Lucid Technology’s NB24 and ADA1000 Digital I/O Cards for NuBus Macs

Lucid Technology’s NB24 card for NuBus Macintoshes provides digital I/O as well as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter functionality, making installation and configuration quick and painless.

Lucid Hearing offers free in-person hearing tests at several Sam’s Club stores nationwide and beyond, lasting less than an hour for customers who don’t feel obligated to buy hearing aids after taking the test.

Early Life and Education

Lucid Technology developed this card, providing cutting edge 20-bit analogue-to-digital and digital-to-analogue converters at an extremely budget price. When combined with a good analogue preamp, these cards produce powerful yet dynamic sounds which are musically engaging while remaining highly realistic.

For digital inputs, the ADA1000 features both balanced XLR and unbalanced 1/4″ connectors with switches to select AES/EBU or S/PDIF formats; an LED indicates when valid AES/EBU or S/PDIF digital signals have been received. An analog output section offers both RCA and balanced XLR connectors to interface with external audio equipment – please refer to page 9 for a list of input/output connections. Finally, for power supply purposes the ADA1000 requires an external power supply – for details please see ANALOG INPUT/OUTPUT CONNECTORS

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Lucid Technology’s ADA1000 card should appeal to any NuBus Mac owner looking for digital audio processing. It’s inexpensive, provides 16-bit or 48kHz audio on systems normally limited to 8-bit hardware and offers some reliable converters – an attractive package all around!

Back panel features include both XLR and 1/4″ balanced analog outputs, an AES/EBU/S/PDIF input switch for digital signals, as well as a status indicator that illuminates when valid digital signal are present at either of its digital ports.

Lucid Technology has also designed a PCI version of this card for PC market use.

Achievement and Honors

Lucid Technology, the new division of Symetrix (see our interview with Dane Butcher in SOS January 1997) has introduced two digital hardware products for Macintosh users – the NB24 digital I/O card for NuBus Macs and ADA1000 20-bit analogue-to-digital/analogue converters packaged together as 19″ rackmount units at an economical cost.

The ADA1000 features an LED indicator to indicate whether there is an S/PDIF or AES/EBU format digital signal present at its input port and what sample rate has been selected by its DAC.

The NB24 board should work with any software that uses Apple’s Sound Manager; however, Digidesign’s Sound Designer II may require updates in its drivers for compatibility with Mac OS 7.6.

Personal Life

The ADA1000 NuBus card for Macintosh provides digital input and output capability with full 16-bit 48kHz audio capability without the need for external gear. Both balanced XLR and unbalanced 1/4″ jack connectors are provided to accommodate analogue input/output functionality.

I spent time speaking with Lucid Motors employees from all levels, and witnessed their enthusiasm when discussing Air or the future of Lucid Motors. While their focus remains on delivering their first vehicle and building a successful business model, Lucid Motors employees also look three, five and ten years ahead as they plan for what lies ahead.

The ADA1000 performed very well during our tests. While it did not produce as much power, it proved more than capable of meeting all our testing requirements.

Net Worth

Lucid Technology Inc, of Newark CA can be calculated with this approach to market capitalization: current stock price multiplied by total outstanding shares. Using this methodology, we can calculate their net worth.

Lucid Technology, a division of Symetrix (see Dane Butcher interview in SOS January 1997) has recently introduced two digital hardware products for Macs; these are: (1) an I/O card designed specifically for NuBus Macs called the NB24 and (2) 20-bit analogue-to-digital/analogue converters called the ADA1000; both can now be purchased at budget prices.

Back panel connections feature balanced XLR and unbalanced 1/4″ jacks for analog inputs, while balanced XLR and 1/4″ connectors are used for outputs (see ANALOG INPUT/OUTPUT CONNECTORS (page 9 for details of these connectors and pinouts).