Teac FW-1884 Setup Guide - Manual (Page 5)

1 – Introduction
TASCAM FW-1884 Setup Guide
5
In the monitor mix mode, the fourth function key on
the top row is used for a special function. When this
key (marked as
MAST 0dB in the MONITOR row of
labels) is pressed, the master fader is moved to the
unity gain (0 dB) position.
Individual channels can be set to unity gain by press-
ing and holding the
SHIFT key together with the
channel’s SEL key.
The headphone level ( PHONES jack on rear panel) is
adjusted with the PHONES LEVEL control.
Inputs can be soloed (including pre-fader solo (PFL)
using the
PFL key—monitor mix only—this PFL
feature does not apply to the DAW solo function)
using the module
SOLO keys, and muted, using the
module MUTE keys. Adjust the solo signal level with
the SOLO rotary control (pre- MONITOR and
PHONES ).
In this mode, stand-alone MIDI THRU routing is also
possible. See "MIDI Routing" on page 11 for details
of how to set this up.
The IEEE 1394 standard and the FW-1884
The IEEE 1394 standard allows high-speed commu-
nication between devices. It is sometimes referred to
as FireWire or as i.LINK.
Because of the high bandwidth (up to 400Mbps), it is
suitable for applications such as multi-channel audio,
as in the case of the FW-1884.
IEEE 1394 connections use a “daisy-chain” architec-
ture, and devices can be linked together, with a maxi-
mum length of 72m (about 230 feet) in the chain, and
4.5m (about 15 feet) between any two devices.
NOTE
The FW-1884 is supplied with a 2 m (6-foot) cable. If you
wish to use a longer cable, the length should not be
more than 4.5 m (15 feet) and the cable should be the
best possible quality available to avoid data loss, which
results in audio dropouts.
Many devices can be connected on a IEEE 1394 net-
work. No termination is necessary on any device, and
devices identify themselves uniquely on the system,
so no ID switches, etc. need to be set. It is therefore
possible to connect the FW-1884 to your computer,
and to use the unused FireWire port on the FW-1884
to connect another IEEE 1394 device, such as a fader
expansion unit, or a hard disk which can be used by
the computer (though this latter may result in loss of
audio quality when heavy I/O is taking place, so this
is not recommended).
The standard allows for “hot-swapping”. In other
words, you do not have to turn off a device before
connecting or disconnecting it from the IEEE 1394
chain.
NOTE
Despite the fact that you can connect and disconnect
the FW-1884 to and from the computer with power
turned on, we strongly recommend that all connections
and disconnections are made with power to both the
FW-1884 and the computer turned off. If the DAW soft-
ware is running when connections are made or broken,
it may result in your computer crashing, or “freezing”
and possible loss of data.
There are two types of connector that may be used
with IEEE 1394 devices. One is a 6-pin connector,
and the other is a 4-pin connector (the difference
between them is that the 6-pin connector carries
power which can power external devices).