I found this post amongst a thread that was recently dug up from the grave.

"Has anyone had any luck connecting a Lex directly to their computer via S/PDIF i/o's, so as to use them as part of an Aux send for, say SONAR?

I've been trying, with my Audiophile 2496: I can get the signal going TO my MPX1 from the Aux's with no problem....but can't seem to get the Audiophile to recognize digital signal coming back IN via the S/PDIF. Doesn't seem to like doing a round-trip....weird. All the connections are solid, and I can get digital audio IN from the MXP1....as long as I'm not sending OUT simultaniously....very frustraing, as it seems soooo close.

I know Scot has had success doing this....has anyone else using SONAR, a Lex and an M-Audio card?"

Did you ever find a solution to this? I have been struggling with the very same issue and it doesn't matter if I'm using Sonar or Cubase SX... no matter what I try, I cannot get send and receive to work simultaneously via S/PDIF from my Layla24 to my Lexicon MPX550. I think I've tried every single configuration possible. The *only* halfway solution I've come up with is to send to the MPX via a pair of analog outputs, set the MPX as the S/PDIF master (setting it's sample rate clock occordingly) and running into the Layla24 via S/PDIF as the slave. This works, but I'd rather not have to do an unnecessary D/A -> A/D conversion and I'd feel better if my audio card was the clock master. Hmm.... frustrating!

-Tronam

I don't have the unit but off the cuff I'd say the Lexicon's spdif out may be at a fixed samplerate that's not matching your cards.Did you try the 3 standard 44-48-96hz's?If so, maybe it's a different number.

'fraid I had no real luck with getting it to go round-trip at all still. I also tried emailing both M-Audio and Lexicon about this and received no reply from either. (sure, I could try actually phoning them, but hey: they have an email support system in place that I used...I want to see them actually reply back to what I sent them through it, dammit! )

I wound up with a halfway-solution: one "leg" of the journey winds up in the analog domain....not perfect, but it at least works.

What I'm really finding ironic is: after all the effort to get it to work at all...I find myself using my assortment of plugin effects more often instead! I keep wanting to be unhappy with the results....you know: "man, this would sound sooo much nicer with the Lexicon"....but so far I've been very happy with the results otherwise, just using the various plugins. Go figure!

Har wrote:

'fraid I had no real luck with getting it to go round-trip at all still. I also tried emailing both M-Audio and Lexicon about this and received no reply from either. (sure, I could try actually phoning them, but hey: they have an email support system in place that I used...I want to see them actually reply back to what I sent them through it, dammit! )

I've sent 5 emails in the last year and a half to M-Audio. NONE has been replied to. In fact, most were bounced back to me stating that the email address doesn't exist. Funny thing is, I used their technical support form...

I love my Audiophile2496, but M-Audio has the shittiest customer support after Roland...

Har wrote:

'fraid I had no real luck with getting it to go round-trip at all still. I also tried emailing both M-Audio and Lexicon about this and received no reply from either. (sure, I could try actually phoning them, but hey: they have an email support system in place that I used...I want to see them actually reply back to what I sent them through it, dammit! ) I wound up with a halfway-solution: one "leg" of the journey winds up in the analog domain....not perfect, but it at least works. What I'm really finding ironic is: after all the effort to get it to work at all...I find myself using my assortment of plugin effects more often instead! I keep wanting to be unhappy with the results....you know: "man, this would sound sooo much nicer with the Lexicon"....but so far I've been very happy with the results otherwise, just using the various plugins. Go figure!

I have gone through almost the exact same scenario! Fortunately though, my audio interface company is Echo and they responded immediately to my e-mail query. Nothing from Lexicon though and it's been nearly a month now.

The Echo representative did a pretty good job of demonstrating that the interface is capable of working both ways simultaneously, so I've pretty much settled on this being Lexicon's issue. It just doesn't appear to be passing the audio along after it receives it. I can tell that it's properly synched to the S/PDIF master clock (LCD panel reflects this) and accepting the input because the VU meter responds accurately to the incoming signal... but complete silence on the other end. It's a total mystery to me and I've always considered myself at least somewhat savvy in figuring this kind of stuff out. Ack!!

-Tronam

Dingo865 wrote:

Har wrote: 'fraid I had no real luck with getting it to go round-trip at all still. I also tried emailing both M-Audio and Lexicon about this and received no reply from either. (sure, I could try actually phoning them, but hey: they have an email support system in place that I used...I want to see them actually reply back to what I sent them through it, dammit! ) I've sent 5 emails in the last year and a half to M-Audio. NONE has been replied to. In fact, most were bounced back to me stating that the email address doesn't exist. Funny thing is, I used their technical support form... I love my Audiophile2496, but M-Audio has the shittiest customer support after Roland...

Sadly, I have to agree about M-Audio: this isn't the only issue I've ever tried to contact M-Audio about....there was another incident involving how my Audiophile's drivers were interacting with CoolEdit2000 (I forget the actual problem details at the moment...comes with old age ).

Anyway, I contacted both M-Audio and Syntrillium about it. Never heard a thing back from M-Audio , but Syntrillium replied very quickly, and provided top-notch support (first via email, and then by phone as we zero'ed in on the main problem). Happily the issue was figured out and solved, thanks to the good folks at Syntrillium , but no thanks at all to M-Audio.

(I've actually had some very good experiences with Roland tech-support in the past, but that was back in the 80's...no idea how they are now, though)

I called M-Audio once with a question about my Delta 44 and why it was creating a continuous blast of speaker crunching, ear destroying static when I tried to use the ASIO driver on my Mac G4 (now long since retired... poor thing). The guy I eventually got on the phone sounded like some Santa Cruz surfer dude who just got into the office from the beach still wearing his wet suit. I must say it was one of the more unique phone support experiences. He didn't help resolve my issue in any way, but it was an entertaining conversation.

-Tronam

It seems than that bizarre at M-Audio is the norm - not the exception.

I first dealt with them back in November 2001 when I was stupid enough to buy their Midiman 49 Keystation controller. In about 5 months I called them about 6 times because the controller refused to work via USB. Each time I was told that my system was screwed up, and had everything reinstalled - only to break down as soon as I rebooted the next time.

Finally, the last time I called them I managed to escalate the situation from the idiot on the line to a "senior tech support specialist". His contribution was to have me reboot the system, promptly criticize the "crappy" start-up sound I use with Win2k (that apparently wasn't up to his standards), and then to pass me on to his manager. He in turn discovered that the controller I bought had been recalled because of factory problems *before* it hit the market - and should never have been sold in the first place! I swallowed the 20% restocking charges, switched to the Evolution MK249C, and hasn't looked back since...

...then, around April 2002 I bought the Audiophile2496, and its ASIO drivers started to act strange. This time I sent 5 emails (they don't have a 1-800 number in Canada, and the previous phonecalls added up to U$60 so I wasn't about to spend that money again, especially on a U$180 soundcard). I'm still waiting for an answer.

It simply blows my mind how a) a company with such a line of products as M-Audio can afford such a shitty service, and b) they still haven't gone bankrupt, after all the horror and misinformation with their controllers and such...

The original Sp/DIF protocol doesn't allow for this actually. But there are some workarounds done by several companies.

For ex. a Creamware Pulsar I can't do this but a Pulsar II can.

However a TC Electronics unit CAN be connected this way 'cause they have a similar workaround.

I don't have the technical terms for all of this but i hope you get the picture.
It is simply a matter on how strict they follow the sp/dif specs.

Or at least that's what i've been told.

So no one knows what sample rate this thing(Lexicon)is locked at.That's brilliant!

Alan wrote:

So no one knows what sample rate this thing(Lexicon)is locked at.That's brilliant!

The Lex MPX1 only allows for 44.1, which is also what my Audiophile is as well.

My Lexicon MPX550 supports 44KHz or 48KHz via S/PDIF. I would assume most of the others do as well, except for some of the higher end models that support 96KHz.

-Tronam

Tronam wrote:

My Lexicon MPX550 supports 44KHz or 48KHz via S/PDIF

Which means there has to be a way to set that option in the Lexicon so you can match it with the Audiophile.If you already know that,ignore this post.

You are right... there is. But that is only for when you want the Lexicon to be the S/PDIF timing master. When it is set up that way, it will only receive via the analog inputs because if it's the master, it won't accept a digital input from another master (apparently, S/PDIF relationships are not democratic It's a "I am the one and only God and you are all slaves" kind of interface design). Either way, my preference is for the Layla24 to be the timing master and the Lexicon to be the slave. When set up this way, everything looks correct. The Lexicon reflects the correct sampling rate and that it's established a connection as an S/PDIF slave. Also, the VU meters react correctly to the audio I send to it. But... silence. That's the weird thing. It's like the MPX is simply not forwarding the processed audio on via it's S/PDIF out to the Layla. Documentation seems rather scant on this kind of connectivity for some reason. It's a bit of a conundrum and always leaves me scratching my head.

-Tronam

Quote:

My Lexicon MPX550 supports 44KHz or 48KHz via S/PDIF. I would assume most of the others do as well, except for some of the higher end models that support 96KHz.

Nope, afraid not: the MPX1 is locked at 44.1. Quoth the manual:

"Only 44.1kHz signals are recognized".

And quoth their online knowledge base at http://www.lexicon.com/kbase/answer.asp?qid=639

"Note: the MPX-1 will accept only signals at 44.1 kHz. See page 5-2 of the User Guide. "

In light of our main issue, the page at http://www.lexicon.com/kbase/answer.asp?qid=994 states:

"MPX 1 Knowledge Base Request:
Issue: Question: Can you use both SPDIF in and SPDIF out at the same time?
Answer: Yes. "

Anyway, it appears that the MPX550, being newer, allows for 44 and 48 while the MPX1 does not. There's been no upgrade to the software (v1.1), though I doubt this is the sort of thing a software upgrade could address.

Sadly: this is just Reason #558 of "Why My General Interest in Ever Purchasing Any New Hardware Again Is Slowly But Surely Dwindling Away".

This should be ok though, Har. Personally, I only use 44KHz anyways. Since that is my eventual target sampling rate, I'd rather remain at that rate through the whole process. Doing a sample-rate-conversion from 48 to 44 is nastier on your audio than recording in 44khz in the first place.

Regarding S/PDIF, I also talked with someone who uses both the inputs and outputs simultaneously with his MPX550. He routes it that way using Logic and a MOTU 828 on his Mac G4. Hmm... I'm going to have to give Echo another call on this one.

-Tronam