HD OMNI digital I/O is a tease

[abt]

I'm not asking anything really, just in for a chat I suppose.

So I've been playing around with my new Omni/HD Native setup. I really love it so far but I've got to say the the digital I/O is a bit of a tease. That is of course assuming that what I'm saying is correct.

The Omni can record up to 8 simultaneous inputs at a time. It can be a combination of the following sources

4 analog ins - 2 can mic ins
2 SPDIF ins OR 2 AES ins
8 ADAT ins

basically any combination of the above as long as it adds up to 8 ins.

It's the OR in the 2 SPDIF ins OR 2 AES ins that teases me so. You see I have an API A2D which, although I haven't done any real testing, I'm guessing is still going to be better than the mic pres on the Omni. This means if I want to use the omni analog ins and the API via spdif then I'm left with 6 simultaneous ins. I suppose I could get a Focusrite Octopre or similar, that would give a fair bit of flexibility giving 8 ADAT I/Os with mic/line inputs but I really think I'd only be using two of those on a regular basis. Then again being able to 8 mic inputs would be pretty sweet.

I'd love aes and spdif to work simultaneously.

Thanks for the chat.

[nst7]

You've pretty much figured it out. It's spidf OR AES for the 2 channel digital.

So if you're using the 4 analog ins, and your A2D, then you have 2 inputs left, which would have to hook up by Adat.

If you want to keep good quality going in to that, you might look at the Focusrite ISA 428 with digital card option, though you'd just be using 2 of the 4 preamps, since that uses up all the inputs.

[abt]

Yeah a Focusrite ISA 428 would be pretty sweet, too expensive for me just to add a couple of inputs.

I was thinking of getting a monitor controller but I really like the monitor controller on the omni, it's super simple and does all I need (except mono! I guess that means it doesn't do all I need. It's not a deal breaker) then I thought for the same money I could probably add an ADAT mic pre. This would not only give me more ins but also solve the problem of no windows playback. Currently I'm using analog in 3-4 for that. If I had an adat pre I could easily reroute ADAT channels if I needed, and when PT Native does windows playback (fingers crossed) I wouldn't even need to both with that.

[albee1952]

You discovered what I did as well. The Omni is a great device, but its really designed around a small operator that only needs a handful of inputs at any one time(which is why I have written it off my list). A moderately priced solution would be to add a used 96IO(around $700) and bring in more stuff via the digital inputs. The 8 analog inputs could also be handy for less "important" tracks(sound quality similar to the 003 interface). That would get you 16 more inputs over just the Omni

[Verve111]

Originally Posted by nst7

You've pretty much figured it out. It's spidf OR AES for the 2 channel digital.

So if you're using the 4 analog ins, and your A2D, then you have 2 inputs left, which would have to hook up by Adat.

If you want to keep good quality going in to that, you might look at the Focusrite ISA 428 with digital card option, though you'd just be using 2 of the 4 preamps, since that uses up all the inputs.

The optical inputs are selectable to spdif optical. I think the real question is whether you can do AES/Spdif coax while also doing spidif optical. I feel like there are a lot more spdif devices out there.


Perhaps this little thing would help - http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-a...r?src=3WWRWXGB