24 outs w/RME Fireface 800?

[ajfarber]

Hi gang. I've got a RME fireface 800. If your familiar with this device, you know that it has 8 analogue outputs.

Q:Can I get an an additional 16 outs if I use the ADAT outputs connected to a D to A converter?

I've got an analogue recording desk and I'd like to mix with all 20 faders. It's a Ramsa WR-T820B with 20 inputs. Not a particularly "slutty" console to be sure, but I figure my mixes will sound fatter than INB mixing, right. Also, I hate "mouse mixing" in Logic when I can do realtime mixes on the board.

I'm looking at getting an APHEX 141 D to A converter. Will that do? I don't have the bread for an Apogee Rosetta 800. Is there anything in between?

[Loki]

Actually there are 10 analogue inputs/outputs (your missing the ones on the front -- 2 of which are mirrored to the back but 2 which are completely separate)

And the answer to the digital ADAT, yes you can use all 16 of the ADAT i/o with the 10 analogue i/o (and actually you have 2 more i/o through the SPDIF) Total possible is 28 inputs and 28 outputs all usable concurrently at 44.1/48. At 2fs (88.2/96) the digital gets halved. You can setup the channel order (analogue first 10 or after the digital i/o and how the spdif is treated from the RME mixer setup/control panel)

I can't remember off the top of my head but I think the default is:
1-10 analogue
11-12 is spdif
13-28 is Adat

but as I said, you can flip to a different order (I always move spdif to 27-28 since I don't use it)

[bof]

Originally Posted by Loki

Actually there are 10 analogue inputs/outputs (your missing the ones on the front -- 2 of which are mirrored to the back but 2 which are completely separate)

2 of the analog outs are headphones L & R. So you can get 8 balanced line outs and 16 ADAT digital outs (at 44.1) plus 2 additional SPDIF digital outs. For non-critical situations, I suppose you could use the headphone L&R output as well.

[camerondye]

I use a Presonus Firestudio through adat on the FF800 for extra pres when I'm recording drums and also use the outs for my Headphone mixer setup. It works fantastic. In Reaper I renamed those outs on the Firestudio to correspond with the ins on the Furman HDS-6. Very happy...
cam

[awediohead]

I've also got a FF800 and was thinking about doing the same thing - the idea came unstuck with the lack of suitable 8 or 16 channel DA convertors at a similar spec to the RME convertors. Maybe someone's released something since I was looking a few months back, but last I saw there wasn't anything of the kind of high mid end quality RME does so well.

So far I'm still waiting on the A&H R24 . . .

[Loki]

Originally Posted by bof

2 of the analog outs are headphones L & R. So you can get 8 balanced line outs and 16 ADAT digital outs (at 44.1) plus 2 additional SPDIF digital outs. For non-critical situations, I suppose you could use the headphone L&R output as well.

Have and done on critical situations (but of course, those 2 are unbalanced.) The converter quality is the same as the regular lines you just have to calibrate levels first for the impedance difference (not a big deal)

...and as you rightly mentioned, that only deals with outputs. From the input side there are still 10 analogue. So techinically for the analogue channels, it's:
10 balanced analogue inputs
8 balanced analogue ouputs
2 unbalanced analogue outputs (low impedance; 30Ohm vs 75Ohm for the others)