1 Topic by bsfreq (edited by bsfreq 2022-02-26 14:01:31)

  • bsfreq
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Topic: 12Mic madi optical extending with couplers

Hi,

I'm going to buy the 12Mic soon, now that I feel confident that both global OSC support for TMFX, and aux-device support for 12Mic are on the way.

I just have a couple of questions I couldn't easily find answers to.

1.  Is it possible to extend madi optical cables using more than two cables in a chain with female to female couplers, or will using couplers limit the maximum distance radically?
I've got a short SC-SC patch cable from UFX+ to my rack patchbay panel, and I already own long SC-SC madi cables.
SFP module comes with a coupler and an SC-LC cable, so I would end up with
UFX+ -> short SC-SC cable -> coupler -> long (max50m) SC-SC cable  -> coupler -> short SC-LC cable -> 12Mic
Will this work, or should I buy long SC-LC cables instead?

2. Is it possible to switch one adat output of the 12Mic to send out S/PDIF optical instead of adat? I have one scenario in which this would be useful. UFX+ and Babyface Pro can do this, but there was no mention of this in 12Mic's manual, so perhaps not?
Is this a hardware or firmware limitation, and if it's the latter, could it perhaps be easily added?

Thanks for your help!

Fireface UFX+ | Fireface UFX | Babyface Pro | 12Mic
  • bsfreq
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Re: 12Mic madi optical extending with couplers

bsfreq wrote:

UFX+ -> short SC-SC cable -> coupler -> long (max50m) SC-SC cable  -> coupler -> short SC-LC cable -> 12Mic
Will this work, or should I buy long SC-LC cables instead?

Has anyone tried this? I know with adat-cables this would be a problem, but madi is of course a pro format compared to adat, so I assume this might just work.

Fireface UFX+ | Fireface UFX | Babyface Pro | 12Mic
  • Marc S
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Re: 12Mic madi optical extending with couplers

1. It mainly depends on the quality of the coupling, i.e. alignment of the fibre cores and, very important, clean optics!

But in practice, it shouldn't be much of a problem, not at 50 m max anyway. I've seen installations (in arenas, etc) with 5 or 6 patchbays on the way and total cable length in the hundreds. I've also seen heavily twisted cables and connectors that haven't seen a protector cap in years (decades?) - MADI was getting through unimpressed.
It's only 125 MBit/s, so frequency is pretty low compared to 40 GBit/s or even 100 GBit/s network installations where the same cables can be used.

2. Nope, it's ADAT only.

  • bsfreq
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Re: 12Mic madi optical extending with couplers

Sounds good. Thanks Marc!

Fireface UFX+ | Fireface UFX | Babyface Pro | 12Mic