Just crossed over from Digidesign 003 to Profire 2626...

[cliftonmiles]

And I've left Pro Tools LE for Cubase 5.

Im in need of some troubleshooting, i've run into some issues that ive been able to "work around" but i'd like for everything to just work normally. Im hoping maybe some of you who have made this switch have run into similar issues that may be able to help me out.

I am running a Presonus Digimax LT ADAT into Optical Port A of the Profire 2626. I am also using a d-sub to run my Focusrite ISA 828 into all of the line inputs of the Profire as well. (I sent in my A/D card for the ISA back in February and it IS STILL ON BACKORDER!!! But that is another topic...)

I've set up the Router/Mixer (which is insanely confusing) to be how I like it, but it's not letting me clock off the internal system of the Profire.
In order to use the Digimax it's basically forcing me to sync w/ the optical port and clock off that. Otherwise I was hearing some wierd clicks and static and popping. When I sync w/ the Optical Port A, it locks in with the Digimax and everythings fine. Any way around this?

In addition to this, I tracked my first session today. As I was adjusting levels/eq on the internal mixer inside Cubase, It wasn't affecting the output of the monitors. I kept hearing everything exactly as it was coming off the mics.
I went into the Profire Router/Mixer and muted all of those tracks, and that solved the problem however when I went to record now, every time i'd begin i'd hear no audio. I discovered that by clicking the little yellow speaker (located next to the red record enable button) that i could hear again while recording, but then once I'd stopped, i'd had to go through and UNCLICK all of the little yellow speakers to hear my playback....Needless to say a pain in the ass.

Other than these things, Cubase seems to be pretty cool. It definitly is going to take some getting used to. Especially with that external router/mixer business.

The Profire 2626 is a nice upgrade to the Digi 003 for sure. So much more clarity and space.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

The mixer ap controls the dsp in the profire. It has nothing to do with your computer, it's nice because you can monitor with low latency. How you set the profire's mixer has no effect on what is recorded. It's simply for monitoring purposes.

 

[Trevoire520]

I remember having problems with the internal mixer when I first got my profire as I was used to just using the pro tools mixer for this kinda stuff. I think I pulled down all the faders on the mixer page, and set up the inputs and outputs so it was all going to the software returns. I'll take some screenshots later to show you how I've got it setup.

When using digital pre's with any interface you HAVE to use one thing as a master clock for the rest. Otherwise things don't synchronise properly and you get the clicking and popping. To be honest if you're splashing out cash on a Profire, ISA and a Digimax then you should really learn some basic digital interfacing concepts.

Because the Digimax only has ADAT out and not ADAT in the Digimax will have to act as the master and the Profire will sync from that. If you want to run from the Profire's clock then you'll need to use the wordclock outputs. Which you'll need to use when you get the digital crd for the ISA anyway.

 

[Trevoire520]

Righto, here's pic's of how mine is setup:

Mixer

Router

Turns out I wasn't quite right on how I had it setup. All my faders are up except for the mixers master fader and the one for 17-18 (I'm pretty sure this is setup for the software return from Pro Tools) All the other faders are for the analogue and adat inputs.

With the mixer setup like this I get no output from it at all and just use my aux's in pro tools.

 

[darthjujuu]

hey man...

i could NOT get my profire to sync to my digimax D8 either, and still haven't. Some other dude on the forum told me that it's an insolvable incompatibility in equipment... and you simply have no choice but to let the digimax be clock master. I was actually just about to post a thread wondering if this:

http://www.blacklionaudio.com/content.php?p=3

would be a worthy investment for us o_0

i shall be following this thread, may want to change the title...

 

[cliftonmiles]

hey man...

i could NOT get my profire to sync to my digimax D8 either, and still haven't. Some other dude on the forum told me that it's an insolvable incompatibility in equipment... and you simply have no choice but to let the digimax be clock master. I was actually just about to post a thread wondering if this:

http://www.blacklionaudio.com/content.php?p=3

would be a worthy investment for us o_0

i shall be following this thread, may want to change the title...

On a break from my session, but I will change the title.

Thanks for this info, I was looking for someone who's encountered this issue.

Here's another question.
I've been using PT LE 8 w/ Digi 003 rack for the last year and a half to 2 years and my iMac 2.4ghz w/ 3gb Ram has just zipped by with with ease. I could run browsers, iChat, iTunes all w/ PT LE working just fine and i've had no problems. By the way, I am recording TO MY HARDDRIVE of the iMac. I've heard thats not the most favorable way, BUT i've never had a problem.

Aside from this, Cubase 5 is bogging my system down. I've had it for 3 days now and the whole OS is all "stuttery" and unresponsive.

It's weird, i've always known Cubase to be less system hoggish and more responsive...so this leads me to think my system settings are off or somthing...can anyone shine any light on this for me?

 

[darthjujuu]

On a break from my session, but I will change the title.

Thanks for this info, I was looking for someone who's encountered this issue.

Here's another question.
I've been using PT LE 8 w/ Digi 003 rack for the last year and a half to 2 years and my iMac 2.4ghz w/ 3gb Ram has just zipped by with with ease. I could run browsers, iChat, iTunes all w/ PT LE working just fine and i've had no problems. By the way, I am recording TO MY HARDDRIVE of the iMac. I've heard thats not the most favorable way, BUT i've never had a problem.

Aside from this, Cubase 5 is bogging my system down. I've had it for 3 days now and the whole OS is all "stuttery" and unresponsive.

It's weird, i've always known Cubase to be less system hoggish and more responsive...so this leads me to think my system settings are off or somthing...can anyone shine any light on this for me?

not I, especially in mac-land where i'm totally clueless... but this IS an excellent opportunity for me to chime-in with some belief-pushing ReaEvangelism... heh. try the reaper trial?? i switched from cubase and never looked back.

 

[Trevoire520]

hey man...

i could NOT get my profire to sync to my digimax D8 either, and still haven't. Some other dude on the forum told me that it's an insolvable incompatibility in equipment... and you simply have no choice but to let the digimax be clock master. I was actually just about to post a thread wondering if this:

http://www.blacklionaudio.com/content.php?p=3

would be a worthy investment for us o_0

i shall be following this thread, may want to change the title...

As I said:

Because the Digimax only has ADAT out and not ADAT in the Digimax will have to act as the master and the Profire will sync from that. If you want to run from the Profire's clock then you'll need to use the wordclock output.

ADAT sync can only be sent from an output to an input. Not the other way round. So because the Digimax LT only has ADAT out the Profire HAS to get it's sync from the Digimax. Unless you use the wordclock out from the Profire into the wordclock in of the Digimax.

You don't need to get an external wordclock if you're only using one digital pre with your interface. Just use the wordclock out from the Profire and you should be sorted.
If you need to use 2 digital pre's with your interface then you will probably need an external clock, as daisy chaining word clocks from one pre/interface to another doesn't tend to work well.

Another option is to change the Digimax for something with ADAT in and out. Or something with 2 ADAT out's. For example my rig is like this:


Profire 2626 (slave)
^ ^
^ ^ADAT Out (carrying audio data and ADAT Sync to PF2626)
^ ^
^ Onyx 800R (master) >---------------->\/
^_______________________________\/
^ ADAT Out (Carrying audio to PF2626) \/
^_______________________________\/ ADAT out (carrying audio and ADAT sync to ADA8000)
Behringer ADA8000 (slave)<-----------<\/

The 800R has 2 ADAT ports for running at 96Khz, but at 44.1K it sends channels 1-8 out of both ports, so one goes to the Profire into PT and one goes to the ADA800. The 800R acts as the master for the system syncing the whole lot together.

Hope that diagram makes sense. Using text for this shit is not easy!

 

[cliftonmiles]

As far as REAPER goes, I've tried the trial. I did enjoy it but there are a few things that keep me from loving it and using it in my studio full time. As shallow as this may sound, the UI is very ugly in my opinion. It feels like im using freeware. I also have a bit of difficulty grasping the program...It is so intricate and in depth and different from what im used to that the learning curve is steep. I've had Cubase 5 for 3 days now and have already grasped it enough to track a whole session, I never got comfortable with Reaper.
I would be the first person to jump on that ship and use Reaper if it made sense for me, but unfortunatly I don't think its quite there yet. However I ADORE the fact that it uses every plug-in known to man. (AU, VST, RTAS)

As I said:


ADAT sync can only be sent from an output to an input. Not the other way round. So because the Digimax LT only has ADAT out the Profire HAS to get it's sync from the Digimax. Unless you use the wordclock out from the Profire into the wordclock in of the Digimax.

You don't need to get an external wordclock if you're only using one digital pre with your interface. Just use the wordclock out from the Profire and you should be sorted.
If you need to use 2 digital pre's with your interface then you will probably need an external clock, as daisy chaining word clocks from one pre/interface to another doesn't tend to work well.

Another option is to change the Digimax for something with ADAT in and out. Or something with 2 ADAT out's. For example my rig is like this:


Profire 2626 (slave)
^ ^
^ ^ADAT Out (carrying audio data and ADAT Sync to PF2626)
^ ^
^ Onyx 800R (master) >---------------->/
^_______________________________/
^ ADAT Out (Carrying audio to PF2626) /
^_______________________________/ ADAT out (carrying audio and ADAT sync to ADA8000)
Behringer ADA8000 (slave)<-----------</

The 800R has 2 ADAT ports for running at 96Khz, but at 44.1K it sends channels 1-8 out of both ports, so one goes to the Profire into PT and one goes to the ADA800. The 800R acts as the master for the system syncing the whole lot together.

Hope that diagram makes sense. Using text for this shit is not easy!

Makes perfect sense, I was afraid of that. The Profire came with some extra connectors, I wonder if any of those would work for the word clock out scenario.

The latency issues are really strange, I wonder what could be causing that. I was tracking at 128 samples, and was getting like a milisecond of latency. Enough to get annoying, but not enough to exactly notice all the time...it was wierd.

Coming from using Pro Tools LE, using Cubase isn't difficult but its bogged my iMac down (2.4 ghz Intel 2 Core Duo 3 Gigs Ram ) to run like Windows '98 w/ 100 million viruses.

I know Cubase isn't as system usage heavy as Pro Tools, so I have no way of figuring out the issue.

 

[Erkan]

Man, be glad you're not having bluescreens now and then with your Profire (maybe you're on a mac though?).

 

[006]

Yes, he's on a an iMac Erkan.

The Profire came with some extra connectors, I wonder if any of those would work for the word clock out scenario.

I already told you the BNC connection is exactly what that is for...