Pro Tools hardware question...

[grobichaud]

I was wondering if anyone knows if you can use pro tools HD hardware (192 i/o or 96 i/o) with the 002 or the 003 like you can with Apogee's Rosetta 800?

http://www.apogeedigital.com/pdf/con...C_Digi002_.pdf

^^ something to that effect. And in the case with the rosetta, would that bypass the 002 converters and allow you to use the rosetta converters?

[grobichaud]

anyone?

[Roc Mixwell]

Yes: using the Rosetta 800's ADAT I/O connected to the 002/003 would bypass the converters of those units.

Using the PTHD interfaces in this manor is kind of like putting a Batman suit on; It'll make you feel muscular and ready for battle, but in reality, you've still got an enormously large beer belly under all that fake plastic armor. This would be paying way to much money for nothing special.

[dhiltonlittle]

Originally Posted by Roc Mixwell

Yes: using the Rosetta 800's ADAT I/O connected to the 002/003 would bypass the converters of those units.

Using the PTHD interfaces in this manor is kind of like putting a Batman suit on; It'll make you feel muscular and ready for battle, but in reality, you've still got an enormously large beer belly under all that fake plastic armor. This would be paying way to much money for nothing special.

haha!

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by grobichaud

I was wondering if anyone knows if you can use pro tools HD hardware (192 i/o or 96 i/o) with the 002 or the 003 like you can with Apogee's Rosetta 800?

http://www.apogeedigital.com/pdf/con...C_Digi002_.pdf

^^ something to that effect. And in the case with the rosetta, would that bypass the 002 converters and allow you to use the rosetta converters?

no to the first question - yes to the second.

[winvbass]

Originally Posted by Roc Mixwell

Using the PTHD interfaces in this manor is kind of like putting a Batman suit on; It'll make you feel muscular and ready for battle, but in reality, you've still got an enormously large beer belly under all that fake plastic armor.

...and the winner of this year 'Analogy of the Year' award goes to...

[grobichaud]

hahaha to Roc...

and thanks this information has helped alot.

[grobichaud]

sorry to keep this post going but ONE more question...

The Rosetta 800 has 8 analog inputs and outputs... is it possible to get 16 simultaneous channels at the same time on this setup (rosetta through digi002)? like can you use the rosetta inputs and the digi002 inputs at the same time? or even put 2 rosettas through the digi002?

[bogus]

Its possible to use the rosetta (8ch) and 8 additional channels through the 4pre's and 4 line ins on the 002.. However these channels will be converted (obviously) by the 002's converter..

I run a setup with a 003 rack with an RME OctamicD (8ch preamp/converter) through the adat input with 2 aphex 207 preamps going into the line ins on the 003, aswell as the 4 built in preamps..

If you like to get two additional ins, use a preamp with spdif out

[grobichaud]

Bogus, do you notice a significant difference in quality between the tracks that are using the different converters?

[bogus]

no not really to my ears.. I honestly must say that I don't care either :) But I guess a rosetta would yield a sonical difference :)

[TheBSper]

Hey grobichaud,

The short answer is yes, with a Rosetta 800 and Digi 002/003 you can get 16 channels at once, provided you have enough pre-amps. I have a similar setup, with an RME FireFace 800 (similar to Rosetta) connected to my 002 via ADAT/Optical. I can use up to 16 tracks at a time like this, here's how and in what order I would connect them:

The best sounding signal is my 8 external preamps connected to the 8 analogue inputs of the FF800, then using the FF800 as the converter and sending the digital signal to ProTools over the optical cable. This uses the RME converter's superior conversion on my 8 best mic pres.

Next I go to the 4 preamps on the 002. This uses the 002 as the pre and converter. The only complication is that the phantom power on the 002 works in pairs, so channel 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 both share the same phantom power button, there is no way to have phantom power on preamp 1 without activating it for preamp 2 as well. This means you have to pay attention what you plug in where. Otherwise this is the next best sounding option

Finally I go to the 4 preamps on the FF800. The reason I go to these last is because of the design of the FireFace. After the preamp the signal immediately goes to the AD converter in the FireFace. Since I've used all the bandwidth on the optical cable for the first 8 mics I can't send any more digital information to ProTools like this. Instead I have to go out of the FireFace's analogue outputs and then into the 002's Analogue inputs 5-8. This means the FireFace is converting those mic pres from A to D then back to A again to go into the 002, then the 002 has to convert it to digital AGAIN to get into ProTools.

The extra round of AD/DA is why I go to the FireFace pres last. If ProTools would recognize audio coming down the firewire cable, or if I could bypass the converters and take the analogue signal directly from the mic pres to the analogue outputs without converting, then I would use the FireFace 800 preamps as my second choice since I would no longer have that extra round of conversion.

Just make sure you're aware of where the designer of your firewire interface has routed the signal after the preamps, otherwise you may wind up converting twice which can cause pretty bad losses when dealing with cheaper converters. Also ProTools will NOT recognize ADAT/Optical and SPDIF signals AT THE SAME TIME, it's either one or the other.

And no, you cannot hook up more than one Rosetta at a time to ProTools, since there is only one optical input on the back of the 002. Because of the physical limitations of the cable the maximum number of channels that can be sent through there is 8, the cable cannot physically transmit more information. If there is a second optical input on the 003 that is not on the 002 then you could send 8 more channels in through there, you'd have to look that up.

Hope this helps, let me know if I was too complicated and I'll try to explain it in a better way.