redocneXk + multicard combos - 14 inputs?

dj_stick

Ok my idea is to use redocneXk to expand the number of useable recording inputs across a multicard system, current 10 is the maximum (using Audigy 1 cards with 3 stereo (6 mono) SPDIF inputs and 4 mono analog inputs.

If one of those inputs was used to decode AC3 that's another 4 mono channels we could record with.

To do this we'd need two slave cards, one master, and an ac3 encoding card.

I'm assuming the master card would be an Audigy 1, due to the UDA codec and 3 spdif inputs.
One slave Audigy can be connected normally with stereo spdif to occupy the CD_SPDIF and one of the inputs on the AUD_EXT.

That last input left will be the one that decodes AC3 (NOTE: AC3 decoding does not work on the CD_SPDIF input)

So far we have two cards working, and 8 mono inputs to work with, but we can have another 6.

We take another Audigy 1 OR Audigy 2 card (only need one SPDIF input for this one) and use it to encode AC3. The UDA codec and the AC97 inputs will makeup the first 4 channels in the AC3 stream, but we need another input. That would come from a cheaper Live! card or even onboard sound if there's an SPDIF output header (some gigabyte m/bs have this, nto sure about other manufacturers).

So connect the final card up to the ac3 encoder card, connect all the inputs to the required ASIO inputs according to the redocneXk instructions.

On the master card, enable AC3 decoding for the input the encoder card is connected to, and open the kX router

Set the AC3 output streams to unused fxbus routings and in the dsp hook them to asio inputs. Do the same with the spdif and analogue inputs for that master aswell.

Now enjoy the use of your 14 channel multitrack recording computer

I can't guarantee this will work perfectly, not sure how well kX decodes AC3, but please post your results if you try this.

Also i would expect the CPU usage to increase a little bit due to the encoding/decoding process, so you may need a faster CPU if this takes too much of a toll on your machine's performance

Tril

Would you get problems of synchronization because of the clocks not being equal since you use four different soundcards?

dj_stick

there's always sync problems when using multiple cards, but IIRC the 10k2 chips can slave to an SPDIF clock signal, not sure if that's automatic or has to be forced