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| Below
the VU section is the Master Reverb panel, with controls for Decay, Diffusion,
Brightness and Room Size (“Room,” “Hall” or “Church”).
A Preset button opens a window of reverb presets (initially blank until
favorite settings are stored here), and the master reverb return is either
on or off (no level control) according to the Bypass button. Under the reverb section, there are buttons for Source Select, Presets (snapshots of the entire console available for instant recall), Advanced and Patch Bay. The Source Select button determines whether the sampling rate is internally clocked at 32/44.1/48/96 kHz or externally for incoming S/PDIF signals. (SCMS is thankfully deactivated.) The Advanced button opens a window that monitors the status of the I/O driver pairs (active or inactive), shows the serial number and registration key number, adjusts the ASIO buffer and sample size and gives the option for the program to issue warnings on sample rate errors. New in the Advanced window (Version 2.2) is output level selection for playback channels 1 through 4; all four can either output +4 dBu or -10 dBu—no mixed choices. Incidentally, output channels 5 and 6 are -10dBu RCA plugs. The Patch Bay window allows most conceivable routings; for example, playback channels 1 and 2 can be assigned to output jacks 5 and 6. However, one cannot connect playback channels 1 through 6 correspondingly to outputs 1 through 6 while still monitoring all six through the DirectPro headphone jack. This limitation is surmountable with the use of external monitoring equipment, such as a small mixer. While “Analog 1, 2 Out” has its own patch point, “Analog 3, 4 Out” and “Analog 5, 6 Out” share their patch points with “S/PDIF L/R Out” and “Headphone L, R Out,” respectively. This can create limitations as with the previously cited example. The Patch Bay also includes a test tone, which can route to all three output points at once. PRACTICE
The gain for analog inputs is well-thought out, with three separate gain stages, all optimized for their range: one for large amounts of mic preamplification, one for nominal amounts and one for line-level inputs. Although the line amp only allows up to 9 dB of gain, the mic pre’s provide up to 75 dB. Input gain is done in the analog stage to maximize audio level before the A/D conversion. The discrete, eight transistor-per-channel preamps sound very good—the specs boast a frequency response of 1.6 to 200k Hz (at -3 dB). Acoustic guitar, banjo, snare and vocals were captured extremely well, retaining their brightness without sounding brittle. While playing along to the DAT, DirectPro followed the clock of the DAT machine, which was playing at 48 kHz. Next, I tried recording the same instruments at 96 kHz. Reproduction quality was predictably better—increased definition was accentuated by the quietness of the card. The combination of discrete mic pre’s with 24-bit resolution makes this setup a real bargain. One disadvantage of selecting a 96kHz sampling rate is that the EQ, compression and reverb are disabled, but I really didn’t use them that often. Although the reverb is handy for monitoring while overdubbing, the EQ and compression are not very effective. For example, the low-frequency knob is fixed at 220 Hz—almost useless as a bass roll-off. The high frequency is set at 8 kHz, where 12 kHz or higher might have been a better choice. The mid frequency is adjustable but with no bandwidth selection, and it is stepped at frequencies that are too far apart, especially below 1 kHz and above 5 kHz. Additionally, the compressor cannot be used solely as a limiter, nor does it provide a gain-reduction meter. The lack of visual confirmation of its action was unnerving.
Reprinted with permission from 
Magazine, May, 2001© 2001, Intertec Publishing, A Primedia Company All Rights Reserved [an error occurred while processing this directive]  |
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