RME HDSPe AES cards - Magma Chassis

[jkess]

Didn't find a category that seemed totally appropriate for posting this, hoping this will pass muster.

Running Pro Tools 2019 on a 5,1 cheesegrater. Currently using RME AES cards in the PCIe slots connected to 8x192's. Wanted to add a second set of AES cards for another 16 channels of conversion. I am having a difficult time of finding information on whether I can put two sets of RME AES cards into a Magma chassis and run the set up this way. I have asked on the RME forum a couple of times and emailed their tech support but I am not getting any response from them.

Does anyone know if this a reliable way to proceed? Has anyone here done this? Are there things I should be aware of...glitches, model of Magma chassis to avoid, limits to card numbers?

Thanks a million.
Josh

[Mixchump]

I wish I could help on the RME question - all I can say is that from what I've seen with their hardware, you can totally control multiple RME devices from the same TotalMix software.

It might help if you can explain a bit - just a bit confused about the audio interface setup? You're running ProTools on a good ol' 5,1 cheesegrater (great!), and running RME HDSP AES card(s) inside the machine - but you said you're connected to 8x192s? Do you mean Digidesign 192io interfaces (hence the confusion as it seems they would be connected via DigiLink to some other rig?), or is 8x192 and interface from a different vendor?

(not trying to take it off topic!)

[Darryl Ramm]

Yep not clear what you are talking about. You mean 8 x 192 kHz I/O from the AES card? And 8 what? 8 single channels of 8 AES ports? (dual channel).

But regardless... nothing here should change the normal ability of multiple RME cards to run in the same system. What you don't get is a single mix view in TotalMix... each card hosts a separate TotalMix environment, as expected since that is where the hardware mixers that runs TotalMix live.

OTOH AES is old school. Do your converters have ADAT or MADI (yes old but less old) or something else?. That could get you the connectivity to a RME ADAT or MADI card without needing to go to an expansion chassis. If you are buying more converters can you get them with a more modern interface and then maybe sling the old ones though a converter if needed (you can pick up used RME AES converter boxes at nice prices).

[jkess]

Really thankful & impressed with the quality and thoughtfulness of this forum. It's uncommon. So, thanks fellows.

I am running Mytek 8x192's with said cheesegrater.

One RME HDSPe AES card (two PCIe cards in reality) is 32 channel of I/O as they count it, really its only 16 in and 16 out. I would like to run 32 in and 32 out and there aren't enough slots in the cheesegrater with a proper GPU (and I also have a UAD octo inside.

So, were I to run a Magma PCIe card to an expansion chassis, I could put all four AES cards in that and easily accommodate more converters.

Thanks kind fellows.

[Darryl Ramm]

Those Mytek converters have MADI options cards right? I'd be going that way if me. Sell off the existing AES cards. No need for an expansion chassis. No need for low I/O count AES cards, just go nice thin MADI optical cabling. Heck you likely don't need PCIe cards, you can do all this with a USB 2 MADIface box (an option to pick up cheap used if you want to switch to MADI.. always some kicking around, I got mine on Reverb or EBay, I can't remember). Whatever else you add you can find lots of converter boxes with MADI. And going MADI lets you TotalMix together all the I/O on the MADI interface. A Magma PCIe to PCIe chassis is a lot of wasted space, and if you look at the total cost may not be much different cost to sell off the AES cards and upgrade that. And you are not stuck with a PCIe to PCIe chassis that won't be helpful on new Macs if you upgrade that. I have nothing against running old setups, but I would avoid continuing to just invest in gear that locks you back into that old setup.

[LDS]

I have used multiple RME HDSPe cards in a Sonnet chassis just fine. The HDSPe drivers support up to three cards in a single system but be aware that while they aggregate into a single instance of totalmix, the only way to achieve low latency monitoring between cards is to use physical I/O connections between them (i.e plugging the AES connections together). Haven't touched a Magma chassis in years. I'm not sure they even exist on the retail market anymore after the computer was bought out.

Sonnet are good at keeping up with compatibility testing of various cards.

https://www.sonnettech.com/support/d...patibility.pdf

[jkess]

Thank you guys. Will ponder all of this and see what I can iron out. I appreciate your help a whole lot. Best to ya!