Ferrofish A16 MK-II User manual

A16

FERROFISH

MK-II

professional 16 channel AD/DA converter

Manual

advanced audio applications

© Ferrofish GmbH

Version 1.1

Introduction

Introduction

Thank you very much for choosing to purchase this product.

The A16 MK-II can convert simultaneously, 16 audio channels
from digital to analogue (DA) and 16 audio channels from
analogue to digital (AD). You can use both, MADI and ADAT
as digital interfaces. Furthermore, you can also transmit signals
between these two interfaces.

The two TFT screens display the levels of all inputs and
outputs in high resolution.

The A16 MK-II combines high quality 'audiophile' conversion
characteristics with flexible routing / I/O that fits seamlessly
into your professional studio.

Software and Updates

For further information and current drivers and software please
visit our website: www.ferrofish.de

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Operation

Operation

The A16 MK-II can be controlled via three front panel buttons
SAMPLE RATE, SYNCHRONIZATION and MENU.
Alternatively, you can use your PC to remote control the A16
MK-II using the MIDI interface.

In the main screen the frequency and synchronization can be
set using the corresponding buttons.

Pressing MENU opens the main menu, where you can
navigate with the SAMPLE RATE and
SYNCHRONIZATION functions.

Pressing MENU again will then confirm the selected function
choice.

main screen

The TFT main screen shows all 32 channels of the A16 MK-II
as well as the basic settings of sample rate and the input signal
from which the A16 MK-II takes it's timing. Additionally, it
displays the interfaces to which the analog inputs/outputs are
routed in the top right corner.

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Digital Interfaces

Digital Interfaces

Every digital device requires a sampling rate for proper
operation. The A16 MK-II can either generate such sampling
rate itself (Master) or receive it from another device (Slave).

It is important that all devices within a digital domain work
with the same sampling rate. For that reason there has to be
exactly one master generating the sampling rate, while all other
devices have to refer to this sampling rate as a slave.

It is not possible to connect two master devices with
each other, even if set to the same sampling rate.
Because the units are not synchronized, even the
smallest variations of the sampling rate would cause
failures.

With the SYNCHRONIZATION button you can select
whether the device shall be master or slave to MADI, ADAT or
BNC.

If the corresponding field in the TFT is green, the
A16 MK-II found a valid sampling rate at the selected input.

In case you have set the A16 MK-II as MASTER, it will
generate the sampling rate. Now you can select the frequency
between 32kHz and 192kHz via SAMPLE RATE.

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Digital Interfaces

The higher you set the sampling rate, the higher will
be the maximum frequency to be transmitted
digitally, as it corresponds exactly to half the value of
the sampling rate. However, the data volume will be
increased for higher sampling rates. For that reason
the number of channels halves in case of 88.2kHz or
more for MADI and ADAT, and for 192kHz the
channels are quartered.

If you set the A16 MK-II to ADAT, MADI or BNC, it will
display the measured sampling rate. Since it is not possible to
decide from the ADAT/MADI signal whether it works with
one of the higher sampling rates, you may select these via
SAMPLE RATE manually.

In the next step you decide which digital data to be converted
by the A16 MK-II. By long pressing MENU you choose from
five options:

Routing Presets

MADI 1: MADI 1-16 → analog → MADI 1-16 (+ ADAT)

MADI 2: MADI 17-32 → analog → MADI 17-32 (+ ADAT)

MADI 3: MADI 33-48 → analog → MADI 33-48 (+ ADAT)

MADI 4: MADI 49-64 → analog → MADI 49-64 (+ ADAT)

ADAT: ADAT → analog → ADAT (+ MADI 1-16)

For example, if you select the first option, the A16 MK-II will
convert the first 16 MADI channels into analog and the analog
inputs will be sent to the first 16 MADI channels. All other
MADI channels will be passed through without any changes.

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