The EM Poll

ECHO DIGITAL AUDIO MONA 24/96 (WIN)

Apr 1, 2001 12:00 PM, By Scott R. Garrigus

           

Since its introduction at the 1999 AES convention, Echo Digital Audio's Mona hard-disk recording system has garnered considerable praise from personal-studio owners. Mona joins the Layla, Gina, and Darla audio interfaces as the newest professional-level, all-in-one solution in Echo's line of cross-platform recording products.

The Mona system includes a PCI interface card and a 1U rack-mount breakout box that houses the 24-bit A/D and D/A converters as well as the analog, S/PDIF, ADAT, and word-clock I/O connections (see Fig. 1). A 15-foot cable connects the card to the box and lets you put some distance between the converters and your computer.

BOX TOPS

On the front of the breakout box are a power switch/indicator, input level displays, a headphone jack with accompanying gain control, and four universal analog inputs with gain controls. There's also an undocumented ¼-inch jack labeled Remote, which Echo says is for a possible remote control add-on.

The rear panel provides six balanced +4 dBu XLR analog outputs with matching -10 dBV RCA jacks and 24-bit S/PDIF I/O on RCA jacks, ADAT optical I/O, word-clock I/O on BNC connectors, and a DB9 port for the cable that connects to the PCI card. The analog I/O uses 24-bit, 1285 oversampling converters, and the system supports sample rates between 8 and 96 kHz.

Echo bundles demo versions of several Windows audio applications and an unrestricted version of Syntrillium's Cool Edit Pro SE. There's no printed documentation for Cool Edit Pro SE, though Mona itself includes a printed manual.

PLATFORM COMPATIBILITY

Before buying a Mona system, download Echo Reporter, a free diagnostic tool (see Fig. 2). (A copy is also provided on the CD-ROM that comes with the system.) Echo Reporter tests various components of your computer to determine how well it will function with Mona. Echo has specific recommendations for the type of system its card will work with. The company suggests a version 2.1 PCI BIOS and a genuine Intel Pentium processor and chip set or an AMD Athlon/Duron processor with the recent AMD or VIA chip set. (Problems have been reported with certain CPUs and chip sets; see the company's Web site for details.)

Echo also recommends that you disable your computer's system sounds when installing and using Mona. Most system sounds have very low sample rates, and if Windows plays a system sound while you record or play audio, Mona's sample-rate clock will reset. If you lock the sampling rate from Mona's console, you shouldn't have a problem. Alternatively, you might consider using a second sound card for system sounds.

Mona runs on Windows 95, 98, and ME; Mac, Windows NT/2000, and GigaSampler (GSIF) drivers are in beta. BeOS drivers are also in development. The system supports ASIO and DirectSound, and it should work fine with any Windows audio software. The company has a software-compatibility list on its Web site and an extensive FAQ about the system and its operation.

I had no trouble installing Mona on my Pentium III/700 MHz machine running Windows 98 SE. I popped the card into an empty PCI slot and connected it to the breakout box. When I rebooted, Plug and Play worked its magic, and I was all set.

MONA CONTROL

With the exception of analog input levels, which are set on the breakout box's front panel, Mona's parameters are controlled with the included Echo Console software. Console provides a single screen of faders and buttons that let you set output levels, select synchronization settings, and adjust input monitoring (see Fig. 3).

Echo Console is divided into three sections: inputs, monitors, and outputs. Inputs are represented as six meters, two for each input pair and S/PDIF left and right. Below each set of input meters is a corresponding set of monitor controls. You can adjust each input channel's gain, and each channel can be muted, soloed, and panned. Also, you can gang the faders in each pair.

The most powerful monitor feature is the ability to establish independent input-monitor mixes for each output. For example, you could monitor input pair 1/2 at -12 dB through output pair 1/2, at 0 dB through output pair 3/4, and at +3 dB through output pair 5/6. This capability is especially helpful if you use Mona without a separate mixing console.

Echo Console also lets you set sync options. Mona can slave to word clock, S/PDIF, and ADAT. It can also generate those sync signals and even translate one clock format to another. Because there is no MIDI I/O, SMPTE/MTC sync isn't provided.

There's one additional sync option called Esync, which is a proprietary clock signal that lets you lock multiple Mona units together to expand your available audio connections. In fact, you can lock together any number of 24-bit Echo cards (Mona, Layla24, Gina24, or Darla24) using this option—all you need are slots to put them in.

MULTIPURPOSE MAGIC

Mona's universal inputs are very versatile. In fact, Echo calls them universal because they accept any type of ¼-inch or XLR connector and any analog source, including mic, line, and guitar. When you connect a mic with an XLR jack, Mona activates a built-in mic preamp (which is nice and quiet) automatically, and the gain range of the input's accompanying trim knob is 20 to 60 dB. In addition, the input impedance of the mic pre is 1.5 k□. Mona can provide phantom power at the flip of a switch but only does so globally. That means if you have one mic that needs phantom power and another that doesn't, you're stuck. Typically, that is a problem only if you use a ribbon mic.

Inserting a ¼-inch connector deactivates the mic preamp and inserts a line-input amplifier. If you use a TS ¼-inch plug, the connection is unbalanced; if you use a ¼-inch TRS plug, the connection is balanced. In either case, the trim-knob gain range is 0 to 40 dB, and the input impedance is 10 k□. This impedance is too low for nonactive guitar pickups, so Mona provides a Guitar switch for each input. When activated, the Guitar switch changes the input impedance to 107 k□, and the trim-knob range becomes 10 to 50 dB.

My only gripe about the inputs is that there aren't enough of them, especially for live recording. At one point I had a lead vocal, a background vocal, a guitar, and a bass connected to Mona, and that left no room for other inputs, such as synths or electronic drums. There are some work-arounds without adding a second or third Mona. For example, you could premix several sources at your mixing console and then connect the console's output to two of Mona's analog inputs. Alternatively, if you have a mixing console with S/PDIF output, you could premix through it and still have the four analog inputs free.

I don't have a digital console, so I used my DAT deck as a work-around. I connected my mixer's analog outputs to the DAT's analog inputs and then connected the DAT's S/PDIF output to Mona's S/PDIF input. That gave me a flexible stereo mix in which I could include drums and synths, and I still had the four Mona inputs free for other instruments. Of course, the drums and synths had to be premixed, and I was relying on the quality of the A/D converters in the DAT deck. But with a little ingenuity, Mona can be quite flexible.

IN THE LINE OF DUTY

I tested Mona using a variety of applications, including Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge, Steinberg's Cubase VST, Syntrillium's Cool Edit Pro, and Cakewalk's Pro Audio—with nary a problem. Windows treats each of Mona's I/O pairs as a separate sound card, so you can easily assign tracks to individual inputs and outputs. In digital-audio sequencers that provide virtual mixing consoles, such as Pro Audio and Cubase, Mona's output pairs show up as separate mains. I recommend you set the output levels in Echo Console and control them from your sequencing software.

I like Mona's flexible I/O options. You can use analog I/O and S/PDIF (but not ADAT) simultaneously, and the S/PDIF connections can handle up to 24-bit resolution. But I did run into a problem when I connected the S/PDIF output to my DAT deck so I could use the DAT's meters to monitor the signal. My DAT is a consumer model, and Mona was transmitting data in the Professional (IEC-958 Type 1) format, so the DAT didn't recognize the signal. After I opened Echo Console's Preferences dialog box and changed the S/PDIF output format to Consumer (Type 2), I was up and running. Mona also ignores the SCMS copy-protection bit.

Mona's sound was excellent, regardless of which outputs I monitored. Even the unbalanced RCA connections provided amazingly clear audio.

WISHFUL THINKING

Most of the minor problems I had while working with Mona were easily remedied, though I wish it had more inputs. Perhaps if the input meters on the breakout box's front panel were eliminated (meters are in the software), there would be room for at least two more inputs.

Aside from that, though, I enjoyed putting Mona through its paces. For a personal studio, Mona is useful and convenient. For small sessions or multitrack hard-disk recording, it's an all-in-one solution. A separate mixing console isn't really necessary, and without one, there's less noise in the signal chain.

Mona provides high-quality, clean-sounding analog and digital audio, a variety of sync methods, and 24-bit resolution, all in a sleek-looking, 1U rack-mount box. Even at $995, that is one heck of a deal.