• Registered: 2023-10-21
  • Posts: 16

Topic: External compressor via MADI on UFX III

Hello,

I have a UFX III which is connected to a FerroFish Pulse 16 MX via Optical MADI.  I have a Wes Audio ngBus Compressor connected to channel 15 and 16 of the Pulse. In my DAW (Studio One 6) I can connect to my Wes Audio compressor (via the Wes Audio Titan Rack) with the Wes Audio Plugin and audio signal is passing through the bus compressor. Took me a while to figure out I had to go in Total Mix FX and bring up the fader of MADI 15/16 where my compressor is connected in order for it to have audio go through it.

However, when audio is passing through the compressor, the sound is changed quite drastically, and I don't mean by compression, I mean tonally. Even without any compression, even when BYPASSED, It sounds "hollow" and just really weird. It's hard to explain what I'm hearing, but it is not pleasant at all. The only way to "stop" this very weird effect is to MUTE the compressor, the Bypass has no effect, still sounds very strange. I can only get back to my normal audio sound by either Muting the compressor or removing the plugin completely / turning off the compressor.

So either there is something wrong with my Wes Audio ngBuss Comp, or there is something I am not doing right in Total Mix ?

It's highly likely I'm doing something wrong, but I can't figure it out. The Pulse is locked to the UFX III, no sync issues or errors, audio is flowing through the compressor. Everything is up to date in terms of firmware, drivers etc.. running on Windows 10 if that makes any difference.

I am bummed out as I was really excited to try my new buss compressor on a drum buss mix I was working on this week, but it sounded so bad, I had to use a plugin instead because I had no time to troubleshoot this issue, had to get the mix out.

Anyone have any ideas ? or have experience something similar ? I guess I could try the compressor with a different interface just via XLR as an insert just to see if the same thing happens outside of Total Mix etc..

UFX-III, 12Mic, FerroFish Pulse 16

2 Reply by waedi (edited by waedi 2024-04-07 04:24:25)

  • waedi
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  • From: Swiss Zürich
  • Registered: 2020-12-08
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Re: External compressor via MADI on UFX III

First thing I would try, connect the compressor analog XLR to the UFX directly, then the whole Madi chain is sorted out.
Then a Total Reset of Totalmix can sort out unwanted effects from Totalmix.
Check also sample rates in the Madiface settings dialog and in the DAW.

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

3 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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Re: External compressor via MADI on UFX III

Sounds like double monitoring with different delays which causes comb filter effects in the summed audio of these two paths.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

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4 Reply by smguillem67 (edited by smguillem67 2024-04-08 13:34:31)

  • Registered: 2023-10-21
  • Posts: 16

Re: External compressor via MADI on UFX III

MC wrote:

Sounds like double monitoring with different delays which causes comb filter effects in the summed audio of these two paths.

Yes ! I think that is what is going on. So then how would I setup / configure total mix + DAW to not "double monitor" but still have my audio from the DAW processed by external analog gear ? The compressor (Wes Audio) is on my master bus at the moment. There are no "direct monitoring" enabled in Studio One, but I think direct monitoring only applies when recording / tracking with VSTs or plugins, which is not what I'm doing here at this time.


I'm still going to try Waedi's suggestion of connecting directly and see what happens.

Thank you all..

UFX-III, 12Mic, FerroFish Pulse 16

5 Reply by oli77sch (edited by oli77sch 2024-04-08 14:04:57)

  • Registered: 2016-06-14
  • Posts: 1,142

Re: External compressor via MADI on UFX III

You’ll find the answer in the manual of your UFX III. There is a whole section about TotalMix. But yes, setups like yours can be tricky: DAW, plugins, TotalMix, hardware… there are many involved 'stations' where a mistake can happen. When I go to struggle with such things (and this still happens from time to time), best I can do is a simple draw to visualise the signal flows.

UCX - FF 400 - Babyface pro - Digiface USB - ADI-2 (original)
Mac mini M1 - Macbook pro - iPad Air2