Any owners of RMEs MADIface? Please share experiences

LeifonMars · Post by **LeifonMars** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:43 am

I'm severely thinking about buying on of these: http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_hdspe_madiface.php and company it with a couple of these: http://www.behringer.com/ADA8000/?lang=ENG.

I have MBP 2,5GHz, 4gigs RAM, and I am thinking about to process FXs to vocals and guitars while playing live. So my setup would consist of couple of tracks playing loops, Operator rack on one MIDItrack and then a couple of audio tracks for guitars and vocals for processing in real time.

I'm also thinking about mixing live bands in Live, which would mean something like 12 tracks going in and out simultaneously.

So if you have any experiences about the device and similar set up, please share them with me. Tell me about problems and how utterly great this would be.

Cheers

LeifonMars · Post by **LeifonMars** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:52 pm

Bump.

jahnlay · Post by **jahnlay** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:18 pm

You'rer kidding right? Why would you want to take one of the best reputed manufacturers products and use it with one of the worst reputed manufacturers products? Have you not heard that a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link? Couple it with some decent ad/preamps, please.

LeifonMars · Post by **LeifonMars** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:29 pm

Since I'm not thinking about to record stuff with this set up, the set up will only serve as a live performance set up. I'm looking for as low latency as possible, the quality of AD converter doesn't matter that much as long as it doesn't add any latency. I know Behringers AD-converters won't give you the best audio quality available.

jahnlay · Post by **jahnlay** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:33 pm

The ad converters are your sound quality, I'd even rather use the aphex 142 than the behringer.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:33 pm

re: the Behringer...
103dB dynamic range
<0.01% THD (distortion)
<86dB crosstalk
is perfectly respectable.

jahnlay · Post by **jahnlay** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:46 pm

Tone Deft wrote:re: the Behringer...
103dB dynamic range
<0.01% THD (distortion)
<86dB crosstalk
is perfectly respectable.

Claimed, I'd be really careful around those claimed specs. I don't trust Behringer products, can you tell, he he

Best would be to take an RME Multiface (or other great interface) and the Behringer, a/b them and if you feel that the sound you're getting through the Behringer is still acceptable, then by all means, use it.

LeifonMars · Post by **LeifonMars** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:46 pm

jahnlay wrote:The ad converters are your sound quality, I'd even rather use the aphex 142 than the behringer.

Well, I don't know how is it with you, but I come quite seldom if ever across to such a PA-system that you could tell the difference if the signal gets converted by Aphex or Behringer.

Hidden Driveways · Post by **Hidden Driveways** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:53 pm

jahnlay wrote:You'rer kidding right? Why would you want to take one of the best reputed manufacturers products and use it with one of the worst reputed manufacturers products? Have you not heard that a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link? Couple it with some decent ad/preamps, please.

You can either listen to this person who doesn't know what they're talking about or listen to Sound On Sound:

I've already bought one to add to my system, and its subjective performance is as good as from units costing several times the price.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun04/a ... 145589f288

I'm trying to wrap my head around this MADI stuff and the copy on RME's website isn't helping. What is the physical i/o on that thing? Looks like proprietary eithernet and proprietary wordclock. So... what other boxes do you have to buy to connect this to the outside world? Seems like it could get really expensive really fast.

I'm looking to get an RME set-up going. I was set on the MultiFace II for a long time, but recently I've decided the DigiFace would be better for me. I want to do a similar kind of thing as you're describing. Thankfully I'm broke so I have a lot of time suss this out!

jahnlay · Post by **jahnlay** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:07 pm

Hidden Driveways wrote:
jahnlay wrote:You'rer kidding right? Why would you want to take one of the best reputed manufacturers products and use it with one of the worst reputed manufacturers products? Have you not heard that a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link? Couple it with some decent ad/preamps, please.
You can either listen to this person who doesn't know what they're talking about or listen to Sound On Sound:

I've already bought one to add to my system, and its subjective performance is as good as from units costing several times the price.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun04/a ... 145589f288

I'm trying to wrap my head around this MADI stuff and the copy on RME's website isn't helping. What is the physical i/o on that thing? Looks like proprietary eithernet and proprietary wordclock. So... what other boxes do you have to buy to connect this to the outside world? Seems like it could get really expensive really fast.

I'm looking to get an RME set-up going. I was set on the MultiFace II for a long time, but recently I've decided the DigiFace would be better for me. I want to do a similar kind of thing as you're describing. Thankfully I'm broke so I have a lot of time suss this out!

Ha ha, thanks for the vote of confidence. That article is june 2004, I think processors have come a little way on since then. Plus, I'm a mastering engineer with 14 years experience, what are your specs?

Hidden Driveways · Post by **Hidden Driveways** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:13 pm

jahnlay wrote:
Hidden Driveways wrote:
jahnlay wrote:You'rer kidding right? Why would you want to take one of the best reputed manufacturers products and use it with one of the worst reputed manufacturers products? Have you not heard that a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link? Couple it with some decent ad/preamps, please.
You can either listen to this person who doesn't know what they're talking about or listen to Sound On Sound:

I've already bought one to add to my system, and its subjective performance is as good as from units costing several times the price.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun04/a ... 145589f288

I'm trying to wrap my head around this MADI stuff and the copy on RME's website isn't helping. What is the physical i/o on that thing? Looks like proprietary eithernet and proprietary wordclock. So... what other boxes do you have to buy to connect this to the outside world? Seems like it could get really expensive really fast.

I'm looking to get an RME set-up going. I was set on the MultiFace II for a long time, but recently I've decided the DigiFace would be better for me. I want to do a similar kind of thing as you're describing. Thankfully I'm broke so I have a lot of time suss this out!
Ha ha, thanks for the vote of confidence. That article is june 2004, I think processors have come a little way on since then. Plus, I'm a mastering engineer with 14 years experience, what are your specs?

It's $250 USD. The next closest product is $500 for the M-Audio Octane. It just has to work and sound good, and it does. That's all. You're right, a lot of Behringer is a waste of money, but this one is a godsend.

LeifonMars · Post by **LeifonMars** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:22 pm

Hidden Driveways wrote:I'm trying to wrap my head around this MADI stuff and the copy on RME's website isn't helping. What is the physical i/o on that thing? Looks like proprietary eithernet and proprietary wordclock. So... what other boxes do you have to buy to connect this to the outside world? Seems like it could get really expensive really fast.

Yeah, I'm slowly starting to realize that I got all carried away in my little excitement. I thought all it would take would be this MADiface and ADA8000 to connect it to real world. Damn.

dcease · Post by **dcease** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:32 pm

are you sure that the berhinger boxes will work with the rme madi thingy? as far as i can tell, with these products, you'd need a box (fancy mixer/interface, etc) to take all your analogs out as aes/ebu on a subd connector, to another box, which would convert to madi, then pass to the pci buss, via the madiface... or an interface which output madi, either way, i don't think you could just plug in an adat lightpipe, and stream that thru the madiface... would be cool tho...

LeifonMars · Post by **LeifonMars** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:35 pm

dcease wrote:are you sure that the berhinger boxes will work with the rme madi thingy? as far as i can tell, with these products, you'd need a box (fancy mixer/interface, etc) to take all your analogs out as aes/ebu on a subd connector, to another box, which would convert to madi, then pass to the pci buss, via the madiface... or an interface which output madi, either way, i don't think you could just plug in an adat lightpipe, and stream that thru the madiface... would be cool tho...

No, not sure at all. Actually I'm pretty convinced by now that they won't.

jahnlay · Post by **jahnlay** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:37 pm

Plus a the RME HDSPe MADIface for $1600, dude! Buy the Multiface 2, I promise it will be the best investment you ever make (It's on Sweetwater for $1150)!