The amp in my surround system (Gigaworks S750) recently died, so I’m hunting for a replacement solution. The ideal scenario might be to connect the HDMI from my PC’s GPU to an AVR, but I’ve only been able to find hearsay about whether the discrete HDMI audi channels can be accessed for mixing.
Can anyone please confirm whether Cubase can see the separate HDMI channels? And if not directly in Cubase, can it be achieved via something like Asio4All, or even in other apps like Davinci Resolve?
Latency isn’t a concern, as I would only be using the HDMI for mixing.
Sounds like you got the gfx in the computer already already so not sure why you’re asking not just trying.
Select Steinberg built in ASIO, open it’s control panel and see if those outs are available. If they’re not, maybe give ASIO4all a try and if they’re not there either then this probably isn’t going to work.
Thanks for the reply - unfortunately I don’t have an AVR to try (as mentioned, I’m looking for a replacement amp), so I’m seeking confirmation before throwing any money at one.
Apparently a HDMI device has to be connected before Windows can recognise it and (potentially) expose the outputs to Cubase, Asio4All or whatnot, and without a HDMI device I have no way of testing the theory…
Ahh right. Well it should work with one of the wdm/asio wrappers (VB Matrix supposed to be good option if a bit complex to set up compared to ASIO4all) but obviously that doesn’t mean it definitely will work.
Yeah, that’s the thing; it “should” work, but I wouldn’t want to make the investment based purely on speculation.
It’s weird - I’d have thought there’d be plenty of people with home theatre systems who want to do surround mixing, and yet I can only find a tiny handful of discussions on the topic… and they’re all inconclusive (and it looks like this one’s headed the same way). Perhaps I’ll need to take it to a more general forum like KVR.
I would not dare to go as far as “should work” but rather say “might work”.
Most of us use dedicated audio interfaces to send individual channels to a surround system. I guess that’s why nobody is answering with a definite statement.
Indeed, but that’s typically a far more costly and cumbersome route… which makes it all the more perplexing as to why there’s so little discussion about whether such a commonly accessible low-budget alternative “might" work.
One man’s costly and cumbersome route is another’s more professional and workable solution.
I think there will be an incredibly small number of people who are doing this so not overly surprised you’re not getting definitive answers right away.
Any way you could connect the hdmi to a TV or monitor and at least see if you see the stereo channels. If you do I think there’s a reasonable chance it will work multi channel too…but I think even if you find one person saying they got it working it doesn’t mean your specific card will work.
Sure, I’m not doubting the advantages of doing it the “proper” way, but normally when there’s a cheap alternative to something that’s otherwise out of reach for many (especially when it involves domestic equipment they might already have in their lounge rooms), they tend to flock to it. Alas, that crowd is curiously absent.
Sadly I don’t own anything with HDMI in it whatsoever (except the GPU). I did read somewhere that LPCM support is necessary for it to potentially work, but I’m not sure how commonplace that is in TVs/monitors.
On Windows Cubase can only work with a device that has an ASIO driver. Since GPUs don’t have them you’d need to use on of the generic drivers, which are actually wrappers. The two from Steinberg will only support stereo. The question is how a wrapper like Asio4All will see the HDMI device. You should be able to test this right now without having to purchase anything extra.
A reasonable assumption, however I also read something about the HDMI device having to be plugged into the GPU so Windows can detect it first, and/or something being installed before ASIO4ALL can see the outputs, or something along those lines.
I don’t recall the specifics, but after researching I came away with the impression that under certain conditions it can be made to work in ASIO4ALL and, by extension, Pro Tools. Questions about whether it works in Cubase were generally met with “it should/might”, and then nobody reported back about whether it actually did or not.
I can see now that I’m going to have to re-research in order to be more specific about what was actually said… or perhaps I’ll just leave it at that and allow the mystery to persist.
I’ll check my own system with ASIO4all tonight…my monitor is connected via HDMI so in theory I should see a stereo out.
Still not giving you much if it does but it’s another small data point in favour of it working.
I think there are just a bit too many potential annoying things to think about when dealing with a consumer format rather than a professional one, for starters.
Secondly, I think anyone who mixes for real in surround is going to spend some amount of money on a 5.1 system using professional speakers rather than consumer gear, and at that point the cost of a pro interface is really low in comparison. Consider even a very cheap system with say 5 Kali LP6 monitors plus a sub for like 200 bucks then you’re looking at about $1,500. A cheap USB interface with 6 outs would probably not be more than $500, so 25% of the total cost. I think the added benefits of that outweighs using HDMI for these users.
I don’t think there are that many other users out there mixing in Surround using HDMI.
I’ve found that to be the case either way (in fact more so with pro gear, since it’s not as plug ‘n’ play).
I mixed the 5.1 soundtrack for an award winning film on a sub-$1k (AUD) consumer system. Does that count as “for real”?
My PC motherboard already has 6 analogue outs, and ASIO4ALL gives me very low latency. I’m planning to repurpose the satellites from my old ~$800 7.1 system, as they’ve been perfectly sufficient up until now (sub/amp needs replacement). Assuming a $300 sub (converted to AUD for consistency):
Adding a ~$500 AV receiver to the above would complete the system I need for low-latency 2.1 and (probably-not-low-latency) 5.1, provided the HDMI channels can be accessed.
If not, then Plan B is to get three stereo amps (e.g. Fosi V3), which would total $320-400.
The studio equivalent to either of the above (e.g. Focusrite Scarlette 18i20 + 5 x Kali LP6 V2) would be in the vacinity of $3,300 (AUD).
In my case, any perceivable pros of the studio option would be outweighed by the cons.
I suspect that’s a result of the perpetuated myth that surround mixing can only be done with expensive studio gear (I first encountered this school of thought back in 2005 when researching my previous setup). Consequently, nobody digs any further, and potential alternatives are overlooked.
I even know someone personally (and I hardly know anyone! ) who by chance is embarking on their own DIY surround mixing journey, so that should at least suggest that there’s a significant part of the population that would do it, if only they knew it was more viable than they think.
Yes, that is “real”. What I should have written was probably something along the lines of “most who work as a re-recording engineer full time and does surround sound (and can afford a home, food, clothes, insurance, retirement savings and so on)”.
And of course things change as technology changes. It’s not so much that AV systems change but that software changes. When I started out we were still using hardware metering and laid back to tape in real-time for example. Today you can “judge” levels in a much more detailed and productive way by looking at meters or numbers, and we can analyze content looking at images in Spectralayers and so on. So even a sub-par system can be workable to some degree.
Again though, needless to say, my point is that there is a reason people mainly work with “pro” gear in “pro situations”, even if that’s changing. AI will kill most of it anyway.
2-3k USD is not expensive in “the west” (including Australia).
Well I was talking about people mixing surround as a profession, not hobbyists. A quick search says average earning in Australia is about 65k USD. Figure you are a business entity and you look at a 5-year operating period then at 3k in surround gear it ends up being 50/month. After taxes I think it actually ends up being about one months rent in investment but spread out over 5 years. Not nothing but far from expensive relative to an actual mix stage.
) who by chance is embarking on their own DIY surround mixing journey, so that should at least suggest that there’s a significant part of the population that would do it, if only they knew it was more viable than they think.