Antex Electronics SX-5e - Manual (Page 20)

15
This is because the input amplifier stages of the card have been
overloaded. Also, recording from a source with too low a signal
level, such as plugging a microphone directly into a line level in-
put, will result in a very noisy recording. Good signal to noise
performance can only be achieved by using a record source with
sufficient signal level to register high on the VU meter. Peaks in
the red zone should occur occasionally for best signal to noise
ratio.
Connecting the outputs of the Antex Card to equipment designed
for a similar signal level is equally important. Turning the play-
back slider controls in either the Antex Mixer application or the
Antex Demo application way down to compensate for connecting
to equipment which should have a much lower signal level will
give poor performance. These slider controls operate in the digi-
tal domain and reduce the signal level without reducing the noise
floor, degrading the signal to noise ratio accordingly. The trim
controls on the SX-6 and SX-36 operate in the analog domain,
and preserve the signal to noise ratio. It is always better to
choose the lower trim setting and turn the sliders up, rather than
the other way around.
PLAYBACK AND RECORD DEVICES
A “device” is essentially a .WAV file on a hard drive. It can be ste-
reo or mono, at one of many different sample rates or formats.
Devices are not to be confused with physical outputs on the Antex
card. For example, all cards in this family have dual stereo device
playback capability. These means that 2 stereo files may be
played back at the same time. However, the Antex sound card
has only one stereo physical output. This means that the 2 de-
vices are mixed together in the DSP on the card and the mixed
signal is sent out the stereo output of the card. Therefore, when
playing 2 devices on one card, the 2 files can only be mixed by
the Play 1 and Play 2 sliders in the Antex Mixer (or other software
which mimics this function). They cannot be mixed using an ex-
ternal mixing board. In order to be able to mix 2 files (devices)