Into Home Recording? Book Some Time In The Omni-Studio - Page 2

The Audigy card had Soundblaster's LiveDrive front bay, which made recording, in some respects, fairly easy. You could plug a microphone in the front. Or amp modeling boxes like Roger Linn's AdrenaLinn unit. But the LiveDrive bay only has a single quarter-inch jack. Needless to say, stereo recording was out of the question, as was real-time monitoring. Recording a vocal isn't that difficult without real-time monitoring, although many vocalists are much more comfortable singing when they have reverb or echo on their voice. But an unprocessed instrument like electric guitar is much more problematic. The level of distortion impacts the timing of notes, particularly on lead parts. And it's much more difficult to judge an effective take without being able to hear what the guitar sounds like with its amplifier tone.

Enter The Omni-Studio

M-Audio's Omni Studio consists of two components: their Delta 66 PCI soundcard, and their Omni I/0 breakout box. Installing the two was a revelation: real-time monitoring? No sweat. Low latency? Under five milliseconds. Stereo inputs? Piece of cake. Other inputs? Check these out, from the M-Audio Website:

Neutrik connectors (XLR and 1/4" TRS)

mic/instrument preamps with 66dB gain

48V phantom power, individual gain controls, 20dB pad and signal/clip indicators

line inputs 3 and 4 (1/4" TRS)

4 direct outputs (1/4" TRS)

effects sends with level controls for each of the four D/A or direct monitor signals (1/4" TS)

stereo monitor outputs w/ level control (1/4" TRS)

stereo record outputs for mixdown deck (independent of monitor level) (1/4" TRS)

2 stereo headphone outputs with individual level controls (1/4" TRS)

stereo effects return (1/4" TS)

direct monitoring with full level and panning control

aux inputs 1 and 2 individually routable for monitoring or recording

master output signal/clip LEDs

S/PDIF digital I/O (coaxial) with 2-channel PCM

SCMS copy protection control

digital I/O supports surround-encoded AC-3 and DTS pass-through

up to 24-bit/96kHz performance

Having the M-Audio card revitalized my Adrenalinn box by allowing proper stereo recording--and monitoring. It revitalized my guitar synth by allowing it to track much better than it did before.

Article Author: Ed Driscoll

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