Path: menudo.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: iddos@math.tau.ac.il (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 Lines: 247 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <1k6g5bINNqt6@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 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: (408) 374-4962 FAX: (408) 374-4963 [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. It cost me a bundle to find it out, but I like to share. CUSTOMER SUPPORT Sunrize acknowledged the problems and blamed Blue Ribbon, which hasn't answered my distributor in the last weeks. CONCLUSIONS I got an important remix project canceled because of this bad surprise. Now my distributor is in the US, trying to get some word from Blue Ribbon. If he fails, I return the product. CUSTOMER SUGGESTIONS Don't believe the hype. --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu