RME has extended its Hammerfall DSP Series with an I/O-Box. The RPMis a portable, turntable/CD/Mic/MIDI interface that can be used toconnect two turntables or two line sources (CD, DVD, sampler etc.) anda microphone to any computer. With TotalMix, RME’s audio mixer, thefive inputs and up to 12 computer playback channels can be freelyassigned to two separate stereo outputs and a dedicated headphone out.External MIDI instruments and controllers can be integrated via a MIDIinput and output.
The microphone input features a Neutrik XLR/phones combo jack and adiscrete Class-A front end with gain ranging from 10 to 60 dB. Twopairs of low-noise phono inputs (cinch/RCA) are equipped with RIAAfrequency-correction for moving-magnet cartridges. They can easily bereconfigured for the connection of CD/DVD players or any electronicsound source with line-level. To avoid clipping of the A/D convertersand to improve the level alignment of connected devices, the inputsensitivity can be changed within the settings dialog.
The RPM has three independent stereo outputs: Aux and main, locatedon the back panel, use RCA connectors. Main features an additional pairof balanced stereo TRS jacks, supplying the same signal with a levelincreased by 6 dB. The third output is a stereo jack on the front panelthat also serves as a headphone out. High-quality AD/DA converters witha S/N ratio of up to 110 dB and a low-jitter clock provide 24 -bitrecord and playback quality at sampling rates from 32 to 96 kHz.
The RPM comes with a built-in hardware mixer based on RME’s TotalMixtechnology. Its capability to route and mix any of the input andplayback channels to any output provides the RPM with three independentstereo submix outputs.
Except for the microphone gain and the headphone level, all settingsare done via the connected computer. Once the levels, input selectionsand signal routings are set, RME’s Disconnect mode allows the RPM to bedisconnected from the computer. A power and user-controlled hardwarebypass switches the phono preamp’s outputs directly to the lineoutputs.
Full ASIO 2.0, GSIF, MME (.WAV) and CoreAudio support on Windows XPand Mac OS X provide smooth operation with any professional DJ-toolssuch as BPMStudio, Traktor, Live or any other audio software. And, theRPM can use all of the functions of DIGICheck, RME’s included softwarefor audio analysis.
RPM is expected to ship this month with price TBA.
For more information, visit www.synthax.com/index2.html. For more new productannouncements, visit mixonline.com/products_new_products/index.htm.
