Microboards' Audio Write Pro - MicroBoards Technology's introduces AudioWrite Pro external CD-R drive - Statistical Data Included

Emedia Professional, July, 1999 by Jeff Partyka

synopsis: Virtually alone among desktop CD recorders, MicroBoards Technology's AudioWrite Pro external CD-R drive can be connected via ordinary RCA audio jacks to any analog audio source--such as records, tapes, VCR's, or microphones--to make CDs on-the-fly without using a computer. It can also be used in traditional CD-R fashion with a PC or Macintosh via its SCSI-2 interface. It comes with PlayWrite MP3 software for the PC for easy conversion and recording of MP3 audio files downloaded from the Internet, and works with standard blank CD-R media. The drive overall offers uprecedented flexibility for the audio-centric CD-R enthusiast, especially those interested in archiving old vinyl record collections or transferring analog tape recordings to CD-R.

Some people just don't like change. Once they've gone to the trouble of learning something, they're not very eager to forget it and learn something new. Audio CD recording has been different enough from tape recording that it has probably discouraged many more conservative and less computer-literate music enthusiasts from using it, or even investigating it.

Those who have been interested in making the move from tape to CD-R, but have suspected the learning curve involved to be too severe, can now take heart. MicroBoards' AudioWrite Pro CD-R drive manages to work both like the user-friendly desktop CD-R computer peripherals EMedia Professionals readers know and love, and like the good old-fashioned tape recorders music fans of all stripes have been using for years. Virtually alone among desktop CD recorders, the AudioWrite Pro can be connected via ordinary RCA audio jacks to any analog audio source--such as records, tapes, VCRs, radio, or microphones--to make CDs on-the-fly without using a computer. The user simply drops the needle on a record, hits the "Record" button on the AudioWrite Pro, and starts recording. Should sound quite familiar to home-taping fans.

Of course, the AudioWrite Pro can work with a computer as well, thanks to its SCSI-2 interface. It extracts audio very quickly and very well, and writes audio and data CDs at speeds up to 4X with popular premastering software on both PC and Macintosh platforms. It even comes with PlayWrite MP3 conversion software for easy recording of downloaded MP3 music files on the PC. Yet another attractive feature of the drive is that it works great with everyday, $1-a-pop CD-R blanks, and not exclusively with their more expensive audio-specific counterparts (like "home" CD-Recorders from Philips and others).

press to play

The AudioWrite unit has six buttons on its face that make recording and playing discs a cinch. Stop, Play, Reverse, Fast Forward, and the big red Record button will be familiar to those who have used tape recorders and CD players; only Finalize may be unfamiliar. When recording is done directly from an analog source, the Record and Stop buttons are virtually self-explanatory; press Record to begin recording a track, and Stop when the song or audio segment is over. Hit Record again when it's time to record Track 2, and Stop when it's over, and so on. The Finalize button is used when all the tracks have been recorded; if the disc isn't finalized, it will be unplayable as an audio CD.

The face also has a digital track display (which shows the track being recorded when the drive is being used without a computer) and left- and right-channel signal indicator lights that come in handy when feeding an analog audio signal into the drive.

The 10.5-pound recorder, available in black or tan configurations, features RCA in and out audio jacks (for analog-source recording and audio monitoring, respectively)in addition to its SCSI-2 interface for connection to a PC or Macintosh. It also comes with internal SCSI termination. Its 18-bit A/D converter offers a 94dB signal-to-noise ratio.

archive away

AudioWrite Pro's ability to transfer audio directly from analog sources to a CD-R disc has many advantages. For one thing, it's no longer a two-step process. With ordinary CD-R drives, a user must first create a sound file to be burned, which means "recording" the analog sound on a computer hard drive before burning the disc. With the AudioWrite Pro, as the needle rides across the surface of your favorite LP, the CD-R is being burned at 1X right then and there.

As nifty as the drive's real-time performance is, there are drawbacks. First, there's no way to adjust input levels on the drive itself. However, there were no problems with the videotapes and records used during testing with overdriven levels, which indicates that the preset input level will most likely be adequate for most source material.

Another problem--which will bother some users more than others--is that creating a sound file on a computer before burning allows for editing, but there's no way to tweak when recording in real time. This can be especially annoying when working with vinyl records; users in the habit of trimming off excess surface noise before the actual music starts, and fading said noise away at the end of a track to prevent a sudden drop-off before the next and perhaps cleaner track begins, will have no such flexibility unless they use their computers for pre-recording tweaking.