Artist Mix, Pro Tools, and Clarett 8pre

[gscaife]

I just replaced my 003 with a Focusrite Clarett 8pre and an Avid Artist Mix.

I need advice on how to configure my hardware to allow Protools 2018.12 to send separate headphone mixes to the tracking room.

I have the Clarett and OctoPre connected via ADAT and everything is playing well together.

Questions:

It looks like the Clarette FC outs for headphones, by default, are 7-8 and 9-10. I will be replacing the Powerplay Pro with an 8 channel headphone amp in the near future and am considering the Powerplay Pro 8 as the replacement headphone amp.

Are any of you using a similar configuration and what are your suggestions?

Thanks

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Behringer Powerplay Pro XL 4 headphone amp
Focusrite Clarett 8pre TB
Focusrite OctoPre MK II Dynamic
Avid Artist Mix
Protools 2018.12
MacBook Pro (mid 2015, 15”, 2.8 GHZ Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 ram

[albee1952]

My 2 cents here
The Powerplay is a bit cheapo to me and is not likely to last long(mine didn't). I replaced mine with the Alesis Multimix 6 cue(which worked fine) and then replaced that with the ART Headamp6 Pro(because it had the inputs all on the rear).

I have done things 2 ways as follows:
Method #1-all players would get the stereo main mix(same as the control room) but each player(each section of the headphone amp has an AUX input) could have "More Me"(or more anything, via sends in the session feeding the AUX inputs). Those "more me" sends were mono, on top of the stereo main mix(this required special cables to work as desired. You must build them as nobody offers them for sale).

Method #2-all players get their own stereo mix(better, but this requires more outputs to work). This uses the typical TRS>dual mono cables(standard HOSA insert cable works fine) to use a pair of outputs(from your interface) to feed the TRS(stereo) AUX input for each section of the headphone amp.

In your case, the Clarett will run out of available outputs before you run out of headphone channels. One solution would be to replace the OctoPre with the OctoPre Dynamic(which allows for lightpipe back to the OctoPre, giving you 8 more outputs, for 4 more stereo headphone mixes). This could also be done with the Behringer ADA8200(keep the OctoPre you have and use the Behringer just for the extra outputs)

Last detail, for anyone reading this that wants to do similar with a 192 or HD IO, be aware that the outputs of these units are balanced, and if you run them UNbalanced, you MUST NOT ground the cold connection(this also requires special wiring, but anyone with decent soldering skills can build by modding a stock DB25>TRS fanout(PM me if you need the details)

[gscaife]

Thanks for the quick response albee1952!

"Method #2-all players get their own stereo mix(better, but this requires more outputs to work). This uses the typical TRS>dual mono cables(standard HOSA insert cable works fine) to use a pair of outputs(from your interface) to feed the TRS(stereo) AUX input for each section of the headphone amp.

In your case, the Clarett will run out of available outputs before you run out of headphone channels. One solution would be to replace the OctoPre with the OctoPre Dynamic(which allows for lightpipe back to the OctoPre, giving you 8 more outputs, for 4 more stereo headphone mixes). This could also be done with the Behringer ADA8200(keep the OctoPre you have and use the Behringer just for the extra outputs)"

==============================
Behringer Powerplay Pro XL 4 HP Amp
Focusrite Clarett 8pre (Thunderbolt)
Focusrite OctoPre MK II Dynamic
==============================

So, my current (hardwire) connection flow is ADAT out from the Focusrite Octopre MK II Dynamic to the ADAT in to the Focusrite Clarett 8pre Thunderbolt.

I am current using the Focusrite Control software to configure outputs 7-8 and 9-10 as headphone outs on the Clarett 8pre.

If I understand you correctly, I should be able to use a TRS (male) to dual mono (male) cable from output 7-8 on the Clarett 8pre to headphone inputs 1 and 2 on the Behringer XL 4; and the same connectivity from Clarett outputs 9-10 to headphone inputs 3 and 4. This should give me 4 “more me” headphone mixes.

I assume that I can use the AUX inputs on the BACK of the Behringer headphone amp. Am I correct in that assumption? I believe those are NOT TRS inputs and should work with the HOSA cables you suggested. I definitely don’t want to have to use inputs on the front of a HP amp.

Now for the part that I really can’t wrap my head around because I’m an old school hard wiring guy (this ADAT stuff is “magic” to me).

Because I have an ADAT connection from the MK II Dynamic to the Clarett 8pre, I should be able to configure (via the Focusrite Control sofware) and send another 4 mono headphone mixes over ADAT for a total of 8 mono HP mixes.

I will be taking a long hard look at the Behringer ADA 8200 and the Art Headamp6 Pro amps you suggested.

Am I getting this right? I’m really having a hard time wrapping my head around the ADAT part.

Thanks,

George

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by albee1952

.....but each player(each section of the headphone amp has an AUX input) could have "More Me"(or more anything, via sends in the session feeding the AUX inputs). Those "more me" sends were mono, on top of the stereo main mix(this required special cables to work as desired. You must build them as nobody offers them for sale).

Dave
Wouldn’t this just be a balanced mono send ? To the Aux input that is.

The main mix stereo feed is to all individual channels, then the 6 balanced aux outputs (more me channels) to the individual headphone aux inputs.....

Why would that need to be a special cable?