Mpc4000 and Adat at 96k

Hello there...

I have my mpc with adat extension for several months (a second hand bundle) but I only bought the "adat ready audio card" two days ago.
We all know that the adat's 8 i/o are cut in half when using 96 Khz...
Well, I tried to sync the devices together and it seems to work quite well but there is still one thing I can't get:
The stereo outputs 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8 are considered as 1-2-3-4 (mono)and this is a limitation I can deal with.
The tricky part comes when you want to process and listen to a stereo file.
The MPC system assumes that it must go to outputs 1/2 or 3/4 but the Adat outputs don't see it that way at all and recognize just half the signal.
So, there is no way I can process a stereo file as one audio item in Nuendo.
Of course I can duplicate my file in the MPC4K and route the two separate channels in both 1/2 (for the left channel) and 3/4 (for the right one) but this is not very handy to edit my sounds in the mpc itself.
I still want to work in the mpc as it was one and only stereo channel (for levels, processing effects etc...)

So I assume that this MUST be more simple to achieve and that I just don't know how.

Here is the way I configured all the system:

- 48khz in the MPC=>I tried 96 Khz but synchro is lost and the audio card manual says that in order to use adat in 96 khz, the device must be set at 48 khz (If you don't agree, let me know, as I'm not confident at all with this )

-"Internal" Synchro in the mpc (the only one that seems to work fine if I want to synchronize everything together).

- Audio card=96 khz and autosync with my device (slave)

- Nuendo= 24 bit/96 khz


The prupose is obviously to assign the mpc sequences (4 inputs) to the main Nuendo 96 khz mix while having the opportunity to process them through some VST's first.

Any help, advice or link would be great.

Thank you (and sorry for my terrible english)

I took a look on the internet and, even if I haven't found the solution yet, I found at least a proper and quicker way to ask my question

Is MPC4k "ADAT/SMUX " friendly and, if yes, how do we get it work:?:

Thank you

the search option (and Feline1) brought me the reply...

the D/A convertors on the 8 analogue outs board are designed to be high-quality and thus not "colour" the sound at all!

which one you use (analogue or ADAT) surely will just depend on which is more convenient!
(ie, does the machine you are sending it to have analogue inputs? or digital ones?)

One snag:
you can only send 44.1k or 48k sampling rate stuff through the ADAT link, because it doesn't support SMUX.
(A bloody silly omission on a board that costs nearly £300, I think!)

mpc 4000 does not support s/mux

wait a minute ... u can´t send 96k 24bit through the 4k´s adat ?? wtf!!!

glide wrote:wait a minute ... u can´t send 96k 24bit through the 4k´s adat ?? wtf!!!

that is correct

Lord Toranaga wrote:

glide wrote:wait a minute ... u can´t send 96k 24bit through the 4k´s adat ?? wtf!!!

that is correct

I don`t have an adat output but, I`m curious what kind of soundcard is use d for Nuendo and whether the global mode settings or wordclock has to be set at that rate? I`m new to digital outputs I use only analog 8 outs so far. :i

My DAW is a Digi 002 Rack 6.9 Mac G4

I found this article it may be interesting

http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php ... adat+96khz

Yeah, this lack of SMUX was another thing many of us have been asking for in an OS Update -
I spent nearly £200 on that blood ADAT I/O board, and it can't even do SMUX. I mean, as you so rightly say, "WTF?!?"

So feline1, do you mean that it MAY be possible to correct this lack with an OS update? This is not a hardware limitation at all?
I can't imagine downgrading all my productions to 48 khz just because of the MPC.
Or at least, I can use the extension as if it was an optical L/R (4 channels for a dual mono file) in a 96 khz project but it's still hard to handle within the mpc and a pure nonsense by the way...
I just don't get Akaï policy...

I'm gonna find some analogical cables and let the extension be what it always has been to me: totally unusable.


PS for the one who asked: I use an RME Fireface800 and the only way to get the synchro working is to set the mpc to 48 khz/internal.
If I don't, the RME can lock the adat but the sync remains out of control.
The result is a non stable sound pitching randomly.
Don't know the reason exactly but my ears are quite confident with this.

I talked to an akai rep awhile back. He said it is a hardware limitation, it cannot be upgraded with OS.

Lexgotham, how's the quality of that Fireface 800. I'm thinking about looking into one.

Didn't find the time yet to dive deeply into it (bought it Friday but I've been working like a dog since then).

The A/D and D/A-converters seem to be good quality if I only rely to my ears but nothing that really impressed me (at least through my Dynaudio's BM15a).
I've worked with a wamirack for a couple of years and, even if this was not considered beeing among the top notch audio cards, it sounded very amazing and that's why I don't notice right now such a big improvement (I assume a soundblaster user will probably do).

I had to downgrade my midi I/O's expectation by the way (wami= 4 <--->Fireface= 1) and this really really hurts even if it's not such a big deal: a stand-alone midibox will solve the problem for little money if needed.
Another point I appreciated in my former wamirack was its ability to lock automatically to a given frequency: no need to open the setup page each time you switch from Nuendo at 96 khz to a 44.1 application for instance.
With the Fireface it seems that you still have to if you want to achieve some decent stable work.
In this case, it's hard to let the device run in the background by it's own and just forget it...

Well, these are no real limitations, just some specific aspects I have to be accustomed to in the coming days. New devices involve new habits...

The preamps are very good indeed (for embedded ones I mean), the number of I/O relatively insane (56 I/O if you count them all in both ways), the TOTALMix sofware a real breeze (and a real mess too!) to route or level all your I/O's and the dynamic quite extended while still narrower than the wami's (according to theorical specs only).
The zero latency monitoring thing is an option I don't really use but I can imagine this may come very handy from time to time.
Of course, The fireface is also "192 Khz friendly" but.....who cares?

The part I can tell the upgrade for sure is the audio recording.
The AD converters are unbeatable for this price range and can be critical for those who, like me, record some real acoustic sources.

Again, these are just first and non verified impressions, I will certainly perform some objective tests in a near future and I'm pretty sure this device will not disappoint me.
Of course this completely and suddenly changes the way I work but if I keep focused on the sound itself, perception wise, there is nothing I can complain about.
This is really worth the money you spend.
One of the best "all-in-one" deal for a middle range home studio these days.

I was hesitating between this one and the HD192 from Motu...
If I had to create a small production structure I would have rather chosen the Motu (rock solid, it sounds incredible while it's very specific) but for a home studio I still believe RME is the choice to make because of it's quality AND versatility.
If you are concerned by using a firewire device with a laptop, you just don't have to wonder: the fireface is the best firewire device ever and everyone agree with that.


By the way...if I miss so much my wamirack, why the hell did I bought a brand new audio device????
The Wami had a major flaw: it wasn't fireproof at all and went on fire because of a malfunctionning motherf****** motherboard I had.
Meanwhile, Egosys closed their doors and Esi, the new dealer doesn't release this product anymore...

So, all in all I'm a lucky bastard: I replaced what I consider beeing a really good audio card for another really good one, no matter the improvements I will notice or not.

PS: I'm STILL sorry for my bad english.