D8B with 3 OPT.8 cards , what is the simplest connection?

[Steam Radio]

Hi all,
I'm new to the forum so hope question for you could help me, recently acquired a very clean rarely used D8B version 3.0 with 4 OPT.8 cards installed but with no Apogee Worldclock just the original shipped clock card installed, want to link it to an SDR so was going to use TOSLink ADAT Light Pipe Optical Audio Cable and set the D8b as the master, am I able to achieve this set up as is and also (iv searched and searched with no luck,) how do I set the D8B as the master clock source, searched the manual with no luck either!!!! what am I missing...
newbies! whatch gonna do eh?
Cheers,
Paul

[Crash]

Lifted from the FAQ section of the Mackie website:

Can I sync other devices to the D8B via ADAT (ODI - light pipe) or AES EBU without the Sync card?
Yes. ADAT/ODI and AES/EBU can be locked to as clock reference. The D8B must be in Internal mode. You can even chain devices using ADAT ODI or AES EBU. - See PDI-8 (AES) or OPT-8 (ODI - light pipe)

Note: When connecting digital devices to the D8B that have a Word Clock option, we always recommend replacing the Internal Clock card with the Apogee Clock card.9

With the stock clock card, I don't believe there is any way for the console to be clocked to anything other than internal. It has been many years since I stared down V3.0 and longer since dealing with a stock card but I think to use the embedded clock over optical you will need to set the SDR to slave. Page 1 of the SDR quick start shows what to do on that end.

http://www.mackie.com/pdf/sdr2496_qs.pdf

[Steam Radio]

Cheers Crash,
You neatly and concisely pulled together all the separate bits of info I had read in the FAQ into a more understandable and digestible chunk so thank you for taking the time. looks like I'm on the right track then as far as the D8B and the SDR talking to each other, I understood that the SDR should be set to slave and am having separate issues with my SDR which is stopping from getting that far for the time being,

So your saying the D8B defaults to master with the internal card yes?and I guess the desk would know there was an Apogee fitted when it boots up and the GUI would reflect that info in screen ?
Would you recommend adding the Apogee card anyway? I know I will have to remove the internal card for the Apogee to work properly.
Thanks

[Crash]

I just saw your issue over on the HDR, MDR, SDR section. I am of no help with that one as I have an HDR which seems to be a bit of a different animal.

The d8b knows what cards are installed. With the stock card installed you only have the option of running at 44.1k or 48k, when you install an Apogee card you will then see a drop down for clocking internal or external. You get to that through setup and then the digital I/O tab.

I would recommend getting an Apogee card if you can find one and swing it. They are usually a bit spendy and not super available but sure make it easier to connect to the outside world in terms of clocking. You may find that going over optical will be sufficient. Best of luck.

[Steam Radio]

Great, sounds all good so far and I appreciate your advice and input. At least I now have a better understanding that I'm getting most of it right, will post here with a follow up when I get things working properly, many thanks.

[Steam Radio]

Just a quick update on my situation after 5 years, (yes it took a while) with all the amazing advice and pointers on the forum and database my setup is all up and running as sweet as a nut, so I'm now a fully fledged (but all be it novice) user of some of the best digital recording gear I've ever been lucky enough to own, to the point where I'm buying faulty Mackie gear and learning to repair it with the help of everything I've learned here, so a big thank you to all.

[Crash]

Just a quick update on my situation after 5 years, (yes it took a while) with all the amazing advice and pointers on the forum and database my setup is all up and running as sweet as a nut, so I'm now a fully fledged (but all be it novice) user of some of the best digital recording gear I've ever been lucky enough to own, to the point where I'm buying faulty Mackie gear and learning to repair it with the help of everything I've learned here, so a big thank you to all.

If you are feeling really brave, buy a busted one of these and bring it back to life...

dXb 200.jpg (Array KiB) Viewed 1836 times

[Steam Radio]

yikes, yes I read the thread on these, bit of a holy grail in the vintage "must have" mackie desk world if I'm not mistaken.

[Crash]

yikes, yes I read the thread on these, bit of a holy grail in the vintage "must have" mackie desk world if I'm not mistaken.

I am not sure about the "must have" part. Interesting console though.... The software was a bit bug ridden in it's original form and the desk got a bit of a bum wrap. They didn't make very many of them near as I can tell. There is a gentleman in Italy named Augusto Grado that reworked the software and upgraded it to be 96 channel, 24 bus, 24 aux beast. The console is still limited to 64 physical inputs due to the physical slots. In my opinion, it is where the d8b would have, should have gone. Unfortunately, the digital studio console was a dying beast in favor DAW's and controllers by that point, so interest declined.

I thought this would be a quick easy fix, new power supply, new motherboard and off to the races. 5 months later, finally getting it wired into the studio.

[Steam Radio]

It's a heck of a good looking desk but radically different to anything else I've ever seen , like something off the flight deck of the space shuttle with the hugh screens and minimal controls, how does it compare to the D8B?
In fact the guy i bought my D8B from who lived in Bath UK was selling it as he had just taken delivery of an XBUS, that was about 5 years ago and I never heard if he actually got it working.
He was the kind of guy who purchased huge vintage synths like the original Synclavier and the CMI Fairlight and he would referb them and sell them on, I used to have a list of the amazing stuff that had passed through his hands, it was a whos who of the biggest and most iconic synths ever made, wish i could remember his name.
So if anyone could have got the XBUS working it would have been him.