Linking soundcards via firewire / spdif?

[Si.]

Hows it going?

We have an m-audio firewire 1814 and a mackie onyx. Want to use the 8 ins on the 1814 for a machinedrum and the onyx for the rest of our gear - is there a way to combine the 2 so its recognised as 1 soundcard or can you set up live to read 2 soundcards? Running XP / live 7.10

Help much appreciated!

[stjohn]

spdif - ull need the correct cable. then id say its pretty standard linking the 2.

have u checked the manual(s)?

[Si.]

Yeah, couldnt find much - didnt really look properly tho!

[rhythmtech]

actually with spdif you'll need 2 cables. one for each direction.

[Si.]

Cool so if I set it up so 1814 is the "master" (does it work that way?), will the 1220 be recognised in live as a single, extra stereo input, without replacing the 8ins on the soundcard already? Or is it recognised as a full set of extra inputs?

[rhythmtech]

sorry i mis-read your first post. theres no way of linking the two on one machine as your sequencer can only run off one card at a time.

the only way to run two is with another machine and midi-over-lan or vst system link

if you have another machine then there is also the fxteleport option. this only requires 1 soundcard and a LAN home network.

[Si.]

shit! Dont think the desk has spdif... (its not my desk and I dont know it really)

What are the extra firewire ports on the 1814 for? In the manual it says you can connect it to external audio hardware such as a desk?

[Si.]

"The Onyx FireWire card features two 6-pin FireWire connectors that each supply all 16 channels plus the L/R mix. Having dual connectors allows you to place the Onyx mixer anywhere within a chain of FireWire-equipped devices."

How does that work so?

[rhythmtech]

yes you can connect your interface to a desk as a multi-out preamp. basically you can route all the audio from the card to the onyx thru the firewire port - but you need to have paid for the firewire option with the onyx.

but with the onyx theres no need to even think about having 2 interfaces and how they work, all you need to do is group a few channels together and route everything to the desk - remember that you have 16 channels on an onyx. with a bit of clever grouping in your sequencer thats more than enough.

try this:

group 1 - kicks and bass
group 2 - hats
group 3 - synths
group 4 - percussion

etc

thats your main four groups covered and you still have 12 channells of audio free.

[stjohn]

sorry i mis-read your first post. theres no way of linking the two on one machine as your sequencer can only run off one card at .

but with spdif, do all the spdif channels not show up on the master card? i thought it did

[rhythmtech]

no, not as far as i know. i tried it before with two differant m-audio cards but only one would ever show up in the sequencer. you need drivers to run your card and spdif cant share drivers between 2 pieces of hardware - this is why it works perfectly with 2 systems as both interfaces have seperate drivers running.

spdif is just a digital link between the two. basically a sync.

[stjohn]

but with the onyx theres no need to even think about having 2 interfaces .

ye. thats what i said to philly, si.

[stjohn]

basically a sync.

a sync and audio transfer too... so u can just pick up the channels as audio, without drivers or anything needed.

[rhythmtech]

you cant run the second interface in the first place without drivers. so while spdif can pick up the audio, unless you have two sets of drivers running within your sequencer (which is impossible) it wont make a differance because the second interface isnt running.

hence the slave machine being needed.

[rhythmtech]

think about it. if this was possible why would manufacturers make differant size interfaces - why not just make 1 and make it modular like they do with some consoles.

[stjohn]

im 90% sure ive done it with 2 different cards. we deffo had 2 for a surround sound recording, whether or not they were the same card i dunno. but they were connected with SPDIF.

could have been done with some workaround tho... 2 machines, or a load of analogue routing or something. anyways i havnt slept yet again so i cant think


so im conceding :)

[rhythmtech]

actually i digress. you can do it on a mac with certain OS and core audio - but it has to be a specific soundcard aswell - i think certain models of focusrite do it.

your sequencer can still only see 1 card but you use an "aggregate device editor" to increase the I/Os - like i said this is only on certain mac OS's

[Si.]

Pretty bad design - you'd think you could do it handy enough in this day and age!

:)

I could use sequencer to route out stuff but I want to record and process all 8 outs of MD separately and use the desk for the rest of the gear. The onyx 1220 has only 12 channels, 4 of which are stereo-linked... I could group md outs down to 4 sections I guess but just wanted to know if there was a handy way of doing it...

one of these me thinks!

[rhythmtech]

no no no no!!!!!!

do not touch anything by behringer that passes audio thru it. while fine for midi control or other non-audio apps, behringer have the worst audio signal path ever!!

spend a little extra on some quality.

[Si.]

hmmmm! Maybe this so?