Edirol UA-101 routing questions

[matthewjumps]

Im interested in getting a second hand Edirol UA-101 to act as a Pre/AD/DA for an RME Digiface USB. I am hoping people who own one can answer a couple of questions

Most importantly, would routing the optical inputs of the UA-101 direct to the analogue line and headphone outs, and simultaneously, the analogue mic/inst inputs direct to the optical outputs, bypassing the computer entirely, be possible?

And would the UA-101 still work as a USB MIDI interface, when plugged in to a modern mac or windows machine?

[T-CM11]

Im interested in getting a second hand Edirol UA-101 to act as a Pre/AD/DA for an RME Digiface USB. I am hoping people who own one can answer a couple of questions

Most importantly, would routing the optical inputs of the UA-101 direct to the analogue line and headphone outs, and simultaneously, the analogue mic/inst inputs direct to the optical outputs, bypassing the computer entirely, be possible?

Routing optical is done by the Digiface software and/or DAW.
Whether the Digiface can operate standalone -> see its manual/specifications (My Fireface UC can, but don't have need for it)

In my case: Fireface UC + (ADAT) ADDA8200 -> I can route any input and output of my ADAT device to any other input or output - using Cubase or the RME software.

And would the UA-101 still work as a USB MIDI interface, when plugged in to a modern mac or windows machine?

https://www.roland.com/us/products/ua-101/downloads/
It has Windows 10 drivers, so it will probably work in W11 too (no guarantees). Can't tell you anything about macs.

[matthewjumps]

Routing optical is done by the Digiface software and/or DAW. Whether the Digiface can operate standalone -> see its manual/specifications (My Fireface UC can, but don't have need for it)
In my case: Fireface UC + (ADAT) ADDA8200 -> I can route any input and output of my ADAT device to any other input or output - using Cubase or the RME software.

I understand that the Digiface optical routing is done using RMEs software. That is not what I am talking about. I am also not talking about running the Digiface standalone.

What I am specifically talking about is the Edirol UA-101 operating in the place of the ADA8200 in your setup. The ADA8200 routes its analogue ins directly to its digital outs, and its digital ins to its analogue outs, allowing it to be used as a Pre/AD/DA converter

In order to do that with the Edirol UA-101 I need to know if the UA-101 can be set up to act like the ADA8200, eg route its analogue mic/line inputs direct to its optical outputs, and route its optical inputs to its analogue main line outs/headphone outs

[T-CM11]

What I am specifically talking about is the Edirol UA-101 operating in the place of the ADA8200 in your setup. The ADA8200 routes its analogue ins directly to its digital outs, and its digital ins to its analogue outs, allowing it to be used as a Pre/AD/DA converter

In order to do that with the Edirol UA-101 I need to know if the UA-101 can be set up to act like the ADA8200, eg route its analogue mic/line inputs direct to its optical outputs, and route its optical inputs to its analogue main line outs/headphone outs

The Edirol UA-101 is SPDIF, not ADAT. So only stereo out and in via optical.

[matthewjumps]

I know that. It has optical SPDIF I/O - which the Digiface is capable of sending/receiving.

Again, the only thing I am interested in is if the UA-101 is capable of supporting the routing I need. I have done my research on every other aspect, I just cant find clear info on the direct routing capabilities of optical IO of the UA-101

Just so we are clear - analogue 1 + 2 in need to be directly routed to the stereo SPDIF optical out, bypassing the USB/PC connection. And similarly, the stereo SPDIF optical in needs to be directly routed to analogue out 1 + 2, and the headphones

Can the UA-101 support that

[BertKoor]

The patch bay of the UA-101 should support routing of analog I/O (ch1-8) to digital (channels 9 & 10)
But I highly doubt this device will work at all without a USB connection to a computer.

[matthewjumps]

I am okay with it being plugged in over USB as long as the routing is direct AD/DA. It does have a separate DC input though, which makes me think it might work standalone?

Honestly ideally I can get it running via USB, and still maintain MIDI support

[BertKoor]

Driver support for the UA-101 is quite limited. I would not gamble it.
I'd advice to buy a second-hand Behringer ADA8000 and a headphone amp, or a mixer with ADAT.

[matthewjumps]

I have an ADA8200 in my home studio, I have been contemplating something like you said, but it really starts to get away from the whole 'portable' thing. An RME Digiface + a half rack width USB powered unit like the UA-101 is a lot more portable than an RME Digiface + a full rack width ADA8000 + a headphone amp.

As far as mixers goes, I am all ears - is there anything small, cheap and portable with optical I/O you can think of?

[matthewjumps]

I have found people in reviews say that the UA-101 can operate in standalone mode, I wonder if that is the case then all I really need is to configure the routing once on an older machine, then I can use it indefinitely?

That wont give me the MIDI I/O if I cant get the drivers to work on newer machines, but that is not as important to me.

I would just love actual confirmation from someone who owns one, re the routing and I guess re standalone mode

[BertKoor]

As far as mixers goes, I am all ears.

See another discussion:
viewtopic.php?t=599857

[DNnX]

I have been owning UA-101 for about 15 years.
I'm still using as multi-out interface from PC + UVI Falcon Standalone.
It works well on Windows 11 latest.

UA-101.png

I think this setting will mix all inputs and outputs mixed audio (MONITOR OUT) to SPDIF.

[matthewjumps]

I have been owning UA-101 for about 15 years...

Good to hear from someone who actually owns and uses it, thanks for the reply

It works well on Windows 11 latest.

That is awesome, that gives me hope that I can get it working on macOS 11.5 too

I think this setting will mix all inputs and outputs mixed audio (MONITOR OUT) to SPDIF.

I would just want to route the analogue mic/line inputs to SPDIF out directly, bypassing the computer/DAW. I would also want to route the SPDIF inputs to the line out/headphone out directly, bypassing the computer/DAW. Reckon that is doable?

[BertKoor]

Have you bought that DigiFace already?
If not: use just an Edirol UA-101. It's a full blown interface, not much wrong with it, and portable as you wanted.

How you sketched it with chaining them, to me that sounds like a recipe for surprises, headaches and disaster. I truely don't know what a DigiFace (other than bring a RME product) brings to your table. S/PDif is not free of extra latency.

[matthewjumps]

I have the Digiface USB. It is lightning fast, and rock solid. Plugged into my old 2020 M1 Macbook Pro, I am getting RTL times only 0.5ms slower than my audio desktop rig using an RME PCIe card.

I am very happy with that being the core of the rig. I just want to use the Edirol (or something like it) as the pres/AD/DA. And if it is anything like almost any other AD/DA, it likely wont add much more latency to the Digifaces already lightning fast RTL.

If I was going to use something else as the interface, not the RME, I would get a new one, not something old and second hand like the Edirol. But literally every new interface I tested other than the RME has an absolute bare minimum of 6+ms latency even at lowest buffer sizes.

The point of this thread is about using the UA-101 (or something similar) as the front end of the RME, so I get the RME drivers, low latency performance, stability, etc