TERRATEC DMX 6FIRE

Terratec's latest soundcard promises proper surround support, 24-bit/96kHz recording and low-latency, multi-channel ASIO I/O at an extremely competitive price.

There's been a lot of chat on the SOS web forums about whether or not the average musician is really interested in investigating surround sound. Plenty of professional studios have made the jump to cater for their customers' demands, but this is a seriously expensive undertaking. However, at the other end of the scale, hordes of PC owners are using sets of satellite speakers to immerse themselves in a cheap surround sound games experience.

Most musicians with home studios fall somewhere between these two extremes, and many are keen to try out the possibilities, as long as they don't cost an arm and a leg. Consequently, soundcard manufacturer

Terratec DMX 6Fire £180 pros ASIO drivers provide five stereo inputs and four stereo outputs. Significantly better audio performance than Soundblaster Audigy. Full 24-bit/96kHz capability throughout. Excellent value for money. Waveblaster socket will please DB50XG owners. cons MME drivers only provide a single stereo in and out. WDM drivers let Sonar owners access only a single stereo in and three stereo outs. Digital Xtension connector cannot be used at the same time as the DMX 6Fire module. summary The DMX 6Fire 24/96 provides an enticing combination of features for anyone interested in entry-level surround mixing, and especially those who can use its ASIO drivers; Sonar users, however, may be frustrated by its current lack of WDM multi-channel recording facilities.

Terratec's DMX 6Fire 24/96 is aimed at the same market, but without these restrictions, and is claimed to offer higher overall audio quality. It features 24-bit/96kHz capability throughout, using the same AKM AK4524 converter chips and drivers as its stablemates the EWX 24/96 and EWS 88MT. Like both the Audigy eX and EWS 88MT, it's a two-part design comprising a soundcard and a separate module bristling with sockets, but this time without the option to mount the module externally -- it must be fitted into an internal drive bay. It features both optical and co-axial digital I/O, a mic preamp, MIDI In and Out, and a built-in RIAA preamp for direct connection of a turntable. The DMX 6Fire can also decode Dolby Digital or DTS surround signals, and provides support for A3D, EAX 1.0 and EAX 2.0 surround standards for gamers if required.

The PCI soundcard is six inches long and has four 3.5mm stereo jack sockets on its back panel for Analogue In, Analogue Out Front and Rear, and Analogue Center-LFE for the Centre and Sub connections. On the circuit board are three four-pin connectors labelled CD1, CD2, and Aux, for internal connection of analogue audio from your CD-ROM and DVD drives. The two CD inputs can be used simultaneously, although they still appear as a single input in the utility software. There's also a two-pin connector suitable for CD-ROM drives with TTL digital output, and three multi-pin connectors.

The first of these connects to the front module via the generous 32-inch ribbon cable provided, while the other two will be of interest to previous owners of Terratec's now-elderly EWS64 series of soundcards, as you can use them to attach either a Digital Xtension 'F' or 'R' module, or even the excellent Digital Extension Microwave PC (reviewed in SOS July 1999), which is essentially the 'F' model with an integrated Waldorf Microwave XT synth. Unfortunately, if you do have one of these connected, you can't use the DMX 6Fire module simultaneously, although registered EWS users will be able to purchase a Basic version of the 6Fire card without the module.

The majority of the input sockets are on the module's front panel, and Terratec have tried to cater for just about every possible device. There's a stereo phono Line In/Tape input, and a stereo Phono input complete with RIAA-equalised preamp. This allows direct connection of a record turntable equipped with an MM (Moving Magnet) pickup, although it isn't sensitive enough for an MC (Moving Coil) pickup. The mono Mic In is a quarter-inch jack socket with associated rotary Gain control and Peak LED.

The backplate Analogue Out Front signal also emerges from two places on the front panel -- a pair of phono sockets labelled Line Out, and a quarter-inch stereo jack socket for headphones with associated rotary Level control. The remaining sockets are all digital, comprising S/PDIF co-axial I/O, Toslink optical I/O, and MIDI I/O. There are also useful LEDs that indicate whether the module Line In/Tape, Toslink optical or co-axial inputs have been selected using the DMX Control Panel utility.

This is certainly a comprehensive I/O collection, but there's one further surprise in store when you remove the module's top cover: a 26-pin Waveblaster socket where you can plug in a compatible daughterboard synth such as the Yamaha DB50XG. Many musicians still have one of these, and its audio quality through the DMX 6Fire is likely to be considerably cleaner and quieter than when partnered with older consumer cards. However, Terratec have dispensed with the built-in ROM wavetable synths and SoundFont sampling capabilities that you still find on the Audigy, and a few musicians may miss these options.

Useful extras included with the package are a pair of stereo 3.5mm jack to stereo quarter-inch jack adaptors, a set of drive bay mounting screws, and a two-foot cable for attaching a digital CD-ROM.

Drivers are available for Windows 98 SE, ME, 2000 and XP, and support MME, DirectSound, WDM and ASIO 2.0 formats, but the card cannot be used on the older Windows 95 or NT 4.0 platforms. I installed the drivers under Windows 98 SE, and once I'd separately installed the DMX 6Fire 24/96 Control Panel software I was ready for action, with no problems running the review card alongside my existing Echo Mia and Yamaha SW1000XG soundcards.

The CD-ROM also contains a bundle of software. CyberLink PowerDVD 3.0 lets you play DVD movies from your DVD drive and send the full 5.1 surround signals to the six DMX 6Fire analogue outputs. The Wavelab Lite 2.0 audio editor supports 24-bit/96kHz recording, and Terratec also include an RIAA plug-in for it if you want to alter equalisation settings for some records. In the same vein, Terratec Sound Laundry provides a useful de-scratching and de-noising facility for vinyl freaks. MusicMatch Jukebox supports audio CD ripping as well as playback of a variety of other audio formats, while the Feurio audio CD mastering program lets you burn your own audio CDs. DirectX 8.0a or later should be installed for best performance of the card's drivers, so this is provided as well, and there are plenty of demos of commercial and shareware programs. The final item in the bundle is Emagic's MicroLogic Fun sequencer, which is only supported when running under Windows 98SE or ME, but which in this version supports the new DMX 6Fire ASIO drivers.

The DMX 6Fire Control Panel sports Terratec's familiar midnight blue design, and has its own unique feature set spread over four pages. On the Mixer page you have control over five audio channels named CD 1/2, Line In, Phono/Mic In, Digital In, and WavePlay. The first three have rotary Gain controls, with up to 18dB gain available before the A-D converters to achieve optimum level matching, and two-colour peak LEDs to help you set them up.

CD 1/2 is the combined input from both internal analogue CD sockets: enterprising users could connect a cable from one of these to the outside world to provide them with another external analogue input. Line In conveys a source selected from the module Line In/Tape input, the Line input on the backplate, the internal Aux, and the Wavetable socket, chosen via the channel's Input Source selector, while the Phono/Mic channel options are between these two module inputs. With Phono selected you can disable the RIAA equalisation if you wish, to use a custom filter in your audio software (like the one Terratec supply as a Wavelab Lite plug-in). Digital In can be either optical, co-axial, or internal TTL, while WavePlay is the WAV playback signal.

Beneath the input channels there's a separate Record Source switch, where you can select either CD 1/2, Line In, Phono/Mic In, Digital In, or their combined Mix signal. To create this mix, each channel has a fader that operates over a 45dB range to set relative recording levels, while each slider 'slot' displays pre-fader levels in the form of a peak-reading meter. Each channel also has monitor Mute and Stereo Link buttons.

This is the limit of your I/O choices if you're using the MME drivers, since they appear to applications as a single stereo input and output both labelled 'DMX 6Fire Wave', but you can use the mixer facilities to record any one of the different inputs, or a combined mix of them all. In Sonar the WDM drivers appear as a one-in/three-out device, again with a single stereo input, but this time with separate access to front, rear, and centre/LFE outputs.

However, as I suspected, a far more versatile range of I/O options appeared once I launched Cubase VST and investigated the ASIO 2.0 drivers. This time you get five discrete stereo sources, namely CD In, Line In, Phono/Mic In, Digital In, and Mix In. There are also four discrete stereo outputs to be found in the VST Master Mixer panel, named Front, Rear, Center and Digital, and you could use these either as intended for surround sound, or as a general-purpose eight-channel output configuration.

The Surround page lets you control the relative levels of the various surround channels. All six have meters and faders like those of the Mixer channels, while the Front and Rear channels have additional Mute and Stereo Link buttons. Over on the right, the Master channel also has a fader/meter and Mute button, providing overall level control of all six output channels, and is still visible even when you switch to the other three Control Panel pages.

There are three buttons to select two, four, or 5.1 speaker configurations, along with useful speaker graphics that you can click on with your mouse to hear a test signal when setting up. Beneath these buttons is a

Brief Specifications     Card internal I/O: CD1, CD2, Aux, S/PDIF TTL, optional Digital Xtension module to replace supplied DMX 6Fire module. Card external I/O: stereo line in, stereo Front, stereo Rear, and Centre/LFE outputs. Drive I/O: line in/tape, phono in, line out, mic in, headphone out, co-axial S/PDIF in and out, Toslink optical S/PDIF in and out, MIDI In and Out, internal Waveblaster connector. Input gain control for all A-D converters: up to +18dB in 0.5dB steps, software-controlled. 3D Audio: supports two-speaker, four-speaker, Dolby 5.1, and headphones. Supported 3D standards: DirectSound3D, Sensaura 3D, A3D 1.0/2.0 and EAX 1.0/2.0. Mic input sensitivity: 9mV to 500mV. Phono input sensitivity: 5mV/47k(omega)/1kHz. A-D converters: 24-bit 64x oversampling (part of AK4524 chip). D-A converters: 24-bit 128x oversampling (part of AK4524 chip). Input dynamic range: 100dB (converters only). Output dynamic range: 110dB (converters only). Total harmonic distortion + noise: not stated. Frequency response: not stated. Supported bit depths: 8, 16, 20, and 24 (packed and unpacked). Supported sample rates: 8kHz to 96kHz. Digital I/O: up to 24-bit/96kHz; non-audio mode transmits AC3 and DTS streams. Driver I/O Options MME driver inputs: DMX 6Fire Wave (any single stereo input, or monitor mix). MME driver outputs: DMX 6Fire Wave (stereo Front). WDM driver inputs: DMX 6Fire Wave (any single stereo input, or monitor mix). WDM driver outputs: DMX 6Fire Wave 1/2 (Front), DMX 6Fire Wave 3/4 (Rear), DMX 6Fire Wave 5/6 (Centre/LFE). ASIO inputs: CD, Line, Phono/Mic, Digital and Mix. ASIO outputs: Front, Rear, Centre and Digital.

In the Settings window you can set the sample rate, choose internal or external master clock, and select the source for the digital output from Mix, Digital In, or Wave Playback. If you choose Wave Playback you can also send AC3 and DTS signals for surround work, while Digital In is a loop-through from the chosen digital input channel and Mix outputs the combined signal from the monitor mixer. You can also toggle various S/PDIF header flags including Copyright, Original and Non-Audio, the latter being required if you wish to transfer AC3 or DTS signals from a software DVD player to an external decoder.

The Settings page also provides access to driver parameters, including ASIO 2.0 buffer size and DMA buffer size, which is particularly useful when using Cakewalk's Sonar as it affects WDM kernel streaming latency. Beneath the Master section of each page is a Configurations button, which lets you load and save the complete state of the Control Panel except for the status of the Phono RIAA filter and colour scheme. Finally, the About page provides a readout of various driver version and system information.

Overall I found the Control Panel utility fairly easy to use, although I did experience occasional lockups when changing buffer settings inside other applications while it was still open. However, it was always possible to use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to close it down and carry on normally. I also had a few erroneous sample-rate changes when switching back and forth between Cubase and other applications, but these were easily reversed, and Terratec say that a driver update will have fixed this problem by the time you read this review.

Playback was clean and clear through the DMX 6Fire's analogue outputs, but seemed slightly less focussed and natural than that of my Echo Mia. However, the differences were fairly subtle, and I'm sure most users would be perfectly happy with its performance, particularly at the price. The recordings I made also sounded clean and crisp, and Wavelab measured a typical -93dB RMS background noise for 16-bit/44.1kHz files using the module Line input at a nominal gain of 0dB, dropping to a very reasonable -98.5dB RMS at 24-bit/44.1kHz, and -98.2dB at 24-bit/96kHz. These figures are similar to those of both the EWS 88MT and EWX 24/96, and significantly better than those of the Audigy, the 6Fire's main competitor, which can't manage 96kHz recordings at all.

I did come across one playback anomaly: although it was scarcely audible at normal listening levels, when I whacked up the monitor level I noticed some low-level background D-A hums and noises on my system when using either the backplate or module Line Outs. Strangely, when using the module Line Out they completely disappeared whenever I moved my mouse or computer keyboard, which suggested some sort of earthing issue. The first port of call with problems such as these is to check that the soundcard backplate is firmly screwed down to create a good earth connection, which mine was. However, as soon as I loosened the screws holding the DMX 6Fire module in my drive bay the problem completely disappeared. I strongly suspect that this was an anomaly in my particular system, but you could replace the supplied washers with nylon ones if this happens to you.

In Cubase VST I was impressed with the ASIO driver performance, and on my Pentium III 1GHz PC I managed the lowest buffer setting of 192 samples, giving me an excellent 4mS latency. Terratec also provide useful notes on optimising latency with Cakewalk's Sonar, and by adjusting the DMA Buffer Transfer Latency size in the DMX 6Fire Control Panel to its lowest 1mS setting and then tweaking the buffer size within Sonar I managed exactly the same 4mS overall latency. With the DirectSound drivers I managed a reasonably healthy 25mS latency from NI's Pro 52, but a rather poor 45mS using the MME drivers. However, with latencies of 4mS available to Cubase, Logic, and Sonar owners, who needs MME?

The MIDI In and Out are both simply named 'DMX 6Fire MIDI', but if you've plugged in a Waveblaster daughterboard in the supplied module, you can also use the second DMX 6Fire Wavetable Out, and if you plug in a Digital Xtension 'F' or Microwave PC module instead of the DMX module, you can access their second MIDI In and Out.

Terratec have obviously looked carefully at the entry-level surround market, and their DMX 6Fire 24/96 is aimed fairly and squarely at those who want to try out mixing and playback with surround speakers. Of course there are many other soundcards with sufficient inputs and outputs that could be pressed into service for surround work, but the DMX 6Fire does provide an elegant solution with its global master level control and comprehensive input selection.

I also feel it succeeds far better than Creative's Audigy Platinum eX, whose fixed 48kHz ASIO sample rate and 16-bit recording capability have already frustrated many musicians. You don't get the Audigy's FireWire ports, real-time DSP effects or infra-red remote control, but this is offset by an easier-to-use interface, full 24-bit/96kHz capability throughout, and, best of all, significantly better audio quality. Sounds good to me.

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