I have never been able to get my AX8 and Saffire Pro 40 interface to work together. No matter what I have tired, there is no way to get the clocks to sync. From reading around the forums, other users have reported the same issue and this interface seems to be widely known know to not work with the AX8.
I read a post from another forum member (can't remember who - chime in if its you) that used a Coax to Toslink converter so that they could hook up their AX8 to the Saffire Pro 40 digitally. Basically the AX8 plugs into the converter using Coax and then the converter plugs into the Saffire Pro 40 using an optical cable.
Well I decided to give it a go, and it worked a treat. And what I was surprised by (but shouldn't have) is my patches now sound noticeably different. Hard to describe the sound, lots of little changes, but the analog pre-amps in the Saffire Pro 40 have definitely been coloring the sound as going digital is a lot clearer and more direct sounding. Some issues I have had with patches previously or have needed to tweak to 'fix' are now not present. Feel like I am hearing this unit truly for the first time since I bought it.
So, if you have this interface I suggest you try this and get yourself a cheap Coax to Toslink converter. Mine only cost $20 from Ebay. As far as I can tell, there is not much magic involved in converting Coax to Toslink. The one I have is just a hex converter (74HC04D IC chip) placed between the coax input and optical emitter output circuit. Maybe someone more knowledgeable like @FractalAudio could confirm if this is true.
Coax uses -0.5v to +0.5v and the optical emitter needs -3.3v to +3.3v or perhaps it is -5v to +5v to drive its circuit (can't remember which is the current TTL standard). This conversion is basically what the hex converter achieves for each on/off pulse. At any rate, don't bother buying anything expensive as there is nothing to this conversion.
It is sounding better now than it ever has before!
Hope this helps someone.
I read a post from another forum member (can't remember who - chime in if its you) that used a Coax to Toslink converter so that they could hook up their AX8 to the Saffire Pro 40 digitally. Basically the AX8 plugs into the converter using Coax and then the converter plugs into the Saffire Pro 40 using an optical cable.
Well I decided to give it a go, and it worked a treat. And what I was surprised by (but shouldn't have) is my patches now sound noticeably different. Hard to describe the sound, lots of little changes, but the analog pre-amps in the Saffire Pro 40 have definitely been coloring the sound as going digital is a lot clearer and more direct sounding. Some issues I have had with patches previously or have needed to tweak to 'fix' are now not present. Feel like I am hearing this unit truly for the first time since I bought it.
So, if you have this interface I suggest you try this and get yourself a cheap Coax to Toslink converter. Mine only cost $20 from Ebay. As far as I can tell, there is not much magic involved in converting Coax to Toslink. The one I have is just a hex converter (74HC04D IC chip) placed between the coax input and optical emitter output circuit. Maybe someone more knowledgeable like @FractalAudio could confirm if this is true.
Coax uses -0.5v to +0.5v and the optical emitter needs -3.3v to +3.3v or perhaps it is -5v to +5v to drive its circuit (can't remember which is the current TTL standard). This conversion is basically what the hex converter achieves for each on/off pulse. At any rate, don't bother buying anything expensive as there is nothing to this conversion.
It is sounding better now than it ever has before!
Hope this helps someone.
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