[64studio-devel] [Bulk] Re: RME Hammerfall HDSP 9632 Sound card. Will this work with 64studio?

[Quentin Harley]

bal dobe wrote:
> Why would I need an ADAT interface, sorry to be simple.  I have an
> analogue desk which I can feed directly into the card, I hope, and then
> out again back into the desk to feed the monitors.
>   
Ok, no such thing as a silly question - especially if it comes to the 
relatively unchartered territory of high performance professional linux 
sound systems.

The RME "Hammerfall" 9636, is quite a unique card, in that is has no 
analog part on it at all.  That was part of the appeal of the device to 
me. because the insides of a PC case is *no* place for analog IMHO.  To 
see what I mean, take an output of an analog sound card - stick it in 
your desk, and crank up the gain (while not playing back any sound on 
the PC!) You'll hear all kinds of funny sounds - that gets added to your 
output...

The RME card has 4 Toslink ports (digital optical) each handling 8ch in 
or 8ch out.  The data is transferred in fiber optic "lightpipes".  This 
is crucial in pro sound, because this electrically isolates your 
computer from your valuable audio - no PC noise here!.  That gives 16ch 
24bit in and out @ 96kHz
It also has a supplied adaptor that gives you 1 port of stereo SPDIF in 
and 1 stereo SPDIF out.
Total is then 18ch in and 18ch out.

Which desk do you use?  To Use the ADAT ports, you need some interface 
to convert the up to 16ch audio to 2 8ch ADAT streams, and the 2 8ch 
ADAT streams into 16ch audio.  My desk has a special module that sticks 
into the back that provides me with the ADAT optical ports I need.  You 
should get one of the many ADAT compatible IO devices available.

This is quite a bit more expensive than your other "pro audio" sound 
cards, but the results do show that price difference!

Hope it helps in your decision!

Quentin
> Regards
> Baldomurx
>