Thank you for purchasing Macromedia's DECK II. Please see the User's Guide for complete information about this product.
Table of Contents
1. Installing and Running DECK II v2.6
2. New Features and Changes
3. Important Notes
4. Bug Fix Trail
5. Suggested Configurations
6. Contacting Macromedia
1. Installing and Running DECK II v2.6
Before installing DECK II, make sure you disable any virus protection software you may have installed. Failure to do this might result in corruption of installed files. RAM doubler and Virtual Memory are not compatible with DECK II and should be disabled before installation.
To install DECK II, load the CD-ROM or floppy disk and double click the Installer. Then choose the installation option which best suits your needs.
Remember: You will always achieve better performance if you record to a hard disk that does NOT contain your active System folder. The DECK II application itself, however, can be installed onto your active system drive without having any bearing on performance.
If you are having trouble starting DECK II, try trashing the DECK Preferences file located in the Preferences folder within the System folder.
If you have any further trouble installing or running this application please visit one of the following online areas to read through our TechNotes.
DECK II v2.6 requires version 3.1 or higher of the Sound Manager. You will need to install the Sound Manager extension included in the installer if you are using a version of Apple's System Software prior to 7.5.2 and you do not already have this extension installed.
Special Note for Power Macintosh, 660AV and 840AV users:
For best results we recommend running at least system 7.5.1.
Power Macintosh as well as Quadra 840AV or 660AV users should be certain that their hard drives are formatted with up to date drivers that fully support asynchronous I/O. Macromedia recommends using CharisMac Engineering's Anubis formatting utility. Newer hard drives from APS include APS PowerTools driver software which uses the Anubis drivers. Symptoms of not having async-compatible drivers include slow user interface response, decreased track count, and "Disk too slow" messages.
Power Macintosh users should be aware that the "Analog Input Level" sub-menu is controlling an input pre-amp (you are increasing the level of the signal) whereas on other machines where this item is available it is controlling an input attenuator (you are decreasing the level of the signal). Power Macintosh users should set this to zero as the input preamp can introduce additional noise in the signal when set to settings other than zero.
2. New Features and Changes
• Compatibility with System 7.6.
• Power PC Multiprocessor support - Enabled in General preferences. Processors in addition to your native processor can be utilized for more real time effects. You will be able to allocate a greater number of realtime effects with a multiprocessor machine.
• Korg 1212 I/O support - please see the additional document on using the 1212 I/O PCI card with DECK II v2.6.
• The track count limitation on PowerMacs has been removed when using continuous synchronization on playback.
• A warning dialog has been added that will appear if you have allocated too many realtime effects and/or tracks for your processor to handle.
• On PowerMacs and clones, DECK II v2.6 evaluates your processor speed when launching to minimize timing offsets on newly recorded files (incurred by the Sound Manager). These offsets which are typically in the 10 to 15ms range do not occur when using a supported audio card (NuBus or PCI).
• New "Multitap" realtime effect on PowerMacs.
• PowerMac and clone users not using a supported audio card can now disable monitoring on a record enabled track. This avoids feedback loops when sending a signal out of DECK II to an external processor and returning the processed signal back into DECK II for recording. Without a supported audio card installed, you will notice the monitor level faders in the Mixer window can be set to full volume (all the way up) or no volume (all the way down) on record enabled tracks.
• 48k sessions will now support processing in Premiere format plug-ins.
New Features Added in v2.5.2:
Defragment Audio File:
To defragment an audio file, choose Defragment Audio File from the File
menu. DECK II opens a file selection dialog box. Choose the audio file
to defragment, then choose OK.
Note:
This operation works only for Sound Designer II files (DECK II's native
format) and requires twice the size of the file to be defragmented
to be free on the same volume.
3. Important Notes:
• DECK II v2.6 supports multiprocessing however you should not run any other applications that use multiprocessing while running DECK II v2.6. If you have “MP Movie Pack” which accelerates QuickTime on multiprocessor machines, this should be disabled in the control panel (of the same name). If you wish to keep “MP Movie Pack” enabled, be sure to uncheck DECK's multiprocessor option in General Preferences.
This new preference setting found in DECK's General Preferences may need to be adjusted from the default setting if you notice a "predelay" phenomenon whereby the start time of a newly recorded file falls earlier in time in the Tracks window than it should. This behavior is basically related to the Sound Manager and will only affect those users on PowerMacs, PPC Performas and clones who are not using a supported audio card (NuBus or PCI). If you encounter this behavior, set this preference value to zero and try recording again. Some experimentation with this setting may be necessary to get the best results on your machine.
• On certain PowerMacs and clones, 11025 Hz and 22050 Hz DECK II sessions play back with audible glitches and aliasing. The problem can be corrected by manually changing the Sound Control Panel’s sample rate to match the DECK II session sample rate.
• If you encounter a "Bad SMPTE" error (displayed in DECK II’s Transport window) after loading a session that is online at a different frame rate than a previously loaded online session, taking DECK II offline and putting it back online again should correct the problem.
• The Printer port is not assignable in DECK's MIDI window. Installing Opcode's OMS will allow you to address devices connected to your printer port.
• Contrary to what is stated in earlier pressings of the DECK II v2.5 User's Guide, it is not possible in DECK II v2.5 or v2.6 to map MIDI faders to Effects window faders.
• Contrary to what the v2.5 User's Guide states, there is no realtime reverb for PowerMacs and clones in DECK II v2.5 or v2.6. Reverb effects can be rendered to selections in your DECK II sessions using Hyperprism from Arboretum Systems or TrueVerb from k.s. WAVES. Both of these plug-ins require a PowerMac, clone or PPC Performa.
4. Bug Fix Trail
V2.6 Bug Fixes:
Some of the bugs that have been fixed include the following:
• MIDI time code output: Slave applications or hardware will now be able to sync properly to
DECK II's MIDI time code output regardless of what location the DECK II session is started from.
• When a session is copied to a different volume, audio files subsequently recorded in the copied session will now be written to the correct volume.
• Fixed a bug that prevented Mix to Disk and Bounce operations from working properly when the Max Play Tracks setting in Memory & Storage preferences was set to less than 3.
• The free disk space indicator in the Tracks window now properly updates.
• The Playthrough setting under Sound In - Options... (found in the "Sound" Control panel or "Monitors and Sound" Control Panel) is now restored to its original setting when quitting DECK II.
• A bug which caused erroneous -48 errors when importing CD audio tracks has been fixed.
• There will no longer be complications associated with session documents saved in sessions with Pull Down or Pull Up employed.
• Type 84 errors which occurred in rare circumstances have been eliminated.
• A bug that introduced complications when importing sessions containing crossfades was fixed.
• When slaving to time code, DECK II can now properly chase the master when the master is started at a location time earlier than the location time in the DECK II session.
• "Import SDII Playlist" will now work consistently
V2.5.2 Bug Fixes:
• A bug that caused crashing when canceling file conversion operations was fixed.
• A problem that occurred when entering large millisecond values in some dialog boxes was fixed.
• A problem that occurred when exporting a QuickTime movie longer than 30 seconds with audio was fixed.
• A problem with importing multiple audio CD tracks that have the same name (i.e., Track 1) in the same session was fixed.
5. Suggested Configurations
Macromedia suggests you configure DECK II 2.6 in the following way for your specific Macintosh (using the Memory and Storage preference in the File menu):
68K Macs using supported Digidesign NuBus card, 4 tracks
Any Quadra model using original Pro Tools 1/442, 8 tracks
Macintosh 660av, 6 tracks
Macintosh 840av, 8 tracks
PowerMacs:
The factors involved in the number of real-time playback tracks on PowerMacs include the processor speed, SCSI throughput, hard disk or array performance, and available RAM.
Rough guidelines for PowerMac CPU speed and expected track counts are listed below:
110MHz and slower:
8 to 24 tracks
Over 110 mHz:
8 to 24 tracks. It possible to get over 24 tracks with faster processors and adequate SCSI throughput.
SCSI and hard drive throughout requirements (sustained throughput):
4 tracks - 500K/sec
8 tracks - 1.5 MB/sec
16 tracks - 2 MB/sec
In most cases, even the fastest stand alone hard drives will not be capable of playing back much more than 12 to 16 tracks, with each track containing contiguous audio files. For 8 to 16 tracks, a drive with a rotational speed of 7200RPM is recommended.
If your CPU speed supports more than 16 tracks according to the guidelines above, you may need to invest in a NuBus or PCI SCSI accelerator card to support the sustained SCSI throughput required for more than 16 tracks. For over 16 tracks we recommend a SCSI buss and hard drive (or array configuration) capable of 4 MB or more sustained SCSI throughput. You can consult with Apple (or your clone manufacturer) to investigate the options available for your particular machine. Some machines offer fast SCSI 2 busses and may provide adequate sustained SCSI throughput if matched with the right hard drive or array.
Your performance may vary. Increased Disk Buffer sizes (Memory and Storage preference on the File menu) can help to alleviate "Disk is too slow" messages in some circumstances. Remember that more memory will need to be allocated to the DECK II application after increasing the Disk Buffer size.
Some PowerMacs and clones ship with a Level 2 cache already installed and some do not. Installing a Level 2 cache (the larger the better) in some PowerMacs or PPC Performas can greatly improve performance, in some cases, doubling the track count possible. Contact Apple or your clone manufacturer for information on what Level 2 cache options there may be for your machine.
6. Contacting Macromedia
How to report problems or obtain service:
You can contact Macromedia by phone, fax, or by online services. The following section lists the different methods of reaching Macromedia.
Online Services:
World Wide Web: Macromedia’s URL is http://www.macromedia.com/. You will find technical notes on DECK II at: http://www.macromedia.com/support/technotes/index.html
Be sure to also visit the DECK Users website for up to date information and important links at: http://www.sitenoise.com/deckusers
There is also an active users mailing list you can subscribe to by sending an e-mail to:
<deckusers-request@lists.best.com> (without the brackets) with "subscribe" (without the quotes) in the body of the message.
(By default, you will be subscribed to the digest version of the list. To subscribe to the single-message-per-mail version, enter "subsingle" (without the quotes) in the body of the message instead of "subscribe").
MacroFacts:
Macromedia's 24-hour fax information line provides instant access to Macromedia's products and services. In the United States and Canada, call 1 800 499 3329. From elsewhere, call +1 415 863 4409.
Technical Support:
You can reach technical support at the following numbers:
