• Registered: 2018-10-04
  • Posts: 27

Topic: Octamic XTC: ADAT In -> MADI Out

Hi,

I'm currently scratching my head. I need to route ADAT In to MADI Out with an Octamic XTC. The ADAT signal is correctly there at the XTC's ADAT Input (I can hear the ADAT audio signal with headphones at the XTC), but when I enter "Setup" -> "Options" -> "Digital Routing" I can't change any value of the MADI output channel groups ("MADI 1-8", "MADI 9-16", ... are all grayed out and spinning encoder 2 hence does nothing).

Is there anything else I have to setup before being able to select any other source for the MADI Out channels or what can be the reason for them to be grayed out?

  • Registered: 2018-10-04
  • Posts: 27

Re: Octamic XTC: ADAT In -> MADI Out

Never mind. I found the cause why all MADI routing options were grayed out: I had to set "Delay Compensation" to "Manual" in "MADI Settings".

@RME: IMO should be mentioned in the manual.

  • Registered: 2018-10-04
  • Posts: 27

Re: Octamic XTC: ADAT In -> MADI Out

Or even better, firmware change: when trying to change the grayed out MADI router options, showing a popup with the reason: "Not possible if MADI auto delay compensation enabled".

  • ramses
  • DAW Mastermind
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  • From: UTC+1
  • Registered: 2012-10-14
  • Posts: 10,501

Re: Octamic XTC: ADAT In -> MADI Out

I cross checked this for you in the morning but had no time to reply. Same with my devices and firmware 26/47.

I was under the impression that changing the routing was always possible when I got my XTCs in 2016 when I experimented a lot with different settings and also connected the ADI-2 Pro via ADAT and AES.

Would be nice to have the flexibility to do so, also with delay compensation enabled.

Maybe RME could kindly check whether they can change this, many thanks upfront.

BR Ramses - UFX+, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1650v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub12Pro
  • Registered: 2018-10-04
  • Posts: 27

Re: Octamic XTC: ADAT In -> MADI Out

Well, I can live with setting the delay compensation ID manually. You just have to count the boxes. ;-) After this, I probably never use auto compensation again.

But I actually don't see the technical reason behind that limitation. I mean auto compensation just reads the ID of the frame received from the previous device. What does that have to do with the MADI routing options?

Actually the flexibility of the XTCs is really great. But I find it a pity that it never gives you any kind of error message or human readable text when you run into some kind of configuration problem. You always end up trial-and-erroring essentially all configuration options until you find the actual reason of the problem. I mean there is this nice TFT, why not using it for simple message popups?

6 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2019-03-15 21:56:49)

  • ramses
  • DAW Mastermind
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  • From: UTC+1
  • Registered: 2012-10-14
  • Posts: 10,501

Re: Octamic XTC: ADAT In -> MADI Out

We were wrong, sorry, the handbook explains this

10.1 p. 25:

Manual
With this setting active, the user has to enter the Compens. ID (Compensation ID) manually.
The value must equal the position of the device within the chain.

Auto-ID
OctaMic XTC detects other devices sitting in front of it within the chain. If none is detected the
ID is set to 1, else according to the found ID plus 1. The entry Compens. ID is grayed out, because
no longer manually adjustable.

Auto-CA
The option Auto Channel Assignment sets the digital routing according to the current ID. For
example the third OctaMic XTC in a chain will automatically use channels 17-24 in the MADI
data stream.
This is the most comfortable, fastest and safest way to use several devices serially. Simply set
Delay Comp. in all units to Auto-CA, quickly check the IDs in the display, and you’re ready to
enjoy all channels within just one MADI cable and sample-aligned.

So ...

Use Auto-ID if you only want the device to get his proper ID for delay compensation, then you can still configure all routing options like in manual.

Use Auto-CA if the channels shall be automatically be assigned according to it's current ID.

Got it ? ;-)

BR Ramses - UFX+, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1650v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub12Pro
  • Registered: 2018-10-04
  • Posts: 27

Re: Octamic XTC: ADAT In -> MADI Out

Aaah I see, now I know what "CA" stands for. smile And ... why I dislike exotic abbreviations.

Ok, now we know what the actual motivation was to grey out the MADI routing option. But still I find the current behaviour suboptimal from user perspective. Like I said, the mininum I would expect is showing a popup message "You need to disable Auto CA" when trying to change the routing option.

Another solution would be if the device automatically simply changed "Auto CA" to "Auto ID" when a user changes the routing option. That would probably make most sense IMO.