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Hi,

The Power Sampler card has a Z-Link connector for the A16 Ultra which gives 16 I / O and also has ADAT connectors for an additional 16 I / O...The question is can these be used at the same time to provide a total of 32 inputs and outputs???...If the answer is yes this could be really handy

I don't have the A16 yet but am just trying to work out all the options etc...

An A16u only has 16 physical ins and outs.

You need the adat expansion for the Power Sampler to get 16 channels of Z-link. In doing so you also get 16 channels of adat, so you would then have 32 digital I/Os on the Power Sampler plus Stereo Spdif & analogue I/Os giving you a total of 36 I/Os.

Yes I know, but when I looked on the Creamware website at the close up pictures of the A16 (unless I'm mistaken) there were also two connections for ADAT (like on the Pulsar 2 card) which would enable the use of another 16 inputs and outputs via two Fostex VC-8 units for example, am I correct or am I wrong?

If I'm wrong thats fine as I'm just trying to gather information on my set up and how I may be able to use it.

Thx.

Shroomz wrote:You need the adat expansion for the Power Sampler to get 16 channels of Z-link. In doing so you also get 16 channels of adat, so you would then have 32 digital I/Os on the Power Sampler plus Stereo Spdif & analogue I/Os giving you a total of 36 I/Os.

You posted this just before me!...So the expansion plate would take up another PCI slot...right? but what about the ADAT connectors on the A16?

BTW ....to get 36 i/o's (adat + z-link) you'll need 2 x a16 ultra

Take a look in the manual. It is all there.

My manuals are reproducing...

Are you saying that the 16 input / outputs cannot be used in conjunction with standard ADAT equipment?

I take your point about reading manuals but I have been reading a lot lately and it's nice to hear from experienced users of Creamware products...

If I have to have two A16's to utilise the 30+ ins / outs then it's not worth the outlay because IMO it may complicate matters somewhat however I do believe adding another Scope card would be more beneficial.

As it is now I have Pulsar 2 & Power Sampler so I can get 16 ADAT via Pulsar 2 with little complication and another 16 via A16 on Z-Link, again with little complication and please bear in mind my PC has limited PCI slots so putting expansion plates in for the Power Sampler isn't too practical but adding more DSP and ADAT would be more sensible IMO...what do you folks think?

You confuse me with the way you put things:

{quote]As it is now I have Pulsar 2 & Power Sampler so I can get 16 ADAT via Pulsar 2 with little complication and another 16 via A16 on Z-Link[/quote]

It looks to me as if you are messing things up big time. Right now you have optical connectors for 16 i/o ADAT and 8 i/o Z-link. An A16u will not give you more of that. It is just a converter, that you can hook up to your ADAT/Z-link i/o. The A16u will never do any more than 16 i/o - no matter how you connect it.

And ADAT does not communicate, what is in the other end. Your Creamware card will not even know, if it is a Creamware converter in the other end of the cable.

Immanuel,

Yes I may have got a little confused and if I confused you I'm sorry. On the Pulsar 2 currently I have one Fotex VC-8 which gives me 4 stereo or eight mono input and or output.

I can add another which would double that. Thank you for corecting me it's optical.

The Power Sampler has a Z-Link connector which I understood to be the ONLY way of using an A16u which I don't yet have and if I did it would give me another 16 in and out...please correct me if I'm wrong, after all that is why I have posted on this forum.

fraz wrote: As it is now I have Pulsar 2 & Power Sampler so I can get 16 ADAT via Pulsar 2 with little complication and another 16 via A16 on Z-Link, again with little complication and please bear in mind my PC has limited PCI slots so putting expansion plates in for the Power Sampler isn't too practical but adding more DSP and ADAT would be more sensible IMO...what do you folks think?

an a16u has, as mentioned, z-link ports as well as adat. those two ways of connection work simultaneously. you can feed the analog signal coming in via trs to both zlink and adat, that is: analog channel 1 will be routed to zlink port 1 and adat port 1 and so on.
(there is another mode you can set the unit to)

connecting the very same a 16u to both adat and zlink will give you the same signal on the corresponding inputs of your cards.
if you want to have 16 channels connected via zlink to your luna and another 16 channels connected to you p2, you have to get yourself two a16u.

the luna adat expasion would give you, btw, another 16 channels of adat, which you could hook up a third a16u to .

the adat expansion does not need a pci slot, but in most pc cases the slot cover will block a real pci slot, even though not needed. if you have a micro atx board in an atx case with free slot space available below the board (or beside), or a board with pci-e with unused pci-e slots you probably don't need to waste a real pci slot.

-greetings, markus-

ps. the adat ports on the luna don't do adat s/mux, while those of a p2 do, leaving you half the channels.

pps. if you'd get an zlink i/o plate for your p2 or even a new scope project with zlink you would be able to:

- connect an a16u via zlink (it has wo zlink ports)
- connect 8 channels via adat (the fostex has 8 channels, afair, so that would fit)
- upgrade your dsp capacity as well (if you get the whole card)

Hi Markus,

I think you answered the question but I'll explain. Initially, I thought I could get an A16u to connect to my Luna / Elektra / Power Sampler and use aonther 16 I / O which I know is true and correct. But I also thought I could use the ADAT's on the A16u as well at the same time!!!...to give another 16 I / O which is where I was wrong in my thinking!!!...didn't understand the whole picture!!!

If I get an A16u and connect it to Power Sampler...I get an extra 16 I / O?...I think so....then I have 32 I / O...good!!!

Lets go one stage at a time to avoid confusion...thanks.

This would mean that the Pulsar 2 ADAT's are taken up....16 I / O...

This would also mean that the Power Sampler Z-Link port is taken up as well....=32 I / O in total from Pulsar 2 and Power Sampler as it comes out of the box.

I'll read your thread again. Thanks.

Like said previously I don't have the A16u yet but i'll get one if Creamware stay in business and I'll expand my SFP setup slowly because it costs a lot and more importantly it complicates things but gives you more options. I will concentrate on my purchase of my first a16 u then integrate it then look at the options without getting too confused..... ....

you want creamware around? go ahead and buy the converter. Bose corporation just bought two, because they are the only quality converters in that price range. you can't lose.

garyb wrote:you want creamware around? go ahead and buy the converter. Bose corporation just bought two, because they are the only quality converters in that price range. you can't lose.

Of course I want Creamware around. I'd be damn annoyed if they were not. When I got my Pulsar 2 it was too advanced for me at the time but I got it in the hope I would grow into it and thankfully I am but at the time it was a risk for a total newbie...!!!

I was a little upset a few days ago to read a post on this forum about the uncertainty surrounding Creamware and I don't wish to aggravate the situation but I would like to know what's going on because the hardware is going to be a big part of my set up and when I know enough my music will be produced on it though I can't gaurantee the quality of the end results...

I know this is way off topic but you did ask I wanted Creamware around. Are Creamware a reasonably big ish company? - Surely there must be some really high profile users of their hardware / software. It's not really my business but do you have any idea on their annual turnover? - amd are their customers world wide or is it mainly European?

I won't ask any more questions for obvious reasons but a little discreet info will be appreciated.

I will get an A16 when in due course becuase I obviously wish to expand my setup which is why I ask all these questions (some of them stupid) so I can see exactly how it will work in practice but I have to be clear on how for example the A16 will integrate into my setup which I now am.

One misunderstanding I had was I thought the A16 would give an extra 16 I / O which it does but I also thought that I could connect another two ADAT units into the A16 (because it has the connectors on like the Pulsar 2) to give me I thought (but I was wrong) another 16 I / O totalling 32 but I now know why I was wrong...Thanks for your help on understanding certain aspects...

to be honest you take some risk with a smal company like Creamware.
It's the real reason I had to create a unnecessary complicated double mac system with two macs, one with OSX and one with OS9 (Cream cards).
On pc you don't have those essential problems, but there are other scenarios that could give you trouble, like PCI-e or Vista support etc.
Extra complication is the current situation of Creamware, as it's not clear what will happen with the company.
Yet there are signs that a solution is nearby, like a buy by a major, or at least a new start in corporation with Frank Hund's inDSP in India, but all is open as nobody knows what's going on (some do however...).

But it's also a fact that your card is hardware, and you also won't worry about your old Moog knowing that there isn't a Moog company anymore.

For what your Creamware system offers tho there's no competition for that price.
I would take the risk, as you can work for years with it despite technological devellopments.
Still new mobos offer PCI slots (along with PCIe slots), and 64 bit/Vista isn't relevant at all so much for a DAW for the next years (tho some of us think different on that).
cheers.

I'm happy with Windows XP for now, and it may be a while before I consider Vista. Either way the PC I have now will stay XP, end of story. There may be another computer in the future, mac or pc but it will be another one and the one I have now will remain XP on PCI...

I really hope nothing bad happens with Creamware but I can see why they might be in trouble because the hardware takes a lot to learn and most people won't have the patience to learn it... ...apart from the people that have the vision of the bigger picture... ....which is why I hope there are enough of these people to keep the company going.

This is just an idea. To win over near newbies to their way of thinking if the hardware audio cards could come with tutorials (written documentation) to explain the situation regarding how the modules interact to get them up and running.

When I got the P2 and Power Sampler I had to hire the services of an engineer who knew his stuff and he was confused to start with. He helped me understand how things worked. I take my hat off to this person because if I had not have had this help I wouldn't be using SFP now.

To begin with it's extremely complicated but very logical when broken down into constituent parts and I think if Creamware can come up with some serious jargon busting information for newcomers they will win new customers / clients.

I say this because I am not advanced yet (not by any means). Most people who would like to make music don't like the steep learning curves which I can understand because there is the MIDI and audio sequencer, plugins etc...blah, blah, blah.

I'll stop ranting soon...but it would be nice if the modules within the project itself could be renamed (it may already be able to do this but I haven't managed it)...For example Pulsar 2 MIDI A source (which is the MIDI in on the cable whip) if this box in the project could be renamed MIDI in Soundcard / Pulsar 2 / Scope or something similar it MAY help less experienced users out but having said that the terminology still has to be learned.

Thanks for the reply anyway.

Long live Creamware...

there's a 3rd p. 'packing' module with just ins and outs that can be named freely, i forgot the name, or?

hubird wrote:there's a 3rd p. 'packing' module with just ins and outs that can be named freely, i forgot the name, or?

Ahh, it's the first I've heard of it. Do you have any more info on this?

Phase Fix X, by Alfonso if I'm right...

hubird wrote:Phase Fix X, by Alfonso if I'm right...

Is this available here on Z? - Or is this a Goggle search?