Axe-fx II recording into a soundcard set at 192kHz via S/PDIF?

mortega76

mortega76

Fractal Fanatic
I know this is going to probably be an obvious question/answer but I have to ask...

I just purchased a 2 XLR USB Audio device that records at 192Khz and it also has S/PDIF in/out... I was trying to look this up in the manual and it mentioned that the input/output of the S/PDIF would have to be set up as 48kHz... does that mean that the entire project has to be setup as 48kH? I wanted to try to get away with not using the Axe-fx II in USB mode and try the S/PDIF mode to use it at the same time as an existing ASIO device without ASIO4ALL... Will S/PDIF allow dry and wet track recording and re-amping? Any advise would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
 
mortega76 said:
I know this is going to probably be an obvious question/answer but I have to ask...

I just purchased a 2 XLR USB Audio device that records at 192Khz and it also has S/PDIF in/out... I was trying to look this up in the manual and it mentioned that the input/output of the S/PDIF would have to be set up as 48kHz... does that mean that the entire project has to be setup as 48kH? I wanted to try to get away with not using the Axe-fx II in USB mode and try the S/PDIF mode to use it at the same time as an existing ASIO device without ASIO4ALL... Will S/PDIF allow dry and wet track recording and re-amping? Any advise would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Click to expand...

The process for connection to the Axe Fx II with another interface is pretty much the same like the Ultra. If you don't want to use the USB feature and you connect the Axe Fx II with the audio interface than you can record above 48 KH,because now the Axe FxII is processing everything via the audio interface,which let's the Axe FxII send all it's signal above it's intended signal of 48 KHz. In short I believe you can use all the Axe FxII features even while it's connected via another audio interface.

Cheers.
 
Thanks for chiming in!

So are you saying that I can use the new audio device in Sonar or Studio One 2 using 192kHz and connect the Axe-fx II via S/PDIF at 48kHz and it will record the output audio at 192kHz (which will technically be overkill for the guitar) because it's connected through S/PDIF? Will it send dry and wet siganals for reamping?
 
I've never been able to connect the Axe 2, or any other device for that matter to either of my audio interfaces via SPDIF and run the interface at a different clock rate than the Axe 2. The clocks need to be synced when connecting via SPDIF. Otherwise you get pops/crackles. I've heard you can get some kind of device to connect between the Axe 2 and an audio interface that will act as an intermediary and allow you to upconvert the sample rate of the Axe 2 to something higher than 48kHz.

On the other hand you can send the Axe 2 signal to your interface via analog and not worry about the sample rate.
 
With anlog you can use any sample rate. With SPDIF and/or AES you are locked at 48k or as Legion stated you will have a nightmare of pops and crackles.
 
Cobbler is right about being locked to 48k unless you go analog or use a sample rate converter. In order to do reamping that way, you'd be better off with at least 4 inputs (unless you want to reamp mono). Using stereo you could go out one pair of outputs with amp/effects and out the other with the dry signal. With only 2 inputs, you'd have to do one channel of one output Axe'd and the other dry into your interface. That's actually not a horrible thing as during reamping you could use both interface inputs from the Axe wet with a mono output from the interface into the Axe which is typically how guitar works anyway (mono to stereo if stereo is used at all).
 
mortega76 said:
Thanks for chiming in!

So are you saying that I can use the new audio device in Sonar or Studio One 2 using 192kHz and connect the Axe-fx II via S/PDIF at 48kHz and it will record the output audio at 192kHz (which will technically be overkill for the guitar) because it's connected through S/PDIF? Will it send dry and wet siganals for reamping?
Click to expand...

Cobbler has made it totally clear :). Enjoy man!
 
I've been battling this one for a while because logically thinking sticking with digital would improve the sound or at least reduce degradation. All I can say is that the amount of headaches involved with messing with SPDIF, between sample rate and sync issues it's just never been worth it (at work or home). So I ended up doing an A/B test and while the only scientific factor was 'how it sounded to me' I could not for the life of me find anything in the audio that sounded better between using SPDIF or analog into a decent midlevel audio interface (Saffire Pro DSP 24 or something like that...).

And it wasn't just for recording, I'm talking about weird issues here and there when you try to open up an MP3 or a youtube video and because of the different clock rates it just isn't right or won't play at all. And I know that some people have had success using the AxeFX as the master (and I can get it to work as well), but then you either have to reset your interface to internal clock when you want to iuse it on it's own or you have to have the AxeFX on all the time. Neither is appealling to me (because I'm lazy) and I can use any sample rate I want for any project I want at any time.

Now if you're going all AES/EBU that's a completely different thing to me. I don't know if it'll sound better, but I do know that the clock synchronization is a lot more robust. I mean wasn't SPDIF originally a consumer playback interface to begin with? AES/EBU is the professional standard.

And one more advantage for analog here....if you need to adjust your levels it's just the twist of a knob on the front usually, with digital you don't have that advantage.
 
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