The Friendly 12bar Blues Guitar Forum

So I've got an S/P DIF OUT on my Vox Tonelab LE - it's a single squarish cavity with a flap on it. (Stop me if I'm getting too technical ).

And I've got S/P DIF IN and OUT sockets on the back of my Alesis iO-2. But they are small circular sockets which I guess are RCA type.

I'm getting the impression from what I read that one is Coax and the other is Optical, so I can't get a single cable to connect - I'd need to get a SPDIF Digital Coax to Optical (TOSlink) Converter as well as two different cables?

TBH I'm also not sure if there is a benefit from being able to do this anyway - purer signal with less noise perhaps?

If anyone can shed any light on this matter I'd be grateful.

Here is a SPDIF converter for optical and coaxial:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/CO2.html

I guess that in your case you just need to convert from the Tonelab to the mixer (Opt -> Coax).

You may want to check if the half duplex or duplex communication protocol is hardware
negociated (auto sense) or if you have to manually set up the communication mode on the
Tonelad and the Alesis.

Vancouverois is right. :)

and yes you need 2 extra cables, your only going to use it for recording, so output from the vox only.

Mhh what are you going to get for that. good quality recordings, that are digitized at the Vox in stead of on the computer.
Just remember I stepped away for using Cybies spdif all the time and fell back on using two microphones. Read your own remarks in those topics from a while ago :)
I still have and use the coaxial spdif (made my own cable using two RAC type connectors and a television 75 ohm coaxial cable :) but I started to like the miked recording better a while ago.

Since it's quite an investement mhh.... you decide.

Thanks guys for bringing a bit more clarity to this.

I'm not sure that the S/P DIF waters look that inviting. It's not as if I'm unhappy with the sounds I'm already getting - in fact I'm happiers now than I have been for a while on that score. But having noticed the LE has S/P DIF I wondered - and the manual only mentioned it was there and gave no detail about pro and cons and what connections were needed.

One of the things I like about the Tonelab LE is that it's a bit old fashioned and a lot of it's analogue which makes it pleasing to my ears - so I'm not convinced a digital route is appropriate.

I shall have to think about it!

I'm sure this is a fabbo bit of kit .........but having read this thread .......
It feels like its written in Vulcan !!
Hardly understood a word !!.....Not that i need to mind !!

Connect your Tone lab to a Cybies Spdif , in or out , Water your S/P Dif .... Turn on the television , waggle your half duplex , negotiate a Protocol for your duplex Communications ..and disappear in a puff of dust ...............never to be seen again!!

I'm a plug and play sort of guy !! .....Plug it in .and if it works..... keep it ..If it doesn't .. sell it !!
I know .... Phillistine !!

and its Poets day too !!

Strummer07 wrote:I'm sure this is a fabbo bit of kit .........but having read this thread .......
It feels like its written in Vulcan !!
Hardly understood a word !!.....Not that i need to mind !!

Connect your Tone lab to a Cybies Spdif , in or out , Water your S/P Dif .... Turn on the television , waggle your half duplex , negotiate a Protocol for your duplex Communications ..and disappear in a puff of dust ...............never to be seen again!!

I'm a plug and play sort of guy !! .....Plug it in .and if it works..... keep it ..If it doesn't .. sell it !!
I know .... Phillistine !!

and its Poets day too !!

I will admit my eyes started to glaze over a bit and my brain seemed to shrivel at that description.

If Plug it in and just Play is "Phillistine" then you can call me one too. There's a joke lurking around somewhere about Frank N Stine and Phyllis Stine, but I can't think straight so it'll be left untold - it's a very un-Scottish 23 degrees in the shade and I'm stuck in an office with no windows to the outside and I'm gradually melting this afternoon.

I rather hit a brick wall with VCs "You may want to check if the half duplex or duplex communication protocol is hardware negociated (auto sense) or if you have to manually set up the communication mode on the Tonelad and the Alesis" too!!! But the words "manually set up" sent a chill down the spine.

The more I think about it the more I'm thinking I'll leave well alone. The LE is, if you sensibly just use the basic input and output, very straightforward and the sounds are changed and charged with quite a high degree of lovely analogue subtlety.

Whew!! I am with Strummer.... Plug in and play. If it doesn't have tubes glowing in the back and make Armageddon noises when you bump it, I don't get it. It took me months to sort out my Guitarport, and I still probably use only about 10% of its capacity. I must say, you are getting nice sounds out of your new widget though...

Blindboy wrote:you are getting nice sounds out of your new widget though...

Cheers Blindboy. The wonderful glow of the 12AX7 dual triode vacuum tube puts a smile on my face - as does the dynamic/organic sound that I think that valve/tube helps to produce.

I'd realised there's a choice of three type of amps or direct line out for the output signal ... BUT I've only just realised too there's a three band Master EQ section when using direct recording line out. Must check that out this weekend - no idea where it's set at the moment or how much of an impact it might have.

Blindboy wrote:It took me months to sort out my Guitarport

I think the good bits of modelling gear do take months. Especially when the sounds that can be dialled up are good enough to stop you experimenting and make you just want to play. Certainly beats that rapid feeling of despair with the artificial / unconvincing sounds of a cheap mult-fx pedal (he said speaking from bitter experience).

Blindboy wrote:Whew!! I am with Strummer.... Plug in and play. If it doesn't have tubes glowing in the back and make Armageddon noises when you bump it, I don't get it. It took me months to sort out my Guitarport, and I still probably use only about 10% of its capacity. I must say, you are getting nice sounds out of your new widget though...

I am the same. I have no idea what they are talking about. I thought I was modern by using a vintage Roland solid state amp with no digital effects...just a spring reverb.

That being said...I think the sound you get now is excellent. I wouldn't bother with this S/P DIF thingy.
If it ain't broke... don't fix it.