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I know this sounds silly considering how long I've had my cards but to expand my number of audio ins I've been using a mixer so I've never really given the other potential ins and outs much attention. However I'm wondering if I could also use my AES/EBU in's too but have no idea how to hook them up to my gear - Wikipedia says they are like SPDIF but I've never used that either - on the connections they just look the same as the other balanced connectors. If I wanted to connect them to some of my gear (several synths inc a V-Synth, a Virus Ti, a Yamaha VL, a Nord G2 and a Korg Workstation as well as a Variax Guitar) how would I do that?

AES/EBU is a digital connection.
It might look like analog XLR but the cable is 110Ohm.
You can hook up digital reverbs, preamps and generally outboard with a digital option.
Check the link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AES/EBU

As long as you keep the cable runs short, you should be able to get away with chucking a S/PDIF signal through it, with an RCA-XLR cable.

Cheers!

Chris

My Virus Ti has a SPDIF and I was thinking of connecting that to my Luna's SPDIF anyway so I wouldn't need an XLR converter. I was just wondering how to use the AES/EBU too but it sounds impractical.

What sort of lead to I use to connect the Virus SPDIF (which has 2 ports) to the Luna (which seems to have just one)? Is it the same as RCA cable?

Cool - just tried it with a mini jack to RCA cable and it works (although I have to set the samplerate panel to slave mode otherwise I get clicks)

Is the digital connection better than the analog one?

Less conversion should be better.

pkole wrote:Less conversion should be better.

Which is?

Kymeia wrote:

pkole wrote:Less conversion should be better.

Which is?

Digital connection involves less conversion.

Is something like this converter required to go from aes/ebu to rca/spdif? I take it this thing has a transformer in it to convert the difference in ohms? Sorry, never looked into this port before and don't know much about digital interfaces other than adat.

I was hoping for a cheaper solution, like just a straight converter cable but I take it that won't work due to the difference in the aes/ebu and spdif impedence specs (I think that's right).

I did find the converter for $90 on B&H Photo, but still that seems like a very expensive solution just to get a pair of additional ins/outs.

yes, that's the device.

you may be able to just connect the sp/dif to the aes/ebu connectors if you use a good sp/dif cable and an xlr to rca adaptor...the protocol is the same, just the signal level is different.

garyb wrote:yes, that's the device.

you may be able to just connect the sp/dif to the aes/ebu connectors if you use a good sp/dif cable and an xlr to rca adaptor...the protocol is the same, just the signal level is different.

Thanks for the response, Gary.

If you don't use a transformer in the process, is there a chance of damage to the devices if going straight across? Im literally only going about 18" as far as cable lengths...from pulsar2 (soon to be xite when they can produce) to Access Virus Ti. I just don't want to do something stupid and ruin some nice gear.

Thanks again.

no transformer is required in any case. it's a level matching amplifier. it's possible that sp/dif going into aes/ebu will be too low a level to get a good signal to noise ratio, it'll probably work. aes/ebu going into sp/dif might be too hot, damage is only a small possibilty, however.


using the proper buffer amp is a better idea, however.

Whoa that's expensive.

I have managed to get the S/PDIF input going to my Luna card at least (coming from my VSynth or Virus Ti). Can't seem to get either of them to be able to process live audio this way though which was my main interest - they play fine though. They do have ins and outs so they should in principle work fine as fx boxes (and both have excellent outboard fx)

Kymeia wrote:I know this sounds silly considering how long I've had my cards but to expand my number of audio ins I've been using a mixer so I've never really given the other potential ins and outs much attention. However I'm wondering if I could also use my AES/EBU in's too but have no idea how to hook them up to my gear - Wikipedia says they are like SPDIF but I've never used that either - on the connections they just look the same as the other balanced connectors. If I wanted to connect them to some of my gear (several synths inc a V-Synth, a Virus Ti, a Yamaha VL, a Nord G2 and a Korg Workstation as well as a Variax Guitar) how would I do that?

You can buy an aes to ebu converter cable pretty cheap. I got mine from the symbolic sound web site. Aes ebu is a balanced connection and is twice the voltage of spdif btw so a converter is needed.

Digital is ok with one input if you clock to it, but gets tricky with multiple inputs as all the digital inputs need to be synchronized across sources.

I wish the xite 1 had sample rate conversion on it's digital inputs as an option.

Here is a good explanation: http://www.rane.com/note149.html

Neutrik and Canare supply 110 - 75 ohm impedance transformers (XLR - BNC connectors):
http://www.neutrik.com/us/en/audio/204_ ... tlist.aspx
http://www.canare.com/ProductItemDispla ... tItemID=15

You can also make a cheap RCA-XLR cable, without impedance matching:
http://www.joshwoodward.com/mod/news/sl ... le_id=4148

Dude that link isvery useful.
http://www.joshwoodward.com/mod/news/sl ... le_id=4148
I need all of my AES/EBU cables w/ similar converts for Solaris.
Everything in the studios around here is AES/EBU and taking Solaris' SP/DIF outs to a converter will be useful next month.
I was unaware that the ultra high end mastering gear all has AES/EBU options now to accomadate DAW's.

Hey thats Josh Woodwards site. He used to songfight.

He used to win a lot.