DigiLink Cable from Venue to Pro Tools Native

[vinlance]

I'm recording a full band along with Pro Tools playback.

I know that many people record with a regular HD system, but is it possible to achieve this with a Pro Tools Native system?

If so how? Is it as easy as connecting a Dlink cable with a DigiLink (F) to MiniDigiLink (M) adapter?

Is this all I would need?


Thanks in advance for the help.

[Craig F]

Without a HD card you have no way of connecting the DigiLink cable to the computer.
Or were you meaning a HDN card?

[vinlance]

Craig F,

Yes sorry. I meant to say an Pro Tools HD Native system.

Are these the cables that I need? And if so, what is your method of setting the actual session up, including going in to the i/o settings? Is this pretty straight forward or will it take some time to figure out?

[Craig F]

You are correct about the cables you need.
I have not used a Venue system so I can not speak to using it.

[vinlance]

I've used MADI to track like 60+ channels but never a Dlink cable with an Pro Tools HD Native Rig and a venue.

I would think that it would be an easier set-up because it's all Avid.

Just wondering if it's just a plug-in and hit record type of ordeal. Not sure what it even looks like in the i/o set up.

[vinlance]

So I got it working. The Venue has to have the HDx cards installed. Each card has a Port A and a Port B. You take a Dlink cable from Port A of the Venue's console to to Port A on your card and from Port B to Port B on your card. Each Port gives you 32 channels of i/o plus some assignables. I'm not sure if it works the same as MADI to where if you bump up the sample rate, it would give you less tracks. Didn't try it because we didn't have an external clock, connected to the console, with the capability of doing 24/96.But we were doing 24/48 with this track count.

The Venue console pops up as an interface in Pro Tools, in the i/o.

Hope this helps anyone who is comes to this post hoping to find some answers.

[Kristo Kotkas]

Originally Posted by vinlance

So I got it working. The Venue has to have the HDx cards installed. Each card has a Port A and a Port B. You take a Dlink cable from Port A of the Venue's console to to Port A on your card and from Port B to Port B on your card. Each Port gives you 32 channels of i/o plus some assignables. I'm not sure if it works the same as MADI to where if you bump up the sample rate, it would give you less tracks. Didn't try it because we didn't have an external clock, connected to the console, with the capability of doing 24/96.But we were doing 24/48 with this track count.

The Venue console pops up as an interface in Pro Tools, in the i/o.

Hope this helps anyone who is comes to this post hoping to find some answers.

Venue is fixed at 48khz btw, you cant force it to anything else even with an external clock. With one HDx card you get 48 inputs straight off the preamps + 16 assignables, not 32 per port + assignables. To track 96 inputs from two stage racks you would need 2 HDx cards in your FOH rack. To get the best experience tracking with Venue + PT use Venue Link and get all your track names and patching info from the desk into Pro Tools with just one click (new session create from Venue). There is much more: http://akmedia.digidesign.com/suppor...uide_69790.pdf

[vinlance]

Thanks Kristo Kotkas!

The HDx card's in the Venue have two ports, Port A & B. I did see 48 inputs +16 assignables when I pulled up the i/o settings. I thought I was using 2 cables for 48 channels of input into my Pro Tools system.

With what you just said then... What's the difference between Port A & Port B on the HDx cards. Is one for Input and one for Output?

It seems that according to the link you just sent:

http://akmedia.digidesign.com/suppor...uide_69790.pdf

page 5 seems to indicate that Port A carries 32 channels (Stage 1 channels 1–32*) and Port B carries 16 channels (Stage 1 channels 33–48, and HDx 1 assignable I/O).

Is this what you're seeing on your end as well?

[LanceK]

I'm using the same gear for Virtual Soundcheck. So with the HD Native does each port give 48 i/o's to/from the Venue?

[Kristo Kotkas]

Originally Posted by vinlance

Thanks Kristo Kotkas!

The HDx card's in the Venue have two ports, Port A & B. I did see 48 inputs +16 assignables when I pulled up the i/o settings. I thought I was using 2 cables for 48 channels of input into my Pro Tools system.

With what you just said then... What's the difference between Port A & Port B on the HDx cards. Is one for Input and one for Output?

It seems that according to the link you just sent:

http://akmedia.digidesign.com/suppor...uide_69790.pdf

page 5 seems to indicate that Port A carries 32 channels (Stage 1 channels 1–32*) and Port B carries 16 channels (Stage 1 channels 33–48, and HDx 1 assignable I/O).

Is this what you're seeing on your end as well?

Hi, both ports carry 32 channels of I and O, and as you said, first port takes care of first 32 channels, in both directions and the other port takes over from 33 to 48 PLUS the remaining 16 channels that can be assigned, from there the name ASSIGNABLES. I would take the two ports as one, 64 channel tunnel, of witch you are able to freely assign only the last 16 channels, the first 48 are fixed to the 48 inputs coming from the stage. It is done this way because now, you can choose your inputs either from Stage (48 channels) or in Virtual Soundchek mode from your Pro Tools. The remaining 16 channels you can freely play with, you could track your busses, matrixes, main outs or what you wish. Or play back from Pro Tools to channels chosen by you, even if you are in tracking mode on your Pro Tools.

One cool way using the whole system is like I have it set up in my tracking studio:

Stage rack inputs come into desk (Profile) on layer one. Just input gain, faders down, processing off. From there signal will be picked up right after preamp and A/D and sent to Pro Tools HD. Note that this happens automatically, no need to activate direct outs or anything, it just happens, channel one appears in Pro Tools on input one ect. ect. This is my 48 inputs from studio. Typically just 24 inputs in my case. Then in Pro Tools, I mix these incoming channels outputs together by signal type into 16 Assignable outputs, that are sent back to desk. On desk, for convenience they come in on second layer. These can be a combination of mono or stereo signals, my list is something like: Assignable 1 = Sum of Kick mics, Assignable 2 = Snares, Assignable 3+4 = Stereo mix of Toms, Assignable 5+6 = Stereo mix of overheads... you get the point. Then monitoring sends for the Artist is picked up from these channels. This gives my system tape-type monitoring capability as Pro Tools will play recorded signal up to the point when I hit the red button. Also now I can non-destructively EQ and compress the signals for monitoring purposes on this second layer coming back from Pro Tools. My setup is topped with a full PQ monitoring controller setup. This gives the Artist personal control over the headphone mixes, I can monitor and or fix them on the desk if needed and the whole setup is saved in a single show file. And a Pro Tools session file. This is much better than an Aviom monitoring setup for these same reasons - monitoring and saving-recalling.

Hope this makes sense :)