1 Topic by timeltdme (edited by timeltdme 2023-12-22 14:22:23)

  • Registered: 2023-03-31
  • Posts: 19

Topic: UCX II+ / UCX III wishlist

please add your opinions / use cases, curious if i'm alone or there could be some improvements made smile

UCX II is a great compact sound card, unfortunately slightly feature poor, could there be UCX II+ or UCX III?

my problems:
1. i travel with sound. when i need 8ch of playback, and i also want to use headphones, my only alternative for this case is Ultralite mk5, which is unfortunate, as I use RME in the studio and prefer TMFX
2. i need to bring external headphone amp, when i need two headphones when mixing with somebody or tracking
3. larger sessions and live immediately need Madiface Dante instead, loosing analog i/o and headphones, and would keep UCX waiting in the storage..

solutions:
1. MIDI i/o could move into a higher pin count dsub breakout cable, freeing space for more output jacks
2. front panel instrument jacks could be arranged vertically where inst3 is, next to them vertically could be 2 headphone outputs where inst4 is
2a. this would free up space for DURec on the front, just where the icon is!
2b. in turn leaving more space for 8ch of ADAT @96k in the back
3. i would prefer Dante instead of ADAT personally.. at least 32ch@96k, (64ch@96k would be a dream) would be especially useful for live situations or larger sessions

so hope you like some of these and curious about yours!

Reaper, ADI-2 Pro FS, ME Geithain RL906, Mac mini M2
timeltd.me
  • ramses
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  • Registered: 2012-10-14
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Re: UCX II+ / UCX III wishlist

Nice ideas, my comments to that

Regarding Dante: makes device unnecessary expensive and the following disadvantage currently: all network protocols (AVB, Dante) have the issue, that clock slaves do not automatically follow the sample rate of clock master. At the end you need to reconfigure every AVB/Dante "client" on sample rate changes. Better MADI as SFP, see below.

More important I regard
a) addition of 2nd and maybe even 3rd ADAT port to be able to connect even the 12Mic via ADAT.
     And thus to be able to record in double speed. As an alternative: MADI support per SFP which I would like more.
     A compact MADI interface is missing anyway since the MADIface Pro has been discontinued
b) dedicated ports for DURec and ARC USB but on the back, USB3 sticks tend to be long, it does not fit well in the front.
c) 2nd phones port

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

3 Reply by timeltdme (edited by timeltdme 2023-12-22 14:35:30)

  • Registered: 2023-03-31
  • Posts: 19

Re: UCX II+ / UCX III wishlist

i didn't want to write it here, because i already posted it in other thread:

3a. Dante or MADI should be an additional option card one could purchase (with license) or not to purchase, making the device not a lot more expensive for people who doesn't currently need it, it would also lessen manufacturing cost, increase versatility and resale value, and larger sound cards could have more cards slots, like DirectOut or DAD

as for Dante clocking, seems like firmware solvable

btw: there is MADIface USB and MADIface XT, both quite compact, i really dislike babyface format, this should be about a half rack compact unit and how to make it usable for multiple tasks, without needing to own two or three soundcards.,

Reaper, ADI-2 Pro FS, ME Geithain RL906, Mac mini M2
timeltd.me
  • ramses
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Re: UCX II+ / UCX III wishlist

timeltdme wrote:

i didn't want to write it here, because i already posted it in other thread:

3a. Dante or MADI should be an additional option card one could purchase (with license) or not to purchase, making the device not a lot more expensive for people who doesn't currently need it, it would also lessen manufacturing cost, increase versatility and resale value, and larger sound cards could have more cards slots, like DirectOut or DAD

as for Dante clocking, seems like firmware solvable

I think your poposal with a license and option card makes no sense.
It's not only the port and the Dante module, much more likely you would even need a larger FPGA and maybe even FPGA for the FX which is usually a separate one AFAIR.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14
  • Registered: 2023-03-31
  • Posts: 19

Re: UCX II+ / UCX III wishlist

there must be an FPGA also now, just smaller and cheaper

beauty of FPGA is you can increase it's size and capabilities, so you should not need a second FPGA until you are out of maximum available slices / interfaces possible, which should not be the case for roughly 96ch audio interface capable of 96KHz

using Dante Core IP on that FPGA, it could result in a very small option card, essentially a port with physical layer, similarly for SFP MADI

Reaper, ADI-2 Pro FS, ME Geithain RL906, Mac mini M2
timeltd.me