Introduction; Package Contents; Brief Description And Characteristics - RME Audio MADI Router User Manual

1. Introduction

The RME MADI Router is designed to be the centerpiece of small and large digital
audio networks based on the widely adopted point-to-point Multichannel Audio Digital
Interface (MADI alias AES10).
It is able to manage all the tasks that are required to set up and to control a MADI
environment, from inspection of signal integrity and sampling frequency, to format
conversion, to full stream and single-channel block routing. It supports a variety of
common physical interface formats of MADI including optical and coaxial,
supplemented by the evolving twisted pair variant, which allows much simpler and
more affordable MADI setups.

2. Package Contents

Please check that your MADI Router package contains each of the following:
● MADI Router
● 2 rack ears with screws
● 2 power cords
● User's guide

3. Brief Description and Characteristics

The MADI Router is a compact device designed to link MADI devices of any
manufacturer with unprecedented flexibility in signal routing. It provides this flexibility
by serving as a format converter between optical and electrical signals, as a signal
repeater, and as a distributor and merger of several MADI signals, all at the same time.
The MADI Router combines many advantages of point-to-point audio connections,
such as low latency and fast recovery time from signal line interruptions, with the
flexibility of networked audio connections in which any device has access to any
channel available on the network of connected devices.
At the simplest level all input signals are passed on to the desired output unaltered.
This type of connection is beneficial when manufacturers have embedded additional
status or remote control data information in the MADI stream.
It is also possible to create new arrangements of audio channels within a MADI output
stream. For this purpose 4 independent 'virtual' matrices are provided, each of which
comprises 768 input and 64 output channels. As such, any of the 768 audio channels
that make up the 12 physical MADI input ports can be used to compose a 64 channel
output from this matrix. This 64 channel 'virtual' matrix output can then be sent to any
of the MADI Router's 12 physical MADI output ports.
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User's Guide MADI Router © RME