Have you ever configured such a MADI setup?

Is it clear that all devices on the same MADI bus must have their own (unique) MADI ID? If both devices are connected serially to one MADI bus (one behind the other and back to the HDSPe MADI FX card), then the 1st device should get MADI ID1, the next one ID2.

If you connect the devices to 2 different MADI buses, then I would set both devices to ID 1. The latter setup would have the additional advantage of saving 3 samples (6 with double speed) when forwarding audio packets to the next device in the row on a MADI bus.

The devices must also be set to the same MADI frame size, preferably 96k frame size to best support double speed operation.

If I remember right, the MADI frame size can only be configured at the 12Mic (using the display). The same could be the case with the M-32 Pro II AD and DA.

Let's get to "routing". The routing must be set not only in TotalMix FX, but also on each individual MADI device itself, which input and output channels of the MADI bus should be worked with. Also, the channels that should be passed through to the next device (either to the next M-32, if connected in series on one MADI bus, or to the HDSPe MADI FX).

These settings are made via web browser on the respective device.

A more detailed description and some screenshots about the settings would be helpful.

I can't help you with Mac-specific things … not sure whether there are additional driver related things, that needs to be honored (and your Mac seems quite dated).

I wrote a few blog articles about different MADI setups, maybe some information from text or screenshots is of help:
- https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Ent … Pro-FS-BE/
- https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Ent … cber-MADI/
- https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Ent … XTC-DE-EN/

havent tried the phones output - will do when i get back!

first i only saw the hardware inputs even though i also sent the signal out too. after i updated the OLCP to the last version it appeared in all 3 rows (HW in, software and HW out)

thanks!

logic has access to the mic - maybe i can try to unclick and then click again
but even playing an audio file from the finder doesnt work

yep i know that, thats where the inputs/outputs show up when feeding analogue signal from the console

It seems there has been some confusion. The points raised by ramses do not apply to your setup, you don't need to do any of that. You stated:

> the HDSPE MADI FX firmware was updated and then driver and total mix installed. the card shows up fine in logic, finder, everywhere and can be selected as the out/input but nothing reaches the computer - neither in nor out.

So everything works (as also shown in your video), just the card does not send/recieve audio to the computer. And that is most probably caused by:

> old and fully pimped mac pro early 2009 upgraded to 5,1 and 128GB and 12 core with the latest version of monterey (12.7.5) through OCLP.

Open Core Legacy Patcher: This use case is not supported, and you are not the first to report issues with it.

Not sure why you hung up the phone abruptly, I would have liked to help, but the connection was extremely bad and not getting better, breaking constantly.

I think the issue may be in here somewhere. The AD converter does not "route signal to output channels" of the DA. You never specified how exactly the devices are connected to each other and to the card. Obviously, if you simply connect the outputs of the AD to the DA, the DA will do what it's designed to and convert the signal back to analog. That's why you need to configure which channels will go where, i.e. make sure the AD-signal goes to the card and the DA converter only converts what comes from the card. Looks like it's currently not doing that, possibly due to the cabling or MADI configuration.

You can either configure a ring connection, or with just one AD and DA, you could also simply connect AD to the card's input and DA to the output, if you don't need remote control of the converters and just want them to sit there and turn analog to digital and vice versa. This way, it might behave more like the tape machine you are used to.

Buttons on your mixer can not determine what is being recorded by your computer. I was trying to find out what exactly the mixer does there (sending signal to busses, maybe?), but then you hung up...

And yes, a system like this does come with a learning curve, it's not designed to be "plug and play", because there are many ways to use it in connection with other gear and the devices don't know what you want or need.

If you are not willing to invest time into finding out how to make things work the way you want them to, simply hire a professional to set this up for you so it does become plug and play for your needs when the configuration is done. Nothing wrong with that. Not an ideal analogy, but if you buy a car, you still have to go and learn how to drive, the car salesman won't teach you that. I'm sure learning all the features of that console took some time as well. Looks quite complex.

What about the headphones output?

Feel free to call again from another phone perhaps.

I intended to illuminate the setup from the ground up. From the screenshot of the HDSPe settings (3rd image) you can see that only the 3rd MADI port (BNC) is in use, which suggests that both devices are connected in series via BNC cables.

[In my opinion, the MADI ID for the two devices should also be assigned correctly, or is this only required if there are features such as auto-assignment or devices are remote-controlled via e.g., RME Connector, which in my opinion is not the case with the converters here?]

However, it is noticeable here that the 3 buses are set for 96k frames, but at the bottom of the “Input Status” box a sync with 48k frames at 96 kHz is displayed. This could indicate that the MADI frame size is not set the same on all devices.

The screenshot of TotalMix (picture 1) was not very helpful because only channels 1-44 are shown, but no inputs and outputs of the 3rd MADI bus (channels 129..192). Main Out is set to channels 131/132, which is the 2nd stereo pair of the 3rd MADI bus. But you can't see any output signal here, unfortunately you can't see the inputs either, so you should have scrolled the channels further to the right.

The question here is whether a) the routing from/to MADI is correct on all devices and b) whether the TotalMix FX routing is also ok.

To be able to configure / check the routing on the M-32 devices a LAN connection is needed for both devices.
Then some screenshots which show the routing.
According to the manuals no basic routing is provided from MADI to the outputs or from the inputs to MADI.
So this needs to be configured.

I see the following as an option to consider

[but as buying new stuff, cables and SFP, takes time, maybe it is best to first make it work this way using BNC]

I would possibly simplify the setup. However, this would require different cabling and corresponding transceivers (SFP modules). I would use MADI Bus 1. Then channels 1…32 would be used, which would be much easier. It would also provide galvanic isolation.

In that case, you might not need the daughter card for BNC, saving a slot in the computer, provided you don't need the AES port/breakout cable.

I would also daisy-chain both M-32 Pro II units on the optical MADI Bus 1, so the channel numbers remain 1…32.

Then, if the other buses are not needed, you could hide them (using the hide function in the Channel Layout of TM FX).

Optionally, you could also activate the option [x] mirror MADI1 Out to 2 & 3 in the HDSPe settings. This way, only the 64 channels from Bus 1 are displayed, and they are mirrored to the other 2 buses. This might make things easier if no additional buses are needed and you want to manage the channel numbers more conveniently.

At 96 kHz, this would only be channels 1…32 (due to channel multiplexing and the mirroring of MADI bus 1 to 2+3].

Proposals

For somebody who knows such MADI setups it should be possible to get it working if there are no other pitfalls because of a quite dated Apple computer. But this here needs a validation of settings from ground up. This way nobody really knows whether everything needed has been done.

Best would be to be on site to see whats there. But even remote support with teamviewer or teams and screensharing would be better than having to support this all only based on written text. There are a few things that you need to see otherwise you can never be sure whether it is configured as it should.

i´m always intersted in learning new things but converters are just tools to me. as there is a DAW mode in total mix for people who just want to "use" it, something similar (simplified) for the setup process would be great too i think.

i´ve also spoken to DA-X berlin about someone coming to set up but they don´t offer that service.

now that i have selected the card in logic instead of the mac line output, those channels are quiet, no clicking. weird

Which outputs did you select for playback over the phones? How exactly are the devices connected? Please be a bit more specific or take pictures. If the AD signal goes straight back to DA and the mixer, something isn't quite right. But if you can make the input signal audible on the card's phones output, that's a good sign.

Perhaps you could ask for setup help in the Miscellaneous section of the forum, not sure how many users there may be in Berlin.

You place a picture to a cloud and link it here (paste the URL, mark it and click the img icon).

More verbose description here in my blog: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Ent … rum-EN-DE/