The good things in life are always worth waiting for and after months of anticipation internationally renowned British manufacturer Prism Sound has finally shipped the first Lyra audio interfaces to its worldwide dealer network.
“We were hoping to ship Lyra earlier in the year but due to some manufacturing issues this was delayed until now,” says Prism Sound’s Sales and Marketing director Graham Boswell. “Testing Lyra on all of the software and hardware platforms took longer than anticipated, but now we have commenced deliveries I am confident that this new family of audio interfaces will delight all audio content producers including musicians, composers, project studio owners, DJs and re-mixers.”
Lyra, which made its debut at the 2012 AES Convention in San Francisco, brings to an even wider audience Prism Sound’s high performance audio converter technology. This technology is used in the world’s leading recording facilities by recording artists and for blockbuster movie soundtracks such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. Based on the award-winning and critically acclaimed Orpheus interface, Lyra allows music recording professionals to access the power and sophistication of the Orpheus audio path and clock circuitry, but in a smaller package and at a much more affordable price point.
Lyra connects seamlessly with both Macs and PCs via a simple USB interface, making it ideal for recording professionals who don’t need eight channels of analogue I/O.
Prism Sound plans to launch a number of different variants of Lyra and has started the ball rolling with Lyra 1 and Lyra 2. Both incorporate new ARM Cortex processor design offering class-compliant USB interfacing, plus DSP and a low latency ‘console-quality’ digital mixer for foldback monitoring. Both products also have optical SPDIF capability and Lyra 2 also supports ADAT.
Lyra 1, which retails in the UK at £1,349 plus VAT, will be of particular interest to the musician and project studio market. This unit offers two analogue input channels – one for instrument/line and one for mic/line – plus two DA output channels and optical-only digital I/O. With Lyra 1, musicians can connect a guitar and a microphone through the input channels, plug into their software mixer via a simple USB connection and start laying down basic tracks in a matter of minutes.
Lyra 2, which retails in the UK at £1,849 plus VAT, takes the concept a little further by offering two AD input channels with switchable microphone, instrument or line input modes and four DA output channels. Both optical-only digital I/O and copper S/PDIF are available on this version of Lyra, which also offers wordclock In/Out enabling synchronization with other digital devices.
Both products are ergonomically designed to look as good as they sound. The front panel has a master volume control assignable to selected output channels, while the unit’s small size – just 11 inches wide – makes it very easy to transport for musicians, producers and DJs on the road. For studio use, Prism Sound can supply dedicated rack mounts as an extra.
“We know there is a market for Lyra because our customers have been demanding this product ever since we launched Orpheus,” Graham Boswell adds. “However, we are very protective of our reputation for delivering the highest possible audio quality so we were not going to bring any product to market until we were sure that it could live up to our exacting specifications. Lyra does just that, and we are very proud to introduce it.”
Lyra is fully supported by Prism Sound’s acclaimed technical and after-sales service staff.
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About Prism Sound
Founded in 1987, Prism Sound manufacture high-quality professional digital audio equipment for the International broadcast, film, music production, manufacturing and telecommunications sectors. The company's product range includes the Prism ADA-8XR precision 8-channel converter unit, which is regularly used for music and film soundtrack projects by clients such as EMI Abbey Road, BBC, Sony, Lucasfilm and Walt Disney. Prism Sound also manufactures a range of audio test and measurement products, including the de facto standard DSA-1 handheld digital audio generator/analyser and the dScope Series III audio analyser system.
For more information: www.prismsound.com
