• Registered: 2021-03-29
  • Posts: 10

Topic: multiple interfaces via adat (ff800 through hammerfall to hdspe)

hi

im not sure if this is the correct place for this post, but im gonna try asking my questions here as i feel it was most relevant here. if this is not the right subforum, then place move the post...

i have a wish for a multi interface setup, between my hammerfall v1(hdspe) and my new used ff800 as stand alone via adat.

i run windows 10 and my hammerfall is connected via the HDSPe pci-e card with a "firewire port", i would like to connect my ff800 via adat through the hammerfall and hdspe into my pc, because a friend of mine said that config would have the lowest latency.

but every example i've found online is from old OSX versions of the driver utility of ff800 and hammerfall, so im really confused about how to get the right settings for adat between the interfaces, with the current drivers i have availeble, also im not experienced at all in running multiple interfaces at once.

also some related tutorials on youtube, mentioned that i would need to make certain routings in the matrix on one or both of the totalmix instances before flashing the ff800, but also those examples i still have a lot of trouble deciphering to the current version of win10 totalmix.

are there a friendly soul out there who could guide me a bit, step by step to get this up and running? i would really appreciate the help... otherwise, if some other solution is better than adat, or the interfaces should be set up the other way around, i would gladly take advice about this too.

thanks in advance!

2 Reply by underslindberg (edited by underslindberg 2021-06-11 07:44:43)

  • Registered: 2021-03-29
  • Posts: 10

Re: multiple interfaces via adat (ff800 through hammerfall to hdspe)

if its possible, i would love to be able to use the midi i/o on the ff800 simultaniously with the hammerfalls midi ports, but i don't even know if this is possible at all...

also, if its also possible to use the phantom powered inputs on the front of the ff800 for mics and so on, that would be great too...


my list of availeble RME gear (and related  stuff) is as follows:

2 x hammerfall v1's
1 x HDSPe pci-e car with only the "fake" firewire port for hammerfall
1 x ff800
(1 x texasintruments firewire pci-e card)

if any of you guys have any suggestions on how to get most bang for the buck with this combo, i would also like your input,

  • From: Germany
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 9,841

Re: multiple interfaces via adat (ff800 through hammerfall to hdspe)

This might help with standalone configuration of the FF800: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oibj81QIq4s

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

RME Support's Website

  • Registered: 2021-03-29
  • Posts: 10

Re: multiple interfaces via adat (ff800 through hammerfall to hdspe)

RME Support wrote:

This might help with standalone configuration of the FF800: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oibj81QIq4s

hi, sorry, but i still can't make it work together, at the moment after trying you advice from the video, i have ADAT led on the hammerfall on green light, and the ff800 ADAT2 and host led lights on.

i think i might need a bit more guidance in a step by step format, so i don't mess things up even further... no signal is comming from my measuring mic(ff800) into the hammerfall. its currently the only active input on the ff800(front in xlr 7).

i've tried all kinds of different settings in driver options, but no succes yet...

  • ramses
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Online
  • From: UTC+1
  • Registered: 2012-10-14
  • Posts: 13,391

Re: multiple interfaces via adat (ff800 through hammerfall to hdspe)

You need two TOSLINK cables
hammerfall ADAT OUT -------> FF800 ADAT IN (also required for transferring the clock signal)
hammerfall ADAT IN   <------   FF800 ADAT OUT

hammerfall is your primary interface and "clock master".
In the RME driver settigs dialog for the hammerfall -> clock source: internal

FF800 is your secondary interface connected like a preamp through ADAT and
will become a "clock slave" and get the clock from the master through it's ADAT IN port.
You need to connect the FF800 to your PC as well, to be able to access the driver settings for it.
Then you need to configure it this way -> clock source: "ADAT" or "optical" (see pull-down menue).

Once you have finalized the driver setup and the routing on the FF800 you can operate FF800 it in standalone mode.
But for operational reasons you might want to keep it connected to Firewire to be able to change mic gain etc.

BTW .. we had quite a few threads about clock synchronization in the forum, search function might help.
Maybe not exactly your case, but the basic principles are the same
- there is always one master
- use the recording interface, that is directly connected to your PC (PCI/PCIe, USB, FW, TB) as clock master
  then the application can set sample rate and the clock slaves (in most cases) can learn the clock automatically from master
  so you do not have to change clocks on all slaves manually ...
- the clock signal can only be send on an outgoing digital port (from sender to receiver)
  This is quite logic, so you need a cable from an outgoing port on the master to an inbound port on the slave.

Thats all.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14
  • Registered: 2021-03-29
  • Posts: 10

Re: multiple interfaces via adat (ff800 through hammerfall to hdspe)

hi ramses

thanks for clearing things up, but can you please take a look at my driver settings for each interface that i post links to in this post and the matrix for my ff800, and see if i did things right? i feel there might be somthing i am missing to get it working, sorry, i really dont have that advanced cable brain yet, i know it must be hard work explainin it in such detail, but i don't really know that much about this stuff... i just make music...

in regards to the search function on the forum, i've been searching with google for about a month on different forums incl. here, for a way to get the right settings, but since most of the guides are for OSX drivers and or aged drivers, it was hard to know what settings and how to replicate on updated drivers and so on. the different settings in drivers aren't that clearly explained, when you have no knowlegde of what they do before getting in to this...



links to driver settings and matrix here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RVs6Rb … sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qR4Xfx … sp=sharing

thanks for the assistance

  • Registered: 2021-03-29
  • Posts: 10

Re: multiple interfaces via adat (ff800 through hammerfall to hdspe)

i messed around with the settings again after reading through ramses's post a few times, so i switched the optical cabels to the ADAT in on the ff800 and made some alterations on the hammerfall driver settings... now i have adat lock on the hammerfall interface and light on ADAT1 on f800 but red HOST led is on on the ff800, but there is still no sound comming through to the hammerfall via the ADAT inputs in totalmix for hammerfall...