Frequently Asked Questions - Focusrite TwinTrak Pro Mode D'emploi

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q. Who is the target customer for TwinTrak Pro?
A. TwinTrak Pro is ideally suited for the home recording enthusiast, especially anyone
using a native DAW. Like other Platinum series products, TwinTrak Pro will find a
home in professional environments such as recording studios, live sound installations,
radio, TV, other broadcast, dubbing suites and post-production facilities.
Q. What kind of mic pres does the TwinTrak Pro use?
A. The TwinTrak Pro uses two of the same award-winning Class A mic pres as the
VoiceMaster Pro.
Q. What is "variable impedance" and why is it a great feature?
A. Until the arrival of TwinTrak Pro, variable impedance was the kind of feature
found exclusively on professional-level mic pres like the Focusrite ISA 428 Pre Pack.
Variable impedance allows two things; the ability to match the mic pre's impedance
closely to the impedance of the mic (all mics have different impedance) and also to
allow the end user to "mix and match" different mic pre and mic impedances for
greater tone coloration. See www.focusrite.com for further detail.
Q. What does the AIR switch do?
A. The AIR control is a wire-wound inductor-based circuit, which closely emulates
the characteristics of more costly transformer-based mic pres like Focusrite Red and
ISA Series. While not exactly like a transformer-based pre, the air circuit does
approximate the 'openness' of high frequencies characteristic of transformer-based pres.
Now a whole new generation of customers can experience sound quality normally
found only in professional recording studios.
Q. How does the MID SCOOP EQ work?
A. The boffins at Focusrite have identified the mid-range frequencies that are typically
problematic when recording and processing vocals and instruments, and allowed the
end user to "scoop" them out with a very simple and easy to use knob. Simply dial
back what you don't like and you're done: remove the nasal 'goose-honk' tones from a
problem vocal, or move an over-resonant 'DI'd instrument sound' closer to the
ambience of a miked-up guitar or bass cabinet.
Q. The TwinTrak Pro has a high quality DAC built in as standard. Why is
this an important feature and how would you use it?
A. This revolutionary feature can be used in two different ways. Firstly, the TwinTrak
Pro's standard DAC allows the end user to feed a pair of digital outputs from a sound
card or DAW (S/PDIF connector) into the latency free monitor circuit. So when
recording a vocal or instrument you can monitor the pre-recorded material with the
highest possible fidelity. And if you're running out of analogue outputs on your sound
card this feature means you can use a digital output instead, freeing up crucial analogue
outputs for other purposes.
Secondly the DAC can be used in conjunction with the optional ADC to use the
TwinTrak Pro as a 'hardware plug-in' for a DAW. A mix buss or single channel signal
can be routed DAW/DAC/analogue compressor/ADC/DAW.
So TwinTrak Pro is not only a pair of integrated dual channel Class A mic pres plus
EQ and dual mono/stereo compressor; it's also a latency-free monitoring device. Mic
pres plus stereo monitoring plus digital connectivity means that the need for a stand-
alone mixing desk is eliminated for most recording applications.
Q. How do I set up the TwinTrak Pro for these two different applications?
A. Engage the DIGITAL INSERT switch if you want to use the DAC to route your
DAW's digital outputs into the TwinTrak Pro's compressor for 'hardware plug-in'
processing. Leave this switch out if you want to use the DAC to route your DAW's
digital outputs into the TwinTrak Pro's latency-free monitoring circuit.
Q. Does TwinTrak Pro have an optional ADC?
A. Yes, it uses the same acclaimed 24/96 option as TrakMaster, Penta and
VoiceMaster Pro.
Q. Can I retrofit an ADC board to my TwinTrak Pro at a later date?
A. Yes, and you can do it yourself - it can easily be retro-fitted by the customer
without any soldering etc, just a few screws to undo, and one clip-connector to join to
the main PCB.
Q. Why is the 24 bit 96 kHz specification important?
A. An A/D converter works by sampling the audio waveform at regular points in time,
and then quantising those values into a binary number, which relates to the number of
bits specified. The quantised signal must then be passed through a D/A converter
before it becomes audible. In simple terms, the D/A essentially 'joins the dots' plotted
by the A/D converter when the signal was first converted to digital. The number of
dots to join, combined with how little those dots have been moved, determines how
accurate the final signal will be compared to the original. The greater the sample rate
and bit rate, the more accurate the whole digital process is. So 24 bit/96 kHz
performance will ensure more accurate digital transfer of your audio information
compared to 16 bit/44.1 kHz standards. This is especially important if further digital
signal processing is to be applied to the signal once converted to digital, as any
mathematical operations taking place on the data (for example as a result of a gain
change, or dynamic effect process) may result in quantisation and rounding errors. The
higher the resolution of the digital data, the smaller the audible effect of these errors.
ENGLISH
14