Topic: Switching from Focusrite/Ferrofish/Dante - confused about what I need
Hey there
My current setup
I have a small studio with a Dante network using a Focusrite Red16line, a Ferrofish A32 (with Madi, DANTE) and a Ferrofish Pulse 16 (with Madi). Also an A&H SQ6 mixer with Dante card, currently not in use. A couple of small routers are there to make things easier.
For illustration purposes assume I have three "stations" in my studio:
1. my desk (mixing/mastering)
2. on one side, modular synthesisers
3. on the other side, keyboards
What I like about Dante is that I can simply plug the devices in my network & go. Potentially even remote devices like an H9000R with Dante, which could go into the server room. But I digress.
What I dislike about my setup
Dante is complex. I am used to it by now, but still.
The red16 line has a fan. I like quiet. (Same for the SQ6 with Dante - thats why it is not in use)
What I currently miss
I like to use the stations individually sometimes, eg. just turn on the keyboards, jam away, do some recordings to my Push 3 standalone etc. Or only mix (the desk) and leave the rest of the stations turned off - saves energy and reduces the heat (all that analog gear…)
So… for the nth time I have considered moving to RME, and possibly MADI.
I spent the last two days trying to understand what would work, but the more I read, the more confusing it gets.
What I would like to achieve
record anything from anywhere in my studio into my DAW
record anything from anywhere into Push standalone, no matter at which station I work
be able to turn on just one station and play the local gear over local speakers (I have three stations and three sets of speakers… yeah oh well don't ask)
when I use my Buchla stuff, I sometimes want to go quad – in other words, route the audio to four individual speakers
I also want to be able to play all gear over all speakers (in that case, each pair is simply in stereo)
My current setup allows for some of these things, but not all.
One of the things I like about RME is Totalmix. I have similar functionality with the Rednet Control 2, but this requires the "desk" station with the red16line interface to be running.
The idea that devices can work independently is intriguing.
I could use TotalMix to either only use one station ("keyboards") and hear the keyboards on the local speakers, or turn on the keys and synths (two stations) and hear everything on one set of speakers (or two sets) or turn on everything and record to the DAW, or playback from the DAW and jam on any of the synths… I hope someone can still follow me ;-)
So from my understanding this is what Totalmix allows me to do. However, it seams not all RME devises have TotalMix, and that is where it gets confusing. It seems only/mainly the interfaces have TotalMIx, but not the converters.
What I thought could work
My idea was to use e.g. a MadiFace XT2 for the desk and two M-1620 Pro for the synth and keyboard stations. (this would mean I switch to Madi). However, as far as I can tell, this would not solve my issue, because M-1620 Pro's do not have TotalMix, in other words, they would not be useful to run a station independently from the rest of the studio, correct?
What might work instead
In that case, should I just get three MadiFace XT2, one for each station, and ignore the "interface" part for two of these? Or even get the UFXIIIs instead?
If anyone can bring clarity to my thinking I'd be much obliged.
Thanks
- Fables