Expanding Focusrite Clarett 8Pre via ADAT Problem

burnthewitch

New member
Hello guys.

I'm having some difficulties with connecting my two interfaces via ADAT to expand the number of inputs. I'm running a new Focusrite Clarett 8Pre and I want to expand it with my old Focusrite Saffire Pro40. I'm using ADAT Optical Cable between them, running 44,1kHz Sample Rate and using ADAT Clock Source (Focusrite Console App). My Sync Status is Locked and everything looks good at that point but I'm not getting any signal in Logic. My microphone is connected to Input 1 in Saffire Pro so it should be Input 13 in Logic (info from the Manual) but I'm not getting any signal. Do you guys think that I'm doing something wrong here? Optical Cable seems to work because I can see that the number of inputs in Logic has been expanded. But I'm not getting anything and I can see that the Saffire itself is getting that signal (it's just not being transferred to Logic via ADAT).

I would be super grateful if somebody would have an idea here. Thanks in advance!
 
The Focusrite should be inputs 1-8, IIRC. The ADAT ones start at the higher numbers - too lazy to walk upstairs right now (and I have a Pro 26, so it might be different).
 
My housemate has a focusrite and we lightpiped a presonus adat into it and were getting signal from only 2 inputs. Somewhere in the focusrite menu system the unit seemed to default to recording 12 channels the where spidif? took 9-10 then the adat assignments began, once we changed that setting we were good to go.
 
I seem to have read somewhere that the older Saffire AIs could be upgraded to the latest, gen'2 software?

Might help things if both devices are singing from the same song sheet?

Dave.
 
hi everyone,

I have been trying to install and route the ADAT channels to the Physical of the Saffire Pro 40. I ma using the RME Babyface as my main Interface wanted to extend the in and out puts. But No Matter what I do I get the "NO Device Connected"

I have installed the Saffire MixController on 3 different computers. Macbook 2010 with OS 10.13 / MacBook Pro 2011 with OS 10.15 and on my Mac mini M1 with OS 13.4.1

On each device I get the same no device connect when opening the software. And I to mention because I wanted to use it as a standalone, I have it plugged in using the power cable with the firewire cable together. Firewire Cable is Brand new and since I am in egypt I had to order an adaptor from over sea just to get in connected via usb. I hope it is not the adopter or cable. But I don't have any other devices with firewire so I could check it.

Does anyone has a solution? Please help.
 
FireWire and USB are different protocols. You can't simply use a hardware adapter to connect a FireWire device to a USB port. Connecting FireWire to a USB-C/Thunderbolt port on a Mac "might" be possible, but I doubt it.
 
I might be missing something here but, the Saffire and the Babyface are both INTERFACES. The normal ADAT setup is an interface and an ADAT 'slave' pre amp bank?

Dave.
 
Edit: I re-read your post and now I'm wondering if you are trying to use the Saffire purely as an ADAT device. For that, you have to use the optical output of the Saffire to the optical input of the RME.

If you want to have the MixControl software "see" the Saffire, your 2011 MBP should have a Firewire port so you need to plug that Saffire directly into the MBP. Then, it's up to Catalina whether it works or not. (A quick google says it can't boot from FW devices, but that's all I saw.)

I used a Saffire Pro 26 with Firewire and a 2011, or maybe 2010, MacBook Pro. Use a Firewire cable without any adapter and it should work fine. Then add the ADAT and test that, making sure to configure the m/s clock source correctly. (edit: I used a separate ADAT-only device for my additional 8 channels at 48kHz.)

If, after you get the Saffire+ADAT showing up with all the channels (16), and you still want to use the RME, you'll need to create an aggregate device. It might work, but reports of how well it works vary. I did it for a while with my Saffire and an amp with a USB connection as a proof of concept. It was Ok, but some limitations. Never needed more than 16 channels, myself!
 
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It looks like the OP wants to expand the number of inputs on the RME by using the Saffire as an 8 channel input expander. This should be perfectly possible but the big disadvantage of doing this with a second generation Saffire interface is (like the Pro40) that you have to connect it up as an audio interface and run Mix Control to set it up before it can be used in stand-alone mode. The first generation Saffire interfaces (like the Pro26io) would go into stand-alone mode automatically if they didn't detect a firewire connection.

I can quite understand why the OP wants to use the Babyface as the audio interface because RME's drivers allow lower latencies than Focusrite's.
 
Yes, that's absolutely correct. Thank you all for your input. As some of you have correctly said, I wanted to expand the I/O with the saffire pro 40 with the optical inputs and outputs. But since this needs to be set up with the saffire mixer first i had issue connecting the device with my macbooks and mac mini. I returned the cable I bought with the USB adapter and was able to find a 9-pin firewire 800 to 6-pin firewire 400 cable at a store here. I plugged it in and it worked for 15 minutes, which was just enough to make some changes in the software and transfer them to the hardware, but the headphones now only output a mono signal. I suspect that by default only one channel is passed to them.

I don't understand it, but the connection between the 2010 macbook broke after 15 minutes. The 2011 macbook pro still does not recognize the saffire pro 40. Does anyone know why?

Also, am I correct in thinking that the saffire's headphones only have one channel as default rooted to them? Does anyone have a setup ready to upload where the saffires i/o are already linked correctly that they can share with me to upload if the connection works again?
 
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