RME TotalMix for Mastering and Atmos

How I use RME interfaces in my setup for things like routing, monitor control, and A/Bing ref mixes.
Apologies for using "tracks" and "channels" interchangeably. These are all in fact channels, not tracks.

[@TheParagonAxis]

Very interesting and very helpful! I'm considering trying Surround/Atmos on a Budget in my studio, so no ext. mon controller, no fancy correction systems etc. So I'm just looking for possibilities, like using Nuendo's control room straight to the IO or going or effectively incorporating Totalmix. Seems to be decent! Thanks for answering the questions I had!

[@ConversationwithBen]

Awesome... Thanks for sharing this info.

[@fergiemolar5371]

Nice work bro

[@gabrieltvilela1]

Great video Gerhard, thanks. Is there a way to deal with delay and calibration for room and speakers with this RME rig?

[@octilliondollars]

Unfortunately no. Some interfaces and many speakers are giving you EQ but delay still isn't very common. Keep in mind that the atmos renderer has built in EQ and delay so there are only a few cases where you need it elsewhere. In my system I have it all built into each speaker but mainly because crossovers are DSP so I need that anyways and I'm using phase correction

[@peppermint9137]

I’m looking to upgrade my audio setup for mixing. How do you compare the headphone and audio outs between the fire face and the ADI 2? Is the fire face good enough for mixing on?

[@octilliondollars]

I'm not sure how they compare but the headphone out on the Fireface is perfectly usable

[@WatisYouth]

what D to A are you using? and what A to D? I think I heard you say you were using a digiface usb. I'm considering going that route, but the only affordable D to A I'm seeing is the ferrofish.

[@octilliondollars]

I use what I like to call fully digital monitoring. The only DACs in my system are after the processing for every speaker and feeding directly into the amps for each driver (similar to connecting digitally into speaker which have an AES in). I use a combination of RME ADI-2, Geshelli J2, and miniDSP Flex units with the DAC built in

[@octilliondollars]

My Digiface USB feeds a Motu unit which breaks the ADAT lines out into AES to go to each speaker which then has the DACs built into them

[@WatisYouth]

@@octilliondollars gotcha! So are you using some kind of dsp equipped plate amp for crossovers in your monitors or are you doing processing prior to the motu unit? Id love to know more about your monitor setup

[@octilliondollars]

@@WatisYouth Every speaker (or pair of speakers) has a miniDSP flex. Either the balanced version with onboard DAC or digital version with separate DACs. These units all sit either beside the respective speaker or are mounted inside the speaker. The only "processing" done with the RME and Motu are routing and level adjustment. Everything else (crossovers, phase correction, time alignment, etc) is done on the miniDSP by each speaker

[@WatisYouth]

@@octilliondollars Interesting. Super clean! What made you go for the mini dsp rather than a hypex or something like it?

[@o.g.willing]

Hi thanks for the video , are you mixing dolby atmos with one Windows machine only ? Also , is it possible to use TotalMix to reroute audio from a Streaming platform (appleTv, Amazon etc.) to play through your Dolby Atmos speaker setup ? Something like Loopback on Mac … alternative for us Windows users

[@octilliondollars]

Yeah, I only use one computer. Integrated renderer in Nuendo and the standalone renderer for QC and playback. Not sure what you mean about rerouting. You can't play anything in atmos directly out of windows or a mac. The only thing a mac can do is play spatial audio directly out for apple music. For anything else you need something like an Arvus which if you plug into your interface you could route to the speakers

[@o.g.willing]

@@octilliondollars Thank you for the reply, I guess what I meant was that Apple Music playing through your 7.1.4 setup. I thought that would work with movies as well... So the only way how to consume audio and movies on my (future) mixing 7.1.4 setup would be to buy some dolby atmos certified processor (like Arvus) , do I have to then always unplug and replug the cables from my RME to Arvus for playback? or you can do it software way

[@octilliondollars]

@@o.g.willing yeah, that's the only way. You don't need to unplug anything as long as you're not using those inputs on your interface for anything else

[@o.g.willing]

@@octilliondollars Thanks for all the info, it seems very expensive so far, I think I will wait until the prices come down. I cannot justify buying the Atmos setup to mix, if I cannot use it easily to stream music and movies

[@octilliondollars]

@@o.g.willing Right now the cheapest option would be to get a Mac and listen through that but no movies. If you don't mind the extra stages of conversion and have the analog inputs on your system then Emotiva has some processors for around $1500. All you'd need is that plus something like an Apple TV. There are also plenty of used receivers with preamp outs