1 Topic by Smoke Doepfer Everyday (edited by Smoke Doepfer Everyday 2022-07-11 13:31:52)

  • Registered: 2022-07-11
  • Posts: 3

Topic: Most Suitable RME Interface

I couldn't seem to find a close model to what I'm after on the RME product page so asking here – looking for the best RME options either on a single interface or combo with some sort of stagebox for live sound (low-latency) and a baseline of the below I/O and options:

  • 8+ physical inputs

  • 8+ physical outputs

  • a DANTE connection

  • DuRec Option (if poss.)

Apologies if this isn't the best forum category to post in! Any help would be much appreciated

  • Registered: 2021-12-30
  • Posts: 151

Re: Most Suitable RME Interface

The information on this page will be useful to you. About 1/3 of the way down the page, there's a VERY concise spreadsheet listing features of each RME interface (thank you for all your work @ramses!!!)

https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Ent … B-MADIfac/

-Steve

  • Registered: 2022-07-11
  • Posts: 3

Re: Most Suitable RME Interface

many thanks Steve @sbcrikey

further to this the RME support suggested combining a UFX+ 12 analog I/O´s and a MADI I/O to connect the Digiface Dante as a MADI/Dante converter.

4 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2022-07-11 17:30:05)

  • ramses
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Re: Most Suitable RME Interface

The Excel only contains USB/FW/TB interfaces, no PCI/PCIe cards.

FYI:
- DURec only with UFX+, UFX II, UCX II ...
   As an alternative: DIGIcheck Globalrecord (Windows only).
- If you want FX ...
  HDSPe MADI FX is the only PCI card with FX chip on board
  Full implementation of FX chip on: 802, UCX II, UFX II, UFX+, MADIface XT

If you need Instr ports, look at the details, e.g. MADIface XT has 2 Mic/line inputs, but can't be set to be Hi-Z/Instr ports.
So in a few cases look at the details.

Regarding 12 analog ports on the UFX+. Well yes you can use 4 Mic and 2 phones in/outputs as analog ports, but if you want to use it to connect external gear, then you have no mic ports anymore and you have no phones outputs for monitoring through headphones.

I regard it better to distinguish analog ports into these groups as they have usually different use cases:
- unbalanced analog inputs for mic/inst/line (not all combo ports suppot inst/Hi-Z -> e.g. MADIface XT)
- unbalanced analog outputs for headphones
- analog line inputs, servosymmetric (supports balanced / unbalanced)
- analog line output, servosymmetric (supports balanced / unbalanced)

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

5 Reply by Smoke Doepfer Everyday (edited by Smoke Doepfer Everyday 2022-07-11 18:26:10)

  • Registered: 2022-07-11
  • Posts: 3

Re: Most Suitable RME Interface

Thankyou, very helpful!

sure I did look at the UFX+ after posting (the "12 analog I/O" were their words) and I'd mainly want Mic ins.

an RME 12Mic-D would be more appropriate for the use case, but alas it doesn't have the outputs so I'd need to couple it with another interface handling the outs..

Would be looking to use the onboard FX yes (and Totalmix).

Mac-based OS, but thanks for the DIGIcheck detail.

I can see the UFX+ and Digiface working but something combining the 12Mic-D perhaps preferable

6 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2022-07-11 19:40:46)

  • ramses
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Re: Most Suitable RME Interface

Some other creative ideas in this video (sorry 30min long)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMGjVZc_0_w

Base of this studio does not necessarily have to be the MADIface XT, it could also be the HDSPe MADI FX where you can have 3 optical MADI busses.

You can also add
- an UFX+ simply for DURec backup recording, simply add it to one MADI bus for backup purposes
- an ADI-2 Pro FS R BE for monitoring

Many possibilities to spend money wink

I wanted to show you this as he also is bridging MADI/DANTE in his setup.

I can also understand his enthusiasm for TM FX and routing possibilities (e.g. FX for monitoring Mix of a vocalist) well wink

At the end I think its a good idea to have a solid base with a MADI based network.
And then to bridge Dante into one of the 3 MADI busses of either MADIface XT or HDSPe MADI FX.
Because .. in a building its very much likely to have ethernet cabling and vlan infrastucture.
Then it's maybe easier to connect multiple rooms well ...

So ....

PC ----- ARC USB
  |
[USB3/TB or PCIe]
  |
MADIface XT or HDSPe MADI FX--AES--+--ADI-2 Pro FS R BE----- Monitors / Headphones
|  |  |
|  |  +-- MADI Bus--3<----IN---- Mic Preamps (12Mic, ..)
|  |                         3>---OUT--- optional: UFX+ as DURec Recorder or use also analog/digital ports ...
|  |
|  +----- MADI Bus 2 ----- AD/DA (M32 Pro DA/AD or other)
|
+------- MADI Bus 1----Digiface Dante-----Dante Network

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13