18 in at 96k

[FlawnWilliams]

I have a ProFire 2626 with MP 8.0 cs2 running on a MacbookPro. I set up a test of 18 channels of 24 bit 96k recording. The first eight channels were the analog inputs on the 2626. I also slaved a Mackie Onyx 800R to the 2626's word clock, and it locked properly at 96K 24 bit. I then fed four Mackie inputs to the Optical A on the 2626 for inputs 9-12, and the other four Mackie inputs on Optical B for 13-16. I also took a SPDIF output of the Mackie's chs 1 + 2 and fed that to the 2626's SPDIF coax inputs.

This appears to work fine, I can arm and record for a half hour or more on 18 tracks at 24 bit 96k. The resultant files are the proper size for mono 24/96 files, and identify themselves as such when I look at them in ProTools' Import window.

All appears well.

But I see statements elsewhere on this Forum that ProTools cannot handle 96k on optical connections.

Is the data in my recorded files getting somehow truncated? If there is an audio quality issue with recording like this, shouldn't ProTools throw an error when I do it?

[pezking]

I think it's more that the Digidesign interfaces - 003 family, cannot use the SMUX protocol - essentially a hack on ADAT which allows transmission of 96khz audio across two 48khz channels on ADAT.

Hope that helps.

[FlawnWilliams]

Well the post from a Digi Tech person in February 2009 (on the MPowered Windows section of the forum) made the flat statement that ProTools wouldn't do 96k on ADAT links. If what you say is true, then a more accurate description would be that LE can't do it, but MPowered can.

I can't find anything authoritative on this topic on either the Digi or M-Audio support sites or documentation.