Lets continue our reviews of semi-professional external sound cards with Infrasonic UAX2. It supports 1 microphone XLR/TRS input with +48 V phantom power for condenser microphones and 1 Hi-Z input ( both are unbalanced ), 2 balanced outputs, 1 linear input-output and 1 MIDI input-output. Card works with 24 bits precision and 96 kHz sampling rate; it is powered from 1 USB 2.0 port, through which data is transfered to computer. Microphone input has pre amplifier with level indicator and gain control. Most of recording sounds parameters can be monitored and controlled via hardware indicators and knobs. Sound card supports following interfaces : ASIO 2.0 and WDM for Windows ( XP/VISTA/Win7 and newer; 32 and 64 bits ) and Core Audio for MAC OS 10.5 and newer, with which it can work with all modern DAWs : FL Studio, REAPER, Cackewalk Sonar and others. Audio card is supplied with Native Instruments KOMPLETE ELEMENTS software, which contains 3 GB of production ready effects and sounds. Package contains : Infrasonic UAX2 sound card itself, DVD disks with drivers and sotware, USB cable and user’s guide.
Nikon released new telephoto zoom objective lens Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR. It has Nikon F-Bayonet mount and 200 – 500 mm minimal and maximal focal distances with minimal and maximal apertures of f/5.6 and f/32, accordingly. Its minimal and maximal fields of view for DX and FX sensors are : 8 degrees and 3 degrees 10 minutes and 12 degrees 20 minutes and 5 degrees, accordingly. Minimal focus distance is 2.2 m with automatic, manual and semi-automatic focusing with internal focusing mechanism. It is powered by AF-S ( Silent Wave Motor ). Image stabilization is performed by Vibration Reduction technology. Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR has 19 built-in lens elements in 12 groups, among them 3 are low-dispersion lens elements from ED glass. All lens are coated with protective and anti-reflective Super Integrated Coating. Diaphragm is controlled with use of Electromagnetic Diaphragm Mechanism, there are 9 diaphragm blades in objective lens. There is ability to attach to it 95 mm optical filters of Screw-on standard. Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR objective lens sizes are : 108 x 267.5 mm, and its weight is : 2300 g.
Lets continue our reviews of sound cards with Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 device. It supports 4 analogue inputs ( 2 are balanced XLR and 2 are balanced TRS ) and 4 analogue outputs ( all 4 are balanced TRS ) and 2 digital channels ( SPDIF and coaxial ). It also has MIDI port for keyboard connection, separate monitor headphones output and USB port for card powering and data transmission. Card can send phantom power 48 V for condenser microphones and active DI boxes, if they require it. Card can work with sound with 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96 kHz samplin rate and 16 or 24 bits precision. Drivers are released for it for Windows 7, 8 and 10 and for Mac OS X 10.8 and newer operating systems. It supports following audio interfaces : ASIO, Core Audio, DirectSound and WASAPI, with which it can work with different DAWs ( FL Studio, REAPER, Cackewalk Sonar and others ) and with recording and music and sounds playback software. KOMPLETE AUDIO 6 is supplied with following software : KOMPLETE ELEMENTS, TRAKTOR LE and CUBASE LE, and with 25 USD discount for purchasing of any KOMPLETE effects or instruments in Native Instruments online store. Card sizes are : 52 x 159 x 122 mm ( height x width x depth ), and weight is : 850 g.
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR zoom objective lens
Nikon announced new zoom objective lens Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR. As it follows from its name : it has 24 – 70 mm focal distances and Nikon F bayonet mount. It can magnify up to 2.9 times and its maximal and minimal apertures are : f/2.8 и f/22, accordingly; it is developed for large FX ( 35 mm ) sensors. Its maximal and minimal fields of view are : 61 degrees and 22 degrees 50 seconds for DX format sensors and 84 degrees and 34 degrees 20 seconds for FX format sensors, accordingly. It has 20 lens elements in 16 groups; 1 is High Refractive Index lens element ( which works as many usual lens and reduce field curvature and spherical aberrations ), 2 lens elements are produced from ED low disperse glass and 3 are aspherical lens elements, which reduce color aberrations.
All lens are coated with Fluorine Coat, Super Integrated Coating and Nano Crystal Coat anti-reflective and protective coatings. There is ability to attach to it 82 mm optical filters of Screw-on standard. Objective lens supports manual, automatic and semi-automatic focusing with internal focusing functions. It has built-in Vibration Reduction image stabiliztion mechanism and AF-S ( Silent Wave Motor ). Minimal focusing distances are 38 – 41 cm, depending on selected optical zoom level. Objective lens sizes are : 88 x 154.5 mm, and its weight is : 1070 g. Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR will be available in shops from 24th October of this year.
In this article we will review Roland QuadCapture semi-professional external sound card. It can record and play 4 audio channels with 96, 48 and 44.1 kHz frequencies and 2 channels with frequencies up to 192 kHz. Card works with computer with 24 bits precision; digital to analogue conversion and opposite conversion are performed with the same precision; all other calculations are performed with 40 bits precision. It is powered via 1 USB port, through which data is also transmitted, and supports coaxial digital input and output and MIDI input and output. Other connectors include : balanced XLR and TRS inputs and TRS balanced and unbalanced outputs. Card has microphone VS preamplifiers, to which phantom power is connected ( for microphones, which require it ); also : low-cut filter, phase inverters and digital compressors ( which allow sound to not clip during recording ) are connected to them. Roland QuadCapture supports VS Streaming technology for audio recording and playback with low latency; also it supports ASIO 2.0 / WDM for Windows and Core Audio for Mac OS, which allow to use card with all modern DAWs : FL Studio, REAPER, Cakewalk SONAR and others. Card contains low noise power supply, its body is produced from aluminum, and it supports Direct-Box ( DI ) for use on open scenes. Card sizes are : 185 x 134 x 44 mm ( width x depth x height ), and its weight is : 570 g. Package contains : Roland QuadCapture sound card itself, USB cable, CD-ROM disk with drivers and software and user’s guide.
Nikon announced new light-weight wide-angle lens Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.8G ED. Its focal lens is 24 mm with max apperture f/1.8 and minimal apperture f/16, it is attached to cameras with use of Nikon F-Bayonet mount. Angles of view are : 61 and 86 degrees for DX ( 24 x 16 мм ) and FX ( 36 x 24 мм ) sensors accordingly. Minimal focus distance is 23 cm with automatic and manual focusing modes, automatic focusing is provided via AF-S ( Silent Wave Motor ). Optical filters with 72 mm size and Screw-on type can be attached to lens. It contains 12 lens elements in 9 groups; among them : 2 low-disperse lenses, manufactured from ED glass, and 2 aspherical lenses; they reduce light dispersion and other optical distortions. All lenses are coated with Nano Crystal Coat anti-reflective coating and Super Integrated Coating protective coating. Objective lens weight is 355 g, its sizes are : 77.5 x 83 mm. It is suited most for landscapes, towns squares, sportive events and other scenes shooting, which require wide angle of view. Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.8G ED will be available in shops from 17th September.
Philips released new monitor type headphones Philips Fidelio M1 MKII. They have closed type architecture, which isolates from outer sounds, and comfortable materials, which make their long time wearing convenient. Outer surfaces of earshells have vents, which allow air to move in and move out from shells, this makes air pressure on membrane optimal and allows to reproduce high quality sound over all frequencies range. Earshells have 2 layers, that make sounds reproduction clear without additional noise. 40 mm membranes are moved by neodymium magnets. Headphones can reproduce sounds in 15 – 24000 Hz frequencies range, have 16 Ohms impedance, 106 Db per 1 mW sensitivity and 150 mW max power input. Cable length is 1.1 m and it has built-in module with microphone and remote answer button for smartphones. Headphones weight is 166 g. Package contains : Philips Fidelio M1 MKII headphones themselves with built-in cable and pouch for compact storage.
In this article we will describe external professional sound cardAUDIOTRAK PRODIGY CUBE BLACK EDITION. It has high quality digital to analogue converter Wolfson, which works on 94 kHz frequency with 24 bits precision, and National Semiconductor LME49860operational amplifiers ( OpAmps ), which provide high quality sound without addition of noticeable amount of noise. There is ability to replace them on OpAmps of even higher quality, because they are mounted via special socket. Card has built-in electrolytic capacitors Sam Young AHS Series in digital and in most of analogue parts of it; from one side : they have good enough quality, but from the other side : it is better to place into analogue tract ( and into digital also ) high quality ceramic or film capacitors, because they have much better quality and characteristics, than electrolytic capacitors, for audio tract. And only in Low-Pass filters after OpAmps it has film capacitors WIMA Film Capacitor.
USB audio interface AUDIOTRAK PRODIGY CUBE BLACK EDITION, задняя панель
It has : USB connector for signal input and card powering; 3.5 mm mini-jack, 6.5 mm jack and 2 RCA connectors for analogue sound output to headphones or speakers; coaxial and optical digital outputs for signal passing to other devices for processing and playback; microphone input ( card saves recorded sound in 48 kHz and 24 bits format ); output switch; and volume control. Card sizes are : 94 x 90 x 22 mm ( width x depth x height ) and mass is 0.54 kg. It has drivers for following operating systems : Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista and XP and Mac OS X.
Dynamic range of AUDIOTRAK PRODIGY CUBE BLACK EDITION is 108 dB, THD+N is 0.00008 %; card can be used for sounds and music playback and for semi-professional work with sound; there is need to note, that AUDIOTRAK is long known for very good devices for semi-professional and professional work with sound. Package contains : AUDIOTRAK PRODIGY CUBE BLACK EDITION sound card itself, 2x RCA cables, USB cable and user’s guide.
Philips released high quality monitor headphones Philips L2BO/27 of semi-open type. They have built-in 40 mm drivers with membranes, which are moved by neodymium magnets. They can reproduce sounds with 6 – 40000 Hz frequencies, their impedance is 16 Ohms, sensitivity is 105 dB / 1 mW and maximal power input is 200 mW. Earshells of Philips L2BO/27 are produced from aluminum, which allows them to reproduce sounds clearly without additional noise; wherein their drivers are directed into acoustic ears canals, which allows to reduce reverberation from the outer ear and makes sounds more natural. Semi-open architecture allows to isolate ears from outer sounds and enrich deep basses reproduction, at the same time this allows to reduce headphones weight and makes their wearing more comfortable. Philips L2BO/27 comply with Hi-Res Audio standard, which means that they reproduce sounds precisely enough and do not add additional noise to it. Headphones cable has unit with microphone and smartphones remote answer button; also there is 3.5 mm – 6.3 mm mini-jack adapter included in the package. Package contains : Philips L2BO/27 headphones themselves with built-in cable, adapter and pouch for compact cable storage.
Yesterday I rode into little bicycle trip into Chelyabinsk prairie. I headed to Upper Ufaley through Poldnevaya and Cheremshanka villages. It was +8 degrees on Celsius at the morning, Sun was shining and there were no wind, so it was nice to ride without overheating. On the road to Poldnevaya village foresters burned trees branches and there was pleasant smell of wooden fireplace above the road. At the beginning of day it became warmer and ride felt almost like at Summer. Trip from Poldnevaya village to border of Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions is very pleasant, because of highway with very good asphalt coverage. But later and to the Cheremshanka village : hard ride goes on, because there are long slopes to Itkul lake and lots of bumps in the road with the ability to ride into them on high speed, which lead to the flying above bicycle handlebar. On the road I met 2 bicycle riders and after 10 km another one, I greet them and they answered to me the same.
Near Poldnevaya village
Most of the road to Cheremshanka village I rode without problems, but closer to it on one of the slopes I punched through my tire camera on one of the stones. I stopped and replaced camera ( there is need to note, that one car stopped and offered to me help, I gave my thank to driver, but refused his offer, because I already handled situation by myself ). To not to play with the fate without replacement camera and to not go back on my feet to my home 100 km, if camera will be punched again, I rode slightly ahead, climbed hill near Cheremshanka, ate my lunch and moved back to home. I rode back not so fast to keep my tires safe, and road to Polevskoy was without problems. On the way back I met the same two riders : it is pleasant to met them again, we greet each other and continued our ways to our homes. Next : calming ride after sunset on the highway, that is lit by street lights, was went on. At home I ate my dinner, made slight repairs and adjustments to bike and went to sleep. I rode 130 km and made following conclusions for my next rides : there is need to take with me 2 replacement cameras and cameras repair kit, so that there will be no need to turn back on the 2 / 3 of a way. Now : see you on the next bicycle event, I’ll prepare to it much better, so that there will be no need to turn back on the most interesting part of a story.
Autumn steps into its lawful rights …On the road to Cheremshanka villageSeabuckthorn on the hill near Cheremshanka villageView from the hill near Cheremshanka village
