(originaly written 1997)- Now the Pinnacle is a new product, and it's a bit more expensive, but it could be what you're looking for if you've got a bit more money to spend and you want to go for cheap direct digital transfer between the PC & a DAT machine at a future date, whilst getting wicked audio quality....and....the Pinnacle also does samplestore, up to 48 mb ram !!!....So it will also act as your sampler....although, like most sampler cards, it is restricted to a maximum 256K sample lenght i believe... (?)... anyone ??
I have not personally used this card...However I would say that I have yet to encounter an un-reliable or poor quality Turtle Beach product...so expect excellent audio quality, & no set-up problems if you do it right !!
If you buy a good card like the Tahiti, it will cost you new 280 quid. If you then want to go for digital S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) transfer to & from your DAT, you would have to buy something like the DAL Digital Only Card D..... which is about 400 quid.
The Pinnacle card, is a very high quality Audio card, (highest audio spec' of any soundcard at the time of writing)... but it accepts an S/PDIF Pinnacle Daughterboard for only 125 quid !!
Now a Tahiti & Digital D card together will cost about 700 quid new. The Pinnacle card with the S/PDIF Daughterboard come bundled together for only 569 new !!!
This means that with a 500 quid PC, 200 quid of s/w (SAW V6), the Pinnacle system for 570 and a DAT, you can start offering digital editing facilities for about 1800 quid total !!........ Not bad eh ?
Anyhow the Pinnacle without S/PDIF costs 450 new, so it's quite expensive for a budget setup, but if you have midi kit and a DAT already, I'd go for the full package, and have the joy of full digital transfer.
Anyhow, here's the spec' list :
- Windows95(tm) Plug 'n Pray Compatible
- MPU-401 compatible
- Hardware Wavetable Synthesis (Kurzweil Synth Engine)
- Channelized Effects for MIDI Synthesis
- 4MB Patch Set - 2MB Wavetable ROM
- User Expandable Sample Set to 48MB of Sample RAM
- DSP Based Hurricane (tm) Architecture
- Digital I/O Option (S/PDIF) with daughter board
- Inputs: Stereo Mic Level and Line Level
- Supports condensor and dynamic microphones
- 20 Bit DAC/ADC
- Signal to Noise : >-97dB
- THD: <.005%
- Phase Response :+/-.1 degrees
- Stereo Crosstalk: 100Hz-90dB, 1KHz-90db, 10KHz-90dB
- IM Distortion: <.01%
- Frequency Response : 10Hz-22KHz +0/-1 dB
- Sample Rates: 5Khz-48Khz
The Pinnacle also contains the Kurzweil synth engine, including channelized digital effects,and up to 48 MB of user expandable sample RAM, for creating your own MIDI instruments. So you get a shit-hot synth as well as the ability to do sample-store..........In fact, I'm quite tempted to sell my Tahait and Digital Card D, and get one of these !!...... A good card....check it !
Ok.... this Item-page was added back in '97 or whenever the card was released... now it's April '99... and check it out... TBeach are selling refurbished Pinnacles at only a measly 250 bucks direct from the TBeach website - This was a BIG surprise to me - The refurbished cards are fully warranteed & tested... and have had a 200k p-ram upgrade added.... There is also a new patch editor for it available.... check out the TBeach website for details....
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