H8000FW connections

[loki]

Hi, I want to buy an H8000 and I really wanted to connect and use with firewire to stream audio, but Cubase apparently will not allow this.
Which means upgrading my soundcard for one with more ins and outs.

So, I need help choosing a new soundcard.

I use a few bits of hardware, so I need 8 analog ins and outs at least, and I guess I will have to connect the H8000 digitally.
I have looked at the RME Fireface as a contender, but I'm not sure about its digital i/o options.

I don't know what to look for really, I have no experience with digital connections, and the little I have read on the web has confused me………..

Please can anyone suggest a setup that they are using, or even just one that they think will work well, also what type of cables and where to buy.

Thanks,

Lee

[Mike]

You may not need anything but an H8000FW. I am not at all sure about how the drivers work, but the H8000FW should eliminate the need for a sound card (Nick please help!). Anyway based upon this premise I've been bugging a couple high placed people at Eventide to look at developing a couple options for using the H8000 as channel strips.

I'm using a H8000 (not FW and, yes, I have an Orville too) with an RME Digiface with an RME optical to AES/EBU converter. That was about state of the art 4 or 5 years ago when I bought the gear and was last active in recording. Basically I use Nuendo (2) because at that time ProTools had a seriously handicapped sound due to a cheap clock. Also Nuendo's user interface is much easier to work with than ProTools. The main advantage to RME's stuff was low latency and this all could still be the case.

I haven't received a reply here to my question on the subject, but I would think that H8000FW's firewire interface would have to be slower (higher latency) than a PCI card based system like RME's if you are using firewire hard drives, and possibly so under any circumstances.

I have both internal SCSI drives and firewire. I've found that I can get more tracks with the SCSI drives. Though SCSI drives seem to be extremely limited in capacity compared to firewire ones.

I am upgrading my Orville for a number of reasons. Though replacing RME's interface will probably just slow my setup down, I should be able to use the H800's optical interface to replace the AES/EBU converter, though I suspect with 4 instead of 8 channels. Nonetheless Eventide's marvelous matrix I/O system is a major improvement over RME's converter. Presently I am using the single stereo analog input in my H8000 as a Mult thanks to this and eliminating the need for cables that I don't have and are hard to get here.

I got most of my high quality cables from an online company in Nashville. Since my e-mail hard drive crashed I don't have the directions handy any more. I think I also got some quality cables locally.

[Mike]

This paper: http://www.tcelectronic.com/media/frandsen_lave_2004_plug_play_aes116.pdf
should help you decide. I think that you'll find that no matter what may be optimum, the most practical is the H8000FW as a sound card.

[TidesN]

I have an RME Fireface 800 but this H8000FW has better Analog to Digital converters so everything I need is in the Eventide. Two fire wire ports connected to my PC and my Cubase 4 recognized them just fine. The only thing I use my RME Fireface for now is to have a headphone output and monitor speakers. Mics, Motif XS, and DTXtreme III drums, and guitar all plug into the H8000FW….I really don?t need a sound card…..just a good PC hard drive and a software interface (Cubase 4.5).

I would ask for some support for my Steinberg Cubase product but it appears after reading these posts on this forum that I am going to be ignored concerning special requests.

[Mike]

TidesN:

I have an RME Fireface 800 but this H8000FW has better Analog to Digital converters so everything I need is in the Eventide.

Eventide actually uses Field Programmable Gate Arrays for its converters, but I have no idea how that might affect the sound.
Despite RME reputation many feel that its converters don't sound good.
The first time I heard Eventide's converters was when I was using those on a Spectral DAW – the difference was amazing like after your ears un-pop on an airplane.
The only converter that I can say for sure that sounds better than Eventide is the Apogee PSX-100 Special Edition that costs almost as much as a Harmonizer. Apogee got (the unit has been discontinued) a superior sound by using carefully selected analog components.
Except for tubes and large transformers and loaded to "ring," the only trick I know of in this area is to use expensive "high speed" analog components. Audio Upgrades specializes in this, but can't make any Eventide box except the H3000 sound better.
Not even Robert Moog knew about "high speed" components. Though he undoubtedly used them. His philosophy was to just incorporate the best parts available.

[Sonic Nomad]

Practical use and connection of the H8000 in production use can be done in the following way;

 ADAT or AES/EBU –  I/O  This way up to EIGHT channels of audio can be run to between the H8000 and your DAW's soundcard/interface. In my case I'm running a Digidesign 003 with Pro Tools Le. There are two optical cables running between the 003 and the H8000. There is also a BNC cable from the H8000's Wordclock Out going to the Wodclock In on the 003. In Pro Tools it's set to slave to the incoming wordclock. Sessions are run a 48K as this more than addequate for me. When recording, experpermenting, doing standard production the H8000 will be used as a stereo unit with signals going to it via ADAT 1 & 2. Once an effect has been choosen and tweaked it is then printed to a new audio track. Remember many presets are summed in and stereo out so this comes in handy for "stereoising" a mono signal. When all the parts are ready and the song needs to be mixed Four stereo busses/auxelaries are setup as follows; H8000 – 1&2 – 3&4 – 5&6 – 7&8. These four busses each use an I/O insert in Pro Tools that route the signals to respecive I/O on the H8000. Then preset 3218: Virtual Rack 1 is called up and tweaked to taste.

This is great as I now have FOUR high quality processors running at the same time; 1) a harmonizer 2) a ducking delay 3) a chorus 4) a reverb.

[Mike]

Sonic Nomad:

Sessions are run a 48K as this more than addequate for me. tw

?

Yes. 48K is perfectly fine and I can only hear a slight bit more high end with 96K. But what I want to know is can anything but a dog hear the difference between 96K and 192K?

Until digital I/O becomes as simple as analog audio connections, it may be time to jump off the technological improvement bandwagon. We are being bamboozled with all these so-called improvements.

[loki]

Thanks for your replies.

I would love to just use the H8000FW as an interface, but I think I need more analog I/O to hook up my couple of hardware comps, eqs, etc so maybe it won't work.

I've managed to read up some more about digital connections, and some of it is slowly sinking in (I'm not the fastest learner, my brain tends to shut down when reading technical info)

I think I'm going to start by trying the H8000 over Adat into a Fireface 800, if I don't like it, I'm going to sell the FF and try something else.

Cheers

[lionelred]

Hi

 I have a H8000FW on the way and am in the process of getting rid of my desk and soundcard as I don't need them anymore.

 One thing how do i get around the headphone situation. Should i keep hold of my Apoge Duet for this purpose?

[Author]

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