[tvent]

Ok, with that info, it sounds like your limiting factor is the 192I/O has two adat connections in stock configuration.
Taking the A/D card out and replacing it with a digital input card would turn it into a 192 DIGITAL I/O at an inflated price. Going the 192 DIGITAL I/O route you will not have any way to monitor your audio very easily or anyway to get analog audio into your system so that is probably not a good solution all by itself (assuming you will want to do more than JUST gigastudio.)

Also keep in mind that the ADAT inputs on the 192's will only support 44.1/48k sample rates.

That being said, I think the most economical solution for you would be:

1 - 192 I/O and 1 - 24bit ADAT interface connected to the legacy port.

This would allow you to have all of your Gigastudio inputs PHYSICALLY connected to an interface at all times.
Additionally, you can pick and choose which adat inputs you need to actually monitor in pairs, so you could mix and match all sorts of ways (up to 16 MAX at any one time). You would still have 8 analog inputs and outputs for monitoring and recording to/from the analog domiain or to use as send/returns to your favorite analog outboard processor(s).

Now, IF you need to work at sample rates higher than 48k, this solution will not work for you becuase, as i said earlier, the 192's do not support higher than 48k on the ADAT inputs. HOWEVER, you could use the built-in SRC on the ADAT inputs and that would allow you to run 96k (or whaterver) sessions and have the hardware SRC convert the sample rates up to the session sample rate. IF this is how you will work then you need to be aware that SRC is only available on the adat inputs on the actual digital input card - in plain english this means there is no SRC on the digital inputs that are built into the chasis of the 192 and because the legacy port is for interfaces that were built in the 44.1/48k only days there is no SRC on the legacy port either. SO, if you plan to do high sample rates the least you can get by with is a 192 and a 192Digital (Actually, you could buy 2 192 digitals and get some external converters to handle your monitoring needs, but that would probably be more hassle than the dough saved and if you are saving dough there then you are probably getting inferior converters as compared to what is in the 192's)

To sumarize:
If you are going to stay at 44.1/48k you can get buy with 1 192 and a 24bit adat bridge - cost ~ $3500 or so for the 192 and $800 or so for the adat bridge used about $4300 total.
If you are going to need higher than 44.1/48k you will need a 192 and a 192 digital - cost ~ $3500 or so for the 192 and 2200 for the 192 digital About $5700 total.

One last thought, if analog I/O is only necessary in your environment for monitoring AND you are only interested in 44.1/48k, then you could actually get by with a 192 digital and an adat bridge because the adat bridge has two channels of analog I/O on it that can be used for monitoring - of course you would then have overkill on the adat inputs because you would have 5 total - but that would keep your cost down around $3grand or less all together . That solution would also get you 16 channels of hardware SRC on the inputs IF you decided you wanted to play with high sample rates - then you could experiment and IF you decided you liked that way you could replace the adat bridge with a 192I/O later.

does this help or make it more confusing?


Oh, and YES, this is a great forum!