How do I get digital output of FX3 into Apollo X4?

johnnypig said:
If you don't see any signal on the Spdif channel of the Apollo console then I can only assume the coax to optical converter is bunk or something.
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That's what I was beginning to fear. It's the definite weak link in the chain. Is there a pro grade version of this anywhere? I can't imagine this thing is what is being used by anyone in serious applications of any kind?
 
If you have a decent rca cable it should lock and the snow sound won't happen. Just order a 75 Ohn Spdif cable on amazon.
Or a better coax to optical converter, which I don't know anything about sadly.
 
johnnypig said:
75 ohm cable is preferred generally because they're built better compared to a lot of cheap rca cables, but any good, well shielded rca cable will work.
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75 Ohm Coax offers not only low signal attenuation (loss), but also relatively low capacitance. This combination of low attenuation and capacitance effectively make 75 Ohm Coaxial Cable the cable of choice for practically all types of digital audio, digital video and data signals.

RCA is just the connecter type.
 
Don't set the Axe-FX clock source to SPDIF/AES if you don't have a connection from the Apollo's SPDIF out to Axe-FX SPDIF in. The Axe-FX has nothing to sync to if you're doing that with just a one-way connection from Axe to X2.

If you were choosing to use SRC on the X2 rather than sync one clock to the other (negating the need for SRC) you'd actually want both devices set for internal clock.
 
Bakerman said:
Don't set the Axe-FX clock source to SPDIF/AES if you don't have a connection from the Apollo's SPDIF out to Axe-FX SPDIF in. The Axe-FX has nothing to sync to if you're doing that with just a one-way connection from Axe to X2.

If you were choosing to use SRC on the X2 rather than sync one clock to the other (negating the need for SRC) you'd actually want both devices set for internal clock.
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OK so I've tried setting both to Internal. I still see nothing lighting up here:

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Update. New converter from COAX to TOSLINK, no difference. Still nothing getting picked up. I checked, I have a 75ohm Livewire COAX cable coming OUT of the WHITE (output) COAX output of the AXEFX3 to the converter, selected COAX as INPUT, then output from that on other end via TOSLINK cable into X2. Nothing. I tried every permutation of clock (internal, etc), its at 48khz. Nothing. Brand new X2.
 
Manny Fufish said:
If I remember correctly on the Apollo console it should be external which means the Axe fx is setting the clock. I have the X4 as well and run it this way but I’m not in front of it right now.
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I'm wondering what you use for a S/PDIF-to-TOSLINK converter? Thanks in advance!
 
bxlgotham said:
Disregard, the new convertor wasn't getting proper power. yay, it works. Thanks to all who lent a hand.
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How do you find the signal quality? Is it as good as the signal quality through the Axe FX's analog XLR outputs to the Apollo XLR inputs? I'm about to go down the same rabbit-hole with my new AXE FX III into my Apollo X4, and I'd really love to not have to tie up two of my XLR inputs on my Apollo.
 
Sorry for delayed reply. The problem was with the converter unit I originally had. It was dysfunctional, they're all made rather cheaply as far as I can find, but when they work, they work well. They're inexpensive to a degree. The signal is lossless digital, you should not be able to perceive anything as its sending a digital signal from the Axe into the Apollo. It works well IMO. The only other way I'd ever record out of the Axe is if I wanted a mic'd cabinet sound, in which case, you are using mic inputs. I see no reason to send any other way, but I'm not the most sophisticated user on here by a long stretch.
 
bxlgotham said:
Sorry for delayed reply. The problem was with the converter unit I originally had. It was dysfunctional, they're all made rather cheaply as far as I can find, but when they work, they work well. They're inexpensive to a degree. The signal is lossless digital, you should not be able to perceive anything as its sending a digital signal from the Axe into the Apollo. It works well IMO. The only other way I'd ever record out of the Axe is if I wanted a mic'd cabinet sound, in which case, you are using mic inputs. I see no reason to send any other way, but I'm not the most sophisticated user on here by a long stretch.
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Thanks so much! My little converter unit is on the way from Amazon, and am hoping for the best! Just to confirm, it will work with a one-way connection - i.e. just a single RCA digital cable routed from the S/PDIF-out in the Axe-FX, into the external converter, and then via TOSLINK cable into the S/PDIF-in port in the Apollo, right? In other words, I don't need an additional connection going the opposite direction (i.e. from Apollo S/PDIF-out, through another converter and then another RCA cable into the Axe-FX S/PDIF-in? Thanks again!!!
 
Ian4924 said:
Thanks so much! My little converter unit is on the way from Amazon, and am hoping for the best! Just to confirm, it will work with a one-way connection - i.e. just a single RCA digital cable routed from the S/PDIF-out in the Axe-FX, into the external converter, and then via TOSLINK cable into the S/PDIF-in port in the Apollo, right? In other words, I don't need an additional connection going the opposite direction (i.e. from Apollo S/PDIF-out, through another converter and then another RCA cable into the Axe-FX S/PDIF-in? Thanks again!!!
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These converters are intended for consumer audio use, not musicians, so they are unidirectional converters, intended for toslink. It would be better for musical applications if they were bidirectional, intended to be used with ADAT (Toslink and ADAT share the same physical protocol, so it will work for both). Unidirectional will work with an Axe-FX, but bidirectional is better since it allows you to do reamping without converting to analog. In other words, you'll probably want a pair of them. See the instructions in the recording guide for connecting an Axe-FX to an audio interface via spdif:

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/axe-fx-for-the-recording-musician.177592/
 
Ian4924 said:
Thanks so much! My little converter unit is on the way from Amazon, and am hoping for the best! Just to confirm, it will work with a one-way connection - i.e. just a single RCA digital cable routed from the S/PDIF-out in the Axe-FX, into the external converter, and then via TOSLINK cable into the S/PDIF-in port in the Apollo, right? In other words, I don't need an additional connection going the opposite direction (i.e. from Apollo S/PDIF-out, through another converter and then another RCA cable into the Axe-FX S/PDIF-in? Thanks again!!!
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Can you report if you hear any difference in this way vs Axe FX's analog XLR outputs to the Apollo XLR inputs?

I’m tempted to try this solution but I don’t like the drawbacks:
1. Extra power cable. So basically you need 3 cables (rca, toslink, power vs 2xlr)
2. Change clock every time you don’t need the axe, but use the Apollo
3. Can’t use Apollo knobs for volume, need to go in the console software

If the quality of the signal is consistently better than it’s ok, but at the same quality level, unless I don’t need to free the XLR ins I see only drawbacks. And for recording we have USB.
 
Gl4th said:
Can you report if you hear any difference in this way vs Axe FX's analog XLR outputs to the Apollo XLR inputs?

I’m tempted to try this solution but I don’t like the drawbacks:
1. Extra power cable. So basically you need 3 cables (rca, toslink, power vs 2xlr)
2. Change clock every time you don’t need the axe, but use the Apollo
3. Can’t use Apollo knobs for volume, need to go in the console software

If the quality of the signal is consistently better than it’s ok, but at the same quality level, unless I don’t need to free the XLR ins I see only drawbacks. And for recording we have USB.
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On the subject of the drawbacks you mention:

If number 1 and number 2 are important to you, configuration #4 in the recording guide might be the better way to go for you. For that matter, do you even need to route your audio through the Apollo at all? In other words, use the Apollo only for the plugins and use the Axe-FX as your audio interface in your DAW (you can continue to use the Apollo as your system audio interface if you like).
 
GlennO said:
On the subject of the drawbacks you mention:

If number 1 and number 2 are important to you, configuration #4 in the recording guide might be the better way to go for you. For that matter, do you even need to route your audio through the Apollo at all? In other words, use the Apollo only for the plugins and use the Axe-FX as your audio interface in your DAW (you can continue to use the Apollo as your system audio interface if you like).
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Indeed, configuration #4 is what I'm using right now (thank you so much for your guide).

The only problem I have is that you can get the full potential of the aggregate device only within a daw.

So if for practice or to jam on a different source (Youtube, Spotify, etc.) you want to:
  1. route the digital signal of the Axe to the Mac (via USB)
  2. and then mix the computer audio with that signal
  3. and route everything to the monitors plugged into the audio interface,
you just can't. You can do that within Logic, but not outside the DAW.

So, if I have 1 pair of studio monitor (into the Apollo) and I want to get the digital audio signal from the Axe-FX even when I don't use Logic, I can't find a different way. Aggregate devices does't seem to work in this scenario.
 
Sorry, I don't follow. There's no need for step 1. In fact that would be undesirable.

You should be able to do what you want with configuration #4: the system audio and your guitar will be mixed in your audio interface. Simply use the front panel output level knob on the Axe-FX to adjust the guitar level. Use the monitor knob on your Apollo to adjust the overall level.

For that matter, any of the configurations in the recording guide will do what you're asking for in this use case. In other words, the reason you would use configurations #4 or #5 is to increase the number of inputs to your DAW, not to provide any additional mixing capability.
 
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