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Quantum HD8 or other interface?

MC2

Member
Unfortunately, my Studio 1824c interface has just died (the computer does not detect it and only the red switch light is on, and tech support has no more solutions other than a physical visit to the repair center). I am currently in the process of developing an alternative and/or backup solution. Within 1,200€.
And this is where two interfaces caught my attention - the Quantum HD8 and the Arturia AudioFuse 16Rig with new firmware.
The hardware differences between the interfaces in basic functions are probably not significant, and the biggest one is probably that the HD8 is 32-bit and the 16Rig is only 24-bit.
On the other hand, I am curious about 3D audio formats. Arturia has solved this topic with new firmware for 16Rig. So the question is whether it can also be solved effectively on the Presonus platform - using Studio One and HD8, possibly adding some additional plug-ins (if necessary), such as dearVR PRO2.
Simply put, how to buy a new interface is with the ability to further expand the studio, for example, to 7.1 or more advanced format. And the needs grow with the studio. Currently I need min. 24 line inputs and mixer functions (I have a FaderPort 8 so there is also a substitute for a controller). Therefore, only interfaces with 2 x ADAT are in the question. Possibly Behringer X32 Rack.
What experience or suggestions do you have on the subject?
 
Didn't check the Arturia's details but the Quantum HD8 offers ADAT Stand-Alone mode, allowing you to use it as an ADAT-analog expander on other ADAT equipped interfaces. With studio expandability in mind that can be an important feature.
 
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Yes. ADAT expander is a very important function. I currently have a Behringer ADA 8200 plugged into a Studio 1824c (currently broken) ... and I'm already running out of inputs. Arturia has released an interesting solution on this subject in the form of ADAT IN and ADAT Out interfaces.
So here it remains unknown to choose the audio interface itself necessarily with at least two ADAT IN ports.
 
Have you considered a StudioLive mixer? E.g. the 24R is a formidable mixer/interface expandable to 32 inputs / 18 outputs. Or get a 32R to get there right away. Sample rate is limited to 48kHz though, if that's a factor.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into these solutions. On the other hand, I wonder about this difference between 24bit and 32bit. Does it actually significantly affect the sound and audio production.
 
In theory more bits increases the signal to noise ratio. But the practical truth for interfaces is the SNR (or dynamic range) in the specs which is always less than the bits promise, simply because analog circuitry is noisy. In theory 24 bits should give you a dynamic range of 144dB, and 32 bits should give you 192dB. But when the specs say 118dB then that's the equivalent of 19.5 bits (118/20/log(2)), the other bits only contain noise. So don't be fooled.

Once inside the DAW the noise in electronics plays no role so 24 bits (or 32bits FP) does give you the 144dB SNR, which is plenty considering the maximum achievable 118dB (or whatever your interface's specs say) SNR in your recorded tracks.
 
Well, that's why somehow I'm not convinced to pay more, for something whose effects I probably won't notice. Especially since I'm working exclusively with electronic instruments so far.
 
The HD8 allows to use the level control on all outputs. So if you have 1 or 2 ADAT converters attached and you set up a 7.1.4 Atmos room, you can control the level of all speakers with just that one volume control, which saves 2000+ EUR on a dedicated hardware level control (AFAIK there is nothing below 2500). Check the manual what outputs are affected, as I am not sure whether this would also impact other outputs like sends to external FX/Pipeline).
 
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I had hoped that this was the case. It actually comes out to one thing compared to Arturia. Except that the 16Rig can work as a mixer-DSP standalone. However, in this case it is rather an unnecessary gadget for me so far. Other functions seem to be similar or even much better in HD8. But this is in such my subjective impression.
 
Unfortunately, my Studio 1824c interface has just died (the computer does not detect it and only the red switch light is on, and tech support has no more solutions other than a physical visit to the repair center). I am currently in the process of developing an alternative and/or backup solution. Within 1,200€.
And this is where two interfaces caught my attention - the Quantum HD8 and the Arturia AudioFuse 16Rig with new firmware.
The hardware differences between the interfaces in basic functions are probably not significant, and the biggest one is probably that the HD8 is 32-bit and the 16Rig is only 24-bit.
On the other hand, I am curious about 3D audio formats. Arturia has solved this topic with new firmware for 16Rig. So the question is whether it can also be solved effectively on the Presonus platform - using Studio One and HD8, possibly adding some additional plug-ins (if necessary), such as dearVR PRO2.
Simply put, how to buy a new interface is with the ability to further expand the studio, for example, to 7.1 or more advanced format. And the needs grow with the studio. Currently I need min. 24 line inputs and mixer functions (I have a FaderPort 8 so there is also a substitute for a controller). Therefore, only interfaces with 2 x ADAT are in the question. Possibly Behringer X32 Rack.
What experience or suggestions do you have on the subject?
While the HD8 is not yet capable of 3D Audio Monitoring I can recommend Ginger Audio Sphere, at least when you are on a Mac it can transform any interface into an Atmos monitoring controller (other surround formats as well).
With the Adat outputs you get a great interface with the quantum, nice converters, the Bitrate is not really a game changer as it is not 32bit float, which would make clipping a thing of the past, basically.
That being said, the 16Rig and the available Adat expanders play well together and that is a solution I would also find very Future proof.
 
I needed 32 channels of ADAT IO for my interface and compared several outboard units head to head, one of which was the Arturia expanders. I ended up buying a Ferrofish A32 and, interestingly to me, a Presonus Digimax DP88. I thought the DP88 shined as a direct AD/DA. I genuinely expected to put the seven year old DP88 last but it was very very good. If the converters in the new quantum are better than the old, which I have been hearing they are I would consider the new Quantums before the arturia, which I thought were a bit smeary in the high end.

THAT SAID I am not an electronic musician at all, and my friends who own the arturia do tell me that for electronic music, it is hard to beat them.
 
The Quantum HD8 has just arrived, and so I'm wondering about its notorious low latency.
On all the videos on YT they show that in Studio One both Input latency and Output latency are at the level of a few ms. And hardly anyone pays attention to Sample Rate. The question is how important is low Input Latency as a parameter?
Such parameters are indeed, but at a sample rate of 96kHz. At this frequency and severely limited the possibility of using ADAT connectors.
At Sample Rate 48kHz Input latency is at 54ms.
Am I doing something wrong or are these the correct parameters?
 
The HD8 has a significantly higher latency than the original quantum 2632. I was floored with the low round trip latency of the 2632 and a big reason I didn’t consider Presonus for my next interface was the usage of USB instead of thunderbolt.
 
54 ms is a high buffer. Use a lower buffer.
I did several tests, For each test the same values were set:

Dropuot Protection: Medium
Process Block Size: 512
Process Precision Double 64bit
Enable Plug-in Nap
Enable low latency monitoring for instruments


Using different buffer and sample rate configurations yielded the following results.


Sample Rate: 96KHz
Device Block Size: 32 64 128
Input latency: 1.1ms 1.44ms 2.1ms
Output latency: 1.27ms 1.6ms 2.27ms
Audio Roundtip: 18.4ms => 19ms Z
Instrument: 19.2ms => 20.5ms (min & max)


Sample Rate: 48KHz
Device Block Size: 32 64 128
Input latency: 54ms 55ms. 56ms
Output latency: 1.79ms 2.46ms 3.79ms
Audio Roundtip: 87ms. => 88ms. Z
Instrument: 36. 2ms => 40ms (min & max)
 
General remark: Low latency is important for monitor mixes when recording. In such scenario's, using an interface with a mix engine inside, always consider using that mix engine for your monitor mixes. That way you get extremely low latencies without burdening the computer with it :)
 
General remark: Low latency is important for monitor mixes when recording. In such scenario's, using an interface with a mix engine inside, always consider using that mix engine for your monitor mixes. That way you get extremely low latencies without burdening the computer with it :)
Best Advice.
 
Or use hardware and assign live cue mixes via Universal Controller…essentially zero latency to track compression and EQ…things like live reverb for talent are still available if desired.

The only quibbles: is remembering to turn off live mics from UC cue sends when done tracking, and not being able (that I’ve found) to re-label the input/output controls. Sure would be handy to see “Neve 1” instead of “ADAT 3” for example
 
I was able to trace where this input latency dka 48kHz at 56ms. And more specifically how to reduce it.
I don't know why but if the interface is turned on before the computer is turned on (macOS Sequoia) there is a large input latency when the computer is turned on.
If I turn on the interface after the system has finished loading, the latency drops to 1.2ms.
All in all, this is quite inconvenient. Do you have any ideas to make it work with low latency right away?
 
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