yes but that does only apply to the “normal” OctaPre. Focusrite also have the Clarett+ OctaPre and the Scarlett OctaPre Dynamic that both have ADAT in AND out.
ADA8200 has ADAT in and out. Wow, tough to deny that thing at that price. I know it’s behringer but it seems like most people think it sounds quite good. Only slight negative is you need XLR to 1/4 cables for the outs but thats not a huge deal.
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So I tried hooking up Push 3 standalone to the 18i20 mk3 via ADAT in and out. Success! It works well. Most of my synths and hardware effects are already hooked up to the 18i20 via a connected line mixer and patchbay, and with just a bit of tweaking in Focusrite Control, I can now easily hook up the Push and access what I need by selecting audio channels directly on the Push. I can also send anything on the Push out through my hardware effects chain and beck in again over ADAT, all without needed a computer connected to the 18i20. I ended up needing to sacrifice the second headphone output - which shares a custom monitoring mix with analog outs 9 and 10 - to get it working the way I wanted without needing a DAW for the routing, but that’s worth it for me. All in all - very happy with the result.
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I wonder how it would work with 2 18i20. I have them already connected through ADAT. Or push 3 only supports 8 ADAT channels? Maybe would not work with push 3 adat out since main 18i20 in is already being used to connect second 18i20.
How does it actually work with tracks and the audio output routing via ADAT? How does it work to assign specific output channels to an audio track?
As I already have the Antelope Orion 32+ + Rme Madiface combo, yesterday hooked Push to the Orion adats, and worked perfectly, amazing to have the stuff connected digitally from bitwig to push and viceversa, and the option to route any hardware from my setup in and out with the matrix.
In my existing 18i20 set up, I have analog inputs 3+4 and 5+6 hooked up to receive my synths and hardware effects. I also have a line mixer and patchbay which help route audio to these stereo pairs in whichever configuration I need.
To allow Push to access these analog inputs as well, I went to Focusrite Control and manually assigned them to 18i20 ADAT outs 1+2 and 3+4 respectively. They then appear as inputs 9+10 and 11+12 on the Push.
It was a bit trickier setting up an effects loop to send audio from the Push to my hardware effects chain and back via ADAT. I needed to create a custom “headphone” submix and use 18i20 outputs 9+10, which are shared with the second headphone port, because the direct monitoring options for incoming ADAT audio are limited. The custom submix has everything turned down to zero except whatever’s coming in on ADAT inputs 1+2, which correspond with outputs 9+10 on the Push.
So the audio goes out of the Push via 9+10 over ADAT, which the 18i20 sends to its analog outs 9+10, through my hardware effects chain, then back in on 18i20 analog inputs 3+4 as described above. All the 18i20 settings are stored on the hardware so a computer isn’t needed after initial setup.
Hope this is helpful.
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Can the push3 slave to adat? Or does it have to be the master?
In my case, I didn’t even have to think about that side of it - it just worked.
Adat is a master/slave. The push or the interface should be the master clock, not both.
It’s possible the push defaults to master and your interface defaults to slave and it just worked.
I’m just asking if there’s a setting on the push 3 configuration pages to set adat to slave.
I’m aware of that and was initially concerned about it too. I could have articulated myself better - in the end I was just pleased it worked without hassle with the 18i20. I couldn’t find a master/slave option anywhere on the Push when I looked for it. It’s not in the regular settings menu. If I missed it somehow, I’d be keen to know about it as well.
While I’m waiting for an ADAT cable to arrive… can anyone confirm that RME UCX II can be plugged into the Push via ADAT and used as 8 extra inputs/outputs?
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Sure you can, a friend is doing with the latest UCX III and works perfect, should be the same with the older one.
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Thanks for this explanation. So you cannot simply route the audio from adat input 1+2 to output 3+4, or whatever. Seems like an easy compromise though.
What’s your round trip latency for the effects loop? Is it any different than your previous setup without the Push?
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Yep, this workaround is the best option for my use case at least. If Focusrite Control was more flexible, it wouldn’t be needed, but it gets the job done.
I haven’t measured the latency but it sounds and feels the same as my normal effects loop setup, super low and more or less instantaneous for live playing.
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posted a note about my initial ADAT tests with UAD Apollo in the Push Users thread, but figured it would make sense here too:
I tried using ADAT today with a UAD Apollo (old silver one with Thunderbolt card installed).
In Console, I configured the audio inputs of the Apollo to route audio channels out to ADAT outputs and the levels showed-up in Push immediately on channels 9-16. Was also able to insert UAD plugins on the channels and have the processed audio go right into the Push ADAT inputs.
I also found that after configuring this in Console, the Apollo remembered the configuration after power-down and also while not connected to the computer (with the exception of the near-realtime plugin processing).
Also, since the Apollo has 2 ADAT in/out pairs, I was able to rout audio from a separate ADAT I already had connected to the Apollo (Behringer ADA8200) directly into Push via configuring these channels in Console to send to ADAT 1-8 (however, they will override the Apollo’s analog ins when configured as such). Same thing with SPDIF if connected.
In this way the Apollo can act as a sort of digital patchbay when connected to a computer, and also seems to operate reliably (so far) as a simple 8 channel ADAT device when not connected to the computer. Pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
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Did you end up doing it?
Be super interested to hear you are integrating the push with your rig, as you have a similar workflow to me that is decidedly elektron focused.
The push would do heaps of stuff I want like live mixing and effects etc, but I’m scared of what it could do to my workflow.
has the external class compliant mixer capability ‘feature’ even been brought up in the betas, have you beta testers talked with ableton about it and have they responded in any way about it… ?
Definitely not in the release notes for the upcoming beta. I’m sure they have a roadmap that may or may not include this feature. However I’’d say they’ll be knee-deep in bug-fixes for the next few updates.