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- Path: menudo.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!usenet
- From: iddos@math.tau.ac.il (Iddo Ilan)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
- Subject: FOLLOWUP: AD516 16-bit direct-to-hard-disk audio board
- Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.audio
- Date: 11 Mar 1993 17:01:14 GMT
- Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
- Lines: 90
- Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
- Distribution: world
- Message-ID: <1nnr8qINNq86@menudo.uh.edu>
- Reply-To: iddos@math.tau.ac.il (Iddo Ilan)
- NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu
- Keywords: hardware, audio, sampling, hard disk recording, commercial
-
-
- [MODERATOR'S NOTE: This is an update of a Iddo Ilan's previous
- review of the AD516, posted on January 27, 1993. Please read the
- original review for more detailed information about the product.
- You can find it in the c.s.a.reviews archives; see the Monthly
- "Introduction" Posting to learn how to do this. - Dan]
-
-
- AD516 UPDATE
-
- Some weeks after I wrote and sent the AD516-V2.05 review, I received
- the V2.06 update by mail. I understand from Blue Ribbon (authors of
- Bars&Pipes) there is yet a newer version of the Studio16 Bars&Pipes modules,
- fixing the yet unfixed bugs, available either with the B&P 2.0 (is that
- available yet?) or downloadable by modem. I tried to download it, but
- didn't find it. SunRize, via a reader of the group, conveyed that a V3.0 is
- coming soon.
-
-
- ABOUT V2.06
-
- This version is better than the previous one -- it now runs without
- crashing on an A3000 with B&P. One button named "test" tests only your mouse
- click (instead of playing a sample), and another button does its job only
- when it is NOT pressed, but none crash. My main gripe is that sample
- playback still is not fully predictable (due to delays, etc.).
-
- One cure Blue Ribbon offered to my inability to play short,
- repetitive samples predictably is to load them to RAM: disk, and play them
- from there. Another idea they offered is to clone the problematic samples
- and play the clones alternately (so the poor samples can rest in between).
- Later, I had the same timing problem with long, non-repeating samples: they
- started late if another sample finished playing just before, even if only
- one channel was active. This is partly because the AD516 seems to gasp upon
- changing its playback rate, and my samples were sampled at different rates.
- (By the way, there is no way to find this information short of opening the
- full Studio16 editor for *each* sample.) And partly... beats me!
-
- On the A2000, the AD516-B&P combination is still unreliable. Worse:
- through recent misfortunes and frequent changes of platform, I found out that
- B&P, the MIDI support for Studio16/AD516, is not so reliable as is. Since
- we're dealing with precise timing here, this is important: B&P/A2000 does
- not produce its displayed BPM. On the 3000, it produces a stable BPM equal
- to its displayed BPM minus one (says my Yamaha drum machine). On the 2000,
- it oscillates at least +-0.5 BPM around its display (says an Alesis drum
- machine), and at moments I could swear it slowed down when the AD516
- played back a sample.
-
- Note, this should not prevent useful work with any of the above
- tools! I guess B&P just barely makes it on its own on the 2000, and adding
- an AD516 is stretching it too far. Now, the 3000 quirk is just plain weird.
- (And very easy to get around -- you simply build a conversion table in your
- head, "Amiga - 1 = Yamaha", and continue from there.)
-
-
- STATUS
-
- In the letter that accompanied V2.06 update, sent 29-JAN-93, SunRize
- states the product is in Beta status. A distribution version is expected,
- according to that letter, in two weeks (mid-February), incorporating
- beta-testers' bug reports. The AD516 was not sold or advertised as beta.
-
- Readers who wish to avoid such after-sale surprises should verify
- the version number and its status before purchase. With the digital I/O
- board, be advised to verify its actual existence.
-
- Personally, I don't like the life of a beta-tester, so I returned
- the card to the distributor, and in my current project I'm using a
- distribution version Akai S1000.
-
-
- CORRECTION
-
- Some GURUs I originally reported were traced after long exhausting
- weeks to my 6-month-old 2091 HD. So AD516 is not to blame for *those*. But,
- wait a second! I checked the AD516 on a 3000, too! Well, I guess the
- AD516/B&P performance on the previous review was equal on a faulty A2000 and
- a functioning A3000.
-
- CONCLUSION #2
-
- Never unconsciously beta-test and diagnose a 2091 at the same time,
- kids. The vapours will kill you.
-
- ---
-
- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews
- Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu
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-