Miglia Technologys HarmonyAudio (£179) is an external FireWire audio unit that allows you to record your music instrument or take audio from any analogue source straight into GarageBand, LogicAudio, LogicExpress or any other Core Audio application. The product has been available for a while on Mac OS, but the recent availability of Windows drivers grabbed our attention.
The HarmonyAudio (220x110x38mm) is an attractive (sports a brushed aluminium finish and is anodised in cool silver) and effective solution for anyone in a band, or even a home user who wants to turn his computer into an audio recording studio. The HarmonyAudio is also the first audio capture unit powered by Oxford Semiconductors 970 chip, widely acknowledge as the leader in FireWire technology.
Featuring two FireWire interfaces, the HarmonyAudio lets you record your real instrument or take audio from any analogue audio source straight into an audio application. Fully plug-and-play, the device requires no software driver installation on Mac OS (Windows XP requires a small but free download) and works straight out of the box with your guitar, bass, keyboard and microphone.
The two analogue line-ins (0.25-inch jack inputs) and eight analogue line-outs let you play your instrument straight through HarmonyAudio and out of your SRS 7.1 system. The front panel also offers two SoftClip switches, two high/low impedance switches (low for dynamic microphone, high for instrument or active microphone), two gain control potentiometers (up to 55dB gain available), and two SoftClip swithes (LEDs illuminate as audio signal approaches clipping). Theres also a 3.5mm stereo headphone output (duplicate of line-out channel 1/2) and stereo volume control.
At the rear of the HarmonyAudio are four 3.5mm audio jack outputs, 3.5mm line level-in stereo jack, two individual level trim pots allowing input levels from 0.1- to 2-Volt peaks, and two FireWire 6-pin ports. The interface offers a 24-bit/96KHz (also supports 32kHz, 44.1kHz, 48kHz frequencies) conversion rate and as the FireWire bus provides all the power required, no external power is required (6-pin only) - an ideal feature for mobile recording. Having said that, an optional 10-Volt (1 AMP) external PSU can be attached.
Core Audio is a fairly low-level API for dealing with sound in Apples Mac OS X operating system. Apples Core Audio has been designed to deliver a high-quality, superior audio experience for Macintosh users. The second objective reflects a shift in emphasis from developers having to establish their own audio and MIDI protocols in their applications to Apple moving ahead to assume responsibility for these services on the Macintosh platform.
But best of all, HarmonyAudio includes Miglias exclusive SoftClip technology which prevents digital clipping and retains the authenticity of the analogue audio stream. In our tests with an electric guitar (Gibson Les Paul Supreme -
yeah man!) we found the device extremely quick and easy to set up and use.
In fact, after plugging the device into your computer youll only likely need to change your input device setting and then you can get recording. The self-powered FireWire bus and small size of the unit even the make HarmonyAudio easily portable, making the digital recorder and digitiser an excellent replacement to your computers analogue soundcard and an essential addition to any modern musicians toolkit!
You should also consider the HarmonyAudio if you simply want to input material from a reel-to-reel tape machine, audio cassette, record turntable or MiniDisc player and convert to digital in the best way possible (it can even be used for Podcasting). Even if you have a digital video capture program, it isnt necessarily the most convenient way of editing the audio on its own - its often much better to use a dedicated audio package. But first, you need to get it into the computer with the minimum of loss - digitally.
This is where the HarmonyAudio excels. The quality of audio recording was fantastic - full of body, well defined and had loads of clout. An amazing product!
[9.5] - Editors Choice
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Best Multimedia Pricing UK]
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Best Multimedia Pricing US]
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