Hi I am having problems hooking up a S/PDIF cable to my hammerfall 9636 card and my Tascam da-30 dat machine. All I hear is white noise coming out of the RMEcard. I am using a 75 ohm (I think) monster video cable. I also tried a regular audio rca cable and was getting a cliping sound over and over again. I also wasnt to thrilled in my hunt to find this little piece of text.
http://www.digidesign.com/support/faq/sd2.html#5
of course only RME can answer that for sure but I thought it couldn't hurt to put the post up. Note that when I switch between digital and analog input it doesn't begin to work like it says to do on digidesigns FAQ page. Thanks in advance - J
Comments
Thanks for the fast response. I am only using 44.1 khz data so that really can't be the problem. Is there a cheap why to convert the data from spdif to aes/ebu? I noticed midiman made a product but thats another $120 spent. I was reading about the formats and they said the only difference was the scsms protection in the spdif protocol and exact time locks in the aes/ebu standard. Both being sub level data. I read in the manual that the spdif output can be turned into the aes standard by switching on "professional" in the software. I have found some cables that are aes/ebu to rcs. This is 110 ohm cable. Is this the proper resistance for the standard? Thanks again!
- Jeff
-Jeff
Hi Jeff.
I don't have a Tascam, but I have a Hammerfall. Check the manual for how to configure it to aes/ebu--the only thing you need to buy is an adapter cable. (I'm not doing this myself, so I can't help you further. I just know it can be done).
Even at 44.1k, you need to have both things set to the same sample rate, and one slaving to the other. As for cables, for SPDIF you need a Coaxial (RCA pin) audio cable, I should think.
cheers
Im beginning to think the problem is in the spdif. I have performed a test to see if the spdif is the problem or not. Here is the test:
I have tried to run the spdif output to the spdif input. To do this I have used both a 75 ohm monster cable video cable and a normal monster cable audio cable both at lengths of 1 meter. I play a track in Nuendo and send it to bus 1. Bus 1 is set to send to spdif. I arm the next track to record the input from spdif. There is no signal according to the meter. I also check the Digicheck, this also shows no signal running to the input or the output. There is no signal running through the cable. I have the card located in the 3rd PCI slot. I have transfered it to the 4th PCI slot and performed the same test with the same results. :(
If anybody knows anything about this please respond.
Hi Jeff.
By "normal audio cable," surely you don't mean a standard analog audio cable with RCA connectors? Like I said, you need a coaxial digital audio cable, which is not at all the same thing, even though the connectors are the same type.
I am not an expert, but from my novice position all I can say is that I wouldn't dream of trying to hook audio machinery up with a video cable.
Actualy I do mean normal audio cable. One good thing that came out of this is I read about all I could on those two digital formats (aes/ebu and spdif). Here is something I read followed by the link. It was a very informative article.
"S/PDIF (IEC-958) uses 75 ohm coaxial cable and RCA connectors. 75 ohm coaxial cable is inexpensive, because it is the same cable as used in video transmission (you can buy a video cable with RCA connectors to connect you S/PDIF equipments together). Coaxial S/PDIF connections work typically at least to 10-15 meter distances with good 75 ohm coaxial cable."
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/audio/spdif.html
Of course with all the misinformation on the web these days they could be wrong. I emailed Monster cable today to find out if the video monster cable I am using is, in fact, 75 ohms. Well it is!
I think my problems might be hardware related. I have contacted RME and I'm sure we will work it out. Thanks to all who replied.
//pulls out the sodering iron
Have you got the correct sample rate? Maybe you could try converting spdif to aes/ebu and trying that?
My DA 30 works fine with aes thru my hammerfall.