EWS88 MT. - Terratec, PCI Soundcard AUDIO OPREMA

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The launch of yet another 8‑in/8‑out PCI soundcard might seem little cause for raised eyebrows, but EWS88 MT. have a few surprises up their sleeves with the EWS88 MT. Martin Walker prepares to be amazed.

It's not long since I last reviewed a Terratec soundcard (the EWS64 XXL in SOS July '99), but their new EWS88 MT is a completely different beast. Gone are the consumer 16‑bit converters, along with the old‑fashioned ISA format — this new card is a compact PCI design that seems designed from the ground up for use by more serious musicians. With eight analogue inputs and eight analogue outputs, along with S/PDIF digital input and output and MIDI In and Out, it looks ideal for those who want to do some serious 8‑track recording. This impression is further strengthened by the audio spec: the converters are capable of 24‑bit, 96kHz operation, and are mounted separately in a 5.25‑inch‑wide module. Although this module can be mounted in any suitable CD‑ROM‑style drive bay in your PC (like those of the EWS64 series) and connected to the soundcard using an internal ribbon cable, it can also be attached by a two‑metre‑long multicore cable and mounted externally. This makes far more sense for many people, since having a host of cables sprouting from the front of your PC is often not convenient.

However, I've left the best till last — the price of the Terratec EWS88 MT is just £399, which makes it significantly cheaper than any comparable card on the market.