• Registered: 2023-04-08
  • Posts: 3

Topic: UFXii with audient ASP800 or FF800

I finally got an RME UFX II to replace my RME FF800 I have had for ~15 yrs. I also have Audient ASP800 I used with FF800. I am wondering if anyone has thoughts on using the FF800 in "stand alone" mode with the UFX (ie, utilizing adats 1 and 2 for i/o). that would give me 22 channels (12 on ufx and 10 on FF800) and 3 headphone amps (2 on UFX II and 1 on FF800). or should i connect the ASP800 (8 channels) to the UFX via adat out of ASP800 and forego the additional channels I could get from the FF800 ? this would give me 20 channels. I track drums typically in ~10-12 channels but also like live recordings of guitar, bass, keys.  Considerations for me are quality of AD/DA conversion and preamps and convenience (the ASP800 inputs are in back whereas I would have the 4 on UFX plus 4 on FF800 in front.  With three headphone amps I could probably get rid of my boehringer or at least pull out of raxck and only use when I need additional headphone mixes which would be rare i think.   I don't have patch bay and my setup is next to my drum set.  The current setup of 18 channels is OK for most purposes unless i add additional outboard gear in addition to my old Lexicon PCM 60 which put through the ASP800 channels 7&8.  Although I would like to switch to the UFX II reverb/delays for convenience (for live tracking).

2 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2023-04-11 14:18:23)

  • ramses
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  • Registered: 2012-10-14
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Re: UFXii with audient ASP800 or FF800

You can use both devices at single speed (44.1/48 kHz).

Clock master UFXII
- Audient connected to ADAT1 IN, getting its clock through word clock (as it has no digital inputs)
- FF800 in stand-alone mode getting clock via it's ADAT input (still operateable through FW and 2nd TM FX instance)

PC
| |
| +--FW400---FF800(clock slave, getting clock from UFX II through ADAT input)
|                        | |
|                    ADAT2 (2x IN and OUT)
|                        | |
+------USB2---UFXII(clock master)---ADAT1 (1x IN)---Audient (clock slave, getting clock from UFX II through ADAT input)
                          |                                                          |
                          +------Word Clock-------------------------+

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14
  • Registered: 2023-03-26
  • Posts: 42

Re: UFXii with audient ASP800 or FF800

Staying at up to 48k, why not use ASP880 on adat 1 and fireface 800 on adat 2? ufx master clock, 2 connector on asp880 word clock to ff800 word clock. FF800 reduced to 8 channels, but still gives you 12+8+8 channels input, and I don't see why you couldn't use the headphones on the ff800 too. Maybe the only thing to think about is the converters probably have different conversion time, so say try to keep the most important drums on say the asp880. FF800 for the Lexicon could make sense. Just a thought.

  • Registered: 2023-04-08
  • Posts: 3

Re: UFXii with audient ASP800 or FF800

ramses wrote:

You can use both devices at single speed (44.1/48 kHz).

Clock master UFXII
- Audient connected to ADAT1 IN, getting its clock through word clock (as it has no digital inputs)
- FF800 in stand-alone mode getting clock via it's ADAT input (still operateable through FW and 2nd TM FX instance)

PC
| |
| +--FW400---FF800(clock slave, getting clock from UFX II through ADAT input)
|                        |
|                    ADAT2 (2x IN and OUT)
|                        |
+------USB2---UFXII(clock master)---ADAT1 (1x IN)---Audient (clock slave, getting clock from UFX II through ADAT input)
                          |                                                          |
                          +------Word Clock-------------------------+




Thanks for the response.

In this instance the FF800 has to be connected to my macbook M1?  So that the total mix session wouldn't allow me to route across the two devices?

I understood that apple would be dropping support of the firewire soon, so this is one of several reasons I wanted to upgrade to UFXII.  So I thought if I just reset everything (factory reset) and then ran in standalone mode I could use channels 1-8 from FF800 in via adat1 in and adat1 out in to UFXII and then channels 9-10 of FF800 i would go in and out of UFXII via adat2?

I currently don't have enough preamps for the FF800 inputs 1-6, so I thought I could use the ASP800 for the pre-amps, using the direct analog outs 1-6 of the ASP800 in to FF800 channels 1 - 6.  Then the analog 7- 8 from the ASP 800 would go in to 7&8 of the UFXII.  So, in this scenario, I would be using the preamps only from the ASP800, not the AD conversion via ADAT, since I would have the AD (and DA) conversion from the FF800 with total mix showing all 22 channels?

Actually, for drums I have vintech analog dual 1073 for kick and snare, and warm audio 4-12 analog preamps for L&R OHs and Hi and Lo toms.  Then the UFX channels 10,11,12 for HH, ride, snare bottom.  This then allows me to have two room mics for drum ambience and these go in to UFX inputs 7&8, with one channel on UFX open (eg, for third tom).  In thjis scenario I would avoid the ASP800 completely for drums and use that for guitar, bass keys etc... as these would be overdubbed anyway for real recordings but I do a lof of "live recordings" where I mix the tunes (using logic pro).  I only recently got the ASP800 and I am actually thinking of selling (and replacing with octamic II, eg) it since it doesn't have DA, but more importantly, it seems noisy in comparison to the RME FF800 (channels 7-10) or UFX preamps (channels 9-12).

Also, i didn't mention I have Hybird digital and analog system, the outputs from my interface go in to an old Mackie CR-1604 analog mixer.  For live jams, I used to run vocals/keys etc...through this and use the direct outs in to the FF800 if I wanted to capture multi-track recordings.  But I found this a little confusing to optimise the gain in the live section vs the direct out for the recording through FF800.  But I am actually now thinking if I can set up the FF800 as I originally proposed then I can get 8 channels of analog mackie VLZ pre-amps and not need the ASP800?

Sorry for the long poset and thanks again!

  • Registered: 2023-04-08
  • Posts: 3

Re: UFXii with audient ASP800 or FF800

agotheridge wrote:

Staying at up to 48k, why not use ASP880 on adat 1 and fireface 800 on adat 2? ufx master clock, 2 connector on asp880 word clock to ff800 word clock. FF800 reduced to 8 channels, but still gives you 12+8+8 channels input, and I don't see why you couldn't use the headphones on the ff800 too. Maybe the only thing to think about is the converters probably have different conversion time, so say try to keep the most important drums on say the asp880. FF800 for the Lexicon could make sense. Just a thought.


Thanks, this is a good idea but see my previous post.  I don't think I need 28 analog channel inputs/  Also, I didn't think I could utilize the preamps 9&10 of the FF800 nor the headphone outputs in a total mix since i don't have three adats, only two?  For phones and other outboard routing I would want everything in one total mix session???  Also, in my reply to the other post, the ASP800 is noisy especially channels 7&8, and when  I researched this I learned that those channels are next to the power supply and could cause unwanted noise (it sounds just a little like low level static or the buzz/hum you hear from guitar amps, but is inconsistent and comes and goes, when I mute those channels in totalmix the noise goes away.)

6 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2023-04-11 14:31:23)

  • ramses
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  • Registered: 2012-10-14
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Re: UFXii with audient ASP800 or FF800

ralfieddrummer wrote:

1- In this instance the FF800 has to be connected to my macbook M1?  So that the total mix session wouldn't allow me to route across the two devices?

2- I understood that apple would be dropping support of the firewire soon, so this is one of several reasons I wanted to upgrade to UFXII.  So I thought if I just reset everything (factory reset) and then ran in standalone mode I could use channels 1-8 from FF800 in via adat1 in and adat1 out in to UFXII and then channels 9-10 of FF800 i would go in and out of UFXII via adat2?

3- I currently don't have enough preamps for the FF800 inputs 1-6, so I thought I could use the ASP800 for the pre-amps, using the direct analog outs 1-6 of the ASP800 in to FF800 channels 1 - 6.  Then the analog 7- 8 from the ASP 800 would go in to 7&8 of the UFXII.  So, in this scenario, I would be using the preamps only from the ASP800, not the AD conversion via ADAT, since I would have the AD (and DA) conversion from the FF800 with total mix showing all 22 channels?

4- Actually, for drums I have vintech analog dual 1073 for kick and snare, and warm audio 4-12 analog preamps for L&R OHs and Hi and Lo toms.  Then the UFX channels 10,11,12 for HH, ride, snare bottom.  This then allows me to have two room mics for drum ambience and these go in to UFX inputs 7&8, with one channel on UFX open (eg, for third tom).  In thjis scenario I would avoid the ASP800 completely for drums and use that for guitar, bass keys etc... as these would be overdubbed anyway for real recordings but I do a lof of "live recordings" where I mix the tunes (using logic pro).  I only recently got the ASP800 and I am actually thinking of selling (and replacing with octamic II, eg) it since it doesn't have DA, but more importantly, it seems noisy in comparison to the RME FF800 (channels 7-10) or UFX preamps (channels 9-12).

5- Also, i didn't mention I have Hybird digital and analog system, the outputs from my interface go in to an old Mackie CR-1604 analog mixer.  For live jams, I used to run vocals/keys etc...through this and use the direct outs in to the FF800 if I wanted to capture multi-track recordings.  But I found this a little confusing to optimise the gain in the live section vs the direct out for the recording through FF800.  But I am actually now thinking if I can set up the FF800 as I originally proposed then I can get 8 channels of analog mackie VLZ pre-amps and not need the ASP800?

Sorry for the long poset and thanks again!

to 1- on a PC normally an application/DAW can only open one ASIO driver at a time.
         I am not sure how it is exactly with macOS, maybe somebody other can comment on this.
         Maybe per aggregate device.

to 2- Not sure whether the default routing after factory reset would be sufficient to you.
        I would let FW connected as long as possible. Also to be able to configure analog ports gain, reflevel, ...
        If I remember right the FF800 remembers the last settings, check manual

to 3-5 You can route channels from/to FF800 as you want .. simply do as you prefer for whatever reason ...
          I don't understand what needs to be discussed here.
          Sometimes it helps to make a VISO drawing...

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14