M-Audio Delta 44 guide

NOTE: Because improper connections may potentially make very loud noises, it’s a good idea to have all monitor levels set low or muted while hooking up audio equipment — you may even choose to turn your computer off before making the connections.

1.Plug the guitar into the channel-1 Line input of the pre-amp. Plug the microphone into the channel-2 Mic input.

2.Plug the outputs 1 & 2 of the pre-amp into the Delta 44’s analog inputs 1 & 2. Both are balanced outputs and inputs (respectively), so use a high quality TRS cable. Most balanced lines run at +4dB line level, so let’s set our +4/Consumer/-10 switches to +4dB on inputs 1 & 2. Open the Delta Control Panel by double clicking the icon in your Windows Control Panel, and then click on the ‘Hardware Settings’ tab. Locate the ‘Variable Signal Levels’ section. The +4 setting requires that the +4 radio button be selected.

3.Plug the hardware outputs 1 & 2 of the Delta 44 to a sound system or power amp with speakers. If your sound system is a consumer type, set the +4/Consumer/-10 switch in the Hardware Settings page to the –10 setting. The –10 setting requires that the -10 radio button be selected, setting all of the outputs to the –10dBV setting. Now minimize the Delta Control Panel.

4.Turn on your equipment in this suggested order: pre-amp, computer, then sound system.

We’re now physically set up to monitor, record, and play back audio. The next steps involve further configuring the Delta Control Panel software and also the music software into which you will be recording. We’ll start with the Delta Control Panel’s “Hardware Settings” page, then the “Patchbay/Router” page, and finally the “Monitor Mixer” page. Since the S/PDIF page does not apply to the Delta 44, we’ll ignore it in this example.