From: vangess1@pilot.msu.edu (Rick VanGessel) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Delfina Lite sound card Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.audio Date: 17 Sep 1998 11:13:09 -0400 Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 158 Sender: barrett@belvedere.cs.umass.edu Message-ID: <6tr8u5$22u@belvedere.cs.umass.edu> Reply-To: vangess1@pilot.msu.edu (Rick VanGessel) Keywords: hardware, audio, commercial X-Review-Number: Volume 1998 Number 10 NNTP-Posting-Host: belvedere.cs.umass.edu X-NNTP-Posting-Host: belvedere.cs.umass.edu Path: rcfnews.cs.umass.edu!not-for-mail PRODUCT NAME Delfina Lite sound card BRIEF DESCRIPTION A 16 bit sound card (Zorro II) with a DSP unit. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Petsoff Ltd. Address: P.O. Box 1009 FIN-53301 LAPPEENRANTA, FINLAND Telephone: FAX: +358 5 451 5223 (24h) E-mail: petsalo@petsoff.pp.sci.fi World Wide Web: http://www.sci.fi/~petsoff LIST PRICE $329.00 (USD), but is available from many dealers for less. DEMO VERSION None SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Any Amiga computer than has a Zorro II slot. 68020 or faster CPU About 5 MB of HD space SOFTWARE AmigaOS 2.04 or higher COPY PROTECTION None MACHINE USED FOR TESTING A4000 w/12 MB 60 ns Ram on motherboard CSPPC 604e+ 200mhz w/ 060 50 mhz 128 MB Ram on CSPPC card CV64 w/ Cybergfx 3 MFC III card Delfina Lite Video Magician card INSTALLATION The card fits well in the Zorro II slot. Use care when fitting the card so that you don't put to much pressure on the card and fracture it. REVIEW The card works great. My Amiga has never sounded so good. Using the Delfina Lite really helps to reduce the load on the CPU when making sounds and music. Using the freeware software - AHI, many program's output is re-routed through the Delfina Lite. The card has two pair of inputs (RCA type), one that has an amplifier connected. There is one output pair (RCA type). The card also has an internal CD-Rom audio connector. The card also has an expansion slot on it which I hope the manufacturer will produce some cool expansion products for the card. TRhe onboard DSP unit is the Motorola 56002 DSP unit running at 40 Mhz, this gives about 20 MIPS of processing power. The included software seems to work alright. With it I can adjust the audio to nearly elimainate the sound difference between the Amiga and the sound card output. There are not a lot of programs that use the sound card directly. Included inthe software is a soundFx manipulating program. With this program you can record and play uncompressed AIFF and AIFC sounds in 16 bit real time quality. There are realtime meters and clipping indicators to help obtain the best sound. Effects can be added to your sample such as echo, noise gate, compression, distortion, and phaser. There is also a 10-band equalizer. The Delfina can also emulate playback of the Toccata sound card, recording emulation will be supported later. The card apparently needs a powered microphone connected to it to be able to record though which is a disappointment to me. DOCUMENTATION The documentation consists of a folded booklet with two or three pages of information. It tells how to install the product and connect the internal CD-Rom connector. Also included in the software are three AmigaGuide files with info on the included software. These do not contain enough information on how to use the card effectively. They merely skim the surface settings. LIKES Great sound with less CPU power taken. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS There could be more information in the docs. Needs a powered microphone. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS I have not used other Amiga soundcards. This is the only soundcard with a built-in DSP unit. BUGS Get the latest version of the Delfina.library and other support software. Also, I had random lockups and crashes when playing audio with version 1.1 of the card. Replacing the card with Verison 1.2 has seemed to eliminate most problems by increasing the buffering on the card. More time will have to pass to see if all problems are gone. VENDOR SUPPORT The manufacturer was very helpful with all my technical questions. The were quick to respond to my emails for help. When my card needed to be replaced, they shipped a new one to me, then upon my receiving it, I shipped the old one back to them. This did take a little time as the manufacturer lost the original request to swap the card. Even so, service like this is hard to come by in the Amiga product line. WARRANTY I am not sure what the warranty period is. CONCLUSIONS This is a great product. COPYRIGHT NOTICE This review is freely distributable. Copyright 1998 Richard A. VanGessel, Jr. --- Accepted and posted by Daniel Barrett, comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews Web site: http://math.uh.edu/~barrett/reviews.html