SergeModular

I tried a couple out but they all seem to have quite audible aliasing
problems and some kind of digital noise under some conditions when I
used my Serge. I can think of a couple of reasons why this might happen:
(i) due to the very high frequencies output by the Serge
(ii) a grounding issue? I didn't do anything to attach the USB-audio
interfaces to the ground banana jack on the Serge PSU (is this even a
good idea, if the interface gets its power over USB?)

How do you do digital recordings of your Serge gear? Can you
recommend a good interface -- I'm looking for quality over quantity (I
don't need more than 2 stereo channels).

Any recommendations would be most heartily appreciated!

Cheerio,
Kkkonnkkrete

Matt, interesting you should mention RME; that was gonna be my 1st suggestion; IMHO, the best bang for the buck.. However, Kkkonnkkrete is looking for a USB device and RME’s only FW (I presume he’s on a PC machine without a FW port). Apogee Duet is most probably the best USB option out there.

Kkkonnkkrete, should you decide to go the RME route, FW can be easily added to your machine for about $50.. As far as the grounding issue; I would definetly ground the USB/FW interface’s audio jacks to the SERGE PSU (if you want to be 1000% certain, check with Mr. Puller).. Also, if your computer’s not running on a battery, connect it to the same AC circuit as the SERGE.

Hope this helps
Y.


From: matthew carpenter <matfhew.carpenfer@...>
Reply-To: <SergeModular@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:35:21 -0400
To: <SergeModular@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [SergeModular] good USB-audio interface for digitally recording serge?




I haven't used it but the Apogee Duet might be what you're looking for. Very high quality A/D/A converters, small size, and not an overabundance of I/O.

However, I can't recommend the RME Fireface 800 (or 400, if you you want smaller and firewire-bus-powered) enough. Rock-solid drivers, excellent sound quality compared to my previous audio interfaces, and I don't feel like I'm missing anything when I record my Serge. All of the work I've shared on my various pages are recorded via the Fireface 800 at 96 kHz.

You may have a grounding issue, but I'm not an expert on that. What are the other interfaces you tried? It seems unusual that you'd encounter the same sort of noise with multiple interfaces. So you don't hear this noise when the Serge is connected directly to an amp/monitors/headphones?

Matt

On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 5:00 AM, kkonkkrete <kkonkkrete@...> wrote:

I tried a couple out but they all seem to have quite audible aliasing
problems and some kind of digital noise under some conditions when I
used my Serge. I can think of a couple of reasons why this might happen:
(i) due to the very high frequencies output by the Serge
(ii) a grounding issue? I didn't do anything to attach the USB-audio
interfaces to the ground banana jack on the Serge PSU (is this even a
good idea, if the interface gets its power over USB?)

How do you do digital recordings of your Serge gear? Can you
recommend a good interface -- I'm looking for quality over quantity (I
don't need more than 2 stereo channels).

Any recommendations would be most heartily appreciated!

Cheerio,
Kkkonnkkrete

I'd like to know more about grounding the audio interface to the Serge. Will connecting it to the same AC circuit do the trick or is there a better way?

kkonkkrete wrote:

> aliasing problems and some kind of digital noise...
> How do you do digital recordings of your Serge gear?...
> I'm looking for quality over quantity (I
> don't need more than 2 stereo channels)...

This might not be for everybody but it certainly is an alternative. I
picked up a used Akai S-5000 sampler. It has balanced audio in and out
and sounds great. Old-school gear built for studios. The trick is that
it can record long samples (whole tracks) direct to a SCSI-1 drive,
not limited by RAM size like some samplers.

Pros: You might get one for a couple hundred bucks. Uses DOS and .wav
files as the disk and sample format. You can of course use it as a
sampler too, either in the traditional sense or to roll in a complete
backing track on cue via MIDI.

Cons: You have to learn a few control menus before you can record a
sample (recording is easy just not obvious). It's not easy to play
back a sample if you don't have some kind of MIDI source (any keyboard
or button box will do). The external SCSI-1 drive it uses makes a lot
of noise but mostly that's a fan I could replace. I have a SCSI card
in my PC with the right connector but I do have to power things down
and move the HD before I can copy files to it (you can't have the AKAI
and the PC on the same SCSI bus at the same time). There is a USB
interface available which is said to solve that problem or
you can get an SD card thingie for it (I think).

# Sampling System: 16 bit linear
# Sampling Rate: 44.1kHz / 48kHz
# 18-bit A-D converters with 64 x oversampling 5th order Delta Sigma.
# 20-bit D-A converters with 128 x oversampling Delta Sigma on all
outputs.

Samples available on request.

I was referring to audio gnd.. I use multi (10x) 1/4” <-> banana adapter box with all the 1/4” grounds ganged together going to an 11th banana jack that connects to the SERGE PSU

.. My audio interface is FW bus-powered btw...


From: matthew carpenter <matfhew.carpenfer@...>
Reply-To: <SergeModular@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:28:46 -0400
To: <SergeModular@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [SergeModular] good USB-audio interface for digitally recording serge?




I'd like to know more about grounding the audio interface to the Serge. Will connecting it to the same AC circuit do the trick or is there a better way?

On 9/11/08, BooleanYulian <yulian.p@...> wrote:

Matt, interesting you should mention RME; that was gonna be my 1st suggestion; IMHO, the best bang for the buck.. However, Kkkonnkkrete is looking for a USB device and RME's only FW (I presume he's on a PC machine without a FW port). Apogee Duet is most probably the best USB option out there.

Kkkonnkkrete, should you decide to go the RME route, FW can be easily added to your machine for about $50.. As far as the grounding issue; I would definetly ground the USB/FW interface's audio jacks to the SERGE PSU (if you want to be 1000% certain, check with Mr. Puller).. Also, if your computer's not running on a battery, connect it to the same AC circuit as the SERGE.

Hope this helps
Y.


From: matthew carpenter <matfhew.carpenfer@...>
Reply-To: <SergeModular@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:35:21 -0400
To: <SergeModular@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [SergeModular] good USB-audio interface for digitally recording serge?




I haven't used it but the Apogee Duet might be what you're looking for. Very high quality A/D/A converters, small size, and not an overabundance of I/O.

However, I can't recommend the RME Fireface 800 (or 400, if you you want smaller and firewire-bus-powered) enough. Rock-solid drivers, excellent sound quality compared to my previous audio interfaces, and I don't feel like I'm missing anything when I record my Serge. All of the work I've shared on my various pages are recorded via the Fireface 800 at 96 kHz.

You may have a grounding issue, but I'm not an expert on that. What are the other interfaces you tried? It seems unusual that you'd encounter the same sort of noise with multiple interfaces. So you don't hear this noise when the Serge is connected directly to an amp/monitors/headphones?

Matt


On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 5:00 AM, kkonkkrete <kkonkkrete@...> wrote:

I tried a couple out but they all seem to have quite audible aliasing
problems and some kind of digital noise under some conditions when I
used my Serge. I can think of a couple of reasons why this might happen:
(i) due to the very high frequencies output by the Serge
(ii) a grounding issue? I didn't do anything to attach the USB-audio
interfaces to the ground banana jack on the Serge PSU (is this even a
good idea, if the interface gets its power over USB?)

How do you do digital recordings of your Serge gear? Can you
recommend a good interface -- I'm looking for quality over quantity (I
don't need more than 2 stereo channels).

Any recommendations would be most heartily appreciated!

Cheerio,
Kkkonnkkrete

I have the spade lug and 6' cable here but no bare metal/screw combo
on my Fireface 800. Any suggestions? There're holes in the side with
bare metal (where I've removed the rack ears) but I'm wondering how I
could get a spade lug (or something else) in there.

Isn't this grounding discussion largely academic?

Provided that you are only connecting your audio interface to the
shielded 1/4" inputs (i.e. PRNV) and outputs (i.e. DCSM, XFAD, UAP) I
don't there is any need to ground it to the Serge. In my experience,
grounding has been necessary only when connecting between non-shielded
banana systems on separate PSUs or using banana-to-x patch cords to
interface with other non-banana devices (for example, a Wiard 300 or
midi-to-CV box).

Perhaps Rex can comment here?

Chris