PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Hi all,

I have two PCs which I am about to link up via FXteleport, and am considering a change of routing in my setup. Currently my 1st PC has the ScopePro, UAD-1, Powercore in the same box, the 2nd PC Currently just houses the standard peripherals, video, network card.

I am considering moving the ScopePro to the 2nd PC, and putting in my Lynx card into the main PC so that way I could relieve a little stress DSP wise on the main PC and open room for possibly another 2nd UAD-1.

From just a few minutes of random though, I am guessing I could just connect the two via lightpipe? I can get 16 Channels from the Lynx card and 16 from the ScopePro I belive.

So Im thinking I would just take some lightpipe cables and directly connect the two cards and set up SFP to have a block of 32 adat channels instead of the standard Asio2 LFT module as the inputs, is that currect?

But what I am curious of is do I just use ADAT out to get the sound back into the main PC with the lynx card? or is there a simpler method, also if I send 16 channels of adat back to the lynx in my host, Nuendo 2, what would be the easiest method to mixing down. The Lynx card has a routing mixer similar in the manner of the RME, I can choose a virtual 16 channels of routing.

Just confused on how to get all that sound back into the main PC and make it so I can have all the control I do when using the scope card as the master device.

Ide like to the use the lynx card since it has very good converters and a great clock to sync the Scope card to.

Any thoughts? I am at the very early stages of thought on this so am trying to get all my stuff worked out before I start tearing things down.

To summarise, I wanna try and still use SFP to mix everything via routings to the STM mixer, but I want to use my Lynx card as my master sound card and PC, ASIO outputs/inputs and then use SFP to as a loop and use effects/synths etc etc.

Is there an easier way to do this other than the adat? what about spdif and aes3/ebu, one thing that concerns me about using the adat is that then I would have no option for additional I/O, there must be a better solution

Thanks for and help on this gang,

Cheers!

Why adat, if there is fxteleport?

Adat is correct, you get 8in/8out per litepipe pair at rates up to 24/48. At 24/96 your channel numbers are halved because it requires 2 data channels to handle 1 audio stream. Fxteleport exists to relieve software plugin load on the primary PC, performs best with a host that has good PDCompensation and has other latency issues (live plugins etc). Moving SFP and the inherent PCI/system bus load to another PC means that the main DAW is only handling audio streams and sequencer calculations.

The idea of moving the load off the sequencer host PC is exactly what I currently do. I have a Pulsar2 & Pulsar1 in my 2nd PC and have it connected to my RME Multiface that is in my main DAW box. However an important difference is that I mix on an analog mixer. At the moment with only 1 Multiface so I route signals through adat into SFP for processing and either return to one of the RME outs (often mixed with direct signals from logic to the same physical output) or I just route a group of signals that belong on the same signal chain out the Pulsar2's xlr outputs.

In your case since you intend to continue mixing on SFP, I would think it probably depends on your mixing style. Personally I don't mind having longer signal chains that sum in several stages into the same physical output regardless of whether they originate in Logic or SFP or pass through both--I just eq/compress/effect with the routing in mind, but I typically make electronic music that needn't have the dynamic range and individual placement of an acoustic orchestra.

If channel separation (number of discreet channels) *is* important to you I would think keeping the cards in your host would be better because you have a far larger number of ASIO channels available than you would with adat. Perhaps in that case you could install the Lynx in the 2nd pc and use that somehow? If you're a Cubase user then its possible that SFP's adat ports might support systemlink (anyone?) to the 2nd pc's Lynx card and hence V-stack would allow you to still be sample accurate. If not then its still possible to use a VST host (Bidule/MassivaXT/V-stack/AbletonLive/etc) and just avoid doing any work on the 2nd PC that must be sample accurate with the main DAW.

If, like me, having a system that's able to handle the processing I need is more important than number of discreet channels in your final mix sum then by all means move those cards to a 2nd PC.

Interestingly enough I used to primarily mix in SFP because I also noticed a sound quality improvement in my mixes. However now that its in a separate PC and I have an analog mixer (which adds color but is perhaps not as crisp) I find myself using SFP's power for more targeted things, for example a really hefty signal chain to process heavily layered basses & leads. I've now got the ability to dedicate my dsp to heavier tasks basically since its not tied up entirely with mixers, eq and compression.

Thanks for the reply Valis,

Curious, I have a Mackie 24/8 I use these days primarly on one single stereo channel lol and thats just to monitor my mix, but your idea has me thinking. Maybe I could use the Lynx card in the main PC for the clock and jitter free playback plus its sound quality is incredible, put the ScopePro as I said in the other PC and follow your lead as you explained and take 16 channels of adat and pipe them thru my mackie for some analog color and send them back into Nuendo or a master track at the end.

Let me see if I understand the chain correctly:

- Main PC routed via 8 channels ADAT to PC#2 housing the Scope card, then 8 channels routed via AD/DA Box to the mackie and then a master channel from the mackie back into the Lynx card in PC#1?

If not im confused, I could sum in the same way you do since I have the 24 channel desk, so what would be the best method to rout everything around in the chain, I would like to use the Lynx card in the host PC since its of very high quality and has the same virtual mixing as the RME system aswell as incredible converters and sound.

The FXTeleport as mentioned if for VSTi's to reduce CPU load on master PC.

Cheers!

Yeh I understood the use of FxTeleport. I haven't actually tried FxTeleport as I'm more inclined to just run standalone software on the 2nd pc that doesn't need to be sample accurate (ie, stuff that midi jitter & latency won't matter with).

As for my mixing, I don't route back into Logic or SFP to sum, I actually use my analog mixer to sum. I'll make a diagram just for clarity...

(edit--here's the diagram:)



Note: All final summing occurs in the Analog mixer and only the stereo pair is routed back into Logic (or cubase etc) for final stereo mix recording. All monitor control is also handled on the analog mixer, and only minor eq to do final 'nudging' of parts in the mix as the eq's are not nearly as surgical as SFP & software, although the board's eq are much more colorful I must say. Sends aren't used that much but some external processing or an A16U for routing into SFP fx (or both) will be added later.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: valis on 2004-08-07 06:32 ]</font>

Ahh there we go,

Thanks Valis, thats pretty much exactly how I was thinking, instead of using a breakout box with the lynx I can just take the mackies master out and send it to the Lynx analog in, hopefully it wont lose its boost since its not direct like an adat link would be, very interesting, I bet sending the CW synths which alrady sound great thu the desk for final sum makes them sound even better, a little analog color if you will.

Thanks for making the diagram, its just what I needed, now I just need to decide on what converters to use and get some lightpipe cables.

One thing of note thats interesting is that the Lynx has world clock built in, I would bet the cards clock is very good, prob best to use that card as the master for sync.

*** One last thing to be entirely sure, at the end final stages to mix down, you then set Cubase to record the input of the multifaces 7/8 channels for stereo I take it and you then record a audio track in realtime during playback in cubase while playback is running?

Thanks again, ill let ya know how I get along when I gather the final materials

Cheers!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Basic Pitch on 2004-08-07 12:16 ]</font>

Yep I record inputs 7/8 in realtime, although I record into Logic not Cubase. The principle is the same though (and I've done it into Nuendo as well in the past).

Also I might mention that I use the RME as Master clock for the whole setup. Adat sync works fine but I got anal and installed a sync plate for the Creamware cards, and have them slaved via BNC from teh Multiface. I left that out of the diagram