SPDIF use for recording. New interface ideas?

fretmeister

I have a new PC and I'm hoping to get a new interface shortly. At the moment I'm using my Helix as the interface and it is very good, but for vox I'm getting better results with my ancient Scarlett 2i4 and I'd also like to use John's idea of putting send paths in the patches to grab audio at different stages of the path  both at the beginning of the chain and maybe at other places too. I also get a lot lower latency with the 2i4 despite it's age.

Helix has SPDIF and I'm curious as to whether looking for an interface that uses it would be worth it? Are there any advantages / disadvantages?

My motherboard has optical SPDIF Out (doesn't mention IN), and also has a USB-C socket.

I'm looking at the Focusrite 18i20 as it seems to tick all the boxes (Optical and Co-ax) and is also rackmountable which would be very handy.

Any ideas?

PolarityMan

Is it for live or recording? For recording I don't see why you wouldn't just use helix native with the scarlett?

octatonic

Converters are so good these days that using S/PDIF is just going to cause headaches for no real advantage.

fretmeister

PolarityMan said:

Is it for live or recording? For recording I don't see why you wouldn't just use helix native with the scarlett?

Foot control of various things without buying more foot controllers. And with my old pc having the helix do the processing saved CPU load.

Admittedly not tried the new PC with a stack of plugins yet.

Lodious

I used to do exactly this. For me, there was a significant disadvantage in that if you set the clock source to External in the interface when using a digital input from your Helix, your interface won't work when the Helix is turned off. This might not be an issue with the Scarlets, but from my Focusrite Pro24 it was a pain. Using the internal clock with Helix I got occasional glitches which made it unusable. 

I switched to RME for exactly this reason. With RME, the interface is smart enough to work out that if there is no ext. clock signal, it switches back to internal. 

Might not be an issue for you, but worth considering. 

PolarityMan

I think you can get the helix to send midi CC from the expression pedal. 

PolarityMan

I guess when you can emulate the entire helix in software I jsut dont see why you would want to treat it as a complicated piece of outboard and patch it around into a big interface.

Lodious

PolarityMan said:

I think you can get the helix to send midi CC from the expression pedal. 

Yes, you can. 

octatonic

There is something immediate about using the hardware- no plug-ins to futz with.
When I had a Helix (and still have Helix Native) I'd use the hardware rather than the plugin.
Less latency to worry about- you can't alter the patch after the fact of course but I also find committing to a sound to be helpful in moving a production along.

Lodious

I use both hardware and Native, I agree about using the hardware. I have a patch setup for using it as a controller for Native, and it works ok, but sometimes the Native footswitch state gets out of sync with the hardware, and using Ableton I have not found an easy way of directing the midi commands to a specific instance of Native. 

fretmeister

Lodious said:

PolarityMan said:

I think you can get the helix to send midi CC from the expression pedal. 

Yes, you can. 

Not if I have a rack and controller... no expression pedal.

fretmeister

octatonic said:

There is something immediate about using the hardware- no plug-ins to futz with.
When I had a Helix (and still have Helix Native) I'd use the hardware rather than the plugin.
Less latency to worry about- you can't alter the patch after the fact of course but I also find committing to a sound to be helpful in moving a production along.

That’s how I like to work too. 

Ive never once decided to use a different tone to the one I used when tracking. 

PolarityMan

fretmeister said:

octatonic said:

There is something immediate about using the hardware- no plug-ins to futz with.
When I had a Helix (and still have Helix Native) I'd use the hardware rather than the plugin.
Less latency to worry about- you can't alter the patch after the fact of course but I also find committing to a sound to be helpful in moving a production along.

That’s how I like to work too. 

Ive never once decided to use a different tone to the one I used when tracking. 

it's a ballache to edit though. (although admittedly I rarely edit guitar) 

fretmeister

PolarityMan said:

fretmeister said:

octatonic said:

There is something immediate about using the hardware- no plug-ins to futz with.
When I had a Helix (and still have Helix Native) I'd use the hardware rather than the plugin.
Less latency to worry about- you can't alter the patch after the fact of course but I also find committing to a sound to be helpful in moving a production along.

That’s how I like to work too. 

Ive never once decided to use a different tone to the one I used when tracking. 

it's a ballache to edit though. (although admittedly I rarely edit guitar) 

I still record a di track. I just never end up using it.

Lestratcaster

I've got the Focusrite 8i6 I use with my Kemper playing out of monitors via SPDIF. For recording though I use analogue 1+2 for some reason. I use the Focusrite control software to switch the clock between internal/SPDIF but as I do online lessons as well as in-person switching between the two can be a pain as mentioned above when the Kemper is turned off I have to turn it back to internal.

SteveF

I'm intending to mess round with it this weekend. I have an OX with SPDIF optical and RCA outs and I just got an 18i20 so trying to set up with that out of curiosity and to save cables if nothing else.  I didn't have much time the other day to mess around and didn't manage to get it working, but as Lesstratcaster said, you need to mess around in the Focusrite software to change routing options so I need to spend a little time getting my head around that.  

SteveF

Got it working today - not without some frustration.  It was user error, of course, but a quick call to Focusrite and they had me sorted in a minute or two.  Bloody excellent tech support to be fair.  I have the same thing going as Lestratcaster above - because the OX only has SPDIF out and not in, it has to be the source clock so I have to use Focusrite control to switch to SPDIF as the source, but when I switch off the OX it loses clock sync and then I have to switch to internal. 

TBF I didn’t even know about the clock thing - I should probably read up on it!

paulmapp8306

fretmeister said:

I have a new PC and I'm hoping to get a new interface shortly. At the moment I'm using my Helix as the interface and it is very good, but for vox I'm getting better results with my ancient Scarlett 2i4 and I'd also like to use John's idea of putting send paths in the patches to grab audio at different stages of the path  both at the beginning of the chain and maybe at other places too. I also get a lot lower latency with the 2i4 despite it's age.

Helix has SPDIF and I'm curious as to whether looking for an interface that uses it would be worth it? Are there any advantages / disadvantages?

My motherboard has optical SPDIF Out (doesn't mention IN), and also has a USB-C socket.

I'm looking at the Focusrite 18i20 as it seems to tick all the boxes (Optical and Co-ax) and is also rackmountable which would be very handy.

Any ideas?

Exactly what your thinking.

I'm running my afx via through an 18i20.  It's great.  It is set to external sync but works fine when afx is off so??

I even have a loop from 18i20 back to afx to feed Vox and keys through its fx.

SteveF

The Focusrite guy said it would work but might run into “clock issues” if I didn’t change back to internal when the Ox was off. I don’t know how that manifests as it still seems to be working but I do get a red sync light in Focusrite control when I don’t reset to internal. Either way, all seems
to be working and I’m happy enough changing the source clock when tracking with the Ox, it only takes a second. 

paulmapp8306

the red light is because its looking for an incoming signal and isnt getting one.  It works OK because when its off - there is no digital input that needs syncing.

SteveF

Ah that makes sense.