TimI mentioned AVB last time, and it's some cool stuff! And in fact RME, the folks that make the premium (expensive) audio solutions and are known for good integrated pre-amps, may be investing more into AVB this year. But as mentioned last time, everytime I've tried to update my studio, I always have ended up waiting for the next thing.
This time I didn't do that. Even though I think AVB is cool, I decided to forge ahead on what options I do have. I ended up looking into MADI. MADI (Multichannel Audio Digital Interface) is like a grown up ADAT. It supports waaaaay more channels over much longer distances. It reuses fiber cabling and terminators used in networking gear. It is also a non-licensed encumbered standard (you can probably see a theme here - I *really* don't like Dante for being closed sourced and effectively proprietary, and also expensive relative to standardized solutions which are arguably superior).
Hold up though, what’s ADAT? In consumer gear, TVs and stereos, it’s more known as optical or toslink. Pretty much the same thing. Being an optical connection it means you do not have to worry about ground loops because there is not electrical connection between gear. That’s a pretty big deal and something I hadn’t appreciated until recently. ADAT has been around forever. It’s pretty inexpensive, and provides a decent amount of audio channels - 8 channels at 48kHz, 4 at 96 and 2 at 192. This is partly why you see it used for home theater systems and things.
MADI is also an optical connection which addresses some of the limitations of ADAT that one might find in a studio/music setting, albeit for a higher cost. MADI provides 8x more channels (64 at 48kHz, 32 at 96, 16 at 192) and can be used for very long cable runs (kilometers). It repurposes optical cabling and connectors found in computer networking applications. Like ADAT, MADI is point to point. You can chain devices together in a loop though unlike AVB, Dante, and other ethernet based solutions, you can route audio all over the place freely (which ethernet solutions are able to do by leverage ethernet switches, just as we do for normal data). That has some really neat benefits! Which is why I’m still enamored by AVB.
But at the same time, I don’t really need to do that and given the distances MADI runs, all the solutions I need can be solved without – at least for now. MADI is a lot simpler to connect too. Just like ADAT. You just plug it in and pretty much go.
Why is any of this crap important? Well for the home musician that does most things “in the box” and only needs a mic and maybe a line in for a guitar, it's probably not important. In times that it is, ADAT may still be a reasonable solution. But for folks like me that have lots of synths and want to have more analog routing options, it becomes hella important, especially at high sample rates. And if you’re wanting to avoid the really high cost of Dante, this is one of those ways to do it.
#StudioNightmares
This time I didn't do that. Even though I think AVB is cool, I decided to forge ahead on what options I do have. I ended up looking into MADI. MADI (Multichannel Audio Digital Interface) is like a grown up ADAT. It supports waaaaay more channels over much longer distances. It reuses fiber cabling and terminators used in networking gear. It is also a non-licensed encumbered standard (you can probably see a theme here - I *really* don't like Dante for being closed sourced and effectively proprietary, and also expensive relative to standardized solutions which are arguably superior).
Hold up though, what’s ADAT? In consumer gear, TVs and stereos, it’s more known as optical or toslink. Pretty much the same thing. Being an optical connection it means you do not have to worry about ground loops because there is not electrical connection between gear. That’s a pretty big deal and something I hadn’t appreciated until recently. ADAT has been around forever. It’s pretty inexpensive, and provides a decent amount of audio channels - 8 channels at 48kHz, 4 at 96 and 2 at 192. This is partly why you see it used for home theater systems and things.
MADI is also an optical connection which addresses some of the limitations of ADAT that one might find in a studio/music setting, albeit for a higher cost. MADI provides 8x more channels (64 at 48kHz, 32 at 96, 16 at 192) and can be used for very long cable runs (kilometers). It repurposes optical cabling and connectors found in computer networking applications. Like ADAT, MADI is point to point. You can chain devices together in a loop though unlike AVB, Dante, and other ethernet based solutions, you can route audio all over the place freely (which ethernet solutions are able to do by leverage ethernet switches, just as we do for normal data). That has some really neat benefits! Which is why I’m still enamored by AVB.
But at the same time, I don’t really need to do that and given the distances MADI runs, all the solutions I need can be solved without – at least for now. MADI is a lot simpler to connect too. Just like ADAT. You just plug it in and pretty much go.
Why is any of this crap important? Well for the home musician that does most things “in the box” and only needs a mic and maybe a line in for a guitar, it's probably not important. In times that it is, ADAT may still be a reasonable solution. But for folks like me that have lots of synths and want to have more analog routing options, it becomes hella important, especially at high sample rates. And if you’re wanting to avoid the really high cost of Dante, this is one of those ways to do it.
#StudioNightmares