Expanding Your System with Multiple Delta Cards

One of the great features of the Delta family of audio cards is the ability to connect multiple Delta cards to expand as your needs grow. Here are a few things to consider about your system before you make the jump.

With the exception of the Delta 44, virtually all Delta cards have this expansion capability. (The Delta 44 lacks the S/PDIF connection used to sync the cards). M-Audio's Delta drivers support multi-card operation for Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 and XP, as well as Macintosh OS 9 and OS X. (While there are no OS X applications that support multi-card operation at this writing, the Delta drivers are ready to accommodate them.)

Delta cards have to process an incredible amount of information. Recording audio puts an even greater burden on the system bus than simple playback—a 2:1 ratio, in fact. The key to employing multiple Delta cards, therefore, is maximizing your resources. Deltas perform best when they are not sharing resources with other devices. Many users dedicate systems specifically to audio production to minimize conflicts in system hardware resources and software.

It's also wise to consider faster processors, plenty of fast RAM and a faster system bus when setting up a system for multi-channel recording—especially with multiple cards. It's no secret that new computer systems quickly make older technology obsolete. CPU processor speed doubles every two years. The average support window for motherboard technology is about two to three years on PCs and around five years on the Mac. Newer operating systems take advantage of newer CPUs with advanced FPUs, faster RAM like DDR and RAMBUS, and faster front-side bus speeds such as 400MHz and 533MHz systems. Older motherboard systems that use PC-66 and PC-100 will not always adapt well to newer operating systems, thus resulting in performance issues.

When upgrading, it is highly recommended that you check with the computer or motherboard manufacturer's Web site for support of the operating system that you wish to install. Under Windows, for example, there are only two paths available if there are no supported .inf drivers for the newer operating system you are considering—upgrading the motherboard or sticking with the older and possibly unsupported operating system. AMD K6, K6-II, Pentium I, II and III users with speeds less than 1GHz may need to consider an upgrade path for multi-card installations, due mainly to the system load. For multiple Delta 1010s we highly recommend dual systems or systems with P4 1.5GHz/Higher or Dual AMD 1 GHz MP systems.

Keep an eye out on our Web site and in future columns for links to FAQ's, multi-card ''how-to'' guides and other helpful technical insights for making multi-card operation work to it's fullest for you.