Product Review - RME Fireface UCX
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Reviews : Computer Recording System
Can the iPad really be a serious recording tool? When you add a state-of-the-art audio interface from RME, quite possibly...
Being the jaded, cynical hacks that we are, it takes something a bit special to provoke excitement at the SOS office, but RME’s UK distributor achieved just that when he dropped off a product so new it hadn’t even been announced to the world. Yet the Fireface UCX’s exciting qualities might not be obvious from a quick inspection. Housed in RME’s familiar half-rack case, and bristling with socketry, it looks almost identical to the existing Fireface UC, reviewed in SOS September 2010 (www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep10/articles/rme-fireface-uc.htm) and Fireface 400, reviewed in SOS July 2007 (www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul07/articles/rmefireface400.htm), and boasts exactly the same complement of inputs and outputs.
Unlike its siblings, though, the UCX ships with a stylish remote control modelled after RME’s Babyface interface/monitor controller. Meanwhile, a quick inspection of the back panel reveals that like the larger Fireface UFX reviewed in SOS January 2011 (www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan11/articles/rme-fireface-ufx.htm), the UCX features both USB2 and Firewire connectivity. It also features newer converters, which are said to offer still better noise and distortion measurements than existing RME interfaces.
However, the really exciting features are the ones that are hidden from view. Like all RME interfaces, the UCX works with the company’s acclaimed TotalMix control software, which is almost certainly the most comprehensive low-latency monitor mixing and routing utility available with any audio hardware. But the addition of the ‘X’ to the product name denotes that, unlike the standard Fireface UC, this interface shares the enhanced hardware processing features of the flagship Fireface UFX; so, not only does its TotalMix FX utility give you all of the usual dizzying possibilities when it comes to mixing and routing, but you also get EQ and dynamics on every input channel, plus global reverb and delay as auxiliary effects.
What really raised temperatures at the SOS office, though, is the feature I’ve saved until last. An apparently minor addition to TotalMix is the ability to store up to six complete Fireface UCX setups in the unit’s firmware, whence they can be recalled using the front-panel controls in situations where the unit is not hooked up to a computer. This permits the UCX to be used as a stand-alone mixer and format converter, but is also key to an ability that is currently almost unique: the Fireface UCX can operate as a multi-channel audio interface for Apple’s iPad tablet computers. There, I told you it was exciting!
Totally Mixed
I’ll report back on the iPad functionality presently, but first, a brief overview of how the Fireface UCX functions as a conventional audio interface — brief, because it does most things in ways that are familiar from the Fireface UC and the Fireface UFX, so I’ll refer readers to those reviews for more detail.
As mentioned above, the UCX can connect via Firewire or USB, and requires separate drivers for each protocol; if you’re likely to swap, you’ll need to install both. In general, RME’s policy seems to be that if they can make it digitally controllable from software, they will, and in fact there are no analogue controls on the unit at all. Everything from preamp gain and phantom-power switching to headphone volume and output levels is controlled digitally, and the single front-panel control is an endless rotary encoder which can be switched to manipulate various important parameters. When the Fireface UCX is connected to a computer, these controls simply mirror actions that could be performed just as well by adjusting controls in RME’s TotalMix FX software, but you don’t have that option when the UCX is used stand-alone, or as an iPad interface.
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Mon 21 May 2012
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