Creamware A16

[chrismathewsjr]

Good afternoon guys,

I've been offered a used Creamware A16 unit but I'm having trouble finding out all of what it does.

Firstly, I'm not entirely sure what the Z-link connectors are. Are those the same as Firewire?

What I'm actually looking for is a cost effective way to begin recording to my PC. I have tons of analog preamps that I've been running to a tape machine for years.

Thanks for your help,
Chris Jr.

[garyb]

unfortunately z-link is not firewire although it uses the same cable. a used luna card would be veryinexpensive and would be very high end when combined with the a16, one of the best ad/das under $1500...

[chrismathewsjr]

Ah, so it shares teh 1394 standard connector.

I would need, then, to use an interface PCI card?

What are my options for that, which would work with the A16, then?

[garyb]

any of the scope cards or any card with adat i/o.

[the19thbear]

get a luna/powersampler card, they are way cheap, ( you can buy their bigger borthers if you want too.) and very good, they have onboard dsp's (luna/powersampler have 3 dsps'). i bought mine for 150 us dollars.
go to www.soniccore.com(formerly known as creamware) here you can find the bigger brothers ( 6 dsps or more)
if you want a small 3 dsp card, i hitnk you ahve to buy it used, as i think they stopped making them, but then again, i'm not sure..

happy hunting! you won't regret you bought a soniccore card! ( formerly know as creamware)

[kylie]

Ah, so it shares teh 1394 standard connector.

yes, running a subset of IEEE1394 with proprietary extensions on top.

I would need, then, to use an interface PCI card?

to use the Z-Link ports, yes. and that has to be a creamware card.
(it's like motu's audiowire or rme's hdsp link. works only within the family.)

What are my options for that, which would work with the A16, then?

I assume we're talking about the A16 Ultra here, since there is an older model called A16 with ADAT only.
you have several options:

1) a creamware card with z-link connectors (preferably 2 of them to make use of all 16 channels)

- that would be a 3 dsp card like luna2 / powersampler / scope home with adat expansion module

- or a scope project/ professional with the z-link I/O plate

2) a creamware card with adat I/O (you can still use all 16 channels with enough adat ports, but up to 48kHz only)

- that would be, again, a 3 dsp card with adat expansion

- or one of the bigger cards (all plates excluding the z-link plate, since it has just one adat port, but you would use the z-link ports anyway in that special case )

3) any other card / interface with adat ports. 48kHz max here, too.

-greetings, markus