Sorry for the redundancy, I posted this in the music computer section, but got no response...maybe this is just a stupid question.

I want to use the ADAT I/O of my standalone converters, but I don't want to install an ADAT PCI card in my computer (RME, Lynx, etc.) when I have this open firewire connection staring me in the face (I have a Sony VAIO, and it came with the machine). Doing this would also free up another PCI slot in the computer.

Does ANYONE make an ADAT to firewire converter?

What about a MOTU unit?

They have lightpipe i/o and have some firewire models like the 828 mkII.

I guess that could work, but I would have to get two MOTU 828 MKII's to do 16 channels of ADAT I/O and daisy chain the 2 together on firewire...or something like that... also, it's like $750/unit. I think that is kind of a lot to do what I am trying to do.

I was just looking for a converter "box" that would take up to two I/O streams of ADAT I/O on the one side, and on the other side, a firewire connector. Bacically something to just bypass the whole PCI card jive. Just taking the 1's and 0's of the ADAT and converting them into the 1's and 0's of firewire. I guess I am naive.

The reason there's no easy solution from going to ADAT to firewire, is because ADAT is AUDIO data, and firewire is COMPUTER data. An audio interface essentially converts a stream of audio data (adat, SPDIF, etc.) into computer code so that a computer can manipulate it. A PCI adat card would be your audio interface, thus replacing the need for another interface (MOTU, Digidesign). The bottom line is, to do audio in a computer, you need an audio interface. So I guess what you're really looking for is a firewire interface with ADAT inputs. My guess is there's probably something out there. You should be able to find something pretty cheap, because if you've already got a digital signal, a cheap interface shouldn't affect your audio signal. Hope this helps.

Thanks. I don't know if I agree that ADAT is audio and firewire is computer data...I've never hear it put that way...but ok. It's all digital data, representing audio from my understanding. ADAT is light and firewire is a digital stream, but whatever.

Anyhoo, I still can't find one, I have done some pretty extensive web searches. I can find ADAT to TDIF, ADAT to AES, etc... and these are just cables.

I am sure that some circuitry would be involved (not just a cable) as it is converting "light" (ADAT) to a digital stream (firewire). But I agree, it shouldn't be THAT expensive, and there shouldn't be any degradation of sound.

The MOTU option is a bit much for something this relatively simple.

Anyone?

There's plenty I don't know, but I'm unaware of anything like this in FW form. I would think a PCI card would be much less costly than FW based solutions like the MOTU and probably more convenient/reliable.

Jake

Ok, I guess I stated it a little funny, but I just meant that you can't just feed a firewire input audio without some computer code telling it what it is and where to put it, which is essentially what an audio interface does. Either way, you have to get an audio interface, and I don't think you'll get too much cheaper than something around the MOTU line.

rme fireface 800

Agreed with both Dee and Deadpoet.

MOTU and RME both offer this within their boxes, but the MOTU 828 MkII and the RME Fireface 800 have all those other options that aren't really needed for this task. I think if either of them put out a simple ADAT to FW interface box it would sell well.

I mean you have all of these technologies (old ADATs, Yamaha boards, Apogee, anything with ADAT I/O) and you would have one little box that ONLY took anything with ADAT I/O and changed it into FW.

The advantages is you would (1) free up a PCI slot, and (2) you could work with ANYTHING that had ADAT I/O. Looking at the cost of the Apogee X-firewire cards and the Yamaha mLan card (which both do about the same thing but they are proprietary to those manufacturers and have to be installed in their boxes), I would think something like this would go for about $300-$500.

I would buy one if something like this existed. I think many others would too. Any manufacturers listening?

there is a company that makes a USB->ADAT Output adapter (if i remember/find the brand again i will edit this post)... it seems bloody stupid to me, considering how similar the electronics would be, that they dont make a matching input!

maybe we should put some pressure on them... (again, I'll have to remember who they are first)

Matt

found it! that was faster than i thought...

this is what i was talking about;

http://www.esi-pro.com/...

so, why on earth wouldnt they make in input version?!

Matt

RME HDSP5692 24 channels of ADAT I/O. $599 new or get one for $350 used on Ebay. It is PCI though. Trust me I've looked for something like this but you need an interface to make this happen. I use a Fireface 800 for my stuff. thumbsup

Well, you would be wrong in disagreeing. ADAT is a FORMAT as well as a delivery mechanism. Firewire is only a mechanism. MOTU's PCI series run over a firewire cable, but I can't just plug one into a firewire card because the format means diddly to anyone but MOTU. 24/96 audio sits on top of the ADAT mechanism in a different FORMAT. Feeding a split 24/96 signal to an old school piece expecting 16/44.1 results in jibberish.

Here's an analogy:
Does anyone have a book to translate spanish to voice?

What you are really asking is "Does anybody make a cheap firewire audio card with an ADAT I/O set? ".

Actually, I'm looking for something, just like SoulSpace described, and i think most of the answers did not get the point.
Modern computers only have 3 pci's free max..
I have 4 Sonorus cards (old pci/5V) offering hardware sync'd 4x 16 x 24/48khz over S/MUX ADAT = 64ch 48khz ADAT! (32ch 96khz) Quite a lot of stuff!
All the good converters use this stuff - S/Muxed ADAT, but how would you do this in a modern PC - 3 slots and only 2 usable after the graphic card blocked the 3rd pci?
MADI may be the answer, but right now a/the RME MADI card is really as expensive as the a really good converter alone - and then you have to resolve the MADI strean to the ADAT interfaces - an external box nearly as expensive!!!!
That's odd! I mean, this is COMPLETELY in the digital domain and 'only' a format conversion (ok, madi is verry much data possible - but i really don't need to feed hundreds of light data streams - and it needs careful handling electronically spoken...but still - an interface more expensive as the fastest computers or best converters available today??? Only digital standard electronics? fuuck tutt
No way.
So i stumbled over the ESI DG interface as well - this comes NEAR and is REAAL cheap!
I can get one for 29 EUROS! thumbsup
That's more in a realistic pricing range, isn't it????


So even if we need an interface for firewire, what means a little bit more developement (there's a driver to be programmed - it can not be licensed like the standard usb asio driver nearly all manufacturer use) and even if we would have to take care for say...6-8 adat interfaces (making up for 48-64 ch standard 48kz or half in doublespeed) --- What could such a box cost effectively?

I know how much it costs - exactly what people are willing to pay for before the next format revolution goes on... and those digital machines will drop in price like foul apples drop from the trees...('Oh, look at that cheap digital mixers with 16/48khz on ebay - weren't they more than ten times the prices a few years ago?')
To sacrifice their price, manufacturers sell their own analogue channels in the same boxes, that are capable of delivering the desired digital funcionality ADDITIONALLY and EASILY.
(Just look at those firefaces that can be cascoded up to 4 delivering 8 ADATs to ONE firewire800 port - PLUS their own analogue highspeed converted audio PLUS midi...What would a fireface cost WITHOUT their proprietary ADs and DAs???)

If i get SoulSpace right, then we are looking essentially for st like the fireface kinda stuff WITHOUT AD's, DA's, Midi, whatever... just the ADAT interfaces!


If anyone knows of something like this, i would be more than willing to pay what it is really worth after developement, manufacturing, marketing, (logistics from china or korea ), and a nice but fair margin!

Unfortunately none of the manufacturers is willing to do this for us - until now...

China, can you hear us ???


Kind regards

Martin

..

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...idge-main.html

WOW, that was fast, THANK YOU!
Now That looks REALLY close to what i'm looking for!
Can multiple units be synced? 2 of them would fully makeup for my Sonorus in the happy new world of fast computers...

Kind regards,

Martin

so just to be clear, any crappy ADAT to USB interface will work WITHOUT lowering quality of the ADAT signal (because it is digital)?

I found a great deal on an RME ADI-8 but I'm hesitating because I'll need 2 of these to get 96khz (via SMUX method)

Somebody needs to make one of these.... this is just a rendering I did becuase i was bored, but the jist of it would be, 16 adat inputs, plus selfpowered firewire and usb sockets.

Maybe we can pressure Behringer into making one?

Presonus FireStudio Lightpipe
or
M-Audio Lightbridge

cool, so someones doing them already... bit pricey though...especially the presonos one!

for what they do, I think they're both incredible bargins...
The Presonus has 32in/32out at 48k and can handle 16in/16out at 96k with SMUX... you get MIDI I/O, and the ability to sync via wordclock which is important if you want to run multiple interfaces... and a built in matrix mixer with direct monitor outputs... for well under $500 thats a pretty decent bargin...

The m-audio one is a bit cheaper (~$400) but you get what you pay for.. the midi io & wordclock are on a breakout cable connected to a 9pin connector on the back... not a full rackmount unit (which may be a feature to some if you need to save space)... only activity lights instead of the full per-channel metering the presonus has...

Just wondering about the same sort of thing, but was thinking of one step further, and totally eliminating the computer from the equation. As fast as USB2.0 flash media and other formats of flash card have gotten now, and as cheap as it would seem to get a small dedicated microcontroller assigned to converting an optical stream to a batch of wave files, it seems like somebody would already have something that could write directly to flash media without resorting to a full blown rackmount hard disk or flash media recorder. I'm sure it's still considered heavy by someone/something's standards, but 8 channels at 24/48 doesn't seem like it would need any massive throughput, especially if the path was so minimal.

Something that looked like Bewdy's rendering would be ideal if you added a couple transport buttons and some status lights. Seems like it would be way more reliable for tracking live performances and stuff than most digital recorders, and if it had a buffered optical thru or something, you could even chain up a couple of them in case the flash drive ended up corrupting the data or anything.

Take Care

PS- Is that a different form of optical input on that ESI GigaportDG thing, or do you actually stick the optical "pin" from a Toslink plug into that hole as-is??

Here's a bad answer because it's so expensive, but it does what you want:

Weiss AFI-1 Firewire AES & ADAT Interface

Also, the ProFire lightbridge was going to be my real answer, but someone beat me to it...

I guess that's to me, as I just dragged this thread back from the grave, but my interest was a bit different than the OP's. Most of the thread is about FW/USB output to a computer. I was wondering why there isn't something with a built-in flash disk interface.

But yes, you got the "cheap" part of it right. heh

Take Care (and thanks!)

Sorry, it was for the OP...

but to your question, there are definitely portable / field recorders that handle digital i/o - I'd check out field recorders at sweetwater and see what they've got - I know my buddy has that m-audio handheld thing with spdif in and out, yeah it's only 2 ch but it's the right direction... by the way, that thing makes some damn fine recordings for what it is - the tiny stereo mics work great!

What about the Alesis io 14? I connected my Event ezBus to it trough the ADAT IN (io 14 has no ADAT out), works pretty good.

I'm not sure that the OP is still in the market for this five and a half years later...quite a few options have come and gone during that time.

Oh man, I had to laugh so hard at the word "ULTRAFACE", great stuff man hehhehheh

ESI still makes the USB to ADAT output, but no one makes a simple ADAT to USB or ADAT to Firewire input. The issue is that I've GOT preamps and recorders and other gear, I just need a way to interface the ADAT output of my Yamaha recorder with my computer. I DON'T need midi, preamps, more than 16 channels, word-clock etc. Just the interface. I did write ESI today, maybe everyone else should as well, and ask for it...

`

Presonus stopped making the PreSonus FireStudio Lightpipe? Why? Anyone know?