Introducing the New RME Fireface UCX II

Talk about your MIDI interfaces, microphones, keyboards...

Moderators: MattKingUSA, khz

User avatar
bluebell
Established Member
Posts: 1909
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2012 11:44 am
Location: Saarland, Germany
Has thanked: 111 times
Been thanked: 116 times

Re: Introducing the New RME Fireface UCX II

Post by bluebell »

merlyn wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 1:11 pm They could produce a proprietary kernel module, like Nvidia do if I understand correctly.
No-one wants that. You can't use another kernel if you need to. The binary-only kernel module won't work there.

A binary-only kernel module is a poisoned gift.

Linux – MOTU UltraLite AVB – Qtractor – http://suedwestlicht.saar.de/

User avatar
sjzstudio
Established Member
Posts: 161
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2020 11:24 pm
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 25 times

Re: Introducing the New RME Fireface UCX II

Post by sjzstudio »

Totalmix FX is therefore needed because actually all the actions are controlled through it. Without it, everything will be harder. For example, an 802 device cannot even turn on phantom without it. In addition, all of the most important settings are handled through it. And if I connect external ADAT devices to the device, for example, the situation becomes almost impossible.

Of course, if you only record a few tracks at a time, you can use a short buffer. But when you use, for example, 24 tracks(or more) for recording at the same time, the situation begins to change. In addition, making headphone mixes through Totalmix for musicians is easy.
Jamesf
Established Member
Posts: 70
Joined: Tue May 28, 2019 12:23 pm
Location: Madrid
Has thanked: 51 times
Been thanked: 13 times

Re: Introducing the New RME Fireface UCX II

Post by Jamesf »

Code: Select all

bbfpromix
handles mixing functions and enabling/disabling phantom power for the Babyface; it's only the more advanced features that it can't control.
It's possible that it could do the same for this model, with minor enhancements.
I'm slow, but I get there eventually.
WforWoollyMammoth
Established Member
Posts: 118
Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2019 4:32 pm
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 16 times

Re: Introducing the New RME Fireface UCX II

Post by WforWoollyMammoth »

merlyn wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 1:11 pm
Drumfix wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:47 am So they don't want to show the reason for that to their competitors by means of the required opensource kernel module.
Does that argument hang together? They could produce a proprietary kernel module, like Nvidia do if I understand correctly. On the RME forum the response from the CEO Matthias Carsten that I remember when asked about Linux was "We think about this from time to time, but most often we simply don't have the time left to even start it."

They don't seem to be actively anti-Linux, it's simply that their business is doing fine through having a mystic latency aura on Windows. :)

I bought an RME HDSP9632 on ebay for £50. It's a PCI card and nobody wants PCI cards these days, hence the price. I've installed the Linux version of Total Mix -- hdspmixer and honestly I don't see what the fuss is about. I never use it. Your DAW doesn't know anything about hdspmixer. hdspmixer controls a DSP mixer on the card. In a way I see these things as anachronisms -- they date from when latency was unusably bad and hardware monitoring was essential. Total Mix FX -- great, you can put FX on the monitor path. :) If I understand correctly the FX can't be used like plug-ins in a DAW -- they only operate on the card's internal signals.

I'm only recording myself at the moment and I can monitor through the computer by using a 64 sample buffer meaning the functionality of hdspmixer is not essential. (You do need to install it and have it running for JACK to work for some reason).

If you are thinking about an RME interface I would suggest you ask yourself what you would use Total Mix for and therefore if Total Mix is even a factor. (Posts from people who do use the DSP mixer on their interface welcome).
I use hdspmixer with RME HDSPe AIO. I'm very glad to have it.

Most JACK (+ ALSA / Pulse) programs default to "playback 1" and "playback 2". HDSPmixer is very handy in the sense that it allows you to copy that output to, say, the headphone out or the ADAT outs without having to resort to scripts etc. Of course, most DAWs allow you to specify the outputs, so hdspmixer isn't necessary with them. I actually find hdspmixer the most useful in situations when I'm just jamming on my hardware keyboards, outputting the sound through my PC or just simply streaming content on browsers.

Regardless, its very handy to have such mixing functions available on a card inside the computer, as otherwise I think I'd need to have a hardware mixer on the desk next to me (I really like having the extra space!).

The GUI needs updating though. It's pretty damn small on 4K screens. I also find the need to have it started in the beginning of a desktop envinronment session to be able to get any sound sort of silly.
merlyn
Established Member
Posts: 1392
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2018 4:13 pm
Has thanked: 168 times
Been thanked: 247 times

Re: Introducing the New RME Fireface UCX II

Post by merlyn »

sjzstudio wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 6:30 pm Totalmix FX is therefore needed because actually all the actions are controlled through it.
With the HDSP 9632 control of the functionality of the card, like whether SPDIF is optical or coaxial, is done through another app -- hdspconf. It's a simple app with radio buttons for features like sync, sample rate and input/output levels.

In the case of the Fireface UCX II apparently all of this is accessible through the front panel. This then gets around the usual Linux class compliance problem -- that often a class compliant device loses functionality in Linux because alsamixer does not have all the controls implemented.

This means that the Linux version of Total Mix for the Fireface UCX II would only need to control the DSP mixer on the interface, and I'm asking if that is really so important.
sjzstudio wrote:In addition, making headphone mixes through Totalmix for musicians is easy.
Yes, that's a reason to have a DSP mixer. But apparently Ardour can do this by setting up monitor buses.

What I'm suggesting is that people see this :

Image

and think they need it, without considering what they would use it for. It looks good to me too. Loads of faders and colourful meters, but do you need it? I'm sure that screenshots of Total Mix have sold more than a few RME interfaces.
WforWoollyMammoth wrote: Sun Aug 01, 2021 4:29 pm
I use hdspmixer with RME HDSPe AIO. I'm very glad to have it.
I agree. If Thomas Charbonnel, the author, is reading this then thanks for writing it. I've tried it and it works perfectly and it's good to know it's there in case I do need it in the future.
WforWoollyMammoth wrote:Regardless, its very handy to have such mixing functions available on a card inside the computer, as otherwise I think I'd need to have a hardware mixer on the desk next to me (I really like having the extra space!).
I use a hardware mixer as I like a physical analogue knob for my monitor volume. Replacing a hardware mixer with hdspmixer is also a valid reason to use the functionality of the DSP mixer built into RME interfaces.
User avatar
sjzstudio
Established Member
Posts: 161
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2020 11:24 pm
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 25 times

Re: Introducing the New RME Fireface UCX II

Post by sjzstudio »

That's true. But ergonomics and usability ... On the other hand, "if it works, it's not worth fixing it."
User avatar
alexson
Established Member
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:31 pm
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Been thanked: 7 times
Contact:

Re: Introducing the New RME Fireface UCX II

Post by alexson »

This new RME Fireface UCX II looks good.
Musicmaker
Established Member
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2014 2:34 pm
Been thanked: 5 times

Re: Introducing the New RME Fireface UCX II

Post by Musicmaker »

All those interface companies could add Mixer control over MIDI or a network IP driver emulation just by fimware., but proably the chipset suppliers provide a out of the box dev kit with the functions, so they dont bother to develop MIDI support, Except MOTU perhaps. and "class compliant" marketing bla bla means nothing, there is "Windows Mac OS Audio DRIVER class compliant" and then there is true "USB audio device class" specification compliant.
Post Reply