• From: Houston, TX
  • Registered: 2007-05-11
  • Posts: 1,192

Topic: No LoopBack on HDSP MADI?

I've tried looking in the manual for the Loop Back capabilities of the HDSP and HDSPe MADI cards, but the online PDF manuals seem to have some kind of corruption on certain pages in Acrobat Reader and FoxIt.  I can open the Manuals for the Digiface and others just fine.

Anyway - It appears the HDSP MADI (PCI) Card does not support LoopBack in TotalMix - is this correct?  When I CTRL+Click on an output it simply selects the channel (turns yellow - not red).  Is there any way to implement LoopBack via a driver update, or is this some kind of hardware limitation of these (and only these) cards?

Thanks for any clarification - and please look into the PDF manual corruption (says something about corrupted Fonts in Acrobat and FoxIt)

cool

MADIface-XT+ARC / 3x HDSP MADI / ADI648
2x SSL Alphalink MADI AX
2x Multiface / 2x Digiface /2x ADI8
  • Jeff
  • Jeff
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  • From: USA
  • Registered: 2007-05-21
  • Posts: 4,674

Re: No LoopBack on HDSP MADI?

Manual is working fine for me.

From the manual:

The HDSP series uses TotalMix also for a routings of the subgroup outputs (=hardware outputs,
bottom row) to the recording software. Unfortunately this feature is not available with the HDSP
MADI, as the FPGA of the card has no resources left. Therefore this chapter describes the
loopback mode when used with an external cable loop. As the HDSP MADI has only one input,
an external cable loop will only make sense for the following examples in case the signal had
been split up into several wires. This can be done easily when using the ADI-648, splitting the
MADI line into eight 8-channel ADAT lines. Then a loopback of specific channels is possible.

Regards,
Jeff Petersen
Synthax Inc.

Jeff's Website

  • From: Houston, TX
  • Registered: 2007-05-11
  • Posts: 1,192

Re: No LoopBack on HDSP MADI?

Weird.  I tried to download the manual (HDSP and HDSPe MADI) three times over the past week or so and view it on 2 different PC's and I get corruption in Acrobat Reader and FoxIt every time (and only on certain pages - the LooopBack page is oddly one of them!).  This is what I was seeing on page 61 among others (2 errors):


http://a.imageshack.us/img9/428/59163589.png


http://a.imageshack.us/img408/4396/60889753.png


I just re-opened the manual from your website and I still get the 2nd error - but I can read the Loopback page now - odd.  I even searched on the forum, but searching for "MADI Loopback" in the MADI/Premium forum doesn't find any threads discussing this topic.  Odd again...


Thanks for the clarification - Good thing I'm using the SSL Alpha Link so I do indeed have a spare ADAT path for a LoopBack at no extra charge!  That was my workaround last night, but will now be a permanent fixture.

Is there any way you could allow one or two channels of Loop Back in 56 Channel MADI mode?  It would seem this would free up some limited resources compared to 64-Channel Mode, no?  (I'm only getting 48 Channels of I/O @ 44K from my AlphaLink anyways).  It would be great to get around the need for a physical loopback cable (and associated loss of usable inputs) somehow.

Thanks for any consideration from a long-time RME user.

cool

MADIface-XT+ARC / 3x HDSP MADI / ADI648
2x SSL Alphalink MADI AX
2x Multiface / 2x Digiface /2x ADI8
  • From: Houston, TX
  • Registered: 2007-05-11
  • Posts: 1,192

Re: No LoopBack on HDSP MADI?

Bump.  Any chance of implementing a few channels of Loopback when running in 56-Channel MADI mode?  56 channel mode essentially eliminates 24 channels in Totalmix: 8 Ins, 8 Returns, and 8 Outs and the associated GUI resources needed to display them - I'd think that would free up enough FPGA resources to allow 8 channels (or even 2 channels) of lopback?

I'd think this is possible on these high-dollar "Premium" cards - and would really open up some more flexibility in a MADI system where all 64 channels aren't needed...

Thanks for any consideration from a long-time RME customer! :-)

MADIface-XT+ARC / 3x HDSP MADI / ADI648
2x SSL Alphalink MADI AX
2x Multiface / 2x Digiface /2x ADI8

5 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 25,671

Re: No LoopBack on HDSP MADI?

There is no real 56 channel mode in TotalMix. Most stuff continues to run as 64 channels, and there are no resources left. Sorry.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

  • From: Houston, TX
  • Registered: 2007-05-11
  • Posts: 1,192

Re: No LoopBack on HDSP MADI?

Thanks for the reply.  That's too bad.  I kow Totalmix "removes" Channels 57-64 from all 3 rows when running in 56-Channel Mode - but I guess it's only "hiding" them?

I'll continue using an ADAT I/O pair on the Alphalink to handle loopback duties, but it sure would be nice to have all 48 channels of I/O on the Alphalink to use for physical I/O and let the HDSP handle loopback on 49-56.  A man can dream :-)

The HDSP MADI is an awesome card regardless - I'm loving it!

cool

MADIface-XT+ARC / 3x HDSP MADI / ADI648
2x SSL Alphalink MADI AX
2x Multiface / 2x Digiface /2x ADI8