User guide

ABOUT THE 896MK3 HYBRID
12
With a variety of I/O formats, mic preamps, no-
latency mixing and processing of live input and
synchronization capabilities, the 896mk3 Hybrid is
a complete, portable “studio in a box” when used
with a Mac or Windows computer.
THE 896MK3 HYBRID REAR PANEL
The 896mk3 Hybrid rear panel has the following
connectors:
■ Eight 24-bit 192 kHz XLR analog outputs
■ Eight 24-bit 192 kHz “combo” (XLR + balanced
quarter-inch) analog inputs, each equipped with a
mic preamp, front-panel 48V phantom power
switch, pad switch, and trim knob
■ Two XLR main analog outputs with front-panel
volume knob
■ Two sets of optical connectors (in and out),
individually switchable among ADAT optical
“lightpipe”, 96 kHz S/MUX optical or S/PDIF
“TOSLINK”
■ AES/EBU input and output
■ RCA S/PDIF in/out
■ BNC word clock input and output
■ Two 1394 FireWire B connectors
■ One high-speed USB2 connector
28 inputs and 32 outputs
All 896mk3 inputs and outputs can be used simul-
taneously, for a total of 28 inputs and 32 outputs at
44.1/48kHz:
* The phone jack below the MASTER VOL knob is
hard-wired to (mirrors) the XLR main outs. The
PHONES output can operate as an independent
output pair, or it can mirror any other 896mk3
output pair, such as the main outs.
† The 896mk3 optical connectors support several
standard optical I/O formats, which provide
varying channel counts. See “Optical input/
output” on page 44 for details about optical bank
operation.
With the exception of the phone jack on the front
panel labeled “(MAIN OUT)”, all inputs and
outputs are discrete. For example, using the main
outs does not “steal” an output pair from the bank
of eight XLR analog outputs. The same is true for
the headphone outs.
Analog
All 10 analog inputs and outputs are equipped with
24-bit 192 kHz A/D converters. All audio is carried
to the computer in a 24-bit data stream.
Mic/guitar preamps
All eight analog inputs are equipped with a preamp
on a combo-style connector that accepts either an
XLR or quarter-inch (guitar) plug. Individual 48V
Connection Input Output
24-bit 192kHz XLR analog 8 8
24-bit 192kHz XLR main outputs - stereo
Headphone output* - stereo
ADAT optical digital† 16 16
AES/EBU 24-bit 96kHz digital stereo stereo
RCA S/PDIF 24-bit 96kHz digital stereo stereo
Total 28 32
896mk3 Hybrid book Page 12 Friday, August 19, 2011 2:04 PM