jesse g Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Hey folks, I made a big mistake ? I purchased a Focusrite Scarlett OctoPre to expand my Focusrite 18i20 Audio I/O so I could add additional hardware to my setup when I ran out of space. Well, I began setting it up with my second Warm Audio WA73-EQ and my Warm Audio WA 76 Comp to start, but I was unable to get the Scarlett OctoPre to connect the external Hardware to be used in Cakewalk by Bandlab or Studio One 6+. I contacted Focusrite on the matter and they informed me of the following, "Note that the OctoPre only has ADAT OUT ports on it, so it won't be able to receive any incoming signal from the 18i20. The line outputs of the Scarlett OctoPre are designed to mirror whatever is connected to the front panel respectively. I'd recommend looking into the Scarlett OctoPre Dynamic since this will offer more I/O expansion for your setup" What are some of you using to expand your current I/O to accept external hardware via ADAT? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Stanton Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Behringer AD8000 https://www.amazon.com/BEHRINGER-ULTRAGAIN-PRO-8-DIGITAL-ADA8000/dp/B000GEPC44 connects to my UMC1820 via the optical connectors. i have a cheap optical splitter to feed my (ancient) JVC RX-7000V for 5.1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse g Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 23 minutes ago, Glenn Stanton said: Behringer AD8000 https://www.amazon.com/BEHRINGER-ULTRAGAIN-PRO-8-DIGITAL-ADA8000/dp/B000GEPC44 connects to my UMC1820 via the optical connectors. i have a cheap optical splitter to feed my (ancient) JVC RX-7000V for 5.1. Glenn, Do you use the Behringer to connect hardware to your UMC1820? If so, how useful has it been? Do you have a problem with all of the connection being in the front? Thanks for the information Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Stanton Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 generally the 1820 and extender are routed to patch panels which for the XLR are XLR patch bay, and the 1820 TRS are normalized for the inserts on a another patch bay for interconnecting mixer, effects, etc. no issues with the front XLR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse g Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 27 minutes ago, Glenn Stanton said: generally the 1820 and extender are routed to patch panels which for the XLR are XLR patch bay, and the 1820 TRS are normalized for the inserts on a another patch bay for interconnecting mixer, effects, etc. no issues with the front XLR. Glen, I was using a Samson S Patch patchbay and had everything connected and working using my Scarlett 18i20. I then switch a few hardware pieces to my Scarlett Octopre I/O's that were connected via ADAT and I started to receive noises like someone was gargling. However, when I connect my microphones to use the inputs, no problem at all. When I connect hardware to the I/O's then strange noises are heard and my audio is not being sent or received from the OctoPre. Like I said in my opening post, Focusrite explained to me the following, "Note that the OctoPre only has ADAT OUT ports on it, so it won't be able to receive any incoming signal from the 18i20. The line outputs of the Scarlett OctoPre are designed to mirror whatever is connected to the front panel respectively. I'd recommend looking into the Scarlett OctoPre Dynamic since this will offer more I/O expansion for your setup" I've been using my 18i20 with a patchbay and hardware for sometime and never had a problem. WIth the OctoPre, I purchased it and set it up to be used as an ADAT expander way before I had the additional hardware to place on it because I got it on sale. But now since I have the additional hardware and can't add anymore connection to my Patchbay, it's time to use the OctoPre or should I say get another expander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Stanton Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 no real experience with the Focusrite but they have an excellent reputation - when connecting hardware - grounding? ground potential can cause of lot of issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse g Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 1 hour ago, Glenn Stanton said: no real experience with the Focusrite but they have an excellent reputation - when connecting hardware - grounding? ground potential can cause of lot of issues. Glen, I got it right with Focusrite, as you can see in the reply statement I received from them, I need the get the Scarlett OctoPre Dynamic, This was also noted in a review of the Scarlett OptoPre from SOS Magazine. Quoted: from Sound On Sound Magazine "Ins & Outs? As before, the basic model offers only one-way (analogue-to-digital) conversion. That’s fine if you simply wish to hook up an additional bank of preamps to your interface to, say, record a rock band with a multi-miked kit. However, it does mean you’re unable to use the Scarlett OctoPre to hook up extra outboard to your DAW. To do that, you’d need the Dynamic model, because as well as the obvious addition of the analogue compressor on each channel, this features both A-D and D-A conversion — you can route your DAW outputs to the Scarlett OctoPre Dynamics’s line outputs, as well as route its line inputs back to the DAW." I gotta get a new expander and sell this one.. HELLO REVERB.COM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom B Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 On 3/21/2024 at 1:01 PM, jesse g said: I was using a Samson S Patch patchbay and had everything connected and working using my Scarlett 18i20. I then switch a few hardware pieces to my Scarlett Octopre I/O's that were connected via ADAT and I started to receive noises like someone was gargling. However, when I connect my microphones to use the inputs, no problem at all. When I connect hardware to the I/O's then strange noises are heard and my audio is not being sent or received from the OctoPre. It seems like there's a clock synchronization issue when connecting your external HW components. Wanted to make sure I understand your setup: Are the HW components receiving analog signals from the 18i20 and returning signals to the OctoPre inputs? Does your 18i20 have a word clock output BNC connector (that may depend on the 18i20 version). I'm using an RME UFX as my primary interface and have an older MOTU interface connected via ADAT light-pipe to receive 8 extra inputs. I believe this similar to what you're doing too. In addition, I have the clocks between the interfaces synchronized using the word clock BNC connectors on the units. I see the OctoPre has external clock synchronization, but it's unclear to me which 18i20 generations have that feature. If your 18i20 has that feature, I can elaborate a bit more. The ADAT optical connections are somewhat self-synchronizing, but can be problematic in some scenarios. This might explain your success with microphone inputs vis-à-vis the analog HW effects loops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse g Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 16 hours ago, Tom B said: It seems like there's a clock synchronization issue when connecting your external HW components. Wanted to make sure I understand your setup: Are the HW components receiving analog signals from the 18i20 and returning signals to the OctoPre inputs? Does your 18i20 have a word clock output BNC connector (that may depend on the 18i20 version). I'm using an RME UFX as my primary interface and have an older MOTU interface connected via ADAT light-pipe to receive 8 extra inputs. I believe this similar to what you're doing too. In addition, I have the clocks between the interfaces synchronized using the word clock BNC connectors on the units. I see the OctoPre has external clock synchronization, but it's unclear to me which 18i20 generations have that feature. If your 18i20 has that feature, I can elaborate a bit more. The ADAT optical connections are somewhat self-synchronizing, but can be problematic in some scenarios. This might explain your success with microphone inputs vis-à-vis the analog HW effects loops. Tom, Focusrite explained to me the following, "Note that the OctoPre only has ADAT OUT ports on it, so it won't be able to receive any incoming signal from the 18i20. The line outputs of the Scarlett OctoPre are designed to mirror whatever is connected to the front panel respectively. I'd recommend looking into the Scarlett OctoPre Dynamic since this will offer more I/O expansion for your setup" The OctoPre was set up correctly, see here> setting up the Focusrite Scarlett OctoPre with the Scarlett 18i18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse g Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 (edited) This is the Expander that I am looking for!! Audient SP8 Edited March 23 by jesse g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom B Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 1 hour ago, jesse g said: Focusrite explained to me the following, "Note that the OctoPre only has ADAT OUT ports on it, so it won't be able to receive any incoming signal from the 18i20. The line outputs of the Scarlett OctoPre are designed to mirror whatever is connected to the front panel respectively. I'd recommend looking into the Scarlett OctoPre Dynamic since this will offer more I/O expansion for your setup" I understand the OctoPre doesn't have an ADAT input. I didn't realize that the OctoPre actually has analog outputs. Thanks for the clarification. One would think the interface would have digital access to those outputs using an ADAT input! When I saw your post about the odd sounds heard when connecting external HW to the OctoPre, it reminded me of clocking issues that can occur when using analog I/O between two digitally connected interfaces via ADAT optical. My post about this topic may not be relevant to what you described. It will be interesting to hear what solution you choose for the expansion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse g Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 1 hour ago, Tom B said: It will be interesting to hear what solution you choose for the expansion. Tom, I think I am going with the Audient Evo SP8 shown above. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gswitz Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 I have an audient 880. Switches for impedence I rarely mess with. Adjustable high pass. And the thing I didn't know I needed... It has a 25 pin with bypass for the pres. This means I have 8 plugs in my patch bay that go straight in to converters. Well, 12 but whatever. This is useful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse g Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 Gwitz, How do you like the Audient 880? It's a nice unit but it's too pricey for me unless I can find it as a B-Stock item for less than $700.00 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gswitz Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 (edited) Well, at the time I purchased it, I was expanding to get more than 14 inputs. I did not care about outputs. Rme makes an 8 in 8 out device that would be cool. Micstacy maybe? It has auto gains I'm used to. So the audient was mostly for capturing the drum kit and I was tempted to get a bheringer device. They get very hot. I got into ribbon mics and the audient has impedence controls that impact how ribbons capture audio I wanted to try. This turned out to be less interesting than I thought it might be. I often record my guitar direct with the audient. The front panel input sounds great. I often use it to digitize outputs from other stuff like compressors and other pres. That you can bypass the pre on the audient is a nice feature. Idk. It's been good, but the bheringer might have been sufficient. I do a lot of recording at 96 and this does take me down to 4 inputs on the audient. This is because I use an rme ucx which only has one fiber input. I regularly use the high pass filters and it is nice that they are adjustable but you can mess up if they are set badly and you aren't noticing. Edited March 27 by Gswitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse g Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 The Focusrite Scarlette OctopPre doesnt have a problem with microphones, it will easly allow for an additionla 8 micropphone to be connect to the unit for use. It just doesn't handle hardware the same way. For hardware processors to be connected to the 18i20 and used with mixing I will have to use a device that has AD/DA conversion via ADAT. This is the Scarlett OctoPre Dynamic, at the minimum from Focusrite or go to another company. likeAudient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Blanc Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Perhaps a little late to the party, but I searched a long time for extra I/O. Finally I found the RME Digiface. It has 4 ADAT I/O so 32 channels in, 34 channels out (32 ADAT, 2 on the Digiface itself). So I use 4x Behringer ADA8200 and it works. Sometimes I have to adjust some latency stuff in the DAW. As noted, your 'gargling noise' (or weird underwater thingie) is a synchronisation issue. Could be a samplerate mismatch or just a 'lost' handshake. Changing samplerates and back again can fix this. I believe RME is like the super saiyan of interfaces. And Totalmix (their software, similar to the Focusrite one) is insanely powerful. Too powerful. I'm constantly bothering their support with questions. But they are great. Maybe I should pay them a visit at Superbooth this May. It's in Munich, so pretty close by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmcleod Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 On 4/29/2024 at 10:29 PM, Nick Blanc said: Perhaps a little late to the party, but I searched a long time for extra I/O. Finally I found the RME Digiface. It has 4 ADAT I/O so 32 channels in, 34 channels out (32 ADAT, 2 on the Digiface itself). So I use 4x Behringer ADA8200 and it works. Sometimes I have to adjust some latency stuff in the DAW. As noted, your 'gargling noise' (or weird underwater thingie) is a synchronisation issue. Could be a samplerate mismatch or just a 'lost' handshake. Changing samplerates and back again can fix this. I believe RME is like the super saiyan of interfaces. And Totalmix (their software, similar to the Focusrite one) is insanely powerful. Too powerful. I'm constantly bothering their support with questions. But they are great. Maybe I should pay them a visit at Superbooth this May. It's in Munich, so pretty close by. This is the one I use now. The great thing is I can use my 18i20 for one of the inputs/outputs, which has my bread & butter gear (keyboard rack / guitar fx processor / vocal processor) permanently connected. It also lets me easily swap back to the 18i20 if I'm taking the RME elsewhere. The other I/O's are connected to three Fostex VC-8's - two of them fed from the direct outs of my A&H MixWizard WZ3 16:2, and one from my preamp "collection". The best thing about the RME Digiface is that you can upgrade the pre's / converters as and when you need. The VC8's aren't exactly the top of the range, but they suit my purpose for now until I feel the need to upgrade... and I can do so without changing my interface. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmcleod Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 On 3/21/2024 at 4:47 PM, Glenn Stanton said: Behringer AD8000 https://www.amazon.com/BEHRINGER-ULTRAGAIN-PRO-8-DIGITAL-ADA8000/dp/B000GEPC44 connects to my UMC1820 via the optical connectors. i have a cheap optical splitter to feed my (ancient) JVC RX-7000V for 5.1. I've got a couple of these, and also a couple of ADA8200's. The ADA8000 is fine for line levels, and the outputs are pristine, but I found the mic-pre's a bit harsh/brittle sounding. The ADA8200's are much better in this respect with it's "Midas designed" mic pres. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Nelson Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 The Clarett series ADAT expander has Ins and outs. That's the one you want (not Scarlett). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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