8-in/8-out USB 2.
ESI - Copyright © 2007 Revision 1, November 2007 www.esi-audio.
ESU1808 ESI INDEX 1. Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 What’s in the box ................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.2 Key Features ........................................................................................................................................................
ESU1808 ESI 1. Introduction Thank you for choosing the ESI ESU1808. ESU1808 shows the latest audio interface technology for external usage on notebook and desktop computers. The USB 2.0 Hi-Speed audio interface for Mac & PC shows what is really possible with USB 2.0. ESI's new USB 2 Xtreme technology boosts USB audio to a new level, providing better performance for better results.
ESU1808 ESI 2. Description of ESU1808 2.1 Front Panel Input 1/2 - microphone inputs Input 1/2 are provided as microphone inputs with balanced XLR connectors and independent GAIN control. You can use both inputs for dynamic and condenser microphones. If required, you can activate the +48V phantom power switch. The activation is indicated by an LED. The input level for each input is shown by the peak LEDs above the gain knob.
ESU1808 ESI Monitor control section This section allows you to control the monitoring with 3 independent gain knobs and 3 function buttons. INPUTS 1-8 controls the mixed level of all input signals from the front panel. INPUTS 9-16 controls the mixed level of all input signals from the rear panel. OUTPUTS 1-8 controls the mixed level of all playback signals from your audio applications. The result is either sent out via the MIX OUT outputs on the rear panel and / or the headphone output.
ESU1808 ESI The MIDI IN and MIDI OUT LEDs show activity of the MIDI I/O ports. The POWER LED is on when ESU1808 is switched on. 2.2 Rear Panel Power section The power section provides the connector for the included external power supply. Make sure to connect the power supply to this port securely. When turning ESU1808 on / off, use the POWER switch located here at the rear panel. MIDI I/O The MIDI IN and OUT connectors are provided on the rear panel.
ESU1808 ESI USB 2.0 connection The USB 2.0 connector. Refer to section 3.2 about connecting ESU1808 to your computer. MIX OUT and Output 7/8 The MIX OUT connector is typically used as the main master output, provided with two 1/4" output connectors. Typically you would connect your monitoring speakers to this output. If the MIX function (controlled by software and described in section 5.2 / B) is enabled, this output works as mix and monitoring output.
ESU1808 ESI 3. Hardware Installation 3.1 Minimum system requirements PC - Pentium 4 or Athlon 1.4GHz or faster (or 100% compatible) - at least 512MB RAM - at least 1 GB available space on HDD - one available USB 2.0 port - 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 G5, Core Solo 1.
ESU1808 ESI 4. Driver Installation Before installing the drivers of ESU1808, we recommend to check on the download section of www.esi-audio.com for updated drivers. 4.1 Windows Switch off ESU1808 via the power switch on the rear panel before you install the driver. Then launch setup.exe from the Windows folder of the included driver CD or from a download of a recent driver from our website. You will now see a dialog as shown on the left picture below. Click Next.
ESU1808 ESI Windows will again display several Windows Logo testing messages as shown on the picture below on the left. Always confirm any such message with Continue Anyway. When no further message appears, you can finally click Next on the ESI ESU1808 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.
ESU1808 ESI Confirm it with Continue. The next window displays some details about the ESU1808 driver installation. Confirm it with Continue. The following dialog will appear: Under Select a Destination, you can select the destination partition. We strongly recommend to install the ESU1808 driver on your Macintosh HD hard disk. Confirm your selection with Continue and on the following dialog proceed with the installation by clicking Install.
ESU1808 ESI 5. ESU1808 Control Panel The main features of ESU1808 are controlled by the control panel that is automatically installed by the driver. All main functions under Windows and Mac OS X are identical. To open the control panel under Windows, double click on the ESI icon in the task notification area. To open it under Mac OS X, launch the ESU1808 Panel application in your Applications folder – if you use it frequently, you might want to move it to your dock. 5.
ESU1808 ESI There are three different areas in the panel: A. input section The input section contains input level meters for each input, divided into 3 groups. Analog In 1~8 show incoming signals for the analog inputs on the front panel of ESU1808. Analog In 9~16 show incoming signals for the analog inputs on the rear panel of ESU1808. Dig In shows the incoming signal from the S/PDIF digital input. The MON button under Dig In allows you to enable the input monitoring for the S/PDIF input.
ESU1808 ESI 5.3 Pull Down Menu (Windows) There are three functions in the pull down menu of the Control Panel under Windows: Config > Factory Default. Use this to restore all ESU1808 settings to the recommended defaults. Config > Samplerate. This sub menu allows you to change the operating sample rate of ESU1808. Config > Latency. Allows you to change the latency (= buffer size) of the ASIO driver of ESU1808. Check section 7.2 with more details. 5.
ESU1808 ESI 6.2 Monitoring volume for input channels The monitoring section on the front panel of ESU1808 controls two gain knobs (for INPUTS 1-8 and INPUTS 9-16) that allow you to individually control the monitoring volume for each group of inputs. If you do not want to monitor any analog input signals, turn these gain knobs to 0. However, if you want to monitor the signals, turn them to the appropriate level. 6.
ESU1808 ESI 7. Audio Applications This chapter contains basic configuration examples for some popular software applications. Please also refer to the manual of the audio software you use for detailed information. Caution: The driver of ESU1808 allows multiple applications to access the hardware at the same time. Please note that the playback volumes of these applications are added digitally to each other.
ESU1808 ESI directly from the ESU1808 Control Panel. When you launch it, you can setup ESU1808 as your Default Input, Default Output or System Output device – if required. While audio production and editing applications usually provide an option inside their preferences to select ESU1808 as recording and playback device, many general standard applications such as iTunes for example are usually accessing the Default Output device, selectable in the Audio MIDI Setup dialog.
ESU1808 ESI Although we strongly recommend a Power PC G5 or Intel Macintosh system, this setting would allow you to use ESU1808 under a G4 (equipped with USB 2.0 port) with limited performance. 7.4 Cubase LE 4 ESU1808 ships with a DVD-ROM with Cubase LE 4 from Steinberg. If you are using a different recording software, you can skip this section. Installation To install Cubase LE 4, insert the DVD-ROM into the DVD-ROM drive of your computer.
ESU1808 ESI Now its time to select the input and output channels. From the Devices menu, select VST Connection. The VST Connections window appears. Select the Inputs tab: For every input channel you are intending to use simultaneously, you need to create a separate bus. Cubase LE 4 allows you add mono or stereo busses – what is better for your application depends on the situation. For example, if you record from a microphone, you typically would use a mono bus.
ESU1808 ESI 8. Technical Specifications Interface Type Firmware Digital Clock I/O Configuration Resolution & Sample Rates Line Input Type Level Frequency Response THD + N Dynamic Range Impedance A/D Converter USB 2.0 Full Speed / High Speed support Firmware update via USB possible Low jitter due to USB independent PLL 18 audio input channels & 8 audio output channels audio interface 1 port (16 channels) input & 1 port (16 channels) output MIDI interface 24bit / 44.1kHz, 48.0kHz, 88.2kHz, 96.
ESU1808 Digital I/O Type Impedance Format Sample Rate Input Output External Power Supply Type Supply specification ESI RCA (Coaxial) 75ohm IEC-60958 Professional / Consumer 44.1kHz, 48.0kHz, 88.2kHz, 96.0kHz IN 17-18 routeable by software 4p – 12mm circular connector + 12V, 250 mA - 12V, 250 mA + 5V, 2000 A Note: use only the original supplied external power supply. 9. General Information Trademarks ESI and ESU1808 are trademarks of Ego Systems Inc. and ESI Audiotechnik GmbH.
ESU1808 ESI Parts of this manual are continually being updated. Please check our web site www.esi-audio.com occasionally for the most recent update information.
