New Babyface Pro FS

[bayswater]

I was distracted by an SOS article about this product.

First, it says it has 24 channels, 4 analog, and some ADAT, but only one ADAT input. Has ADAT been updated to run more than 8 channels? Did it always?

Second, it reports latency in samples rather than milliseconds. The latency is something like 6 samples in and 5 samples out, or something along those lines. At 48K that's a lot less than 1ms -- something like 0.2 ms round trip. You'll get more latency playing an upright piano or a snare drum. But where do you get a DAW that will set a 12 bit buffer?

Third, it uses USB 2.0. MOTU has been criticized here and other places for sticking with USB 2 for the M2/4, but it looks like there's a lot of life left in that protocol.

[mikehalloran]

Here are the complete specs.

https://rme-audio.com/babyface-pro-fs.html

As mentioned in the M2 thread, lots of new USB 2 interfaces hitting the ground beginning late September. This adds ADAT giving 8 more channels in addition to the 2 mic pres and stereo line = 12.

6 samples less latency on the AD side by new ADC (5 samples AD, 7 samples DA. It won't get quicker...). Yea, that's weird but I'm expecting it will be the same 2.7 ms round trip of all the other recent USB 2 interfaces with Loopback/Blend that are Class Compliant as this one also claims to be. The control is called TotalMix here and there are switches to determine what you are totally mixing, I suppose.

As for ADAT, nothing's changed.

DIGITAL INPUTS
ADAT Optical

1 x TOSLINK
Standard: 8 channels 24 bit, up to 48 kHz
Double Speed (S/MUX): 4 channels 24 bit 96 kHz
Quad Speed (S/MUX4) : 2 channels 24 bit 192 kHz

Nice meters like the M4, a bit more flexibility if you have an ADAT converter like an old 828mkII or 2408 in stand alone mode. Might be something to consider, actually.

[bayswater]

Nice meters like the M4, a bit more flexibility if you have an ADAT converter like an old 828mkII or 2408 in stand alone mode. Might be something to consider, actually.

Yes, it looks great and if the history of RME is anything to go by, this one will last a long time. But pretty expensive, and I don't use a lot of channels very often anymore. I can cough up 40 channels of ADAT A/D with old interfaces laying around if necessary. I'm still waiting for the MOTU M4 to show up locally.