The Link.USB is our highly portable computer audio interface for connecting two channels of high-quality audio from the real world into your Mac or PC computer using a common USB connection. As cost-effective as it is compact, Link.USB doesn't chintz out when it comes to sound quality. For the Link.FireWire 4x6, Tapco started with two of the best mic preamps available in any audio interface at this price range. These Mackie-designed preamps will capture the subtle nuances of any sound you throw at them. Any mic, line, or instrument input is connected via 2 Neutrik XLR/TRS combo connectors.

NAMM Update: The TAPCOLink.FireWire 4×6 audio interface is a portable recording solution for musicians, composers and producers. The interface offers a 4-input/6-output format, and is bus-powered and compact so you can easily take it with you.

Features:

• 4-input/6-output
• Superior sound quality
• Low-latency 24-bit/96kHz operation
• Mackie-designed high-headroom/low-noise mic preamps
• 48V Phantom Power
• Dual combo mic/line/instrument inputs
• Main Line outputs
• Stereo Headphone output
• Stereo S/PDIF I/O
• Complete Front Panel control of all I/O
• Ultra-portable with FireWire bus power
• Includes Tracktion Music Production Software
• Mac or PC compatible
• ASIO2, WDM, and Core Audio compatibility
• Kensington Lock Port
• Collapsible swivel-foot for easy transport

Making A Connection.By Pete GardnerIf you’re choosing a new audio interface or a new computer, what are the pros and cons of the many different connection protocols that are on offer?Is it better to buy an audio interface that connects to my computer by USB, Firewire, Thunderbolt or PCIe? Which will still be usable in five or 10 years’ time? And why aren’t there more USB 3 interfaces around? As our options for getting data from A to B increase — USB 3, Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 have all recently been added to the mix, while PCIe, USB 1, USB 2 and Firewire 400 and 800 interfaces remain available — such questions are often asked by pro and home-studio users alike. In this article, I’ll try to tell you what you need to know when investing in an audio computer and/or audio interface.Before I dive into the details, it’s worth noting some good news: despite various generations of USB, Firewire and Thunderbolt all being employed in current products, backwards compatibility is included as part of the latest standards. Most Firewire 400 devices can operate on Firewire 800 connections.

With an adaptor, many can connect to a Thunderbolt port too. Similarly, most USB 1 and 2 devices function quite happily when connected to a USB 3 port. Namie amuro live style 2014 flac.

That said, there are, unfortunately, a few exceptions.At the time of writing, USB 2 is the most common type of PC data connection in general use, but it’s clear that USB 3 will be similarly widely adopted, and many motherboards are now being released with more USB 3 sockets than USB 2 ones. Thankfully, USB 3 is designed to be backwards-compatible. In practice, that has worked well with most general-purpose peripherals, but some users of older USB audio interfaces have experienced unexpected problems when trying to connect via USB 3 ports. Similar teething issues were experienced with some USB 1 devices when USB 2 was first emerging and, just as we did back then, we’ve seen continued firmware and driver updates from the audio interface manufacturers — all of which means that such quirks are becoming fewer as time marches on.The USB 3 standard is certainly mature enough at this point that any new interface you purchase in future should already have any such problems ironed out. If you’re buying second-hand, though, it would be worth a quick Web search to check for known issues on the specific model in question. In the event that you do experience compatibility issues, though, it’s probably not the end of the world: current motherboards continue to include a small number of USB 2 headers, so you’ll have a stable fall-back option until any remaining teething issues are dealt with by the interface manufacturer.Many users have expressed surprise at the relatively slow uptake of USB 3 by audio-interface manufacturers, and it’s only in recent months that we’ve started to see more than the first couple of USB 3 models brought to market.

While USB 3 does offer some advantages, there are several good reasons for the apparently slow progress.First, there’s the issue of bandwidth, of which USB 2 offers plenty for most home-studio applications. The USB 2 specification states that it has the ability to transmit data at up to 480Mbps, but due to bus constraints, the way the data is handled, and designers leaving headroom to ensure the best possible results in day-to-day use, even a well-designed USB 2 interface is likely to have a throughput closer to 280Mbps.Let’s translate that into more practical audio terms. At the theoretical maximum USB 2 bandwidth, you’d be able to record just over 40 tracks of 24-bit, 96kHz audio, while halving the sample rate to 48kHz would give you 80 tracks. Staying at 24-bit/48kHz, consider a more realistic real-world USB 2 bandwidth of 240Mbps (a slightly conservative figure, giving us plenty of overhead to allow for the connection limitations discussed earlier): you’d still have the ability to work with up to 40 channels of broadcast-quality audio simultaneously! Yet there are some companies who squeeze far higher channel counts from their USB 2 audio interfaces by building their own USB controllers. These tend to be among the more costly options, due to the extra work and design choices that go into developing and optimising this sort of solution.

By way of example, RME’s MADIFace USB is a USB 2 bus-powered 128-channel digital audio interface. This is made possible by the use of the MADI protocol for handling the data transmission, which is far more efficient than the native audio-over-USB standard.Many manufacturers of USB 2 interfaces also cater for higher sample rates, including 96, 192 and 384 kHz, but these eat into the USB bandwidth: every time you double the sample rate, you double the amount of data. To take that 240Mbps example I used earlier, you’d have around 35 simultaneous channels at 96kHz, about 17 at 192kHz and eight or nine at 384kHz. Manufacturers will tend either to offer fewer but higher quality (in terms of preamps, A-D and D-A conversion and so on) channels of I/O, or simply to restrict the number of I/O which may be used at certain sample rates.

So, while it’s true to say the bandwidth of USB 2 does present limitations, it’s probably also fair to say that for most home-studio users these days they’re not all that limiting in practice. After all, how many of us can hear a difference between 96kHz and 192kHz recordings?The on-paper bandwidth of several different protocols appears similar, but in practice the bandwidth is more restricted than these figures show, particularly for variations on the USB protocol. Firewire and Thunderbolt require less ‘headroom’.According to the specifications, USB 3.0 can achieve an impressive 5Gbps but, just as with USB 2, this is reduced in real-world implementations. In practice, it tends to be closer to 3.2Gbps — over 10 times the bandwidth of USB 2.Manufacturers are beginning to take advantage of the better capability of USB 3. While there are not yet many USB 3-specific interfaces, the early trend is towards models with a higher I/O count, and support of more channels at the higher sample rates. This looks like being good news for those who either want to hook up lots of outboard or run large recording sessions, but who are unhappy with recording at 44.1 or 48 kHz — it should push the prices of such systems down in the long run.It might seem like early days for USB 3, but we’re already starting to see the newer USB 3.1 standard appear on computers — notably on some new Apple MacBook and Google Chromebook portable models, but also on some desktop PC motherboards. The ‘USB 3.1 Gen 1’ (‘Gen’ meaning generation) ports found on the laptops mentioned don’t offer greater speed/bandwidth than USB 3.0, but they provide greater standardisation of the feature set and improved efficiency.An even newer USB 3.1 Gen 2 is also emerging.

This offers the features of Gen 1 but doubles the speed, increasing the theoretical throughput to 10Gbps, as well as improving data encoding to reduce the overheads. We can expect real-world connections to offer bandwidth in excess of 7Gbps, which is more than double that of USB 3.0 and 3.1 Gen 1.As before, there is a variety of physical connectors for the new standards, which can make things confusing. The Apple and Google systems mentioned earlier use the new USB Type-C connector, which features a smaller, reversible plug design. Just to confuse things further, Asus, who have 3.1 motherboards already available, and a number of manufacturers who will be updating their product ranges over the coming months, have adopted the higher–speed Gen 2 ports, whilst still keeping the classic single-orientation USB connector design.Another potential benefit of USB 3 (all generations) is that its ports can make more current available for bus-powered devices: 900mA, rather than the 500mA offered by USB 1 and USB 2. This should, in theory, allow manufacturers to develop better bus-powered interfaces, either with more facilities or more channels of the same.

I say ‘in theory’ because most models haven’t yet taken full advantage of this extra power. On the audio interface side, drivers and performance have come a long way in recent years.

For many small recording-studio situations, as well as those working mostly in the box with few sounds sources to record, USB remains a good, reliable option. Thanks to its widespread adoption, the multitude of interfaces available also find themselves competing for market share, and this helps keep them keenly priced. Despite the increasing adoption of USB 3, don’t discount USB 2 interfaces: they offer more than many of us need and, currently, do so for less money than dedicated USB 3 devices.Those who need to add Firewire support to a desktop machine can do so easily via an inexpensive PCIe card. If you want a laptop, though, you’ll need it to be one with a Thunderbolt port and to invest in an adaptor, and while most Macs offer these ports, your options are going to be more limited with other brands. Some audio interfaces, like the newest Universal Audio Apollos, use the bandwidth and performance offered by Thunderbolt, as they host DSP plug-in processors as well as delivering audio to and from the computer.Finally, we come to Thunderbolt, which on the face of it holds the most promise for audio applications.

Several interfaces that offer large numbers of high-quality I/O — some with on-board DSP processing to boot — have been available for a while and more will follow. But we’re already seeing more affordable units too, including those with few I/O. Well, Thunderbolt offers the same benefits as Firewire did. Not only does that mean good low-latency performance, but also the ability to daisy-chain devices. In practice, that didn’t always work so well with Firewire, but that was largely because of the more limited bandwidth.

Sony support. Sony Support ICD Series. ICD RECORDER PDF Specifications; ICD-BP150. All Downloads Manuals Questions & Answers. Product Alerts. Purchase Parts and Accessories. Find replacement remote controls, parts and accessories. How to set the date and time on the IC Recorder. The Digital Voice Editor Software Can't Transfer Audio. This dedicated software enables the playback of compressed IC Recorder voice files (.DVF and.MSV) with the Windows Media® Player application, version 6.4 or higher. It also provides the following benefits: Resolves an issue where the counter stops before the end of the playback when playing a message longer than one hour.

There’s much more available with Thunderbolt, which could make Thunderbolt audio devices appealing given the relatively limited connectivity offered by most modern laptops: not only does it mean you don’t need an adaptor, but it could also free up USB ports for external drives, iLok dongles and so on. All contents copyright © SOS Publications Group and/or its licensors, 1985-2020.

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