digidesign interface with nuendo?

[krevet]

Hi, i just bought a 40 channel analog mixin desk, and need to get it connected to my DAW.
Up to now i ve been usin a focusrite saffire (8inputs) with 16 more inputs comin in through adat from an alesis 24harddiskrecorder, but its not the most pro setup imaginable. SO...

I m lookin for a decent ad/da-convertor. Im recently workin with nuendo, but wanna keep my options open to switch to PT at some point. So im considering buyin 5 digidesign-888-interfaces (the TDM series)
Can i link up to 5 of em together?
What additional hardware would i need?
And can i use it with nuendo for now?
If i switch to PT HD, would the TDM interfaces be compatible ?

Thanx

[krevet]

I use windows XP by the way...

[Craig F]

I'll take on what I know:
all Digi 888s and HD I/O require cards to be put in the computer
888s directly connect to d24/Farm and Mix Core/Mix Farm cards (1 d24 or Mix Core is required the rest of the card can be of Farm variety, new cards have not been made in many years and, are PCI only) one card can support two 888s
If you go to HD later the 888s will not directly connect to the HD cards you can run 2 888s off of a HD interface box via the Legacy port

now what I do not know is how many channels of I/O you can get on XP there is a limit on Mac but I don'r know about PC

[John_Toolbox]

Originally Posted by krevet

Hi, i just bought a 40 channel analog mixin desk, and need to get it connected to my DAW.
Up to now i ve been usin a focusrite saffire (8inputs) with 16 more inputs comin in through adat from an alesis 24harddiskrecorder, but its not the most pro setup imaginable. SO...

I m lookin for a decent ad/da-convertor. Im recently workin with nuendo, but wanna keep my options open to switch to PT at some point. So im considering buyin 5 digidesign-888-interfaces (the TDM series)
Can i link up to 5 of em together?

Only if you use pro tools. digidesign TDM hardware is limited to either 8 or 16 i/o with 3rd party DAW apps... I forget which channel count applies with mix systems.. I think they were 16, but in the newer digidesign drivers the limit was reduced to 8.

What additional hardware would i need?

Bare mininum - To be able to do 40 channels of i/o you would need a mix core, 2 Mix farms(or 1 mix farm and one DSP farm), 2 digidesign legacy Y cables and 5 digidesign legacy interface cables, and a TDM ribbon cable. This system will only run on XP and only with Pro Tools 6.4.1 or earlier. You will not be able to access all 40 channels through Nuendo or any other 3rd party app, only with pro tools.

And can i use it with nuendo for now?

Only as many channels as the digidesign 3rd party driver supports, either 8 or 16 channels(like I mentioned above I'm not sure.)

If i switch to PT HD, would the TDM interfaces be compatible ?

Yes and no. As craig mentioned the 888's can be connected to the legacy port of an HD interface to expand it from 16 channels to 32(2 888's can be connected to an HD interface's legacy port if you use a Y cable and 2 interface cables)... You need at a minimum an HD core and one HD interface, if you want to do 40 channels you'll need another accel card and HD interface.

The mix cards are not compatible with HD cards. You can however, if the mix cards are registered in your name, trade them in for a discount on an HD system via their hardware exchange program.

[O.G. Killa]

not to mention, 888's aren't really good sounding interfaces.