ADAT Audio interfaces

Jake_JW

New member
I'm gonna be replacing my current laptop with a new one, but without a firewire port so I can't use my existing interface/mixer (no, I do not want to replace it fully because I also use it for live sound and like setting up monitoring quicly in the analogue domain).

I have a variety of nice preamps and the current unit has 16 ADAT outputs (one for each channel) so I've been looking for a USB interface that offers 16 ADAT inputs. - no dice under about £600!

Quite surprised to find that there really isnt anything on the market at a reasonable price that fits the bill! Am I missing something?!
 
I thought ADAT handles 8 channels per input? For 16 channels you should only require 2 ADAT inputs. Maybe you are misunderstanding something or I am.
 
Perhaps I should have said "16 channels of ADAT outputs" - 16 ADAT outs would be truly ridiculous.

I have two adat outputs, but there aren't any interfaces in the lower end of the market that have two ADAT inputs.

With firewire going the way of the dodo, most newer interfaces are using usb 3, but still have ADAT inputs, but only one...
 
OK, now that makes sense. I would think this should not be a problem, something like this: MOTU 24Ao USB/AVB Interface | Sweetwater.com

I didn't look real hard, but since you have the front end (pre-amps and analog inputs), you just need and interface to integrate your ADAT equipment to your DAW, right?
 
Absolutely - that unit is more than I'd think about paying (probably) but it's a step closer from what I was looking at - thanks!

Seems like MOTU include a bit more IO flexibility than focusrite or tascam...

EDIT: looks like getting what I want is going to be hard without looking at MADI or £800+ interfaces...it was a nice idea, but I'm open to all ideas.
 
I had the same problem at my last laptop upgrade but my solution was to find a laptop with an Express Card slot (they do still exist if you hunt around) then buy a Firewire adaptor for that (one with the TI chipset). I then kept using my existing interface. From memory the FW Express Card was under $40.

Might be worth looking into if you're still happy with the rest of your system.
 
I have a similar issue. Been using a Fostex D2424LV for AD/DA conversion and going via ADAT to a Steinberg VSL2020 PCI card to get 16 in and 8 out. Now I'm looking to upgrade that machine, and thinking I will probably not be able to continue on XP, so the card ain't gonna work. For most of what I do, I'd be fine with a lesser interface, but I also have a whole bunch of old ADATs that I'd like to be able to get into the computer some time, and it just seems such a waste to buy a whole interface when I've got most of what I need already.

I found this thing which does 8 in and out for $115 which just might be good enough for me. You'd need two of them I guess, which would bring up all the issues of running two ASIO devices and idk how or if they'd actually sync properly.
 
I think the reason for a single ADAT interface with multi ADAT ports is to use only one ASIO device and it syncs the ADATs IO. Maybe, the same manufacturer would allow the interfaces to be chained (big maybe). Usually once one gets into ADAT, the devices tend to be higher end.
 
I think the reason for a single ADAT interface with multi ADAT ports is to use only one ASIO device and it syncs the ADATs IO. Maybe, the same manufacturer would allow the interfaces to be chained (big maybe). Usually once one gets into ADAT, the devices tend to be higher end.

That seems the way - I think it's a case of my expectations vs reality for my budget.
Seems sadly that getting a Macbook with a thunderbolt adapter is actually going to be cheaper than buying a laptop+suitable interface. Meh. Maybe I'll leave it another year, the laptop I'm dumping is a mac and I was hoping to be able to get everything windows based this time round.
 
I think the reason for a single ADAT interface with multi ADAT ports is to use only one ASIO device and it syncs the ADATs IO. Maybe, the same manufacturer would allow the interfaces to be chained (big maybe). Usually once one gets into ADAT, the devices tend to be higher end.
Sure, but there's nothing even close to affordable that does that, so I offered a possible solution. It just might work. They sell one that's just the circuit board which might somehow allow clock sync between two. I'm sure there's a way to hack it if you could trace and understand the circuit, but that's getting a little silly.

I'm thinking more and more that I never actually need more that 8 inputs in my actual studio, so I might just grab one and see how it works out.

The OP might actually do better looking for enough analog inputs and sorting out the to/from the mixer in analog rather than trying to stick to the ADAT paradigm. That's going to end up being another box about the same size as the laptop, though...
 
Sure, but there's nothing even close to affordable that does that, so I offered a possible solution. It just might work. They sell one that's just the circuit board which might somehow allow clock sync between two. I'm sure there's a way to hack it if you could trace and understand the circuit, but that's getting a little silly.

I'm thinking more and more that I never actually need more that 8 inputs in my actual studio, so I might just grab one and see how it works out.

The OP might actually do better looking for enough analog inputs and sorting out the to/from the mixer in analog rather than trying to stick to the ADAT paradigm. That's going to end up being another box about the same size as the laptop, though...

That's basically the conclusion I've come to - there is far more gear that will do this, but I'd be taking outputs from insert jacks as I don't have a line out for each channel. Seems quite a large compromise to use unbalanced connections.
I might have to go the route of building a small form factor PC with a small screen and taking that rather than carting a desktop setup to gigs and podcasts.

I'm quite surprised that there isn't a market for this kind of interface - it seems viable and I can see a lot of people buying into it, but maybe my experience isn't representative of the general reality.
 
My live rig is a microATX desktop doing the heavy lifting and I use a laptop to control it via VNC desktop sharing. I could use my phone or tablet for that, too, so I don't actually need a screen, keyboard, or mouse for the actual audio machine at all.
 
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