Please Help with Using Multiple Interfaces In Nuendo 3 on a Mac

Drzayuss · 20th September 2007

Hello Everyone . . .

I would like to use my Rosetta 800 via firewire with my AD/DA 16x (using the XHD card and digi's core audio audio drivers) together to give my Nuendo 3 system 16 ins and outs on a my quad core Intel Mac.

Is this possible?

The AD/DA 16x units are connected to the computer via the XHD connection and are going directly into my Accel Core Card. Digi has a core audio driver, but one of its' limitations is that other programs (Nuendo) can only see 8 channels of I/O. Thus, I want to add the Rosetta 800 to the system via firewire to give Nuendo eight extra channels of I/O (for a total of 16 channels).

How must I do this? Do I need Apogees Maestro program? Is this even possible?

Thanks,

Justin

HughH · 21st September 2007

Hello,
It's well known outside Digi that their CoreAudio drivers are limited, slow, and impact system performance negatively. As a result you won't get optimum performance in Nuendo compared to other interfaces.

I think you have four choices, not sure whether the second and fourth one will work -
1 - If you're not needing the HD card then remove it and interface the Apogees with a card using better CoreAudio drivers. Best option if you can.
2 - Use the AD/DA16x as now through the HD card. If you have a firewire card in the Rosetta800 then plug it into the Mac and set up an Aggregate Device in AudioMidiSetup, combining the Digi8x8 and the Rosetta8x8 into a single 16x16. Then launch Nuendo and choose this interface.
3 - Get an inexpensive adat firewire interface like the M-Audio 32channel adat>firewire box (forget what it's called). Disconnect the AD/DA16's from the HD card and use lightpipe from them into the firewire box and select this in Nuendo. Ignore the HD card in Nuendo entirely.
4 - Connect the AD/DA16 units to the firewire bus, but you should check with Apogee to see if they cooperate when daisy-chained that way.

Caveats on the second and fourth solutions -
Will the HD card and your Apogee's aggregate? Do they play nicely? I don't know that. Also Apogee's older firewire solutions are peculiar. They work but, as an example, their docs all state only one firewire interface under OSX. Since 10.4.x you can have multiple firewire devices of the same brand under OSX just fine - but note Apogee's firewire docs have 2005 dates on them so they aren't updated. The positive indication is that they are natively supported under OSX and so should perform as expected. Bottom line is give it a try and/or call Apogee. Aggregate Device increases I/O latency.

I recommend solution 1, 3, or 4, these eliminate the HD card from the mix but you can decide what works for you.

H

20th September 2007	#1
Drzayuss Gear nut Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 77 Thread Starter	Please Help with Using Multiple Interfaces In Nuendo 3 on a Mac Hello Everyone . . . I would like to use my Rosetta 800 via firewire with my AD/DA 16x (using the XHD card and digi's core audio audio drivers) together to give my Nuendo 3 system 16 ins and outs on a my quad core Intel Mac. Is this possible? The AD/DA 16x units are connected to the computer via the XHD connection and are going directly into my Accel Core Card. Digi has a core audio driver, but one of its' limitations is that other programs (Nuendo) can only see 8 channels of I/O. Thus, I want to add the Rosetta 800 to the system via firewire to give Nuendo eight extra channels of I/O (for a total of 16 channels). How must I do this? Do I need Apogees Maestro program? Is this even possible? Thanks, Justin

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
using multiple fireface interfaces with logic	jgrif08	Music computers	4	20th August 2010 05:14 AM
using multiple interfaces	tape-echo	Music computers	5	6th July 2007 05:52 PM
Using multiple firewire interfaces, how do you guys do it ?	mikael_bonk	Low End Theory	0	14th February 2007 12:51 PM
Using Multiple Interfaces	Sonic Bloom	Music computers	2	22nd May 2006 01:13 AM
Recording with multiple interfaces	klaukholm	Music computers	0	20th September 2005 10:14 PM

21st September 2007	#2
HughH Gear maniac Joined: May 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 225	Hello, It's well known outside Digi that their CoreAudio drivers are limited, slow, and impact system performance negatively. As a result you won't get optimum performance in Nuendo compared to other interfaces. I think you have four choices, not sure whether the second and fourth one will work - 1 - If you're not needing the HD card then remove it and interface the Apogees with a card using better CoreAudio drivers. Best option if you can. 2 - Use the AD/DA16x as now through the HD card. If you have a firewire card in the Rosetta800 then plug it into the Mac and set up an Aggregate Device in AudioMidiSetup, combining the Digi8x8 and the Rosetta8x8 into a single 16x16. Then launch Nuendo and choose this interface. 3 - Get an inexpensive adat firewire interface like the M-Audio 32channel adat>firewire box (forget what it's called). Disconnect the AD/DA16's from the HD card and use lightpipe from them into the firewire box and select this in Nuendo. Ignore the HD card in Nuendo entirely. 4 - Connect the AD/DA16 units to the firewire bus, but you should check with Apogee to see if they cooperate when daisy-chained that way. Caveats on the second and fourth solutions - Will the HD card and your Apogee's aggregate? Do they play nicely? I don't know that. Also Apogee's older firewire solutions are peculiar. They work but, as an example, their docs all state only one firewire interface under OSX. Since 10.4.x you can have multiple firewire devices of the same brand under OSX just fine - but note Apogee's firewire docs have 2005 dates on them so they aren't updated. The positive indication is that they are natively supported under OSX and so should perform as expected. Bottom line is give it a try and/or call Apogee. Aggregate Device increases I/O latency. I recommend solution 1, 3, or 4, these eliminate the HD card from the mix but you can decide what works for you. H