Studio 1824 with an Eleven Rack

[Suddenly Clear]

Hi All,

I've posted a few times before on this forum asking questions about an 11R. I owned one for a fortnight before it broke! However, that didn't put me off, I've ended up purchasing a Presonus Studio 1824 (mostly with my two external synths and drum machine in mind) with another 11R. I've connected the 11R through S/PDIF to the Studio 1824. All appears to be working well so far; although I haven't tested it much due to my current track being all soft instruments.

I'm interested in whether there is a way of using the S/PDIF connection to route 1824 inputs through the 11R effects in real time? I use Pro Tools.

Obviously, I don't expect you to know about the Studio 1824, but just typically. It isn't, of course, essential, but would be a nice way of working from time to time.

Studio 1824, Universal Control and inputs:





Thanks.

[Darryl Ramm]

The Eleven Rack is as dumb as any box can be. Set its rig input to S/PDIF In and it will process whatever signal you sent to it.. that includes from hardware based mixers in the interface if they can send to S/PDIF out... which it should take you almost no time to work out if yours can. If not then you could route via Pro Tools, at higher latency.

If you are just processing a live Mic or line input you might be better off sending that straight into the Eleven Rack.

[Suddenly Clear]

Thanks Darryl. How would this typically be set up in Pro Tools?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Suddenly Clear

Thanks Darryl. How would this typically be set up in Pro Tools?

Track output or a send to your interface’s S/PDIF output. Look up hardware insert tutorials on YouTube.

But does the hardware mixer support S/PDIF Out? If so you can go that route for lower latency. And you should still be able to track a dry signal through the mixer as well. (Answer: yes it does. So take your time and work our how to use the hardware mixer included with your interface. Like try: Shut down Pro Tools and work out how to use the mixer to route an input signal through your interface out to S/PDIF and through the Eleven Rack rig so you can hear it in headphones connected to the Eleven Rack. The meters in the front panel rig view of the Eleven Rack are very handy. RTFM time... Everything in simple as possible small steps).

[Suddenly Clear]

Yes, I've plugged my headphones into 11R and can get a signal from the 1824 with effects applied. I can only hear the dry signal from the 1824.

Had a little experiment in Pro Tools. When I selected S/PDIF as input or insert I get a, suspected, horrendous feedback loop noise and peaked the meter. I'm obviously doing something wrong. In the I/O all the inputs/inserts/outputs are ticked.

Thanks

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Suddenly Clear

Yes, I've plugged my headphones into 11R and can get a signal from the 1824 with effects applied. I can only hear the dry signal from the 1824.

Had a little experiment in Pro Tools. When I selected S/PDIF as input or insert I get a, suspected, horrendous feedback loop noise and peaked the meter. I'm obviously doing something wrong. In the I/O all the inputs/inserts/outputs are ticked.

Thanks

You mean Setup>IO paths being ticked? You should not even be looking there or messing with that. Use the default for your interface and leave it alone.

The feedback of an output getting into an input is either coming though Pro Tools or the hardware mixer or a combination. My first *guess* would be the hardware mixer not set up correctly... like you have all output from that hardware mixer going to (or mirrored to S/PDIF Out) and are feeding back in DAW output to that as well.... you need to set up a custom mix to the S/PDIF Out with only the inout you want to go there. And if that is not it them you likely have the S/PDIF Out selected as the monitoring path/main output in Pro Tools.

All the tools to solve this are staring you in the face. You need to take time to work out what is going on. A useful tool can be to get a pad of paper and draw the signal paths for both the hardware mixer and DAW. And eventually be able to just visualize that all clearly in your head as you work on stuff.