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Focusrite Clarett+ series announced
New range comprises three USB interfaces, each boasting Focusrite preamps with ISA emulation.
Published 9/9/21
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AES3
A digital audio interface which passes two digital audio channels, plus embedded clocking, control and status data, with up to 24 bits per audio sample and supporting sample rates up to 384kHz.
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Antelope Audio Discrete 4 Pro SC interface
Antelope's Discrete 4 is the latest model to gain their Synergy Core processing engine.
Published 2/5/22
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Fluid Audio Image 2
Active Monitors
We test Fluid Audio’s most ambitious monitor yet.
Published February 2023
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AES 2015: Funktional Technologies Chocolate Box (Video)
Andrew Funk of Funktional Technologies has transplanted reclaimed channel strips from Cadac 'K-type'...
Published 31/10/15
Jitter
Jitter in a digital system is a random or deterministic timing deviation from the required periodicity of a reference sample clock.
If affecting the clocking of an A-D converter it causes the analogue signal to be sampled at incorrect moments and thus generates amplitude errors in the digital data which cannot (easily) be removed. If the jitter is random this typically results in a slight increase in high-frequency noise and distortion.
If jitter affects the D-A converter it reproduces the accurate digital samples at slightly incorrect times, resulting in the reconstructed analogue waveform having amplitude errors. Again, if the jitter is random this typically results in a slight increase in HF noise.
More problematic is when the jitter has a deterministic character, often having fixed relationship to the system clocks or interfacing arrangements. This form of jitter creates unwanted spectral or tonal elements, and their typically anharmonic nature often makes them audible even when at extremely low amplitudes.
There are a variety of technical means of reducing and eradicating Jitter and, ideally, in a high quality digital audio system jitter should be in the low picoseconds range. Some digital clocking systems manage to get jitter down inro the femtosecond range!
Many digital interfaces, including S/PDIF and AES3, introduce some jitter (called interface jitter) as an inherent artefact of waveshape distortion caused by cable capacitance or fibre optic dispersion.
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Avid MBox Studio
USB Audio & MIDI Interface
The MBox is back and it’s much better and certainly much bigger than it was before.
Published January 2023
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Antelope Audio - Galaxy 32 Immersive update
The Galaxy 32 Synergy Core now supports surround and immersive monitoring setups up to 16 channels.
Published 22/6/22
ADAT Lightpipe
A widely used eight-channel optical digital audio interface developed by Alesis as a bespoke interface for the company's digital eight-track tape machines in the early 1990s (Alesis Digital Audio Tape). The interface transfers up to eight channels of 24-bit digital audio at base sample rates (44.1 or 48 kHz) via a single fibre-optic cable. This 'lightpipe' and its conenctors are physically identical to that used for the TOSlink optical S/PDIF stereo interface found on many digital consumer hi-fi devices. However, while the light-fibre itself can be used interchangeably for either format, the S/PDIF and ADAT interfaces are not compatible in any other way.
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RME Fireface UFX III announced
RME's latest Fireface offers a total of 94 inputs and 94 outputs, improved A-D and D-A converters, DC-coupled analogue outputs and enhanced digital clocking and jitter suppression thanks to the company's SteadyClock FS technology.
Published 14/3/23
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NAMM 2020 — PreSonus Quantum 2626
PreSonus launched their first Thunderbolt 3 audio interface in their Quantum range, the model 2626. Harking back to...
Published 22/1/20
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Understanding & Solving Ground Loops
Ground Control
Suffering from mysterious hums and buzzes in your studio? This down‑to‑earth explanation will help you identify and solve the problems — or hopefully avoid them in the first place!
Published August 2023
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Q. Is gain staging important when calibrating my console and monitors using pink noise?
While mixing, I usually monitor with the control room level pot on my analogue console set between about four and five (out of 10)...
Published March 2023
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Antelope Zen Q Synergy Core USB unveiled
Bus-powered interface boasts high dynamic range, plus powerful Core DSP/FPGA engine.
Published 18/1/22
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Neumann announce KH 150
The latest monitor in Neumann's KH range is a two-way bass reflex design featuring DSP control.
Published 22/8/22
Termination
Termination has two meanings in the context of audio. One application is simply the type of connector applied to a cable or wire, so a cable might be terminated in a 3-pin XLR plug, for example.
The second application refers to the electrical characteristics of some specific types of audio interface where the cable acts as a 'Transmission line'. This typically occurs where the cable is long relative to the wavelength of the signal it is carrying, so it most commonly applies to digital audio, video signals, and radio-frequency connections — although it can also apply to analogue audio cables when more than a few kilometres long.
When a cable operates as a transmission line it is said to have a 'characteristic impedance' — essentially the impedance presented at its input if the cable was infinitely long. To transfer a signal along the cable efficiently, it is vital that a end of a transmission line is terminated with the same impedance as its characteristic impedance. If it is left unterminated, the end of the cable behaces like a mirror, and signal energy is reflected back along the cable where upon it will interfere with the source signal.
S/PDIF and Video cables normally require a 75 Ohm termination. RF cables usually require either 50 or 75 Ohms, depending on their construction. AES3 requires a 110 Ohm termination and RJ45-style Ethernet cables require 100 Ohms.
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Antelope Audio Zen Go Synergy Core
USB Audio Interface
Antelope condense their considerable know‑how into an affordable, bus‑powered interface.
Published July 2021
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Q. How should I sync up my digital inputs?
My Focusrite ISA428 is connected to my Emu 1212M soundcard via ADAT, and my SPL Channel One is connected via S/PDIF. If I sync the clock on the Emu to the SPL, for example, will I then need the 1212M's sync board to send a Word Clock signal to the Focusrite ISA428?
Published May 2005
Impedance
The ‘resistance’ or opposition of a medium to a change of state, often encountered in the context of electrical connections (and the way signals of different frequencies are treated), or acoustic treatment (denoting the resistance it presents to air flow). Although measured in Ohms, the impedance of a ‘reactive’ device such as a loudspeaker drive unit will usually vary with signal frequency and will be higher than the resistance when measured with a static DC voltage.
Signal sources have an output impedance and destinations have an input impedance. In analogue audio systems the usually arrangement is to source from a very low impedance and feed a destination of a much higher (typically 10 times) impedance. This is called a ‘voltage matching’ interface. In digital and video systems it is more normal to find ‘matched impedance’ interfacing where the source, destination and cable all have the same impedance (eg. 75 Ohms in the case of S/PDIF).
Microphones have a very low impedance (150 Ohms or so) while microphone preamps provide an input impedance of 1,500 Ohms or more. Line inputs typically have an impedance of 10,000 Ohms and DI boxes may provide an input impedance of as much as 1,000,000 Ohms to suit the relatively high output impedance of typical guitar pickups.