s950 digital input options - ib105 / ib109 cards

hi so am i basically out of luck and just need to sit patiently and hope something pops up over the years?
really want to make the s950 my main sampler (instead of my 3000, which does sound great with the digital input but something about the s950 sound and features feels better to me).
there was a (kinda strange) thread from a few years back about somebody re-creating these cards to give us s950 users more options, can't quite tell the result but guessing it never came to fruition lol
so, if anybody has ideas on this let me know, in the meantime ive been keeping my eyes on reverb/ebay/craigslist but seems like needle in a haystack situation (or worse)

also interesting to hear from people using the digital card and how the sound improves vs the analog inputs ?
im hopeful that it will improve clarity on my low end especially sub frequencies
this is definitely the case on the 3000, def sound quality improvement using the digital inputs only
cheers
joseph

I have the s950 ib-105 board, used it to try out getting digital samples into the box to see if it made for a cleaner sound. I think if you're only going to use it for digital in, you're only using half of it. You can get an ACSI drive emulator... (probably should update the thread below with some of that info as well).

As far as finding one. Just be patient, or consider buying a unit that has one installed already. I know it's a pain, but yeah... these things are hard to come by, and when they do show up they fetch a lot of money because they are so rare.

I posted some recordings that *should* still be accessible a while back in the thread here. Might be useful if you're just looking to hear a comparison of sound. I think I did some bass sounds, but would be happy to do something different if you were interested to hear a comparison.

For me, I've used it a lot to record sounds from my Triton when I'm looking for something cleaner to start working with and then going from there. However, the analogue inputs definitely give it a pretty interesting tone that I do like, especially when you drive the signal *just* so. While you can drive the digital inputs, you also get digital clipping/distortion... which is not so nice.

Anyways... happy to answer more questions for you if you have them.

Awesome thanks for the insights!
Well I already have a fully upgraded s950 which i've put a new screen, sd card reader etc into...
Guess I'll keep my eyes out for finding a card and give it time
Aright will check those comparisons thanks again

Hi There,

I am Jonesing for an S950 right now and am super curious about the digital board. Just weighing up purchasing a fully loaded s950 rather than searching for the upgrades after purchasing.

I know this sounds daft regarding the s950 but I do very much like to have the option of recording at the highest fidelity with things and to go from there.

Can I ask does the digital input bypass the 12bit converters? and is the card able to output digital signal too?
i.e can you record out digitally and if so how does it sound compared to the analogue outputs?

I intend to connect it to my mpc 2000. Do they play nice together?

Thank so much

light pipe/ADAT are uniquely one way... they are not going to be able to both send and receive audio. For the S950 specifically, it has an input only, so you're not going to be able to send audio out over it to another device.

The digital input does not bypass the 12bit converters. It will still be sampled as a 12bit sound, just with a lower/no noise floor.

The S950 and MPC 2k play nicely together.

Thanks so much for your reply. My main concern regarding sampling is noise floor so good to know that the digital board helps somewhat with that.