• From: France
  • Registered: 2007-09-14
  • Posts: 112

Topic: Multiface III

Dear RME people

I'm  using a MFII in my home multi channel environment for some time now with excellent audio rendering.
Very happy of it, since powered  from a separate supply and even more with the Totalmix remote feature giving me ability to adjust balance and sound levels on the fly from a second computer location.
More than useful stuff while playing movies with weak voice focus or excessive bass ..
I was wondering if a new MFIII might come in the future RME range for the brand enthusiasts, that will inherit the best AD/DA analogue and conversion applied in stereo pro and audiophiles RME converters?
Compatibility with the current Firewire connection would be fine, as well as an upgrade to USB3 to optimize data transfer with W10
Anyway, I stay tuned to the website and will see the trend of your 8 channels gear

All the best,

Pierre

HDSP9632, HDSP9652, ADI-8QS, FFUC, Quadmic II

2 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2019-06-25 06:47:50)

  • ramses
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • From: UTC+1
  • Registered: 2012-10-14
  • Posts: 12,072

Re: Multiface III

Maybe this helps you a little bit further.

If you see what happens on the market then you can regard Firewire as being dead. Its not supported under Win10 anymore, you need to deploy legacy Firewire driver for that and also in the MAC world you see USB and thunderbolt being the new interface standards. Based on that its very unlikely that RME will offer new products based on Firewire.

In terms of USB3. If you see the current RME product portfolio, then you will notice that RME is able to support up to 68 ports IN and OUT via USB (https://www.rme-audio.de/products/madiface_pro.php). RME uses USB3 only in cases, where more channels are needed (MADIface XT 196/198 ch IN/OUT, UFX+ 94/94 ch IN/OUT).
This is for the advantage of the customer based on the assumption, that there are still systems out which have more USB2 resources compared to USB3 port resources and that USB3 ports might be in use already for other purposes like i.e. to connect an external drive at high speed, etc.

So if you talk about a successor of Multiface II, then it would be nowadays - according the amount of channels (<68 IN/OUT) - most likely be an USB2 interface.

The successor of an MF II is IMHO already available in form of an UC or UCX.
Where the UCX would still offer to you USB2 and FW400 and on top useful features like:
- full FX chip on board
- Autoset feature
- Class Compliant feature
- more modern converter compared to UC

If you want to enhance the sound of d/a conversion for phones and speakers this nice compact solution
can nicely be combined with an ADI-2 Pro FS:

https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … our-Setup/

https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … ort-DE-EN/

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13