NEW: RME BabyFace with new Total Mix FX

[nyne]

Duet-ish...but with more features and connectivity, USB.
TotalMix FX looks intriguing and i hope all RME interfaces are able to run it.
Details:
http://www.rme-audio.de/download/sheets/Babyface_e.pdf

[nyne]

RME User Forum / TotalMix FX DSP Mixer

Nope!! Total Mix FX is for Babyface only and previous interfaces cannot run teh fx or new Total Mix.

I guess a new series of FW interfaces must be coming out which will be able to utilize TotalMix FX.

[dz81]

Looks interesting, any news on the price?

[nyne]

Looks a bit too blue!!!!
No idea on the price.....i cant wait for the new Total Mix FX enabled interfaces to be released, not that they have given any hint of this, but i assuming that is where RME would head towards.

[iancanderson]

Originally Posted by dz81

Looks interesting, any news on the price?

Supposed to MSRP at 599 euros. Maybe $750ish?

[The Beatsmith]

mm, with the new FX, I think they have obviously updated the technology/software, and will make a new FF800mk2 with the new software with FX and the new totalmix... mmm

[nyne]

.....8 preamps, updated and a front panel volume knob! Hopefully!

[nyne]

and 2 headphone outs.

........wait!! that sounds like a Steinberg MR816X!!!

[PopularDemand]

Should have added a compressor/limiter for mobile recording in the fx since this is a portable unit.

[Doc Mixwell]

They pretty much give people what they've been asking for and you guys want more. This crowd never fails to amaze me. No offense or anything.

[work2do]

Originally Posted by Roc Mixwell

They pretty much give people what they've been asking for and you guys want more. This crowd never fails to amaze me. No offense or anything.

It doesn't seem like much of a stretch to add a comp given that the other units of this type, have comps or some sort of soft limiter.

[sanjari]

Roc,

Have you had a chance to get your hands on this thing ? Sounds like something I would want.... I'm actually the opposite, gimme the super portable interface, and loose all the crap I dont need (DSP, etc).

Steve

[Doc Mixwell]

Originally Posted by sanjari

Roc,

Have you had a chance to get your hands on this thing ? Sounds like something I would want.... I'm actually the opposite, gimme the super portable interface, and loose all the crap I dont need (DSP, etc).

Steve

No Steve, unfortunately I have not. Though, its plain to see this device has a lot of flexibility, given the specifications it has.

[KBOY]

Compression still is a beauty in hardware. I'll track with compression but not eq usually. Probably what they where thinking. Seems pretty cool.

[jpizz]

YouTube - [MUSIK MESSE 2010] - RME - Babyface

The price quoted in the above Musik Messe interview about the unit is £599 including vat. Assuming he means VAT in Germany (19%) then that's roughly £503 without VAT.

But does he mean street or MSRP? His actual quote is "For an unbelievable sales price of, including vat, 599 euros". Companies very rarely quote street so assuming it's MSRP that $503 translates to $671.

So probably street price of somewhere in the area of $500 to $550 making it a very direct competitor to the Duet.

Thanks to RME for coming thorough for us PC users that want (what is hopefully) a stellar two channel interface. Don't get greedy with the price and you'll do fantastic. Oh and that blue color is terrible, it reminds me of the Tascam US-428. Change it.

[scottkrk]

Originally Posted by The Beatsmith

mm, with the new FX, I think they have obviously updated the technology/software, and will make a new FF800mk2 with the new software with FX and the new totalmix... mmm

Don't hold your breath. FF800/400 appear to be end-of-life and RME don't appear to be interested in updating or even supporting their FireWire drivers.

However, I would say a Fireface UC FX is on the cards because RME continue to update and support their USB drivers.

Scott

[jeff.petersen]

Originally Posted by scottkrk

Don't hold your breath. FF800/400 appear to be end-of-life and RME don't appear to be interested in updating or even supporting their FireWire drivers.

What?!? Current Windows driver is 2 months old, current Mac driver is one month old.

[scottkrk]

Originally Posted by jeff.petersen

What?!? Current Windows driver is 2 months old, current Mac driver is one month old.

Jeff,

Not sure about things on the Windows side but Mac driver causes kernel panics for a number of Mac users with Snow Leopard.

At least with the announcement of Babyface & Total Mix FX we now know what the RME mac developers have been doing the last 7 months and why the Snow Leopard FF800/400 bugs were never taken seriously by RME, and why it has taken RME 7 months to document and hand-ball to Apple for resolution.

For those Mac users with Snow Leopard thinking of buying a FF400/800 I suggest you review this thread on RMEs website. RME User Forum / Mac OS X Test driver 2.65 for FF 400/800

Cheers,
Scott

[djgizmo]

hmmm, if this performs as well as it looks, this will be perfect for persons like me with small studios that use Win platflorm.

My firewire bus has been flaky for due to the 'revised' Windows 7 64bit drivers MS decided to use for W7.

Let's hope that we'll get to see/hear this thing in action soon!

[Mats H]

Originally Posted by scottkrk

Jeff,

Not sure about things on the Windows side but Mac driver causes kernel panics for a number of Mac users with Snow Leopard.

At least with the announcement of Babyface & Total Mix FX we now know what the RME mac developers have been doing the last 7 months and why the Snow Leopard FF800/400 bugs were never taken seriously by RME, and why it has taken RME 7 months to document and hand-ball to Apple for resolution.

For those Mac users with Snow Leopard thinking of buying a FF400/800 I suggest you review this thread on RMEs website. RME User Forum / Mac OS X Test driver 2.65 for FF 400/800

Cheers,
Scott

I just bought myself a new MacBook Pro 13" with Snow Leopard and have no issues with my five years old Fireface 800 and the latest Firewire drivers. I use the audio interface with Windows 7 32 bit on the MacBook as well (with a little tweaking) and on two other Windows 7 64 bit machines without problems. The key is finding a computer with the right Firewire chipset. My MacBook says LSI chipset and both PCs have a TI chipset.

[Karloff70]

Looks pretty sexy that little thing. Not something I need though.

Now, if they would only make something like a Profire lightbridge except with Totalmix FX and running off Firewire 800 for latencies near or as good as PCI, now then I'd wet my pants .....anyone from RME reading this? Hello? Please? Pretty please.......

[sanjari]

When will this be shipping ?

[Fab4ever]

I have, and love, the RME 9632. Wonder how much better sounding this device would be.....

[LQM]

Early adopters usually pay a price.

It's (allegedly) true that RME haven't provided drivers for Snow Leopard to the quality of the Leopard drivers yet, but they should get there. It could be worse - did MOTU ever provide decent windows drivers

I've read that the new Totalmix software also works in the Fireface UC but isn't compatible with other interfaces and there are no plans at present to change this.

[RME Support]

Originally Posted by scottkrk

Don't hold your breath. FF800/400 appear to be end-of-life and RME don't appear to be interested in updating or even supporting their FireWire drivers.

Just thought I'd mention that this statement is incorrect...

Originally Posted by scottkrk

Not sure about things on the Windows side but Mac driver causes kernel panics for a number of Mac users with Snow Leopard.

Can you prove it's the driver causing this?

At least with the announcement of Babyface & Total Mix FX we now know what the RME mac developers have been doing the last 7 months and why the Snow Leopard FF800/400 bugs were never taken seriously by RME, and why it has taken RME 7 months to document and hand-ball to Apple for resolution.

And this statement is also not correct, I'm afraid.


Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

[The Beatsmith]

I have had major issues with the computer freezing and sending one of my 8 cores to 100% (Mac pro 8x 2.8GHz w/ FF800 and both leopard and snow leopard) initially with the latest RME drivers. After hard/force restarting 2-3 times, the problem seems to go away. The biggest issue seems to be the first time the latest drivers are installed, or turning the FF800 on after the computer was on, it would feeze.

Once the hiccups are overcome, they haven't come back for me. But then i turn the FF800 on before i start the mac, when i am using Snow Leopard. It runs fine with Leopard 10.5 (different hard drive) so it's either the drivers or the OS. If it's the OS and you can't do anything about it, is it not possible to communicate with Apple to see what can be done?

Thank you for that link, scottkrk. Good to know it's not just my machine.

[evilaci]

Hello All!

When will this be available.....

Thanks!

[Karloff70]

Sorry to hijack, but now that Mr Fuchs is here...:

Is there anything in the pipeline using firewire 800 going to either MADI or a bunch of ADAT in/outs, a bit like a presonus profire lightbridge, except faster latency due to the firewire 800??? Just that, no pres or converters. So then everyone with non-PCI computers could enjoy the RME totalmix and fast latency of firewire 800.....I would buy it asap......just a thought.....

hijack over......

[sanjari]

Dear RME,

Please send me one (1) Babyface, so I can play with it

Thanks....

Steve

[Reborn]

I guess the obvious unasked question is what is the same or different on the Analog side of things from current designs RME fireface 400/800? We know the digital has to be something new or all this added power could not be implemented at a extremely high level(DSP for quality Plugin instances)! Are we talking the same analog front before new convertor chips or a completely new front end? Also are the mic pres the same as a Fireface 400 or something from a different product?

Most important since I am very interested when will we see this in stores?


Jazztone

I have owned a ADI-2, fireface 400 and 800. I have been waiting on a refresh of the technology!!!!