1 Topic by tedsorvino (edited by tedsorvino 2023-07-22 18:12:38)

  • Registered: 2022-02-04
  • Posts: 23

Topic: Digiface hdsp + various i/o converters problems

Hi everyone.
Ii’m using an older digiface hdsp with a pci- expess card and an external power supply 12v, 1A.

I’m using all 3 groups of adat i/o ports. And I’ve connected 1 Behringer ada 8000, 1 presonus digimax fs , 2 motu 2408 mk2 standalone,  1 for in and 1 for out. All pretty cgeap devices.

Syncing all 3 tigether is a big headache.

Behringer syncs flawlesslyon its own as slaves with rme acting as master in adat syncin.
Presonus recently shows problems both as a master and as a slave on its own.
I have to add that i was using the prosonus flawlessly as an adat slave for a long time with my other interface - rme babyface.
Maybe the extreme heat - even if there is proper space on the rack between the 2 devices…about 5 cm gap.

Motus work just as masters in adat mode, but they can be slaved to rme with “unterminated” wordclock bnc syncing. The wordclocks of these 2 devices are connected in parallel, from in to in of each device.

Presonus is full of slight problems (small pops and jittering) when in bnc slave mode - it has a termination switch but it doesn’t really change a thing=, and it doesn’t work well at all as a master in bnc mode ( it’s not a good master even in adat mode).

Behringer is very good on slaving with bnc wordclock from rme - apparently it also prefers “unterminated” bnc syncing. But it can’t be a master at all without adat.

Motus are not good on mastering the other devices, even if they are second best to RME.
So it’s only internal wordclock for RME and this coming out from wordclock out.

I’ve used a cheap wordclock distributor by la audio (clk c4), without good results. It has an input termination switch ehich can cause trouble with undertermination etc.

I’m using average 75 ohm bnc cables. I ‘ve made more expensive diy ones (somer - neutrik), with similar results, but i can’t use them as a reference since they are diy.

The distances are normal. 2 meters from rme for the presonus and the behringer. 1 meter for the motus.
I’ve tried correct daisy chaining. All connected only from the world clock ins with t connectors and only terminating the last unit with 75ohm terminator. No good results.

Any advice or idea, other than throwing most or all of that stuff away :-) ?

Would an external clock help? Is it worth it with such cheap equipment and would a cheap clock like art sync gen or something make a difference?

Can i mix and match modes (presonus adat slave to rme, motus and behringer bnc slaves to rme)?

I’ve reached a dead end so i’m pretty desperate.

Thanks in advance

  • vinark
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  • Registered: 2009-06-05
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Re: Digiface hdsp + various i/o converters problems

Can i mix and match modes (presonus adat slave to rme, motus and behringer bnc slaves to rme)?

This one I know, yes you can.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632
  • ramses
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  • Registered: 2012-10-14
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Re: Digiface hdsp + various i/o converters problems

vinark wrote:

Can i mix and match modes (presonus adat slave to rme, motus and behringer bnc slaves to rme)?

This one I know, yes you can.

Welcome back vinark :-)

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

4 Reply by tedsorvino (edited by tedsorvino 2023-07-24 21:04:57)

  • Registered: 2022-02-04
  • Posts: 23

Re: Digiface hdsp + various i/o converters problems

vinark wrote:

Can i mix and match modes (presonus adat slave to rme, motus and behringer bnc slaves to rme)?

This one I know, yes you can.

Thanks for the tip Vinark.

Actually all the time i’m thinking that i somehow figured out what the problem is , but alas, nothing changes.

What i realize is that there must be a combination of things that go wrong. But nothing obvious i guess.

Distance between the interface and the converter? 2m is not a lot in my book.

Not good adat cables? I mean for god’s sake what is good to avoid such major issues.

High room and computer box temperature for the interface and cardbus (i use cardbus with pcie adapter in a desktop and i power the interface with a 12v- 1.5a external power supply)? A lot of mix and matching but still, many people use that thing with good results on older Rme cards.

Converter not liking its neighbours on the rack?
Bad clocking or bad adat ports on the rme box, because of age? Bad firmware compatibility?

I mean it’s a joke that when i initialize the computer and the interface, with only one converter on it, everything works fine, but after 5 minutes of normal stereo playback (media player through the wdm). i’m losing adat sync. Rme as a master, converter adat slave. The same (even worse when converter is the master).

The most common symptom of losing sync is a frequent pop from the digital out on the previous channel next to the one that plays.

If i’ve chosen 11-12 there are pops on channel 10. Of course when i choose 9-10 there are pops on the playback channel, since the group B is 9-16. If i go to group C and i play on 19-20 there are pops on 18 and so on, and so on.

This is unnatural and it has nothing to do with clocking, wordclock etc.
It’s like the card is faulty, since it happens with 2 different converters. With presonus digimax fs it’s more severe. With Behringer ada 8000 is less frequent but still it happens every now and tgen (i mean once every minute and that’s way too frequent).