Is This Something That I Should Wait For And Hope The Best Out Of This ?

[Monsieur]

I was about to buy to either the delta 1010 or Rme Hammerfall 9652/alesis AI-3,after i did my research from your help.Then i heard of this .
What you think i should do?

The Multiface is not only Multi because of the many different interface formats supported, but also Multi-channel! Based on the technology of the Project Hammerfall the Multiface includes ADAT optical I/O, ADAT-Sync In, SPDIF I/O, MIDI I/O, word clock I/O and a separate analoge line output. On top we provide 8 analog inputs and outputs, balanced and 96 kHz/24 bit, of course. All this can be used on notebooks as well as on desktop computers with the same 'zero cpu load' and low latency!

8 x analog line I/O, 96 kHz/24 bit, SNR >106 dBA, 1/4" TRS jacks
1 x ADAT digital I/O, based on RME's reliable Bitclock PLL
1 x SPDIF digital I/O, based on RME's reliable DIGI96 technology
1 x ADAT Sync In (9-pin D-type) for sample accurate transfers
1 x Word clock I/O (BNC)
1 x analog line/headphone output, separate mixer for independent submix
1 x MIDI I/O, 16 channels high-speed MIDI
DIGICheck DSP: Level meter in hardware, peak- and RMS calculation, direct status interface
TotalMix: 720 channel mixer with 40 bit internal resolution
S/MUX poured in hardware: 12 channels 96 kHz/24 bit for record and playback on ADAT optical

...and numerous other features found already in the Hammerfall series. And all this for an unbeatable price!

The Hammerfall® DSP System comes with drivers for Windows 98/ME (MME with multi-client operation, ASIO 2.0, GSIF), Windows 2000 (MME with multi-client operation, ASIO 2.0) and MacOS (ASIO 2.0).



The small box using half the space of a 19" rack doesn't show the included outstanding power and extensive features at first glance. The front panel hosts some useful status LEDs, like MIDI state, lock state of the digital inputs and error state of the host-bus. Additionally there's a high-quality 24 bit/96 kHz analog line output, also usable with headphones, and one MIDI I/O.



We think the little Multiface is an unrivalled flexible and powerful unit. Why? Have a look at its back: 8 analog line I/Os on 1/4" TRS jacks (balanced, 24 bit/96 kHz), ADAT optical I/O (switchable to SPDIF optical), ADAT-Sync In, SPDIF I/O coaxial, word clock I/O and MIDI I/O. Can there be more? We doubt...



The parts of the Hammerfall DSP System can be combined freely. Therefore the Multiface can be used with notebooks as well as desktop computers. The connection to notebooks is achieved via a CardBus interface, the connection to desktops via a PCI interface. The interfaces are sold separately.



Settings Dialog

Just click on the hammer symbol in the systray of the taskbar and the settings dialog of the Multiface comes up. The clear structured, easy to understand window plus the unique informative status windows for input signal, clock mode, sample rate and time code make your work with Hammerfall DSP System to a real pleasure. With a simple mouse click (or a freely configurable key shortcut) you gain access to the full power of your card.

When working with several digital sources it is not only necessary that these are all properly locked, they also have to be totally synchronized. Else drop outs and crackling occurs. RME's exclusive SyncCheck checks all input signals and displays their actual state.

A display of the time code at the ADAT Sync-In port offers a quick check of the communication between external device and Hammerfall.





Technical Specifications and Features

Supported sample rates: 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, variable
8 buffer sizes/latencies available: 1.5 ms, 3 ms, 6 ms, 12 ms, 23 ms, 46 ms, 93 ms, 186 ms
ASIO zero CPU load technology: 0 (zero!)% CPU load when using ALL 36 channels!
All settings changeable in realtime
Clock modes slave and master
Automatic and intelligent master/slave clock control
Special sample buffer avoids noise even in asynchronous Full Duplex operation
Enhanced Mixed mode: All inputs and outputs simultaneously operational
Unsurpassed Bitclock PLL (audio synchronisation) in ADAT® mode
Enhanced Zero Latency Monitoring for latency-free submixes and perfect ASIO Direct Monitoring
Comes with DIGICheck: the ultimate measurement, analysis and test tool
Dynamic ratio analog I/O AD: 106 dBA, DA: 110 dBA, THD+N: 0.002%
Input 8 x line (1/4" TRS jacks), 1 x optical (TOSLINK), 1 x coaxial (Cinch), 1 x MIDI, word clock (BNC), ADAT Sync
Input format SPDIF, AES/EBU (Consumer, Professional), ADAT® optical
8 x line (1/4" TRS jacks), 1 x optical (TOSLINK), stereo analog line (TRS), 1 x coaxial (Cinch), 1 x MIDI, word clock (BNC)
Format output SPDIF, AES/EBU (Consumer/Professional), ADAT® optical



Unique Technologies in Hammerfall DSP

AutoSync: Intelligent clock control according to operational mode and present/desired sample rate.
Bitclock PLL: The most reliable receiver circuit for ADAT optical signal.
Enhanced ZLM®: Monitoring of the input signal, independent from clock mode and sample rate.
DIGICheck DSP: Professional status and level display at lowest CPU load.
Latency Fast Change: Change latency on-the-fly under ASIO, without manual reset or re-boot.
SyncAlign®: Surveillance and sample accurate synchronization of all channels.
SyncCheck®: Comparison and display of all input's clock status.
TotalMix: Mixes all inputs and all outputs on all outputs. Several independant submixes possible.
Zero Latency Monitoring (ZLM®): Automatic monitoring of the input signal with zero latency.

A complete overview of all the unique technologies in the Hammerfall series can be found here.



Prices

Multiface: -
Multiface + PCI Interface: -
Multiface + CardBus Interface: -

All prices MSRP US$ incl. VAT. Shipping April 2001

 

[skippy]

I'm very much intrigued by this: I've been using the Hammerfall 9652 with Cubase5, and using an Audiophile 2496 just for its MIDI interface and 2 channels of monitor D/A vis SPDIF to the Hammerfall. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably very seriously check out this Multiface box: it sounds very interesting indeed. The RME stuff has been absolutely bulletproof for me: zero problems at all. I'm very satisfied with their hardware under W98SE.

This thing is intriguing. I actually may have to look at replacing my Audiophile with this rig, and keeping the 9652 just to fly 16 tracks back and forth to my Fostex D1624 via the ADAT optical ports. That would give me some truly *absurd* expansion capabilities, I could pull it out and use it to do location recording on the laptop, and it could maybe make for easier overdubs when working on the DAW than using the Fostex just for its converters... Hmm. Very interesting. Think I'm gonna have to look at this a tad bit.

Caveat: if you don't have any hardware to work with yet, it might not be worth waiting for. I have no knowledge of how RME deals with vaporware, or how likely this is to ship this month. It'd be sad to put off the startup of your rig until a vapor product became real, no? It also looks like it uses a "firewire-like" proprietary interface: hopefully they've addressed some of the firewire issues we've heard mumblings about...

 

[Monsieur]

what is firewire ?
I hope that they'll come out soon and right.

 

[skippy]

Firewire: IEEE1394 high-speed serial bus. Think "USB on steroids". Runs about 30x faster, and is a standard that has been looking for more applications for some time now. It's been around for a while, but few applications have existed for it.

With 30x or so the bandwidth, you can run lots more data back and forth, ideally without running into latency problems. USB can really only handle 2 high-quality digital audio streams without timing issues: Firewire should theoretically be able to handle many more (depending upon how clever the firmware authors are). The first few prototype firewire interfaces apparently had some teething problems here (just as the first few USB interfaces did). This will undoubtedly get worked out over time, but the question that you have to ask yourself is: "do I need this badly enough to be an early adopter and help work out the bugs?"

The good news is that RME is pretty damned clever in the driver department, and using a custom processor to handle their audio stream drivers in hardware has allowed them to cut their latency down to the absolute minimums. So if anyone is likely to get the Firewire-driver creation process right on the first try, it's probably them.

 

[Monsieur]

ah,haa,you know your sh*t don't you .Thanx a lot ,that's my point too.I'm woried about being one of the first to stroggle with them to fix the bugs,just like i did with lexico core2 wich never got fix ,you know what i mean .That's why i'm willing to spend money on a good card this time that's how i got to this one.