S/PDIF issue with SB Live Drive and Korg D1600

V

Vurt

New member
I posted this at Korgboards.com about a week ago, but either no one read it or understands what I'm saying...


---S/PDIF---
I wish to mix down to Wavelab via Soundblaster Live Drive. This drive has both S/PDIF and Optical inputs, however, the jack that is compatible with the S/PDIF jack on the back of the Korg says Optical (got it?). The drive's actual S/PDIF is an RCA type jack. Well, I connect the devices as only they can be connected, but get no signal whatsoever into the drive. What gives?



In other words, the jack on the back of the Korg that says s/pdif IS OF THE SAME DESIGN as the jack on the drive that says optical. Connecting these results in nothing.
 
ok, this is gonna be a big guess....when i first hooked up my J-Station to my Audiophile by coaxial s/pdif, i used regular RCA cables and i got nothing ...nadda....nil....zero....

seems i needed a special 75ohm coaxial cable....is there a special optical cable that you have to use????
 
I think you also may be confusing yourself with what S/PDIF is and isnt.....S/PDIF can be either optical or coaxial, but you cant interchange them.....if the Korg is S/PDIF has optical outputs, you have to go into the SB's optical inputs....unless you get an optical/coaxial converter.....
 
I'm a little confused by your discription. I don't see how you could even jury rig a connection between the two as they're a VERY different connector. S/PDIF can be both optical (TOSLINK) and coax. They both contain S/PDIF data but mechanicly there's no way to mate them to each other. As Gidge pointed out you need a converter to mate the two. And as pointed out, for the S/PDIF coax cable use a quality 75 ohm video type cable for that connection and a TOSLINK which is in essence a fiber optic type cable, even though it's made from plastic, not glass.
 
Okay, you guys are getting me closer. The big problem was terminology-I wasn't sure what the cable types were called. So...

The S/PDIF on the Korg is Toslink. That is the only digital out the Korg has. The Live Drive has coaxial S/PDIF and Toslink Optical ins. There, that should make more sense.

So, I need a Toslink --> Coaxial converter. I think.
 
if both the Korg and the Live Dive have Toslink optical connectors, simply go from the Korgs optical out to the LiveDrives optical in with a good optical cable....no converter is needed.....
 
The Korg only has one digital out - S/PDIF (Toslink). The only Toslink connectors on the Live Drive are labed 'Optical' (the S/PDIF jacks on the drive are coaxial). Connecting the Toslink jacks is what I did at first, which didn't work.

I'm still a bit confused about what Optical actually is, but I do know that connecting the Korg's S/PDIF Toslink jack to the Live Drive's Optical Toslink jack doesn't work.
 
and you're sure you are using optical specific cables when going from the Korg Toslink to the Live Drives Toslink?.....are there any hardware settings on either machine you have to change to make it work?.... software mixer settings?.....
 
that's VERY possible......ADAT uses proprietary signals so maybe their cables are also.....but this is another big guess.....
 
Ok. I think I'm getting a better idea of what you have. The ADAT cable and S/PDIF TOSLINK cable is exactly the same thing. If you have opticle connections on your sending device (your multi track) and your recieving device (your sound card) then you're all set on that score. We're down to your recording software in the computer as the culpret. When making a digital transfer, you'll have to make a few selections in your recording software. First, you'll have to tell the recording software to look for incoming audio from the S/PDIF optical input. Also the computer has to be set to be the SLAVE to the incoming digital data with your multi track as the timing MASTER.
 
Well, I've tried every combination/setting available in the sound card's mixer that I can think of, and haven't been able to get a signal yet. Of course, this doesn't mean the problem is elsewhere, as the settings within that mixer to assign inputs are are sort of... how should I say... stupid? Maybe it's just me. Anyway, I'll go another round with it in a day or so. In the meantime, I just want to be clear that it's okay to be sending a signal from what is LABELED S/PDIF on the multitrack to the soundcard's jack, which is LABELED optical. Those two are the only Toslink jacks.

Thanks for digging through the thorny descriptions, guys. I'll report back tomorrow or Monday and let you know what happens.
 
Vurt, not just the sound cards mixer but also in Wavelab preferences you'll have to select your input source. This stuff has had me on suicide watch in the past so I feel your pain. Good luck and let us know how it's going.
 
Well, it seems all I had to do was disable the auxilliary input from within the S/PDIF settings. I have a hard time believing I didn't try that before, but nevertheless, everything is working now.

thanks for the help fellas!
 
Just wanted to mention that there are some cables out there (albeit hard to find) that will pass SPDIF through both optical and Coax mediums simultaneously. They were packaged with some mini disc recorders. The jack is similar to a mono mini plug with the middle hollowed out. The glass connection is exposed at the tip, and electronic signal was sent along coax surrounding the fiber.

And yes... it's not a very reliable setup… but does costs less to manufacture than two separate inputs, and lets them sell a bunch of proprietary cables.

Steve
 
An S/PDIF question ,with SB-live (Vert help !)

Vert - I read your post... What did you have to tell the soundblaster or the V-16 ... What is actually being transfered down the lightpipe ?... I know it's not a wave file... Can you get multiple tracks in... I want to use Power Tracks Pro Audio to mix my V-16 tracks and then burn to the computers CD-RW / Thanks for the help and your posts ... Jim
 
Jim, I didn't have to do anything with the recorder (D1600), but within the Soundblaster's mixer software, I had to disable the auxilliary input.

I'm not familiar with Power Tracks, but I used the optical S/PDIF out on my recorder to mix down to a two track program (wavelab). The VF-16 has ADAT I/O that you could use to dump into Power Tracks, but I think you'll need something like ADAT EDIT in order to preserve all the individual tracks. I'm not sure about that, though.
 
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