The A32 is designed for MADI – the digital audio interface for professionals. Up to 64 channels can be transferred using a simple pair of glass fiber cables (or coaxial cable) spanning a distance of up to 1.2 miles.  

Thanks to the MIDI over MADI feature, the A32 can be remote controlled using MIDI data embedded in the same MADI cable. The audio transfer between the MADI input and MADI output is done with zero latency, so you can daisy chain multiple A32 without any added latency or delay compensation. This is what we call plug-and-play!

Besides MADI, the A32 also offers full ADAT integration. Four full-fledged ADAT I/O ports allow use of all 64 analog channels, even without MADI. So the A32 is perfectly suited for the professional and ambitious home recording studio. One of the ADAT connectors can alternately be used as an optical S/PDIF or AES/EBU interface. This port has a sample rate converter inside, so it’s easy to use even when the connected unit is not able to sync to an external clock.

The analog side of the A32 also has lot to offer: High quality converter chips with excellent audio performance are supported by a sophisticated analog amplifier circuit. The gain of each channel can be adjusted separately in 0.5dB steps. The standard levels (+4dBu, +13dBu and +20dBu) are switched in the analog part, so performance of the analog converters is maintained.

The new visual control concept of the A32 embarks on a new path: Besides the precise level meters of all 64 analog channels, the four TFT displays offer a very new, self explanatory method of operation – it’s unlikely you will ever need the manual! To the audio under control, we added a headphone output on the front side. This not only allows direct monitoring of any analog or digital signal, but also works as full-fledged submix bus.

The high quality analog circuit is partnered on the digital side with a Sharc DSP. This processor takes great care of the digital audio with it’s floating point arithmetic and 80 bit wide accumulator, so that on the digital side, not a bit gets lost!

we take analog seriously
We use converters from Cirrus Logic with great analog performance. Every analog input and output has analog switches for selecting between +4dBu, +13dBu and +20dBu, and every channel you can set seperately. The levels which lie in between are set by an Analog Devices Sharc DSP. So, whether you connect professional or consumer equipment, you will always have the best analog performance.

giving control back to you
As you see, we put in four(!) TFT screens in the A32! Why? Because we want you to have control over what happens. No need to install a program on the PC to have the ability to see the levels and adjust everything. Just take a look on the A32, and you see what's happening, all 64 analog channels clearly visible on high resolution level meters. But thats not all, press the MENU key, and enjoy the extensive user interface. By the way, no need to study the manual, the A32 explains on the help screens what happens, so you never get lost...and the A32 speaks five languages!

The clock and digital PLL system
For the master clock we use a temperature compensated high quality oscillator. But also when you use MADI or ADAT as clock source, the digital PLL produces a virtually jitterless sampleclock for the converters. Just listen to the A32, you will hear the difference!

stability first
We know you need a reliable system. Thats why we have two power inputs. If one power supply fails, you see a warning on the TFT screens, and you can search for the failure while the A32 still works with the other supply. MADI is also laid out redundant: If you connect both, optical and coax, the input automatically switches to the other source, if sync is lost. So next time your cat bites the optical cable, the A32 still uses the coax connection as backup.

Headphones
If you ever wondered what happens on a analog or digital channel you will find the headphone connector very useful. With one touch of the encoder you see the headphone screen. There you can set the volume, and select the source for the headphone output. You can also store up to seven mixes, and just select one to hear it on the headphones.

Analog Devices Sharc DSP
One of the most exciting new features is the fourth generation Sharc DSP we put inside. This DSP is connected to all 258 analog and digital channels, and is able to freely route and mix all these signals. Besides of that, it can do audio processing, so we can expand the features of the A32 easily.