1 (edited by m:o 2023-07-30 20:59:11)

Topic: UFX in combination with PCIe HDSPe cards - possible?

Hi there,

i'm a long term UFX user and maxed out all of it's inputs (incl. 2x ADAT, AES ports). I'm running the UFX via USB on a Win 10 machine and all is working perfect. I'm in need for more inputs and had a quick thought about if it's possible to add a HDSPe Madi or AES Card with dedicated converters to the PC. I think this is problematic as it would register as a second Audio interface, but maybe the heads at RME have made this possible....?!

Thanks for a quick headsup.
Best
Mo

2 (edited by waedi 2023-07-30 21:38:10)

Re: UFX in combination with PCIe HDSPe cards - possible?

Next step is MADI.
But for analog inputs and outputs you need an additional madi device like M-32 Pro or a 12Mic.
HDSPe and USB are not the same driver therefor can't run together on a Windows computer afaik.

M1-Sequoia, Madiface Pro, Digiface USB, Babyface silver and blue

3 (edited by ramses 2023-07-30 21:34:32)

Re: UFX in combination with PCIe HDSPe cards - possible?

I wouldn't get an interface with mainly AES ports, because then you are very limited to connect other devices.
Most preamps and AD/DA converter out there (also from RME) use ADAT or MADI.
AVB and Dante would also be possible, but then you wouldn't get a recording interface like the UFX with a veriety of ports and network has a certain complexity of its own and clock changes are not so easy.
So … Only MADI remains.
There you have basically two possibilities, if you want to have a card with a certain variety of ports:
a) UFX III - USB3 based
b) HDSPe MADI FX - PCIe based.

If you do not necessarily need 3 MADI buses, then I would recommend you to get an UFX III with one MADI bus.
Recommended, because this interface already gives you a good mix of ports, preamps and has useful options like DURec.

It has already been mentioned that an application can only load one ASIO driver.
So you can't mix the USB driver of the UFX and the HDSPe driver for the PCIe card.
It's also not possible to use UFX and UFX III together.
The UFX uses the old USB driver and the UFX III requires the newer MADIface driver which supports the required USB3 transport modes to be able to transport the number of channels reliably.

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

Re: UFX in combination with PCIe HDSPe cards - possible?

Some additional recommendations, see this thread which I posted last recently.
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.ph … 55#p205655

If you want to compare the USB interfaces (old UFX vs UFX III) then you can use my Excel sheet:
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=35156

Differences UFX+ / UFX III
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ent … iii-en-de/

Differences UFX+/II vs UFX
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Entry/68-RME-UFX/

RTL Differences (misc products and product combinations)
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ent … cts-en-de/

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

Re: UFX in combination with PCIe HDSPe cards - possible?

Thanks together!

OK, there is no co-working of USB and HDSPe.
Yes, the UFX 3 is under surveillance :-) I think i need to upgrade and expand via MADI.

Thanks for the links, will dive into it.