ADAT expansion with ins and outs

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

So, I’ve finally decided to get into the world of ADAT expansion so I could get all my stuff plugged in at once and not have to fuss as much with my patch bay.

I have an Arturia AudioFuse 8Pre which I like (though I been questioning if it’s responsible for higher CPU usage in ableton, I feel like I could do more on my old Focusrite 2i4 when I had one). I ended up ordering a Focusrite OctoPre but after trouble shooting realized that the outputs of the Focusrite are connected only to the inputs and it doesn’t receive any output data from the Arturia AudioFuse 8Pre. Makes sense, it doesn’t have an input for optical but I was surprised this was even a thing lol.

I want the outputs as well because I want to able to set up my external effects to make an effects loopback and I also have several samplers which are taking up spots on the 8Pre.

So, I ordered a Focusrite 18i20 instead and it does seem like I should be able to do what I want which is get both inputs and outputs expanded, after reading the manual and all that.

I guess the question is: could someone confirm this for me? My brain is fried and most ADAT guides only talk about expanding inputs only. Second question would be: do I just plug an optical cable from the out of the Focusrite to the in of the Arturia for input and then out of the Arturia and into the Focusrite for output? Surely it’s not a thing where I have to make a choice between ins and outs, right?

I know sample rate is a thing as well but I’m recording at 48khz tops.

#2

It will work, assuming that the AudioFuse handles extra outs via ADAT.

If you want to use the Focusrite as an output expander only, then plug the ADAT IN of the Focusrite to the ADAT OUT of the Audio Fuse. The Audi Fuse will be THE sound card, it will use the Focusrite as just analog outs (it could be any other interface with ADAT IN and analog outs).

The other thing to consider is that one of the two devices has to be ‘clocked’ by the other. It means that a clock signal goes from the ‘master’ to the ‘slave’. In your case, just use the Focusrite as a ‘Slave’, and this will be handled by the ADAT cable going from the Audio Fuse ADAT OUT to the Focusrite ADAT IN.
You don’t need to connect the FW/USB of the Focusrite to the computer, just the ADAT. EXCEPT that, first, you need to go to the Focusrite Control App, and set up every ADAT INPUT to go to their respective Analog Outs.
Hope I’m clear !

EDIT : if you want to use the Analog Ins from the Focusrite, you’ll need another ADAT cable as well, and do the same settings, the other way round, of course.

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#3

Alright, thanks for the confirmation I had the right idea I just bought the wrong thing the first go around (seems like there’s not a lot of Adat expanders without audio interfaces built in and rear plug-ins, otherwise I’d get the cheap Behringer one everyone talks about).

I might even try using the Focusrite as the interface just to see if it has lower latency….

Anyways, thanks again!

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