Member
- Posts: 390
- Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:23 pm
- Location: Calne, Wiltshire, UK
I hope somebody familiar with the RME Fireface UC can help me here.
I currently use the RME Fireface UC as my sound module, and have six active studio monitors running from the six balanced analogue outputs, together with an SVS PC2000 subwoofer fed from the headphone output. Previously I had 4 Behringer Truth B3031A's as four cycling mono channels as my main output, and 2 Siprit By Soundcraft 4P's as a stereo pair for the pedal division. I have moved my system to a larger room (about 7 by 5 metres with a 3 metre ceiling) and also ordered the Salisbury and Zwolle samplesets, and I am now experimenting with surround configurations.
Running my system as three stereo pairs (the 4P's being the rear / surround channels) I am getting a lot of problems with what I think is intermodulation distortion (mainly using the Velosovo sampleset, my favourite, but also with others). I had this previously but it was less obvious, presumably as I was routing the output through more channels. Although I have yet to find the optimum speaker placement to achieve good surround sound, my understanding is that the greatest realism is with as many stereo channels as possible for the front, and a surround stereo channel at the rear. I think, therefore, that the solution to the distortion would be to add more channels, and I am therefore considering buying 6 or 8 Behringer Truth B2031A's (these don't have as much bass extension as the 3031A's, but now that I have the sub this is probably less important).
According to the specifications, the Fireface UC has eighteen output channels altogether. Physically there are the 6 balanced outputs on the back and the two unbalanced ones on the front (for headphones), together with an SPDIF digital output and an ADAT optical output. Presumably I can route one of the digital outputs through another digital-to-analogue converter to access the additional channels, though I am very unclear about what additional hardware I need to achieve this. The manual is very confusing (I am a doctor, not a sound engineer) and after re-reading it I am beginning to wonder whether the digital outputs simply duplicate the analogue ones, and I don't know where the additional channels fit in at all.
Apparently it is possible to use up to three Fireface UC's together, which I suppose would solve the problem, but they are £800 each and I don't have enough USB ports (I could add a hub but I don't know how reliable that would be; the existing ports are already quite temperamental). I would also have to think of another way of getting everything mixed down for the subwoofer.
Can I add a third-party DAC, such as the Behringer ADA 8200 (8 channels, only £140)? Or the RME ADI 4 DD (8 channels, £600 and maybe more likely to be compatible). Or should I get a different sound module altogether (probably a lot more expensive with 16+ output channels but maybe simpler)? I don't want to spend so much on sound modules that I have nothing left for speakers, particularly as I have just bought two expensive samplesets.
The trouble with Hauptwerk is that it is difficult to know where to stop...
I currently use the RME Fireface UC as my sound module, and have six active studio monitors running from the six balanced analogue outputs, together with an SVS PC2000 subwoofer fed from the headphone output. Previously I had 4 Behringer Truth B3031A's as four cycling mono channels as my main output, and 2 Siprit By Soundcraft 4P's as a stereo pair for the pedal division. I have moved my system to a larger room (about 7 by 5 metres with a 3 metre ceiling) and also ordered the Salisbury and Zwolle samplesets, and I am now experimenting with surround configurations.
Running my system as three stereo pairs (the 4P's being the rear / surround channels) I am getting a lot of problems with what I think is intermodulation distortion (mainly using the Velosovo sampleset, my favourite, but also with others). I had this previously but it was less obvious, presumably as I was routing the output through more channels. Although I have yet to find the optimum speaker placement to achieve good surround sound, my understanding is that the greatest realism is with as many stereo channels as possible for the front, and a surround stereo channel at the rear. I think, therefore, that the solution to the distortion would be to add more channels, and I am therefore considering buying 6 or 8 Behringer Truth B2031A's (these don't have as much bass extension as the 3031A's, but now that I have the sub this is probably less important).
According to the specifications, the Fireface UC has eighteen output channels altogether. Physically there are the 6 balanced outputs on the back and the two unbalanced ones on the front (for headphones), together with an SPDIF digital output and an ADAT optical output. Presumably I can route one of the digital outputs through another digital-to-analogue converter to access the additional channels, though I am very unclear about what additional hardware I need to achieve this. The manual is very confusing (I am a doctor, not a sound engineer) and after re-reading it I am beginning to wonder whether the digital outputs simply duplicate the analogue ones, and I don't know where the additional channels fit in at all.
Apparently it is possible to use up to three Fireface UC's together, which I suppose would solve the problem, but they are £800 each and I don't have enough USB ports (I could add a hub but I don't know how reliable that would be; the existing ports are already quite temperamental). I would also have to think of another way of getting everything mixed down for the subwoofer.
Can I add a third-party DAC, such as the Behringer ADA 8200 (8 channels, only £140)? Or the RME ADI 4 DD (8 channels, £600 and maybe more likely to be compatible). Or should I get a different sound module altogether (probably a lot more expensive with 16+ output channels but maybe simpler)? I don't want to spend so much on sound modules that I have nothing left for speakers, particularly as I have just bought two expensive samplesets.
The trouble with Hauptwerk is that it is difficult to know where to stop...