ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?

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#482683 - 03/17/04 03:58 PM ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
chumbo chumbo Planeteer Registered: 05/18/02 Posts: 424 Loc: Belgium	Hi, I'm not too familiar with ADAT and I'm kind of confused because I've seen some machines that have an ADAT connection for (8) INs and a separate ADAT connector for the (8) OUTs. But then you have something like the RME/Nuendo 96/52 PCI card which as it name states has 48 channels (+4 thru S/PDIF= 52) with only 3 ADAT connectors which clearly means that each connector can carry 8 I/O?! So, does that mean that there are several types of ADAT connections? Also, that RME/Nuendo card also has a separate ADAT to only carry the sync signal. There too I was under the impression that ADAT was like RBUS in that it carried already the sync info in its signal therefore not requiring a separate connection? Please help. Cheers, Chumbo _________________________
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#482684 - 03/17/04 04:37 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
Popmann Popmann Loquacious Planeteer Registered: 05/23/02 Posts: 32742 Loc: Twangville, TN	No. A single Adat lightpipe connection carries 8 channels. You can have as many of these as you want. The RME card counts 24 ins and 24 outs as 48 channels. There is a proprietary ADAT sync. Rbus is the more advanced standard(ADAT is easily 15 years old)...carrying both in and out and word clock down one cable-not to mention 8 channels of IO at 96k. Too bad no one actually adopted Rbus.
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#482685 - 03/17/04 04:39 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
Popmann Popmann Loquacious Planeteer Registered: 05/23/02 Posts: 32742 Loc: Twangville, TN	To complete my thought...the proprietary sync was prior to WordClock standard..Alesis needed some way to maintain sync between multiple ADAT machines(8 tracks). It really remains on the RME stuff for transfers from ADAT machines. It also has Word Clock for interfacing with more modern gear.
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#482686 - 03/17/04 04:42 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
chumbo chumbo Planeteer Registered: 05/18/02 Posts: 424 Loc: Belgium	Hmmm, well how do you explain that the RME can carry 48 channels with only 3 ADAT connectors then? 48 divided by 3= 16 channels (8 I/O) per connector?! Chumbo _________________________
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#482687 - 03/17/04 04:42 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
Alterboy Alterboy Planeteer Registered: 11/28/01 Posts: 437 Loc: Vancouver, Canada	The original ADAT lightpipe specification is one-way. There are two optical connectors on the ADAT. Two separate lightpipes are required for transfer of data back and forth. One for 8 tracks of digital input, the other one for 8 tracks of digital ouput. This is what is on the DIF-AT as well... Greg
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#482688 - 03/17/04 04:45 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
chumbo chumbo Planeteer Registered: 05/18/02 Posts: 424 Loc: Belgium	OK, so you are saying that 1 ADAT cable can carry 8 I/O, correct? Or at least in the case of the RME card, right? Chum' _________________________
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#482689 - 03/17/04 04:55 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
Alterboy Alterboy Planeteer Registered: 11/28/01 Posts: 437 Loc: Vancouver, Canada	The original ADAT lightpipe specification is one-way. There are two optical connectors on the ADAT. Two separate lightpipes are required for transfer of data back and forth. One for 8 tracks of digital input, the other one for 8 tracks of digital ouput. This is what is on the DIF-AT as well... ADAT's required a separate sync cable to lock each ADAT to the master or BRC. However, digital data exchange over the ADAT lightpipe requires no additional cabling i.e. from an ADAT to protools. If you wish to control the transport of the ADAT from an external clock source while transferring digital data, such as the 2480, use the sync connector on the DIF-AT. Regardless, the connected devices will have to lock to the same optical clock for data to be transferred. This occurs within the lightpipe and digital clock sources must be appropriately selected. So two different "sync" signals are associated with ADAT: one for digital transfers contained within the lightpipe and one for transport control through the 9pin sync cable. Greg
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#482690 - 03/17/04 05:00 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
Alterboy Alterboy Planeteer Registered: 11/28/01 Posts: 437 Loc: Vancouver, Canada	Chumbo, No, each optical cable carries either 8 tracks of digital input or 8 tracks of digital output. I am not familiar with the RME, perhaps someone else can respond to that... Greg
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#482691 - 03/17/04 05:03 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
Alterboy Alterboy Planeteer Registered: 11/28/01 Posts: 437 Loc: Vancouver, Canada	Chumbo, Popmann Sorry for the delayed responses here. I'm in a time warp. Greg
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#482692 - 03/17/04 05:39 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
chumbo chumbo Planeteer Registered: 05/18/02 Posts: 424 Loc: Belgium	I guess there are also ADAT with 8 I/O. Just look at the Nuendo website and tell if I'm stupid or crazy but this looks like to me that each ADAT connector carries 8 I/O, right? http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/hardware/nuendo9652/index.php?sid=0 Chumbo _________________________
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#482693 - 03/17/04 06:10 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
themuzic themuzic Planeteer Registered: 06/20/01 Posts: 2384	1 Adat cable only carries 8 channels. The direction of those 8 channels is determined by how it's programmed at the factory. The card you're looking at, in that link you posted, has 3 sets (2 connections each) of ADAT. It's hard to see the other connections in the pic as they are under the 2 that are visable. Here's a better look at the card. 96/52 DSP
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#482694 - 03/17/04 07:00 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
Popmann Popmann Loquacious Planeteer Registered: 05/23/02 Posts: 32742 Loc: Twangville, TN	One cable=8 channels one way. My HDSP card has 6 toslink optical connections-for 24(3x8) in and 24 (3x8) out. Is there still an unanswered question here?
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#482695 - 03/17/04 09:12 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
chumbo chumbo Planeteer Registered: 05/18/02 Posts: 424 Loc: Belgium	Nope, that there aren't any additional connectors. 3 ADAT + 1 ADAT (sync). I know, 'cause I have one in front of me right now. I wish somebody else would chime in here, just to settle this mystery once and for all. Chumbo _________________________
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#482696 - 03/17/04 11:26 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
Popmann Popmann Loquacious Planeteer Registered: 05/23/02 Posts: 32742 Loc: Twangville, TN	Quote: Nope, that there aren't any additional connectors. 3 ADAT + 1 ADAT (sync). I know, 'cause I have one in front of me right now. I wish somebody else would chime in here, just to settle this mystery once and for all. You have one what in front of you?
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#482697 - 03/18/04 02:25 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
chumbo chumbo Planeteer Registered: 05/18/02 Posts: 424 Loc: Belgium	Yes, I do have one in front of me. I would have uploaded a photo if there was way to do that. However, I've checked the manual of Nuendo 96/52 card and it confirms what you all said, it's 8 channels in OR out, but not both. How the hell do they get to advertising it as a 52 channel card is beyond me?! Anyway, thanks for your patience and sorry for being so stubborn in this matter. $;\)$ Cheers, Chumbo _________________________
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#482698 - 03/19/04 03:35 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
Duardo Duardo Planeteer Registered: 12/29/02 Posts: 273 Loc: My Basement	The 96/52 is actually two cards. You must have only one of them. The card you have actually has four ADAT connectors plus the ADAT sync connector (which is that nine-pin connector, not a separate optical port) and the second card has the last two ADAT connectors plus word clock I/O and a serial port which breaks out to S/PDIF and MIDI I/O. You can see a better picture of it here . -Duardo
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#482699 - 03/19/04 03:59 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
chumbo chumbo Planeteer Registered: 05/18/02 Posts: 424 Loc: Belgium	Actually I do have the complete 96/52 with the 'sister' card as well. I didn't read the manual carefully enough, I thought the connectors on the sister card where s/pdif only. Thanks for clearing that up, finally everything makes sense! $;\)$ Chumbo _________________________
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#482700 - 03/19/04 04:26 PM Re: ADAT question: is it 8 or 16 channels?
Popmann Popmann Loquacious Planeteer Registered: 05/23/02 Posts: 32742 Loc: Twangville, TN	So we're good? We now understand the 8 channels=one cable?
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