Fresh Fish 5/FreshFish_July-August1994.bin/useful/reviews/hardware/audio/ad516audioboard

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-27 | 9KB

Path: menudo.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!usenet
From: [e-mail] (Iddo Ilan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: AD516 16-bit direct-to-hard-disk audio board
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.audio
Date: 27 Jan 1993 17:18:35 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
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Reply-To: [e-mail] (Iddo Ilan)
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Keywords: hardware, audio, sampling, hard disk recording, commercial


PRODUCT NAME

    Sunrize AD516 16-bit digital signal processor (DSP) card for
    digital direct-to-hard-disk recording.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION

    This is a 16-bit digital recording device on a Zorro card.  The
package includes the Sunrize AD516 board, Sunrize Studio16 software 2.05, and
Bars&Pipes ("B&P") Studio16 modules for using the AD516 from Bars&Pipes.
Features include:

    Digital multitrack direct-to-disk recording.
    16 bit (delta sigma) at 14 rates 5.5 - 48KHz.
    LTC SMPTE reader, MIDI control and auto-sync via Bars&Pipes.
    Frequency Response     15Hz-22KHz
    Typical S/N ratio     87 dB
    DSP             ADSP2105, 10 MIPS
    tracks             5 tracks on 2000, 8 on 3000
    Pan & volume         adjustable & MIDI-controlled per track


AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

    Name:          Sunrize industries
    Address:    2959 S. Winchester Blvd., Suite 204
            Campbell, CA  95008
            USA

    Telephone:    [phone]
    FAX:        [phone]    [the manual is incorrect]


LIST PRICE

    $1595 (US).  In advertisements, I've seen it for $1300-$1400 (US).


SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

    HARD DISK SPEED
        The product assumes HD access time of regular 2091 & 3000HD
        or faster.  Slower disks (magneto-optical, Syquest, Maxtor
        Tahiti, etc.) may work but with fewer tracks, more RAM
        buffers, faster CPU, and/or slower rate.


    HARD DISK SIZE
        16-bit sampling @ 44.1 Khz needs 5.3 MB disk space per track
        per minute.
        This means one needs both an HD as big as possible AND a
        fast and massive backup device to backup tracks during and
        after jobs.  Operators on other platforms use their audio
        DAT tapes for backup - this makes great sense but is yet
        unavailable on the Sunrize system.

    RAM
        I tested AD516 on 3MB. I don't know the minimum RAM.  Default
        channel buffer is 256K * [number tracks played], so I guess
        at least 2MB are assumed.

    CPU
        It worked for me, 4 tracks@44.1 KHz, with 2000/68000 and
        3000/68030.  If you want 8 tracks, the manufacturer requires
        a 68030.

    SOFTWARE
        No special official requirements.
        In practice, under Kickstart 1.3, the B&P virtual track
        module crashed upon running.  Under 2.0, the virtual track
        did not crash at once, but only after some minutes.


COPY PROTECTION

    None.


MACHINES USED FOR TESTING

    Model    RAM    CHIP    Kickstart    HD
    2000    3MB    1MB     2.0        40MB
    3000    3MB    1MB    1.3/2.0        40MB

    (It crashed so badly on the 2000 that the vendor lent me a 3000
    for further testing.  It still crashed a lot)

DOCUMENTATION

    The incomplete manual came with an apology -- and a promise to send
the final manual later.  Nothing has arrived in the last month.  The MIDI
appendix is missing:  there's a "READ.ME" file instead.  At the end of that
file, there is a remark about how in some situations you may have to lower
the number of tracks, etc.  Does this remind you too of the legal argument
in the opening episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide?


COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

    AD516 is one of the most cost-effective multitrack boards on any
platform.  But unlike the AD516, other boards sometimes have digital I/O,
MIDI support, and customer support.

    Amiga

        The French Xanadu is, as far as I know, the only other pro
        system on the Amiga. Xanadu has digital I/O and some MIDI
        clock support, but requires 68030 for 2 tracks! Just like a
        Mac. I don't know their price.

    Mac

        The equation "68030 = 2 tracks" is common in the Mac world.
        DigiDesign-AudioMediaII/Cubase on the MacIIVX or more are
        similar products, but they cost much more than an
        Amiga 2000/AD516/B&P.  The last Mac-based studio I used had a
        full-blown Quadra-based system with editing features Sunrize
        does not even mention, but it charged $100 an hour.  With
        some stable MIDI implementation, I could compete against
        that studio over film music and remix jobs -- from my
        desktop.  (This story is continued in CONCLUSIONS, below.)

    PC
        The only pro PC board I've heard is Turtle Beach combination
        digital recorder plus Proteus-on-a-card. The system I saw
        run on 386, had no digital I/O and syncing it with MIDI was
        difficult.  I've seen ads for Windows-Cubase, but haven't
        heard it; it may be the only working low-end configuration
        available today.


WARRANTY

    1 year, original purchaser only, defective materials/workmanship.


REVIEW & BUGS

    Studio16 software is quite stable and very modular.  Some modules can
be run multiple times simultaneously.  There is a sexy view-meter,
transport, SMPTE clock, mixer with level sliders, a cue list, open samples
list, and an editor. The editor has effects that are no better than those
found on Amiga 8-bit editors (no stretching).  You can edit two or more
tracks/samples in sync, non-destructive or destructive editing, etc.

    With interlace on, it looks professional.  It is amazing to see 4
editors open on same window with a pointer that moves over them all to show
the current point in the song.  All that on an Amiga 2000!  There is a
background grid -- but unfortunately only in frames/seconds/minutes and not
in music bars (like B&P).

    You can record tracks while recording others, bounce tracks, etc.
Available rates are up to 48Khz.  Various sample formats are supported,
CDTV's RAW included. 16-bit samples can play simultaneously with 8-bit
samples.

    AD516 + Studio16 has various uses:

        1 - SMPTE-reading soundtrack-production multi-track

            This obviously was the premier target in this
            product.  If you are in video, this is a very
            attractive deal.  I haven't tried the SMPTE (I'm not
            in video).  I tried 4 and 8 tracks @44.1 and they
            seem OK.

        2 - MIDI SAMPLE PLAYER

            Samples are supposed to be triggered from B&P by
            piping "note-on" events into Sunrize-Out module in
            B&P.

            Problem 1: They don't more than they do.
            Problem 2: They behave erratically and crash.
            Problem 3: There is no pitch-shift feature, so this
                   is OK for effects, not music.

        3 - MIDI virtual track(s?)

            This is where dreams come true.  With B&P's "virtual
            track" module you can open an audio track window on
            B&P' screen. I tried opening a few.  I tried
            different platforms. No matter what I did, it
            crashed within minutes, and in those - was almost
            uncontrollable. It looks & feels distinct beta.

            Based on my experience in those few minutes, I suspect
            real sync is not available, "punch-in" is not
            available, and micro-timing vocals (like, for raps)
            will be tiresome if not impossible.

        4 - Remixing tool to/from DAT

            All the AD516 lacks for that are digital I/O ports,
            so HD/DAT connection remains in digital domain
            without generation loss.  Such a port is under
            development -- it has a name, DD524, but no release
            date or price is announced.  It is planned to provide
            quick & cheap backup (of both Studio16 samples and
            other data) to user's DAT plus enable audio CD
            mastering.


CONCLUSIONS

    The product was released August 1992:  5 months ago.  However, in
contrast to the good hardware (and possibly SR software) performance, the
weakest link in the chain -- the MIDI modules -- reduces the costly product
to beta quality or less.

    It could, and still can, blossom to be the elegant and powerful tool
my peer group spent its youth dreaming of -- but currently, as a result of
the above, the product is unfunctional -- except perhaps as a non-MIDI
digital multitrack (sounds like a novelty hack).

    It's shameful that, while Microsoft Windows has MIDI integrated in
system, Amiga developers count on video alone to supply the elusive
"multimedia solution."  It used to be the other way around.