Topic: New product - RME Fireface UFX - 60 channel USB/FW interface (and recorder?)

[pistolpete71]

New version of the FF800 just released by RME.

Drool.

Of particular interest - Note the onboard USB port  - theory is: this should permit the unit to record in stand-alone mode - no DAW required.  Evidently this is a 'future feature' -  a yet to be released firmware update will be required.

UPDATED 5/17/11: Onboard USB recording feature is functional with firmware update (beta).

   multi-track recording demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZcx3Et_hlg


Product Link:

http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_fireface_ufx.php
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RME 2010: The Fireface UFX is the new flagship of RME's audio interfaces.

60 channels of audio! Digitally controlled high-end preamps, reference class converters and full 192 kHz operation.

Ultra-low latency operation with USB and FireWire, combined with the legendary RME driver stability and maintenance. Including active jitter suppression, professional reference level support, advanced stand-alone functionality, RME's unique DIGICheck metering and analysis toolbox, and - of course - nearly identical operation and features on Windows PC and Mac.

On top of it: TotalMix FX, the new digital high-end mixer and signal router, driven by two powerful DSP, with integrated EQ, Dynamics and Reverb/Echo effects up to 192 kHz plus a built-in monitoring control.

The full-blown feature set is backed up by extraordinary usability. At its heart is a bright multi-functional colour display with full front panel metering for all 60 channels plus effect bus, and complete control of all key features - directly from the front of the UFX.

RME's new Fireface flagship is a highly integrated pro audio solution, a full-blown studio packed in a 19" enclosure. An interface designed for users who don't want to make compromises in sound, stability and ultra-low latency operation, and who long for an unrivaled professional feature set. Once again a milestone interface from RME, including the best of the best - and even a bit more.
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Discussion on Gearslutz:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/new-product-alert-hardware/539190-rme-fireface-ufx.html

Product Review:
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/newbay/audiomedia_201011/#/52

[SmokinJoe]

Interesting product.  But don't get too excited, the marketing speak (BS) is getting pretty deep.

You can only get 60 channels by using some fuzzy math, and I'm not sure what you can do in standalone mode.  It's primarily a computer interface box.
-It has 8 line level analog in on the back great for patching those individual direct outs from a SBD.
-Plus 4 XLR on the front can use onboard preamps for room mics or whatever you want.
-Then you can feed it 2 channels of AES from a V3 or equivalent.
-Then 16 channels can come in from 2 sets of 8 ADAT light pipes.  ADAT is like an 8 channel TOSLINK.
-That adds up to 30, and the other 30 are playback over those same channels I guess.
-All those channels at 44 or 48khz sample rate, with less I/O available at higher bitrates, which is pretty standard.

I don't think you can expect to plug a hard drive into the USB port and record to it.  USB is a master/slave system.  Generally speaking a computer is the master, and a hard drive or audio interface is a slave.  You can't connect 2 slaves together and expect them to talk.   It's not just software, it's a hardware restriction (I spent some time researching this a while ago trying to invent an embedded device for my company, so trust me on this).  Firewire is peer to peer, and could possibly do this, but I doubt it does.   A SD744 can write to a firewire drive, and the JoeCo boxes can write to a USB hard drive, but those are the only devices I can think of that use the recorder as a master and an external drive as a slave.

I think what you can probably do in standalone mode is bring in a bunch of analog ins and pipe it to an ADAT recorder, or vice versa.  This might be useful in front of my HD24 in the sense I gain some preamps and superior A/D's, which is basically the old UA5 and JB3 paradigm, except more channels.  But for $2100 there are lots of nice preamps to go in front of my HD24.

[pistolpete71]

I agree 60 channels is a bit of a 'stretch' -  not to mention this thing is total overkill for what I'm doing right now.  But, oh - the possibilities....

Currently, I'm using a FF400 and was thinking about an upgrade to a FF800 when I stumbled across this.

99% of the time, I'm only taking the soundboard feed and two room mics, so the FF400 suits me well for the 4 channels, but sometimes I would like to do more and the FF400 can only get me a total of 8-channels (10 including SPDIF).  Now thinking about upgrading to this and either ditching the FF400 or using it as a secondary input and send it's 8 channels to the UFX through ADAT - that would get me up to 20 channels of inputs (including up to 6 preamps).

Thanks for the input regarding the flash/USD recording feature and "issues" involved therein -  that's probably why the RME engineers are still tinkering with the software to get that part to work right. A 'direct-record' feature would be useful in my application - so I'll probably hold off and see what becomes of that. I have not verified the recording feature - that was taken from some discussion on the gearslutz thread about using the USB port to record to a flashdrive or external HD, thereby either eliminating the need to record to DAW - or to use it as a backup recorder should the DAW go down  - but it would make sense, as this unit appears to have been designed with a higher degree of stand-alone functionality than it's predecessors - I can't think of any other reason why they would place a USB port on the front (soda/coffee/beer collector?).