All user reviews of 5/5 for the TC Electronic Impact Twin

The TC Electronics Impact Twin is a firewire interface with a total of 14 inputs: 10 of them are digital (the signal comes from either the ADAT or the S/PDIF inputs) and 4 are analog, with line inputs at the back of the unit and two mic/line inputs at the front with phantom power available and two very good preamps. It also has MIDI in/out, four output channels (or two stereo pairs) and a headphone output.

On the processing side, the Twin's converters can go up to 24 bits/192kHz of resolution (but only 48kHz for the ADAT channels), and it has an awesome control panel software with built-in eq, compression, reverb, etc.

I use it with my mac mini (2011, i5, 8GB RAM), with Logic Pro X and sometimes Reaper, mostly to produce soundtracks for videogames.

UTILIZATION

I usually record only one or two channels at once, but have used the Twin with all the 8 ADAT channels (audio coming from a yamaha digital mixer) a couple times and it worked flawlessly. Latency is very low, and thanks to the control panel you can use the built in effects to have a nice sounding chain without using any plugins from your DAW - and still record only the dry signal. The patching on this control panel is pretty simple and while some effects have only one knob (like the compressor) you can hear that it affects different parameters at the same time (ratio, attack), which keeps things simple and efficient during a session. The reverb sounds great.

The pre amps are really good, transparent and nice sounding. A friend of mine who also has one said once that "it sounds a little too harsh in the upper mids", but honestly I've never really noticed it. I also like the headphone amp a lot, no matter what headphone I plug into the Twin, it always sounds clearer than the same one in another interface. Another good thing are the two phone outputs: one mutes the output to the monitors and the other doesn't, cool resource.


GETTING STARTED

Never had any issues with drivers stability or compatibility with the mac, I pretty much just installed the Control Panel thingy and was ready to go. The basic stuff is plug and play, and if you want to go into everything that the control panel can do for you, a look at the manual might help.

Never needed the customer support, but other people I know had and they say is pretty good. Also I've never dropped the unit, but it looks like it wouldn't suffer much, it looks very well built, sturdy.

OVERALL OPINION

What I like most about it, in comparison to the equipment that I've had and used a lot in the past:
- I can make my regular (two channels) recordings at home and easily plug it into any ADAT (from a mixer in a studio, for example) to get more channels if needed.
- The audio quality, both from the pre amps and the headphone output.
- The effects in the control panel and the bundled plug ins.

What I don't like about it:
- In 2014, let's face it: firewire is kind of a problem, we don't know how long this is going to last. It's the only thing that would keep me from buying another one.

Overall, if you already have a computer with a firewire connection and don't plan to change it too soon, the Twin is definitely a great choice. In my opinion, the best audio interface in it's price range, probably even better than some other ones $100 or $150 more expensive.

I chose this model for its comprehensive connectivity (XLR, TRS jacks, digital coaxial, ADAT, MIDI) and the fact that it can operate without a computer and therefore live (preamp, compressor, reverb). And it's the TC I already had the G-Force, very clean, I have not been disappointed by the Impact Twin.

Note that there are two headphone outputs on the front 6.35mm, one that mute the analog outputs, the other not, and the volume is at the front, stereo, and mono sidechain. All this is very well thought out.

UTILIZATION

Once TC has had problems with drivers, but it's been that that's settled. Today, Windows 7 64 bit, I have no problem with her. SHIFT are not very common but it is also because there is no need to SHIFT ...

I have so far not used the card to save on PC other than for a comparison test between my two preamps SPL Channel One and my Roland VS-2480.
I can not say how it behaves with Pro Tools multitrack etc. but I know that it is recognized and everything seems to work as it should.

GETTING STARTED

No installation on Windows XP 32-bit or Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit problem.
I can not find clear archi manual but you get it to work, feeling a little.

OVERALL OPINION

I've had two or three years.
I use it as a PC audio output to listen to music on my JBL LSR 2325P with balanced cables Vovox Sonorus and the sound is very clean and detailed.

The value for money is excellent (I had priced USA, must say). The preamps are very good, the headphone outputs are also good.

For size etc. is there a more complete and versatile, and quality TC is already proven all, I think.

Note that in theory should be a Firewire card that does not use VIA chipset but rather Texas Instruments. So chips Firewire Asus boards usually do not work with this card. I bought a no-name card $ 4 and it works nickel.

What characteristics have motivated your choice?

I had a Konnekt 24D before and I was very happy (before it lets go of me) so my choice fell naturally on the twin impact.

With which instruments or systems (console, preamp, DTD ...) and you use the connection with what? ...

Laptop Firewire and PCMCIA card Belkin TI chipset Cubase LE

UTILIZATION

Drivers are stable now, thanks to the errors of youth drivers Konnekt24D

9 ms latency that rolls.

GETTING STARTED

Easy Installation
Preferred level incompatibilities Texas Instruments Firewire chipset that's better.
The control panel of the Konnekt and different but well thought out.

OVERALL OPINION

6 months of use
The value price for a home studio is amazing, good preamps, integrated channel strip extra (TC effect) the reverb very well.
What I regret is not being able to rack ... I could with the old.

I started with a computer music Alesis IO2 (very good to start with matter), and I especially need more inputs / outputs
I use it with a MacBook Pro 2.8 Ghz/4Go ram and speaker Adam A5
Cf thomann or tcelectronics.com for details.

UTILIZATION

The drivers are very stable under Mac, no problem for now. I go with my guitar in Live8 Amplitube2, nickel and nothing wrong. I 8ms latency, I expected to have less (the IO2 was 9 ms latency), but I'll try to get buffers. The app comes with is cool. It can control the DSP effects built into the card (reverb, compressor and equations). Practice but I have no use because I live in while vst but the idea is good to correct the sound (almost) upstream.

The only thing to blame him is the length of the included cable (1m), I had to buy another in order to make the right laptop. There is a firewire 400 to 800 (fortunately for that matter), not stupid!

GETTING STARTED

The plug installation cd, install and play, not bad =). Everything is updated automatically.

OVERALL OPINION

As said earlier, I mainly need additional inputs and I "flashed" on the twin impact. Very pleasant to use, I do not regret my purchase (so 500chf € 345). I do not use the DSP effects for the moment but why not.

EDIT (September 8, 2010): Still nothing to say except that eventually I would still just a tiny outlet for the metronome, I did not think I'm a little pissed off now. Count out the number of inputs / outputs you need ...