beautypg.com

Using the digital 8•bus with adats, Cabling and hookup, Settings – MACKIE Digital 8Bus D8B v5.1 User Manual

Page 131

background image

D8B Manual • Chapter 4 • page 125

Using the Digital 8•Bus with ADATs

This is a simple setup. It works well and is easy

to configure. However, it has some limitations.
Without a MTC sync source there’s no way for the
Digital 8•Bus to time-reference snapshot or dynamic
automation. As long as automation isn’t a
consideration, this setup is clean and efficient.

Cabling and Hookup

1. Connect a fiber optic cable between the ADAT’s

lightpipe output and the D8B’s lightpipe input.
Likewise, connect the D8B’s lightpipe output to
the ADAT’s lightpipe input. (A DIO•8 or OPT•8
lightpipe card must be installed in the D8B to gain
access to the ADAT digital tape inputs and outputs.)

2. When using multiple ADATs, connect SYNC OUT

from the master ADAT to SYNC IN of the first
slave, then from SYNC OUT of the first slave to
SYNC IN of the second slave, and so on.

Settings

D8B

1. Open the Setup window.

2. Click on “Digital I/O” to open the Digital I/O

dialog box.

3. Click on each Tape Input and Output box and

select ADAT for each DIO•8 card installed.

4. Set “Samplerate” to match the sample rate of

the formatted ADAT tapes (typically 48kHz or
44.1kHz).

ADATs

1. Select DIGITAL IN on the ADAT front panel.

M o d u l a r D i g i t a l M u l t i t ra c k

CLOCK

EXT

INPUT MON

INPUT

DIGITAL

48K

INPUT MONITOR

INPUT SELECT

AUTO

INPUT

ALL

INPUT

TRACK

COPY

DIGITAL

INPUT

Note:

When powering up, turn the Digital 8•Bus on

first, then turn the ADATs on.

OK, so we fibbed a little. You can
use PDI•8 cards in the D8B
without a Clock I/O card
installed, but doing so requires
that you enable sample rate
conversion on both the D8B and

the HDR24/96 in lieu of word clock synchronization.
Sample rate conversion results in a 4-bit loss in
sample resolution that may degrade the quality of
the sound slightly. On the positive side, you don’t
need a Clock I/O card!