KVR Audio

Mikelo · Post by **Mikelo** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:14 pm

Hi,
I tried yesterday to connect my (some) of my outboard gear through Spdif only to find I was'nt getting a audio signal.
Two of four of my outboards have spdif connections. Before I tried to connect the two digital units, I previoulsly had one of them, a Lexicon mpx 550 connected to my Presonus Firebox digital in, which worked fine.
I took out the audio out jack cables that were running from my TC electronics C300 compressor and replaced it with a digital (rca) cable that ran into the Lexicon,s digital in, which in turn ran digital out to my soundcard.
I noticed the audio chain stopped at the lexicon, thinking that I had a bad spdif cable, I replaced it with another (and another), only for the same thing to happen... no signal at the end of the audio chain. I had already switched the Lexicon's audio inbound signal to spdif in the global settings. The TC electronic C300 compressor does'nt have any settings for you to change.
Am I doing something stupidly wrong?

PinothyJ · Post by **PinothyJ** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:17 pm

I don't know much about s/pdif but is there different formats or sample rates or bit rates that might be mismatched?

unless the s/pdif port has died…

Mikelo · Post by **Mikelo** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:20 pm

Hi Pinothy,
well I'm running it at 48, which the lexicon excepts.
The Presonus firebox, locks into sync. You know when it's not in sync as it flashes. As soon as the lexicon is turnned on, it stays solid blue. So as far as Im concerned, its in sync.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:29 pm

Did you route your main audio signal into the proper outputs of your FireBox? On most cards I've seen the digital outputs are on a seperate pair, e.g. ch3/4. Check your manual...

Mikelo · Post by **Mikelo** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 5:23 pm

Hi BertKoor,
the firebox has a breakout cable with midi in/out and spdif in/out.
The firebox has a software mixer with mic 1-2, line 3-4 and spdif left and right. But as I have mentioned, the breakout cable has spdif in and out, there is no left or right.

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:08 pm

Regardless of proper red/blue on the Firebox. Is your sync input set to external in the Firebox control panel?

Mikelo · Post by **Mikelo** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:45 pm

Sequent wrote:Regardless of proper red/blue on the Firebox. Is your sync input set to external in the Firebox control panel?

well sync is set to spdif. As I mentioned before, with my regular set up, it works ok. that is:

mixer (ana) eq (ana) > compressor (ana) > effect > (digital) > soundcard

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:18 pm

I don't know. Seems like the Lexicon is not giving the Firebox the needed sync maybe. I don't know if you can daisy chain digital things the way you would with regular audio or even midi. Maybe all of these items would need a common clock source directly.

Mikelo · Post by **Mikelo** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:56 pm

Sequent wrote:I don't know. Seems like the Lexicon is not giving the Firebox the needed sync maybe. I don't know if you can daisy chain digital things the way you would with regular audio or even midi. Maybe all of these items would need a common clock source directly.

Well at the end of the day, I guess I can't complain to much as my current set up is working perfectly. So I guess its true what they say... Don't fix it if it ain't broken.
Just thought it might be an idea to chain a couple of outboards through spdif but I can cope with just the one!

Thanks everyone for their efforts!

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 10:02 pm

Mikelo wrote:Hi BertKoor,
the firebox has a breakout cable with midi in/out and spdif in/out.
The firebox has a software mixer with mic 1-2, line 3-4 and spdif left and right. But as I have mentioned, the breakout cable has spdif in and out, there is no left or right.

Ehmmm... I meant in your host, not the physical connections. Somewhere in your host you can specify which outputs (ASIO) should be used as the main outputs. Make sure you select the spdif pair (3/4?) there instead of the main analog pair (1/2)

where02190 · Post by **where02190** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:40 pm

The blue light on the firebox is not sync, it's FW connection.

Make sure the i/o of the lexicon is set to digital. Also, make sure on the FireBox Mixer that the spdif i/o are potted up.

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:34 pm

That's what I was trying to say too originally. It says in the Firebox manual that the spdif IN i/o will not work unless you have sync set to External in the Firebox control panel.

Then you have to make sure the Lex is sending digital.

And that the settings are correct in the Firebox mixer as well.

where02190 wrote:The blue light on the firebox is not sync, it's FW connection.

Make sure the i/o of the lexicon is set to digital. Also, make sure on the FireBox Mixer that the spdif i/o are potted up.

Mikelo · Post by **Mikelo** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 4:10 pm

where02190 wrote:The blue light on the firebox is not sync, it's FW connection.

Make sure the i/o of the lexicon is set to digital. Also, make sure on the FireBox Mixer that the spdif i/o are potted up.

Sorry but that not quite right. The light is for sync and power. Please refer to firebox manual page 17.
My current setup has the lexicon running spdif out into the firebox, which works perfectly. Firebox sync light flashes between red and blue. Switch the lexicon on, the firebox goes solid blue and all works well. Switch the lexicon off and it flashes red/blue again. Adjusting the hz in Cubase also gives the desired effect. Stay at 44 or 48 (lexicon accepts 44 and 48), firebox syncs go above that ie 88 or 96 and then you lose sync.
The lexicon at present is set with spdif out and analog in. I adjusted the inbound (to the lexicon) to spdif IN already when I tried to connect the compressors spdif out to lexicon in.

and yes... the card is set to external.

A question about SPDIF