OCTAPAD SOFTWARE FOR PC PRO
OCTAPAD SOFTWARE FOR PC SOFTWARE
OCTAPAD SOFTWARE FOR PC PC
OCTAPAD SOFTWARE FOR PC WINDOWS

The MIDI connector box is not a cheap option, at £79, but does offer the advantage of allowing you to position the MIDI sockets in a more accessible location than the back of the PC. The MCB‑10 plugs into the 15‑way games port compatible connector on the back plate of the RAP‑10 card and - as well as providing a MIDI In and Out port - has an extension socket for the joystick port. The MIDI ConnectionĪlthough the RAP‑10 has a built‑in MIDI interface, you need to purchase a separate external connector box (the MCB‑10) to access this feature. There is also a software‑controllable monitor that allows you to 'loop back' the input to the output so that you can choose whether or not to monitor what you are recording on the card's audio output.

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The card is supposed to be able to record and play back at the same time (and Roland assure me that on their test machines it does), but I was unable to persuade the software to do it for me. All input and output levels are controllable by the bundled mixer application software, as is the line/mic sensitivity. This means that you need to use either powered speakers or an external mixer/amplifier. Unlike some sound cards, the audio output of the RAP‑10 is not capable of driving speakers directly, although you can use Walkman‑style headphones if you like.

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The line levels are set at ‑10dBm and the microphone at ‑50dBm, with the auxilary input also being available inside the PC for connection to an internal CD‑ROM drive's audio output.

The mono setting simply connects both the input channels to the mono sound source the software decides whether the audio is recorded as a mono or a stereo sound file. The Mic/line input can be configured as either a mono or a stereo input by setting a 'jumper' on the card.

The audio connectors are located on the back plate of the expansion card and are stereo miniature phone sockets. The card has two audio inputs, an audio output and a 15‑way, D‑type socket for connecting a joystick or an external MIDI interface. The hardware component of the Audio Producer system is the RAP‑10 sound card, a three‑quarter length, 16‑bit PC (i.e. The bundled software is also interesting, since it goes one step beyond the sequencer/wave editor/MIDI jukebox software normally supplied with MPC cards, to provide a set of tools for combining the various sound elements. The package is interesting in a number of ways and has at least one unique feature in that it can apply DSP effects - chorus and reverb - to the digital audio output.

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With the Audio Producer, Roland have addressed the quality 16‑bit MPC sound card market the RAP system competes head‑on with the likes of the Sound Blaster Pro and the Turtle Beach series of cards. They were one of the first companies to make a MIDI interface for the PC - the MPU‑401 - and subsequently produced the LA‑PC and SCC1 PC synthesizer cards based on the MT32 and Sound Canvas sound generation hardware.

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While the Audio Producer package is not specifically aimed at the musician, Roland's place as one of the major players in the hi‑tech musical instrument world, coupled with their history in PC music, makes it worth a closer look.įor a company that's been involved for so long in both the hi‑tech music business and PC sound cards, Roland have taken a surprisingly long time to jump onto the Windows multimedia bandwagon.

The Roland Audio Producer (RAP) is a complete multimedia Windows sound package which includes both the audio hardware needed by the PC to make a cheerful noise and the software to make use of it. Roland's entry into the Multimedia Windows sound card market has been long awaited, and after numerous name changes they have finally come up with the goods. Brian Heywood finds out how the newcomer measures up. Roland's eagerly‑awaited multimedia Windows sound package competes head on with the Sound Blaster Pro and Turtle Beach cards well known to PC musicians.

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