breakout box ??

samuel40 · Post by **samuel40** » Mon Jan 28, 2002 8:42 am

hello all i have had my pulsar for about 4 months and love it and just recently stumbled upon this wonderful site. for a while i thought i was the only person who had one...

my question is what are you all using for more analog inputs into your pulsar, i bought the classic, and am want to do multi trac recording but have no idea where to find or what to buy to get that done. for example the digi 001 comes with a box that has analog inputs is there something simular for the pulsar and if so how much and where can i find it. thanks for the help

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Mon Jan 28, 2002 8:59 am

I have a PulsarII + Luna break out box, 8 ins, 8 outs, it connects to a Z-Link port. You need a Z-Link I/O card for that. On such a I/O board, one pair of ADAT cables is replaced by a special (like firewire) cable. Can do full 96kHz for all ports.

There's also A8 and A16, but I'll leave their discription to people who know what they're talking about. Like here for instance.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: atomic on 2002-01-28 09:01 ]</font>

samuel40 · Post by **samuel40** » Mon Jan 28, 2002 9:02 am

Thanks for the reply atomic can you further explain how much a z link thing costs and where i could get one, also is it hard to install?? and how much for the luna?? sorry bout the ignorance

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Mon Jan 28, 2002 9:45 am

A Luna should be about 500€. No idea how to sell/buy I/O boards. Check http://www.infinitevortex.com for more info, I'd say.

samuel40 · Post by **samuel40** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 5:26 am

thanks a lot atomic, i will check there, does anyone here mixed a pulsar 2 with say a delta 10/10 or something similar??

borg · Post by **borg** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 5:49 am

i have an A8 ad/da convertor and so far all seems to work fine, though a bit noisy (fan noise, not in audio of course). if you have the money, go for 16 i/o. i'm not very pro, so for the moment the A8 will do. i don't know what the A16ultra is about. plenty of reading stuff to be found, i think.

samuel40 · Post by **samuel40** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 6:06 am

good info borg, does anyone know if the 8 i/o box comes with the luna for 500 or is it a seperate purchase??? luna users???

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 9:17 am

Luna box is a separate purchase - the Creamware system is a little more modular and flexible compared to a prepackaged, works-only-one way solution like you've mentioned (and there is nothing wrong with a solution like that, either). However, I really would not recommend mixing different brands of audio cards in one computer (sure some people do it with success...) but the different driver latencies, PCI bus/IRQ conflicts make this much easier in theory than in reality.

The best thing for a Luna is either a LunaBox, or to get the I/O plate so you have ADAT ports, which you can connect to a wide range of external converters - from cheap (Fostex VC8 & Alesis AI3) to expensive (Swissonic, Apogee, etc) - depending on your taste and budget - and of course you can swap out your AD/DA box for a different one, something that simply isn't possible on the all-in-one audio cards.

Of course, Zlink(firewire) is for Creamware-only, so the flexibility is a little less, you have LunaBox or A16 Ultra - and to use A16 Ultra with Luna you'll need the I/O expander shown here:
<img src=http://www.creamware.de/images/pics/lun ... xp_200.jpg>

samuel40 · Post by **samuel40** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 11:01 am

Great Great information subhuman, thanks for taking the time to help me understand. I see now that i have many options and upgradability as opposed to the other solution i mentioned, every day i find more and more reasons to appreciate the investment i made in the pulsar 2. thanks again i have been cloudy on this stuff for weeks lol...