Upgrading to MTRX Studio - Advice needed re: Dante

[danieleither]

I am planning a major upgrade of my home studio. I currently run PT Ultimate with 1 x HDX card in a Mac Pro, with the old 192 I/O interface.

Amongst other upgrades, I will be purchasing a MTRX Studio however I am seeking clarification with regards the 64 Dante channels. Can these be used simultaneously with the analogue channels?

So for example, could I connect a Neve 1073OPX (8-channel mic pre w/Dante) to record 24 channels simultaneously (8 Dante channels, 16 analogue audio into the MTRX Studio)?

[creativecontrol]

Yes, absolutely. Assuming you are using an HDX engine - and you have both DigiLink ports connected to the MTRX Studio, you can simultaneously stream in and out 64 channels of IO to and from Pro Tools - which can be composed of any IO flavors you want - analog, Dante, ADAT, and Thunderbolt, assuming you added the TB3 option.

best,


Jeff

[danieleither]

Thanks for your quick response, that is fantastic!

Would I be right in thinking that it would also work with just one digilink cable, however reducing the I/O channel limit to 32?

I'm unlikely to need 32 channels of I/O, therefore if the above works I won't need to buy an additional cable, however I would have the option to do so if more channels are required in the future...

[Darryl Ramm]

Yes.

Anything you see/route in DADman you can have, ultimate limit is the 64x64 I/O of the DigilLink in your setup. [edit: I was replying to the first post, so yes as Jeff already posted you have 32x32 I/O with one DigiLink cable and incredible flexibility to use that I/O however you want, the MTRX Studio is just a chef's kiss of an interface design].

Not sure what the reliable min latency specs are on Dante vs ADAT on the 1073OPX. I hope/expect they have a good low latency Dante implementation. (Yes I know it has it's own hardware monitoring capability, I'm more interested in how phase aligned recordings are).

The 1073OPX looks wonderful on paper, is on my want list, so many nice design ideas/features. Some folks have been criticizing it for lack of output transformers so I'm curious what you/others think of the sound.

[creativecontrol]

Yes, correct. Each DigiLink pipe passes 32 channels of IO.

best,


Jeff

[danieleither]

I'm curious, with the Dante connection - what does this entail? Is it simply a case of linking the two devices over Cat5e ethernet via a switch, or is there further hardware required?

[Darryl Ramm]

Just a cable, no switch needed.

[danieleither]

With regards phase concerns, I'm guessing the issue here is that the Dante interface introduces lag / latency, making audio recorded on the analogue inputs out of sync with audio recorded and processed via Dante?

I suppose an easy work around for that is to simply ensure you don't have mics in the same room, split across the two devices?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by danieleither

With regards phase concerns, I'm guessing the issue here is that the Dante interface introduces lag / latency, making audio recorded on the analogue inputs out of sync with audio recorded and processed via Dante?

I suppose an easy work around for that is to simply ensure you don't have mics in the same room, split across the two devices?

Yes.

You get to control the latency settings in the 1073OPX, so one question just is does everything work reliably at low settings. With a HDX system you are unlikely to want to monitor through the 1073OPX hardware monitoring so want good low real time latency here. Note I am not criticizing this box, I expect Neve to do a great job, I am just curious what latencies folks see. And how it sounds given the lack of output transformers. Again, so many great things they have done in this box.

[LukeHoward]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Not sure what the reliable min latency specs are on Dante vs ADAT on the 1073OPX. I hope/expect they have a good low latency Dante implementation. (Yes I know it has it's own hardware monitoring capability, I'm more interested in how phase aligned recordings are).

1073OPX digital option card uses a Brooklyn so it will be both low network latency (150us or 250us depending on whether there's an internal switch). These Dante chipsets are also phase-aligned (between themselves), but each device will have its own latency (e.g. that of the converters).

Nor can Pro Tools delay compensate when there are so many variables (MTRX internal routing, Dante network latency, Dante device internal latency). This was simpler with the older interfaces such as the HD I/O which were less flexible but could report their routing (i.e. which inputs and outputs were selected) to Pro Tools.

So the best advice for multichannel recordings which need to be phase aligned would be to use the same model of acquisition device for each input. For inserts, measure and enter into H/W Insert Delay in I/O Setup.