M-Audio's Midiman "Delta 66 - Omni I/O PC Studio"

[pisces7378]

I live in Europe (Munich Germany) and have read in the January issue of a british magazine called "Sound On Sound" about this new "all in one" Delta 66-Omni I/O package. The magazine seemed to love it. They went on about how it "...answeres the prayers of those that want to record guitar and vocal tracks on a home computer..." Someone on this website also recomended this set up to me. I realize that it is new and that not many of you will own it and maybe not even read about it. But what do you guys think about it? It sounds like the way to go for me. I just want to use my Roland JV 1010 Sound module with my Roland MIDI master keyboard to generate bass lines and drum tracks. Using my Audio Logic Platinum software as a notation writer and sequencer. Then add guitar tracks and vocal tracks using my Compressor mic to mic the acoustic guitar and for vocals. Remember I work completely alone.

Now I haven't exactly dove in yet. All of this is still very much "in theory" for me. I have bought my computer and it fits all the specs that EVERYONE on this website says is ok. And I have the money for the rest. Now my only glitch is... Can SOMEONE please explain to me what a MIDI interface is? I realize that the title "interface" is self explainatory, but I went to a music store and held one in myhand and all I saw was 2 "MIDI IN's" on the front, and 2 "MIDI OUT's" on the back side. What good could that do? I realize that I sound a bit dumb so don't laugh. Just some kind soul please bite your lip and explain it to me please. And remember that the Kahrma comes back and nice deads today become riches tomorrow .

Now one FINAL question. Windows Millinium Edition (Me). The computer that I just bought has Win ME on it. I have always seen the Win 98 pushed heavely for home recording. Is this a problem for me? So far I haven't even bought and installed eMagic's Audio Logic Platinum 4.5 software. (Althought that is what I plan to buy). And the Delta 66 Omni i/o is still on the music store shelf. So is the Roland JV 1010 and the master keyboard. But these are what I am planning to buy. Will they all work with the Windows ME? Or am I just being paranoid? Thanks guys. Hell of a website, really!!!

Thanks,
Mike

 

[AlChuck]

I can put in good words for the Delta 66. Don't have the Omni I/O -- I have a small mixer instead. As to the debate between ME and 98, I suspect there's little difference unless you are trying to use the newer WDM drivers, which had a technical issue that caused them to have a latency problem. The solution to that is in the works and when it propogates and everything catches up, it should be killer. From the M Audio website:

"When the WDM spec was first released by MS it mandated that audio had to pass through the internal MS Kmixer in all cases. The Kmixer unfortunately introduced a 30 ms delay in any audio that was passed through it. This initially made the WDM spec appear to be unusable for recording audio applications since a 30 ms delay is unacceptable for doing sound on sound. This problem was brought to the attention of MS and after a few months a “fix” or workaround was suggested that was acceptable to MS. This fix allowed the KMixer to be circumvented.

"Some software companies have or are now implementing this work-around in their applications. These should be released soon as updates or upgrades. Once this fix is implemented, the latency of audio in these applications is not only reduced, but can be better than typical latencies introduced by other Windows-based operating systems/drivers (VXD, NT etc.) (italics mine). Contact your preferred software company to find out how they are dealing with this WDM issue."

I also suspect that the older-style drivers, the so-called ME (multimedia extensions) drivers, will work about as well on ME as on 98SE.