Surround card w/ balanced outputs? (PCI and USB only)

jkowtko · Post by **jkowtko** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:14 am

I have been planning to upgrade our M-Audio Rev 7.1 to Delta 1010 to get balanced I/O (I'm hearing a bit of noise on the unbalanced cables), but just looked at the docs and found out that the Delta 1010 doesn't have a surround emulator. And 5.1 surround is one of the things I would like to do in upcoming productions.

Any suggestions on interfaces that will provide balanced outputs to the mixing board and have surround emulation?

(Fyi, I also have a Windows PC with no firewire interface, so currently I would prefer a PCI or USB interface. However if the only good choices out there are Firewire, I guess I can install a firewire card in the PC ...)

Thanks. John

kharney · Post by **kharney** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 1:58 am

I have been looking at the Presonus FP10. But have not determined if this is the route to go. Let me know what you find out ....

kharney · Post by **kharney** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:00 am

of course that is a firewire option so you may not be interested.

jkowtko · Post by **jkowtko** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:08 am

After more investigation into surround, I found out that I can convert stereo files to surround, and Mike is also broadening the list of surround formats that SCS will play.

So, rather than have the card handle the surround and force everything it plays into surround mode, I think I will take the approach of producing 6-channel audio files for those tracks that need to be played in surround, and be able to mix it with regular stereo and mono files.

That being said, I think I'm back to looking for a Delta 1010 or a pair of Delta 44s for our PC, to get those balanced connections. It doesn't look like there's much else out there

sound · Post by **sound** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 11:01 am

jkowtko wrote: So, rather than have the card handle the surround and force everything it plays into surround mode, I think I will take the approach of producing 6-channel audio files for those tracks that need to be played in surround, and be able to mix it with regular stereo and mono files.

Wise decision

- Haven't heard a 'surround emulator' that comes close to a 'real' surround mix.

jkowtko wrote: That being said, I think I'm back to looking for a Delta 1010 or a pair of Delta 44s for our PC, to get those balanced connections. It doesn't look like there's much else out there

Have a look at http://www.rme-audio.de/en_index.php

Very solid stuff - greatly recommended.

Greetings,
Walter

jkowtko · Post by **jkowtko** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 4:44 pm

At first glance the RME products look good, however they seem to be a lot more expensive than the $200 or so I'm expecting to fork out for a used Delta 1010. Our theater has literally no capital budget (there is a small expense budget per show that I am slowly buying equipment with) so anything over a few hundred dollars is somewhat out of reach.

If you think there is a modestly priced RME solution that will give me at least 8 outs for under $500, let me know the model #s so I can take a closer look.

Thanks. John

kharney · Post by **kharney** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:08 am

Presonus FP10 - the new FirePod - seems to be $400 at guitar centers and other stores. Checking Froogle.com.

jkowtko · Post by **jkowtko** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:56 am

Thanks -- I'll keep that on my watch list on eBay. I can't budget more than $200 for this interface, so I'm hoping a Delta1010 or FP10 will come along at that price.

I guess the nice thing about the FP10 is that by using a standard firewire interface I have quick removal and relocation of I/O devices (vs a PCI card which is much harder to take out). So I'll be looking harder at USB and firewire options going forward.

It would be nice if there were a USB equivalent to the FP10, but I can't find any. The closest thing I found is that Tascam 1641 which has the inputs but not the outputs.

I guess another option would be ADAT -- especially if SCS can pipe directly use the 8 ADAT channels and I can connect directly into the Yamaha 01v96 board. So far I haven't heard from anyone who has successfully done this (or I think we are all waiting on ASIO support to get that capability).

Thanks. John

kharney · Post by **kharney** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:58 am

The older version of the FP10 is the FirePod so you might want to add that to your search as well. Probably more of a chance of finding that one at your $.

jkowtko · Post by **jkowtko** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:34 am

kharney wrote:The older version of the FP10 is the FirePod so you might want to add that to your search as well. Probably more of a chance of finding that one at your $.

Okay, I'll look for the Firepod as well.

Also, the computer doesn't have onboard firewire, but I can put a firewire PCI card in the computer. In this case, will any firewire card work fine or do some firewire cards work better than others? Since the card is just passing a digital signal through I would assume quality is not much of an issue here ... any input on this? Thanks. John

jmgordon · Post by **jmgordon** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:06 am

Regarding FireWire compatability, a year ago I commented about it in this thread.

The SOS article is now free here.

HTH

Malcolm