• Registered: 2013-07-14
  • Posts: 27

Topic: Multichannel over Toslink on Fireface UFX

Hi,

What I'm trying to achieve is somehow kind of unique but I've always found a way to make things work with Totalmix FX except for this one.

So let me put it into contexte. I'm a composer for films and video games and I've recently upgraded setup and started to work in 5.1. I spend a long time calibrating and correcting my room and I'm using Sonarworks Reference 4 to correct a few frequency issues from my Front L/R speakers.

Unfortunately, Sonarworks does not offer multichannel support yet so for it to be applied to front L/R in a 5.1 speaker configuration, I need to use a 3rd party standalone plugin called Patchwork and insert the plugin between a digital loop (not to convert twice). In my case, I'm looping  AES Out into AES In and inserting the Reference 4 plugin in between. In patchwork, I'm assigning inputs to AES L/R and outputs to Analog 7/8. I then use totalmix to send software playback of 7/8 to what Main L/R.

Ok so if you're still following me, what I'm trying to achieve is room correction 100% of the time on all sources being played back in the studio.

I need to know if it's possible to feed a multichannel signal such as DTS or Dolby Surround to the fireface's ADAT input and have the 6 individual channels show up in the software playback row of Totalmix FX so I can use my room correction loop on sources like blu-rays or game consoles.

In other words, I need the correction to be applied in all situations whether I'm working or playing back reference material from clients or simply watching a movie in the studio to train my ears.

Thanks for the help. Any suggestions are welcome.

Cheers,

www.francoisbeauvais.com
www.vibeavenue.com

  • Jeff
  • Jeff
  • Moderator
  • Offline
  • From: USA
  • Registered: 2007-05-21
  • Posts: 4,650

Re: Multichannel over Toslink on Fireface UFX

None of RME's interfaces can encode or decode DTS or Dolby Digital. You would need some type of application that can take the encoded SPDIF stream and decode to PCM multichannel audio.

Regards,
Jeff Petersen
Synthax Inc.

Jeff's Website

  • Registered: 2013-07-14
  • Posts: 27

Re: Multichannel over Toslink on Fireface UFX

Yes I've tried pretty much every scenario and I would in fact need some sort of decoding software in front of totalmix. It's unfortunate that the UFX cannot decode digital signals such as Dolby Digital and DTS. It seems pretty standard nowadays. The optical ports are there and the interface has DSP so I'm assuming it wouldn't be to hard to implement.

4 Reply by studiodc (edited by studiodc 2018-04-23 22:42:19)

  • Registered: 2018-04-07
  • Posts: 15

Re: Multichannel over Toslink on Fireface UFX

Dolby encoding are squarely consumer-grade and are not used in any professional studios as an audio interchange format that I'm aware of. Calling it "standard" misses the point entirely - it's standard for consumer distribution of cinema and surround audio, and not much else, really. Even commercial cinemas don't use it exclusively (many of them use multi-channel separately encoded PCM or compressed-PCM formats).

It's only a delivery format, much like MP3 is not used when recording. For single-cable multichannel digital audio, ADAT, MADI, and AVB are the studio standards. I doubt seriously you'll find Dolby decoding on anything pro grade except for final-playback receivers in test rooms and cinemas, and Dolby encoding is usually done in software during the final master stage when format-conversion is baked into the resulting output bitstreams.

  • Registered: 2013-07-14
  • Posts: 27

Re: Multichannel over Toslink on Fireface UFX

I understand and when I said standard, I'm referring to the fact that dolby digital has been there for a while now and seems to be a widely used format and not to go away any time soon.

Maybe you I did not express myself well. I'm well aware that ADAT and MADI are the studio standards. All I am saying is that it would be nice if we didn't need a dedicated pro grade receivers to decode such a widely used consumer format when the ports are there.

In fact, I am currently using a dedicated pro receiver to playback those formats in the studio. Going through the Fireface would enable me to use my room correction software on all my sources and not only when working but when playing back reference material as well.

  • cyrano
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • From: Belgium
  • Registered: 2015-04-28
  • Posts: 701

Re: Multichannel over Toslink on Fireface UFX

To support Dolby AC3, licenses need to be paid. And only a few users would need it, so it's not something easy as it also requires a lot of processing.

MB Pro - 2 X FireFace 400, FF800 & DigiFace USB
ADAT gear: Korg, Behri, Fostex, Alesis...

cyrano's Website

  • From: Seevetal
  • Registered: 2007-05-03
  • Posts: 405

Re: Multichannel over Toslink on Fireface UFX

Trying to understand the problem.
On my system (Mac Os 10.13.4 FF UC) I can playback 5.1 AC3 Audio or multichannel WAV files with Quicktime or VLC.

UFX+, FireFace 802 FS, Digiface USB
12 Mic, M1610 pro, Micstasy
MacBookPro M1
Logic Pro X
  • cyrano
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • From: Belgium
  • Registered: 2015-04-28
  • Posts: 701

Re: Multichannel over Toslink on Fireface UFX

That's because Apple paid the license and included decoding in Quicktime? Or Core Audio?

And VLC uses the open source reverse engineered AC3 decoder?

I'm sure there is a Windows counterpart. And VLC is available for Windows too.

But I don't think that's what the OP wants...

MB Pro - 2 X FireFace 400, FF800 & DigiFace USB
ADAT gear: Korg, Behri, Fostex, Alesis...

cyrano's Website