Posted by David Moore on September 24, 2001 at 00:25:21:
In Reply to: Re: HELP: Toslink Compatible with Adat and Sblive? posted by Frank on September 20, 2001 at 03:08:37:
:
: >I am pretty sure Toslink is not ADAT compatible. >Certainly if it is it is a well kept secret.
: Thanks for your information David. I found this on the alesis website and I guess Toslink/Spdif and Adat Optical cable are compatible.. Heres the quote:
: " Since ADAT cables are the same as those used for optical S/PDIF, you may be able to find them from other sources. The ends are called "Toslink" connectors. Technically, this is a Toshiba TOCP172 or equivalent, conforming to EIAJ standard RC-5720. The cable itself is plastic (PMMA), 1 mm diameter. While 5 meters is the recommended maximum for ADAT, there are reports of successful operation with cables up to 50 feet long, when all components are clean and operating at maximum efficiency."
Two points:
i) The optical cable used for ADAT is the same cable used for optical SP/DIF. The form of the data
sent is different. You will be able to plug the things together but you won't get them to
actually transfer sound. Note that a real ADAT machine can also output optical S/PDIF,
which is a source of confusion.
ii) The core2 is a pain to set up. It insists on having an IRQ all to itself and will not work
with IRQ stearing. Windows is supposed to support setting this up but it really does not work
right.
Also, they do not seem to be supporting the card any more. There have been no driver updates
for a long time and there are no announcements of XP drivers that I have seen. There
are no WIN2K/WinNT drivers either and no Linux drivers. They refuse to release technical
information about the card that would allow interested parties to support the card (I
explicitly asked - I offered to do a Linux driver for it)
So, I am stuck running Windows ME until I replace the card with something else.
Mine is working well, and the sound quality is excellent - better than I would have expected
given that the card is unbalanced and that the convertors are on the card, not
in the break out box. The ADAT interface works well with my QS8.
I also bought the effects card when they were being run out cheap (never did receive the
advertised $50 mail in rebate though - sigh) but while I certainly consider you could
use the base card to produce a releasable CD, the effects are not up to the same
standard.
Summary - if you are on a budget and can dedicate a machine to it, it is an excellent
buy. Otherwise, avoid.