ESI DuaFire User manual
2-in/4-out FireWire Recording Interface
User’s Guide
ESI - Copyright © 2007
Revision 1, November 2007
www.esi-audio.com
DuaFire ESI
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INDEX
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Key Features ........................................................................................................................................................4
2. Description of DuaFire................................................................................................................5
2.1 Front Panel...........................................................................................................................................................5
2.2 Rear Panel............................................................................................................................................................5
2.3 Minimum System Requirements..........................................................................................................................6
3. Installation....................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Windows XP........................................................................................................................................................7
3.2 Windows Vista.....................................................................................................................................................9
3.3 Mac OS X ..........................................................................................................................................................10
4. DuaFire Control Panel ..............................................................................................................11
4.1 Input Monitor controls.......................................................................................................................................11
4.2 Output controls...................................................................................................................................................12
4.3 Master controls...................................................................................................................................................12
4.4 Config controls...................................................................................................................................................13
4.5 DirectWIRE .......................................................................................................................................................13
5. Audio Applications.....................................................................................................................16
5.1 Windows Multimedia setup...............................................................................................................................16
5.2 Latency setting and ASIO applications under Windows....................................................................................16
5.3 Mac OS X Audio MIDI Setup ...........................................................................................................................16
5.4 Cubase LE 4.......................................................................................................................................................17
6. General Information..................................................................................................................19
DuaFire ESI
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1. Introduction
Thank you for choosing the ESI DuaFire.
DuaFire is an ideal mobile recording interface for both laptops and desktop computers. It offers 2
input and 4 output channels. DuaFire is also the world’s first FireWire audio interface that perfectly
supports the EWDM technology from ESI.
ESI has finally adopted the famous EWDM technology to a FireWire Audio interface. Now you can
use driver interfaces like ASIO 2.0, GSIF 2.0, MME and WDM simultaneously with the same
features that made ESI's PCI audio interfaces famous. Of course, EWDM for FireWire also
provides the DirectWIRE technology the virtual digital patchbay and support for very low latency
values (as low as 1.5ms or even less). This ensures best compatibility with all major audio
applications. To get started right away, the full featured Cubase LE 4 recording software from
Steinberg is bundled.
The flexible inputs allow you to record from a variety of different sources. You can directly connect
devices with line level, turntables via the built-in phono preamp, microphones (+48V phantom
power support) and Hi-Z signals (e.g. a guitar).
1.1 Key Features
- 2-in 4-out multi purpose FireWire audio interface
- 2 line level inputs, switchable to 2 phono level inputs (mono)
- microphone input with gain control
- +48V phantom power for condenser microphone
- direct instrument input for electric guitars (Hi-Z) with gain control
- 4 line level analog outputs
- headphone out with level control
- bus powered, i.e. can be used without external power supply (*)
- 2 channel recording and 4 channel playback at the same time – Full Duplex
- WDM, MME, ASIO 2.0, GSIF 2.0, CoreAudio and DirectSound support
- bundled with Cubase LE 4 DVD-ROM
- compatible with Windows and Mac OS X
*) this is only possible with a 6-pin to 6-pin FireWire connection and a FireWire port that provides
enough voltage for DuaFire. Devices with 4-pin FireWire port do not provide any voltage for
bus powered operation.
DuaFire ESI
2. Description of DuaFire
2.1 Front Panel
The front panel has the following connectors and controls from left to right:
Input 1: the first input channel is provided as balanced XLR input (MIC IN) for microphones and
1/4"-input (LINE IN) for line level signals. You can only use one of the two input connectors at a
time. The input level is controlled by the GAIN knob with peak LED next to it. Above the gain
knob is the +48V phantom power switch with LED that needs to be enabled if you are using a
condenser microphone. For a dynamic microphone, phantom power does not have to be enabled.
Input 2: the second input channel is provided with a 1/4" connector (LINE / HI-Z IN) that can be
used for line level signals or high impedance instrument signals (like a guitar). Next to it is the
GAIN knob to control the input level. With the HI-Z switch, you can switch between line level and
instrument / guitar signals.
Headphone Out: the HEADPHONE output with 1/4" connector and gain control is located on the
right side (directly under the POWER LED).
2.2 Rear Panel
The rear panel has the following connectors and controls from left to right:
Power Connector: even though DuaFire is bus-powered, it might be needed to connect an external
power supply (e.g. when DuaFire is connected to a PC with a 4-pin FireWire port). The power
supply gets connected to the DC IN port.
FireWire port: the FIREWIRE connector is used to connect DuaFire to the computer.
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DuaFire ESI
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Power Switch: the power switch has three positions. If the switch is in the middle position (OFF),
DuaFire is turned off. If the switch is set to BUS., DuaFire will take its power from the computer
(bus powered operation). This requires a 6-pin to 6-pin FireWire cable. If the switch is set to EXT.,
DuaFire gets powered by an external power supply connected to the DC IN port.
Output 1 / 2: the first output pair is provided with 1/4" TRS connectors. Use these line outputs to
connect DuaFire to your mixing desk, monitoring speakers or other studio equipment.
Output 3 / 4: the second output pair is provided with RCA connectors. Use these unbalanced line
outputs to connect DuaFire to other studio or HiFi equipment.
Line / Phono Switch: the LINE / PHONO switch allows you to switch between line level and
phono level inputs.
Inputs 1 / 2: In addition to the XLR and 1/4" connectors on the front panel, DuaFire also provides
RCA inputs for phono signals on the back panel. Please note that these inputs cannot be used
simultaneously as the inputs on the front panel. To use the phono inputs, the LINE / PHONO
switch must be set to phono.
Ground Connector: if you are using the phono inputs and have them directly connected to a turn
table, please connect this ground connector to ground to avoid humming.
2.3 Minimum System Requirements
PC
- Intel Pentium III 600MHz CPU or equivalent AMD CPU
- one available FireWire 400 port
- at least 512 MB RAM
- at least 1 GB available space on HDD
- DVD-ROM drive (for Cubase LE 4 installation)
- internet connection (for Cubase LE 4 activation)
- Windows XP (with Service Pack 2) 32-bit or Windows Vista 32-bit
Mac
- Power Macintosh G4 or higher
- one available FireWire 400 port
- at least 512 MB RAM
- at least 1 GB available space on HDD
- DVD-ROM drive (for Cubase LE 4 installation)
- internet connection (for Cubase LE 4 activation)
- Mac OS X 10.3 or higher
DuaFire ESI
3. Installation
Before installing the drivers of DuaFire, we recommend to check on the download section of
www.esi-audio.com for updated drivers.
3.1 Windows XP
Switch off DuaFire via the power switch on the rear panel before you install the driver (put the
switch in the middle position). Then launch setup.exe from the Windows XP folder of the included
driver CD or from a download of a recent driver from our website. Make sure the driver you are
about to install is intended for Windows XP.
You will now see a dialog as shown on the left picture below. Click Next. You can define the target
directory for the installation now. Confirm it with Next.
The installer now informs you that the driver installation will start as shown on the left picture
below. Confirm this with Next. During the following process you will see a dialog box once or
several times that informs you that the driver software has not passed Windows Logo testing. Please
be assured that our drivers have been tested in various different ways and are OK to be used.
Confirm any such dialog with Continue Anyway.
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DuaFire ESI
You will now be prompted to switch on the hardware on the next dialog that is shown below on the
left. Plug in DuaFire and switch on the unit with the power switch. Do not click Next yet. The
Found New Hardware Wizard will appear after DuaFire gets detected (as shown on the right).
Keep the selection on Install the software automatically (Recommended) and click Next. Windows
will again prompt you to confirm the Windows Logo testing dialog with Continue Anway before the
driver installation is finalized. Confirm it with Finish (as shown on the following two pictures).
You can now finally click Next on the ESI DuaFire Audio Driver Setup dialog. The installation is
now finished. To confirm this, please check if the ESI icon is displayed in the taskbar notification
area as shown below.
If yes, the driver installation has been completed successfully.
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DuaFire ESI
3.2 Windows Vista
Switch off DuaFire via the power switch on the rear panel before you install the driver (put the
switch in the middle position). Then launch setup.exe from the Windows Vista folder of the included
driver CD or from a download of a recent driver from our website. Make sure the driver you are
about to install is intended for Windows Vista.
When launching the installation, Windows Vista might prompt a security message. Make sure to
allow the installation. You will then see a dialog as shown on the left picture below. Click Next.
You can define the target directory for the installation now. Confirm it with Next.
The installer now informs you that the driver installation will start as shown on the left picture
below. Confirm this with Next. During the following process you will see a Windows Security
dialog box once or several times that asks you for confirmation to install the driver software.
Confirm any such dialog with Install.
You will now be prompted to switch on the hardware on the next dialog that is shown below on the
left. Plug in DuaFire and switch on the unit with the power switch. Do not click Next yet. Instead,
wait a few seconds for the automatic device driver installation. You can monitor this in the task
notification area where Windows Vista informs that the driver is installed via a bubble message box.
Once finished, click on the message box to get the confirmation shown on the right below.
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DuaFire ESI
You can now finally click Next on the ESI DuaFire Audio Driver Setup dialog. The installation is
now finished. To confirm this, please check if the ESI icon is displayed in the taskbar notification
area as shown below.
If yes, the driver installation has been completed successfully.
3.3 Mac OS X
Mac OS X already provides support for class compliant FireWire audio devices such as DuaFire.
This means that no software or driver needs to be installed to use DuaFire under Mac OS X. Simply
connect the unit with the supplied FireWire cable to your Mac, make sure it is switched on and you
can start using it.
Controlling the basic options of DuaFire under Mac OS X is mainly done via the Audio-MIDI-Setup
utility from Mac OS X described in section 5.3 of this manual.
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