Roland RPC-1 - Can it be turned into adat?

[coca]

I'm looking into a way to fit my XV-5080 with an 8 channel 24-bit digital audio output, and things aren't looking promising since—for that capability—all it has is an r-bus port. There's currently a DIF-AT24 on ebay ... for $500. But there does exist the RPC-1 PCI card, which should work in my OS 9 G4. However, I would like to take the r-bus input on that card and route it to an adat output somehow. I'm not sure what my options are for that, if there are any. I doubt it's possible to juggle more than one audio interface from differing manufacturers. Is there anything that can be done about that option?

[DieHard]

Yeah... this is kind of a bummer.  The optical on the 5080 is only SPDIF (2 tracks).

I am assuming you want to output 8-tracks of audio of 8 individual MIDI parts each playing on their own MIDI channel ?

If you buy a used Roland VM-3100 Pro V-Mixing:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225038971179?hash=item34655e312b:g:61wAAOSwhfJip7td

You spend about $200, complicate the setup, and you can get 4 digital outs, but not much better for all the complications.

You can also sync the unit and make (4) passes, but I doubt this helps much if you want all 8 simultaneously.

UPDATE: Found you a card
https://www.ebay.com/itm/394121689797?hash=item5bc37bbac5:g:VSkAAOSwGQpiMFSU
$189
Auction ends in 9 Hours !!!

But you really want to ask the seller if he has the cable, it may NOT be straight thru (Never mind, he has the cable in another pic)

Roland may actually sell you a new card directly, I have been lucky with old parts in the past...
(323)890-3700 X7710 for parts

UPDATE 2:
Maybe you already know about the card avail... this will get you directly to ADAT (as you mentioned) but only $145 !!!!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204066631793?hash=item2f8351b071:g:t~0AAOSwiX1i9bVA


   

[coca]

I am assuming you want to output 8-tracks of audio of 8 individual MIDI parts each playing on their own MIDI channel ?

Yup. The performance mode plays a key role in how I use the 5080, so being able to route the parts to eight different outputs would blow the door wide open on the mixing end, with the added bonus of not having to touch any D/A & A/D along the signal path.

Maybe you already know about the card avail... this will get you directly to ADAT (as you mentioned) but only $145 !!!!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204066631793?hash=item2f8351b071:g:t~0AAOSwiX1i9bVA

This is the standard DIF-AT. At this point it's my last resort, because it only outputs up to 20-bit. Hence the existence of the DIF-AT24. But as far as I can see, it's the cheapest option—one that indubitably beats spending an extra $355 for four more bits.

That all being said, that's why I wanted to give the RPC-1 a shot. Seems like the perfect middle ground for getting 8 channel 24-bit digital out of the XV. Just that it would be a significant limiting factor on my setup if there's no way to route it back out as adat. Per your suggestion, I'll have to phone up Roland with all my r-bus questions and see if I can gain any leverage. 

[tunedbytad]

food for thought

https://reverb.com/item/40749493-digidesign-adat-bridge-i-o-mh071?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=17684276397&utm_content=campaignid=17684276397_adgroupid=135883966222_productpartitionid=1683347313486=merchantid=120228944_productid=40749493_keyword=_device=c_adposition=_matchtype=_creative=609056678809&gclid=Cj0KCQjwuuKXBhCRARIsAC-gM0hlf-CWGSOVpV9WzDNBSfC9Ta-wpaeAHON06fkWRqflWwiWwLs5m_AaAm82EALw_wcB

[DieHard]

Nice box TAD, But...

The problem is the extremely rare Roland RPC-1 R-BUS port, similar to an old parallel port (25-pin D-Sub cable), is a real pain in the ass since very few audio interfaces/bridge boxes have this port.  At least, even with TDIFF (Tascam) he would have a good shot at finding a solution, but the Roland port is pretty unique.

Apparently, this Roland port has very rare and expensive solutions in the modern world

[DieHard]

This is the standard DIF-AT. At this point it's my last resort, because it only outputs up to 20-bit. Hence the existence of the DIF-AT24. But as far as I can see, it's the cheapest option—one that indubitably beats spending an extra $355 for four more bits.

I would not get "hung up" on the mental 20-bit thing... I am sure you will achieve awesome, professional results at the 20 bit output.

[coca]

I would not get "hung up" on the mental 20-bit thing... I am sure you will achieve awesome, professional results at the 20 bit output.

Yeah I had been thinking—who’s gonna fret over such a minute discrepancy? Having a fully digital point A to B is more important to me than bit fidelity, so I think I’ll go this route for now.

food for thought

Groovy. Building a pro tools rig is a far out future project for me. My current hurdle is that digidesign hardware is extremely confusing to me. Many PCI cards with similar names (mix core, mix farm, dsp farm, etc). I can’t figure out what the distinct use case for each one is, and what version of pro tools I’m supposed to use with them. The only one I’m really familiar with is samplecell.

....update....

I had forgotten that there's a whole section dedicated to pro tools mix systems!!! I should be able to figure things out from here
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/board,172.0.html

[tunedbytad]

My current hurdle is that digidesign hardware is extremely confusing to me. Many PCI cards with similar names (mix core, mix farm, dsp farm, etc). I can’t figure out what the distinct use case for each one is, and what version of pro tools I’m supposed to use with them.

Videos oh hoe to do all this coming soon