Are you are sure? Reading through the first link states "Phones1: PH 9/10 (depending on the recording interface)" - I don't have that, as such. Under assign for Phones 1 I get options AN1/2, Spdif and the ADAT channels only.

So my first question is how do I hear different on the phones than AN1/2? (Studio monitors)

Thanks for the links, I'll continue reading through

As you own an interface, that is in the market since longer time, it contains still a description of the old version of TM FX (TotalMix) which was the latest and greatest, when the product had been released.

Its common practise to look then into the manual of a later product, then you have the pictures and functionality of the latest version of "TotalMix FX", e.g. this one here:
https://www.rme-audio.de/downloads/hdspeaiopro_d.pdf
https://www.rme-audio.de/downloads/hdspeaiopro_e.pdf

There are small differences in TM FX between the products, why there is no separate "TM FX manual".
So if you do not find something on your recording interface, it might be a product specific thing.

Sorry I have no good example for such a difference. From memory its not that much.
One for shure .. the FX section (FX chip is only on BBF Pro (partial implementation), UCX, 802, UFX, UFX II, UFX+
and the only PCI/PCIe card with TM FX is the HDSPe MADI FX.
The rest is the same especially in terms of operation.
I would not worry too much on this point tbh.

Basic operation is always the same.

Your tasks are not that much:
- Assign Monitor and Phones outputs to "Main Out" and "Phones1", this moves the outputs to the control room section. Why ? So that you can use control room functions as mute, dim, etc ..

And the routing is not more than
- ensure that you are in submix mode (check button on the right in the light blue area)
And then to route something to a particular output:
1. click to that output channel in the bottom row (HW Outputs)
2. move fader of HW Inputs and SW Playback channels to create the perfect submix for you for this particular output.

Therefore as output you can also call a submix, hence the name, submix mode.

So you can have as many submixes as you have HW outputs (bottom row).

The different rows of TM FX have these purposes
- top      :  The HW inputs, everything is recorded "as is" unaltered, you can change this in driver settings
- middle :  Audio coming from PC (Windows Audio, Applications, DAW) either from ASIO or WDM driver
- bottom: HW Outputs

Windows has one special thing ... Windows OS itself and typical windows applications have no ASIO support.
For OS and those non-ASIO aware applications you have to create WDM channels.

As I need this only for my main monitors I create only a WDM device for that. In the driver settings there is a Button to create WDM devices, create only WDM devices for ports for that you need it.
There is a 2nd TAB "Speakers", select/mark there which WDM device shall be the speaker device.
Based on that selection you find then in Windows Audio the proper entry for Speaker Device, which you make there to the Windows Default Sound device.

Thats it more or less all for a good start. Rest see my primer, the videos, the manual.

Sorry I only read this now (and not everything Ramses said). But the phones of the HDSP9632 is tied to analog1/2. This card (and I have 2) has only one DAC and it goes to analog outs and phones.
If you need separate phones output, you need an extra dac and connect it to spdif or adat. This can be done cheaply, simple or complex or hi-end expensive depending on your needs and budget.
Come to think of it, I might use my unused old dat recorder for this purpose, if I can found the courage to search for it in my storage.

Thanks Vinark, that's kind of what i'd concluded, just wanted someone more informed than me to confirm!

I have a second issue though, regarding WDM, in that I don't seem to be able to present both AN1/2 and SPDIF input channels to an WDM output device together, even though I have both ticked in the config:

They do both appear individually. Assume this is another limitation, no mixing to WDM output devices? I have temporarily installed vb voice meeter to do this mixing to a virtual wdm device but I was really hoping RME/Totalmix could do this for me!

I am looking to replace my large Tascam mixing desk which was doing all this previously, but right now it's not looking like the RME solution is going to be an all-in-one unfortunately.

to 1) the purpose of WDM device creation is hardware/port access for non-ASIO aware OS and applications.
It makes sense to do that on a per port basis.
What you say is mixing of channels, this is being done in TotalMix FX.

to 2) there are other more modern RME products where monitors and phones are separated.

Please tell us your max budget and requirements and then we can tell you what other product or combination of products would be more feasible.

In terms of requirements such things as:

What computer ? CPU/DRAM/Mainboard.
Can it be USB/TB or does it need to be PCI/PCIe for some reason ?
Do you have a small solition / mobility in mind or is 19" format also ok ?
What cabling distance between recording interface and PC ? USB2 5m max, USB3 3m max, Thunderbolt 2m max
At what sample rates do you intend to record ?
Do you need (besides monitors and phones) more analog ports to connect e.g. external devices?
How many analog and digital ports do you require ? E.g.:
- How many Mic or Instrument inputs
- How many analog channels (balanced or unbalanced)
- ..
Whether other devices need to be connected through ADAT.
Whether you need MIDI or Word Clock.
How many phones outputs you need ..

Thats for example my migration from analog mixer integration to a full RME solution. Focusrite was a small chapter in between, where I never was really satisfied, but at that time I didn't know better / RME.
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … Rec-EN-DE/

Indeed, with this device you can not loop back to wdm  or other inputs, which is what you want if I understand your diagram, but it is easily created if you want a solution, you can use your adat ports as a loopback. Just connect an optical cable from the adat in to out. Now al is possible, you can now route all inputs and software channels to an adat out, which you can select as adat in for wdm. Or you can do the same with 2 channels spdif electrical, whichever is not in use. Newer RME devices like the AIO or raydat have this build in.
You do need to know how totalmix works, but if you don't need your adat ports this is a very powerful solution.

Thanks vinark,

This is a very useful suggestion, I will try it out. You have really tried to understand my problem.

The reason this is not supported in hardware on most (all) devices is that without proper special routing setup, you will get feedback loops. The thing to watch out for is that the output of the app you streaming with is not also routed to its input in totalmix.
Also do thank Ramses for his time. We are both just happy RME users trying to help others. Ramses is more specialized in making good buying decisions and using newer technology, me I am good with making older gear work.

Yes, noted your comment about causing unwanted loops. I did thank Ramses a couple of times in this thread, but I guess that was not noticed I appreciate the help from both of you, but ultimately I want to solve the problem. In theory the suggestion of routing via ADAT loopback should remove the need for me to also use VB voice meeter, which will be a more elegant solution. Now to find a toslink cable!

It sounded like after the initial exchange of information, you were essentially just dissatisfied with RME. And when you told Vinark "You have really tried to understand my problem" then it means in reverse that only Vinark (not me) tried to understand you.
That was indeed too much for me, after I had taken a lot of private time for you and was just really busy to put together good illustrated information to you (just created the Visio for you) to demonstrate the flexibility of RME (of which you seemed to have heard of, but then actually put in question).
Let's put it this way, a misunderstanding, but that's all I have to contribute for now. Good luck.

MC Of course wdm can record an input. but he wants to record (stream) the output of another wdm app, mix it with his mic on the spdif input and DJ mixer on analog in and then stream/record that mix. IFAIK the hdsp9632 has no onboard loopback. The AIO does.

OMG MC, because my hdsp9652, my first RME did not have it, I assumed it was available from the hdspe series on and not the hdsp9632 from which I have also 2.
Thanks!
And to the original poster sorry about this you don`t need a adat cable, it is build into totalmix, so you bought the right card after all.