Fast track Ultra 8R in a daisy chain

[mercurysoto]

Hi guys, I don't know if you could give me some hint. I don't know if somebody else has asked the question before, in such a case, please prompt me to the right post.

I'd like to put together a rig for recording live, and I was wondering if I could put 3 Fast Track Ultra 8R in a daisy chain to input 24 tracks at once.

Another option I was considering is the ProFire 26/26, and the question is the same. If I was to go firewire, can I put the interfaces via the firewire port's out/in a chain or do I need to get firewire port expansions, what works better?

I am considering the use of the FTU8R mainly because of the mic pres, and overall the price burden is lower thinking about it as a three-pack purchase. I hope this option might work.


Thanks for your time on this.

[DigiTechSupt]

No - you can't use more than 1 interface at a time with Pro Tools and the most inputs you can get simultaneously would be 18 (typically 8 analog, 8 via ADAT lightpipe and 2 SPDIF).

[mercurysoto]

Alright, I also understand that Pro Tools M-Powered will only allow 18 inputs anyway, software limitation, right? Is it possible to get 16 simultaneous inputs in the ProFire 26/26 via 8 analog inputs and another 8 via the second ProFire 26/26 through lightpipe? Does the lightpipe bus allow 8 simultaneous sends? If so, do the digital inputs add noticeable latency compared to the direct analog inputs?

The other two via s/pddf could be sent via a digital mixer or my FastTrack ultra. Is it the way it works?

Thanks for your quick response.

[DigiTechSupt]

Is it possible to get 16 simultaneous inputs in the ProFire 26/26 via 8 analog inputs and another 8 via the second ProFire 26/26 through lightpipe?

Yes, you could use the 2nd ProFire in standalone mode to get an additional 8 ADAT inputs to the first one.

If so, do the digital inputs add noticeable latency compared to the direct analog inputs?

No noticeable additional latency.

The other two via s/pddf could be sent via a digital mixer or my FastTrack ultra. Is it the way it works?

Yes, though I don't think you could do this with the FastTrack, as it doesn't offer a 'standalone' mode that I'm aware of.

[budubum92]

this thread is super old like 2008 but iv just recently acquired two old m-audio fast track ultra 8r and wanted to connect both together to get an extra 8 ins and outs virtually not separately.

was wondering if if the FTU8R can be set to standalone mode and route its analog INS to analog OUTS making it "standalone" and connect that unit via SPDIF to the first FTU8R.

then i can use the first FTU8R with the computer.

can this be done?