Extra sends for outboard on DM-3200. Alternative to IF AN/DM?

[Tuviel]

Hi Guys,


First post. Been lurking for a while contemplating buying a DM. Was looking for a DM4800 but found such a great deal on a DM3200 so snagged it. Should get it next week. I've been pricing IF AN/DM cards and they're not cheap. Lowest I found was around $350 USD.

Anyway, I have a MOTU 828 MKII lying around. It can work as a standalone DA converter so I was wondering if it would be viable to configure it for DA duties and use it via the DM's ADAT output port to send analog to my outboard? Would the latency be considerable? I plan on bringing them back in on input channels for further EQ/compression. Anyone tried this? Is the return latency a deal-breaker? I appreciate any thoughts on this.


Warm Regards!

 

[Arjan P]

Hi, and welcome - and congrats on the DM! I don't think latency with hardware units will ever be noticeable. Any AD/DA converter would be useless if it would be the case. The only thing you might want to consider is the fact that relying on the MotU or any device using ADAT or TDIF will limit your use of the board to 44k1 or 48k use. Or halve your channel count..

 

[Tuviel]

That's great news. I don't go over 48k anyway. If you're right I just saved $350. Lol. Besides I need to get a custom desk and I also want a Roland RE-201 to go with! :0)

I'll definitely test it out once the DM arrives and post results but I expect that'll be a while Since I hear there's a bit of a learning curve coming from analog. I did read the manual like twice but am still a little hazy on a few things. Thanks for the reply Arjan. Thumbs up!

 

[Tuviel]

Hi Arjan,

After rereading your reply I think perhaps I wasn't as clear as I should have been with my question. I'm not so concerned about the latency with the analog outboard. My concern is that in order to use the MOTU in this capacity I will be adding two additional conversion stages which might introduce latency (DA out from the MOTU > then AD from the FX back into the DM3200). Will this be an issue? I suppose your reply still stands but has anyone tried this? Thanks.

 

[Tuviel]

Hi Guys,


I can now confirm that using a DA for the extra output (Sends) works perfect! You've got to really plan your routing of course. I wrote all my signal flow down on paper and slept on it a day or so before setting up Tracking and mix templates. I just did a quickie mix and used the DA to send audio to one of my outboard verbs then brought it back in on a M/L channel. Works great! Thanks for the vote of confidence Arjan! I really appreciate all the help on this forum.