Hello Jelly, I am happily blessed with precisely the set up you aspire to in your opening question.
When I hook things up for the first time, even if I am convinced, I know what I am doing, I always validate that by checking with an expert familiar with the specific equipment involved, so below is the procedure that I checked with the RME experts who distribute in my country.
“Just to check the procedure hooking up the equipment…
I will order a 75 Ohm T adapter as. https://www.canford.co.uk/Products/48-1 … NCM-75-ohm
Use ADAT 1 from UFX II (UFX II Master Clock) to OctaMic II (A)
And word clock out on UFX II to word clock T adapter fitted to (A) OctaMic II unterminated.
Use ADAT 2 from UFX II to OctaMic II (B)
And word clock T adapter from (A) OctaMic II unterminated to word clock on OctaMic II terminated.”
The mains point’s I would highlight are:
Use a 75 Ohm T- Adapter.
Use 75 Ohm Cables.
Do not terminate OctaMic II (A) with the little switch.
Do terminate OctaMic II (B) by pressing the little switch.
Remember you will need a couple of short 75 Ohm Cables for the wordclock if you intend using it.
As ADAT embeds the wordclock pulses within the signal you don't have to.
In regard to the Apogee Big Ben.
Unless you have a complex professional recording studio with all manner of outboard equipment that require hooking together, an external clock is simply not required at all.
In fact, even if you had an external clock, the optimal method of connection is straightforwardly to use the UFX II as master clock.
True story…
I was once with ace convertor designer Dan Lavry, and a whole pile of audio designers, producers and recording engineers having a discussion and suddenly Apogees top marketing man turned up to chat.
I politely asked him “why Apogee had decided to title their external master clock, naming it Big Ben?”
He seemed surprised but replied that “they had named it after the famous clock at the houses of parliament in London.”
I very politely explained that “in point of fact, there was no such clock named “Big Ben” in the houses of parliament in London”.
“That “Big Ben” was actually the nickname given to the “Great Bell” in the “Clock Tower” now renamed the “Elizabethan Tower.””
“The correct name of the clock is actually “The Great Clock of Westminster””
“I asked him why they had titled their clock, after a famous English Bell?”
What I explained was clearly news to Apogee, who by now appeared to everyone to be suffering from being poorly and incorrectly named themselves.
This seemed to greatly delight and amuse the various top digital convertor designers, producers and recording engineers present. They could barely contain themselves.
Whilst the poor Apogee representative, looked as if he wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole. I’m sure everyone was indeed, most sympathetic to his plight.
The moral of the story is to always buy equipment from people who know what they are talking about.
Of course, no one knows what "RME" stands for? They guess but that doesn’t matter.
The folk at RME know, and that’s what really counts!