Product Name: Repulse Audio Card Manufacturer: Alien Design (Germany?) Manufacturer e-mail: support@aliendesign-gbr.de Manufacturer web-site: www.aliendesign-gbr.de Product Release Date: June 2001 Reviewer Name: Brent Santin (Canada) Reviewer e-mail: woodenflutes@yahoo.ca Review Date: 19th of July, 2001. 2nd Revision: 25th of July, 2001 Revision 2 notes: (I've updated this review based on some comments I received from Christoffer Aronzon, another happy REPULSE owner, and some updated info from Alien Design). ----- Hello. Well, I have been the owner of a Repulse Audio card for two months now, and I thought that it was about time for someone to do a review of this product, as it certainly deserves the attention! Introduction ------------ The Repulse is a Zorro-II audio card by Alien Design usable in ALL Amigas with Zorro slots. The card can play and record music in both 16 bit and 24 bit audio. The REPULSE is AHI compatible and is adver- tised as having TOCATTA emulation. Inputs and outputs are both ana- logue, via mini-phone stereo plugs (walkman headphone style), and op- tical, via TOSlink fibre-optic connectors (as found on minidisc play- ers, DAT machines, DVD players, CD players and high-end audio compo- nents). Why I bought the Repulse ------------------------ I am a musician with a home recording & MIDI studio. I have a lot of recordings of my own music and my friend's music I have made over the years. I also have a large collection of out-of-print music by other artists on vinyl and (slowly degrading) audio cassette. I wanted to be able archive ('burn') my own music and the music in my collection onto durable Compact Discs for safe storage and personal use. I also wanted to be able to make CDs of my own music I create in future. My Amiga already has a CD-burner, but I needed some way of getting high quality 16 & 24 bit audio into my Amiga so that I could manipulate it via software, and then burn it to Compact Disc (an 8-bit parallel port sampler simply won't do the job!). The Repulse lets me do this both optically (for truly loss-less transfers from a digital source), and via analogue inputs. My main criterion was quality of sound. The main goal was: get the sound from my DAT, cassette deck, phonograph, etc. into my Amiga, edit it with Software and burn it to CD. The Re- pulse allows me to get the sound into my Amiga. SOUNDFX, SAMPLITUDE and MAKECD do the rest. I also make use of the excellent Amiga MIDI sequencing software "Bars & Pipes" in my home studio. With the REPULSE card I can integrate high quality 16 bit samples into my music, triggered by Bars & Pipes. In future I may wish to upgrade my Amiga so that I can do multitrack recording as with ProStation Audio, or Audio Evolution. For this a 16-bit sound card is a necessity. My Amiga -------- - A2000 Rev 4.4, ECS with OS3.9 - 68040 accelerator + MMU & FPU by PP&S with 32 MB 32-bit RAM - A2091 SCSI controller with GURU-ROM + 2MB 16-bit RAM - SUPRARAM Card with 4MB 16-bit RAM - Picasso II+ Graphics Card - Commodore 2320 "FlickerFixer" card - Repulse Audio Card now! - Internal NEC CD-ROM drive 4x - External 1760K High Density Floppy - Internal 1GB SONY Hard Drive - External 2GB Barracuda Hard Drive (for audio files) - External Yamaha 6416 CD-RW drive - External SCSI Flatbed Scanner by Microtek - Canon BJC-4300 printer - TurboGraphix6.0 running in background Christoffer Aronzon reports that the REPULSE also works well with his Amiga, described as: - A4000 Rev ?? With OS 3.9 - Phase5 CyberStormPPC, 060 @ 50Mhz, 604e @ 233Mhz and 96Mb RAM - Sunrize AD516 - VillageTronic PicassoIV - A2065 Ethernet card - Repulse Soundboard - HP ShureStore 2060, 2x CD-R (SCSI-2) - 9.1 Gb Fujitsu (U2WSCSI) Detailed description of product ------------------------------- The Repulse audio card comes in a small plain cardboard box. Upon opening the box one finds the user's manual in German and English, a CD containing software, a floppy disc for those who don't have a CD-ROM drive, and the Repulse card itself. The card is a circuit board approximately 3.5 inches high by five inches long. Extending from the card is a ribbon cable. At the other end of the approxi- mately eight inch long ribbon cable is a faceplate with all the exter- nal inputs & output jacks for the card....this faceplate mounts on the back of the Amiga where the card backplates usually go. The external inputs/outputs are: 1. Mic IN Analogue 2. Line IN Analogue 3. Optical IN TOSLINK 4. Optical OUT TOSLINK 5. Line OUT Analogue 6. Headphones OUT There are also connectors on the circuit board of the Repulse card it- self so that audio from internal AMIGA devices such as a CD-ROM drive, or a TV-card can be mixed with the Repulse's output . There are also connectors for future expansion options, but none have been advertised yet. Installing the Hardware ----------------------- The card was easy to install. I just popped open my Amiga and put it in an available card slot. The manual suggests putting it as far away from other cards as possible, to avoid any RF interference, I guess. My REPULSE is only one empty card slot away from a SUPRARAM memory card, but I have not experienced any problems. The Repulse card sits in the part of the Zorro slot which is furthest away from the back of the Amiga, and the ribbon cable connects the card to the backplate with all the in-out jacks. This ribbon cable is JUST long enough to reach the back of the Amiga. No problems, but if it were any shorter it wouldn't make it all the way. The manual is fairly brief on most topics, but is well written, and the installation description is good. I also ran some other connectors: 1) a mini-phone-stereo to left-and-right-RCA cable runs from the RE- PULSE line-out to an input on my stereo amp, so I can listen to RE- PULSE sound output over my studio monitors (speakers). (cost approx $10) 2) a 6 foot optical cable purchased from Radio Shack (these cost about $30) runs from the optical output of my DAT machine (digital audio tape deck) to the optical input on the REPULSE. This way I can trans- fer audio from the outside world into my Amiga with absolutely no quality loss. 3) a connector (cost approximately $10) runs from the analogue audio output of an internal CD-ROM drive to the internal input on the RE- PULSE card so I can play audio CDs and this will be mixed with the REPULSE's audio output. 4) A set of headphones are plugged into the headphone jack on the RE- PULSE. Installing the Software ----------------------- The basic software needed to operate the REPULSE card (library, Pref- erences programme & AHI driver) is contained both on the CD-ROM and 3.5" floppy included with the REPULSE. The CD-ROM also contains some other bonus software I will describe below. Installing the critical software by Alien Design was by the means of the standard Amiga installation programme. It was very easy and the installation script is concise and professional. In no time at all I had the Repulse library, preferences programme and AHI drivers in- stalled. I then had to configure AHI to use the REPULSE. There is not really any documentation on how to do this in the REPULSE manual, but after perusing the AHI AmigaGuide document I was able to figure it out, and I am a first time user of AHI. The Repulse Preferences programme is easy to use and is straight-forward. It includes balance and volume faders for all the inputs & outputs on the card, as well as settings for something called 3D-audio, which is not described in the documentation, but seems to give the audio a roomier sound. It also has many digital S/P-DIF set- tings, including adding copy protection bits & pre-emphasis to digital audio output from the card, etc. The Preferences programme seems well designed. The CD also comes with some other software to use with the REPULSE: - A REPULSE diagnostic programme - A Demo of AudioEvolution (Hard Disc Multitracker, Sound editor) - A version of SOUNDFX4.1 enabled for REPULSE owners. - AHIRecord (an AHI Hard-drive recorder) - Some Internet telephony programmes - Some other audio editing & playing programmes, mostly available on Aminet (Frogger, MPEGA, AMP, etc.) It's good that these are included, but I had problems installing this third-party software. First of all, direct installation from the CD-ROM doesn't work in most cases. I found the reason. Most, or all the files on the CD-ROM are flagged as write-protected. Some instal- lation scripts copy these protected files to your hard drive and then try to modify the same files, but fail when they cannot. The solution is to copy the installation archives to your Amiga's hard-drive, un-protect all the files with the PROTECT command (in CLI), and then try installation of these programmes from the modified archives on your hard-drive. Christoffer adds: "ALL software on the CD is missing the (W)rite and (D)elete protection bits, that includes the drivers and all AHI soft- ware. This can cause problems configuring AHI or the drivers later on....I sent an email to Aliendesign regarding this problem and they said that the protection bits would be present in the next shipment of the repulse Driver CD. Therefore this problem will only affect the first batches of the CD." The other problem I had was with the version of SOUNDFX 4.1 included on the CD. I was able to install it after de-protecting the files as I mentioned. The manual says it is a specially registered version for REPULSE users, which I suppose means it detects the presence of a RE- PULSE card and removes the SHAREWARE limitations. When I use the pro- gramme, it does seem to sense the REPULSE card in my Amiga, but it still won't let me save projects, saying I cannot do so in the unreg- istered version....so what gives? Christoffer says that he was able to install this special edition of SOUNDFX properly on his Amiga, and suggests it may also have to do with setting the protection bits as mentioned above. This didn't really affect me, though, as I am already a payed-up reg- istered user of SOUNDFX....I just reverted to my registered copy of SOUNDFX4.1 and it works fine with the REPULSE. I highly recommend this programme for Amiga Audio enthusiasts....it is very powerful. The only other audio manipulation programme that I am aware of that uses virtual memory (needed for manipulating large audio files on Ami- gas with limited memory) is Samplitude. So if you plan on manipulat- ing 16-bit stereo songs of normal length (3 minutes or more) and you have less than 50MB of RAM....I would suggest using one of these pro- grammes. Slight Problems --------------- The REPULSE has been working fine for me for the past two months. There is only one slight annoyance I have experienced. Upon FIRST cold-booting my Amiga, the Repulse is never recognised. I have to do a warm-reboot (CTRL-A-A) and then AFTER that the REPULSE is recognised by the Amiga and its software. I'm not sure why this is, but it sounds like an easy to solve problem. The REPULSE always works fine after that first re-boot and any subsequent warm-reboots. There is a small programme on the Alien-Design web site (www.aliendesign-gbr.de) which is supposed to activate the REPULSE library early in the star- tup-sequence. I installed it but it doesn't seem to change things. Frankly, I haven't really tried very hard to fix this problem yet. Christoffer suggests: "For more information on this matter refer to Aliendesigns Repulse FAQ at: http://www.aliendesign-gbr.de/repulse/en/text_faq.html. It has been updated to deal with the issue regarding initializing the card after a cold-boot and also describes the usage of the repulseinit utility." Using the Repulse ----------------- So far I've used the Repulse to play audio via AHI, mp3 players, sound editing programmes, multimedia players, and played audio CDs in my CD-ROM drive via the REPULSE. It's always sounded great with no no- ticeable hiss or added noise. I've also transferred music from several DATs and analogue audio cas- settes into my Amiga using the REPULSE, which I have subsequently burned to CD. I have mostly used the software "AHIRecord" to do this (comes with the Repulse), and again, the results have been fantas- tic....excellent audio quality. So the REPULSE really does exactly what I wanted it to do. Christoffer and another Repulse owner I've been e-mailing describe an two easy methods to mix the Amiga's Paula audio with the REPULSE's output. Thereby all Amiga audio (AHI and native) would be output via the REPULSE: (Christoffer) "A tip is to connect your Amiga's audio output via an 2x RCA --> 1x Mini-Stereo connector cable to your repulse's analogue in- put. Then adjust the mixer settings so that the Line IN signal is at acceptable volume, save your settings and invoke the commmand repulse init with the option to stay memory resident in your user-startup, this will allow you to (after the repulse-init command has been is- sued) play all your favourite games and re-reoute the Amiga's internal audio via the repulse - very nice :)" The other way suggested to me involves the same approach with an in- ternal twist. Instead of going from the Amiga's RCA outputs to the REPULSE's analogue line-in (on the back of the REPULSE), the cable should go to one of the REPULSE's internal inputs (i.e. The CD-ROM-Audio input, or the TV-card input, on the circuit board of the REPULSE itself). This way all the external inputs of the REPULSE are still available. This would involve is the purchase of an internal CD-ROM Audio cable ($6) and two male RCA jacks ($5). Just snip-off one end of the CD-ROM Audio cable and solder on the RCA jacks (connect one to the left channel wire, one to the right audio wire and both to the ground wire). You would have to remove one of the dummy-card backplates, or drill a small hole in the metal casing at the back of your Amiga so the cable can go from the external RCA jacks of the Amiga to the internal connector of the REPULSE. Christoffer also suggests when using the REPULSE: "Another hint to make the card sound as good as possible, is to always disable the in- puts that you're not using, especially the Mic input. Since hey all add to the overall noice level of the card when active." I should add that analogue inputs do not add any noise to the optical input, as they are not mixed with it. Cost of the REPULSE ------------------- Well...here it comes down to dollars. Amiga hardware is never as cheap as PC or MAC hardware, is it? And seeing as there weren't re- ally any competing products at the time the REPULSE was released, I couldn't really do any competitive shopping, so I had to live with the price. I ordered the REPULSE from Software Hut in the USA (www.softhut.com). The cost was $299.00 U.S. Plus shipping. I also had to pay for cross-border customs fees to Canada, and Canadian G.S.T. (tax). The total cost, including ridiculous taxes, customs fees and shipping, probably came to near six-hundred Canadian dollars when all was said and done. Pretty expensive for a sound card, eh? Well, yes and no. Consider the following: Question: Why not by an Amiga PC-card slot expansion board such as the Mediator, and then have access to the wide world of PC-compatible sound cards instead of buying an Amiga-only sound card. Answer: There has been some doubt as to whether this approach is tech- nically feasible (I asked the designers at Alien Design about this). I wanted to be sure the hardware I bought could carry out the job I needed it to do, so I bought Amiga dedicated hardware. Besides, a Me- diator is another added expense, and won't even work for users with an A2000. Where are the drivers for Audio cards via a Mediator? Lastly, see my comment about those "affordable" PC soundcards below. Question: PC sound cards cost as little as $40!! The Repulse seems so expensive compared to this! Answer: Most standard PC soundcards are designed for video games. They have MPEG decoding and fancy 3D features built in, but for simple, professional audio purposes they often perform poorly. If you don't believe me just do a YAHOO or USENET search for the words SOUND- BLASTER NOISE PROBLEM and see just how many hits you get. This type of noise and signal degradation usually goes unnoticed by game-players, but is unacceptable for someone doing professional au- dio. The other point to note is that many of these audio cards have no optical inputs, or if they do, only an optical output. This is not satisfactory for my intended use. There is a web page out there dedi- cated to showing how even the digital optical in on the "higher-end" Soundblaster cards add unwanted noise. I think you will find that even those people in the WINDOWS-PC world who use their computers for pro-audio will spend approximately $300 or more on a good sound card (I'm NOT talking about any brand you can buy at Computer City or a similar retailer). Lastly, very few cards under $300 on any computer offer 24-bit audio compatibility, which is quickly becoming the stan- dard in professional audio circles. Question: If you want to burn CDs of your music, why didn't you just buy a stand-alone stereo CD-burner? Answer: Well, these cost just as much or more as the REPULSE plus a CD-RW drive. And they don't let me edit or adjust the audio before- hand as I can with a computer. Also, the home-consumer level CD-recordable decks use special AUDIO only CD-Rs that cost three times the price of normal CD-Rs and are harder to find. I suppose I could get a professional CD-R recorder by TASCAM or such, but those cost $900 or more here in Canada, and again, have very limited editing ca- pabilities. Question: O.k. Then, well what about a Minidisc recorder? Answer: I like the Minidisc format very much, but I want to have the wide compatibility and the uncompressed audio features of CD for stor- ing my master recordings. I may get a MD machine in future for por- table use. So, yes, it was expensive. But $299 U.S. For a piece of studio equip- ment is really quite an average price. So for anyone using his or her Amiga for professional audio it is a reasonable price. Plus, after I listened to that first CD of my own music transferred from an old ana- logue cassette, I had no regrets at all. Entirely worth it for the peace of mind it gives (in reference to the stability and longevity of CD as an archival medium). I should mention that the REPULSE is advertised as costing 200 Euro by Alien Design (which is about 200-250 US dollars). Some European Re- pulse owners have been able to purchase it for this price. Some other Words ---------------- I just have a few more things to say regarding the REPULSE. Firstly, when the REPULSE first came out, there were some weird words about it published by KDH-Datatechnik(sp?) in Germany regarding some alleged quality control problems by Alien-Design. For some reason KDH could not get their initial order of REPULSE cards and so were in dispute with Alien Design because of this (they are now offering the Flipper, instead). After a search on the Internet, I could locate no firm evi- dence about any quality control problems at Alien Design, if there were any. No bad cards seem to have made it out into public distribu- tion. In fact, several European owners of the REPULSE posted messages on the KDH site stating how satisfied they were with their REPULSE cards. Addendum: The REPULSE FAQ on the Alien Design web site addresses this rumour. It seems the factory making the REPULSE cards was at first providing Alien Design with batches in which there was a higher than expected faulty card rate (some fault rate is always expected in any circuit board production). Alien Design tests each REPULSE in a real Amiga, so no faulty cards are shipped out to the public. Only per- fectly functioning REPULSEs make it out into distribution. This higher than expected fault rate on the first batch made it impossible for Alien Design to meet all retailer orders....the shortage was re- ported on KDH's web-site and was misinterpreted by some as meaning the REPULSE was unreliable. I think the experience demonstrated myself and other REPULSE owners shows the REPULSE to be a totally reliable product. Secondly, a message for Alien-Design: I really wish you would let more Amiga users know about this great product you have offered. It really fills a badly needed void. I am surprised to see almost no publicity about the Repulse! I am sure many Amiga users do not even know it ex- ists, so please advertise! Notes on competition -------------------- There doesn't seem to be very many Amiga Audio cards still in produc- tion. The only other options for Amiga users are used audio cards (very hard to find), or the Delphina Flipper which will be released in August 2001. Now, the Flipper seems like a good product. It is an improved version of an older product. But how does it compare with the Repulse? Well, it seems that it will be selling for about the same amount of money. Will it be Zorro II or Zorro III? Well, if it is Zorro III then A4000, 3000 and 1200 users will benefit from the ad- vantages of Z3 architecture, but A2000 users will be unable to use it. The Repulse is usable in all Amigas. Also, from what I've seen the Delphina doesn't have 24-bit capability, nor does it have optical in- puts & outputs, which are really a must for people doing professional Audio. The Flipper will have a DSP (digitial signal processor), which will be helpful for adding special effects to game music, or decoding mp3's, or surround sound. The Flipper's DSP may also be good for add- ing realtime effects to multitrack audio via ProStation Audio or Audio Evolution. But for mixing and mastering pro-audio, a DSP is not be as important as the quality of sound offered by the REPULSE's opti- cal-jacks and 24-bit audio. Also, the Alien Design REPULSE FAQ men- tions that a DSP and MP3 decoder are possibilities for a future RE- PULSE expansion module, so REPULSE owners may get the best of both worlds one day. The Flipper seems like a good general audio product, but based on the specifications I've seen, people interested in pro-audio (like home music studio owners, or audiophiles) might find the Repulse more useful due to the unique features I've mentioned. Funny thing: the Flipper is advertised in a much better fashion than the Repulse. I haven't seen any Repulse advertisements at all. Conclusion ---------- Well, I hope that answers your questions about the Repulse. A great product that will get sound into and out of your Amiga with excellent quality. The power of your Amiga and available RAM will determine how fast you can deal with the sound once it's on your hard drive. I rec- ommend this product. Rating (out of 5) ----------------- Hardware: 5 out of 5 (no complaints, many features) Software: 3 out of 5 (bonus software needs fixing) Documentation: 3 out of 5 (good but could be more in-depth) Brent Santin - woodenflutes@yahoo.ca