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Windows Direct Sound, WDM, ASIO and GSIF (Gigastudio) drivers are supplied, all supporting bit resolutions between 8 and 32 bits, and sample rates from 8 to 96 kHz.
The EWS 88MT card features multi-client ASIO and GSIF drivers.
Since the Mic 2 and Mic 8 interfaces are available as stand-alone units, they can obviously be purchased to upgrade existing EWS 88MT cards, replacing the 5.
Terratec confirmed the existence of a problem" with the gain potentiometers in early production models of the Mic 2 and Mic 8, and plan to recall all the affected units for modification.
The latter can be configured to output the Windows system sounds to a separate speaker rather than blasting them out over the high-quality music outputs.
The EWS Mic system is well conceived and ideally specified for both stand-alone use and attachment to an EWS88 MT soundcard, but the review models were let down by mic preamp instability and clocking problems.
As a physical interface for the EWS 88MT card, the Mic 2 and Mic 8 units worked well, taking into account the comments above.
Sounds like a good move!
The first impression on seeing the Mic 2 and Mic 8 is that there has clearly been a great deal of thought applied to the design of these units and how they will be used.
Furthermore, the EWS 88MT card has already established a fine reputation in terms of providing a good sound quality at a good price.
When connected to the EWS 88MT soundcard, however, audio passing between the computer and the interface successfully clocked to an external word clock input.
The 'plus' versions of the EWS Mic 2 and Mic 8 include Terratec's EWS 88MT soundcard and the necessary connection cables.
However, this is only viable if the card is version 2 or later -- the version number is printed on the board itself.
Although they can be used as stand-alone devices, there is also a soundcard aspect to this review -- and I'll come back to that element later.
Such a configuration would provide a total of up to 40 inputs and outputs, and in this type of setup all cards operate on a common master clock distributed between them on supplied link cables.
This provides a MIDI and word clock interface, and a suitable adaptor cable is supplied with the unit, terminated in two pairs of DIN sockets (providing two MIDI Ins and Outs when connected to the EWS 88MT card), plus two BNC sockets (word clock in and out).
The mic amps were certainly not operating correctly or acceptably, and I hope Terratec manage to address this problem before the Mic 2 and Mic 8 reach the shops.
Hugh Robjohns
Terratec PC soundcards have often featured in the pages of this magazine over the years, usually in meticulous reviews by our own PC expert, Martin Walker.
They are obviously designed to form an effective connection centre for quite an elaborate studio system, even without the optional PCI card (and computer workstation).
Should more than eight channels be required in a particular computer installation, up to four EWS88 cards can be installed at the same time (all sharing the same IRQ).
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aster clock sources, and both review units behaved in the same way, but Terratec say they are unable to reproduce these clocking problems themselves.
Using the Mic 2 or Mic 8 with the EWS 88MT soundcard opens up a much wider range of routing options, all of which can be set up from the EWS software control panel.
Once the drivers are installed, the dedicated EWS control panel software must be loaded in order to access the full functionality of the card and interface.
Great care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this article but neither Sound On Sound Limited nor the publishers can be held responsible for its contents.
At moderate gain settings the mic amps sounded fine and were respectably quiet, but this was not the quality I was expecting from an SPL circuit design.
The card uses a single IRQ and operates under all versions of Windows from 95 onwards, although as the drivers are not yet certified by Microsoft, the usual warnings appear during Windows 2000 and XP installations.
The ASIO driver is designed to minimise latency for programs that support it to between 7 and 20 ms, and at 96kHz sample rates Terratec suggest latency can be reduced to just 1.
sound on sound may 2003 review of the terratec producer ews mic 2 & mic 8 eight-channel preamp and audio interface for pc, by hugh robjohns. terratec's new professional division are looking to make a splash with their rackmounting multi-channel a-d/d-a converters, which feature spl-designed mic amps and close integration with their ews 88mt soundcard.
These Terratec interfaces hold a great deal of potential, and the balance of facilities and functionality is finely judged.
The control panel screen contains four main pages to configure and operate the interface and card facilities, although the first page is non-functional in this application since it is concerned with setting the analogue input gains on the alternative EWS 88 interface module -- the Mic 2 and Mic 8 interfaces feature physical channel gain controls which must be adjusted manually.
Analogue Overview
Terratec are best known in this market for their PC audio cards, not for designing high-quality mic preamps -- which are critical in this kind of application.
Terratec Producer EWS Mic 2 & Mic 8
Mac drivers for the EWS 88MT are on the cards, as it were, but not available at the time of going to press.
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