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  #1  
Old 11-29-2021, 07:10 AM
martinh martinh is offline
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Default Linking em up

Hi, I have two IO 96 HD units and I wish to add two more. The manual is really unclear on how to do this without a second card or a y cable which seems impossible to buy.

Could someone who has been there and done it tell me the best way (if possible at all) to take me up to 32 (or 24) Channels of input on a Protools HD 8 system.

Thanks in advance.
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Old 11-29-2021, 08:46 AM
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albee1952 albee1952 is offline
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Default Re: Linking em up

To get an answer, we need to know the rest of the setup. What card(s) are in place and what connections are available? How many IO do you need? How many IO need to be analog and how many can be digital?

Some general info:
1-the 96IO is not a great unit. Adding or changing to 192 IO's will get you better quality. Bonus: they are a bargain these days.
2-I'm not sure about the 96IO, but the 192 allows for a total of 16 IO per unit.
3-Both 96 and 192 can daisy-chain 2 units per card port(for a maximum of 32 IO per card port).
4-192's come in a versions. The 192 DIGITAL only has digital IO and cannot use analog cards. The "standard" 192 can combine cards for more IO options
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Old 11-29-2021, 08:58 AM
martinh martinh is offline
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Default Re: Linking em up

Hi Dave,


Thanks for the reply.

I'm not sure on the card but I will check and get back to you. I have two but have only ever used one.

Not sure what you mean by connections but it is running into a mac pro if that what you mean. The 96's, which I have already purchased unfortunately, are the analogue 8 in and 8 out, which is what I require, and I have four of them. Therefore ideally I would like to run all four really but I could live with 24 in and out.
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Old 11-29-2021, 09:56 AM
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Default Re: Linking em up

Quote:
Originally Posted by martinh View Post
Hi, I have two IO 96 HD units and I wish to add two more. The manual is really unclear on how to do this without a second card or a y cable which seems impossible to buy.

Could someone who has been there and done it tell me the best way (if possible at all) to take me up to 32 (or 24) Channels of input on a Protools HD 8 system.
Manual clearly says that one card can daisy-chain two HD interface boxes, but only one OMNI in a system and no more, other boxes need to be other HD boxes. So anyway, if you need four boxes, you need two cards.

Connections are easy.

First be sure to have that ribbon cable delivered with your card, as you need to connect the cards together first. And be careful, you would think you connect A (core card) to B (process card) but it is just the opposite. It does not break anything if you do it, but your input numbers are wrong. So connect the ribbon from B connector on core card to A connector on next card, and so on.

Second you need to have two DigiLink cables from two cards to, say boxes number one and three. Then two short DigLink cables from box number one expansion port to box number two primary port, and same for boxes three and four.

Lastly you need word clock cables to create a Loop Sync between the boxes. There are two sets of clocking BNC interfaces in HD boxes, one pair for Loop Sync and another pair for external clocking. Here you only need Loop Sync. So first cable from box one Loop Sync output to box two Loop Sync input, and so on, until you close the loop by connecting yet another cable from box four Loop Sync output to box one Loop Sync input.

If you can follow instructions, this is all you need to have a four interface setup working (assuming all boxes, cables and cards are in working order).

There is no Y-cable for HD systems. It is always done the way I explained. The older blackface MIX systems had Y-cables, but those were 8-channel boxes (with capability of 16 inputs per card).
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Old 11-29-2021, 04:41 PM
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albee1952 albee1952 is offline
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Default Re: Linking em up

Good advice above. Since the 96 IO is limited with only 8 IO, I would start replacing them with used 192 IO's(buy whenever you find a super deal). As I said, the 192 can do 16 IO, depending on connections. Each 192 has 4 card slots. Slot 3 is always a digital card(with AES and lightpipe). Usually, slot 1 is 8 analog in, slot 2 is 8 analog out and slot 4 can be either(so if you want all analog, a 192 can be 16 in/8 out, OR 8 in/16 out. Of course, the digital IO can be used with any of many outboard converters. At the budget end(around $200), the Behringer ADA8200 offers 8 IO over lightpipe and will sound better than the 96IO. While there are more expensive options, the best value(my opinion) is the Midas XL-48(8 excellent preamps with AES and lightpipe out).

There's no problems with using the 96 IO's(other than the IO limitation), but the 192's will be a solid upgrade that can be done over time(and on a modest budget).
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Old 11-29-2021, 04:59 PM
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Default Re: Linking em up

Yea, but he said he already has four boxes and needs just info to get them going. Unfortunate thing is second card and more cabling is needed, but on the plus side second card ups voice count and gives more DSP power.
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Old 11-30-2021, 04:20 AM
martinh martinh is offline
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Default Re: Linking em up

Thanks Guys and Girls for your help thus far.

As I have the boxes already I am going to have to stick with them and keep an eye our for some 192's (assuming they would be backwards compatible).

I am going to check on what the cards I have are tomorrow night but I already know I do not have a cable to connect the cards together with. I will start looking out for one of those but in the meantime I am going to daisy chain two boxes into on master and just live with 24 I/O which if I understand correctly will get me up and running, or did you mean two boxes together was all I could have?

Assuming the former my question, which you could probably see coming, is how to do that.

I am cool with the linking up the clocking but with the actual linking is is just out of the expansion port into the primary port two times or do I need to start looking at the light pipe option?
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Old 11-30-2021, 04:36 AM
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Default Re: Linking em up

With 96 interfaces you only have 8 analog i/o and 2 digital i/o available, so daisy-chaining two would give you 16 analog and 4 digital. You need to hurry up about card(s) and cables if you need at least 24
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Old 11-30-2021, 04:39 AM
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Default Re: Linking em up

Quote:
Originally Posted by martinh View Post
did you mean two boxes together was all I could have?
Yes, you can have maximum of two boxes connected to one card. It is a design feature of the DigiLink cable: sure it is capable of carrying 32 i/o but the way it is done means your first box primary port uses channels 1-16 (whether the interface is capable of so many or not) and the expansion port uses channels 17-32 (whether the interface is capable of so many or not).

So with a one card setup, you have the long cable from card to box one's primary port, then short cable from box one's expansion port to box two's primary port. Then connect the Loop Sync cabling and you are done.
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Old 11-30-2021, 04:42 AM
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Default Re: Linking em up

To my earlier comment, I am actually not sure about 96 box being limited to 2 digital i/o. I do remember that it has AES and SPDIF (2-channel) but it may also have 8-channel ADAT connectors. In that case it could use all 16 channels of DigiLink. Been so long since I last used 96 interface, sorry.
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