I sold off my pair of Yamaha DSP Factory soundcards earlier this year and was looking for a simple, reliable soundcard with rock solid Win2K drivers - preferrably with WDM drivers for use with SONAR. I wanted decent sounding stereo analog in and out, Lightpipe in and out, S/PDIF in and out, and MIDI in and out. I couldn't find anything that exactly fit my needs, so I decided to give the RME Digi 96/8 PST a try. RME soundcards had been getting lots of good reviews from users, so I contacted Tom Sailor (North American distributor for RME products, http://www.xvisionaudio.com ) about getting a Digi 96/8 PST for a test drive. The PST provides everything I was looking for except MIDI and WDM drivers. The RME MME drivers were supposed to be pretty fast, and my Yamaha SW1000XG has MIDI in/out, so on to the test drive. What It Is All manner of feature info, specs and manuals can be found on the RME web site (http://www.rme-audio.com),...

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Yamaha has long been associated with studio monitors. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the ubiquitous Yamaha NS10s grace the meter bridge of many a studio, great and small. With the introduction of the all-new MSP10 powered monitor and the SW10 powered subwoofer, Yamaha staking a claim in the ever-popular (and increasingly crowded) powered near-field market. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a pair of MSP10s as well as the new SW10 subwoofer. MSP10 The MSP10s are two-way powered monitors. The 8" woofer is driven by a 120-watt amplifier. The 1" titanium tweeter is driven by a 65-watt amplifier. The bass reflex cabinet measures roughly 10.5x16.5x13 and weighs in at a hefty 44 pounds. The MSP10 lists for $749. The MSP10M features a sexy maple finish and lists for $799.

The rear of the MSP10 contains the power switch, the XLR input jack, a sensitivity knob, an 80Hz low cut filter and a pair of switches to tailor the...

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Although the Swissonic name is relatively new (they were formerly known as MusicNet), the AD24 and DA24 are no strangers to the US pro audio market. These highly regarded converters have been available from Sonorus as the AudI/O AD/24 and DA/24. Sonorus was simply re-badging the Swissonic units (i.e. same box, different paint). Now, Swissonic is bringing their products directly to you. These converters, as well as the entire Swissonic product line, are now being distributed by Swissonic America. Sonorus is also offering the entire product line, although they will have the Swissonic name on them (see http://www.sonorus.com/press24.html for more info). The rapidly expanding Swissonic product line also includes a USB audio interface (the USB Studio D) as well as other converter options (see ProRec review of the AD96 and DA96). More info is available from Swissonic America at...

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This supplemental describes how to program for the Motor Mix. I figured I'd give the hackers out there a head start on writing code to support the Motor Mix. I really like the unit and figure it can't hurt to get more people writing code for it. Maybe someone will write a user configurable mapping utility to convert Motor Mix actions into whatever MIDI data a music application might find useful (hint, hint). Reference First of all, you've got to be able to read and write MIDI data. I used Paul Messick's "Maximum MIDI Toolkit" book (and CD) to build a C++ class to interface to the Motor Mix. I'd never written a bit of MIDI code in my life prior this, and it was pretty easy. Some of the best money I've ever spent on a book (ISBN 1-884777-44-9). Daisy Chains You can connect multiple Motor Mixes together. The first one in the chain transmits on MIDI channel 1, the second one on channel 2, etc. You use the channel info in the incoming MIDI data to figure out which Motor Mix the user is twiddling. I don't know...

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Let's face it. Working with many music/audio programs using a mouse can be tedious. I love my "studio in a PC", but sometimes I just want to reach out and grab a fader or knob to get the job done. It's more than an old habit that won't die. Hardware faders and knobs make good user interfaces. It's the same reason that we don't drive cars with joysticks or fly airplanes with steering wheels. A modern mixing console contains hundreds of knobs and dozens of faders. The knobs and faders are as small as they can practically be, and crammed onto a board that measures in terms of square feet. It is ridiculous to think that we can place all those controls onto a screen that measures in terms of square inches - and control them all with a single finger. Enter control surfaces. Manufacturers have been scrambling to provide programmable boxes of faders and knobs that will easily integrate into the computer-based recording studio. By providing the user with a set of intuitive, tactile controls, these companies...

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When I first started paying attention to digital audio, the popular soundcards were the Turtle Beach Multisound and the DAL CardD+. Stereo analog ins and outs were the order of the day. Then the digital I/O cards arrived, and you could get various combinations of analog and digital (S/PDIF or AES/EBU) ins and outs on a card. Life wasn't too bad on the PC-DAW frontier. Now, not that many years later, we have a bewildering number of soundcard choices. Multi-IO cards featuring eight or more ins and outs of various flavors of analog and/or several digital formats (Lightpipe and TDIF), plus all kinds of new sync options and converter options are available. Most of these multi-IO cards are powered by a DSP of some sort. The soundcard usually comes with a mixer applet gives the user varying levels of control over the signal levels and routing. Many users have wished for the ability to use any leftover DSP power to do audio processing for them, so that they could lessen the load on their host CPU. Which brings us to...

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Apology: When I wrote my review of the DSP Factory (DSPF) hardware, I honestly expected to have this software support article completed by the end of December. Turns out I was very, very wrong. My life has been consumed by the development of my own DSP Factory control program called "LUI (Little User Interface) for the DSP Factory". Then, just as LUI was released, a wicked crunch at the day gig kicked in. I'm finally getting my life back and have some time to devote to ProRec again. Overview This article will focus on software support for the DSP Factory. Software support is a critical issue for DSP Factory owners since the card doesn't come with any software to control it. To re-use my analogy from the review, it's like buying a really powerful mixer that doesn't come with any knobs, faders or switches to control it. Many of the big names in audio software have added support for the DSP Factory to their programs including Cakewalk,...

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There is quite a buzz about the Yamaha DSP Factory these days. The DSP Factory is a PC-based recording system built around the DS2416 soundcard and optional input/output (I/O) components. And with the imminent release of the DSP Factory, the buzz is growing even louder. A listing of the basic features of the card has been available on Yamaha's web site for a while, but detailed information on the capabilities of the card has been scarce. Personally, I'm excited about the card too, so I went to Nashville on a quest to find out some details. I was lucky enough to have Yamaha's Mark Lopez give me a demo of the card at the NAMM show. Mark was then nice enough to spend the better part of an hour with me (on the phone), filling in details I didn't ask about at the show. Disclaimer time… Since the card isn't shipping yet, features and specs are still subject to change… Also note that I have not had the opportunity to use a DSP Factory in my own studio to verify all this works as explained to me… Although I tried to be 100% accurate, I may have accidentally misunderstood something Mark told me over the phone… Your mileage may vary… No salesman will call… Not intended for use on house pets or small children… On with the factory tour!...

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Nearly 600 manufacturers of all things musical crammed the Nashville Convention Center and the Nashville Arena from July 10th through the 12th for the summer NAMM show. There was obviously more to see and write about than space allows, so this report will focus on Soundcards and Software for the PC-based studio, plus Other Cool Stuff. As an aside, I've heard that NAMM stands for Not Available, Maybe May (when referring to the January show). It seems the summer show stands for Not Available, Maybe in a Month. Lots of products were being demo'd that weren't in production yet. I expect most of these products will be on the streets by the time of the AES show in September. PC Soundcards/Audio Interfaces Unless you live under a rock, you're probably aware that the Event Layla is finally shipping. The biggest problem seems to be finding one to buy. Stores can't keep them in stock! Combine a great mix of features at an attractive price point and you've got a winner. I got a pretty thorough demo of the Layla at the Event booth and came away very impressed. Check out the Layla review in the ProRec archives....

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