[ddots-l] Re: Good news regarding inexpensive interfaces
- From: "Tim Burgess" <tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 11:57:56 -0000
Likewise, I've got the original and I've also supplied the EX version to
some of my customers. Sometimes it's a fiddle to get the drivers in place
but, once done, it's as solid as a rock. New units are starting to look a
bit pricey in the UK compared with the Focusrite Saffire 24 units, though.
Best wishes.
Tim Burgess
Raised Bar Ltd
Phone: +44 (0)1827 719822
Don't forget to vote for improved access to music and music technology at
<http://www.raisedbar.net/petition.htm>
http://www.raisedbar.net/petition.htm
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Gordon Kent
Sent: 03 January 2011 02:55
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Good news regarding inexpensive interfaces
Bryan:
Yeah I've had a ua25 kicking around for years and it still works fine. They
are very solid. Mine is the original so it doesn't have the compressor.
Gord
----- Original Message -----
From: Bryan Smart <mailto:bryansmart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2011 8:22 AM
Subject: [ddots-l] Good news regarding inexpensive interfaces
Among the gloom and doom of inaccessible interfaces, I?ve had a recent good
find for those on a budget.
Cakewalk UA-25EX
This is basically a Roland-built interface. Has been out for a while, but I
must have just missed it. I have an Edirol FA66, and it looks very similar,
if you?ve seen that one before. It is also quite similar in construction and
appearance to the older Firebox, though with higher quality controls.
The most important things about it are that it uses a USB interface, so is
widely compatible, has stable drivers in both ASIO and WDM mode, is fairly
inexpensive (well under $200), and is 100% accessible. There are lots of
physical controls, but, for everything else, the control panel software uses
standard Windows controls that should all read perfectly with any screen
reader (tested with Jaws, NVDA, and Narrator).
There are a few drawbacks. It is a simple 2 in, 2 out interface, but, for
people recording at home on a budget, that won?t be a big deal. It can
record at 96Khz, but there are some limitations. You can work without
limitations at 48Khz or 44Khz at up to 24-bit, though, which will be fine
for most people.
Assuming that those aren?t a deal breaker for you, this is what you get:
· Solid all-metal construction
· Two front-panel combo jacks (1/4? line level, ¼? High-Z instrument
input, or XLR mic with phantom power).
· Digital in/out (optical)
· Hardware monitoring of the inputs, controlled with a simple
front-panel knob.
· A simple limiter/compressor for the inputs, controlled with a mode
slide switch and an amount knob.
· A ground lift switch, to remove hum that might be picked up from
your laptop?s power supply
· Operates in a simple driver mode (class compliant), or in an
advanced mode (ASIO direct monitoring and other features, but requires
UA-25EX drivers)
· Simple MIDI (in/out)
· Physical controls for adjusting the gain of the individual inputs,
selecting mono/stereo mode for the two inputs, selecting between analog or
digital inputs, adjusting the limiter/compressor mode and amount, adjusting
the direct monitor gain, ground lift on/off, selecting the sample rate,
selecting the driver mode, phantom power on/off, and others.
It has drivers for XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Mac, including 32 and 64-bit.
In Windows 7 64-bit, I got stable performance out of it with 4Ms latency.
That isn?t bad for a USB interface. Sound quality is really good.
The limiter/compressor is a nice feature, also. Particularly for novice
users, it is a really nice safety to keep you from accidentally clipping if
you aren?t an expert in setting good levels. In limiter mode, the input
signal is smoothed out to prevent clipping, and the front-panel knob adjusts
the threshold. There are two compression modes that, when on, cause the
front-panel threshold knob to apply gain reduction and makeup gain at the
same time. A fairly fast attack and slow release are preset, so this is
intended to help smooth out input levels, rather than for squishing dynamic
range. Used lightly, I could imagine this being a big help to a vocalist for
getting a quicky track recorded. Of course, you can switch this off.
The whole thing, preamps included, is USB bus-powered, and the case is
extremely rugged (you could toss it around, drop it, sit on it, and it
wouldn?t break). Several places are selling it for around $170 right now.
That?s a really good bargain, I think, given the construction quality,
stability, features, and out-of-the-box accessibility.
By the way, my recent accessibility testing of interface after interface has
been brought to you by Dancing Dots. If you think that you might like to get
one of these, please consider supporting this sort of testing by getting one
from DD. You can send an enquiry to admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, or call
610-783-6692 during normal business hours.
Bryan
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