Prism MDIO-HDX Expansion Card
The Pro Tools MDIO-HDX module allows multiple Titan or Atlas units to be connected directly to an AVID Pro Tools HDX or HD native system via AVID’s “”Digilink”” connection. With this setup, Pro Tools users can enjoy the excellent sound quality of both the Titan and Atlas A/D and D/A converters, and their equally well regarded on-board microphone preamplifiers. Titan was recently rated ‘the pinnacle of USB recording’ with ‘fantastic converters and mic pre’s’ by John Gatski, of Everything Audio Network. Everything Audio: Titan Review
Gatski went on to say, “”I was really impressed by the Prism Sound Titan. It ain’t cheap, at just under $4,000. However, Prism Sound’s rich European pedigree, high build quality and excellent sounding converters make it tough to find a better all-in-one PCM recording package.””
Prism Sound sales & marketing director Graham Boswell says, “”We know that our customers have been anxiously waiting for these modules.””
Control of the Prism Sound Titan or Atlas units when connected to Pro Tools is easy. All of the key controls are made available within the Pro Tools GUI and can also be stored as part of the Pro Tools session, unlike some other third-party interfaces that might require separate software or hardware controls and whose settings cannot be stored in the session.
Boswell adds: “”With auto-configuration and with controls integrated into Pro Tools, the Titan and Atlas interfaces become the best choice for performance, convenience and value for money. The integrated mic preamps make it a very compelling package.””
Setup of the Titan and Atlas units with Pro Tools could hardly be simpler: up to four Titan or Atlas units can be connected in a stack to each Digilink port and automatically configure themselves to emulate Pro Tools HDIO interfaces. In the maximum configuration for a single Digilink, four Titan or Atlas units emulate two Pro Tools HDIO units, supporting up to 32 analogue input and output channels.
The first (or only) unit in the stack is connected to Pro Tools using its Primary connector. Additional units, to a maximum stack size of four units, are added by daisy-chaining Expansion-to-Primary connections in the usual way.
Multiple stacks can be connected to multiple host Digilink ports to build systems with larger numbers of channels.
The following Pro Tools UI controls are supported:
- Sample rate and Loop Sync slave/master selection (including master sync source)
- Interface ‘identify’ – helps find the right unit in a stack
- Line input sensitivity switching, per input channel (+4/-10)
- I/O port routing (as controlled in the Pro Tools SetupHardware dialogue) including use of enclosure S/PDIF/AES3 I/O. Routing to Titan and Atlas headphone port.
- Soft-clip (Prism Sound “”Overkiller””) switching, per input channel
- High-pass filter selection, per input channel
- Phase switching, per input channel
- Indication of mic/line/DI(instrument) input selection* (auto selecting on the Titan or Atlas unit, indicated in Pro Tools UI).
- Mic/instrument gain setting*
- +48V phantom power switching*
- -20dB pad switching*
* for mic/instrument preamp-equipped channels