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Watchout 5 and successful surround/multichannel audio setup


macman

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UPDATE:  It looks like Echo has discontinued all of their FireWire products to work on Ethernet AVB (audio video bridging) and audio testing.

It looks like there are some Echo AudioFire12's still on the market ($600 USD) and Echo has updated their drivers to Windows 8, but after that it looks like no support.

Bummer!

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I am in urgent need of a device that has 8 outputs as well as wordclock.

The RME Devices fit the bill - but are they WDM Compliant and can they be the default Audio Device?

The Focusrite Liquid Saffire would be ok if not discontinued.

This would be much easier if there was a list somewhere. :)

 

 

Update - RME Support responded to my email when asked these questions:

> 1) Do they use WDM-compliant drivers 

> 2) can they act as the default audio output device

 

"All current RME interfaces and audio cards do so.

 

Regards

Daniel Fuchs

RME"

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I am in urgent need of a device that has 8 outputs as well as wordclock.

The RME Devices fit the bill - but are they WDM Compliant and can they be the default Audio Device?

The Focusrite Liquid Saffire would be ok if not discontinued.

This would be much easier if there was a list somewhere. :)

 

 

Update - RME Support responded to my email when asked these questions:

> 1) Do they use WDM-compliant drivers 

> 2) can they act as the default audio output device

 

"All current RME interfaces and audio cards do so.

 

Regards

Daniel Fuchs

RME"

 

Beware, you did not ask a specific enough question to get a totally accurate answer.

Most professional audio interfaces will provide stereo output with WATCHOUT.

Very few of those will provide more than two channels, however,

as WATCHOUT uses a multi-channel only model in WDM.

 

BTW v6 will change this, and will use multiple stereo pairs for multi-channel output

in lieu of the multichannel model currently used,

a fundamental change in the way WATCHOUT handles audio.

That change should make it compatible with a wider variety of professional interfaces.

For example, i know the MOTU interfaces are stereo only with Windows 7 and v5 and older,

 but the same interfaces will provide eight channels (four stereo pairs) with v6.

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Hey hey...

 

I was wondering, if someone is using a Focusrite Scarlet 2i4 USB interface. I created a 4 channel WAV file. But the channels are not separated when playing back in watchout. I can hear every track on all outputs. If I use the onboard Realtek audio interface, and plug in a headphone to the line out plug, I get 2 tracks on the left side and 2 tracks on the right side.

 

By the way like mentioned in another thread: Audacity is not creating multichannel tracks that can be used in Watchout. Have to use channelshifter after creating the file to not get DirectShow errors in Watchout.

 

Cheers,

marco

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http://academy.dataton.com/recipe/multi-channel-audio-playback

 

is the Motu 828 Supported in WO now ?

Does this mean ASIO support or WDM ?

 

Yes. WDM.

Yes, the Windows 7 WDM driver for the Motu 828

 will provide multi-channel sound with the new method used in WATCHOUT 6.

WATCHOUT still requires a WDM driver.

The change is in the WDM calls to utilize a different multi-channel method within WDM.

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Hi,

 

Is it possible to install two 8-channel soundcards (ESP1010e) on two separate display PCs, running 16 channels of audio from the one Watchout project across these two cards?

 

Thanks in advance,

Torben

 

 

Simple answer is sort of.

 

The complex answer depends on what your tolerances are.

Will you get 16 channels of "synchronized" playback?

- Phase accurate synchronization for all 16 channels - NO.

- Lip synch accurate for all 16 channels - YES.

For 8 channels of phase accurate audio and eight more channels of "wild" audio, works fine.

The 8 channel groups will maintain phase accuracy within themselves,

they will not maintain phase accuracy between the groups.

 

When we need more than 8 channels of phase accurate audio,

we marry a Merging Technologies Ovation server to WATCHOUT

and you can get up to 128 phase accurate channels.

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Thanks jfk for your reply.  

 

We do not currently have the two soundcards installed across both PCs, waiting on purchase of the second.  So in advance of doing that - how does one go about assigning the first 8 tracks of audio to the ESP1010e on the first PC and the second 8 tracks of audio to the ESP1010e on the second PC? Is this done within the WO production timeline/stage, or within the WO audio output management of the WO display computers?  

 

Thanks

Torben

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Thanks jfk for your reply.  

 

We do not currently have the two soundcards installed across both PCs, waiting on purchase of the second.  So in advance of doing that - how does one go about assigning the first 8 tracks of audio to the ESP1010e on the first PC and the second 8 tracks of audio to the ESP1010e on the second PC? Is this done within the WO production timeline/stage, or within the WO audio output management of the WO display computers?  

 

Thanks

Torben

 

Break the 16 channel audio into two 8 channel multi-channel .wav files.

Assign each file to the display PC that will play it,

by placing the anchor point of the audio speaker icon for each file

inside a display rectangle assigned to the computer you want it to play on.

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Assign each file to the display PC that will play it,

by placing the anchor point of the audio speaker icon for each file

inside a display rectangle assigned to the computer you want it to play on.

 

 

Note that WATCHOUT 6 allows you to explicitly specify the display computer through which audio is to be played, rather than by placing he icon inside its rectangle. Either method can be used, and is specified inside the audio cue.

 

Mike

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