getting an s/pdif input

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Brian_SG

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the interface i'm using right now doesn't have a s/pdif input. if i wanted to be able to use that type of input is there any small converters or mixers that i could get to plug into my interface instead of getting a whole new one?
 
what interface do you have? It would be good to know what other sorts of inputs it has.
 
What is it you're using the SPDIF output from?If it has an analog output use that,there is no advantage to a digital output if you're just going to convert it back to analog again.

Now if you had a digital input to your soundcard that would make more sense.
 
I don't have a specific suggestion, but I do think you'll have more luck going around the interface directly to the computer in this case, since the interface doesn't have any sort of digital input -- there may be an inexpensive interface card that has the input. Be sure to do a little research on the clock compatibility options of any such card/device and whatever other device you want to connect via s/pdif. Another way to look at it is that the main job of the interface is to process an analog signal and convert it to digital, and that has already been done elsewhere in the case where you have a s/pdif signal to deal with.

I think that, in order to go to your interface, you'd be looking at a lot of ADDA conversions -- 1st (analog->digital) would be in the device you want to connect, 2nd (digital->analog) would be in whatever doohicky you use to get the signal into the analog input of the interface, 3rd (analog->digital) would happen in the interface. So even if you got it working, you might not be happy with it.
 
well i'd be running the spdif output of the tonelab. i mainly wanted to know this because i've read that recording from a spdif signal is better than recording from the line output. if there really isnt much of a difference i don't see myself going through to trouble to accomodate the spdif
 
antichef said:
I don't have a specific suggestion, but I do think you'll have more luck going around the interface directly to the computer in this case, since the interface doesn't have any sort of digital input -- there may be an inexpensive interface card that has the input. Be sure to do a little research on the clock compatibility options of any such card/device and whatever other device you want to connect via s/pdif. Another way to look at it is that the main job of the interface is to process an analog signal and convert it to digital, and that has already been done elsewhere in the case where you have a s/pdif signal to deal with.

I think that, in order to go to your interface, you'd be looking at a lot of ADDA conversions -- 1st (analog->digital) would be in the device you want to connect, 2nd (digital->analog) would be in whatever doohicky you use to get the signal into the analog input of the interface, 3rd (analog->digital) would happen in the interface. So even if you got it working, you might not be happy with it.
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In otherwords,buy a different sound card if you want a digital input.It would be the easiest,best sounding way to get a digital signal into your computer.
 
Brian_SG said:
well i'd be running the spdif output of the tonelab. i mainly wanted to know this because i've read that recording from a spdif signal is better than recording from the line output. if there really isnt much of a difference i don't see myself going through to trouble to accomodate the spdif
Click to expand...

The SPDIF is digital,and ithe digital signal IS being converted already in the tonelab and coming out of the L/R outputs of the tonelab.
 
so just to clarify (sorry i'm kind of slow with audio signals and things like that), the signal coming out of the spdif is the same as if i took the mono output of the tonelab (the one that would go to an amp). and if thats true what would be the benifit of spdif?
 
In general the advantage of digital is that there is not "generational loss" when making copies and it's less susceptable to noise (like the dreaded 60Hz hum) being injected into the signal.

One thing to look at is the quality of the Analog to Digital coversion of the Tonelab. I don't know anything about the device. It may do a better job of the conversion than the sound card in your computer, it may not. Either way it's going to be worse making the A to D conversion three times than just letting your computer do it once.

I think Edirol used to make a simple USB dongle that would take S/PDIF in (don't remember if it was coax or optical) and stuff the bits straight into your computer without doing an extra A-D and D-A conversion. If it matches the sample rate and depth of your Tonelab picking up a used one on eBay might be worth it if the Tonelab is better quality than your sound card.
 
I use the Tonelab SE - the one without the digital out, which bummed me out -- but I run the analog outs into my interface and it sounds awesome. It's likely that the AD conversion in the mbox is better than what's going on in the tonelab, so I'd try the analog out. If there's no additional noise (hiss), then you probably won't improve it by going digital.
 
awesome...thanks a lot, that saves me a lot of hassle with this whole thing
 
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