Is the Profire 2626 more stable than Profire Lightbridge? (PT8 or snow leopard?)

[tomv-k]

Hi

Firstly, my requirements are 2 banks of ADAT I/O for my 16 channel Pro Tools system through firewire. I bought a Lightbridge (on paper the solution) and after initial issues it still occasionally freaks out on me which is generally quite frustrating.

I have discovered that the 2626 has 2 banks of ADAT and I simply want to find out if anyone has had experience with both and found the 2626 any better or exactly the same (I've read they have the same drivers so might share issues?). And can you arrange the ins and outs so Protools utilises all the ADAT i/o's?


My system:

Imac 2Ghz Dual Core 2 Duo 4GB RAM with 400 and 800 FW ports
OSX Leopard 10.5.6
PT M-Powered 7.4.2
16 channel ADAT AD/DA converter
M-Audio ProFire LightBridge

Issues reported: after only running happily on it's internal clock occasional digital freakouts which show up on playback and get recorded.


2 other things I'm considering if it is not a Lightbridge issue (I went through 2 during my initial troubleshooting):

Pro Tools 8 might be more stable if the problem is software related?

Snow Leopard might be more stable if the problem is firewire related (which I think might be a serious contender)? Though I know it is still early to comment on this, has anyone tried?

Any insight very valuable, thanks!

[theo.posthumus]

I have the PF2626 and it's been nothing but stable for me. I have only used the adat as spdif though, no problems there. But I can't tell you how running 16 channels through the ADAT ports will go. I've heard some horror stories about ADAT in B.

If you search around here and the gearslutz forum there's lots of threads on the 2626.

good luck

[mediapimp]

I have both and find both to be equally stable. No problems from either.

Regarding problems with ADAT B, I record 16 channels of drums using both ADAT ports and have no issues at all.

[JonesH]

I have had both minor and major issues with regards to ADAT on the PF2626. Can't swear that I'm not the cause of the problems, but I've tried pretty much anything sound engineering-related. As for software, I've tried a lot.

My problem is, I don't do studio recordings, I do live so no setup is exactly alike.

The problems I've had mostly boils down to sync problems over ADAT, both when the 2626 is master and clocked via ADAT or WC. I do have confidence in the machine though; I think it could be setup for studio use and work great. I'm just thinking about moving on to a ULN-8 for recording fidelity and stability. I'll still use the PF2626 for ADAT outs->ADAT to AES converter->ULN-8 for DA though.

[clausiii]

I own a 2626 with no problem at all on Leopard...

On my Snow Leopard partition i haven´t installed the 2626 drivers and PT8 yet. Waiting for the official compatibility info...

[Jiri Gotz]

As I know last OSX Snow Leopard driver 10.6.8 for firewire M-Audio interfaces is common and I have big problems with M-Audio Lightbridge with 3 ADAT(24track) Protools 9. My last recording session wasn´t successful even I tried wordclock sync every component from M-Audio Lightbridge or from master wordclock generator or any other sync combination (SPDIF, ADAT master or slave).
If You want to use Protools 9 better use something else.

PS: I read m-Audio articles about word syncing, OSX optimization and use Texas ins. separate firewire card for M-Audio interface...My last working M-Audio Lightbridge ProTools setup was 18 channel recording system Protools 7.4 MP based on Windows XP.