AD/DA... what's out there?

[Senap]

The Alesis Ai3 that I'm using right now is not mine and I'm thinking of getting a better unit. Basically, I want it to do the same thing that the Alesis unit does, 8 analog in to 8 ADAT out, into my Fireface 800. But better.

What are my options?

Apogee?
RME?

Other?

Part of me says "Just get another Fireface 800. That way you can use one of them as a mobile unit if you like"

Or the Fireface 400. Who's using one of them. Any good?

[otek]

I got the prices a little while ago on the SSL XLogic units and they're pretty good bang for the buck in Sweden.


otek

[RWC]

the cool part being when you're ready to get a full fledged MADI setup and mix OTB it'll be there, with its 24 I/O over two cables, all ready for you. :D

MADI says a lot to me.

[Knastratt]

Good point.

[Senap]

I got the prices a little while ago on the SSL XLogic units and they're pretty good bang for the buck in Sweden.


otek

What model?

[Senap]

the cool part being when you're ready to get a full fledged MADI setup and mix OTB it'll be there, with its 24 I/O over two cables, all ready for you. :D

MADI says a lot to me.

I want MADI to say something to me too. In laymans terms please.

How does is work?

[Knastratt]

I think you can derive some info from here.

http://www.rme-audio.com/english/madi/madibridge.htm

[RWC]

I want MADI to say something to me too. In laymans terms please.

How does is work?

it carries 32 channels of digital audio at 96 KHz over one cable(either BNC coaxial or the toslink optical ones) for really long distances.

so two cables can = 32 i/o. or 64 i/o at 44.1/48 KHz! and it's much more difficult in my experience to screw up a well made toslink cable than it is those d-sub things that get used for 24-32 channels of AES, with no clocking nonsense.

The fact that a lot of interfaces don't have MADI connectivity says something for their level of professionalism(or lack thereof).

[Justin Greed]

FF400 is a nice little box. (Mmm nice little box) :lol:

Excellent conversion, rock solid drivers, good build (rugged enough to be portable), jitter suppression and a generous amount of I/O for its size. Kind of pricey though... I have it and love it, we record in hotels and on the road a lot and it just works.

If you don't mind lugging around the FF800 and having no bus power, you can probably pick up a used unit for 900-1k USD. Now that a few over at "that other site" have labeled the D/A as "inferior" and have jumped on the Lynx band wagon you can find some good deals.

Also check out the box by M-Audio, the ProFire 2626 -It has built in jitter suppression, a generous amount of I/O, PT compatibility and for the price its an absolute steal. I don't feed into all the negative energy surrounding M-Audio..

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/ProFire2626.html

OR

The Prism Orpheus
Way out of my price range..(rather how much I want to spend) but the company has an excellent pedigree.

http://www.prismsound.com/music_recording/products_subs/orpheus/orpheus_home.php

[Mo Facta]

I haven't touched anything Alesis since 1998. Remember XT20's? Ha ha. Those were the days. You'd need a rack the size of a jungle gym for 32 tracks and formatting tapes took all afternoon.

But yeah, I'm pretty sold on the Focusrite Saffire Pro 26 I/O's at the moment. You get: 8 line ins, 8 mic pres, 16 adat ins AND outs, S/PDIF, workclock i/o and it's firewire (a dying protocol, says Steve Jobs. Oh, what the hell...) and it's $850 at Sweetwater.

Otherwise, the Apogee Ensemble looks cool too.

Cheers! :Wink:

[Senap]

Thanks.

I just want to clarify that I don't want a new system. I'm happy with the FF800. I just want something that takes 8 analog channels and convert them to 8 channels ADAT/Lightpipe.

[Justin Greed]

[QUOTE=Mo Facta;163872]I haven't touched anything Alesis since 1998. Remember XT20's? Ha ha. Those were the days. You'd need a rack the size of a jungle gym for 32 tracks and formatting tapes took all afternoon.

I remember um ! Thats what I started on, they sounded great but compared to hard disk... LOL

[Mo Facta]

Thanks.

I just want to clarify that I don't want a new system. I'm happy with the FF800. I just want something that takes 8 analog channels and convert them to 8 channels ADAT/Lightpipe.

I looked. I found:

Aphex 142. $400.
SM Pro Audio A08 $150

That's about all.

Cheers.

[clicktrack]

I have a few of the Aphex 142.

Not a bad little unit...will getcha out of a pinch. Its not an apogee, but, then again, its better than a lot out there.

the only problem I have with it is that it NEEDS a word clock external sync. It doesn't provide an option to generate its own. Not a big deal in my situation, but if you're trying to build a standalone rig and nothing in the rig supplies word clock, you're pretty much sunk to the nuts...and not in a good way.


I have plans to install either a MADI or an Optocore system in my truck in the next year. These high-track count transport systems have become mainstays in the mobile production world and have huge benefits in getting farther from the stage with less weight & noise issues associated with multicore. As well, redundancy in the snake is a huge bonus. There are downsides and you have to be careful with where things are routed, but the bonuses are seriously beginning to outweigh the minuses.