Can someone please help me with S/PDIF?

lqdsnddist said:
Well my new friend... if I didn’t chime in every now and then how would I of gotten my post count up to 4017 ? Of which, I’ve gotten 3965 “likes” on my posts, so I do think I have something of value to contribute around here, or at least some fellow forum members, yourself not withstanding, think so.

That said, I was trying to help you, and the first part is trying to figure out why you feel the need to use something that you admittedly said that you don’t know what it is. Why are you trying to make things harder for yourself ?

Sorry if I’m not giving you the hugs and handholding approach
Click to expand...

lol, just curious....how many times have you re-read your post before you decided it wasn't grammatically impactful enough so you chose to edit it a few times haha!?

Jokes aside, I just want to bypass my interface's converters. It's crap.
Another would be I don't want to have to turn the Axe on every time I just wanna listen to music.
Perhaps I am making it harder for myself but I am very open to hearing other suggestions, besides Axe USB.

Or how bout this,

What if I want to use the Axe and track drums simultaneously using my interface's preamps?
 
Both, because the pre-amp stage is analogue, and the spdif signal has already been converted to digital.

Think of it as two separate circuits, Digital and Analogue. The only time they meet is at the converter stage (if required) otherwise they stay apart. Using spdif is combining the two units digital circuits into one digital realm.

Once the signal has been converted, it stays in it's designated circuit unless one chooses to convert it again to its opposite.
 
Last edited:
Zedhed said:
This does raise the question though; why would you want to track anything through it then?
Click to expand...

Perhaps I'm just totally under the wrong impression of what I think is happening.
I assume that by using S/PDIF, my interface is merely used as a slave device, which then has no influence on sound quality anymore, hence the bypassing of its converters? I could very well be wrong on that.

What would be your method if you wanted to track live drums using your interface while tracking the Axe simultaneously?
 
I use an Avid Omni interface with an Avid 96 analogue I/O giving me a total of 20 I/O's. My monitors are connected to the Omni.

My AxeFXIII is connected via s/pdif to the Omni, adding the extra I/O's it has to offer plus all the FX and Amp/Cab modelling. Omni is set as Master clock source.

Setup required amount of tracks in Pro Tools and record live band if required.

The Omni converters and Pre's are good quality so anything plugged into it produces excellent results.
Same goes for the AxeFXIII.

If all I want to do is track/re-amp guitars, I'll use Axe USB. As said earlier, clock setting are all that needs changing if I use Axe without the Omni.

In my setup, all of it can be used simultaneously or independently of each other.
 
Either unit can be set as Master or slave but only one master at a time. Bare in mind we're only talking about clock source here, not Analogue or Digital signal 'circuits'.

Usually the unit with best clock is set as Master and in some instances a separate unit altogether can provide clock only. Apogee is a well known brand for clocks units (Converters as well)......among others.

I think you may be overthinking the term s/pdif. S/pdif is only a protocol by which a digital signal is passed from one unit to another....period. There are others such as AES & Toslink and in fact USB which do the same thing but with some variation within their own protocol (speed, sample rate, connectors etc.).

MisterCrayle said:
So even with Axe set as the slave, you're still able to track/record it via S/PDIF, correct?
Click to expand...

Yes.
 
Last edited:
Zedhed said:
I think you may be overthinking the term s/pdif.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely correct.

One last newbie question —
Even with Axe set & recording as slave, the interface's converters are still being bypassed because the Axe has already converted the analog signal to digital, right?
 
Correct.
Alternatively connecting an analogue Axe output to an Analogue input of the other device would use the converters of the second device to convert the Analogue signal to Digital. S/dpif ( or any other digital connection) bypasses the need to do so.

Again, the Master Slave relationship is only relative to the Clock Source. It has nothing to do with the respective Analogue or Digital circuits once converted. It is merely used to perfectly sync devices for conversion.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom