1 Topic by panatrope (edited by panatrope 2012-07-02 11:31:12)

  • From: Melbourne, Australia
  • Registered: 2007-05-16
  • Posts: 495

Topic: UFX, DURec, FW, USB

Good news, bad news(?) and a happy ending.

Today I proved the value of the DURec facility on the UFX, when the FW connection from the laptop broke (possiblity the laptop plug - tbd).   A check on the UFX display confirmed it was still recording.  Wiggle connection, reboot laptop - no fix.  UFX still recording.

As I also have the USB drivers on the laptop, I thought - see if USB works - even just monitoring and controlling.   (Only using 4 channels at 96K).  Just being cautious, wait for a break in the program.   Connect USB to UFX - the DURec recording stops!!!

Reconfigure REAPER, start it recording, start DURec recording - all OK.   Rest of the program fine, no reported errors on the laptop, etc.  No lost program, despite the irregular closing of the DURec recording.

So, it seems that while DURec will proceed undisturbed with loss of the link to the host, and resume when it is restored (as RME is famous for) this does NOT seem to apply when the FW is replaced with a USB link.

Question to RME - is this behaviour as designed?  Has this scenario been tested by anyone?

(Laptop is a 1.7G Pentium, FW driver 3.067, USB driver 1.019, UFX USB 352).

De gustibus - et sonus - non est disputandum

2 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
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Re: UFX, DURec, FW, USB

You overlooked the information that USB recording will stop when the sample rate changes. So 'wiggling the cable and reboot' already nearly stopped your recording. Booting USB definitely set 44 or 48 first, so it was wise to wait for a break..

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

3 Reply by panatrope (edited by panatrope 2012-07-06 11:16:47)

  • From: Melbourne, Australia
  • Registered: 2007-05-16
  • Posts: 495

Re: UFX, DURec, FW, USB

Thanks MC.  Also had a chat with Steve, who cleared up a couple of things  ...

It was originally the FW that failed, and I assume that  re-establishing FW or re-booting with FW connected should not have caused disruption?  (My understanding has been that TotalMix, which I assume includes DURec, is not supposed to be affected by loss and reconnection of the host.)

Likewise, if somehow USB was booted up in the same sampling rate as the FW driver, would recording still endure?

And I also have to admit that I have not used the UFX display and controls very much, so I was not familiar with using the controls/display to stop/start DURec, and being in the middle of a gig I was not inclined to experiment, so I needed to rely on re-establishing computer contact.  But checking afterward, in the manual (V1.8) section on Direct Recording, I could find no explicit mention of the use of encoder 2 to enter record playback and stop.  Only a bit of trial and error back at the ranch sorted this out.  However, if I had remembered that fact from reading the manual (as you know I do) then maybe it would have been handled better.

Would you like to look at that section of the manual to confirm that the selection of Record/Play/Stop/Delete is not described (I know I can be mistaken but I did check fairly carefully)? Or perhaps point out for my (and others) future benefit where it is described?

De gustibus - et sonus - non est disputandum

4 Reply by MC

  • MC
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Re: UFX, DURec, FW, USB

panatrope wrote:

It was originally the FW that failed, and I assume that  re-establishing FW or re-booting with FW connected should not have caused disruption?  (My understanding has been that TotalMix, which I assume includes DURec, is not supposed to be affected by loss and reconnection of the host.)

Likewise, if somehow USB was booted up in the same sampling rate as the FW driver, would recording still endure?

Correct. But it still is dangerous. You can never be sure that during the driver initialization something strange happens and a Windows sound or something else changes the sample rate. And even when it is set back immediately to the previously stored value, Recording would have been stopped already.

panatrope wrote:

And I also have to admit that I have not used the UFX display and controls very much, so I was not familiar with using the controls/display to stop/start DURec, and being in the middle of a gig I was not inclined to experiment, so I needed to rely on re-establishing computer contact.  But checking afterward, in the manual (V1.8) section on Direct Recording, I could find no explicit mention of the use of encoder 2 to enter record playback and stop.  Only a bit of trial and error back at the ranch sorted this out.  However, if I had remembered that fact from reading the manual (as you know I do) then maybe it would have been handled better.

Would you like to look at that section of the manual to confirm that the selection of Record/Play/Stop/Delete is not described (I know I can be mistaken but I did check fairly carefully)? Or perhaps point out for my (and others) future benefit where it is described?

A description of the whole display concept and menu structure is still on the list for later manuals. Fortunately it seems to be clear enough for anyone so that there is no urgent need.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

5 Reply by panatrope (edited by panatrope 2012-07-10 23:41:08)

  • From: Melbourne, Australia
  • Registered: 2007-05-16
  • Posts: 495

Re: UFX, DURec, FW, USB

I must admit that, in the quiet of the studio and the ability to actually experiment, it is 'bleedin' obvious'.  However, in the unfamiliar circumstances of failure where the DURec backup recording is now the only recording, there is a heightened fear of doing something wrong.  I tried pulling up the copy of the manual on the temporarily out-of-service laptop, but no guidance there.  So the DURec recording was left running without backup until the end of the work.

Yeh, I can figure out menus with the best of them (and if I need the manual it is a bad design), but in times of emergency, then RTFM.

Oh, and I should say, I now know that the front panel control and display is a great feature of the UFX, especially in times of emergency. Thank you.  I will put some time into becoming much more familiar with it.

De gustibus - et sonus - non est disputandum