From deke@dekethegeek.com Sat Oct 26 08:00:24 2002
Subject:RE: B4 and Quattro - a winning combination

First of all, let's assume you are wanting to use a laptop for gigging... if
you want to use a desktop PC at home, there are other products that could be
put into a PCI slot and you may get away for a little less money...

The selling point for the Quattro is not the fact that it's a MIDI
interface, although that's a nice feature. Have you been using B4 or some
other soft synth yet? If so, you may have noticed some latency issues. The
main function of the Quattro is to *replace* your AC'97 sound card and it's
relatively slow response times. The Quattro uses ASIO drivers, which means
that latency (the time between pressing a key and hearing a sound) becomes
so low that it seems instantaneous. I have the onboard sound on my laptop
completely disabled.

Another invaluable feature of the Quattro is that it has four separate
*balanced* outputs. You may never use the inputs, but having balanced
outputs is fantastic. If you don't know the difference between a "balanced
signal" and an "unbalanced signal", it's simply a feature to reduce the
likelihood of signal interference between your instrument and the amp/PA.
The way it works is that instead of using a standard instrument cable with
two conductors (one wire is signal, one is ground), a balanced line uses
three conductors (signal, signal, ground) on a special wire with "TRS" (tip,
ring, sleeve) connectors. The Quattro uses op amps or some similar circuit
to shift the signal 180 degrees out of phase on the second signal wire, and
your amp or mixer board, or whatever else that has "balanced" inputs uses
this second signal to ensure there is no interference. The way it was
explained to me was that the receiving component actually uses an op amp or
something to flip the second signal back into phase, then compares the clean
signal (the first wire) with the other signal, and analyzes them both (or
maybe just averages them) to eliminate interference. This is how Pink Floyd
and other huge acts can have all those lights and explosions, etc. and have
their sound room set up 300 yards away in the middle of the stadium, yet you
never hear a hum. It's probably overkill for your average Tuesday night gig,
but I've never heard any complaints of someone's sound "not having enough
static". Anyway, if you ever do decide to use Logic or Cubasis or any of the
other recording packages out there, you will also have four balanced inputs,
and it does make a difference on recording.

The other thing that would be really cool to do would be to split up the
output of your virtual instruments into four separate outputs. Let's say for
instance you ran your B4 in stereo for a better Leslie effect, so you use
output 1 and 2 for left and right on B4. But let's also say that you have
EVP73 running as well... so you could output your Fender Rhodes sounds in
mono on channel 3. Then, you could run EVP88 as a Wurlitzer on channel 4's
output as a mono signal. Now you have the Nord Electro on a PC! Not really,
but it's the thought that counts, right?

Deke The Geek

-----Original Message-----
From: Enzo [mailto:vigi10@libero.it]
Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2002 7:36 AM
To: CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CWSG] B4 and Quattro - a winning combination

Do I need a Quattro or will a 2x2midisport?

One is a soundcard and one is a midi interface...
Both are usb...

I have an internal sound card (ac97)
I don't have recording needs as I already have a vs1680.
Will it get me there as my internal sound card won't support midi activity
with an external keyboard...
Will the sound be good enough of is the Quattro the only solution...
Please help as I'll be using other soft synths...

Roger

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