AARDVARK Q10 for DUMMIES

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Hi apollo,

I haven't upgraded to 4 yet, but I'd guess the settings that you're dealing with would be pretty mcuch the same as in version 3. When Aardvark still had a website, the settings they recommended were:

1. On the General tab, set your timing masters to 9,10 Direct Pro Q10. Make sure the Audio
driver bit depth and File bit depth are the same (16 or 24), and both of these should be
the same as what you set using the Aardvark Manager software to access the Q10's
settings.

2. On the Advanced tab, I've had better luck with the ASIO drivers (v. 7.13, but others are
available still. Try the dithering both ways, and see if you can tell the difference in sound
(you didn't give your machine specs, and the dither takes up some processing power)

3. On the Drivers tab, choose the inputs and outputs you want (or all of them -- that way,
they'll show up as choices in the individual track inputs and outputs)

Hope this helps. Let me know if you need more detail or other drivers, etc.

Mike

ORIGINAL: apollo335

First of all, what should the settings in the control panel
(Sounds and Audio Devices)read? I am a bit confused which card to
select. (I am using Soundblaster Live! and the Aardvark Q10 PCI
card; XP). For midi I selected the Q10...which works fine, but on
the other settings I don't know what to select...it gives these
options:
1,2 Direct Pro Q10
3,4 Direct Pro Q10
5,6 Direct Pro Q10
7,8 Direct Pro Q10
9,10 Direct Pro Q10
Which is the proper one to select? Does it matter?

I want trying to get a setup with my PC, Aardvark Q10, Yamaha MSP5,
Roland XP-30, and guitar, etc. I want to record with my computer and
hear the playback through my Aardvark Q10. (yamaha monitors plug
into the Aardvark's Q10 Monitor (L,R). Please, please somebody out
there in cyberspace help me...I do not know much in this field.

I tried recording in cakewalk and I am able to record the midi just
fine, but am unable to record any audio (Dropout occurs).

Also, anyone out there using Sonar 4? What should the settings be
under:
options>audio>general tab......playback timing master
options>audio>general tab......recording time master
options>audio>Advanced tab......Driver Mode
options>audio>Advanced tab......Dithering
options>audio>Drivers tab......Input
options>audio>Drivers tab......Output

The audio settings in the control panel require either defining one card as the default audio device, or not setting either card as the default. The latter setting is required if both cards are to coexist together. If the cards will not coexist, you will have to disable the Soundblaster using the device manager, or setup a different hardware profile for each card and switch back and forth between profiles. Make sure you turn off Windows' sounds.

As advised by the other respondents, all of the audio drivers should be highlighted. Doing so enables the drivers needed for the Q10 input jacks and output channels to work with Sonar.

In case you don't know, the numbers 1-2, 3-4, and so on are numbers for the stereo playback channels of the Q10 card. 1 is the left side of the stereo spectrum, 2 is the right side, and so on. Every track in a project must have its output set to one of the stereo pairs.

The numbers for the input drivers are linked to the 10 input channels the Q10 has. "Left 1 1" is the proper driver selection when input jack 1 on the Q10 mixer has a device plugged into it and a mono track is being created. "Right 1 1" is the correct driver selection when input jack 2 is being utilized. "Stereo 1 1" is the needed driver when input jacks 1 and 2 are being used simultaneously (two mics for instance) to create a stereo track in Sonar. The drivers labled "2 2" correspond to input jacks 3 and 4, and so forth.

The previous description of the driver numbers refers to driver set 7.04. The last driver was 7.13, so it may read a little different on the labeling. Note, you can only use ASIO driver mode in Sonar with the 7.13 driver set. I advise you stick to ASIO driver mode period, that way you can get the benefit of the ASIO Turbo Mode that Aardvark provides.

To get the lowest latency using ASIO mode, set the ASIO buffer in the Aardvark software panel to 192, and engage ASIO Turbo Mode. Note that I'm referring to the ASIO/DIRECTX settings in the Advanced tab in the Aardvark control panel. The rest of the settings on the page should be set to the lowest possible value, or not activated at all if possible.

In the Routing options, the output jacks on the far left of the back of the Q10 breakout box are for the monitors. Make sure the white label under each picture of the monitor jacks says Monitor L or Monitor R. If not, click on the label and change the routing option for the jack.

Sonar4 settings Options/Audio/General

Playback and Timing Master: 9,10
Record Timing Master : 9,9

if 44.1/16-bit audio is the sample /bit rate, then set Default Settings to refelect it.

You can ignore the Mixing Latency settings while using ASIO driver mode.

Advanced:

Do not select Enable Read Caching, or Write Caching

Set the I/O buffer to 128

Select ASIO as the driver mode.

Checking the box that allows Sonar to share drivers with other audio applications is sometimes necessary to keep audio software from competing for the drivers.

Turn off Dithering unless a 24-bit project is being mixed down to 16-bits.

Synchronization is only relevant when Sonar is being synced to external midi devices.