M-Powered and Fireface w/Lightbridge?

[CJWall]

I recently had a chance to really sit down and mess with a demo of Pro Tools M-Powered.

I have to say, I've fallen in love with Pro Tools. I love everything about it (except the lack of ADC, but it's not too difficult to do this by ones self).

It just seems so much more intuitive and everything makes way more sense than it does (or did, rather) when I first started using Nuendo.

But the problem is, I have Fireface800 and I'd love to be able to use it with PT.

Would getting the new M-Audio Profire Lightbridge let me do this?

I know it has ADAT in/out and S/PDIF etc.. but how would I go about actually setting this up?

Would it even work? Being able to use my pre's and line-ins through the ADAT out in the Fireface, and then send the out put from the Lightbridge to the ADAT in of the Fireface?

If I can't get it to work, I may just end up getting a M-Box 2 Pro or 003 and selling the Fireface....

Thanks for any help dudes!
Charlie

 

[CJWall]

No one?

 

[JeffTD]

IIRC, you should be able to run like an MBox or something as a giant USB dongle, and use the FF800 as your actual interface.

 

[Ben Johnson]

Yup, that's what I've been doing with my 1010lt, although I only saw 8 total ins/outs in the I/O setup window. I didn't bother investigating further as I've only used it for editing projects (my school forces me to use the program THEY use)...industry standard, my ass.

 

[CJWall]

IIRC, you should be able to run like an MBox or something as a giant USB dongle, and use the FF800 as your actual interface.

hmm.. any idea how this works exactly?

 

[Ben Johnson]

While the program is initializing, it just wants to see an M-Audio component in your system.

 

[Gnash]

So your fireface works with the pt demo? I've been wanting to check pt too, but I have a MOTU.

 

[CJWall]

So your fireface works with the pt demo? I've been wanting to check pt too, but I have a MOTU.

No, I use my old M-Audio card to get the demo working.

So let me get this straight, I let M-Powered load, and then choose the Fireface ASIO driver? or?

I just want to make sure before I blow $250 on the software because I definitely don't want to use my mobilepre for everything I want to do in PT.

Thanks so much dudes!
Charlie

 

[CJWall]

okay, okay.

So, say I buy an M-box 2 Pro.

Install the drivers, Pro Tools, everything.

Once Pro Tools has acknowledged my m-box 2 'dongle' and the program is open and ready to roll...

How do I go about getting my Fireface to see Pro Tools or the other way around?

I'd rather stick with a LE rig than shell out the extra money for M-Powered, when I may end up getting a 003 down the road or something..

 

[JeffTD]

Considering how cheap an 002R runs these days, I'd go that route .


I wish I could help you out on this one, bro - I'm curious, too!

 

[2012]

Connect the FF800's ADAT out to the ADAT in on the LightBridge, 002, or 003. The Pro Tools interface connects to the computer's firewire connection. When you open PT, you can go to the Hardware Setup and choose the ADAT optical port as the clocking source which will sync the FF800 to PT. Setup your I/O in PT for the ADAT channels. Now the FF800's preamps & converters are being used, essentially bypassing the PT interface. Each ADAT port can carry a maximum of 8 channels of digital audio, which is why ADAT equipped preamps feature 8 preamps.

 

[CJWall]

Considering how cheap an 002R runs these days, I'd go that route .


I wish I could help you out on this one, bro - I'm curious, too!

True man, especially since I already have the FF, I could just run the Fireface through the 002's ADAT in/out.

hmm... I'm still curious tho!

BTW, how much are 002R's going new? Do any stores still carry 'em?

 

[CJWall]

Connect the FF800's ADAT out to the ADAT in on the LightBridge, 002, or 003. The Pro Tools interface connects to the computer's firewire connection. When you open PT, you can go to the Hardware Setup and choose the ADAT optical port as the clocking source which will sync the FF800 to PT. Setup your I/O in PT for the ADAT channels. Now the FF800's preamps & converters are being used, essentially bypassing the PT interface. Each ADAT port can carry a maximum of 8 channels of digital audio, which is why ADAT equipped preamps feature 8 preamps.

Awesome dude, sounds simple enough.

Does this method also take use of the FF's D/A ? Or would I have to connect something else?

 

[2012]

No. PT will only talk to Digidesign/M-Audio interfaces directly.

But, you should be able to go S/PDIF or ADAT out from the 002 to the S/PDIF or ADAT in on the FF, and monitor from there. Then you would just have to setup the I/O in PT, and route the track's outputs accordingly. Can the FF operate in a standalone/direct/hardware mode?

 

[CJWall]

No. PT will only talk to Digidesign/M-Audio interfaces directly.

But, you should be able to go S/PDIF or ADAT out from the 002 to the S/PDIF or ADAT in on the FF, and monitor from there. Then you would just have to setup the I/O in PT, and route the track's outputs accordingly. Can the FF operate in a standalone/direct/hardware mode?

Yes, it can. I'm assuming I'd have to leave it in this mode (ie. not hook the FW cable to the compute) to use the ADAT In and Out effectively with either the 002 or M-Audio device.

Thanks for the help dude, I've never dealt with ADAT before so I just wanted to finally get it straight in my head.

Sounds like this is my best option.

Thanks again dude,
Charlie