1 Topic by Darwich9000 (edited by Darwich9000 2026-04-14 17:50:12)

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Topic: MADI Optical Connection Issue – RME UFX III + 2x Ferrofish Pulse 16 MX

Hello All..

I am sure you have had this topic a million times, I have read what I have found in the forum to try and solve this issue.


I’m trying to get my RME UFX III working with 1 x Ferrofish Pulse 16 with Ferrofish SFP Module Multimode, and 1 x Ferrofish Pulse 16 MX over optical MADI and I can’t get it to work.

I’m using SC-LC & LC–LC OM4 duplex cables, so as far as I understand that part should be fine.

everything set to 64ch
same sample rate everywhere
RME as master, Ferrofish on MADI clock
using optical
checked I’m not mixing up IN/OUT

With just ONE Pulse connected directly to the RME, I don’t have any issus. But when I daisy chain the LC-LC connection from one pulse to the other and back to Rme UFX III LC-SC i dont get any connection.
I figured I should mention that both pulse´s are the same firmware.

I did the routing bit for both of them so they dont share same "channels"

At this point I just want to know if I’m doing something wrong

https://kommodo.ai/i/M5H2FHIvCh8iUkyRzXUn
https://kommodo.ai/i/ahQnjzohZE5TP1TTOK4C
https://kommodo.ai/i/3X7nxPaZi9JruD6AWLVQ

2 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2026-04-14 16:53:32)

  • ramses
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Re: MADI Optical Connection Issue – RME UFX III + 2x Ferrofish Pulse 16 MX

EDIT1: Both Pulse 16 MX are MADI devices, not a Pulse 16 missing the MADI license?

Simplify the setup as you did: UFX III and one Pulse 16 MX.
If this works, try the 2nd Pulse 16 MX using this and the other SFP (multimode transceiver).

Check both SC-LC cables by connecting at least one Pulse 16 MX successfully
and the LC-LC cables by plugging a loop from Pulse 16 MX OUT to IN. You should see in the remote admin tool the sync status.

The cabling has to be:

UFX III---SC------LC---Pulse16MX#1---LC------LC---Pulse16MX#2---LC------SC---UFX III

[cm]                                [cs]                                     [cs]
                                 MADI ch 1-16                      MADI ch 17-31

UFX III is clock master [cm], clock source = internal
Both Pulse 16 MX are clock slave [cs], clock source = MADI(optical)

Sample rate 44.1
Route audio (music playback) to MADI channel 1+2 (1st Ferro) and 17+18 (2nd Ferro).

Send a screenshot of UFX III driver settings and the routing on the Pulse 16 MX.
Do you see audio on MADI channels 1+2, 17+18 on both Pulse 16 MX?

BR Ramses - HDSPe MADI FX, M-1620 Pro D, 12Mic, UFX III, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, Nuendo 15, Win10 IoT Ent

3 Reply by Darwich9000 (edited by Darwich9000 2026-04-14 17:50:57)

  • Registered: 2024-04-22
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Re: MADI Optical Connection Issue – RME UFX III + 2x Ferrofish Pulse 16 MX

I bought the Madi licens a year ago, and everything worked just fine between the UFXIII and Pulse 16 with SFP module installed.

Do i need to buy a seperate licence for the my new Pulse 16 MX?

I did try to simplify it, by connecting one unit to the UFXIII at a time, and that worked, but as soon as i try to daisy chain the Pulse´s it does not work any longer.. I have installed Remotefish, and it works when they are connected individually, but not together.

I put links to photos in my first post "dunno how to make them visible directly in the thread" Sry.

I tried the loop mode, but since i dont fully understand the icons on the screen i will try and explain it the best of my ability.

On the Right screen on the front of the device : When the loop is LC-LC In/Out it makes green boxes on bottom left of the screen, the boxes on the bottom right are greyed out. The "u" shape is flashing between green and grey

  • Jeff
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Re: MADI Optical Connection Issue – RME UFX III + 2x Ferrofish Pulse 16 MX

Looks like things are working with regards to the cables. You still need to "pass through" all the other MADI channels on each unit. So the patch points should be Input MADI 17 to Output MADI 17, Input MADI 25 to Output MADI 25 on the top unit, and the same passthru for MADI 1 and MADI 9 on the second unit.

Regards,
Jeff Petersen
Synthax Inc.

Jeff's Website

  • ramses
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Re: MADI Optical Connection Issue – RME UFX III + 2x Ferrofish Pulse 16 MX

Darwich9000 wrote:

I bought the Madi licens a year ago, and everything worked just fine between the UFXIII and Pulse 16 with SFP module installed.
Do i need to buy a seperate licence for the my new Pulse 16 MX?

Not if you bought it directly as MADI device. It was just a thought.
At this time I was unsure whether you tried it as single device.

Darwich9000 wrote:

I put links to photos in my first post "dunno how to make them visible directly in the thread" Sry.

The usual stuff for non-bloated forum software, place something to a cloud and post it here,
either included in URL tags to show only a clickable link
or in IMG tags so that it can directly be loaded by the browser - if the cloud provider supports this -

Explained here, if needed: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Ent … rum-EN-DE/

I think Jeff raised a valid point that I forgot, that the routing on each MADI interface has two components
- routing of the signals from inputs to outputs
- passing-through channels that are needed by the next devices in the serial chain of MADI devices on the same MADI bus

BR Ramses - HDSPe MADI FX, M-1620 Pro D, 12Mic, UFX III, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, Nuendo 15, Win10 IoT Ent
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Re: MADI Optical Connection Issue – RME UFX III + 2x Ferrofish Pulse 16 MX

Is this correct?

https://kommodo.ai/i/DkjmHYgEuut88t8LmMmN

7 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2026-04-14 19:38:17)

  • ramses
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Re: MADI Optical Connection Issue – RME UFX III + 2x Ferrofish Pulse 16 MX

Darwich9000 wrote:

Is this correct?
https://kommodo.ai/i/DkjmHYgEuut88t8LmMmN

We had a similar case here, but I think I might have forgotten the passing through of channels ..
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.ph … 75#p240775

Not 100% sure whether I got it right 100%, but please try this:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/o7h7ity84ts3yfiqr0d9q/2026-04-14-Two-Ferrofish-Pulse-MX-16-and-Passthrough.jpg?rlkey=1iem363fs22ark8rg6kgcsig9&st=ybie4se1&dl=1

BR Ramses - HDSPe MADI FX, M-1620 Pro D, 12Mic, UFX III, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, Nuendo 15, Win10 IoT Ent
  • Jeff
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Re: MADI Optical Connection Issue – RME UFX III + 2x Ferrofish Pulse 16 MX

Yes, the Pulse 16 routings looks correct now.

Regards,
Jeff Petersen
Synthax Inc.

Jeff's Website

  • ramses
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Re: MADI Optical Connection Issue – RME UFX III + 2x Ferrofish Pulse 16 MX

Thanks, Jeff, for your kind confirmation wink

BR Ramses - HDSPe MADI FX, M-1620 Pro D, 12Mic, UFX III, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, Nuendo 15, Win10 IoT Ent