AES/EBU cable love

M

MikeyB59

Power User
I finally got some AES/EBU cables to connect the Axe II to my RME UFX which has AES i/o. In my little studio, my interface is towards the back of the room and I keep my Axe closer to the door (there's a lot of guitars and other gear in the room) so it's easier to get in and out for gigs. I'd been going back and forth between using the Axe as an interface by itself, using the RME with the Axe xlr or using a composite audio device with both the Axe and RME. Coaxial digital cables weren't really practical because I needed 15 feet of cable or more. I went to Guitar Center and a couple of other places here and none of them had AES cables. Amazing.

Anyhow, I finally got some from Full Compass and they work great. They sound way better through my monitors than it did when running through the extra DA/AD of going analog into the RME. Now I'm getting very close to the same directness and feel going into my interface and then to monitors as I was running the Axe directly to the monitors.

Sometimes, it's the little things that make a huge difference and this little setup adjustment is big for me. It keeps the Axe easily hooked up to my whole recording/mixing/studio PA world with a minimum of effort and the sound difference is big. And it's really nice to have my Axe hooked into my RME interface as that thing is the routing king of the interface world and will allow me to experiment more easily with using computer and other effects along with the Axe.
 
Hey Mikey,

I know this thread kind of old but I hope you get this message. I too have the RME UFX and was curious on how best to route connections with the AXE 2. Most of my studio work is either at 44.1 or 96k. I'd like to be able to use the AXE to record the amp/fx signal as well as send a clean signal to re-amp at a later date and use the AXE 2 for studio effects on audio sent from my DAW (Ableton). As I understand, using any digital i/o the AXE would have to be run at 48k. I wonder if this is true for running just the output of the AES/EBU? Can you send a clean unprocessed signal from the AXE while sending the amp/effects tone at the same time using both the digital and analog outs? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

peace,
andrew
 
If you're running digital, it's got to be 48k. You could get a sample rate converter to run digitally, but you won't be able to split dry/effected that way. I'm pretty sure digital out is whatever is Output 1, but I could be wrong. You could run digital out and then a separate signal thru Output 2 analog. The reamping thing in the digital realm only really works with Axe usb and then, you can't monitor the mix at the same time. What you can do is make a composite audio device and run your mix through the RME while reamping through Axe. All that has to be 48k though. If you're running at 44.1 or 96, you're stuck with sample converter or analog i/o.
 
Thanks Mikey. I am pretty sure I read somewhere on this forum that there is away to send a processed signal along with a clean signal to reamp later without using the usb. I might make a post on the topic if I cant find it. Also, forming and aggregate device is possible but kind of pointless with all the RME's I/O options. I guess I could always run separate sessions for reamping later. By the way, how do you like using Totalmix? I very much hate it at this point but have only had the UFX for a couple of months. What DAW do you use? Ever have any issues with latency when monitoring through the DAW and not Totalmix?

peace,
-a
 
FWIW, I use AES into a Fireface UFX into Reaper for most of my work. One very important note (which caused me all kinds of grief one day): make sure the Fireface Clock Source is set to AES. Otherwise you'll get random little clicks that make you think there is something wrong with your Axe-Fx and you'll spend hours trying to figure out what you screwed up in the firmware.
 
Well I can't say that this is exactly what you are looking for Bidding War, but perhaps it will give you an idea. I'm using the analog output 1 as my wet feeding into an external audio interface. I then have the AxeFXII set to send the dry signal to my digital output which feeds a standalone D/A convertor. I take the balanced output of the D/A convertor and send it to another channel on my external audio interface. I also take one of the balanced outputs of my audio interface to feed the wet track back to the convertor (this time A/D) and then send that to the AES input of the AxeFXII for re-amping.

This gives me a few advantages.

First one is monitoring is easier with my audio interface, especially if I'm editing or using another instrument of some kind.

Second is that I can record and and re-amp at any sample rate I want.

Third is that I just find it easier to deal with adjusting analog levels vs digital for alignment purposes.

Fourth advantage is that I just have more success using an audio interface that is created solely for that purpose. The AxeFXII's USB sounds fantastic, but it's not a full blown solution IMHO.

Fifth bonus is that I don't have to worry about clock sources. I can't overstate how big a deal this is, especially when trying to use digital rather than USB.


Of course the major drawback is that I'm using analog. I've done A/B tests and come up with a whole bunch of configurations and the stuff listed above are just the most obvious advantages; I was trying to mix the USB with my interface and got it working most of the way, but having two independent devices results in a lot of drift between takes. And anytime you are in the digital realm you are stuck at 48kHz which can be dealt with, but it's not always convenient. I do get a little bit of noise on the analog dry track that I'm working on reducing, but even at its worst its only really a factor when you compare the original wet track to the re-amped wet track meaning that if I only heard the re-amped wet track I'd think that it sounded great.

Its still a work in progress, but maybe it will give you an idea or two.
 
@Shasha - I remember you first struggling through this. Looks like you figured yourself a viable solution. Very cool, thanks for sharing. I am going to give this a duplicate shot here. Please keep us up to date if you find added mods to this.
Do you have a separate thread that I can subscribe specific to this???
 
kerrlehr said:
@Shasha - I remember you first struggling through this. Looks like you figured yourself a viable solution. Very cool, thanks for sharing. I am going to give this a duplicate shot here. Please keep us up to date if you find added mods to this.
Do you have a separate thread that I can subscribe specific to this???
Click to expand...

I may have started something, but I'll try to find some time this weekend to put together something more organized. I tore a tendon in my elbow a few months ago and it's finally starting to feel fairly decent so I may actually put some sound clips up as examples. Only problem will be if the wife has me running around all weekend or not.
 
FractalAudio said:
FWIW, I use AES into a Fireface UFX into Reaper for most of my work. One very important note (which caused me all kinds of grief one day): make sure the Fireface Clock Source is set to AES. Otherwise you'll get random little clicks that make you think there is something wrong with your Axe-Fx and you'll spend hours trying to figure out what you screwed up in the firmware.
Click to expand...

^^^
This!!! And don't forget to change the sample rate to 48k while using playback devices or you will get the ole chipmuck voices! :)

Bidding War said:
Thanks Mikey. I am pretty sure I read somewhere on this forum that there is away to send a processed signal along with a clean signal to reamp later without using the usb. I might make a post on the topic if I cant find it. Also, forming and aggregate device is possible but kind of pointless with all the RME's I/O options. I guess I could always run separate sessions for reamping later. By the way, how do you like using Totalmix? I very much hate it at this point but have only had the UFX for a couple of months. What DAW do you use? Ever have any issues with latency when monitoring through the DAW and not Totalmix?

peace,
-a
Click to expand...

Getting a good handle on TotalMix is key. It is a very powerful tool for routing and mixing. I have my Axe II hooked up AES and Analog and can switch to whichever i wish. I for one though don't hear much of a difference when processed through the UFX. Experiment and try using all the routing capabilities. *** WARNING*** while experimenting do so with your output sliders in TotalMix set low. It is very easy to get confused and make some arbitrary change and not realize you routed your media player at full volume to your monitors set at high volume and not only will you get a wake up :) but could possibly damage something.

Here are a couple of good videos on TotalMix if you haven't seen them yet:

RME TotalMix FX Tutorial Part 1 (of 2) - SynthaxTV - YouTube

RME TotalMix FX Tutorial Part 2 (of 2) - SynthaxTV - YouTube
 
FractalAudio said:
FWIW, I use AES into a Fireface UFX into Reaper for most of my work. One very important note (which caused me all kinds of grief one day): make sure the Fireface Clock Source is set to AES. Otherwise you'll get random little clicks that make you think there is something wrong with your Axe-Fx and you'll spend hours trying to figure out what you screwed up in the firmware.
Click to expand...

Cliff,
Is there a benefit to this method vs. USB?
 
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