Connecting Firepod to Saffire pro 40 via S PDIF?

Re-tox_stl

Re-tox_stl

New member
Hello friends. In about a weeks time I am going to be doing some jazz and concert recordings for my school. I currently have a Presonus Firepod (doesn't get much use anymore) and a Focusrite saffire pro 40. My question is, can I attach my firepod to the pro 40 via s pdif, is it as simple as just plug and play, and how many tracks can I run through the s pdif connection? Thank you all so very much.

Drew
 
I am not sure about your actual question about spdif, but usually you only get 2 channels on spdif.

Is there a chance that you could just daisy chain the 2 firewire devices so that you got the 8 pres on the pro 40 and the 8 pres on the firepod, then just select the inputs on the recording software to get the 16 pres.

Alan.
 
I can try daisy chaining them. Sorry if I wasn't clear enough though. My question is, do I simply just connect a S PDIF cable between them and I'm good to go? Or are there settings that I will need to change?

Drew
 
If you're on a mac you can just daisy chain them to get all I/O available.

If you're not, spdif will carry two channels. You may need to set master and slave clock settings. Not certain about that.
 
If the Daisy chain works, you won't need the spdif at all, but yes you may need to make one a master clock and one the clock slave, then connect the clock out from the master unit to the clock in of the slave.

Have the units got clock in and out connectors? or is the question about spdif because the units use the spdif connections for clocking?

Cheers

alan.

Oh and daisy chaining does not only work on macs, it will work on PC's also.
 
Really? Did not know that. I thought you were restricted to one interface on pcs apart from certain manufacturers who designed their drivers for daisy chaining. (like terratec and maudio with the delta 1010)
 
Steenamaroo said:
Really? Did not know that. I thought you were restricted to one interface on pcs apart from certain manufacturers who designed their drivers for daisy chaining. (like terratec and maudio with the delta 1010)
Click to expand...

Partly true, some gear will not daisy chain other stuff will, that's why at the beginning of the thread I said, "Is there a chance" meaning it might work. It's worth trying.

Alan.
 
Well I tried daisy chaining them... and nothing happened. I don't know if there are some settings i have to mess with, but it gave me the option to switch between the two, just not use both at the same time.

Drew
 
What software are you using? When you select the inputs for each track do the 2 different devices show up? Does each device have it's own mixer software and are these both open if so?

Alan.
 
I am using logic. I can switch between the two interfaces in my audio preferences, but not both at the same time. I selected the saffire and I can choose between inputs 1-20 for each track, but only inputs 1-8 (saffire ins) are getting signal. I have tried every pre on the firepod, and none of them send signal to inputs 9-20. The saffire does have its own mixing software, and I have tried to fiddle around with it, but no luck. In their forums, it says that once 2 interfaces have been daisy chained together, you should have an option in their mixing software to select both of them. But their software does not recognize the firepod. I might just have to go with s pdif. I can make it work with 10 cannels.

Drew
 
Inputs 1-20 are going to be on the saffire.
1-8 are your mic preamps.
Out of those tracks 9-20, 8 are going to be adat, 2 are spdif and I don't know what the other 2 are.

Run a coax from firepod spdif out to the saffire spdif in then select channels 9+10.

If that doesn't work it's probably 17+18 or 19+20.

Can you link me to that forum thread you're talking about please?
 
Sometimes 2 items of firewire gear just don't want to work together, you may have to go with the spdif idea. Just another idea, you could have a look around for a cheap second hand Behringer ADA8000, that will plug into the Adat input and give you another 8 mic pres? They sometimes sell very cheap second hand and I have heard good reports about them.

Alan.
 
Are they actually decent? I work up at guitar center, and saw one the other day for fairly cheap. Plus my discount.. I might just pick one up then! S PDIF will have to do for now though, thanks fellaz.

Drew
 
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