HD Native vs Thunderbolt direct

[BScout]

Originally Posted by soundmanjames

thanks 685 - it doesnt really compare HD native and thunderbolt direct though... it looks like if I have been happy with HD native then I should be just as happy with thunderbolt only.
It should also mean I can run headphone mixes directly from the Lynx mix engine

I don't know the numbers on the Aurora (n), but it's possible that there will be less latency via thunderbolt (not much, but still less.)

When running digilink, third-party hardware has to emulate the latency numbers of Avid hardware. Obviously that can only be equal to or greater latency than the device's actual latency. In fact, before the MTRX device profile was implemented into Pro Tools, even the MTRX had to run at a greater latency because it was emulating other Avid hardware (my first two years of the MTRX IIRC.)

So you might get better latency numbers.

[Darryl Ramm]

^^ almost certainly, Lynx have pointed out before the Thunderbolt is basically their PCIe hardware reimplemented for Thunderbolt and has similar latency to that. Without the padding to slow it down to HD IO latency.

[soundmanjames]

Great news! TB it is for me!!

[685]

Originally Posted by soundmanjames

thanks 685 - it doesnt really compare HD native and thunderbolt direct though... it looks like if I have been happy with HD native then I should be just as happy with thunderbolt only.
It should also mean I can run headphone mixes directly from the Lynx mix engine

Through all the talking I feel they did go more into HDX and not enough into the HD Native. They did mention that the Native card handled the I/O for Protools and a few things about lower latency with Avid hardware. I'm in a similar situation as you. Over the last few months I compared getting an HDX card or Carbon or just going UA Apollo(direct TB) now that computers are getting more powerful. I have the new computer so I need to narrow things down.

[thebeatless]

I tried using an aurora n via thunderbolt instead of hd native thunderbolt last year. I was trying to avoid having to relaunch pro tools each time I changed the playback engine to/from the Dolby audio bridge. While it worked just fine, if you’re one that often has cpu overload messages while pushing your system, you will probably run into issues with garbled audio after a cpu error. To get back to work you have to open up the playback engine settings, change the buffer to a different setting, click ok, and then open playback engine settings back up to set the buffer back to your desired setting. It’s not the end of the world, but I went back to hd native because of it. Maybe/hopefully it’s been fixed over the last year with a pt or os update? I hope so, because I’m looking at the new DAD ax64 for my next interface.

[thebeatless]

Well, I just tried this with another Lynx. I'm doing a project for a client that uses abelton and they've asked me to try mixing there to make things easier on them. HD Native drivers were disconnecting non stop, so I grabbed another Lynx Aurora N connected via Thunderbolt. It works much better with Abelton, and it's also maybe working better with pro tools? No garbled audio like with previous Pro Tools versions and CPU usage on my studio Ultra seems to have gone down a little somehow.

[Skytouch]

The video helps me clarify the purpose of two FPGAs on the HDX card, versus one on the HD interface. It seems the HD Native FPGA offers some increased channel count in Pro Tools, automatic latency compensation for the interface (versus manual if occasionally needed), and a digilink port for my Omni if I choose to get it working on a planned Mac Studio.

I have believed that Omni HD is fast because it sits on the PCIe bus. This would echo the GearSpace low-latency database showing RME and Lynx PCIe interfaces at the top. But RME's well-written USB2 drivers are not far behind, and better than many interfaces with supposedly faster connections. TB3 is potentially faster but it comes down to drivers.

If I owned a Lynx or Focusrite interface with both digilink and TB3 available, I would start with TB3 and enable digilink access only if and when needed for Pro Tools.

Sky