Description

Introducing the RME ARC USB

The RME ARC USB is a wired remote control designed to provide direct access to the most frequently used actions and commands in TotalMix FX, making it an indispensable tool for everyday studio applications. Its highly flexible configuration via TotalMix FX will simplify workflows and significantly enhance the usability of the RME interface in most real-world situations.

The USB ARC is a USB 1.1 MIDI remote control (UAC1), natively compatible with Windows and Mac OS X. As soon as it’s present in the operating system, TotalMix FX detects and communicates with it, without interfering with other remote controls. Therefore, there’s no need to enable or disable the USB ARC in TotalMix FXit will simply work.

Control multiple interfaces simultaneously

And because it communicates with TotalMix FX (via USB), it’s compatible with all RME audio interfaces detected and supported by TotalMix FX. This includes RME interfaces released as recently as 2001!

As soon as the ARC USB is connected to a computer, any press of a button or rotation of a wheel will cause the corresponding action to be performed by TotalMix FXand therefore also by the RME audio interface.

With the UFX+ and UFX II, USB ARC can also be connected directly to these devices, which are currently the only RME interfaces to feature an internal USB 1.1 host port with a corresponding connector. This connection method is convenient in standalone mode, where USB ARC is also supported by the UFX+ and UFX II.

The USB ARC is bus-powered but draws very little current. It also uses USB 1.1 as its bus standard, which is generally accepted today due to its lower frequency and speed requirements. USB 2 cables between 5 and 10 meters long, as well as inexpensive USB 2 extension cables that typically cause bus-powered interfaces to fail, will work perfectly with the USB ARC. For longer distances, RME recommends using active USB 2 cables (also known as extension or repeater cables), which are inexpensive and work over lengths exceeding 20 meters.

The USB ARC can control multiple interfaces simultaneously, which happens automatically because the Key Commands dialog in TotalMix FX is specific to the selected audio interface. You simply assign the desired functions to each interface. Then, the USB ARC’s keys and rotary encoder control the interface to which they have been assigned, without the need for any manual switching or selection during normal operation.