digidesign 882 connection help

[Sheehan-J]

I just recently picked up a digidesign disk i/o and an 882/20 i/o interface (actually two, but thats another story). I have run across a problem that has me puzzled...

Neither one came with a cable to connect the 882 to the card, but one came with a digilink cable. I see this on the disk i/o that I installed in my computer: http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...o/G4Diskio.jpg

This is the back of the 882:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...mputerjack.jpg

and this is a 1.5' digilink cable that came with one of the interfaces:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...ilinkcable.jpg

All I want to do is connect one of the 882/20's to my g4 via disk i/o. Can you help me find a cable that will make this happen?



I have searched the forum and googled for threads relating to this cable situation, but to no avail. I've also read here and there about two different versions of the 882. a PCI and a NuBus? I really hope I don't have two conflicting formats here. It would be a pain if I had the wrong card for the interface, or vise versa.

Thank you all for your invaluable expertise!! I really appreciate it.

Joe

[Sheehan-J]

edited because its making the page really wide and doesn't matter anymore anyways.

[milesofwire]

Yes the second cable will work, The first one you will need for the SCSI, But if you want to use the 882/20s converters to the fullest you should at least get a D24 card and a couple DSP Farms, Then you will have a little more power..
Then down the road if you get your hands on a Mix Farm you will be able to add it to the system because a D24 will make a Mix Farm act as a Mix Core.

[Sheehan-J]

oh, that's great to know! thanks!

Right now, I have to stick to the disk I/O i have due to my limited funds, but I'll look into picking up a d24 if I can find an affordable one in a little while. Question though, how will I need the SCSI port? I'm a PCI newb, so bear with me here! I don't actually know if this card works as of right now since I haven't powered up the whole system yet, but if it turns out it doesn't, then I might just jump into getting a d24 and a dsp farm or two.

Would it be beneficial to me to run my current disk I/O card with a DSP farm? I guess it wouldn't hurt right?

Do you think I'd need another DSP farm to do 8 channels of multitracking into a dual 1ghz G4 MDD with 1.25gb RAM? The recording volume will be an 80gb external FW HD (w/Oxford 911+ chipset) heheh that was a lot of information, but i thought i'd try and throw it all in.



Thank you if you can even sort of try to answer any of my newb questions! I appreciate any and all help.

Joe

[milesofwire]

What you have is a Pro Tools III PCI system, you will have to use the SCSI port on the Disk I/O card (hence the name) I dont think it will work with FW.
And yes the I/O will work with one Farm, You will have 16 channels of I/O if you plug two interfaces in (one in the I/O card and one in the Farm) Doing that will eat up one more DSP chip further limiting the power of the system, ie: you wont have much processing power for pulgins etc.
You will need to have rev QC or later on both of those cards to run in that computer (that is of course if you can run OS9 on that model)
Pro Tools vers 5.0.1 is the latest to support Pro Tools III systems, And will only run under OS9.
You said you are a PCI newbie, Does that mean you are coming from the Nubus realm?

[Sheehan-J]

Whew, this will be a doozie.

I may as well start by introducing myself.. My name is Joe, and to be honest, I'm coming from the Mac Laptop + 8 channel firewire interface realm, so the whole Digidesign Mix series with mix cores and mix farms and dsp farms and all this is new to me. I don't have a ton of ProTools experience, but I'm a quick learner and I can effectively navigate and mix with it to my satisfaction. This is, however, my first time owning any Digidesign hardware. I got into it because I came across the 882 as an affordable 8 channel PT interface, but have since found that it's cost me a lot more than I thought in solving compatibility issues and random things here and there.

I have some reworking to do, but I'm really glad you brought the fact that PCI III only works with PT 5 to my attention. It appears to be a pretty serious flaw in my little concoction. Not to mention that I bought a FW drive, not an SCSI drive, so I think I'll just explain my saga to you so you can try and help me knowing all the information...

[break: If you'd like coffee, or need to use the restroom, now may be a good time]

I am aiming to run OS X 10.3 and PT TDM 6.4.1 on my G4 (a goal I thought would be relatively cheap and relatively easy... so far, wrong.) I got one digidesign 882 and the disk I/O practically for free from a guy on craigslist. He was willing to give it away for free but I paid him $10 for gas and travel time to meet me. The apparent incompatibility isn't so bad because it's not like I'm out any money there. Long story short though, he found out it didn't work and was willing to just give it to me, so I agreed, but meanwhile bought another one (a working 882/20 this time) on ebay. It turns out the craigslist one DID work, so I have two working 882's (one 882/20, one just 882).

With that said, It appears I have two interfaces and no way to connect them, so my attention turns to the cards and cables required to do what I want. What I want is to be able to multitrack at least 8 channels (to start) into my G4 to record and mix decent to high quality tracks for my band. We like the live vibe, and want to be able to record our creative moments as we play them, as well as sit down and track instruments separately for a more polished product later on. Right now, I only need what is necessary to competently record the 8 tracks and mix them roughly with a plug in here or there.

I will close with a few questions for you, if you'd be so kind as to help out a lost noob here. You said a d24 will connect to the 882/20 (which is the one I'll use since I'm pretty sure the other one is 16bit). With my intentions stated, would it be just recommended or realistically NECESSARY to have a DSP farm with the d24 card? When tracking live, at least initially, we'll only be running 8 tracks to PT with no DSP effects on the incoming signals so would just the d24 run that show smoothly without a DSP farm? (Just so I can save myself some money for now, and pick one up when I have a few more paychecks in the bank). On the production end, however, I can see myself mixing 16-24 tracks in a session once all the instruments are tracked, utilizing plug ins where needed. I could see at this point, that I would probably need a DSP farm, correct?

Like I said before I do sort of have a budget. In reality, its basically just what I'm willing to spend at once. Is this the most cost effective option right now? A D24 and eventually a DSP farm card or two? I would need to get myself a digi ribbon cable and a digidesign PCI I/O cable to connect this right?

ah, that was a lot of information and a lot of questions. Thanks for even trying to digest it all and spit me out some kind of advice! I appreciate places like this that save me aggravation and time spent trying to make futile things like this work.


Scared, confused, and all alone,
Joe

[milesofwire]

Well your intended Version of Pro Tools (6.4.1)and OSX will only work with Mix Cards (last vers. to support them) so if that is your only option I would say the best and most cost effective thing to do now is to get a Mix Core card and an interface cable (same one you were looking at before), Use the 882/20 and your FW drive (I think) and your system should be complete, you will have 32 Tracks and 8 channels of I/O, and be able to run a few plugins as well..

For compatability info go to this link on the Digi site: Digis Compatibility Document Archive

Your other options would require you to downgrade in OS and/or Computer.
If you ever wanted to put together an older legacy system you could get a Mac 9600 and with that computer (six slot) you would be able to put your Disk I/O in it and be able to fit four Farm cards, the last slot being the video card. Use the 882 Interface for PT III is 16 bit anyway..
Of course this would be running PT 5.0.1 max and be 8.6 / 9.1 OS

I have a system somewhat like this except it has in it a D24, 3 Farms, SCSI Card, Video Card, Its really not that bad, I f you can handle running OS9.

To run a D24 system on your mac and be still under a supported configuration you would have to downgrade to OS 10.2.8, And PT 6.1.

[Sheehan-J]

MilesofWire:

Thank you very much for the info!

I read over the two options you stated, and I definitely want to keep the computer and OS as they are. The computer is a solid one and I'm really not sure if I could handle using OS 9 again! I stopped using OS 9 when I was about... well 9, so frankly I don't know it nearly as well as I do OS X. I feel like a mixcore card would be more expandable in the future also, and even though it might be a bit more expensive, it'd be worth it to have the options for more I/O and DSP power.


As for the interface cable, DANG! Those little buggers are hard to find used! I really want to keep from spending $140 for one from the digistore.

Again, thank you for the reply! I'm sure I'll be back with more questions after I get the required parts and pieces, so I'll resurrect this thread when I do.

[Sheehan-J]

Back again! (more good news)

I was doing a quick test today with the 882 to see if the snake I made was functional, as well as to make sure the interface itself worked properly. I plugged the direct outs from the mixer into the inputs of the 882 and began to test each channel with a mic and a cable that i knew were both good. Only channels 1 and 2 worked, and I think I figured out why, but I need some assistance. I got online and read in the owners manual that when in standalone mode, the 882 acts as a 2 channel A/D/D/A audio converter. By standalone, does it mean the primary audio interface in the system? That's how I was using it in this case.

dang.

I just need confirmation that there is no way that i can utilize all 8 channels of I/O even if I did have a mix core card.. that is, with the 882 as a standalone interface. If my assumption is correct, is there a way to make this work the way I want? Do I have to buy another interface or something? grr.


So far I've enjoyed my workings with pro tools, but I cannot say the same for the hardware.

[divineSound]

How do you mean: In standalone mode?
Is there any way for 882 Studio to work standalone
( just as preamp or AD/DA)

I have an old Digidesign 882 Studio with Session 8 HD system,
wich I haven't been using for 7 years. It needs an old PC configuration
with ISO slots.
I work now in PC, Creamware Luna II, UAD, Nuendo\

I remember that this systhem had wery nice sound,
no matter that it was 16 bit'

Please give me some advice, is there any way to make it work again.