Honest interface question.

[itsjustmeee123]

Yeah, pro tools and zoom has been a pain for me. Luckily, most of my online sessions are with Logic but PT has been the DAW of my choice for a long time now. It’s just annoying that I can’t easily share my audio with my zoom clients. I read some crazy way of getting it to work on a site a while ago but there’s just too many steps involved. That’s probably one of the more important reasons I was looking to dump the 192. There really are a lot of choices for interfaces out there. I’d like a rack mounted interface with all connections in the back and won’t cost an arm and a leg. Unfortunately the Presonus inputs looks like they are in the front.

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by itsjustmeee123

Yeah, pro tools and zoom has been a pain for me. Luckily, most of my online sessions are with Logic but PT has been the DAW of my choice for a long time now. It’s just annoying that I can’t easily share my audio with my zoom clients. I read some crazy way of getting it to work on a site a while ago but there’s just too many steps involved. That’s probably one of the more important reasons I was looking to dump the 192. There really are a lot of choices for interfaces out there. I’d like a rack mounted interface with all connections in the back and won’t cost an arm and a leg. Unfortunately the Presonus inputs looks like they are in the front.

Combo Mic/line inputs on front....1/4 inch line inputs on back not an issue for me but YMMV.

The 2626 would be a serious consideration for me for a sub $1k interface .

But given you say two mic record channels would be fine . I think if it were me,,, I would try to sell the 192 and the Avid TB and put that money with the cost of the 2626 $700 and go straight to the RME RME Fireface UCX II 40-channel USB Interface @ $1499 ----You are going to get better everything, clocking, conversion , mic pres, etc.

[Darryl Ramm]

Glad it's not just me in love with RME stuff. Super glad I stumbled across the Fireface UFX+ (I needed a MADI connection). Just love the quality of their drivers.

[Sardi]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Glad it's not just me in love with RME stuff. Super glad I stumbled across the Fireface UFX+ (I needed a MADI connection). Just love the quality of their drivers.

There’s one issue with that unit that prevented me getting it. Might not be a problem for most, but was a showstopper for me, which is a shame as I REALLY wanted that interface.

If you want to use one of the optical ports as SPDIF, it mirrors what is being sent to the AES output. IOW, you can’t have 2 seperate discrete stereo digital feeds out of the unit. I believe this was the case in the original UFX as well.

Again, most people are probably using the ADAT ports for 8ch expansion. What I require is the ability to use one of the ADAT ports for 8ch expansion, the other ADAT port to function as a SPDIF 2ch output and the AES as an additional 2ch output. The AES I/O would feed my Mytek converters and the SPDIF would feed my Dangerous monitor controller. This is how I run my current setup, albeit without the second 8ch expansion as my current interface only has 1x ADAT ports and 1x SPDIF.

If I want to go the RME path (which I definitely do) I’ll probably have to go with a Digiface and add whatever I/O I need separately with access to 4 x ADAT I/O. Either that or compare the conversion on the UFX+ to the Dangerous and see if I can remove that from the chain.

[Darryl Ramm]

Sardi,

Good you understand that AES/EBU and S/PDIF optical limitation. It's not very clearly described in lots of places.

Ha I faced the same issues, and more. I'm running AES/EBU direct out of the UFX+ to a monitor controller. But I have other stuff I wanted to connect... multiple AES/EBU Out and In, SPDIF on optical and coax and ADAT In. It was driving me nuts looking at multiple directions, including looking at UAD interfaces, I finally went with the UFX+ and chased down some used RME converter boxes (two ADI-192DD ADAT-AES/EBU converter and one ADI-640 ADAT-MADI converter. and I already had a RME Digiface and MadiFace). So now I've got a boat load of AES/EBU, Coax SPDIF (RME AES/EBU connections can do S/PDIF without converters/Baulins) as well as S/PDIF TOSLINK (each ADI-192DD has a S/PDIF on TOSLINK front panel pair). It did not take long to hunt these down on eBay and Reverb, some from Europe, some in the USA. One annoying thing is Pro Tools is slow tools UI when editing the large IO setup pages for this system. But damn those drivers are solid and low latency, and I ended up just using USB 3 to the UFX+ even with a Thunderbolt Macbook Pro rig, just had the cabling there.

Be careful with thinking about adding a Digiface if you want to use Totalmix... you can but there will be two completely separate Totalmix sessions running, but you can digitally connect the devices though ADAT and then use TotalMix as a router in the Digiface. If that's not making sense PM me and I can test/mock up stuff for you here.

[BScout]

Use the second adat port as ADAT but send it to a Mutec MC-4
(currently the best DD converter now that the RME ADI-192 DD is no longer; in fact, it may be better due to how it handles sample rates.)

[Darryl Ramm]

I don't know why RME dropped the ball with format converter boxes. They announced a whole set of new boxes way back on 2013 and never delivered them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjr61Vnzcbw maybe too expensive, since they also never replaced the ADI-4DD. The Mutec MC-4 looks a fantastic option.

And yes I know you can get some routing with RME's modern outboard boxes like a 1610 or 12Mic.

[Sardi]

Originally Posted by BScout

Use the second adat port as ADAT but send it to a Mutec MC-4
(currently the best DD converter now that the RME ADI-192 DD is no longer; in fact, it may be better due to how it handles sample rates.)

Yeah. Format converter box is an option, but seeing as that’s my only use for it at this point, it’s a rather expensive way to get what I’m after.

But agree, that is a good box.


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[Sardi]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Sardi,

Good you understand that AES/EBU and S/PDIF optical limitation. It's not very clearly described in lots of places.

Ha I faced the same issues, and more. I'm running AES/EBU direct out of the UFX+ to a monitor controller. But I have other stuff I wanted to connect... multiple AES/EBU Out and In, SPDIF on optical and coax and ADAT In. It was driving me nuts looking at multiple directions, including looking at UAD interfaces, I finally went with the UFX+ and chased down some used RME converter boxes (two ADI-192DD ADAT-AES/EBU converter and one ADI-640 ADAT-MADI converter. and I already had a RME Digiface and MadiFace). So now I've got a boat load of AES/EBU, Coax SPDIF (RME AES/EBU connections can do S/PDIF without converters/Baulins) as well as S/PDIF TOSLINK (each ADI-192DD has a S/PDIF on TOSLINK front panel pair). It did not take long to hunt these down on eBay and Reverb, some from Europe, some in the USA. One annoying thing is Pro Tools is slow tools UI when editing the large IO setup pages for this system. But damn those drivers are solid and low latency, and I ended up just using USB 3 to the UFX+ even with a Thunderbolt Macbook Pro rig, just had the cabling there.

Be careful with thinking about adding a Digiface if you want to use Totalmix... you can but there will be two completely separate Totalmix sessions running, but you can digitally connect the devices though ADAT and then use TotalMix as a router in the Digiface. If that's not making sense PM me and I can test/mock up stuff for you here.

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Sardi,

Good you understand that AES/EBU and S/PDIF optical limitation. It's not very clearly described in lots of places.

Ha I faced the same issues, and more. I'm running AES/EBU direct out of the UFX+ to a monitor controller. But I have other stuff I wanted to connect... multiple AES/EBU Out and In, SPDIF on optical and coax and ADAT In. It was driving me nuts looking at multiple directions, including looking at UAD interfaces, I finally went with the UFX+ and chased down some used RME converter boxes (two ADI-192DD ADAT-AES/EBU converter and one ADI-640 ADAT-MADI converter. and I already had a RME Digiface and MadiFace). So now I've got a boat load of AES/EBU, Coax SPDIF (RME AES/EBU connections can do S/PDIF without converters/Baulins) as well as S/PDIF TOSLINK (each ADI-192DD has a S/PDIF on TOSLINK front panel pair). It did not take long to hunt these down on eBay and Reverb, some from Europe, some in the USA. One annoying thing is Pro Tools is slow tools UI when editing the large IO setup pages for this system. But damn those drivers are solid and low latency, and I ended up just using USB 3 to the UFX+ even with a Thunderbolt Macbook Pro rig, just had the cabling there.

Be careful with thinking about adding a Digiface if you want to use Totalmix... you can but there will be two completely separate Totalmix sessions running, but you can digitally connect the devices though ADAT and then use TotalMix as a router in the Digiface. If that's not making sense PM me and I can test/mock up stuff for you here.

The only thing you lost me on is the 2 x Totalmix sessions running simultaneously.

FYI - this is by no means urgent. Just spitballing a future upgrade. More than likely linked to a move to M1 Mac hardware as it will render my current interface obsolete.


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[Darryl Ramm]

All I meant is if you have two RME interface connected to a computer, you get two separate instances of TotalMix. Works great, but there is no signal path between those TotalMix environments. You can't route a signal between them in the computer, if you want to do that you need to make a physical connection between each interface.