I have a recording studio, set up a Rme Octamic XTC in three different rooms, connected via AVB. Since the AVB cannot transmit Midi data, it is not possible to control the Octamic’s XTC via the Rme AVB Remote software (for - AVB Remote for Octamic XTC, Rme 12mic, Rme AVB Tool).
Now to my questions:
If I buy three BomeBoxes and connect one to the Rme Octamic XTC in each room, is it possible to control the three Octamic’s from one computer via the Rme AVB Remote software.
Each Octamic XTC has its own Midi ID (but you cannot set a Midi channel).
With the Rme AVB Remote Software you can only select one Midi connection (in this case the BomeBox). But you can add a remote mask for each Octamic XTC and set the Midi ID (1, 2, 3).
Would the connection work if I connect the Octamic’s XTC to the BomeBox with USB!? (Does the BomeBox recognize the Octamic XTC via USB!?)
Or would I have to connect the Octamic’s to the BomeBox via Midi DIN!?
Do I also need a BomeBox for the computer or is the Bome Network Pro software sufficient to control the three BomeBoxes!?
Connection would be via an existing WiFi in the building!
Wow, this is a bunch of questions for a product (RME Octamic XTC and RME AVB Tool) that I don’t fully understand. However I will do the best I can to answer them after spending a bit of time reviewing the docs.
It appears that the Rme XTC has MIDI DIN connector as well as USB class compliant connectors. Although audio cannot be delivered over BomeBox via USB, MIDI can and as well on MIDI DIN. It appears that the MIDI messages are delivered via SysEX and that the devices will communicate based on their ID so as long as RME software is selecting the right ID, then it should work. Worst case is you use the MIDI DIN on each BomeBox (since USB or AVB would not work) to connect to each XTC and then you set your MIDI path to route everything from your computer to all 3 BomeBox MIDI DIN ports. If the devices ignore all but their own ID, then everything should be fine.
If your computer is in one of the 3 rooms and you have connectivity to the local XTC, you would not need a BomeBox there. You may need to use the Bome Network Router function to route your MIDI signal from your application to both your locally connected XTC as well as the other BomeBox DIN ports. This may or may not require using Bome Network addon (Unlimited Virtual Ports) or if you need to do MIDI Translation, Bome MIDI Translator Pro. MIDI Translation may be required if the AVB software can’t handle more than one XTC device or if you want to control the XTC devices with some other sort of MIDI controller.
I would suggest you test with one BomeBox at first before deciding if you want to add more. You could also test with Bome Network Pro if you want to test network connectivity with PC’s or Mac’s before deciding to purchase your BomeBox hardware as it would be architecturally the same. Of course each of your computers would need to have MIDI DIN connectivity with a good quality USB to DIN converter that will pass SysEx. Many cheap USB to DIN converters have very small buffer sizes and do not pass SysEx well.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
Now with regard to Rme Octamic XTC and AVB it is like this… The Octamic XTC has no AVB, there is still an Rme 12mic in each rack which is connected to the XTC via Madi (Midi above Madi).
The problem is that Rme stopped producing the Octamic XTC, I bought 3 Octamic XTC in 2021 and wanted to buy 4 more in 2022, but everything turned out differently, due to a lack of chips, Rme stopped producing the Octamic’s XTC.
Rme support recommended me to buy the 12mic’s and connect them as described above.
Now I have two different systems in one rack, everything works. Audio is not a problem, but the remote from the XTC (12mic is not a problem because it can also be controlled via Http).
The configuration is actually such that audio recordings take place in 4 rooms (3x Rme Octamic XTC + 12mic, 1x only 12mic) in the 5th room is the direction.
To your answer:
The computer is not in the same room as any of the 3 Octamic XTC racks.
I’ve been thinking for a few days about the best and cheapest way to solve the remote problem, so I came up with the BomeBox…
But will probably have to solve it with Mini Pc’s (Raspberry Pi with Windows) via Remote Desktop.
The BomeBox is a great device but unfortunately much too expensive for my application (since I would need 4 pieces) and the question is whether it would work at all!?