I agree about the reliability. I think that it shows integrity and good business acumen to hold off while you refine and tweak.
I did a recording of 32 channels at 96K. The UFX stopped recording on it's own at 3hrs 52 minutes.
The file had 22 sections. No drive errors were reported.

Channel counts of between 24 and 32 are frequent for me. So  reliable recording of 32 channels
at 96K is a sweet spot as far as my individual needs go.

Keep at it, you're almost there :-)

Regards,
Mike

I posted in a previous post that my external HD stopped recording. It had a mini usb that split into 2 usb. One for data, one for power. I plugged the power cable to my laptop and had problems. I plugged into a usb hub with wall wart last night and recorded 3 sets last night with no issues. I'm hoping this is it. I recommend getting an external enclosure that has a power supply.

OK, so it's more of a Happy Theoretical Maximum than a "Sweet Spot" ;-) Here's what I was thinking...

In addition to standard rock/jazz shows and festivals, I work with Las Vegas style production shows.
Here's a typical scenario: We videotape the show, and max out the 22 channels with band and chorus singers. I'll need to mix down
this multi track in a studio because I need it to be perfect for the videotape. But I'll do a L/R down mix of everything just because the producer wants _something_ ASAP to critique, and that's a quick way to accomplish that.

Next, The choreographer also wants a mix of the band without vocals for dance rehearsal. It doesn't have to be polished,
Just clean and clear, so another 2 track down mix for him will be fine.

The Producer also wants me to cut "Sick Tracks" for each individual singer, so if one of them has a sore throat or something they can lip sync to the band and other singers. Each one of  these individual "Sick Tracks" gets just a click track and maybe an instrument or two on the L channel, and the singer's voice on the other. Since during a show the FOH will send the click track channel to the band monitor and he'll patch the "Sick Track" to the singer's normal channel for EQ and processing, it doesn't need to be a polished studio track. So I can down mix each of those on the fly as well. I'll need 2 tracks for each singer's "Sick Track"

Now of course I can do all of these mixes individually in the studio, but I'd save lots of time if I can pull it off in Totalmix and then just strip out those 2 track mixes.

Any reason (other than talent) why I can't accomplish something like this by recording loopback submixes ?

Regards,
Mike

That's great news
However, I had 2 cases a recording was stopped after several minutes, when only 2 channels where armed.
So is it really a heavy load issue?
(And again, that never happened on the first pre release, even in a very long recording of almost 9 hours).
Thanks.

Hello,
Thanks for this update, been looking forward to this feature. Also I'm loving the interface so far it's a great piece of kit!

Is it possible to record each channel as a separate WAV file direct to the drive? I would like to be able to record on location to my USB hard drive and then mix in Pro Tools later. 

Info bout my tests:
Mac OSX 10.6.7
Latest drivers/firmware from 1st post in this thread
4gb USB stick, showing round 300 w time

No problems recording at 7 tracks @ 96k in my quick tests.

Thanks
- Matt

Hi,

Thanks for the video link, hoverer it does not show how to join segments together.
There is a problem somewhere (see my above post #105).
In my view, this is a complete showstopper, I could never hand a client incorrect files like that.
I have done it many ways in both Pro Tools and Nuendo and the result is the same.
Someone mentioned they had a SOX script that would add the files together, I would like
to try that. But I cannot Imagine that Pro Tools and Nuendo are both broken.

I have done multiple tests of 32 channels at 44.1 and let it run for nearly ten hours.
Seems very stable on that front. No errors after long periods of time with many channels.
Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 32 Gb.

Yes I am sure its not a display issue, you can hear the pops. Also If you look at the individual segments by themselves
you can see they they could never line up correctly even if no operator error.

What editor do you suggest? I mean If Pro Tools and Nuendo cant do it then whats the point?
I'll download Reaper and Audacity to see what they look like there, just to give it the benefit of doubt.

Thanks,

Here is a couple screenshots I just did moments ago.
[img align=l]http://southweststages.org/before.png[/img]

[img align=L]http://southweststages.org/after.png[/img]

One is before the segments have even touched each other, You can see that there can be no perfect match.

I will keep testing, hopefully it IS operator error, but i don't think it is.
The earlier screen shot was from Pro Tools, this one is from Nuendo.

I think the problem is that there is the tiniest little spike on the beginning of every new segment.
[img align=l]http://southweststages.org/capture3.png[/img]

Sorry to keep editing this post, but the more segments I look at the more I think it is random.
Some of the transitions look ok, some appear to have a spike in the beginning while others seem
to have a dip on the end.

Hi,

I did answer that previously, but it looks like that post got deleted?

Yes, I can hear the pops in Nuendo and I cannot hear them from the UFX itself while it is playing/switching files.
I am at 44.1 Khz, 32 tracks armed, actual audio on a couple of stereo channels (analog in 5+6 in and analog out 3+4 in the this case)

Using Seagate FreeAgent  GoFlex 300Gb drive formatted with guiformat.exe, Win7 x64 SP1.
All the latest drivers as per previous post. Using firewire to the computer. The drive is hovering
around 35% usage and zero errors.

I am simply arming all the input tracks and one output pair and running audio into 5+6.
I then import the files from the drive into PT9 or Nuendo5.

My next test will be to record a pure sine wave to some input tracks and examine the outcome.
Is there some utility that I could view the sample values numerically? Just to prove that whether
I have gone mad or not?

Can someone else say whether they see the same things I am seeing?
( I do recall a post on this forum where someone else was seeing the same thing)
Has anyone (users or RME testers) actually assembled a full project in a DAW for real use?

I do appreciate , and I am trying to be helpful in finding issues. Thank you for your
reply.

I only tested this specifically with an older version of FW/drivers, and there were no issues, transitions were seamless. Can try again here as well.

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Ok, thanks guys Guess I have gone completely barmy. I am heading out for a film shoot lasting a few days, I will try testing at night if I can. It may be a couple days but I will try again and report.

Hi, Matthias,

I just received my UFX this week (it was a long wait, but worth it). I loaded the Public Beta v. 3 with the updated file.

I just ran a 44-minute recording.

PC is a 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 930 Quad core (with hyperthreading turned OFF) - Dell Studio XPS 9100 with 12 GB of RAM (I think it's 1333 MHz bus and triple bus) HD are two 1000 GB drives striped in RAID 0. Windows 7 SP 1 Pro 64 bit.

Playback was a stereo 96/24 file from the HD via the UFX--playing in Samplitude 11 Pro. I put the outputs in record on the UFX to a slow USB key -- it was showing 10-13% of utilization and I received 21 errors on the screen. DigiCheck also recorded the same signal back via the USB link and reported 0 errors.

I'll be testing this at our local symphony on the 28th. I'll be recording two omni pairs as I just got Rode NT5 omni capsules which I want to compare to my DPA 4006TLs. Storage will be front panel USB, DigiCheck on the laptop, and the DPA pair will go out via AES/EBU to my Sound Devices 722 recorder. I'll probably bring a small UPS for the UFX, as that is one of the great things about the Sound Devices in that it's battery operated...but the mic pres in the UFX appear to be better (or the converters or...).

One other comment: this box gets HOT!

Here is a link to a picture of what happened. I've changed this to a link after the question was answered to avoid everyone loading it.

http://www.richardhess.com/tape/images/ … amples.png

Top is original file. Next is the DigiCheck file and the bottom is the UFX file. The lost section is about 0.343 seconds.

Cheers,

Richard   www.richardhess.com/tape/

PS this list thinks I'm an ADAT user--I don't think I've fired up my ADAT or my DA38 in the last four years <smile>. I have two Multiface II's and now the UFX.

Hi, Matthias,

One thing was NOT as expected -- the dwell time that you describe in the other post where the stick will stop for half a second. The stick in question measures about 12 MB/s and I was only getting about 10-13% disk capacity readings on the UFX which was what surprised me. Thank you for educating me about the pauses.

I just tried a USB hard drive (iOmega dual FireWire/USB case) and after ten minutes of 22 channels at 96/24 I have no errors and a constant 51-52% of the HD. This disk was chosen as I had already formatted it FAT32 for my Sound Devices 722 recorder--but then I got a 32 GB CF card and have not used it for about two years, so this will work well. Thanks!

So far, I'm loving the FFUFX. Thanks.

Cheers,

Richard

> I was able to unpack the files using Audacity, but ran into a similar error while trying to import the individual WAV files into PT9.

So it is not an RME problem. Wrong sample rate? Seen the video how to do it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZcx3Et_ … ideo_title

MC,

Just tried with a freshly updated copy of PT 9.0.2
Same error occurs on 2 different machines.

Should I be speaking to Avid?

Would've thought that full Pro Tools compatibility would be high on the priority list for the UFX HDD recording.

Any suggestions for other software that can unpack the interleaved WAV files?

Thanks
- Matt

Hi there.
I just tried the lates beta software of the Fireface UFX and TotalMixFx. I like the CUE function of the Hardware outputs in TotalMixFx; but: I urgently need this function to be routed to the PHONE1 output, too, not only to the main output. During my recording sessions, the hardware outputs are used as individual monitoring (headphone-) mixes of the musicians. As a recording master, I need to listen to the headphone mixes of the musicians, sometimes (using a headphone, too). It would be great if I could do this by the CUE function.
What do you think about this?
Thanks,
Johannes

I do the exact same thing, and was confused at first about this as well.  The solution is fortunately easy.  The Cue function applies to whatever output you select as "Main."  By default, Mains are outputs 1/2, and are typically your studio monitors.  But, you can use the "Assign" button to assign your "Main" outputs to whichever headphone output you use for monitoring while tracking (e.g., 9/10).   Done!  Click Cue on outputs 5/6, and you'll hear outputs 5/6 in your headphones. 

I set up a different workspace for tracking with headphones in which I set up outputs 9/10 as my mains for this very reason.

Thanks! Good information to know.  Knut, is it possible to set up a sticky thread where people can post info on successful USB drives?  It would be very valuable info.

Confirmed. Thanks a lot!

Hi,

I tested these 3rd party softwares :

1/ Wave agent is a great tool but
Pros : Free. Can edit BWF/iXML metadata. Can split or combine poly wav files. Can process multiple track in one time.
Cons : is limited to 12 tracks (I also tested with a 30 tracks poly wav file and it only splits the first 12 tracks).

2/ I tried PT LE 8.0.4 and PT9.0.0 (on Mac). They both convert/split channels without any pbs nor clics. The very last sample at the end of the file is still going down to value '0' but I don't hear any clics/pops during playback*.

*I converted with these 4 software with files recorded with prerelease 1 (v1.29) and I had the same 'clic/pop' issue as cobiashimew. But not anymore with files recorded with RC1b (v1.37).

3/ Snapper 2
Pros: is able to split poly wav files (tested with 30 tracks). Can read multi mono wav (up to 16 tracks) after splitted (in the same window). Can export only a part of file (region), very useful to export only one song of a total liveshow. Can export as MP3. Spot to timeline feature.
Cons : not a freeware, mac only, cannot playback high-track-count poly wav files (only first 16 tracks of a multi mono WAV file), must calculate waveform.

4/ Twisted Wave
Pros: is able to open, read, split, append poly wav files, combine (merge) multi mono files. Can export as MP3 (or FLAC, CAF, WAV64, etc). Powerful batch feature.
Cons : not a freeware, mac only, must calculate waveform.

To me Twisted Wave can do the job if host/daw cannot deal with high-track-count poly wav and it had a lot of other editing capabilities but the process is slow (calculate waveform creation) even with batch feature.

On windows, maybe Soundforge Pro 10 or BWF Widget Pro/O-matic could do this properly (not tested) ?

I just checked with the top of this thread and I'm using all of the current drivers/firmware/DC.

The reliability of the FFUFX to HDD is superb. I just ran 12 channels 96/24 for an hour and a half (20 GB) and the FFUFX reported no errors.

Sadly, I had 147 HD Buffer errors on the laptop with Global Record (GR).

I previously did some testing and GR shows under 10% usage, normally showing 0%. I thought it worked when I tested it, but when I got to two recording venues last weekend, I had these errors.

The errors appear clustered.

This happened with the WiFi radio turned OFF or not on my home system. The original test was with the home system and the WiFi connection ON.

This is a store-bought HP G60 Win 7 Home Premium laptop with a Dual Core T4300 at 2.1 GHz with 4 GB RAM. I think the HDD is 7200 RPM, but am not 100% certain.

I'm looking at buying a USB key which, if it's satisfactory, will reduce my angst about the portable HDD.

But I'm writing here since I'm using the pre-release versions of the software to ask for some suggestions as the best places to look to make it stable. This does NOT appear to be an RME issue, but rather looking for assistance from other users of the pre-release software who might have had similar issues with their PCs.

I assume something is going out and looking for the network/web but it is not intuitive to know where to look with all those processes that HP gives you with the laptop. Modern virus protections are difficult to shut down. So, if anyone has found something, I'd be interested in knowing.

I'm not terribly concerned as the main use of the FFUFX is on the edit machine of my tape restoration business (leaving my two multiface IIs on my ingest machine) and I only plan on doing about a dozen recordings a year or so in the field--probably fewer and the odds of losing an HDD or USB key are pretty small. I can always carry a second HDD. But it would be nice to have the backup on the laptop not have glitches every 10 minutes or whatever.

For my limited field use the RME FFUFX is ideal as it is less costly than the 8-track Sound Devices unit and has a real purpose in my day-to-day business. I do have the stereo Sound Devices 722 field recorder (redundant 40 GB HDD and 32 GB Compact Flash).

As an aside for the Poly File Management, for my use, I don't see using the AES input nor the ADAT inputs in the field. Two stereo pairs (FF) plus up to 8 spot mics (plugging the analog inputs of the FFUFX into the PA mixer insert jacks) seems to be fine for 99.9% of what I can envision doing. So the Wave Agent solution will work for me and I can load a wider file directly into Samplitude and deal with the issues I discussed.

Thanks!

Cheers,

Richard

Just recorded a choir concert and everything worked perfectly!  Running Win 7, Sonar 8.5, latest UFX drivers and firmware.  Recorded to laptop running Sonar as my primary but also recorded to a Muskin Mulholland Enhanced flash drive.  Recorded 7 channels (5 input channels and one stereo output) for 3 hours with no errors.  Once I imported the files into Sonar, the file segments lined up perfectly without the error that Cobiashimew had.

I ran many tests over the past couple of weeks and found that I can consistently  record up to 10 tracks at 24/44.1 for several hours with no errors.  HD speed bounces around a lot from around 20 to 40.  Recording at 96 or more than around 10 tracks results in errors.  I'd love to find a flash drive that can handle more tracks and/or higher sample rates.

Overall I am very pleased.  This is a fantastic feature. Great work, RME!

Hi guys,

I am new to this forum, but been using an HDSP9652 since 2003 or so. I am seriously considering buying the UFX next week for some TV work, but one of the main attractions is the Direct to USB feature.

I have a few quick questions if you don't mind:
1) Is it true that recording time is limited to 2GB per file, and what would that translate into in terms of minutes per track at 24bit 48k?
2) how fast can one change from one "song" to the next?
3) will the internal recordings lock to SMPTE?
4) is this system already stable enough to take into a high pressure professional gig?

Thanks so much, I can't wait to open the box!

Ludwig

Matthias,

I think the extra "assign" to specify a cue mix output different from the Mains would be a nice additional feature.  Thanks!

By the way, did you see my post #145 above?  I am not sure if this is a bug or some feature I don't understand.  Seems like it would make sense for the UFX to behave exactly the same using the encoders or TMFX.