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RME HDSP Laptop Cardbus Details
Required for use with the RME Multiface, Digiface & RPM on a laptop computer
For some time now, laptops have become powerful enough for even ambitious hard disk recording thanks to high computing power and powerful hard drives. Up to now, a powerful interface was missing though. USB is neither offering the necessary bandwidth, nor the desired compatibility. Available PCMCIA solutions at the moment are nearly always designed as 16 bit PC Card and therefore only make use of the ISA bus.
For the Hammerfall DSP I/O-boxes Digiface, Multiface and RPM, RME have developed a world-exclusive PCMCIA type II card in Zero wait state CardBus Busmaster technology. With up to 130 MB/s transfer rate in both directions the same basic performance is provided on a notebook as a PCI card would offer on a desktop computer. Additionally the card offers highest compatibility by being 100% Plug & Play compatible under Windows and Mac OS, and being able to share interrupts. The card itself will only use one interrupt (IRQ) for all functions (audio/MIDI.)
The connection between CardBus card and I/O box is established using ordinary firewire cable (closed LAN to IEEE 1394.) The data transfer does not use Firewire protocol, but our own proprietary bus protocol. The supplied cable is 4.5 m (15 ft.) long, a cable length up to 10 m (33 ft.) has been successfully tested. The CardBus card does not provide power to the attached I/O-box. Therefore a hi-tech switching power supply is included.
RME HDSP Laptop Cardbus Specifications
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PCMCIA type II, 32 bit CardBus card
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Zero wait state PCI Busmaster interface (130 MB/s transfer rate in both directions)
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Current load: ca. 300 mA
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Output: Closed LAN connector
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Package contents: PCMCIA type II card, cable 4.5 meter (15 ft) (Closed LAN to IEEE 1394), switching power supply 100 V-240 V/12 V - 1.25 A, card cable, battery cable
What We Think
RME has solid drivers, and offers a very good sound for a great price. There are some interfaces that cost less for sure, but when you run RME for 3 years straight as I have with zero issues with hardware or software or drivers…you tend to stick with it. Totalmix is a very cool internal mixer for setting up headphone feeds, unbelievable flexibility...you can literally route any input or output anywhere at anytime. |
