Egosys WAMI RACK

Very interesting is all I can say - The EGOSYS WaMi-rack is one item from this Korean company.. The spec's look great, and if it all works ok once people get them into use, then I can forsee a healthy future for this company, and they could end up as a named player in the multi-i/o scene... and they do some other great looking products too by the way -

Anyways... aint had a hands-on, but adding this and their others into the listings just so as you can see available market choices... I've mailed the company to try to get a test loan unit of this WaMi-rack, and the potentially explosive pcmcia version 'WAMI-BOX' which works with lappy's... No reply so far, i'm gonna chase them by phone next week - So.. The WaMi-Rack 2496... it's an outboard stand-alone rack connecting to the pc with a 32 bit PCI card which I believe i read somewhere is a bus-mastering card ... Egosys say the rack-unit is steel with a cast-iron frame for durability..

Here's the WAMI-RACK spec's...

High Quality 24bit A/D - D/A; 120dB Dynamic Range
4 IN, 8 OUT Analogue +4dBu, 1/4" Jacks
S/PDIF Digital In & Out; Coax & Optical
Microsoft Win95,98 Drivers supplied
4 MIDI In's & 4 MIDI Out's
Up to 2 units on the same PC supported, giving 16 Audio Channels 128 Midi Channels
All formats of SMPTE read & write
Word Clock In & Out
Logic Audio EASI, Cubase VST ASIO, GIGASampler & Cakewalk etc drivers ready with claimed 6ms latency at 44.1 on VST

Looks good huh?... 4 in's and 8 outs on 1/4 inch jacks balanced or un-balanced, and although it doesn't say if there is a -10 switch option to set semi-pro line level or not, still, not a problem, you can route into line levels on semi-pro level kit fine.... The 4 analog Inputs can be switched in the supplied s/w controller panel to Mic level, and there is even an option there also for switching in 12V Phantom power per-input where needed on a ring-tip-sleeve basis i guess.. blimey!!... here's a shot of the s/w control panel...

WaMi Rack also gives you 4 in/4 out MIDI interface with SMPTE in/out... brilliant !!, as you can permenently connect up several synths for fast hassle-free controller input to your sequences ... S/PDIF Digital I/O & Word Clock I/O for linking to other kit such as for AV work etc... and it's all full-duplex, so you can use the s/pdif and analog's all at once...

well, it does look good, Egosys claim they have excellent asio drivers ready as well as Logic EASI & Gigasampler GSI/F proprietary drivers, and say the latency is excellent as noted above...

and i'll be trying as i say to get my grubby paws on one even if i have to travel to see it in action at the distributors.... As this product and it's stablemates filter into the market we'll obviously get to see the real-deal about the drivers etc - but on paper, what a great looking product coming in to compete with the likes of Gadget-Labs, Echo (prev. Event), Midiman, Terratec etc etc... plenty of choice for multi-I/O users now huh.... only downside I can see is lack of ADAT protocol connectors for digital mixers etc ... If this unit is overspec'd or out of your price range, EGOSYS also do the 'Waveterminal 2496' stand-alone PCI bus-mastering 2 IN, 4 OUT (balanced) card with midi & s/pdif very cheap which is a 24/96 upgrade from their current 'Waveterminal' model... The new 2496 model again has VST ASIO, Logic EASI & GSI/F Gigasampler drivers ready.. why not pop over to the site and check out their other stuff cos they got some shit-hot looking USB midi stuff, and others... enjoy !!