Edirol FA-66 or FA-101 & Mixvibes

[Darryl Dwight]

Hello everybody,

I have a question about the soundcards mentioned in the title and Mixvibes. I understood that the Edirol FA-66 or FA-101 will work perfectly with Mixvibes, but is this really the case? If I buy one of these soundcards and the Mixvibes software, will timecode work properly?

Furthermore I would like to know whether it is still possible to play normal audio CD's while your setup is hooked up as timecode system. Do I need extra ins or outs in my audio interface?

Kind regards,
Darryl Dwight

[Stealthii]

I believe hemskoc uses the Edirol FA-66 with Mixvibes Cross and DVS, from his feedback I would guess there are no problems at all. It's going to be similar to how well other multi-channel sound interfaces work - the better they work with the host operating system, the better they will work with Mixvibes.

Take note that ASIO4ALL on Windows offers low latency and direct communication with ANY WDM-compatible sound card, and CoreAudio on OSX is also stable - I've been able to get low latencies even with the onboard sound chip in a MacBook Pro.

EDIT: Do not base your purchase on requiring an RIAA filter, in the case you use turntables (which I don't think you do) as Mixvibes now prefers NO RIAA filter for clear reception of the timecode signal.

In addition, Mixvibes has an easy bypass switch for each virtual deck within the software, which allows you to bypass the software and play directly from the sound card's input (thru)

[wazza]

I have been using the Edirol fa 66 firewire sound card for almost 4 years with mixvibes DVS & pro/Producer & beta testing Cross

for the price its the best sound card for mixvibes...
better sound quality than the Mixvibes U46 DJ
better , lower latency than the u46 DJ
& will not eat all your CPU power...( I still run on a old p4 2.4 with no problem at all )

thear is no need to run ASIO4all drivers with the edirol fa-66
the edirol fa 66 drivers work good...better then the ASIO4all drivers ever did

[Darryl Dwight]

Alright! Thanks a lot wazza & stealthii.

I think I'm gonna buy the FA-66, but I still have a question to stealthii about the amount of inputs this audio interface has. As you can see in the image, the interface has 4 inputs? In which inputs have you plugged in your turntables/cd-players? I actually want to plug in my players in the back of the interface, but I only see RCA red-white in the back. Does a stereo-signal or a mono signal come from your cd-players/turntables? If it is a stereo signal, I guess that you can't hook up 2 cd-players in the back since it are RCA inputs.

And how did you configured the outputs? Did you use one output for each cd-player? The thing is, I want to hook up my studio monitors to the audio interface as well, and I'm wondering whether I will have enough outs..

All my questions might be confusing, but can you please tell me what and how you plugged the cables.

Thanks!

[polocorp]

i used the fa 101 for a couple of years. it's a great sound interface

Are you going to be using a mixer .. in which case your monitors should be plugged to the mixer output...

4 inputs = 2 stereo inputs = you can plug in 2 decks

4 outputs = 2 stereo outputs = each deck has it's own seperate output

[wazza]

On the edirol fa 66 in-put for left c.d player/turntable ( in-puts 1 & 2 stereo ) are on the front by jack in-puts
And the in-puts for right c.d player/turntable ( in-puts 3 & 4 stereo )
are on the back by RCA red & white...

the 4 out puts ( out-puts 1 & 2 stereo [out-put for your left channel on your d.j mixer ] AND.......outputs 3 & 4 stereo [out-puts for your right channel off your d.j mixer] are all jack out-puts

so you will need to get 6 RCA to jack adaptors to run 2 c.d players/turntables...

mixvibes will also see the digital fibre optics in's & out's as in-puts 5 & 6 And out-puts 5 & 6....I use this for my C.D recorder

[Stealthii]

I think I'm gonna buy the FA-66, but I still have a question to stealthii about the amount of inputs this audio interface has. As you can see in the image, the interface has 4 inputs? In which inputs have you plugged in your turntables/cd-players?

You might not like this, but you'll have to plug one turntable in the RCA inputs, and one in the Jack inputs.

An example is shown on page 5 of the Mixvibes User Manual.
http://www.mixvibes.com/Manuals/PROENG.pdf

This is the only reason stopping me from getting this card. Personally I prefer tidy connections, it's the reason I use the U-mix44

[Darryl Dwight]

Ahw crap, so if I hook up two CD-players my whole audio interface will be jammed with cables.. I actually still want to have some more outputs so I can still connect my monitors to it. And in the future I might buy a third cd-player..

So I think I will be saving some more money for the FA-101. But one last question: Is it wise to connect my monitors to the audio interface? Or is it better to connect my monitors to my mixer? I guess you can't use the audio interface when your PC is turned off..

Anyway, thanks wazza, polocorp and stealthii!

[Stealthii]

Depends on your setup. For audio production, you would be advised to connect them directly to your audio interface. For DJing, you would naturally connect them to the 'monitor' output of your mixer. If you don't mind swapping two cables when changing between the two, this shouldn't be a problem Otherwise you could still use it through the mixer (general audio applications will default to outputs 1 and 2)

[hemskoc]

Yeah FA 66 is great...
*Yeah you do have to get like 6Xjack plug adapters-not really that messy....
*just sorta sux on the optical ins and outs, a waste of 1x input and 1x output, but otherwise great if you want quality bang for your bux..
*I have to run a power adapter on mine, as my firewire bus cant seem to power it
*seen them on ebay in the states for around 180-200 bux...the 101 would be the go if you're after more expansion qualities/studio capabilities. Roland make decent stuff, and they have for years. I have also seen bad things about the edirol Sound cards too, but ive never had any hassles with it myself.
*Plug and play on OSX, and drivers on Win.
*And yep, you do not have to use ASIO4all. The standard drivers are bombproof.
* oh and yeah, whatever Stealthii says in the preceding post!
Cheers