Making Music
  Computer Music Software and Hardware

Go direct

One of the card's most interesting and unique facilities is DirectWire. This is a feature of the E-WDM driver that allows you to transfer digital audio between different applications, even if they are using different drivers.

Supported drivers include MME (for WinAmp, WaveLab and Cakewalk), Multi-MME (for Sonar, PowerDVD and Win DVD), ASIO (for Cubase, Logic, Nuendo and Reason), GSIF (for GigaStudio). In many cases you could simply export audio from an app and import it into another program but where this is not possible, DirectWire offers a solution.

Hey - let's call it a...

Apart from having what is probably the worst name of any product in the history of digital audio hardware, the MI/ODI/O is simple and easy-to-use. It's an optional add-on for any of the Waveterminal 192 cards and it adds an optical digital input, a S/PDIF In and Out and a MIDI In and Out to the system.

It connects to the Waveterminal card with a ribbon cable. The optical input is on the card's backplane while the S/PDIF I/O and MIDI I/O hang off the end of a short connection cable. There are no extra drivers to install - the 1902L having done all that - so installation is simply a matter of plugging it in.

If you need an optical In then one might be tempted to ask why not buy a card so-equipped in the first place. Like-wise with S/PDIF. MIDI is a different kettle of coconuts because many quality audio cards, unlike consumer cards, do not include a MIDI interface. If you only need one MIDI I/O, there is a certain amount of sense in having it linked to the audio card. However, it is only one I/O. It might be enough for many folk, particularly if they're computer-based, but if you have a couple of sound modules or more than one MIDI input, one I/O may not be enough. Something to consider. But then at the price it's a good value add-on.

Check the specs of the 192L and you might expect a dynamic range slightly better than 100dB and 104dB, but there's more to audio quality than a few benchmarks and the card sounds excellent. As a cost-effective move up to 24-bit recording, the system is very attractive.