FAQ Category: ADA-8XR Hardware FAQ

Yes, S800 is fully compatible with S400.

However, the connectors are different. You will need to use a bilingual, 9-pin to 6-pin IEEE-1394 firewire cable.

The Firewire 400 (IEEE 1394-1995) standard specifies a maximum cable length of 4.5m.

It is possible to extend this range by using active repeater cables, or to extend it to many hundreds of metres by using fibre-optic extenders.

Additional FireWire buses can be added to with FireWire expansion cards.

We recommend that you use cards that have an OHCI compliant Texas Instruments chipset.

Cards with S800 ports are not recommended because there are technical difficulties in manufacture that may cause them to be more unreliable than S400 cards. In any case, S800 cards are more expensive and provide more bandwidth than necessary for Orpheus.

The amount of delay required varies depending on the sample rate.

ADA-8 and ADA-8XR Pro Tools HD – Hardware insert delay

Pro Tools HD allows users to specify the latency of outboard hardware (such as effects devices) in the H/W Insert Delay page of the I/O Setup dialogue. You can enter hardware insert latency, in milliseconds, in a field that corresponds to every input/output pair. These times will be used by the Delay Compensation Engine to time align input paths when a hardware insert is used.

To set an insert delay offset: Enter a value, in milliseconds, in the field corresponding with the input where the hardware insert is connected.

NOTE: Insert delay offsets only have an effect when the I/O is used for hardware inserts.

The following table show the delay compensation that can be applied in the Hardware Insert Delay feature of Pro Tools HD when using the Prism Sound ADA-8 and Prism Sound ADA-8XR multi-channel converters:

Sample Rate	ADA-8 Delay	ADA-8XR Delay
44.1 kHz	2.6 ms	1.95 ms
48 kHz	2.41 ms	1.79 ms
88.2 kHz	1.3 ms	0.98 ms
96 kHz	1.26 ms	0.9 ms
176.4 kHz	—	0.49 ms
192 kHz	—	0.45 ms

The pin-out for the Null-modem cable supplied by Prism Sound for use upgrading the software of the ADA-8 and other equipment is as follows.

DB-9 Socket		DB-9 Socket
1 and 6	To	4
3	To	2
2	To	3
4	To	1 and 6
5	To	5
7	To	8
8	To	7

However, if you are building a cable yourself, you only need to connect to the following:

DB-9 Socket		DB-9 Socket
3	To	2
2	To	3
5	To	5

ADA-8 AES cable pin-out

Dsub pin (25w male)	Tentacle core	Tentacle ident	XLR type, pin
1	A	” 1/2 ”	XLR1 (F) pin 2
14	B		XLR1 (F) pin 3
2	Screen		XLR1 (F) pin 1
15	A	” 3/4 ”	XLR2 (F) pin 2
3	B		XLR2 (F) pin 3
16	Screen		XLR2 (F) pin 1
4	A	” 5/6″	XLR3 (F) pin 2
17	B		XLR3 (F) pin 3
5	Screen		XLR3 (F) pin 1
18	A	” 7/8 ”	XLR4 (F) pin 2
6	B		XLR4 (F) pin 3
19	Screen		XLR4 (F) pin 1
7	A	” 1/2 ”	XLR5 (M) pin 2
20	B		XLR5 (M) pin 3
8	Screen		XLR5 (M) pin 1
21	A	” 3/4″	XLR6 (M) pin 2
9	B		XLR6 (M) pin 3
22	Screen		XLR6 (M) pin 1
10	A	” 5/6 ”	XLR7 (M) pin 2
23	B		XLR7 (M) pin 3
11	Screen		XLR7 (M) pin 1
24	A	” 7/8 ”	XLR8 (M) pin 2
12	B		XLR8 (M) pin 3
25	Screen		XLR8 (M) pin 1
13	(no connection)

The ADA-8XR can be upgraded from a PC using the serial port. A standard “null modem” serial cable is required.

First, obtain the latest release of the appropriate firmware from the downloads page, noting that the ADA-8 and ADA-8XR do NOT use the same firmware. This is in the form of a zip file which should be downloaded and the contents extracted.

The zip file contains two main files “mapload.exe” and “ADA8VXXX.dld” which must be extracted to the same folder. mapload.exe is a DOS program for loading firmware and ADA8VXXX.dld is the firmware file that it loads. Here the XXX represents the version number of the firmware. DO NOT use any other copy of “mapload.exe” other than the one provided with the download, other versions may be incompatible.

Ensure the ADA-8 is un-powered from the mains (i.e. NOT just in standby mode–the standby light should be OFF). This can be achieved by switching off the power using the switch on the rear panel above the mains inlet.

Connect an RS-232 serial null modem cable (9-way female to 9-way female) between the COM1 serial port of the PC and the COM port of the ADA-8. This is a standard serial cable designed for connection between two PCs, the pin-out for which can be found here.

Get a DOS command line by either going to the start menu, selecting “run…” and typing “cmd” in the box, or by going to Start Menu -> All Programs -> Accessories and selecting “Command Prompt”. This opens a DOS window with a prompt something like:

c:\documents and settings>

Change the path to point to the directory containing the aforementioned files by typing:

CD c:\full path to files

replacing the words “full path to files” with the path to the folder where you extracted the files previously. The prompt should now change to the full path you just entered:

c:\full path to files>

You are now ready to run the installer program “mapload”. Do this by typing:

mapload ada8vXXX.dld -1

changing the XXX to the version number in the actual file name you have downloaded. The -1 at the end of this command indicates the COM port to which the ADA-8 is connected. You can upload firmware from an alternative COM port by specifying it here.

The program will run, and you will see that it is attempting to connect to the ADA-8.

Read this next sentence completely before proceeding: power up the ADA-8 from the mains inlet while holding down the standby button on the front panel and keep the button depressed until the standby light illuminates. Release the standby button.

The program should now connect and the PC should now display:

MAP1 Download…
Erasing…

…followed by a line of hex characters for every 2Kbytes of firmware transferred.

If this does not happen for any reason, power down the ADA-8, close the DOS window where the command was entered and start again.

A successful download takes less than a minute. When the download has completed, the ADA-8 will come out of standby with the new firmware loaded. At this point the serial cable may be disconnected and the ADA-8 may be used normally.

It is advisable to reload the factory default stores when upgrading the firmware, especially if it is required for use with the new DSD I/O module. This can be achieved by the following procedure:

1) On the ADA-8, Go to the ‘Reload Factory Defaults/Stores?’ menu. This is at the end of the ‘Preferences’ section.

2) Press ‘Enter/Accept’, followed by the menu DOWN key.

3) The display should now read ‘Reload Factory Stores? [Enter]’, press ‘Enter/Accept’.

4) Confirm by pressing the RIGHT select key, followed by ‘Enter/Accept’.

There are four banks of stores with six stores in each bank giving a total of twenty four. The factory default stores pre-loaded into your ADA-8XR will depend on the plug-in boards fitted.

Find a more detailed description of the ADA-8XR configuration stores in the Operation Manual, section 4.5 “Configuration / Stores”. The manual is available from the downloads page.

These are menu short-cut buttons that enable the user to cycle through and change only the options available inside the box connected to each blue button.

Find a more detailed description of the ADA-8XR short-cut buttons in the Operation Manual, section 2.2 “configuring the ADA-8XR”. The manual is available from the ADA-8XR downloads page.

Different formats can be accommodated by the ADA-8XR using plug-in modules.

Digital formats supported by the ADA-8XR

The table below lists the ADA-8XR Digital I/O Modules available. For more information on these cards, please see the ADA-8XR Modules page.

COMPATIBLE WITH:	PRISM SOUND PART NUMBER:
AES3 (AES/EBU)	8C-AES (includes breakout cable)
Digidesign Pro-Tools™ Mix	8C-PT
Digidesign Pro-Tools™ HD	8C-PTHD
Digidesign Pro-Tools™ HDX	8C-AES (includes breakout cable)
Sony™ DSD	8C-DSD (includes breakout cable)
Sony™ SuperMAC™ DSD	8C-MDSD (includes breakout cable)
IEEE 1394 FireWire®	8C-FW