Aardvark Direct Pro 24/96 Review
Jun 1, 2001 12:00 PM, By Zack Price
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Personal-studio owners often face a dilemma when it comes to buying audio cards for their computers. Less-expensive cards never have enough inputs and outputs, but professional-level cards typically offer more I/O than you need in a small studio setup. Why pay for features you'll never use?
Fortunately, Aardvark has introduced a new system that aptly addresses the personal-studio user's needs and budget. The Direct Pro 24/96 offers plenty of analog inputs and outputs without going overboard. It also includes S/PDIF inputs and outputs, a headphone monitoring jack, and software that turns the Direct Pro 24/96 package into a truly self-contained studio system.
THE HARDWARE STORE
The Direct Pro 24/96 consists of three parts: the PCI host card, the audio interface box, and the connecting cable. The card's solid construction and resin-encased processor conveys quality and reliability (see Fig. 1). The powerful digital signal processor (DSP) provides standard digital-audio processing operations and compression, EQ, reverb, as well as a mixing control-panel application for real-time input monitoring.
The card's faceplate provides S/PDIF input and output jacks on coaxial (RCA) connectors. Surprisingly, the S/PDIF jacks aren't located on the interface box, where they would have been more convenient. Instead, the S/PDIF connections are on the card, where they're easier to daisy-chain when multiple cards (as many as four per system) are installed. The first card acts as the master, running on its internal clock. A slave card, set to external clock, syncs to the master card by connecting the master's S/PDIF out to the first slave card's S/PDIF in. That slave card's S/PDIF out then connects to the S/PDIF in of the next slave card, and so on.
A 25-pin port connects the card to the Direct Pro interface box, which houses the analog I/O and the corresponding 25-pin input connector. The 6-foot connecting cable is a standard straight-through pin-to-pin shielded cable, so it might be possible to replace it with a high-quality cable as long as ten feet.
The Direct Pro interface box has four Neutrik combination jacks on the front panel (see Fig. 2). Those inputs can accept XLR mic, as well as ¼-inch balanced (+4 dBu) or unbalanced (-10 dBV), plugs. A phantom-power switch supplies 48V to all four XLR inputs for professional condenser mics and DI boxes that need phantom power. The mic preamps on those four inputs are clean, quiet, and well worth the difference in price between the Direct Pro 24/96 and the less-expensive Direct Pro LX6 (see the sidebar “The Lighter LX6”), which lacks the preamps and XLR connections. The XLR mic inputs on the Direct Pro 24/96 have 60 dB level trim, so you can't plug line-level signals in to them; you must use ¼-inch plugs for that.
The interface box's front panel also provides a headphone jack that is optimized for headphones with 60 to 150 ohms impedance. When simply listening to audio playback from a digital-audio application, the headphone output level is comfortable, but you can easily hear what is going on around you, even with headphones designed to minimize outside noise. That could be bothersome during recording situations. Unfortunately, no front-panel volume control to adjust headphone levels is provided; the software control panel handles that function.
The rear panel features four ¼-inch jacks that provide balanced or unbalanced outputs. Their levels (+4 dBu or -10 dBV) are set in the Direct Pro software. In addition, two RCA jacks serve as auxiliary “consumer level” outputs (-10 dBV). Those outputs can function as the monitor mix for all inputs, outputs, and effects, or as a third pair of outputs (5 and 6), which are handy for surround-sound mixes. A set of MIDI ports on the rear panel lets you connect MIDI instruments or use the interface to produce MIDI Time Code if your digital-audio software supports that capability.
DRIVE TIME
The Direct Pro system comes with MME and DirectX drivers for Windows 95, 98, and ME; ASIO drivers for VST applications; and GSIF drivers for NemeSys GigaSampler and GigaStudio. Drivers for Windows 2000 and the Mac OS should be available soon. The system is fully compatible with Sound Blaster and most other audio cards. Because of hardware conflicts, however, you can't use the Direct Pro 24/96 with Echo cards or Digidesign's Digi 001 system.
| Resolution | 24-bit |
| Sampling Rates | 32, 44.1, 48, 96 kHz |
| Frequency Response | 7 Hz-44 kHz, ±0.5 dB @ 96 kHz |
| Dynamic Range | 110 dB (D/A); 100 dB (A/D) |
| THD+N | 0.002% @ 1 kHz |
| Analog Inputs | (4) combo connectors: XLR mic inputs (60 dB level trim) with phantom power (48V); ¼" unbalanced line inputs at -10 dBV (30 dB level trim); ¼" balanced line inputs at +4 dBu (30 dB level trim) |
| Analog Outputs | (4) ¼": +4 dBu/-10 dBV; (2) aux RCA: -10 dBV |
| Digital I/O | 24-bit S/PDIF; optional AES/EBU |
| MIDI I/O | (1) In, (1) Out |
| Sync I/O | S/PDIF digital clock, MTC |
| Dimensions (breakout box) | 7" (W) 5 2.25" (H) 5 8.25" (D); 2U rack-mount adapter optional |
| Weight (breakout box) | 4 lbs. |
For best performance, adjust the size of the Direct Pro's audio buffers if you plan to play VST instruments in real time using Direct Pro's audio and MIDI capabilities. The default ASIO driver values have too much latency (29 ms); reducing the buffers' sample size brings the latency down to a respectable 12 ms or less. (According to Aardvark, an enhanced ASIO driver with latency as low as 4 ms should be available by press time.)
GigaSampler users will discover that they can play only 16-bit audio, even though the card and the program are quite capable of 24-bit output. That is not a problem with the newer NemeSys GigaStudio, however, because the Direct Pro outputs GigaStudio's audio at 24-bit resolution.
CONTROL-PANEL COMFORT
The Direct Pro's construction and audio quality are indeed impressive, and the software that manages the system is equally so. The Direct Pro's Control Panel window looks and acts like a 1052 hardware mixer, letting you record four channels at once and monitor audio inputs and outputs with zero latency (see Fig. 3).
The four input channels on the left correspond to the physical inputs on the audio interface box. Input channels 3 and 4 can be switched between the third and fourth analog inputs and the S/PDIF inputs on the card. The S/PDIF inputs, however, can't be used as two additional inputs along with all four analog inputs.
The six channels in the middle of the mixer are dedicated to playing tracks from a multitrack digital-audio program; each channel can play more than one track. For example, you can take six rhythm tracks playing back from Steinberg's Cubase VST and mix them in real time with four live mic or line inputs. The total number of tracks depends on your computer's CPU, available RAM, and hard-drive speed.
Each of the four input-channel strips provides adjustable mic- and line-level trim settings, as well as a simple but effective compressor with threshold, ratio, attack, and release controls. In the middle of each channel strip, a 3-band EQ offers a high-frequency control centering on 8 kHz, a low-frequency control centering on 220 Hz, and a midrange control with a frequency sweep between 50 Hz and 15 kHz. You can boost or cut all three frequency bands by 12 dB.
The fader section of the four input and six playback channels features several common controls, including Reverb knobs that control the amount of reverb sent to the channel strips. The input strips provide individual faders along with level meters and pan sliders. The stereo playback channels provide left- and right-channel faders and their corresponding level meters. All the input and playback channels include Mute and Solo buttons.
Stereo buttons to the left of inputs 1 and 3 lock the corresponding channels to their neighbors on the right to form stereo pairs. The Pan controls become locked hard left and right, and changes made to either channel in the stereo pair are duplicated in the other channel.
One advantage of using the Direct Pro's real-time effects is that they don't burden the computer's CPU, because the effects are handled by the onboard DSP. Another important advantage is that you can use the built-in effects without recording them; for example, I like to add reverb when monitoring a vocal track or use EQ as a rough guide for determining later EQ settings without actually recording the effects. However, you can engage the Record FX button on any of the four input channels and then record the effects in real time to the corresponding tracks, though you can't use the built-in effects when recording at 96 kHz.
Preset buttons on the four input channels let you save and recall the current effects settings. However, you aren't limited to recalling the input effects on their original channels; settings that have been used on one channel can be recalled on the other channels too. An overall Preset button, located just below the Master Reverb section, lets you save the current mixer settings, including fader and pan levels, EQ and compressor settings on each input channel, and reverb parameters. The mixer also includes buttons that let you bypass the effects in the input channels.
The Direct Pro 24/96 employs an intuitive drag-and-drop approach to its internal patch bay. Clicking on the Patch Bay button opens the Patch Bay dialog box. As with hardware patch bays, the Patch Bay dialog box lets you reroute audio signals without constantly plugging and unplugging cables. The Direct Pro patch bay, however, also controls virtual inputs and outputs from your multitrack audio program. For example, you can route analog inputs 1 and 2 to their corresponding analog outputs, or you can connect playback channels 1 and 2 from your digital-audio program to the Direct Pro's analog outputs. To monitor the mix of input and playback channels at the same time, drag the monitor connection to any of the desired outputs. Outputs 5 and 6 are the best choices for monitoring, because they're duplicated at the headphone jack.
You can configure the patch bay in many ways; the manual illustrates a number of common configurations. I have one small complaint, though: to disengage an output, you must connect a cable from the Silence input to the appropriate output. That's inconvenient if you want to erase all connections and start from scratch. As a work-around, set up a Silence preset; then you can easily recall it whenever you want. Fortunately, the patch bay lets you create as many presets as you need.
THE SUM OF THE PARTS
The Direct Pro 24/96, in keeping with Aardvark's reputation, is an excellent-sounding digital-audio system. Its mic preamps are quiet and clean, as are the analog inputs and outputs. The card has a wide variety of drivers covering almost every piece of Windows audio software you could imagine. The forthcoming Windows 2000 and Macintosh drivers will make the Direct Pro even more inclusive.
Furthermore, because the Direct Pro 24/96 uses its own DSP and control panel, you can use the breakout box as a standalone mic preamp and effects processor. You must have the computer turned on and the software control panel running, but the capability can come in quite handy when you're not recording to the computer.
The Direct Pro's mixer program, unlike some software mixers that are bundled with audio cards, is extremely useful. Although it adds a layer of complexity between the Direct Pro 24/96 card and your digital-audio applications, the mixer program's power and flexibility more than make up for any inconvenience. Finally, the Direct Pro's onboard real-time DSP, the direct monitoring capabilities, and the included full version of Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 really make this package hard to beat.
Zack Price occasionally writes under the extremely unimaginative pseudonym of Zack Price.
PRODUCT SUMMARY
Aardvark
Direct Pro 24/96 (Win)
audio interface
$699
| FEATURES | 4.5 |
| EASE OF USE | 4.0 |
| AUDIO QUALITY | 4.5 |
| VALUE | 4.5 |
| RATING PRODUCTS FROM 1 TO 5 | |
PROS: Excellent-sounding digital-audio system. Clean mic preamps. Wide variety of drivers. Includes well-designed mixer software. Onboard real-time DSP. Direct monitoring.
CONS: No front-panel volume control for headphones.
Manufacturer
Aardvark
tel. (734) 665-8899
e-mail info@aardvark-pro.com
Web www.aardvark-pro.com
THE LIGHTER LX6
If you don't need the mic preamps that come with the Direct Pro 24/96, you might prefer the Direct Pro LX6. It uses the same card and includes the same DSP capabilities as the Direct Pro 24/96. The analog inputs, however, are line-level only with ¼-inch jacks that accept balanced or unbalanced plugs. The LX6 also provides a volume-control knob for the headphone output (see Fig. A).
The mixer software for the LX6 is identical to the Direct Pro 24/96 software except that the LX6 doesn't have mic input level controls. Instead, its software switches levels between +4 dBu and -10 dBV on the input channel strips.
The basic LX6 package includes Samplitude Project for $499; the LX6/Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 bundle costs $579.
Minimum System Requirements
Direct Pro 24/96
Pentium/200; 64 MB RAM;
Windows 95/98/ME; PCI slot
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