Walkthrough of the Audient ID22 and ASP880
Posted on Thu 19 February 2015 in entries
Audient id22 and ASP880 in action
This is the Audient’s iD22 USB audio interface and monitor controller. It’s a high quality desktop solution for MAC or PC recording, with many features you might not expect to find on a unit of this price.
The iD22 has two very high quality low-noise class-A pre-amps (as you would expect from a company renowned for its microphone preamps and analogue mixers), with switchable phantom power, 10dB pad, phase inversion, and high pass filters, plus balanced insert points. Channel two also has an alternative high impedance input to accept signals from low level instrument sources like guitar or bass.
The inputs are then fed into high-performance 24-bit/96kHz converters, and can be flexibly routed using the integrated DSP mixer.
More of that in a moment.
Let’s take a quick look at the other inputs and outputs that make the iD22 so versatile..
There are 6 analogue outputs in total: a pair of main outputs, an alternative stereo line output and a separate stereo headphone bus that feeds a studio-grade high current headphone amplifier.
Now this is where the iD22 starts to differentiate itself from other similarly-priced interfaces…
The various outputs, in conjunction with the main volume control, dedicated dim and cut buttons, and User Programmable Function Keys, mean the iD22 can be configured to act as a monitor switcher and controller – simply plug your main monitors from outputs 1 and 2, a second monitoring system from outputs 3 and 4, and headphones from the headphone output, for complete control over your listening environment.
The assignable function buttons are the icing on the cake here, they can be configured to control output selection with programmable alt output level, MONO sum, polarity reverse and talkback.
Alternatively, you can use the various outputs to give performers separate mixes whilst tracking. This flexibility means the iD22 will always be able to cope with the way you want to work, with a simple routing matrix accessed through the control panel.
That’s the basics of the iD22 - A well-featured, very high quality interface that can cope with smaller sessions or home production.
But what if you want to record the whole band? Or an acoustic drum kit?
This is where the Audient ASP880 comes into play…
Designed with the same no-nonsense approach, and to a similarly high quality, the ASP880 can expand your inputs with eight more seriously good console-grade mic preamps. Connecting the ASP880 to the iD22’s ADAT input gives a total of 10 mic preamps – plenty enough for most tracking sessions – and all with great fidelity and incredibly low noise floor.
A few tweaks to the control panel, and the iD22 locks to the digital clock of the ASP880
* *The only thing to make sure of is that you manually set the ASP880 sample rate to be the same as your project.
* *Each channel of the ASP880 has 60dB of gain, switchable phantom power, phase reverse, high pass filter (variable from 25 – 250 Hz), input impedance selection (for various microphone types), insert point, and peak and signal LEDs. Channels one and two also have high-impedance jack inputs for instruments.
On the back of the unit we have the XLR combi inputs, balanced insert points (using DB25 connectors), 2 ADAT outputs (the second one only required when recording at higher sample rates using SMUX), a wordclock input, and stereo digital output (switchable between AES and S/PDIF).
So, the ASP880 offers eight channels of uncompromising audio quality, and when used in conjunction with the iD22 interface, creates a multitrack recording system that will make sure you capture your music at the very best quality.