OT: SP/dif utilization

[Richard Rupert]

Just did a little experiment. I changed the input to the DAT from digital to analog and connected a mic and mic pre to the left analog in. Then I disconnected the SPDIF into the DAT, leaving only the output connected. As expected, the RME interface showed a Locked, but not Synced condition on the SPDIF LED. I expected noise, but it worked. I got decent audio in the control room headphones from that mic. If I switched the RME clock to SPDIF, everything was Locked AND Synced, but I'm not sure you'll want to clock your system with a 10 dollar AD converter.

Call me surprised.

I have one remaining question. How do you switch sample rates on the $10 box?

Well, Ian as I've said, this is way over my head. I can't answer your question since I don't even have the converter in hand as of yet (and most likely won't be able to answer you when I do). I definitely won't use the converter as the clock source. And maybe it won't work, but I'm willing to risk the $10 to try it. Ultimately, if the room mic and talkback mics have the occasional click in them, I can deal with that. I'm assuming now that the "noise" you refer to is the click we hear when devices aren't synced. Worst case scenario is it will fail, but I have your method as a backup. Thank you for that.

[Richard Rupert]

UPDATE:
The little SP/dif converter box arrived today (link in a previous post if you're interested) and it's a nicely built piece; it's in a very solid metal housing.

It's working flawlessly in my tests, with two caveats: 1. you will need a small preamp if you're running a microphone directly into it, and 2. it HAS to be run at 48k sample rate. Other than that, it's a nifty way to take advantage of two more connections on an interface that has SP/dif inputs. If you need to access the outputs, there's another similar device that goes "in the opposite direction" for even less money. Since I have plenty of outputs from the interface, I don't need these.