The overall effect is undeniably cute, and thankfully the breakout box is sufficiently heavy to stay put when mounted externally with 16 phono leads attached to it.Īt the back of the box is an identical D‑Type socket to that on the soundcard backplate, to attach the supplied 2‑metre‑long umbilical if you prefer to mount the box externally. The majority of sockets are all on the front panel, including two horizontal rows of eight gold‑plated phono sockets (the top row for inputs, and the bottom for outputs), with a pair of 5‑pin DIN sockets for MIDI In and Out at the right‑hand side. Terratec have used four of the AK4524 Codec chips from AKM Semiconductors, each of which contains an A‑D and D‑A converter, as well as a variable‑gain input stage. The 5.25‑inch breakout box actually contains the converter circuitry (unlike the recent Gadget Labs Wave/8*24 system) - in fact there's more circuitry inside this box than there is on the soundcard itself. Also on the card are a pair of 4‑pin analogue sockets to simultaneously connect two CD drives (for instance a CD‑ROM and CD‑R drive). This provides a 16‑bit D‑A converter for monitoring stereo playback. The EWS88MT is just five inches long, and the backplate features a D‑Type connector for use if you choose to mount the module externally, a pair of phono sockets for S/PDIF input and output, and a 3.5mm Monitor Out jack socket. The bundled Control Panel software contains a digital mixer that can combine all eight Wave playback channels and all eight analogue input signals, each with level, pan, mute, solo and level meters, and route them to either the 1/2 analogue output or the S/PDIF one. However, I've left the best till last - the price of the Terratec EWS88 MT is just £399, which makes it significantly cheaper than any comparable card on the market. This makes far more sense for many people, since having a host of cables sprouting from the front of your PC is often not convenient. Although this module can be mounted in any suitable CD‑ROM‑style drive bay in your PC (like those of the EWS64 series) and connected to the soundcard using an internal ribbon cable, it can also be attached by a two‑metre‑long multicore cable and mounted externally. This impression is further strengthened by the audio spec: the converters are capable of 24‑bit, 96kHz operation, and are mounted separately in a 5.25‑inch‑wide module. With eight analogue inputs and eight analogue outputs, along with S/PDIF digital input and output and MIDI In and Out, it looks ideal for those who want to do some serious 8‑track recording. Gone are the consumer 16‑bit converters, along with the old‑fashioned ISA format - this new card is a compact PCI design that seems designed from the ground up for use by more serious musicians. It's not long since I last reviewed a Terratec soundcard (the EWS64 XXL in SOS July '99), but their new EWS88 MT is a completely different beast. The launch of yet another 8‑in/8‑out PCI soundcard might seem little cause for raised eyebrows, but Terratec have a few surprises up their sleeves with the EWS88 MT.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |