[LAU] for sale: "vintage" RME interfaces

[David Kastrup]

karl at aspodata.se writes:

> Paul Davis:
>> It's bonanza time for anyone interested in some RME gear for use with
>> "vintage" computers (defined as ones with a PCI bus. Yes, PCI. Not PCI(x)
>> or PCI(e) or other later variant. Just PCI).
>> 
>> What's available:
>> 
>>      RME Hammerfall 9652
>>            3x ADAT in/out
>>            Daughterboard for word clock
>>            Breakout cable for 9-pin Sony protocol & S/PDIF
>>            Little-endian ROM chip installed, Big-endian enclosed
>> 
>>     RME HDSP9652
>>           3x ADAT in/out
>>           (missing MIDI I/O breakout cable)
>> 
>>     RME Digiface
>>            half-height PCI card
>>            External breakout box, 3x ADAT in/out, S/PDIF, MIDI, word clock
>>            (nice long) Cable to connect
>> 
>> Bonus:
>>       PCMCIA card for digiface, with required cable
>>       2 x ADAT cables
> ...
>
>  Hello Paul, I have a:
> http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T61p
>
> and a PCMCIA card could suit me fine, but I don't know anything about
> ADAT, and if I just need 4 mic or line in, and 4 line out, so this is
> probably overkill, and I still need some analogue to ADAT converter.
>  Is this something that would be recommended or should I get something
> else ?
>
> I record the local choirs and such.

I could offer an RME Hammerfall DSP with PCcard32 (I don't think there
is a PCMCIA card for any RME: they'd just not have the bandwidth.
Because of the identical size factor, the difference is lost on many).
That one has 8 analog inputs and 8 analog outputs.  Its performance is
impeccable and a T61p can make use of it.  But the analog inputs are
(jumper configurable) -10dB, +4dB or (I think) +14dB level, so you
definitely need microphone preamps.  Linux support is very good.  Other
input output options: S/PDIF (coax or optical), ADAT (8 channels at
48kHz or 4 channels at 96kHz), word clock, MIDI in/out.

I did use this with a Mackie Onyx 1220 mixer (for sale) and the DB25
recording outputs (cable with suitable connectors also for sale).

The size of this recording park is definitely overkill.  It makes sense
when you need highest quality digital recording _and_ online analog
mix/monitoring.  For only recording there are definitely more compact
solutions.

I actually used it recently since I was recording in the yard, did not
want to crank out my not-so-mobile Mackie 1620 with Firewire card, and
the Mackie Onyx Satellite I used produced xruns about once a minute (no
idea what got into it and whether this is gone in current kernels).  So
I just used its preamps and finally did the recording with the
Hammerfall DSP instead.  The Hammerfall DSP itself is rather compact.
You can even use it in an Expresscard slot using an
Expresscard-to-Pccard (not!  PCMCIA) adapter (for sale).  But this won't
work stacked with a USB-to-Expresscard adapter since those serve the USB
lane of the Expresscard bus rather than the PCIx lane.

4 ins and 4 outs could be done in slightly lower quality using an Alesio
iO|14 (for sale) which plugs into the 4-pin Firewire port on the front
left (stupid place) of the T61p.  However, this requires blacklisting
the DICE ALSA Firewire driver and going via Ffado/Jackd instead or
you'll get regular dropouts.

In other words: there are reasonable options short of using ADAT (which
is the main thing a Digiface is good for).

-- 
David Kastrup