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ADDA Interface for the cart?


Todd Weaver

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I'm getting ready to put a firewire interface on the cart to provide functionality for not only boom recorder, but pro tools playback and multitrack DAW on the cart. My MacBookPro rides on the cart already. I own a MOTU traveler, although this is my third replacement due to crappy firewire circuitry. I never have been too crazy about the sound of the unit, but the weight and 12v power are on point.

I'm considering an upgrade. The RME fireface 800 with Timecode card looks very nice. Also, the Metric Halo ULN-8 is at a higher price point, but seems like very good quality stuff and just what daddy might need on his cart.

Apogee Ensemble looks nice, but 120v power and heavy as hell..

So, what are you other Deva/O1V96/boom recorder/pro tools guys thinking?

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I love the RME Fireface 400. It's light, compact, can be bus powered or DC powered, sounds great, and very stable with Boom Recorder and other DAWs. It seems RME has freplaced it with the Fireface UCX which is a very similar unit with USB 2/USB3/Firewire 400. This may be worth a look.

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Long time no-post here and so happy holidays to all!

I'm also a longtime Fireface 800 user - almost 7 years without a single issue and Total Mix is quite the useful piece of software. I've found the drivers to be rock solid.

Regarding the TCO (timecode option - http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_fireface_800_tco.php) it does not and will never support 23.98 and so while that's not the end of the world, it's important to note depending on if productions you work on might want such a thing and therefore the option would be useless.

I'm also unclear on if the TCO add-on is actually necessary when something like Boom Recorder can take and AUX timecode and properly stamp the files for you... I've fed Boom Recorder through a FF800 input timecode from a camera and it will properly jam-sync, Although I didn't check for drift in a exact way; in several hour-long shoots all the audio sync'ed up properly.

With the small price difference though I'd consider the Fireface UCX and/or UFX if I were purchasing new today for a few reasons; moderate improvements on everything and as mentioned above with the UFX, backup recording direct to a USB drive (flash, SSD or otherwise.) I'd also suggest that with IEEE1394/Firewire disappearing from laptops and desktops alike, coupled with the longevity an interface like any of the ones mentioned (RME or otherwise), it's worth considering how they interface with a host system.

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Here's the results of my little informal test with the O1V96i. In Pro Tools 10 I armed 16 channels for recording via USB and had a stereo AUX track sent back on USB 1/2 for monitoring. At 32 sample buffer, the setup seemed to work, but had some overflows every few minutes. At 64 samples, it seemed stable, no dropouts after a half hour of recording or so. When I checked the "Minimize Additional I/O Latency" box, I got buffer errors after 5 minutes or so.

Host Processor - 6 processors, CPU Usage limit - 95%, ignore erros on playback / record checked.

Mac Book Pro 15" Retina with 2.7GHz i7 16GB RAM and SSD

CPU activity hovers around 4% with disk I/O at a meager 1%

On Boom Recorder, I was also loosing samples at 32 samples. The machine is barely breaking a sweat, so am sure that I'm hitting the USB buss' data throughput abilities... which is very reasonable, 64 samples is still excellent for an externally bussed audio signal. I figure PCIe interfaces would be hard pressed to be completely stable at 32 samples. mono input was bussed to all 16 channels for recording, monitoring off, single BWAV at 24/48 written.

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Does the interface need to be 12V powered? I'm using Metacorder w/ a Macbook Pro. My interface is a MOTU 896 MK3 getting lightpipe audio from a Focusrite Octopre. Clock is from a Rosendahl Nanosyncs. Timecode can come into the system on an analog input on the 896 or the Mac 3.5mm input. The 896 can use USB2 or FW800 to connect to the laptop/hard drive. I was using a Protools HD3 rig w/ a 96I/O, a digi Sync unit and a tower G5. Lots of road cases!!! Recording 16 channels with no problems with a much smaller footprint, but you need AC power for the rig...

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Thanks guys for all the input.. Looks like the solution is.... an RME FF800 and a YAMMY o1v96i. I just picked up a small apogee to use at home and maybe for playback. I'm going to setup BR temporarily as a mix only backup to get used to it while I find my sales victim for the new units.

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  • 3 years later...

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