B XLR Analog Input to Digital

Output)

Nominal Level (TRIM max.)

-65.2dBu +1dB / -1dB

TRIM max, 1KHz, (-48dBu input)

Nominal Level (TRIM min.)

-16.2dBu +0.5dB / -0.5dB

TRIM min, 1KHz, (9dBu input)

Frequency Response

20 Hz - 20KHz + 0.2dB / - 3dB
TRIM max, -48dBu input
20 Hz - 20KHz + 0.1dB / -2dB
TRIM min, 0dBu input

Noise Level

Within -81dBFs Din Audio
Within -83dBFs A Weight
TRIM max, 150 ohm terminated
Within -95dBFs Din Audio
Within -98dBFs A Weight
TRIM min, 150 ohm

T.H.D.

Typical 0.04% at 1KHz
TRIM max, -48dBu :
Better than 0.005% Typical 0.003% at 1KHz
TRIM min, 0dBu
LINE Input (A,B 1/4" Analog Input to Digital
Output)

Nominal Level (TRIM max.)

-45.7dBu, +1dB / -1dB

TRIM max, 1KHz, (-28dBu input)

Nominal Level (TRIM min.)

-16.2dBu, +0.5dB / -0.5dB

TRIM min, 1KHz, (9dBu input)

Frequency Response

20 Hz - 20KHz, + 0.2dB / - 3dB
TRIM max, -28dBu input

20 Hz - 20KHz, + 0.1dB / -2dB
TRIM min, 0dBu input

LINE Input (C,D Analog Input to Digital Output)
Nominal Level (TRIM max.)

-46.6dBu, +1.5dB / -1.5dB
TRIM max, 1KHz, (-30dBu input)

Nominal Level (TRIM min.)

7.09dBu, +0.3dB / -0.3dB
TRIM min, 1KHz, (9dBu input)

Frequency Response

20 Hz - 20KHz, + 0 .5dB / - 2dB
TRIM max, -30dBu input
20 Hz - 20KHz, + 0.3dB / -0.3dB
TRIM min, 9dBu input

Noise Level

Within -82dBFs Din Audio
Within -83dBFs A Weight
TRIM max, 150 ohm terminated
Within -95dBFs Typical -97dB Din Audio
Within -98dBFs Typical -99dB A Weight
TRIM min, 150 ohm terminated

T.H.D

Better than 0.03% Typical 0.01% at 1KHz
TRIM max,-30dBu :
Better than 0.04% Typical 0.03% at 1KHz
TRIM min, 8dBu

LINE OUT (Digital Input to LINE OUT)
Nominal Output: 6dBV, +1.2dB / -1dB

D IN 0dBFs input, LINE OUT Level -10dB
position

Frequency Response:

20 Hz - 20KHz, + 0.2 dB / -0.4 dB
D IN 0dBFs input, LINE OUT Level -10dB
position
T.H.D.: Better than 0.003% Typical 0.0025% at
1KHz
D IN 0dBFs input, LINE OUT Level -10dB
position

Noise Level:

Within -95dBV Din Audio
Within -99dBV A Weight
D IN 0dBFs input, LINE OUT Level -10dB
position

PHONES Output
Maximum Output: More then 28mW + 28mW

Typical 32mW + 32mW
Within 1% distortion, at 1KHz, 40 ohm loaded
T.H.D.: Within 1 %
1KHz, Output 25mW + 25mW, 40 ohm loaded
Frequency Response:
100 Hz - 20KHz, + 0.5dB / - 0.5 dB
Nominal level, 40 ohm loaded
20 Hz - 100 Hz, +0.5dB / - 5dB
Nominal level, 40 ohm loaded

78