PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Hi,

I understand what nearly all these connectors are but I'm unsure of the digital in which I think is a left and a right. Is this the same as SPDIF?

The Powersampler card I have has SPDIF which is an 1/8th inch single jack.

Thanks in advance.

yes digital i/o on the Classic cable is spdif I/O

Classic cable? The Powersampler doesn't have a 'classic cable'. Come on Ali

The built in 1/8" jack connector gives you SPDIF in & out in the one connection. It's explained clearly in the manual that ring & tip on this connection give you SPDIF I/O.

IMO it's a really shit way of dealing with a digital I/O, but if DAT & minidisk manufacturers think it's ok, then what the hell, go for an industry standard mistake, right? Wrong, it's a pain in the ass to convert good quality SPDIF cables (RCA phono) to minijack. Not a gripe or a moan, just a fact. I've yet to find a good quality SPDIF cable which converts this directly. Could try making one, but I must just be too lazy to go to those lengths, so we use gold plated stereo RCA>minijack convertors, which are also a pain in the ass.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Shroomz on 2006-04-06 13:10 ]</font>

I think he is talking about 2 different things here. The subject of this post is classic I/O whip.

So the pulsar classic cable whip has dig in/out which is SPDIF.

the Powersampler has the 1/8" jack which is also a SPDIF.

unless I read him wrong.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ali on 2006-04-06 13:14 ]</font>

Oops, I missed that part Ali. You were quite correct about the classic cable whip.

Thanks Ali,

I thought the digital I/O might be SPDIF but I wasn't sure...so thanks.

So the SPDIF on powersampler/Luna is the same as the digi I/O on Pulsar 2...apart from the fact that on Powersampler/Luna it's combined into a single 1/8th inch stereo jack.

Shroomz mentioned DAT and mini disc connecting to these. If someone had a digital mixer then would the SPDIF/Digital I/O be the appropriate connection to either the Pulsar 2 or Powersampler cards?

As it happens I don't have a digi mixer but it's good to cover the bases/permutations in order to begin to fully understand what my Creamware hardware is actually capable of.

I think I've only just begun to scratch the surface!

Thanks for the tips etc...

On 2006-04-07 09:11, fraz wrote:
...If someone had a digital mixer then would the SPDIF/Digital I/O be the appropriate connection to either the Pulsar 2 or Powersampler cards?...

yes and no...
yes, because it's technically correct to trandfer the sum(!) of the digital mixer into sfp
no, because you wouldn't want that 'type' of mixer at all

With a recorded stereo sum you couldn't do much more but master and listen to it.

Preferably one records all sources on individual tracks, which is more flexible for later editing. This way you could modify levels, fx or even exchange complete instruments.

In fact your Luna is a digital mixer, just (currently) lacking the frontend.
The (sellout) Luna box (if you're on a budget) or the A16ultra will complete it nicely

most people with digital mixers use one or more adat connectors to either send a bus or individual outs to scope, but on dedicated channels so they can be recorded individually.

I've had one myself, but since it ended more or less as a converter box with fixed levels I replaced it by the A16.

cheers, Tom

Thanks Tom,

The A16U seems the best way to go when the times right. So if I got the ADAT/Z-link expansion I could fit two A16U but that would be quite costly so I'll have to wait a while for that.

Is the Luna box just the same as A16U apart from the actual amount of I/O?....same principal I mean.

Lunabox has 8 ios, but in RCA, unbalanced format...

Depending on what you need, it could be ok.

But actually, if you have adat ios that are free on your pulsar, i'd buy something in the range of the behringer ADA8000 instead...

More value i think, because of 8 preamp to adjust input levels before convertion...

I actually have the Fostex VC8 (1) which is unbalanced but that's OK for now and I plan to get another so I'll have two and then I can see how I cope with 16 I/O and gauge the situation from there.

Thanks M.

Marcus,

Just cheked the ADA8000. Looks nice with the balanced I/O and goes up to 48Khz 24 bit...so would this be ALOT better than 16bit 44.1?

For £175 that looks quite good. I paid £160 for the Fostex VC8 although it was about four years ago...

In fact after a quick search it looks like the VC8 is still just as expensive as the ADA 8000 and you don't get XLR...that's not good:o

rp

just experimenting with the faces....please ignore.

grin: Very Happy

On 2006-04-08 09:05, fraz wrote:
...and goes up to 48Khz 24 bit...so would this be ALOT better than 16bit 44.1? ...

stay with 44.1 khz, unless the workflow with someone else(s equipment) absolutely requires it.
What you gain with frequency increase is lost with samplerate conversion later (if not spoilt...) and it's an extremely time consuming process.

cheers, tom

That simplifies everything then so it's one thing less ti worry about.

the ada8000 is pretty good and a bargain for the mic pres. i use 24bit @ 44.1khz. 24bit preserves a bit of detail until the final mix @ 16bit. still no need to resample....

Hi Gary,

What's the point in preserving more detail until the final mix which you do in 16 bit?

Is there a good reason for this? - I'm no engineering pro so i'm sorry if it seems to be a stupid question.

The most I understand about this is 16 bit is 16 bits per sample so 24 is more bits per sample.

that's right. more bits= more detail, and even more imoportantly for tracking, more headroom.

when going from 24 to 16bit, you don't even need to dither if you don't want to. you can simply truncate the extra 8bits....

at any rate, you won't harm anything going from 24 to 16bits. going from 48khz to 44.1khz(or any rate to any other rate) will do some amount of damage, although the damage may be inaudible.

Hi Gary,

This truncation business...how would you go about trimming the eight bits?