Anyone using M-Audio Delta TDIF?

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altitude909

altitude909

Best Advice Ever: RTFM
Anyone using M-Audio Delta TDIF? have some questions about the SPDIF Setup
 
I am not familiar with TDIF, but I am using the SP/DIF in on my delta, don't know if it is the same thing....
 
Ok,
Maybe you can help. How do you route it as an effects loop? For whatever reason, I can't seem to figure it out. I'm hooking up a MX200 in a digital effects loop however I can't any sound routed through, the spdif light is on the MX which means it's connected right but the routing seems to elude me. In the control panel patchbay/router there is a H/W out sp/ana and I can select any of the options for the routing and still I don't get shit. The spdif is selected for input audio source under hardware so I'm wondering what I am missing..

-alt
 
The M-Audio TDIF was an audio card designed to interface with tascam equipment. It has not been made or sold for quite some time.
 
On the Delta control panel "hardware settings" tab, there should be a choice for Internal or External clock. The external clock is the one in an s/pdif data stream that sets the audio sample-rate. The card must be using this in order to recieve digital audio from the s/pdif input.

When you do this, the card ONLY plays or records audio at the external devices sample-rate, that is, it is SLAVE to it. Therefore, your projects sample-rate will have to be the same as the external device. So if recording a DAT tape that's at 48Khz, then that's the rate to choose in your recording software.

Set it back to the cards internal clock when you've finished recording from the s/pdif input or want to unplug it.
 
Thats the thing, I'm not recording per say, I'm using it as a digital effects loop. But I think you may have answered my question though, so to recieve on the SPDIF, the clock source needs to be slaved to the device?

Next problem, the MX200 needs to be the slave too, so the Delta has to be the Master clock (which it is already)

The manual says that the SP/ANA out is routed to both the analog out AND the SPDIF at the same time which I confirmed since when I send to it from cubase, I get the signal on the analog outputs which should mean I am also sending to the SPDIF but I dont get anything on the return.

BTW, my setup is a TMD1000 on the TDIF (I direct monitor on the mixer, not the sound card) so I have to use the Delta Clock
 
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Yes, you're right, they can't both be the slave! With the card as master and the MX200 as slave, you would expect it's analog output to have signal. It's s/pdif out will have signal too, but unless the card is a slave, it won't recieve it.

And, no, you can't fool it into working by switching the card to external "on-the-fly". I've tried ;)

I have the same problem with a Behringer a-d, d-a converter I have (SRC2496), the a-d and d-a converters have the same clock selector and the d-a only works if that's External (slave), while my soundcards s/pdif input only works as slave too - can't have both.

Some soundcards could work. Creative Audigy for one. It doesn't need to change to external to recieve s/pdif because it resamples the incoming data to its internal 48Khz rate.

The Behringer SRC2496 I mention could function here too, in it's sample-rate converter mode, it would keep the soundcard fed with an external clock. The soundcards s/pdif out should then follow that clock.

Routing...
Soundcard s/pdif out > MX200 s/pdif in
MX200 s/pdif out > SRC2496 ( SRC mode, internal clock) > Soundcard s/pdif in (external clock mode).

Otherwise, I can only suggest using the MX200 analog output instead, are you able to return this via your desk on a pair of channels in the TDIF?
 
Jim,
I think thats it. Do newer cards have the abilty to be SPDIF master? Running analog is fine since my whole rig is analog and the TDIF/Tascam works really well for me so I plan on keeping it for a while. Plus there is nothing like some good ol fashion cable and patch bay action
 
I don't think so, except for consumer multimedia cards that use samplerate conversion on the digital input. The new Creative X-fi is supposed to have flawless conversion, the one in the Audigy gets a lot of complaints that it causes too much distortion and noise.

In a completely "pro" digital setup, all the boxes and interfaces have the BNC connectors for a Master WordClock source - nearly everything is on External slaving to that, so the problem doesn't arise.

Too be honest, I think you're better off using analog, especially for reverb. Digital conection means having to control the volume digitally. Digital volume reduction entails throwing away bit resolution that damages the quality of low level audio such as the tail end of a reverb.

Also, having the FX running off your board means it's easier to put a reverb in the monitor feed without recording it. Makes singing far easier with a bit of nice reverb in the cans don't you think?
 
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