Would you buy a MADI expansion for the XITE1

wouterz · Post by **wouterz** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:30 pm

I really want to buy an XITE1 but it doesn't have enough IO options (compared to my Scope PCI system with 64 IO's). That's the only thing that is holding me back from buying it. I would like to see how many users are interested in buying a MADI expansion so we could convince Sonic Core to make it.

I was looking in the Ferrofish A16 MKII manual and if I'm not mistaken you can run 64 channel of audio through one MADI cable using four units (or two A16 MKII's and two A16 Ultra's). That would be a great solution

dante · Post by **dante** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:18 pm

Yes - not now - but in the future when I had the $$. I would buy a Ferrofish MKII on condition there was such a MADI connector to XITE - and buy them together.

t_tangent · Post by **t_tangent** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:30 pm

Absolutely + 1. Its something I have been hoping they would bring out for a couple of years now. If not MADI then at least some other extension to get another 16 channels of ADAT or Z-link via the XTDM somehow. Hopefully SC is on the case.

dawman · Post by **dawman** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:23 pm

Yes Indeed.
I also would settle for any expansion at this point.
AES/EBU, MIDI.
I use every single I/O available to me, and it's working out fine, but MADI or Thunderbolt 2 ( optical version of TBolt copper wire). Would be a huge money maker.

LCS AUDIO · Post by **LCS AUDIO** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:37 pm

Hi All

Either that or a bunch of ADAT ports. The great thing with MADI is that you can record 64ch straight to a laptop. Easy to interface with mnay high end devices

keep us informed

Thanks
Eric

Bud Weiser · Post by **Bud Weiser** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 11:41 pm

wouterz wrote:I really want to buy an XITE1 but it doesn't have enough IO options (compared to my Scope PCI system with 64 IO's). That's the only thing that is holding me back from buying it. I would like to see how many users are interested in buying a MADI expansion so we could convince Sonic Core to make it.

I was looking in the Ferrofish A16 MKII manual and if I'm not mistaken you can run 64 channel of audio through one MADI cable using four units (or two A16 MKII's and two A16 Ultra's). That would be a great solution

Yes, I´d buy a MADI expansion and a Ferrofish A16mk II !

Advantages for me:

1.)
16 add. inputs w/ adjustable individual gain for my hardware keys and module racks and more individual outputs for busses to FOH, stage monitors, recording facilities etc.
2.)
Leaving XITE-1 ADAT I/O #1 for connectivity of 2nd machine/ 15DSP PCI card
3.)
Leaving XITE-1 ADAT I/O #2 to connect a 2nd AD/DA I own (NUENDO 8 I/O)
4.)
Offering additional set of MIDI I/Os w/every A16mkII
5.)
connecting more A16mkII for (live) recording in future and when needed.

All replacing hardware analog console, racked line mixers and outboard FX in studio and live rig.
Example rules for 24Bit/48KHz.
Basic configuration w/ XITE-1 (except 5.) fits into a 10HU (max.) rack incl. ventilation panels, power stabilizer and UPS.

Can´t wait !

Bud

HUROLURA · Post by **HUROLURA** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 2:06 am

The trick regarding MADI use so far is that if you need a PCIe MADI interface (to use the cheap but high quality A16 Mk II for example) the choice is just between RME or SSL solutions.
As the cost of such PCIe board is more than 750 € / $ 1 000 range, the host access card just cost nearly as much as a A16 MK II unit.
If one could use the Xite-1 as host to MADI bridge, the cost of such a solution should be lower than that.
Then, on top of the "Would you buy a MADI expansion for the Xite-1" question, you should also tell how much you would be ready to pay for such an interface.

As already discussed in another topic, we could add many things to such a MADI expansion beside the only MADI feature.
To me, the minimal spec is:
- 1 U device
- power supply if it cannot be sinked from the XTDM connector and Xite-1 power supply
- MADI connector (question here is one to be one end of the MADI "network" or 2 connectors to be able to get something more flexible which would be possible to integrate in a more complex setup)

But to seduce Xite users or future users, any additionnal features without much cost inpact would be welcome just to help convincing us ... And here is the difficulty as we do not all have the same needs and our needs are also changing.

What is currently possible with Xite-1/Xite-1D itself already offer:
- 2 XLR analog I/O
- 2 AES/EBU digital I/O
- 16 48KHz ADAT digital I/O or 8 96 KHz ADAT digital I/O
- 16 96KHz Z-link digital I/O but you need to have an A16 Ultra for that purpose
- 1 MIDI trio
- Wordclock I/O

What you could an with any A16 Mk II unit provided there is something to add MADI feature to the Xite-1:
- 16 TRS analog I/O
- 16 48KHz ADAT digital I/O or 8 96 KHz ADAT digital I/O
- 1 MIDI trio
- Wordclock I/O

There are multiple targets here in term of I/O expansions for scope system compared to what was possible with an "old" 3 scope PCI board system:
- analog I/O, but here you already have the A16 MK II available which would probably be the cheapest solution
- digital I/O, maybe adding somme ADAT I/O (including S/MUX feature) wouldn't cost that much in addition to the 16 ADAT I/O available on the Xite-1 itself and the 16 ADAT I/O available on the A16 MK II just to open access to different kind of ADAT/analog interfaces included Mic/Instr preamp for example.
- MIDI I/O to expand and ease external control of Scope Xite Devices especially synths, maybe MIDI in would the most important here as the only way to get MIDI control on the Xite-1 is now the MIDI hardware trio and the DAW Seq MIDI which could open the MIDI access to more I/O but would use the host computer as a bridge.
- Wordclock I/O in case the one available on the Xite-1 cannot be used as clock I/O but probably not necessary

My guess is a simple mix of MADI + ADAT + MIDI should be enough. Even better, if such a device could be used only through MADI it could even be used without any Xite and be sold to people not (yet) using the Xite by providing for example a subset of what is available on the RME ADI 648 (2 150 € / $ 2 750) for example.

And a multiple XTDM connection could be a first step toward using more than 1 Xite unit by just providing an I/O bus between the units for a first step but this probably a different story ...

wouterz · Post by **wouterz** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:58 am

We need your vote

HUROLURA · Post by **HUROLURA** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:55 am

Hum, I already voted yes, but forgot to mention it ...

wouterz · Post by **wouterz** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:32 pm

HUROLURA wrote:Hum, I already voted yes, but forgot to mention it ...

Thanks! I was sort of generally speaking to the people that did not vote yet

Sorry for the confusion.

HUROLURA · Post by **HUROLURA** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:37 pm

Just kidding ...

wouterz · Post by **wouterz** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:53 pm

Jerome · Post by **Jerome** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:24 am

Yes! (But first priority for me personally remains OSX)
Jerome

HUROLURA · Post by **HUROLURA** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:49 am

14 potential buyer so far ?
Not really a "market" to cover design cost so far !!!

I thought at least half of the Xite owners would have been interested (especially to get access to the smart Ferrofish A16 MkII).

And also thought that most of the old PCI users would wait for such feature to jump into the Xite world...

Post by **garyb** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:13 pm

14 out of the 50 or so users that are on this forum is actually pretty good.

HUROLURA · Post by **HUROLURA** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:42 pm

Yes Gary.

But only 10 current Xite user out of the 50 listed here (20 % !!!) seem to be interested.
And 2 others do not really need such additional feature (for now).
No idea about the 38 other Xite-1 users ???

The other 4 still only have Scope PCI but would jump into the Xite world if such feature was available ...

But as stated there:
http://www.macmusic.org/news/view.php/lang/en/id/1454/

According to this 2003 announcement, there was 30,000 scope PCI users back in that time. And as this forum is mainly focused on Scope and already have more than 4,500 members, I was expecting there would have been more than just 4 scope pci users who read this forum who would be waiting for such feature to upgrade their system to the Xite-1.

By the way, nothing really significant to achieve accurate statistics market study, but already a small hint to "feel" the market.

Sounddesigner · Post by **Sounddesigner** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:54 pm

HUROLURA wrote:Yes Gary.

But as stated there:
http://www.macmusic.org/news/view.php/lang/en/id/1454/

According to this 2003 announcement, there was 30,000 scope PCI users back in that time. And as this forum is mainly focused on Scope and already have more than 4,500 members,

By the way, nothing really significant to achieve accurate statistics market study, but already a small hint to "feel" the market.

Wow! I never knew SCOPE had that many users back in the day. 30,000 means that SCOPE was ahead of even Uad by a large number at that time (uad did'nt count 30,000 users till about 3 years ago, but uad are at over 40,000 now). Thanks for the link!

I'm sure MADI would be well received tho this poll may state otherwise. I don't think the poll reflects anywhere near the desire for it. I myself would not pay for MADI expansion ATM but still do want to see it since i know many others would want it and use it.

EDITED

xite knight · Post by **xite knight** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 9:45 am

Jerome wrote:Yes! (But first priority for me personally remains OSX)
Jerome

I dream about OSX too. And I also dream about more I/O. Therefore: My Xite-1 upgraded with Madi + some highend MADI to analog converter = YES! ( Another nice option would be XTDM'ing another Xite-1 to get more I/O + DSP!)

Fluxpod · Post by **Fluxpod** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:00 am

30k Registered users of the Webpage.I really doubt that 30k people bought scope.

wouterz · Post by **wouterz** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:06 am

Anymore voters?

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