Ye Macce Threade

[shellylh]

Liking the HomePod so far. Its a great kitchen island speaker.

[EdipisReks1]

It helps to have an island that looks like that.

[Augsburger]

My son Garrett needs to hook his MacBook Pro to his Presonus Central Station to work on some music files for his classes.  Garrett plans to use the Mac Thunderbolt port to send the files to the Presonus via SPDIF but we are having a tough time finding the optimal cord to connect the two.  . Apple has been no help and as you can imagine, scouring the Apple forums has been a mind numbing experience.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

[Pars]

I asked my son (who is in music production/recording engineering at Columbia college). I'll let you know if he has any insight. From what I know, Thunderbolt doesn't do SPDIF, so you are probably going to need some sort of adapter (OWC? maybe Monoprice?).

[ironbut]

Unfortunately, I don't know a cheap way to do that.

As far as I know, it's going to require a dock with  a spdif input like the OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/docks/owc-thunderbolt-3-dock

It's actually more of a Presonus question so you should shoot them an email to find out what they suggest.

 

You might be able to use a thunderbolt to hdmi adapter to an hdmi to spdif.

I'd still check with Presonus though.

[Pars]

This is what my son had to say about it. Ironbut’s input above is what I thought as well and is a good place to start:

That won’t really work per say, thunderbolt and spdif are two complete different formats and I don’t see anything for a connector to connect the two. Depending on what he’s working on and how “professional” he needs it to sound, his best bet would be to get an dual RCA to 8th inch adapter or dual quarter inch to 1/8th inch Y-Splitter (typically forbidden in any professional grade sound) run his Audio port on his MacBook as an input as opposed to an output. Other than that if he can find a small interface that has ADAT or SPDIF capabilities that would be his best bet in recording music with his presonus in the future. There doesn’t seem to be any type of digital output on it other than Toslink/ADAT or SPDIF. I’ll take a look and see what I can find for interfaces.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ironbut]

I've never used a Central Station but it's kind of old tech.

Most folks use them  to augment their interface/mixer to route audio to multiple monitors and headphones.

Unlike an interface, it only had a dac and no ad conversion I believe.

BTW I spent 5 years in a music tech program in college. 

I started out learning mixing/mastering and got hooked on production after finishing a series on interactive game sound.

If I was to give advice it would be to volunteer for everything and be sure and do some or all of the classes on post production audio. There are more jobs involving "sound to video" than anything else out there these days and it's growing out of freakin' control.

Edited May 12, 2018 by ironbut

[Pars]

Probably very sound advice.

My son followed up with this:

As far as interfaces with SPDIF inputs there isn’t much on the market that’s cheap. If he wants to get a more serious setup he could look into getting a Scarlett 2i2, which is a USB interface with two Mic Pre’s on it that double well as hi-z guitar inputs. It has two 1/4 inch outputs for speakers and a headphone jack. Not sure what he’s using the Central Station for currently but it doesn’t work out as an interface, it’s more of a monitor management system.

[Augsburger]

Thanks for all the great advice.  Yes, the Presonus CS is "old school" because he inherited for me for a great price ($0) and up until now he was using it primarily as a monitor management device.  His project currently involves working on files using his Mac with headphones but it was my grand idea to route the music through some gear that we currently own to his monitors that he just bought.  I will pass along the Scarlett 2i2 recommendation and let his start there.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer our rudimentary questions. If ever I can return the favor by giving you rattlesnake catching tips just pm me.

[Hopstretch]

Off to the Apple Store for another HomePod to test out the stereo pairing capabilities in Airplay 2.

Curious to see if two could be a viable desktop system.

Apple suggests that they are doing some trick DSP on the processor in each speaker. We shall see.

Quote

With two HomePod speakers set up as a stereo pair, this soundstage gets even wider, delivering room-filling sound that is more spacious than a traditional stereo pair from a speaker that’s just under 7-inches tall. Using spatial awareness to sense their location in the room, each HomePod automatically adjusts the audio to sound great wherever it is placed and sound great together, using an Apple-designed wireless peer-to-peer direct link to communicate with each other and play music completely in sync.

 

With an A8 chip in each speaker, each HomePod is able to play its own audio channel — left or right — while separating out both the ambient and direct energy. This innovative stereo sound provides a wide, almost three dimensional soundstage for an incredible listening experience anywhere in the room. A HomePod stereo pair creates room filling sound with greater bass extension, resulting in a deeper, more accurate reproduction of low frequencies.

 

Setting up a stereo pair is simple. When a second HomePod is set up in the same room, the user is prompted whether they would like to form a stereo pair, and in just a matter of minutes, the room is filled with amazing audio. Even though these two speakers act as one, each HomePod communicates with each other so that only one speaker responds to Siri requests.

 

[shellylh]

Sweet! Would love to hear what you think. I’m really enjoying having the HomePod on the kitchen island.

[Hopstretch]

Initial impression is ... odd.

Produces a precise image and copious bass energy, but the musicians are six inches tall and apparently playing on the desk top?

[Augsburger]

So not airey? Small sound stage?

[robm321]

8 hours ago, Hopstretch said:

Initial impression is ... odd.

Produces a precise image and copious bass energy, but the musicians are six inches tall and apparently playing on the desk top?

In that case, I'd hold off on playing Hendrix - Monterey Pop Festival '67 - while the laptop is there.

[skullguise]

You could always borrow the Stonehenge set from Spinal Tap.....

[Grahame]

Any announcements that people cared about?

 

 

 

Dark mode?

 

Waze in CarPlay?

 

Animojis with tounge detection?

 

 

[Hopstretch]

My kids say group FaceTime and Memojis.

For me, being able to track their overall screen time and lock out certain apps during certain hours will be a godsend.

[TMoney]

Honestly, for enthusiasts the thing you want to watch isn't the public keynote, its the state of the platform address that followed it.

I don't think they've posted the video yet, but i'll post a link once i find one.

[Dusty Chalk]

What about those of us who don’t give a fuck about anything?

[TMoney]

16 minutes ago, Dusty Chalk said:

What about those of us who don’t give a fuck about anything?

This is head-case, my man! Retail therapy!

[MexicanDragon]

25 minutes ago, Dusty Chalk said:

What about those of us who don’t give a fuck about anything?

Well, one option is, you can buy a bike.

https://www.marinbikes.com/bikes/pine-mountain-2

Let me know and I can probably get you a deal.

[TMoney]

2018 State of the Platforms. 

https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2018/102/

Edited June 5, 2018 by TMoney

[CD44hi]

What is the Ipad pro to get? Is there a reason why not to go with the Pro?

is the extra screen size on the pro helpful? (I know stupid question, but weighing in the extra size of 10.5 vs 12.9)

Mostly for watching movies, Zwift, email, drawing/calligraphy.

Anyone here using the Apple pencil?

Edited July 1, 2018 by CD44hi

[TMoney]

21 minutes ago, CD44hi said:

What is the Ipad pro to get? Is there a reason why not to go with the Pro?

is the extra screen size on the pro helpful? (I know stupid question, but weighing in the extra size of 10.5 vs 12.9)

Mostly for watching movies, Zwift, email, drawing/calligraphy.

Anyone here using the Apple pencil?

If you don’t mind a used iPad Pro 10.5” (64 GB, cellular) I have one I’m looking to sell soon.

Also have the pencil and keyboard case with it.

I’d be happy to give you a deal on it if you are interested.

[CD44hi]

Thanks for the message and kind consideration. I'll send you a PM to discuss.