As anybody who has visited the Echo site will have noticed, they have now discontinued the Gina 24 sound card (and the Layla 24 as well) and will shortly be replacing it with the Gina 3G (3rd generation).

The Gina 3G is a departure from the standard Gina in that it is aimed more at home musicians and this means more connectivity and more digital but (crucially for Myriad) at the expense of analogue outputs. The new Gina 3G only has three stereo analogue outputs which means that it's usefulness for Myriad will be some what reduced.

We have been firm supporters of the Echo cards here at P Squared. For some time, Myriad has been used for long term testing by Echo and our development team keep regular contact with theirs, however, the time may have come to look elsewhere and with this in mind, we have been testing a large number of alternative cards over the past few months with a view of finding a replacement for the Gina 24.

The good news is that we are in the final stages of testing an alternate solution and will be posting our findings on this forum in the near future. In the mean time, Gina's remain available in the UK (for now), the drivers are fully up to date and all warrantees will be honoured.

We will keep you informed of the situation as it develops.

Liam Burke - Broadcast Radio Ltd

Email: liamb@broadcastradio.com

Telephone: +44 1482 383700

As a follow up note, we've been testing the Layla 3G on one of our Myriad test rigs here and it's now been running a pad run non-stop for over a month without any problems whatsoever.

Our test rig is running Windows 2000 Pro SP4 so pretty typical of the vast majority of Myriad workstations out there.

The unit itself is a very nice solution - a small card in the PC's main unit that doesn't need cooling (so 1 less fan needed) and then a long umbilical cable leads to the 1U breakout box that is covered end to end in 1/4 inch jacks. Unlike the older Layla boxes, this one is entirely powered by the PC, so no need for extra IEC mains leads.

As a caution though, if you are considering a Layla 3G it would be worth making sure you have at least a 350Watt powersupply - 400+ if you have a lot of hard drives.

Another neat feature is built in 48v Phantom power to power microphones plugged directly into the breakout box - not much use for the average user, but good for those who need it

The only drawback is the continuation of the USA's idea of balanced audio. Along with most of the cards from the US (AudioScience being a notable exception) it is pseudo-balanced - i.e. it actually only provides signal on the 'hot' output (albeit at pro levels), and the cold is wired to ground via a couple of components rather than direct to ground to give a little better solution than just a plain unbalanced output.

At the end of the day though, to get a fully balanced card you need to be looking at Audio Science or Digigram with the corresponding large hike in price.

Other than that it's a very nice card - plus it does look the bees knees

http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/PCI/Layla3G/index.php

The price for these from us is £365+vat+shipping so not too bad versus the old Gina price and also against the Midiman Delta 1010 which is it's nearest rival in our affections!

Cheers,

------------
Peter Jarrett, Technical Director
Broadcast Radio Ltd.

Bill Bailey: No win, no fee, no basis in reality. Just a room above a minicab office in Acton and a steady stream of greedy simpletons whose delusion is only matched by their clumsiness

You say the only drawback is lack of balanced outputs.

But this card has only three stereo outputs doesn't it?

And Myriad (ideally) uses four outputs doesn't it?

Surely it's compromising the abilities of the system to reduce Myriad to three outputs??

Hi,

The Gina3G only has 3 Stereo analogue outputs and 1 analogue stereo input, but the Layla 3G has 4 Stereo Analogue outputs and 3 stereo analogue inputs. So all is well

Whilst i'm adding notes though - on the down side, it's not a very good prospect for Myriad v3 as it turns out.

It's absolutely fine for most Myriad use, but it can't handle Mv3's AutoHook feature, and it won't be able to do MV3.1's segue editor either. This is because to run reliably, you have to run the driver in \"PureWave\" mode. In this mode, it can't mix several audio streams on the fly so when Myriad comes to play one item over another on a single channel the card is unable to cope and has a hissy fit.

If you never want to use the AutoHook feature, and you don't mind only SegEditing in studio 2 though then you may be able to get on with this card.

Incidentally the same limitations apply to Mias but obviously as they only have one physical output anyway then they aren't nescessarily as versatile anyway. Worth bearing in mind if you are planning a mia based standalone playout box and want to use AutoHooks though...

------------
Peter Jarrett, Technical Director
Broadcast Radio Ltd.

Bill Bailey: No win, no fee, no basis in reality. Just a room above a minicab office in Acton and a steady stream of greedy simpletons whose delusion is only matched by their clumsiness

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the info, and the prompt response.

We are looking for a sound card for our second Myriad PC, and noticed that the Gina 24 is discontinued and also that you have apparently supplied the M Audio Delta 1010.

Presumably you are happy with the Delta 1010 at least, but is the 'LT' version also a suitable option in your opinion? (It's a lot cheaper!).

And are there any other cards that you can recommend?

I would like, if possible, an analogue stereo mix output as well from the unit for feeding automated broadcasts without using the mixing desk.
I have noticed that most seem to have an SPDIF or optical digital output (which is presumably a stereo mix of all channels??), but not an analogue one unfortunately.

And suggestions appreciated,

Thanks,

Dave

Hi there,

We haven’t actually used a 1010 LT, but all of the Delta range we have used have run with the same driver set and so have all been suitable for Myriad playout. The LT is almost the same as the full version but has unbalanced RCA connections rather than balanced 1/4 jack connectors.

As for an analogue stereo mix card, Echo still make a Mia card which has 4 internal devices, and so can run with 4 players in Myriad. The 4 internal cards are then mixed together in hardware to give you one pair of balanced 1/4 jack outs.

If you would like prices on any of the Delta or Echo range then give us a call.

Regards,

Andrew