introduction ( and A-DAT question)

Hi, since a few weeks i'm the proud owner of a (mighty) mpc4000 with the A-dat board,…. but i didn't do my homework
I thought the A-dat would go straight into the digital-in of my mac, unfortunately that's not A-dat but a s/pdif
….so: what would be a good (firewire or USB) Audio Interface to get the A-dat into the Mac,
nothing fancy just ADAT from the mpc > firewire into the mac
….and: what OSX software do you use to record the A-dat 8 tracks ? something basic & simple

Now doing my baby steps, i have to say this machine goes deep.
Yes i'm reading the manual and trying to understand multi's and the matrix (thank you IanCanefire and the others for the video's)
but i still haven't fully understood what those things "really" can do, maybe it's all just to much to comprehend in the first month
I bought an mpc instead of some audio software because i already hold 80% of the day a computermouse but:
- i'm i missing features if i don't use the aksys ? or does it only makes things easier because of the visual interface on the computer screen
- will the aksys ever be made compatible with osx 10,6 and higher or is this out of the question ?


Sofar, pete

you can switch the output of your adat card to spdif, by using the software of the mpc.

thx for the fast replies !

Lampdog wrote:
Me, 4k adat out -> audio interface adat in -> audio interface firewire out
-> pc firewire in and breaks out into 8 ch in daw, Reaper.

what brand interface do you use ?
the most basic seems to be a focusrite saffire pro,

@rogue scrunt
where do you switch between adat & spdif ?
in the global menu > configure menu i can see it has the adar but not a spdif board installed

what brand interface do you use ?
the most basic seems to be a focusrite saffire pro

In my sig

ichi.one wrote:Hi, since a few weeks i'm the proud owner of a (mighty) mpc4000 with the A-dat board,…. but i didn't do my homework
I thought the A-dat would go straight into the digital-in of my mac, unfortunately that's not A-dat but a s/pdif

No idea about whether the MPC4000 ADAT can be switched to S/PIF, someone with one will have to confirm.


If you still want S/PDIF into your Mac...

Do you have the MPC4000 IB-4D installed, the 2 RCA connectors for Digital I/O and the BNC connector for wordclock on the rear panel?

If so, those RCA Digital I/O connectors are coaxial S/PDIF.

You would need a convertor box, to convert from coaxial S/PDIF to optical S/PDIF, and possibly the correct (special?) optical cable or adapter, to go from the S/PDIF convertor box directly to your Mac S/PDIF port, depending on what the Mac S/PDIF port is (dedicated/normal Toslink port, or special shared port using mini-Toslink in the 1/8" input?).

Toslink to mini-Toslink adapters/cable...








S/PDIF is stereo only though, vs 8 channels through ADAT optical Lightpipe.

rogue scrunt wrote:you can switch the output of your adat card to spdif, by using the software of the mpc.

turns out I was wrong, Apologies

re: interfaces - i can vouch for the quality of the following: lynx, rme, echo audio. all rock solid. see which one suits your needs. a quality interface can make a world of difference.

Definitely make use of the 4000s adat.
+1 for Rme. Quality hardware and drivers very important alright.
Check out the Babyface if you want cheap. It has the adat connections you need and connects to your computer via USB.
All the best.

i wanna keep the a-dat for the 8-tracks output, that seems to me the best way to get the sound from the mpc into the mac
the rme babyface has everything i need

thx, again