Lynx Aurora 16

[AMIEL]

Yep u get 16 in/out!!! sounds great and never a bug with my PT HD Accell

[Cabbage]

I have heard some complaints about the quality of the Aurora D/A converters. Any merit to this?

Petter

[wrigley]

Originally Posted by Cabbage

I have heard some complaints about the quality of the Aurora D/A converters.

Petter

Only from their competitors.
They sound great at a great price.

[Fuel]

Originally Posted by Cabbage

I have heard some complaints about the quality of the Aurora D/A converters. Any merit to this?

Petter

tutttuttif you do not buy it from what you heard.....so I am so sorry!! u do not only will spend more money...you will miss also a great converter!!

[kittonian]

Originally Posted by pixelhead

I was told you can connect 2 16's per HD card for a total of 32 ins and outs. Is this correct. I am concidering these with a new HD rig.

Thanks

Chuck,

Although we've already talked I thought I'd respond to this publicly so that everyone has the correct information.

If you have the Aurora16 in standard routing mode, you can connect two of them together via Digilink cables and then into a single card for a total of 32 analog ins/outs. However, If you are planning on using outboard gear as inserts this will be a problem since the latency timing will be off. This situation works well if you are splitting everything out to an analog console and then mixing from there.

In advanced routing mode you get 16x16 analog AND 16x16 AES/EBU digital and the latency timing is perfectly in line with a 192 i/o. However, because each PT card can only handle up to 32 channels of i/o at one time, you can connect only a single Aurora16 to each card. This is the preferred way of using the Aurora16's with a PT|HD system.

Hope that helps!

[teo]

Originally Posted by AMIEL

Yep u get 16 in/out!!! sounds great and never a bug with my PT HD Accell

Great
Thanks!
I was looking at 3 fireface800 for a cheaper option,but this looks much better!

[jslevin]

I'm also considering trying one of these out in a PTHD system. One issue that comes up is that if you're using the HD card, the Aurora has no ADAT connectivity, which is a problem for us and I imagine plenty of others.

I plan to pick up an AES/EBU-ADAT format converter for that reason, and I'm wondering who else (particularly Joshua) has any experience with this. The only eight-channel ones I'm aware of are the RME ADI-4 DD and the (recently discontinued) Alesis AI-4.

I've never heard any complaints about either, but does anyone have experience with one or the other? Are there other units I should consider? And lacking any published latency specs, would I be correct in assuming that it's insignificant, as in a handful of samples, probably less than 0.1 ms?

JSL

[Cabbage]

Originally Posted by Fuel

tutttuttif you do not buy it from what you heard.....so I am so sorry!! u do not only will spend more money...you will miss also a great converter!!

Well, actually the thing is in the mail.

Too bad I live in the outskirts of nowhere, so auditioning things is often not possible.

Petter

[kittonian]

Originally Posted by jslevin

I'm also considering trying one of these out in a PTHD system. One issue that comes up is that if you're using the HD card, the Aurora has no ADAT connectivity, which is a problem for us and I imagine plenty of others.

I plan to pick up an AES/EBU-ADAT format converter for that reason, and I'm wondering who else (particularly Joshua) has any experience with this. The only eight-channel ones I'm aware of are the RME ADI-4 DD and the (recently discontinued) Alesis AI-4.

I've never heard any complaints about either, but does anyone have experience with one or the other? Are there other units I should consider? And lacking any published latency specs, would I be correct in assuming that it's insignificant, as in a handful of samples, probably less than 0.1 ms?

JSL

I must be honest and say that I don't have any experience with the AES/EBU to ADAT converters and ditched ADAT quite some time ago in favor of AES/EBU and 99% analog connections. I'm wondering what gear you are hooking up digitally to PT as outboard gear as inserts that would go in and out via lightpipe instead of analog. Or, are you talking about actually hooking up ADAT machines to get sounds into PT? In that case a converter from lightpipe to AES/EBU could definitely be in order.

The other thing you could do, if you absolutely need ADAT lightpipe connections is to purchase a single Digital 192 i/o and you'll have all the digital i/o you could want (everything on the dig 192 as well as the aes/ebu connections on the Aurora16). In terms of latency specs and calculating everything properly, that might be your best bet.

[jslevin]

FYI, in case anybody cares, Joshua and I talked earlier today and batted around a few dozen different configurations. But to answer the questions ...

Originally Posted by kittonian

I'm wondering what gear you are hooking up digitally to PT as outboard gear as inserts that would go in and out via lightpipe instead of analog.

Well, not as inserts, but simply as i/o. And the answer is, just about anything with lightpipe i/o in theory. Lots of great converters have ADAT but not multi-channel AES/EBU -- notably, a lot of Firewire interfaces (Presonus, Metric-Halo, Apogee Ensemble, RME Fireface, even that Prism Orpheus thing). It makes a lot of sense for an HD shop to have a device like around and then strap it onto an Aurora's digital i/o for extra i/o into Pro Tools, rather than investing in still more converters. We also use the HearBack system, which runs digital out to the cue mixers and only has ADAT inputs. You can DAC out of Pro Tools and ADC back into HearBack, but that would introduce a little latency that, while probably negligible, is not ideal.

So that's why.

The other thing you could do, if you absolutely need ADAT lightpipe connections is to purchase a single Digital 192 i/o and you'll have all the digital i/o you could want (everything on the dig 192 as well as the aes/ebu connections on the Aurora16). In terms of latency specs and calculating everything properly, that might be your best bet.

Yes -- in fact you could get a 96 i/o even a little cheaper, if you could stand to have it in your studio, which also has a full compliment of digital i/o. Either one would also give you a little compatibility/stability hedge with regard to the Lynx hack into the Pro Tools HD system -- in a pinch, you'd still have a fully supported interface around. I'm surprised more people aren't concerned about having ADAT connectivity, but maybe they just do exactly that. Anyway, once I try it all out, I'll report back. If anyone cares.

Joshua, thanks much for the input and the quality chat.

JSL

[kittonian]

Originally Posted by jslevin

Joshua, thanks much for the input and the quality chat.
JSL

You're more than welcome. It was a pleasure talking shop with you.

[bonusroommusic]

I was very afraid to make this change
but I sold my rosetta 800 and bought the aurora 16...
it arrived today, took 2 seconds to plugin and wow it really sounds great maybe better for my taste.

I use it with Pro tools HD 7.3 and LT-HD card

[francois]

How many people in this thread are selling the Aurora for a living ?
How many actually A/B the aurora D/A with the 192 ?
Can somebody who owns both unit upload A/B audio files of both A/D converters ?

As for the D/A converter part:
dfegadaurora D/A
Sorry I could not resist finally using the monkey ,I was on a quest for great D/A converters in the last 3 month and got to A/B a few.
The aurora's D/A were at the bottom of the barrel, the 192 D/A scored better in my book.
Once again I did not try the A/D side of the Aurora ,they have to be the greatest for people to rave about them so much , the price is right for 16 inputs,is it?

[jho]

Originally Posted by francois

How many people in this thread are selling the Aurora for a living ?
How many actually A/B the aurora D/A with the 192 ?
Can somebody who owns both unit upload A/B audio files of both A/D converters ?

As for the D/A converter part:
dfegadaurora D/A
Sorry I could not resist finally using the monkey ,I was on a quest for great D/A converters in the last 3 month and got to A/B a few.
The aurora's D/A were at the bottom of the barrel, the 192 D/A scored better in my book.
Once again I did not try the A/D side of the Aurora ,they have to be the greatest for people to rave about them so much , the price is right for 16 inputs,is it?

For what it's worth, I've owned Digi 192's since they came out with PT HD back in '02 / '03. When I hooked up the Aurora 16 in place of my two 192's it was a night and day experience. I didn't want to believe it. Price is not an issue with me. I can afford anything on the market. They just sounded WAY better than the digi 192's... to my ears anyway. YMMV though!

And no I don't sell gear for a living...and I don't like it when gear pimps troll this forum either...

[barryjohns]

Originally Posted by jho

Price is not an issue with me. I can afford anything on the market. They just sounded WAY better than the digi 192's... to my ears anyway. YMMV though!

And no I don't sell gear for a living...and I don't like it when gear pimps troll this forum either...

Same for me!!!!!

[shanabit]

1.Are you fellas saying this box can do 16 channels of Analog I/O and 16 channels of AES/EBU at the same time???? That would be fantastic

2. Lynx AES card or RME's?? and WHY?

[barryjohns]

Originally Posted by shanabit

1.Are you fellas saying this box can do 16 channels of Analog I/O and 16 channels of AES/EBU at the same time???? That would be fantastic

2. Lynx AES card or RME's?? and WHY?

I'm sure hoping so. I have a Digimax 96 on the way from eBay and spoke with Lynx today about using it with my Aurora 16 and they said I could use my 16 analog I/O while using 8 Channels of AES at the same time. The Digimax has AES out on it for the 8 Mic Pre's. Worth noting though, the Lynx uses the Yamaha Pin Layout for AES DB25 whereas the 192 uses the Tascam Pin Layout.

[Nu-tra]

I will be using it with Logic 8 when that pcix card comes out.
I am waiting paitiently

Originally Posted by Drone

Lots of positive feed back on compatibility with PT & Nuendo.
Anyone using the Aurora 16 with logic 7 or higher ?
wondering how efficient the drivers are.

[raal]

Originally Posted by jho

For what it's worth, I've owned Digi 192's since they came out with PT HD back in '02 / '03. When I hooked up the Aurora 16 in place of my two 192's it was a night and day experience. I didn't want to believe it. Price is not an issue with me. I can afford anything on the market. They just sounded WAY better than the digi 192's... to my ears anyway. YMMV though!

+1 with the exception that i did want to believe it.

if i won the lotto i wouldn't buy 32 channels of Pacific Microsonics, but even if i did they wouldn't handle ADC with PT like the Lynx. that's a big one for me.

Originally Posted by francois

Can somebody who owns both unit upload A/B audio files of both A/D converters?

if two files were posted you might know which you prefer subjectively, but you wouldn't know which better represented the original source. some on this forum subscribe to 'if it sounds better, it is better' and i agree to a point, but in the case of ADAs, IMHO 'better' is the closest one to the original analog source.

Originally Posted by francois

How many people in this thread are selling the Aurora for a living ?

don't know but i'm selling 2 X 192s. having said that i agree:

Originally Posted by Jack Ruston

I would not go back out of choice *but at the same time I could easily make records with 192's*

[Cabbage]

Originally Posted by barryjohns

I'm sure hoping so. I have a Digimax 96 on the way from eBay and spoke with Lynx today about using it with my Aurora 16 and they said I could use my 16 analog I/O while using 8 Channels of AES at the same time. The Digimax has AES out on it for the 8 Mic Pre's. Worth noting though, the Lynx uses the Yamaha Pin Layout for AES DB25 whereas the 192 uses the Tascam Pin Layout.

I assume this would be possible only when using the L-Slot (or what it is called). Do you need to use the HD card, or would it work with Firewire as well? To use both analog and digital io at the same time, that is.

Petter

[kittonian]

Two things to comment on here.

1. The waiting for the "PCI-X" card should read the "PCI-e" card as the AES16 is currently a PCI/PCI-X compatible card. It is the AES16e that everyone is waiting for. This will hopefully be shipping within a few weeks as Lynx is just wrapping up the final development stage of the software/drivers. The hardware has been done and ready to go for a while now.

2. The 16x16 analog AND 16x16 AES/EBU simultaneously at sample rates up to 192khz only applies to the Aurora16 with the LT-HD or LT-FW card installed. Otherwise what goes in the analog comes out the AES/EBU and vice versa. That's how you interface with a native system. For example, if you have an AES16 card in your computer and an Aurora16 in your rack, you connect the two via the AES/EBU DSUB ports, thereby using all the digital i/o to communicate back and forth with your DAW. The analog i/o is then free to interface with whatever you want and do your conversion.

With the LT-HD and LT-FW you can set the Aurora16 in what's known as "advanced routing mode" and then all the ports are completely separate from one another and act independently. This is because the interfacing with the system is being done via the LSlot card and not the AES/EBU ports.

So, if you needed digital i/o on a native DAW such as Logic, Cubase, Nuendo, etc. as well as 16x16 analog i/o, you would purchase (2) AES16 cards and a single Aurora16. In fact you could add another Aurora8 to that configuration and have 24x24 analog and 8x8 AES/EBU (you would be using only half the i/o on the second AES16 card which leaves 8 AES/EBU channels available for digital i/o connections).

Hope that clears some things up for people. Oh, and since we're keeping score, I'm both a user of the Aurora16's with the LT-HD cards and a dealer for Lynx.

[s.d.finley]

Hey Kitt!!

Any issues with the A16 and PTHD 7.4?

Thanx!!

[ZEUSS]

Originally Posted by kittonian

With the LT-HD and LT-FW you can set the Aurora16 in what's known as "advanced routing mode" and then all the ports are completely separate from one another and act independently. This is because the interfacing with the system is being done via the LSlot card and not the AES/EBU ports.

So with the LT-HD, Tools sees the Aurora 16 in advanced routing mode as a 192 DIGITAL interface in the hardware setup like how apogee does it correct?

[kkulesh]

Originally Posted by s.d.finley

Hey Kitt!!

Any issues with the A16 and PTHD 7.4?

Thanx!!

I've used a16 with PT 7.4 beta - no aurora related issues was found...

[Nu-tra]

Whoops sorry about the yes Joshua I meant the AES16-e card. It was my birthday and I was drunk when I wrote that lol

[fooman]

Originally Posted by Nu-tra

Whoops sorry about the yes Joshua I meant the AES16-e card. It was my birthday and I was drunk when I wrote that lol

Happy bday!

[Kenny Varga]

hi everyone, I have one here in nashville on my PT HD3 rig, using it with (3) 96 I/o's. I mix out of the aurura because I really feel it sounds amazing, especially for the price. (I had an Apogee DA16 that I sold)

I did post something recently inquiring if anyone was having some trouble with their units not passing audio on ch 9-16 to and from the second group of adat connectors on the expansion card... mine was mistakenly programmed with the aurura 8 chip. It is working great now and I have no complaints. The tech support rep Paul was really great about getting the issue resolved. It is a good company.

I use it with the optional adat card to provide 16 adat i/o coming in and out of 2 of my 96 i/os. I mix summing out of the lynx to a summing box and then masterlink, so I am not dealing with any delay.

[kittonian]

Originally Posted by ZEUSS

So with the LT-HD, Tools sees the Aurora 16 in advanced routing mode as a 192 DIGITAL interface in the hardware setup like how apogee does it correct?

First off, Happy Bday Nu-Tra!

Secondly, to address the above, the answer is no. ProTools sees (2) 192 i/o's with 16 channels each when the Aurora16 is in advanced routing mode. Channels 1-8 on the 1st 192 are 1-8 analog, channels 9-16 on the 1st 192 are 1-8 digital (aes/ebu). Channels 1-8 on the 2nd 192 are 9-16 analog and channels 9-16 on the 2nd 192 are 9-16 digital (aes/ebu). That gives you a total of 16x16 analog and 16x16 aes/ebu simultaneously and all port mapping and latency is identical to that of the Digidesign 192 i/o making it flawless with PT.

Also, no one I know has had any issues with PT 7.4 and the Aurora and quite honestly there's no reason to suspect any issues because the programming in the LT-HD that makes it all work is exactly like that of the 192 i/o. In fact, Digi would have to break the 192 i/o in order to break the Aurora/LT-HD. So, you don't have to worry, even though Digi loves to spread the fear of using 3rd party converters because they want to sell their own.

[Nu-tra]

Thanks for the bday cheer! They say that 36 is the new 26.

[Mgr]

Originally Posted by kittonian

So, you don't have to worry, even though Digi loves to spread the fear of using 3rd party converters because they want to sell their own.

Thx