Support Services — FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents

latest update:06/16/08

Deliveries — DDP & CD-R

Making DDP file sets & CD-Rs…MORE.

Errors

Error messages & issues…MORE.

File System

File names, organization & maintenance…MORE.

General

A “kitchen sink” collection of host & 3rd party software answers…MORE.

Intel Support

Advice for Intel hosts…MORE.

I/O & Peripherals

Series 300 as well as 3rd party audio, HUI & optical disc peripherals…MORE.

PACE InterLok

iLok considerations…MORE.

Legacy Systems

Backwards compatibility, hardware issues, etc. with Sonic Systems…MORE.

Plug–Ins

Plug–in considerations…MORE.

Projects

Advice about Projects…MORE.

Pro Tools™

Things to watch out for when working with Digidesign™ hardware…MORE.

Series 300™

3rd party cable recommendations for our 8 channel Series 300 products…MORE.

Uninstalling

How to uninstall Sonic Studio products…MORE.

Deliveries — DDP & CD-R

General

Always be sure to insert a blank disc before starting your delivery. Also, in System Preferences > CDs & DVDs > When you insert a blank CD, set that preference to Ignore.

My Drive Particulars

How do I find out if my optical disc recorder is capable of handling CD Text, Indexes and ISR Codes?

To find out what capabilities your disc drive has, jump to this FAQ’s section on peripherals…

Delivering DDP File Sets

DDP file sets created by Sonic Studio applications, always in their enclosing folder, can be copied to any writable medium you choose, DVD-R or hard disk, for transport to your replicator. Check that the medium you choose has enough space to hold the file set. Also check with your replicator to determine which medium they can handle and whether they are even capable of using DDP as an premastering format. Many bargain companies are not ready to handle DDP deliveries so, we at Sonic Studio suggest you find a reputable facility that does accept DDP file sets of your valuable masters.

Here are some specific suggestions…First, use DVD-R blanks rather than CD-Rs to deliver your DDP file set. That way, the replicator is less likely to confuse your CD-R with DDP files as a CD-ROM job and replicate 1000 CD-ROMs of your DDP file set!

Second, the entire DDP folder or directory must be sent to the replicator. We suggest you ZIP the entire folder and generate a check sum for the resulting ZIP file. See our KnowledgeBase page for a detailed discussion of check sums.

We also recommend that you always create a new, empty folder to contain each DDP file set. On the Desktop is a reasonable location for that new folder, making it easier to archive and helping to prevent common problems.

CD Text

Open Session CD burning will not work if CD Text or ISRC metadata is included.

Note that, while CD-Rs delivered by Sonic Studio products include CD Text, DDP file sets created by Sonic Studio products do not contain CD Text data.

Delivering CD Text with Your DDP

soundBlade and PreMaster CD only add CD-Text metadata to CD-R deliveries, not DDP file sets. To insure a smooth replication process, we recommend that you generate a PQ List and include a printed copy with your replication master, whether your job includes CD Text or not. Use the PQ List button in the Windows > Mark Info > PQ Delivery tab. This file is an essential check list for your replicator, so their quality control can be maintained.

In addition, a PQ List is a perfect way to ensure that CD Text information is delivered to replication. Since CD Text metadata does not appear in DDP file sets generated by PreMaster CD or soundBlade, the PQ List is the vehicle to move this information into replication.

The PQ listing uses the information you enter in the Mark Info dialog to generate a “plain text” or ASCII text file so, before you create a PQ list and a CD-R with CD Text, double check your information in Mark Info. Remember to avoid metacharacters in CD Text strings, like #, / and $, just as you would if you were naming computer files.

Click on the PQ List button to save and open a PreMaster CD PQ Log. Then, review, edit and append any information missing or in need of expansion. Fill in the Client name, Date, Work Order (WO) number, if applicable, and the UPC/EAN. Edit the Project name and disc Title to make sure it’s correct. Add the disc Artist under disc Title. Check each track name and make any corrections necessary. If your job is a compilation, be sure to add Track Artist to your listing, preferably after the individual track names.

Finally, be sure to indicate, on both the printed PreMaster CD PQ Log and the text file accompanying the DDP file set, that you want CD Text to appear on the final, replicated Compact Disc. Include your contact information right on the PreMaster CD PQ Log in case any questions arise.

CD Text & iTunes

I have CDs that I can put in my Mac and the disc and track titles show up automatically. I entered CD Text in Sonic, and the info shows up on a CD player but not on a Mac…What’s up?

When you put a CD-DA or Red Book–formatted disc in your Mac, the operating system looks at the number of tracks and track spacing, then submits that information to an on–line database owned and operated by Gracenote®. If the information matches one or more of the CD titles in their database, that information is used to display the disc and track titles on you Mac.

This mechanism has nothing to do with CD Text, which is sub–channel metadata available to some CD players. See Gracenote for more information.

To add your client’s CD to the Gracenote database…

Step 1 - Start iTunes, then insert the finished CD into the computer’s drive.

Step 2 - Enter the Album Name and Track Names in iTunes.

Step 3 - Choose Advanced > Submit CD Track Names.

Marking for PQ

When preparing your material for CD and DDP delivery, you should perform all your editorial, such as cutting, pasting, compositing and fading, before you create the PQ Marks that define your CD Tracks. If you move segments after PQ Marks have been placed, your Mark locations should definitely be checked.

To automatically create most of your PQ Marks after you’ve finished editing and sequencing, try this:

Step 1 - Click on your top Panel, then zoom out to see your whole program with the View > Zoom to Entire Project command or by hitting the E key.

Step 2 - Choose Edit > Select All to select all segments on the time line.

Step 3 - Choose Mark > Edited Black to Marks.

This will generate Start and End of Track Marks where ever there is a edited gap between segments. Once you have those Marks, you can manually add any Start of Track Marks missing from the program by placing the Edit Point where you want a new Start of Track Mark to go and choosing Mark > Start of Track Mark.

Noise On CD-R Deliveries

If you find that a CD-R burned with Sonic Studio software has intermittent noise and distortion not present on the DDP, here are two suggestions for addressing this issue:

1. Purchase high quality CD-R blank media optimized for low speed writing. Commodity media, optimized for high speed writing, are designed for CD-ROM use and has a dye layer designed for the high speed writing regime commonly found in PC's today. Sonic Studio products are designed to write at relatively low speeds, and high speed media will not write reliably at low speeds of 8x and below.

2. Write your disc at lower speeds. Not only does this ensure that the data stream will be uninterrupted, regardless of host overhead but, the jitter on the resulting disc is much lower. Though higher speed writes can produce lower measurable error rates, the overall jitter on the resulting disc is much higher and, to an audio engineer, jitter is far more important to general quality of playback that correctable errors.

3. Find out what drive mechanism you have. We have found that the Sony DVD-RW DW-Q28A, found on some G5 Macs, produce subcode errors and exhibit various other problems. To find out what particular disc mechanism you have and suggestions for a 3rd party replacement, jump to this FAQ’s section on I/O & Peripherals and read through it completely.

EAN/UPC

European Article Numbers, known as EAN, and Universal Product Codes, or UPC, are standardized, static bar codes printed on and associated with retail merchandise. EAN and UPC have both been folded into an international standard known as the Global Trade Item Number or GTIN, a 12 digit number contains a unique company ID assigned by GS1, a unique product number and a validation check digit.

EAN-13 are 13 digits while UPC-A, a subset, is 12 digits. In both soundBlade and PreMaster CD, a 12 digit UPC must have a leading zero added, the zero being the country prefix for the United States, to make it conform to the EAN-13 format.

As an example, the UPC for PreMaster CD is 691045703393. When entering that UPC into PreMaster CD or soundBlade’s UPC/EAN field, the number should be modified to read “0691045703393,” with a leading zero.

ISR Codes (ISRC)

Unlike UPC/EAN, ISRC, which identifies the entire disc title, ISR Codes are used to identify individual tracks on a disc. Some things to remember when using ISR Codes for the first time…The first 5 places must be numeric or uppercase letters. The 6th through 12th places must all be numeric. Although often supplied with them, dashes or hyphens should be removed from ISR Code strings prior to entry in the Mark Info window.

Source–Mode Complete DDPs

DDP file sets created by soundBlade are “source-mode complete.” This means that 2 seconds of pre–gap are present, with silence before the first Start of Track (SOT) mark. DDP file sets created by some vendors are “source-mode incomplete,” and are lacking the 2 second pre–gap.

-43 Error

When delivering a DDP, this error can happen when you forget to specify a folder for delivery, and instead attempt to deliver straight to the root of your boot volume. Also see the Errors section below for a more general discussion of this error message.

Errors

-43 Errors

The -43 error can mean, “File not found,” “Folder not found” or, “Target not found.” In general, this error occurs when the operating system is not able to complete a command or process because of lack of permissions, file system damage or, because a file was moved or renamed.

4992 Error

I'm getting a 4992 error when I try to burn a CD.

If you are seeing a "CD-R Not Ready - no tracks" message with a 4992 error, it means you have one or more illegal characters in your DDP path. Check the path name carefully, fix the path name, then try burning again.

File Names

The name of my sound file, as it appears in the segment name, is cut off and the end has a pound sign (#) added to it. What’s going on? or… My sound file doesn't open correctly. Only one channel opens and I know it’s not mono. What’s going on?

Take a look at the segment that appears in the Panel. Is it’s name different from the source sound file? Is it truncated or cut off, with the end has a pound sign (#) and some number added to it? The reason why both these things happen is that the file name is too long. Rename the file(s) so that the entire file name is less than 27 characters. Then, it should open correctly.

The problem is the length of the directory and/or sound file name. Take a look and see if your sound file names, as they appear in soundBlade or PreMaster CD, are “funny,” in that they have a pound sign and alphanumeric string after that where a reasonable name should have been. This happened because the name was too long, so the operating system chopped it down. Once that happens, soundBlade usually looses the ability to “follow” the original source file.

To prevent this from occurring, check file names before you start a job, reducing long names prior to diving in. Keep the total name length descriptive but under 27 characters and you’ll be sure that the OS won't change it for you.

Damaged Projects

There are situations where a Project can be damaged to the extent that it no longer opens correctly or, nothing happens when you try to open the Project. Fortunately, soundBlade keeps a backup for you. Before discussing the backup, a bit of explanation is necessary…

A Project is actually composed of two or more files, arranged in a hierarchy and stored within an all–enclosing directory or folder. The top of the hierarchy is the Project file itself, located in the enclosing folder. The Project file has the same name as the enclosing folder, the name given the first time you saved the Project.

Also within the enclosing folder is at least one sub–folder, named EDLs. This sub–folder contains one or more EDLs or Edit Decision Lists. EDLs contain your editorial decisions while the Project file “wraps” or unites any EDLs pertaining to that Project.

If you save a Project more than once, soundBlade does not overwrite the existing EDL, as is the standard behavior for an application. Instead, it renames the existing EDL, giving it a “dot S” suffix. It then saves the current EDL state into a file with no suffix. soundBlade will rename and save up to three old versions of the EDL, each with a S1, S2 or S3 suffix. The file with the S3 suffix is the oldest version. So, if you save a Project four times during the course of your work, there will be four EDL files; three with “dot S” suffixes, and the newest without any suffix.

So, how to “restore” one of those older EDL backup files? In Finder, simply rename the most recent EDL file to “soundBlade Project damaged” or something similar. Then, duplicate the most recent backup EDL, the one with the S1 suffix. Change the duplicate’s name from “soundBlade Project.S1 copy” to “soundBlade Project”. Then, in soundBlade, File > Open Project… and see if the Project opens correctly. If it does, select Save As… and save the recovered Project with a new name. If it does not open correctly, try the same process with the S2 or S3 version of the EDL.

File System

General

When creating, copying or moving files, consider the file name and path name. Use short path names and employ only alphanumeric characters. The only non-alphanumeric characters that should be used are the hyphen ( - ) and underscore ( _ ) characters. Other characters, such as !, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, {, }, |, [, ], \ and / will very likely cause problems later in your work.

Sound files with names longer than 27 characters will prevent waveform metadata from being built and will result in Projects that do not correctly link source sound files. See the Errors section below for a discussion of sound file names.

Do not use different audio files with the same file name within a Project. Rename beforehand, where necessary, with a descriptive name for later ease of archiving, restoration and project interchange.

Naming Conventions

When Sonic Studio applications read or “parse” a sound file name on open or import, they assumes the following form;

filename.channel_number.extension

So, ChorusTake09.02.wav would be interpreted as channel 2 of ChorusTake09, a WAV file. The channel number is optional can also take the form L or l and R or r, which would be interpreted as left and right. Leading zeros in the channel number is also optional.

In the absence of complete information in the file name, the application will resort to metadata in the header to attempt to open the file and correctly build waveform metadata. However, if waveforms are not built correctly or split stereo or multichannel files are not opening correctly, you may want to rename the files using one of the many utilities available for that purpose.

A good starting point for file naming is to use a 11 digit root name for all files in job, where the client or customer is assigned a four digit alphabetic code and the session receives an 6 digit numeric date stamp. The extra 11th character is an underscore, which will be parsed without problem by most all modern DAWs. For instance, your client’s name is Wunder Productions, so you assign them the alpha string WUPR. That string will always be used for their files. A date code for a tracking session on July 10, 2006 would be 060710, with year, month and day in that order so a computer file system always sorts it correctly. The resulting root file name for all files generated on that day for that session start with the string “WUPR060710_”. You could then add an abbreviation to signify a specific file. Be sure to keep the total file name length to under 27 characters, including any file extension that may or may not be visible in the file system browser. Again, this ensures that the file name will be parsed correctly, regardless of platform.

File Storage

Sonic Studio products are fully compliant with Mac OS 10.4.3 and higher. Therefore, sound files can be used from any drive that your computer can access. This includes network–attached and removable drives as well near –line optical drives.

That said, not all mountable storage devices are suitable for reliable real-time or higher speed reads and writes of sound files. Always run Sonic Studio products from the boot volume. Always store all files involved in your jobs on direct-attached, local volumes or networked–attached storage: internal ATA, FireWire, SATA, SAS or FC are acceptable. USB-attached storage peripherals of any kind should never be used. Also, disks must have more than enough free space, to store, record and playback all of your sound files.

Although you may find it will actually work, never use LAN or WAN–networked, flexible media or optical drives to record or playback sound files due to their excessive latency. Always copy files from those storage types to a dedicated, local, direct–attached hard disk or networked–attached storage, such as Fibre Channel, then use that disk for all work. When you are finished with those sound files, you may copy them back to a high latency volume.

Permissions

Check that you have read and write permissions for the entire application package. Select the application and Get Info from the File menu. In the resulting window, examine the Ownership & Permissions section, specifically the Details. Your account should be set as Owner, with Read & Write access. The Group should be admin, also with Read & Write access. Others should be Read only. If this is not the current setting, change it, then close the window.

If you don’t own the current version of Alsoft’s DiskWarrior, you should also boot from the Apple-supplied Install disc that came with your computer. Run the Disk Utility application and perform a Repair Permissions pass on your host. This is a routine maintenance task that, along with DiskWarrior, should be run about once a month. The current version of DiskWarrior repairs permissions as well as file system problems.

Routine Maintenance

Always monitor the amount of free space on your boot volume. Some of the space on your boot disk is used by the operating system, and insufficient free space will initially slow down your host, then de–stabilize it. See the discussion on virtual memory below for more information on memory considerations.

If you own a copy of Alsoft’s DiskWarrior, run it monthly or whenever your host behaves strangely. If you don’t own a copy, you should. Periodic maintenance is still needed with OS 10 and there is no better file system maintenance utility than DiskWarrior. DiskWarrior 4 will also repair permissions…see the Permission section above.

If you have not yet purchased your copy of DiskWarrior, do so today. Then, resort to Disk Utility, which is included in your Applications/Utilities folder. Disk Utility can repair very basic file system inconsistencies and can repair permissions, another source of annoyance or dysfunction.

Another tool that you should have before trouble starts is AppleJack, a free utility that offers more functionality than Disk Utility but cannot perform the miraculous repairs that DiskWarrior can.

General

Host Requirements

What are the requirements to run my application?

A) soundBlade and PreMaster CD require the following:

CPU: Apple Mac with PPC G4 or G5 ≥ 1 GHz or, Intel Duo processor

Display: 15" or larger display

RAM: 1 GB RAM minimum, 2 GB or more preferred

Disc: Apple–approved, internal or external FireWire recordable optical disc mechanism

OS: Mac OS 10.4.3 or newer

USB: One available USB port for iLok USB Smart Key

iLok: iLok USB Smart Key with current iLok driver from ilok

Since Sonic Studio applications use Core Audio, the quality of your playback and delivered discs will be entirely dependent on the hardware and associated drivers used. Note that both applications are supported on Macintosh OS versions 10.4.3 or newer for optimal device compatibility as well as CD Text support. USB peripherals, other than HUI products such as mice and keyboards, are not supported and may interfere with the operation of the product.

Current Releases

The current version of all our software is always available for download in the Downloads section of this site.

soundBlade Instability

If you have recently started using soundBlade or have added new plug–ins to your host, you may be experiencing instability due to certain VST plug–ins. See the soundBlade Instability section below for more information.

G4 Hosts

Be aware that G4 hosts, due to their limited floating point processing capability, should always have the Energy Saver pane of System Preferences set to Optimization > Better Performance when working with audio applications. Also, it has been reported that recording at 96 kHz can introduce discontinuities in the resulting sound file with G4 hosts.

Memory Usage

Though your Sonic Studio product will run with 1 GB of RAM, your host will perform better with 2 GB of RAM. Free disk space on your boot drive is also important. Mac OS is a Unix–based operating system and employs a sophisticated memory manager. The operating system allocates virtual memory as needed. Virtual memory is a hard disk–based buffer that the operating system uses in conjunction with installed RAM. Your host resorts to virtual memory when it has run out of available RAM, your “real” memory. Once virtual memory is used, the overall responsiveness of your host slows down considerably and performance will suffer.

To find out if your host is using virtual memory, an indication that you may want to purchase more RAM for your host, do the following:

Step 1 - Launch Application > Utilities > Activity Monitor.

Step 2 - Select Window > Activity Monitor (command-1) to open the main window.

Step 3 - Click on the System Memory button, to the right of the CPU button.

Step 4 - This pane shows you two important values, “VM size” and “Page ins/outs.”

These two metrics tell you how much virtual memory is being used and how much data has been written to (ins) and read from (outs) the virtual memory buffer. If the “outs” value is not zero, it means that your host has less RAM than it needs and has resorted to using virtual memory. In this instance, you should consider purchasing more RAM.

Conflicting Software

Note that the DC30 Xact Driver from SQUARED 5 has been shown to cause problems with JAM image file creation in conjunction with Sonic Studio products. If you have installed the DC30 Xact Driver, please disable it prior to using soundBlade.

Recommended Companion Software

We recommend X Overload2 for configuring your system. See Ming & Mitchell for more information.

We recommend SuperDuper! for basic back–up needs. See Shirt Pocket for more information.

We recommend PatchBurn, for Mac OS 10.4, if you own a 3rd party optical disc mechanism. See PatchBurn for more information.

We recommend DiskWarrior for safe and reliable file system verification and repair. Periodic maintenance is still needed with OS 10 and there is no better file system maintenance utility than DiskWarrior. See Alsoft for more information.

We recommend AudioTest for generating a wide variety of test sound files. See Katsura Shareware for more information.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The Mac operating system includes an ability to assign unique key combinations to a menu command. System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts > Application Keyboard Shortcuts is where this function is controlled. To learn more, look in System Preferences Help, search for "shortcuts" and read the entry for "Creating keyboard shortcuts for applications".

An easier and more broadly functional approach is to use a macro utility, such as Script Software’s iKey. For those that already own a license, Startly's QuicKeys is over twice as expensive for a new license but is competitively priced for upgrades of existing licenses.

Source Material

Sonic Studio products handle a variety of source file formats. It is therefore very tempting to “grab” what you need and add it to your Project. However, some source material might be in formats other than the final 44.1 kHz sample rate and 16 bits word length necessary for CD production. PreMaster CD determines the characteristics of the files you import based on the metadata they contain. It will warn you if the sample rate is not the required 44.1 kHz where necessary, while resolutions longer than 16 bits are rounded down and redithered to 16 bits during the delivery stage.

soundBlade is capable of SRC or sample rate conversion. Although all of the conversions implemented by soundBlade are of very high quality, you may consider modifying your audio material beforehand with your favorite SRC utilities.

In recording and production environments, the AES/EBU data used for digital interchange may contain a resolution of up to 24 bits of linear PCM–encoded data, sampled at up to 192 kHz. Audio Compact Discs, on the other hand, carry only 16 bit data. That’s one very good reason not to use these CD–DA—formatted “audio CDs,” as a mastering source. Engineers always appreciate source material at the highest possible resolution and sample rate in order to produce the best possible result.

Because all your material destined for inclusion in a final CD replication master will eventually be rounded off, when necessary, to a 16 bit word length, any material using 17 to 24 bits must be word length–reduced to match the CD-DA standard. This is usually accomplished by “rounding down” longer length words to 16 bits. Because the audio data is being modified, it must also be redithered or subtly randomized with an injection of tiny amounts of “shaped” noise in order to prevent distortion.

In the Window> Preferences > Delivery pane, you will find a default preference to always redither the data when delivering either a CD, DDP or when simply playing back audio. This is necessary whenever any audio data is modified, as with a fade or gain change, in order to “linearize” or reduce subtle distortion in the resulting data. Redithering is always a trade off between lower distortion and a slightly but audibly elevated noise floor. Sonic Studio products employ an exclusive, spectrally shaped “2nd order” or triangular PDF redithering scheme. PDF or Probability Density Function describes the amplitude versus frequency plot of the dither generator. Our shaped dither is an excellent trade off between audibility and optimal linearity.

Intel Support

Defining An Aggregate Device

Though a Universal Binary version is not available at this time, both soundBlade and PreMaster CD will run under Rosetta. To insure proper operation for Intel Mac users, an “Aggregate Device” must be defined in the Audio MIDI Setup application.

Step 1 - Open Applications > Utilities > Audio MIDI Setup and select the Audio > Open Aggregate Device Editor command.

Step 2 - In the Aggregate Device Editor, click the + button to Add an aggregate device to the “Structure” list.

Step 3 - Double click on the default name and rename the Aggregate Device appropriately.

Step 4 - Click on the Use check boxes for “Built-in Line Input” plus “Built-in Output” or “Built-in Digital Input” plus “Built-in Output”. Set your Clock source, and click the Done button. You must explicitly select an Input as your clock source!

Step 5 - In the Audio Devices pane of Audio MIDI setup, check that both Default Input and Default Output are set to your newly defined Aggregate Device.

Step 6 - Using the “Properties For” list, select your Aggregate Device. Set your desired sample rate.

Be sure that both “Audio Input” and “Audio Output” display valid sample rates. If not, recheck your setting for Step 3 above.

You should now have a valid Aggregate Device with which to use on an Intel–equipped Mac.Software Updates

I/O & Peripherals

Audio Interfaces

What audio interfaces can I use with Sonic Studio applications?

All Core Audio–compliant interfaces for external audio I/O are nominally supported. Unlike FireWire however, USB does not provide an isochronous or time–critical data delivery mode. So, USB–attached products for external audio I/O are not recommended for either optical disc or audio interfaces when used in any pro audio production environment. USB peripherals, other than HUI products such as mice and keyboards, may interfere with the operation of our products.

Glitches In Series 300 Output

If you are experiencing discontinuities in the output of your Series 300 product, first check that you are not using an external terminator for the Word Clock input. Series 300 models include internal termination. An external terminator will double terminate the line, loading it incorrectly and causing glitches in the audio I/O.

Also, be sure that you have the current set of driver, firmware and Sonic Console that is appropriate for your model. The software packages are on the Downloads page of our site.

Powering your Series 300

• The Model 302 can be bus or mains powered, though the analog audio output voltages are limited to a 20 Volt swing when bus powered. So, for full output headroom (only, as this does not effect recording and digital functions), use the supplied PSU.
• The Model 303 can be bus-powered. The switch turns the ability to bus power on and off.
• The Models 304 and 305 do not allow for bus power, and must be powered from the supplied PSU.

FireWire Basics

Powering Up

When using a 3rd party, FireWire–attached optical disc drive, you must power up the mechanism and restart your Sonic Studio application in order for it to recognize the drive. You may also power up all peripherals, then start up your host.

To prevent rare but expensive repairs to your equipment, always plug FireWire peripherals into your hub (see below) with the peripheral powered off, then apply power to the peripheral.

Multiple FireWire Devices

If you have more than one external FireWire device, never “daisy chain” devices. That is, do not serially attach one device to another, then plug that second or third device into the host. Purchase a FireWire hub instead.

Remember that all FireWire ports on your host are the same logical bus, even though one may be FireWire 400 and the other FireWire 800. By running your external devices in parallel from a hub, you ensure two very important things: First, you physically isolate the FireWire devices, and their cables, from your motherboard. Should a catastrophic failure occur, not uncommon, the hub will be damaged, not your motherboard. Second, the hub allows you to more easily attach, detach and troubleshoot all your devices and cables without disturbing other devices.

Cables

Though it may seem unbelievable , it is possible for a cable to work with the rather relaxed asynchronous mode used by hard drive but be unable to reliably pass the more rigorous isochronous data required for audio transmission over FireWire.

Do not fool yourself into thinking that a cable is “good” because it managed to move some data to and from your host to an external disk. Due to mechanical wear on the connectors and wire, FireWire cables simply wear out. However, because of the error correction built into the data stream, functional failure may be gradual and intermittent. A prudent practice is to keep a new FireWire cable in storage for troubleshooting. If a problem is found, put that new cable into service, dispose of the suspect cable, and purchase a new backup.

GIGO

GIGO stands for Garbage In, Garbage Out…Not all FireWire hubs and cables are created equal. We recommend Granite Digital for FireWire hubs. For cables, we recommend FirewireDirect’s ProSeries. We cannot recommend more “fancy” cables from either company.

As with any patch cables, airbourne salts and pollution can micro–corrode your connectors. A plain pencil eraser is an excellent tool for periodic cleaning of your FireWire cable connectors. Wipe with the eraser until the eraser no longer picks up dark deposits from the connector.

What do I need to do to update my Series 300 audio converter with a 2d card?

With Sonic Console v5 being released soon and the 2d card from Metric Halo released, we would like to share some information with you regarding what you need to do if you are an owner of a Sonic Studio Model 302, 303, 304 or 305 converter and wish to upgrade your hardware and use v5 software.

If you own a Model 302 converter and want to upgrade your box by adding a 2d card, please contact Metric Halo directly. Their web site is www.mhlabs.com.
You have 3 options here-
1) Send your 302 back to Metric Halo for installation of the 2d card.
2) Purchase the 2d card from Metric Halo and install it yourself (only recommended for advanced techies).
3) Talk to your Sonic Studio dealer to see if they can install your 2d card.

If you own a Model 303, 304 or 305 multichannel converter, your 2d card is already installed and no hardware upgrades are necessary.  NOTE: Do not use v5 software on your Model 303 converter at this time.

SonicConsole v5 is in beta testing now.

Disc Burners

How do I find out if my optical disc recorder is capable of handling CD Text, Indexes and ISR Codes?…and…What 3rd party CD burners are approved with my product?

Sonic Studio products will work with any burner “recognized” by the OS or operating system. That said, some burners are better handled by the OS than others. To find out what is the status of your optical disc mechanism, try the following:

Step 1 - Run Applications > Utilities > Terminal and wait for the loginname$ prompt to appear.

Step 2 - Type “drutil info” and hit the return key. You should see something like the following…

loginname$ drutil info
Vendor Product Rev
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E GAND
Interconnect: ATAPI
SupportLevel: Apple Shipping
Cache: 2048k
CD-Write: -R, -RW, BUFE, CDText, Test, IndexPts, ISRC
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW, BUFE, Test
Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO

Step 3…

Drive Capabilities: If your mechanism(s) can handle the writing of CD Text, Indexes and ISRC, then it will mention “CDText,” “IndexPts” and “ISRC” in the “CD-Write” category.

Support Level: Look at the “SupportLevel”…If it says “Unsupported,” then consider using Christian Moeller’s PatchBurn utility. This application creates a profile used by the OS to better interact with your third party optical disc burner. Download PatchBurn and follow the instructions.

How do I set up more than one disc burner so I can deliver multiple copies at the same time?

While the drives built into any G5 or Intel Mac will produce a reasonably good sounding disc, sometime you need to make several copies of a client’s CD. If you need multiple discs written at once, then we recommend All Pro Solutions's stand–alone duplicators, which allows you to have many drives plus a printer, all writing simultaneously. All Pro Solutions will populate their products with whatever mechanism you choose…see Recommended Peripherals below.

Recommended Peripherals

We recommend Avastor FireWire–attached drives for well made, compact and dependable external storage products. See Avastor for more information.

Our customers recommend Plextor CD-R and DVD-R mechanisms as the go–to company for high quality optical disc writers. Their 716 PlexWriter and PlexWriter Premium2, when combined with a Mercury Elite case from Other World Computing, made an excellent external disc burner. See Plextor and Other World Computing for more information. Also see the previous Disc Burners section above for a discussion on configuring your 3rd party burner with PatchBurn.

Now, the bad news: Plextor, the last vendor of quality optical disc drives, is no longer manufacturing their own mechanisms. If you can purchase any new 716 PlexWriter and/or PlexWriter Premium2 mechanisms, do so. Call Plextor directly and ask who has any left in stock. Once those are gone, you can either purchase a Pioneer DVD-R drive, which are good quality but not up to the level of audio performance of a Plextor or, you could simply use the OEM drives built into your hosts. Though OEM drives will not produce as nice sounding discs as a Plextor, they are fully supported by the Operating System, which both PreMaster CD and soundBlade use to write discs. Also, your OEM drive is covered under an Apple extended warrantee, should you purchase one. If you write your discs at the lowest speed possible, you should find the quality to be more than acceptable.

Recommended Media

First, you should always ask the vendor of your disc writer mechanism what brand of blank media it was calibrated for at the factory. That's a good first choice. As a second choice, you should evaluate the highest grade audio recording discs from Taiyo Uden and Mutsui, as they are what most folks recommend to us. If you want very high quality media, specialized low speed blank media is available but the cost is over $8 each in 100 piece lots.

Legacy Support

Opening SonicStudio HD Projects

Opening Projects from SonicStudio HD into soundBlade is possible as long as you understand that your SonicStudio HD Project must “map” onto the version of soundBlade you own. If possible, open the legacy Project in SonicStudio HD, and reconfigure it with so it contains as many EDLs and Panels as your version of soundBlade is able to create on its own. Then, re–open the Project in soundBlade and immediately save it with a new name.

First, prepare the HD version of the job. For stereo jobs, open the Project in HD that needs exporting to soundBlade and reconfigure it as a two EDL, 4 Panel Project and save it. For multitrack jobs, reconfigure it as a two EDL, 16 Panel Project and save it.

In soundBlade, in the Preferences > EDL pane, first check the Multiple EDL check box. For stereo jobs, open the Project, make sure it all plays correctly, and Save As with a new name.
For multitrack jobs, you must have the 8 Channel Option keyed before opening the HD Project. Again, open the Project, make sure it all plays correctly, and Save As with a new name. Remember that, in either case, Desk Events will not "translate" to the soundBlade environment.

If you do not have access to a SonicStudio HD system, you may want to either contact a studio that does have an operational system or, you can open the Project in soundBlade and see how it is handled.

Though it is beyond the scope of this FAQ and Sonic Studio cannot be responsible or support you in the effort, a final choice is to open the Project and EDL in Text Edit and attempt to reconfigure the files so they open in soundBlade.

Opening SonicStudio HD Segmented Files

In Terminal, use the “cat” command, which concatenates two or more files into a single larger file. The syntax is:

username$ cat sourcefile1 sourcefile2 sourcefile3 > destinationfile

First, make a backup of your segmented files so, if you have a problem, the originals are untouched. Next, in your Applications/Utilities folder, launch Terminal. At the Terminal $ prompt, set your “working directory.” Locate the folder that contains the segmented files. In Terminal, type “cd ” (notice the space after cd) then drag the folder that contains the segmented files into the Terminal window, and hit the return key. Terminal will return a prompt and the prompt should show the “path,” the folder that contains the segmented files.

Now that you have set the working directory, you are ready to stitch together or concatenate the segmented sound file into one continuous whole. Type "cat" then a space. Next, type the name, with its complete path, of the first segmented file. Then, type another space and the next segmented file name, with its complete path. If there is a third or fourth segment, repeat the previous steps. Don't forget the space after the file name. Once you have entered all source files, with a space in between, type another space and a greater than symbol, “>”, and another space.

To finish, you must specify the name of the resultant or new, destination file. Once you have entered a destination file name, hit the return key. Terminal will process your request, creating the new destination file, and will return with a prompt. The resulting destination file will have all of the segmented pieces strung together into one file, with the correct header information.

Legacy Hardware

My Sonic Solutions hardware is malfunctioning/dead, can I get it fixed?

Some of the legacy hardware for Sonic Solutions products can be repaired. Contact:

Rudolf Chalupa
exida LLC
215-453-1720
mail him at “RudolfC at aol dot com”

for more information.

PACE InterLok

iLok Basics

To run properly, soundBlade and PreMaster CD must have a licensed iLok plugged in all the times. If the iLok is removed, the application will revert to demo mode and the application must be restarted to restore full functionality.

iLok Registration

Your Sonic Studio license is authorized with iLok USB Smart Keys. To request authorization for your iLok USB Smart Key, visit our registration page. Be advised that failure to fill out the form completely will delay your authorization.

In addition, PACE’s InterLok and SafeNet’s Sentinel frameworks conflict so you should not have a Sentinel dongle plugged in when running soundBlade.

iLok Troubles

My iLok is not recognized by my Sonic Studio product.

If your iLok is not recognized by soundBlade or PreMaster CD, the first thing to do is simply restart your host computer as this will often correct the problem. If that does not fix your issue, head to iLok, click on the Help > Downloads page, download the current Mac OS X installer and re–install the PACE software. Restart your host computer afterwards.

Temporary or trial iLok authorizations may also interfere with Sonic Studio authorization. Look in your;

(boot volume)/Library/Application Support/PACE Anti-Piracy/License Files

directory to see if you have any ILR files that you do not expect. Also, check with iLok to see if you have spurious licenses pending.

Plug–Ins

Inserting Stereo Plug–Ins

When inserting mono-linked plug–ins, please note; when linked, they do not function as a stereo plug–in and have independent gain to each side. Linking only refers to UI parameters. This is an important point if using dynamics or reverb plug–ins which, typically are true stereo plug–ins and should only be inserted in soundBlade’s Master Section.

Latency Compensation

Not all plug–ins report their latency to soundBlade, so latency compensation for those plug–ins will not be accurate. If you experience this, please contact your plug-in vendor for a fix.

Some plug–ins intentionally do not report their latency to the host. These plug–ins typically provide delay. Examples include the AUSampleDelay and the manual delay in Metric Halo’s ChannelStrip.

Problematic Plug–ins

Note that the Vbox VST control environment, from BIAS, Inc., is incompatible with soundBlade. If any examples of this product are installed on your host, please move them to a “VST Disabled” folder.

soundBlade Instability

If you have recently started using soundBlade or have added new plug–ins to your host, you may be experiencing instability due to certain VST plug–ins. Try holding down the option key while starting soundBlade. This will prevent all plug–ins from loading and can help to pinpoint the cause of your instability.

VST Architecture

Because the VST plug–in architecture is a weak and poorly documented ad hoc standard, with little or no quality assurance provided by it’s creator and no true support for stereo or multichannel, we recommend that you disable any VST plug-ins for which you have an AU equivalent. To do that, locate all plug–in folders. One is located at:

~(your home directory)/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/

Another is at:

(boot volume)/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/

You may have others so, search for “VST” in Spotlight. Once you find all VST directories, you need to create “VST Disabled” folders next to the existing VST folders. Drag your VST plug-ins into the disabled folder. Generally speaking, if a vendor provides both VST and AU versions, always use the AU version.

After disabling your redundant VST plug-ins, have soundBlade recreate the “plug-in cache” by deleting the:

~(your home directory)/Library/Preferences/com.sonicstudio.plugincache.plist

file. soundBlade will recreate a new plug–in cache the next time you run it.

Inactive Plug–ins

If you have plug–ins which are currently inactive, though you would expect them to be functioning, it may be because of the plug–in cache. soundBlade’s plug–in cache may have listed them as inactive so, simply quit soundBlade, delete the cache as described above, and re–launch soundBlade.

Another cause of missing plug–ins is that soundBlade does not “look” in sub–folders within the AU or VST folders.

Waves Plug–Ins

If you are running 10.4.9 and having trouble with your Waves installation, Waves recommends you install the Combo Update for the 10.4.9 for PowerPC. QuickTime 7.1.6 update on Mac OS 10.4.x may cause Waves plug–ins not to load correctly.

To fix this problem download and run the following utility:

http://www.paceap.com/prebind_script.dmg

Go to YourBootVolume/Applications/Waves/Authorizers and double click on Waves AU RegUtil 5.0.1…Once it launches, click on Let's Go, then click on Done. Next, double click on Waves AU RegUtil 5.2…Once it launches, click on Let's Go, then click on Done.

Projects

Default Projects

If sound files are part of a Project when saved as a Default Project, the sound files will be referenced in all default Projects. Always save an empty Default Project.

Funny Looking Edit Point

My Edit Point looks funny! The yellow triangle has changed into a rectangle…What’s up?

You have installed one or more plug–ins from Waves™, which sometime insist on changing the appearance of the soundBlade User Interface.

Pro Tools Hardware

Configuring Hardware

You can add soundBlade to the list of recognized applications in the Digidesign CoreAudio Manager. Refer to Digidesign’s CoreAudio Usage Guide for information on associating soundBlade with your Pro Tools hardware and configuring the Digidesign CoreAudio Manager. Please refer to Digidesign’s site <http://www.digidesign.com/download/coreaudio/> for the current version. You should have the most recent version of the Digidesign CoreAudio Driver installed for seamless operation.

Basic instructions:

Step 1 - Run the Digidesign CoreAudio Setup Application

Step 2 - Select "Supported Applications…"

Step 3 - Select "Add New Application…"

Step 4 - Choose the soundBlade application and add it to the Digidesign CoreAudio driver's list of supported applications.

Configuring Multi–processor Hosts

With a multi–processor host, you may have better results if you scale back your ProTools HD engine to use only one processor. In Pro Tools, go to Setup > Playback Engine.  In the resulting window, set RTAS processors to “1 Processor.” You can also set the “CPU Usage” from 40 to 99%.  When running both processors, the CPU max becomes 90%.

Series 300

The Series 300 products from Sonic Studio are available in a 2 channel model, the 302 and three eight channel models, the 303, 304 and 305. These eight channel models employ "Tascam/Digidesign"-style multichannel interfaces on a DSUB-25 (DB25) connector. These products are not supplied with I/O snakes but, any Tascam/Digidesign–style, 8 channel cable assembly that terminates at one end in a DSUB-25 connector is compatible.

When specifying cable assemblies for your Series 300, remember that AES/EBU signaling is fundamentally different from analog audio signal. As a result, AES/EBU cable assemblies should employ a cable type design specifically for AES/EBU audio. Cables designed for analog audio should never be used for AES data. Also, AES/EBU Type I carries two channels on a single XLR-3 connector so, and 8 channel snake has only 4 XLR connectors.

Better quality I/O snakes vendors include:

www.btx.com
www.haveinc.com
www.redco.com

BTX Technologies, Inc. are a particularly good source for high quality, custom assemblies. Their part number is “YADA88XLR” and you specify the finished length and whether you want an analog or digital assembly when ordering. Neutric connectors are available and, for the brand of cable, they offer a choice of either Mogami 3162 or Belden 1805F. These cable types are designed for AES/EBU audio and so will work equally well for analog audio assemblies. Call them at 1-800-666-0996 for a quote.

Uninstalling

Un–installing Sonic Studio Applications

Un–installing Sonic Studio applications is simple. Just delete the entire folder containing the application. Then see below to delete the preferences.

Deleting Sonic Studio Preferences

Delete the following folder, if present:

~(your home directory)/Library/Preferences/Sonic Preferences/

Then, for PreMaster CD, also delete the following files, if present:

~(your home directory)/Library/Preferences/PreMaster CD.plist
~(your home directory)/Library/Preferences/com.sonicstudio.pmcd.plist

For soundBlade, also delete the following files, if present:

~(your home directory)/Library/Preferences/com.sonicstudio.soundBlade.plist
~(your home directory)/Library/Preferences/com.sonicstudio.plugincache.plist

Un–installing SafeNet Sentinel Drivers

SafeNet provides a user level driver as well as a kernel level driver. Here is how to un–install these drivers:

First, check your particular system to determine which driver type you have installed. Then, follow the step for driver a or driver b below…

a) The SentinelSystemDriver.pkg installs a .kext driver file in path:

System/Library/Extension

You can verify the presence using the Terminal command:

kextstat | grep Sentinel

If this file is present, you can un–install this using the Terminal command:

kextunload -v /System/Library/Extensions/Sentinel.kext

You can then delete this framework from the above path.

b) The Sentinel.Framework is a driver framework. This framework is copied or installed in the path:

/Library/Frameworks

To un–install this driver, you can simply delete this framework from the above path.

soundBlade, PreMaster CD, Series 300, Model 302, Model 303, Model 304, Model 305, sonicstudio.com and the Sonic Studio logo and type are trademarks of Sonic Studio, LLC in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.