A couple of questions for RME Fireface 800 users

[MetalAges]

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[AD Chaos]

Hello all - been curious as to know a couple of things from fellow FF users:

How do you usually track your gtr DIs through it? Are you using the main INSTR/LINE input on the left of the unit (exclusively) for it? And if so, do you add some saturation with it's gain knob, or enable any of the 'Instrument Options' (Drive, Limiter or Speaker Emulation) for it sometime?

I'd also like to ask you what secondary card are you using (for playing media and OS audio, and the like) and also if you know how to route the signal of the secondary card onto the same set of monitors as the FF signal, but without feeding one onto the other (to avoid either loss of quality in the signal, or having to turn on the FF every single time, even if you're going to use the computer for something else, besides you DAW).


Feel free to post any other settings or tips you consider relevant to share.



Thanks much for your opinions!

 

[JeffTD]

DI box -> external pre -> line in on back. Alternatively, DI box -> onboard pre. The onboard DI kind of sucks, and the onboard pres aren't great.

Not using a secondary card; I use the FF for all of my audio.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

I used to use the instrument input, but without any options.

 

[Pekka Posio]

I made few months back then a comparison between Fireface's DI input and a few active and passive DI boxes through Fireface's pres. I was surprised that the Fireface's own DI gave obviously the clearest sound with bass and guitar with passive pickups. All the DI boxes were pretty cheap ones (50-100&#8364, so that might have been the reason. Someday I'll maybe get a Countryman 85 and continue testing...

A friend of mine also has this: http://www.creationaudiolabs.com/mw1studiotool , it has controllable input impedance and it's designed for DI/reamping use so I guess it slays all the normal DI boxes in the market.

 

[Charles J]

DI box -> external pre -> line in on back.
Not using a secondary card; I use the FF for all of my audio.

JA, exaxtly how we roll. =D


Pro48 > Trident S20 > Line In on the back. BAM! =D

 

[AD Chaos]

Thanks guys for your responses!

DI box -> external pre -> line in on back. Alternatively, DI box -> onboard pre. The onboard DI kind of sucks, and the onboard pres aren't great.

Not using a secondary card; I use the FF for all of my audio.

Mind me asking which external pre are you using Jeff?
I HAVE to use a secondary sound-blaster kind of card (for Windows sounds). I guess that's not an issue with OSX..

 

[AD Chaos]

Thank you MetalAges, will report back if so.

 

[JeffTD]

SCA API clone and T15 depending on what flavor I want. Don't get why you can't just use the FF for all system audio, it's def possible with a PC.

 

[AD Chaos]

Not according to their forum's admin, he pointed me to a section of the manual where it says a blaster card is needed (for Windows, at least):

p24.

We strongly recommend switching all system sounds off (via > Control Panel /Sounds<). Also Fireface should not be the Preferred Device for playback, as this could cause loss of synchronization and unwanted noises. If you feel you cannot do without system sounds, you should consider buying a cheap Blaster clone and select this as Preferred Device in >Control Panel/Multimedia/Audio<.

In any case I had all those problems (and additional latency) under WinXP (and later on under Vista also, IIRC).

I'm on 7 nowadays, and the board's BIOS has been updated ever since, so I dunno if it's still a thing to consider.