F.A.Q.
(Frequently
Asked Questions about the Aark24)
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- Is
the noise from my computer going to get into my audio?
- How
easy is it to install?
- Are
there any DMA or IRQ settings I have to change?
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What
is the background of Aardvark and the Aark24?
The
technology in the Aark24 comes from Aardvark's experience
in making professional converters and low-jitter
master clocks that make high-end workstations easier
to use and improves their overall sound quality.
Just ask any professional Recording Studio or CD
mastering facility and they'll be able to tell you
about how our low-jitter clocks make their 24 bit
workstations and 24 bit digital mixers sound a whole
lot better. You'll
be able to hear our quality and expertise when you
check out the Aark24, but you don't have to spend
an arm and leg to get it. We use the same technology
and components in the Aark24 as we do in our other
high-end products so you can make a truly professional
workstation out of any PC!
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Does
the Aark24 really sound better than other high-end
audio cards?
Absolutely.
The main difference is in the quality of the components
and our innovative design. We use premium A/D
and D/A converters and our proprietary low-jitter
clock technology to bring you an audio system that
was designed from the ground up to sound phenomenal.
The switchable balanced/unbalanced analog I/O jacks
ensure optimum signal levels compatible with all
your studio gear. Every component in the Aark24
is truly state of the art, producing the high detail
and resolution that's required in a professional
workstation.
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Is
the noise from my computer going to get into my
audio?
Not
at all. Notice there's no noisy AC power cord on
the back? The Aark24 uses a double-stage power
filter to keep the AC noise away from our high-resolution
converters! Also, our A/D converters are in a shielded
breakout box that is far away from the noise and
interference present in your computer. We know that
high-end 24 bit audio conversion simply cannot be
done inside the computer, so we custom designed
the shielded breakout box enclosure to deliver a
remarkably quiet audio environment. If you look
closely at our PCI Host card, you'll notice that
we were careful enough to put another shield covering
all the critical components on the card inside the
computer, too. This guarantees absolutely no interference
and also protects the system from electrostatic
discharges. Most high-end workstations don't even
go this far!
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How
easy is it to install?
The
Aark24 practically installs itself. It is true 'Plug
and Play' with no difficult parameters to change
or menus to go through. All you do is put the card
in, connect it to the breakout box and run the setup
disk. Then just click on the Aark24 icon on your
desktop and you've got yourself a professional multichannel
workstation!
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Are
there any DMA or IRQ settings I have to change?
DMA
and IRQ problems are a thing of the past with the
Aark24. It's a PCI card that reads the audio right
from the hard drive so it doesn't even use the complicated
DMA channels. As far as IRQ's are concerned, your
Windows PC will assign an address to the Aark24,
but our card won't even use it! This allows the
Aark24 to quietly share an IRQ setting with existing
hardware in your PC. This frees up your computer
resources and frees you of any installation hassles
-- no worries about altering your other IRQ settings!
Even if you're running the card at the full-duplex
10 in/10 out, it's not going to use any more IRQ's!
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Can
I download anything to see how the Aark24 Control
Panel works?
All
you have to do is go to our driver downloads section
of the Aark24 and download the latest driver. This
is the actual working driver for use with Aark24 hardware,
so you can see just how easy everything installs.
Once
you've got Aark Manager up on your desktop you'll
quickly get a feel for how easy it is to use. All
the control you need is right there at your
finger tips: digital peak meters, sync functions,
software driver assignments, pro/consumer settings,
application status reports, level and panning controls
and most importantly the Monitor Mixer bus that
lets you create a separate stereo sub-mix to your
speakers.
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What
software works with the Aark24?
Because
the Aark24 uses standard stereo MME drivers and
ASIO drivers for WIN 95/98, it pretty much works
with anything. It's been thoroughly tested
with the software from the following manufacturers:
Steinberg Cubase TM VST/24, Steinberg
WaveLab TM, Steinberg Nuendo TM,
Sonic Foundry Sound Forge TM, Sonic Foundry
CD Architect TM, Sonic Foundry ACID
TM, Sonic Foundry Vegas TM, Syntrillium
Software Cool Edit Pro TM, SEK'D Samplitude
Studio TM, SEK'D Red Roaster TM,
Cakewalk TM Pro Audio, I.Q.S. SAW plus
TM, SAW plus 32, Canum Computer TM
Quartz Pro Audio TM and we also are the
only fully integrated multichannel and multiclient
solution for the powerful Nemesys TM
GIGASAMPLER TM!
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What
is ASIO, and how does it work with the Aark24?
ASIO
stands for Audio Stream Input Output. It is an audio
software format developed by Steinberg, the creators
of the popular Cubase VST and Wavelab audio software
packages. ASIO was designed to drastically reduce
the latency (the lag time between on-screen clicks
and drags and their effect on the audio stream) inherent
in PC based audio recording systems.
Aardvark
PC interfaces have been shipping with custom ASIO
support for Steinberg's Cubase VST since September
1998. Our low-latency, real-time integration makes
the Aark24 & Cubase VST one of the most powerful
workstations available!
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I've
heard that the Nemesys GIGASAMPLER runs great on
the Aark24 - is this true?
The
Aark24 features flawless multichannel and multiclient
support for GIGASAMPLER, by Nemesys Music Technologies.
GIGASAMPLER is the first digital sampler to stream
samples real-time directly from the hard disk when
played from a keyboard controller or another MIDI
device. Huge instruments can be loaded in seconds,
rather than minutes. Aardvark was the very first
hardware manufacturer to offer true multichannel
and multiclient compatibility with Gigasampler.
The Aark24 is delivers 8 channels of simultaneous
output from GIGASAMPLER's gigabyte worth of custom
samples!
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Will
the Aark24 easily integrate with my MIDI sequencer?
We
fully designed the Aark24 to be perfectly integrated
with any MIDI setup. The MIDI in and MIDI out jacks
on the back of the Aark24 breakout box eliminate
the need for external MIDI interfaces. Set up the
MIDI application take the timing from the audio
card -- it's as easy as that!
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Can
I use all the 10 inputs and 10 outputs at the same
time?
When
we say full duplex, we mean full duplex! With the
Aark24 , you can use all 8 analog and 2 SPDIF digital
inputs and outputs at the same time. Using the ADAT
I/O, you can transfer 8 tracks digitally from your
ADAT to your PC's hard drive while using the SPDIF
I/O as well. This means you can do simultaneous record
and play with as many channels as your computer can
handle.
The
maximum number of channels that your multitrack
audio software can handle depends on many things:
The speed of the computer, how much RAM you have,
how fast your hard drive is, and the efficiency
of the software application your using. Our Minimum
Requirements are a 200MHz Pentium with 64 MRAM
and an IDE hard drive, which should allow recording
of all 8 analog or ADAT channels at the same time.
Faster and more powerful systems can take full advantage
of the 10-input/10-output power of the Aark24 -
or allow you to use multiple systems in the same
PC for tons of I/O!!
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I
use both balanced and unbalanced gear -- Can I
still use an Aark24?
The
¼" input and output jacks on the Aark24
can be set to +4 dBu balanced or -10 dBv unbalanced
levels. This means that the Aark24 interfaces
to any mixer, MIDI instrument, or outboard gear!
The signal levels for each analog input and
output can be switched between balanced and
unbalanced levels in the Aark Control Panel.
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Can
I transfer audio digitally between my Aark24 and
my ADAT? What about other digital multitrack recorders?
The
Aark24 ships standard with ADAT "lightpipe"
I/O on optical jacks and a 9 pin ADAT Sync port. The
lightpipe I/O gives you 8 track, all digital transfer
between your ADAT and your PC multitrack audio software
while the ADAT Sync allows you to slave your ADAT
to Aardvark legendary synchronization technology!
That's right, the power of an Alesis ADAT is included
in the Aark24!
If
you are using a Tascam digital multitrack (DA-88,
etc.) or any digital mixing console, you can transfer
8 tracks digitally from the TDIF port of your Tascam
gear into your PC with our Aark TDIF PCI card. The
Aark24 and Aark TDIF cards integrate seamlessly
on a single PC! This means you can bring digital
audio into your multitrack software via the Aark24
, and output that audio via the Aark TDIF - or vice
versa! For more info about the Aark TDIF, check
out our website or ask you local Aardvark dealer.
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How
can I get AES/EBU digital audio into the Aark24?
Aardvark
sells separately both AES/EBU to S/PDIF and also
the S/PDIF to AES/EBU adapters. These hook up to
the S/PDIF input and output on the Aark24 with an
RCA connector to give stereo AES/EBU I/O into and
out of the Aark24. Just change the setting in the
Advanced Tab to 'Digital Professional' and you now
have the full AES/EBU I/O on standard XLR connectors
to interface your Aark24 with any pro digital gear.
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Can
I use more than one Aark24 system in the same computer?
Absolutely.
You can use up to four if you like! For each complete
Aark24 system you'll need an available PCI slot.
The Aark Control Panel automatically recognizes
each card installed. You'll also need to make sure
one Aark24 is the Master. Connect the Word Clock
output of the master to the Word Clock input of
the slave(s) - you'll have all the I/O you could
ever need with sample accurate sync! We recommend
at lease an EIDE, ATA, or DMA hard drive for use
with multiple Aark24's. SCSI hard drives will give
best performance. You'll also need at least 128
MB RAM and a fast microprocessor - a 333MHz Pentium
or better.
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For
professional applications, can I externally sync
the Aark24?
As
you may have guessed, the Aark24 has sync connections
on the back panel so it will work in any professional
or project studio. The Word Clock in/out is standard
on all professional digital audio gear and is used
to keep it in sample accurate sync with the
rest of the setup. Usually this is when digital
mixers or other workstations or MDM are involved.
Make sure that you select "Word Clock"
from the Aark24 Control Panel's Sync Selection drop
down menu.
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When
will there be NT drivers? What about Mac Drivers?
Will Aardvark support BeOS?
We're
working on the Win NT/Win 2000 drivers as well as
Mac and BeOS support - look for these to be available
in the 4th Quarter of 1999 and the 1st
Quarter of 2000!
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What
is the warranty and how much is tech support?
The
Aark24 comes with a 1-year full warranty. All the
tech support you need to get up and running is just
a quick phone call away.
Tel:
734-665-8899
Fax:
734-665-0694
The
Aark24 sounds awesome, where can I get one?
Aardvark
PC audio products been shipping in quantity since
May 1998 and are available in almost any country all
over the world.
U.S.
and Canada: Please call 734-665-8899 for local dealer
information.
What
other products does Aardvark make?
Our
background is in professional digital audio and we
have really made a name for ourselves in low-jitter
master clocks. This is most common when studios have
a lot of pro digital audio equipment and want to make
sure their converters sound great and the whole studio
integrates perfectly together.
If
your studio has any of the following systems, you
might want to check out some of our low-jitter
sync products to make your professional studio
sound better and work more reliably.
Workstations:
Digidesign Pro Tools TM, Sonic Solutions
TM, Sadie TM, Soundscape TM
MDM:
ADAT TM, ADAT-xt, DA-88 TM,
DA-38 TM, DA-98 TM, Fostex
TM, Akai TM
Digital
Mixers: Yamaha TM O2R and O3D, Tascam
TM, Mackie TM d8b TM,
Otari TM
Browse
around the rest of our web site to see all the high-end
gear we manufacture!
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