M-Audio Delta Dio 2496 doing some REALLY strange things, please help

B

Bigus Dickus

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Here's the short version (like I ever make anything short)...

I'm tracking into the Delta Dio 2496 in 24 bit 88.2 kHz using a dbx A/D converter.

Upon the recommendation of everyone here (and by my own logic), the Delta is set in the control panel to sync to the incoming S/PDIF signal for its sampling frequency.

When setup like this, tracking is fine. However, playback is, um... very bizarre. It's like it's playing at 1/20th the speed or something.

So, my first thought was that, having the control panel set not to use the Delta's own internal crystal, but an outside signal, that it was getting "confused" as to what sampling rate to use.

Sure enough, change the sampling rate from sync to S/PDIF to use internal crystal (at the sampling rate the tracks were created using) and everything sounds normal.

Again, playing an .mp3 file, if the Delta is set to sync to an incoming signal, it plays it in slow motion. Using internal crystal, it plays fine (at any sampling rate, mind you, I guess since it isn't receiving a "hardware locked" sampling rate like Cubase is sending it).

Well, that was short, no? This causes great concern for me. Apart from the profound nuisance of having to change the setting in the control panel every time between tracking and playback, I'm also worried that it might cause a problem with monitoring (haven't gotten that far yet).

Any suggestions? This is with the .0027 Delta drivers. Is there any way to leave it synced to internal crystal, except have Cubase, or whatever I decide on using, automatically switch the sync to external?
 
So you guys are as stumped as me then, huh?

You would think that the driver would be capable of having independent settings for incoming and outgoing signals. Something that automatically switches that setting.

As in: you set it so that when an incoming digital signal is detected on the coax/optical S/PDIF it syncs to that signal. When a signal is detected internally (on the PCI bus), which means the computer is trying to play back something, it automatically uses it's internal crystal as a source clock.

Seems obvious, doesn't it? I just have no idea how to make it do that without driver support.
 
Bigus Dickus said:


You would think that the driver would be capable of having independent settings for incoming and outgoing signals. Something that automatically switches that setting.

As in: you set it so that when an incoming digital signal is detected on the coax/optical S/PDIF it syncs to that signal. When a signal is detected internally (on the PCI bus), which means the computer is trying to play back something, it automatically uses it's internal crystal as a source clock.
Click to expand...

If you always have it connected to an external clock source, it would never know when to switch to internal. Even if there is no signal being sent down the line, the clock signal is always there. Clock signals are not only just broadcasted when audio is being played.
 
The A/D converter that it syncs to is not always on. It's only powered up when I am actively recording tracks.

You'd think it could automagically swap when it detects the incoming signal, if you set it to do so, and use its internal clock when nothing is coming in to sync to.

Perhaps I should contact M-Audio about this? Maybe it's something they would like to include in a driver revision.
 
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