1 Topic by Twigman (edited by Twigman 2017-04-22 00:26:57)

  • Registered: 2007-06-27
  • Posts: 18

Topic: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

I have a project coming up in 4 weeks.
I am planning to take a multitrack of one of my band's forthcoming gigs.

The FOH desk is a Midas Pro1

There is 1 free AES50 port on the desk to which it is planned to route the 24 tracks we'll be using.

I have arranged to borrow a KT DN9650 with a MADI card to convert the signal to MADI.

I have arranged to also borrow a MADIface USB for the project.

I will be using a fairly old i7 2630QM laptop running 12Gb RAM , W7x64Pro and Sonar Platinum using ASIO and internal and external(USB3) SSDs (undecided where to write the project at the moment)

The Pro1 desk is fixed to 96kHz sampling rate (I think it uses 24bit depth but I'm not sure).

I am a bit concerned as to whether my system will be able to track 24 tracks simutaneously at 24/96 and am wondering how I might set it up to track at 24/48 or 24/44.1.
Reading the manual I suspect that using ASIO would prevent me from taking the 96kHz signal to 48 or 44.1 in my DAW? is this right?

Can the MADIface USB perform real-time resampling?

Could any experienced users give me a guide as to how to set this scenario up?

How might I best setup my laptop so that the minumum effort is required to get this working?

I only get the KT DN9650 and the MADIface the day before I fly to the gig in Spain, and I only have access to the Pro1 desk on the day....so trial runs and experimentation aren't really an option.

We really want to try to get the start of a live album out of this and muggins the bass player here has been tasked with putting it together.

2 Reply by MC

  • MC
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Re: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

The laptop should have no problem with that track count. The MF USB can record 32 channels at 96 kHz. I never used the KT DN9650.

And for the record: Your timing and missing pre-tests are a clear no-go.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

3 Reply by Potscrubber (edited by Potscrubber 2017-04-23 02:03:30)

  • From: Aotearoa
  • Registered: 2007-10-23
  • Posts: 252

Re: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

- The MADIface USB CAN NOT perform real-time resampling, so run your session at 96K. 
- If this is a general purpose laptop consider reformatting, or installing a clean daw-only boot partition alongside your current one.
- Ingest this guide from Cantible https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/
- Get tips from the users of your DAW in it's forum
- Turn off all power saving settings in your bios and OS
- Get used to using DPC Latency Checker or LatencyMon depending on your OS
- Set your DAW to use a single Core if you can, and hardware or no monitoring if possible
- For the Madiface, set it's wordclock source to MADI
- Set a large buffer size as you won't need low latency monitoring
- Switch on Enable MMCSS for audio in the driver
- Cross your fingers as MC suggests if you have limited prep time with the devices

FWIW I can record 32 tracks at 96K effortlessly on my backup laptop, an old Lenovo R400 Core2Duo with an original Madiface expresscard. However, it is tuned for this purpose.

Good luck!

Madiface XT, Madiface, 3x Micstasy, ADI8QS
Sequoia 17, W10 x64
https://bsound.co.nz/tools-nix
  • ramses
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Re: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

Recording via Digichecks Global Record could be an option to avoid hangs/cpu load of a more complex application like a DAW.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13
  • From: Aotearoa
  • Registered: 2007-10-23
  • Posts: 252

Re: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

ramses wrote:

Recording via Digichecks Global Record could be an option to avoid hangs/cpu load of a more complex application like a DAW.

True, worth a shot.  Except that it's designed more as a quick snapshot recorder rather than a longform show recorder, by RME's own admission.

Madiface XT, Madiface, 3x Micstasy, ADI8QS
Sequoia 17, W10 x64
https://bsound.co.nz/tools-nix
  • Registered: 2007-06-27
  • Posts: 18

Re: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

Thanks for the advice, chaps...

I'll definitely follow all the tips in https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/

I'll only get the one shot at this!

  • ramses
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Re: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

Twigman wrote:

Thanks for the advice, chaps...

I'll definitely follow all the tips in https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/

I'll only get the one shot at this!

This tool is also very helpful to store/restore the current state of Windows Services. As far as I remember it contains for Win 7 an XML file with a reduced set of services.

I think its a good tool for further optimizing, but not getting completely lost on the way. Its important to save state and to proceed in smaller steps the more services you disable ...

Also helpful is to make a complete backup of the system using a reliable disk image tool. There is a free version of macrium reflect available ... At least the commercial one has a useful feature to reduce the "wear" on a SSD by restoring only changed data when performing a full restore and also performs trim operation.

I think its important for you to have such tools and safety guts as new installations of Windows rob too much time shall you come into a situation, that you optimized your system to death.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13
  • Registered: 2007-06-27
  • Posts: 18

Re: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

Another quick question:

If I am bringing only 24 tracks into the MADIface and I bypass TotalMix, will those 24 tracks be on outputs 1-24 from the MADIface in my DAW? Or would I have to setup TotalMix routing to make sure this happens?

I am asking so that I might setup my template

9 Reply by MC

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Re: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

1 to 24.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

10 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2017-04-24 17:22:00)

  • ramses
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Re: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

ramses wrote:
Twigman wrote:

Thanks for the advice, chaps...

I'll definitely follow all the tips in https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/

I'll only get the one shot at this!

This tool is also very helpful to store/restore the current state of Windows Services. As far as I remember it contains for Win 7 an XML file with a reduced set of services.

I think its a good tool for further optimizing, but not getting completely lost on the way. Its important to save state and to proceed in smaller steps the more services you disable ...

Also helpful is to make a complete backup of the system using a reliable disk image tool. There is a free version of macrium reflect available ... At least the commercial one has a useful feature to reduce the "wear" on a SSD by restoring only changed data when performing a full restore and also performs trim operation.

I think its important for you to have such tools and safety guts as new installations of Windows rob too much time shall you come into a situation, that you optimized your system to death.

Another good tool to create a customized / downstripped version of Windows is WINlite. With the commercial version you can even customize an existing installation.

https://www.ntlite.com/

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13
  • Registered: 2007-06-27
  • Posts: 18

Re: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

MC wrote:

1 to 24.

Thanks

  • Registered: 2007-06-27
  • Posts: 18

Re: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

ramses wrote:

Another good tool to create a customized / downstripped version of Windows is WINlite. With the commercial version you can even customize an existing installation.

https://www.ntlite.com/

Thanks

  • Registered: 2007-06-27
  • Posts: 18

Re: One off MADIface USB user for 1 project advice please

Everything worked fine - the recording is great

Thanks for your help!