I need help with D8b and Protools 9

[Paco]

Hi there, I'm new to the D8B. My main DAW is Protools 9. I have a digidesign 002, and a presonus digimax that i use to add 8 more inputs through adat. My D8B is apparently stock as far as cards.

I need help to know how i could use the D8B as either an interface into protools? Or use it as a controller? Or use ut as my front end? And how would i go about plugging it and such?

I purchased this thing not knowing exactly what it was, and I would hate to see all this money go to waste, so, i'm hoping to find some use for it, hopefully one that I can use it as an interface, even if I cannot use it as a controller

Thank you so much for any help

[Crash]

What version os are you running? Do you have the Apogee clock card installed?

[Paco]

The guy who sold it to me I guess never updated the OS, so, I don't know, but I'll upgrade to V5.1 if it's necessary. The board is stock as far as cards, so, no, it doesn't have the apogee at the moment. If I buy the apogee, or another one that does the same, how can I hook it up?

I've been thinking of using the outs of the Mackie to send into the 002, adding a few more pres that way, but that won't be a whole lot. And I guess I can use the outs on my 002 to send back into the Mackie for some sort of analog mix down, what good will that do? I don't know.

I'd like to link it with the other interfaces as you're probably suggesting by your question

[Crash]

If you upgrade to v 5.1, there is a HUI layer of the console that may be useful.

[Paco]

Yes, from reading different posts, I fogured as much. How do i plug it all together? What card do I need to buy? And what type of cennection should i make?

[FrankH]

Paco:

Looking at your gear presents a number of possibilities for hookup. All of which will generate a lot of back and forth here.

Because you appear to be quite new at this, trying to figure out the best combination on this forum is going to become a painful thing to read.

If time is of the essence, then this is the best advice I can give you that will get your gear hooked up quickly and in a manner that will serve you with versatility:

Hire a local engineer for a day and have him work out your system til you're happy.

[Paco]

Hiya Frank,

Thanks for the advice, hehe, I guess it's good to know the gear presents enough possibilities, It's not so difficult to figure out output-input, I'm sure I can figure out a dumb way to connect it lol. But I'm wanting to hear options from people who know what this thing can and can't do. I live in PR, I'm probably not going to find many people here that can set this thing up if I hire him, as you suggest, hehe. . I'd love to read whatever option you would come up with given the gear and your knowledge though, would help a lot, believe it or not

[FrankH]

You need to determine the best combination dictated by what kind of audio production you plan to do.

Because you say you have a stock D8B...I'd assume a stock Clock card. This creates a situation that dictates that the D8B has to be the master clock if any kind of digital I/O is hooked up between it and the 002 and/or Digimax. Something to consider.

Without the Apogee WordClock card, certain hookup scenarios become impossible.

As an 8 channel at a time HUI controller, the D8B seems pointless with an 002 present.

You don't state what kind of I/O cards populate the D8B. If they are all analog and the Alt I/O slot is empty (typical D8B "stock" configuration) then using it an extra set of inputs fed into the 002 is probably about it.

Considering that the 002/Digimax combo probably work well into you PT9 DAW...it doesn't make a lot of sense (at least to me) to run mixes back out into the D8B for "some sort of analog mixdown" as the D8B is going to convert the analog inputs into the digital domain and back to analog on the way out somewhere. If that were the case, you'd probably be better off using some sort of analog summing mixer for that job.

Just thinking out loud with a keyboard.

[Paco]

Hi Frank. Thanks for the good bit of knowledge. Yea, the way it's looking it seems that all I will get out of this is adding 4 pres to my rig hehe, not really worth the space of the mixer as it's pretty bulky, right? I guess I'll use the pres for a bit, and play with it for a bit until I can put together some extra cash, because to buy an apogee card will run me about a grand and the v5.1 another 200, probably not worth the hassle, I'm sure.