Looking to replace an old Matrox I/O Box for Media composer with something new as Matrox no longer release driver updates for the one we have and its causing issues.

 

One feature I would like to use is Audio Punch-In, has anyone used this feature with the Blackmagic Decklink Studio 4K card ?

 

If not what cards are people using that do support this feature ?

 

Thanks

Kevin

I'd go with a simple ouput only option like a BM 4K Mini card 

For Audio punch in turn off the IO and use an USB mic.

Its a lot simplier.

Only the Avid labeled I/O boxes support Audio Punch-In.

It's mentioned somewhere on the Avid website hardware section that this is an exclusive feature of the Avid boxes. I guess it's an intentional choice NOT to enable the feature on the cheaper Blackmagic hardware.

I use a DeckLink Studio 4K right now and that definetely does not support Audio Punch-In :-(

 

Hi

I understand that some of the Aja products do support punch in and I'm currently using a matrox box that also does but this is no longer supported and is causing some issues now due to the advances in OS and media composer software.

 

I will probably go for the Aja Kona Lhe Plus which they assure me does support the feature.

 

I've checked the realease notes for the latest software for Kona Lhe and it sure mentions how to do audio punch-in in Media Composer :-)

If you try the card please let us know how it performs.

I can confirm that the BMD Ultrastudio 4K Mini can record VO and audio punch in via the front XLR jack. But you have to connect an SDI cable from the output to input on the back - B&B or TriSync ref are not enough. This is with DV 11.4.1 if that's useful. There is no monitoring during audio punch in but the VO gets recorded fine. Capture has full monitoring.

Hi Mercer, thank you for sharing your experience! This is really good news! We are on DV 1141 too, but try to establish punch in on MC2019.12 Tried several combinations today, but we got lost by which cable and which in/outs you connected- photo of rear side attached could you please help us? Thank you j

Connect a cable from any of the outputs A to D to say input A. Select that input in your harware tool (I think you'll have to set 3G-SDI as single link too). Select too mic input. Then in the capture tool you should see the green sync lock symbol.

You don't have to select the video track to record audio since Avid has a signal to lock to in any case. Just to add I am using the DV version downloaded from Avid not BMD, for, in my case, the almost identical DNxID - not that I think it makes any difference to Black Magic's one, but just to be safe. I also have a B&B ref going into the Ultrastudio, again I don't think that makes a difference but just so you know.

I have no meter monitoring for audio punch in but as I said VO gets recorded fine. VO capture behaves normally.

Hi,

The need of a video signal, doesn't matter if it's analogue or digital, needing to be present to record audio is hardware specific. Blackmagic obviously uses incoming video to lock internal converters where others like Aja do not. So with Aja cards you can record audio without any video signal present.

The ability to do audio punch in is often related to cards being multi I/O. Being able to input AND output different signals at the same time through the PCI connector. The cheap Blackmagic cards do not support this, the more expensive do. Aja Kona cards do except the I/O express. 

Thank you so much for your detailed answer, Mercer! Will try next week when I will be back @ university Software only Punch in finally works for the students in newsroom on iMacs w/Mojave and USB mic thanks to the MC 2019.12 installer. In the editing suites with MacPro's we have these BM extreme 4k boxes (replacing the good old Nitris DXs) and currently have to record with HW disabled and usb mic.. Will be wonderful to have full quality and professional experience for the students with good mic & audio mixing board! best j

Thank you very much for your explanation Jeroen, really appreciate! Unfortunately university chose BM instead of Aja for updating the gear best j

Jeroen van Eekeres:

The ability to do audio punch in is often related to cards being multi I/O. Being able to input AND output different signals at the same time through the PCI connector. The cheap Blackmagic cards do not support this, the more expensive do. Aja Kona cards do except the I/O express. 

What you say appears to be the case but I would not describe the Ultrastudio 4K mini, in relative terms, as being cheap, since it is BMD's second most expensive I/O device. I do not know either whether the almost identical DNxID performs any differently, perhaps someone can confirm? But BMD have always seemed to have a less than adequate solution for audio only - it seems to be the way they implement their hardware codecs - although windows playback works fine, input for anything other than Avid doesn't work, Fairlight in Resolve included. As you say full duplex I/O is necessary for audio punch in and monitoring. The US Exteme 4K should in theory have full duplex functionality, I'll be interested to know.

I seem to recall that the Intensity USB 3.0 Shuttle I have could work too if you fed a B&B signal into the component green but I may be misremebering - in any case audio only seemed to have stutter issues related to the limited bandwidth. If the BMD based Avid devices work without any workaround then it is more than likely a specific Avid designed FPGA programming, since I can't imagine the internal hardware is any different - the software versions seem identical - but that is beyond the limit of my knowledge. I know they have hardware accelarated DNxHR capture but again this could be just down to the FPGA.

In any case for me I only ever use VO capture for rough guide and audio punch in, the same way, rarely, so the lack of punch in monitoring is not an issue. I am doing offline/online and not recording final VO which is better done in Pro Tools. So I am happy enough since the extra professional inputs/outputs on the US 4K mini over the DNxID are more useful to me.

Edit: I might add for anyone following this thread like the OP, who needs to make a hardware purchase decision - Aja was out of the question since I work almost exclusively with Avid and Da Vinci Resolve.

Happy to report that the AJA Kona LHe Plus card is in and working and audio punch in works well.

The only difficulty I am having is getting VTR deck control for capture.

The AJA software can capture from a remote VTR so I know the 422 control line etc are all connected correctly.

I can see the video and audio inside avid when I open the capture control but can't seem to get control.

I am currently on the newest software and win 10.

I have other older version avids that I have controlled remote vtr's so I know the setup works, but Media composer just doesn't want to connect. Any ideas re settings or PC issue.

Like I say AJA software which came with the card is quite happy so its obviously controlling the deck ok.

 

Thanks

 

 

I use the LHe Plus as well, and AJA is able to control decks via 422 for its own software (AJA Control Room).

But to control from within Avid MC, you'll have to connect the deck directly to your computer with an RS422 adaptor.

HTH

I don't know in the case of the Aja but the Ultastudio 4K mini's serial remote doesn't appear to work either with Avid, though I didn't fiddle much since I have and have always used with Avid a Kepsan usb adaptor to Rosetta Addendum, which works really well.