On 4/7/06, Dieter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hmmm, not sure what's going on there... GMail decides this for me, I guess.
Live work.
There seem to be three different versions of what this box is going to be:
1. A pro-level digitizer. LOTS of inputs / outputs, VERY high quality components, high sample rate, high resolution, high bandwidth, suitable for studio and stage work. This is probably where you've got the most margin, but also the smallest segment, and hardest to get into. Price tag in the low thousands of dollars. May or may not have some chunky signal processing hardware built in. Must have balanced inputs and 48V phantom supply.
2. A semi-pro-level / amateur mastering sound card with external connection box. Better than PCI sound cards, but not used for pro gear, and particularly not for live work. Balanced inputs still important but not essential, 48V not essential. Latency still important, but most amateurs will work around it if they have to.
3. A consumer sound card. Balanced inputs are probably a disadvantage (because they'll confuse the customer). Round-trip latency not an issue, since it'll probably only be used for playback and games etc.
For 1, low latency is critical. You want as little delay between the sound hitting the mic and it being returned to the speakers as possible. If the delay becomes noticeable to the ear, you're in trouble. Also any processing you do in the loop adds to the delay, so you can't eat the whole delay budget in your digitizer. Ethernet is simply not good enough; USB2 might be good enough; 1394 is probably good enough; PCI is definitely good enough.
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Tom Cook" writes:
> T24gNC83LzA2LCBEaWV0ZXIgPG5ldGJzZEBzb3B3aXRoLnNvbGdhdG9zLmNvbT4gd3JvdGU6Cj4K
> PiA+IEZvciB3aGF0IGl0J3Mgd29ydGgsIHRoZSBuZXh0IGNhcmQgSSAoYXMgYSBtdXNpYyBmYW4p
> IGFtIGdvaW5nIHRvIGJ1eSBpcwo+ID4gZ29pbmcgdG8gYmUgZXh0ZXJuYWwuIEkgcmVhbGx5IGRv
> ...
Hmmm, not sure what's going on there... GMail decides this for me, I guess.
Which appariently translates to:
>> I do not much care for USB.
>>
>> How do you feel about Ethernet and Firewire? USB was designed for
>> very slow things like keyboards and it shows.
>
> The consensus seems to be that 1394 is better for audio - lower latency.
I seem to recall that FW/1394 has some sort of iso-chrono-something mode
for things with real-time requirements like audio and video. Too bad
the max cable length is so short. 5 meters or so IIRC. Ethernet is
the obvious choice if you want to be able to scatter boxes around the
house/office/studio/... Assuming you don't want to deal with a repeater
every 5m.
Which applications care about latency?
Live work.
There seem to be three different versions of what this box is going to be:
1. A pro-level digitizer. LOTS of inputs / outputs, VERY high quality components, high sample rate, high resolution, high bandwidth, suitable for studio and stage work. This is probably where you've got the most margin, but also the smallest segment, and hardest to get into. Price tag in the low thousands of dollars. May or may not have some chunky signal processing hardware built in. Must have balanced inputs and 48V phantom supply.
2. A semi-pro-level / amateur mastering sound card with external connection box. Better than PCI sound cards, but not used for pro gear, and particularly not for live work. Balanced inputs still important but not essential, 48V not essential. Latency still important, but most amateurs will work around it if they have to.
3. A consumer sound card. Balanced inputs are probably a disadvantage (because they'll confuse the customer). Round-trip latency not an issue, since it'll probably only be used for playback and games etc.
For 1, low latency is critical. You want as little delay between the sound hitting the mic and it being returned to the speakers as possible. If the delay becomes noticeable to the ear, you're in trouble. Also any processing you do in the loop adds to the delay, so you can't eat the whole delay budget in your digitizer. Ethernet is simply not good enough; USB2 might be good enough; 1394 is probably good enough; PCI is definitely good enough.
>> > The "external" box could be a 5.25" bay-box, assuming it could be EMI
>> > insulated well enough.
>>
>> I like the 5.25" box idea. Gives the end-user the option of internal or
>> external. Does anyone sell a off the shelf 5.25" aluminum box with EMI
>> gaskets?
>
> As I said, if you want pro / semi-pro to look at it, it's gotta be 19".
5.25" < 19" therefore no problem. Even I can fabricate rack ears for
a 5.25" box.
True. But you probably can't fit 60 XLR connectors on a 5.25" faceplate :-) It again all comes down to which market segment you're targetting; for pro gear, you want as many as possible; for consumer gear, you don't need many (and they won't be XLR).
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