Additional channels RME

[[email protected]]

I am using one RME ADI-8-Pro into Hammerfall 9652 and Cubase. I am
very pleased with everything, but would like to have more ins at the
same time. However before purchasing anything I want to be sure that
syncing will be 100 %.

I really do not need another 8 channels. 2-4 channels would be
sufficient for my needs. So another AD/DA converter is what I am
looking for. I have been looking at the Alesis IO /14. Will they work
tohether? The Alesis has stereo 24bit digital S/PDIF I/O and 2x
FireWire ports. And which unit should be the master clock? I guess I
will be using the RME card (no firewire) and use the S/PDIF from the
Alesis into the Hammefall. so, can the Alesis slave to the RME?

Or maybe someone can suggest an other fine sounding alternative on a
budget?

Christer

[Mike Rivers]

On Dec 2, 6:42 am, wrote:
> I am using one RME ADI-8-Pro into Hammerfall 9652 and Cubase.
>
> I really do not need another 8 channels. 2-4 channels would be
> sufficient for my needs. So another AD/DA converter is what I am
> looking for. I have been looking at the Alesis IO /14. Will they work
> tohether? The Alesis has stereo 24bit digital S/PDIF I/O and 2x
> FireWire ports. And which unit should be the master clock?

There are no guarantees here. Firewire, ASIO, and mixing products is
usually an unhappy combination, but it does matter what computer
you're using. As a Cubase user, I assume you're on Windows, and that's
part of the problem. Cubase wants to use ASIO, and Windows doesn't
want to talk to more than one ASIO driver at a time. Recent versions
of the Mac OS have a feature that allows you to "aggregate" ASIO
devices so on a Mac you can mix-and-match (with varying degrees of
success, I expect).

CEntrance was working on this problem and for a year or so was selling
their Universal ASIO driver that allowed you to consolidate Firewire
audio interfaces from diverse manufacturers (those that they tested,
anyway) into what appeared to Windows like a single ASIO interface.
You still had to deal with word clock synchronization between the
devices, but with word clock in/out that could usually be assured.
Firewire didn't do a great job of it on its own (though rumors are
that it's supposed to). You couldn't get away with using S/PDIF as a
clock source unless the interface had a hardware switch to allow that
- this is usually a software driver control panel thing and the
CEntrance driver didn't have any bells and whistles. But CEntrance
decided to devote their time to their own hardware products and
dropped the Universal Driver, so you don't even have that option any
longer.

A number of interface manufacturers are now providing drivers that
allow connection of more than one of THEIR compatible devices. RME may
offer this capability in their latest drivers, so perhaps there's a
smaller RME interface that you can combine with your existing one for
more inputs to the same driver. Presonus, Focusrite, and recently
Mackie have added this capability for certain of their drivers, but
you're still limited as to what you can mix. For instance with Mackie,
you can run a 1200F and 400F (or two of either) but not one "F" and
the Onyx mixer Firewire card (because it uses a different Firewire
chip and a totally different driver).

Big systems cost big bucks, and digital interfacing is a lot less
"universal" than analog. Get out your wallet or get a smaller band.

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the info. The thing is I do nor want to use two different
drivers. Since my Hammerfall card supports 56 channels I believe it is
possible to use only the driver for the RME card and go into the card
from the Alesis via S/PDIF. Then the ASIO driver from the RME
HammerfallI would be used. It should work, or??? According to my
knowledge I should be able to slave the Alesis to the RME. Still I am
not 100% sure it will work.

Christer

On 2 Dec, 14:39, Mike Rivers > wrote:
> On Dec 2, 6:42 am, wrote:
>
> > I am using one RME ADI-8-Pro into Hammerfall 9652 and Cubase.
>
> > I really do not need another 8 channels. 2-4 channels would be
> > sufficient for my needs. So another AD/DA converter is what I am
> > looking for. I have been looking at the Alesis IO /14. Will they work
> > tohether? The Alesis has stereo 24bit digital S/PDIF I/O and 2x
> > FireWire ports. And which unit should be the master clock?
>
> There are no guarantees here. Firewire, ASIO, and mixing products is
> usually an unhappy combination, but it does matter what computer
> you're using. As a Cubase user, I assume you're on Windows, and that's
> part of the problem. Cubase wants to use ASIO, and Windows doesn't
> want to talk to more than one ASIO driver at a time. Recent versions
> of the Mac OS have a feature that allows you to "aggregate" ASIO
> devices so on a Mac you can mix-and-match (with varying degrees of
> success, I expect).
>
> CEntrance was working on this problem and for a year or so was selling
> their Universal ASIO driver that allowed you to consolidate Firewire
> audio interfaces from diverse manufacturers (those that they tested,
> anyway) into what appeared to Windows like a single ASIO interface.
> You still had to deal with word clock synchronization between the
> devices, but with word clock in/out that could usually be assured.
> Firewire didn't do a great job of it on its own (though rumors are
> that it's supposed to). You couldn't get away with using S/PDIF as a
> clock source unless the interface had a hardware switch to allow that
> - this is usually a software driver control panel thing and the
> CEntrance driver didn't have any bells and whistles. But CEntrance
> decided to devote their time to their own hardware products and
> dropped the Universal Driver, so you don't even have that option any
> longer.
>
> A number of interface manufacturers are now providing drivers that
> allow connection of more than one of THEIR compatible devices. RME may
> offer this capability in their latest drivers, so perhaps there's a
> smaller RME interface that you can combine with your existing one for
> more inputs to the same driver. Presonus, Focusrite, and recently
> Mackie have added this capability for certain of their drivers, but
> you're still limited as to what you can mix. For instance with Mackie,
> you can run a 1200F and 400F (or two of either) but not one "F" and
> the Onyx mixer Firewire card (because it uses a different Firewire
> chip and a totally different driver).
>
> Big systems cost big bucks, and digital interfacing is a lot less
> "universal" than analog. Get out your wallet or get a smaller band.

[Mike Rivers]

On Dec 3, 4:38 am, wrote:
> Thanks for the info. The thing is I do nor want to use two different
> drivers.

That's good, because you can't.

> Since my Hammerfall card supports 56 channels I believe it is
> possible to use only the driver for the RME card and go into the card
> from the Alesis via S/PDIF.

You can certainly do that, but the Alesis interface will appear as
only two channels in the RME driver (and hence in your DAW). Is that
all you want? I don't know if the 14/io has an internal hardware input
mixer that would allow you to mix 4 inputs to the stereo S/PDIF
output, but I suspect not. It's probably all internal in software
which means you need to have it connected to the computer, which you
may not be able to do because of the driver conflict.

I suspect that you don't want to spend the bucks for another RME A/D
converter like what you have now, but why not pick up a Presonus or
even Behringer 8-input ADAT-out interface and connect it via the ADAT
inputs? Or if you only really need two more inputs, there may be
better 2-channel A/D converters than the Alesis for about the same
price. But your options for connecting to the Hammerfall card are
limited. Either two channels (S/PDIF) or 8 channels (ADAT optical).

[RD Jones]

On Dec 3, 3:38 am, wrote:

> Thanks for the info. The thing is I do nor want to use two different
> drivers. Since my Hammerfall card supports 56 channels I believe it is
> possible to use only the driver for the RME card and go into the card
> from the Alesis via S/PDIF. Then the ASIO driver from the RME
> HammerfallI would be used. It should work, or??? According to my
> knowledge I should be able to slave the Alesis to the RME. Still I am
> not 100% sure it will work.

The RME should be "in charge" and all devices can and will
sync from it either by WC, lightpipe and/or SPDIF outs.

If you have the expansion daughtercard you have all you need.
It should have been included with a 9652, it's an option for the 9636.

If all you want is more ins, why not just add 1 or 2 RME AEB4-I's ?
(4 channel balanced input card) I have several on my HDSP 9652
and they work well alongside lightpipe input devices.

rd