The Scarcity of High-Performance Recording Solutions
MADI (Multichannel Audio Digital Interface) has been around since the early 90s. It thrived in the era of 48kHz and 24-bit audio was state of the art. Nowadays, MADI almost seems limiting. Network audio is incredibly prevalent. Dante, Milan, SoundGrid, and Ravenna protocols have far surpassed the capabilities of a single MADI stream.
When it comes to recording, why would I choose to look for a MADI-based solution when there are so many high-capacity network-based solutions in 2025?
One of the sole reasons this is even a point of conversation for me is that my primary digital console platform is DiGiCo. The DiGiCo SD5Q, SD7Q, and Q338 all have a large amount of coax MADI ports on the rear of their console. This coupled with how the audio I/O section works as blocks of 64 channels means that MADI is the simplest solution for high channel count and high sample rate recordings is to find a MADI based solution.
For quite a while, one of the most popular recording solutions for DiGiCo users was a Waves MGB, which would convert two sets of coax MADI to SoundGrid. You could then plug a single ethernet cable into the record machine. This would give you 128 channels at 48kHz. If you needed to be at 96kHz, all you had to do was add an unmanaged switch and another MGB. This proved to be a powerful and very portable solution for the modern age of live audio, where virtual sound checks are essentially a necessity.
A problem started to arise when Apple computers switched over to Apple Silicon and the operating system Ventura or newer. Since 2020, there has been an inconsistent issue with Apple users who try to utilize SoundGrid for their recording interface. Numerous users have reported clicks and pops in their recordings and playback despite following all the setup procedures properly. Waves has a specific post regarding recording and playback with Apple computers that states:
“Starting with macOS Ventura, network timing & priority infrastructure introduced some changes, affecting SoundGrid driver performance. As a result, using Apple computers for recording or playback with the SoundGrid driver may exhibit intermittent audio dropouts. Apple and Waves are working in collaboration towards fixing this issue.”
Unfortunately, it is difficult to know if or when this will get fixed.
Got it, MGBs aren’t the one-size-fits-all solution anymore, so what do I use?
Great question. Glad you asked.
When I am approaching options for a high-performance recording rig, there are two main connection points that I need to be aware of: audio stream connections to the audio system and the protocol connecting the interface to the record machine. In the MGB example above, we discussed MADI being the connection type with the audio system and SoundGrid being the protocol to connect to the record machine.
While network audio direct to the record machine is a fantastic solution in many scenarios, I actually prefer to use USB and Thunderbolt-based solutions. I prefer this because I like to utilize other network-based functions all on the same machine. Recording such large amount of data while simultaneously running OSC commands and screen sharing on the same NIC gets rather complex. If it is not done properly, it could potentially cause issues. On the other hand, one downside to be aware of with USB or Thunderbolt interfaces is you can only connect to one record machine per interface. When using a network solution, you have the flexibility to multicast to multiple record machines at the same time.
At this point in 2025, we have a few main alternative interfaces to accommodate the full 128 channels at 96kHz sample rate:
- DirectOut Prodigy.MP and Prodigy.MX
- NTP DAD Core 256, AX Center, or AX64
- Focusrite TNX
- RME HDSPe AoX-D or AoX-M (optionally with the MADI expansion cards)
Each of these options presents its pros and cons. Rather than explain each one individually in paragraph form, I think a comparison chart would be best.
Check out the comparison chart here
There are a few systems that I am aware of that I am choosing to not cover:
The first system I am going to skip is the Metric Halo Mk4 Series with the BNC MADI Expansion Card. I do not recommend this. I had it for a year. The hardware is great; however, the terrible software made patching and input management a nightmare. It also uses a proprietary network audio called MHLink that defeats the purpose of trying to move away from network-based solutions in my case.
Second, are the Avid HDX systems. I am not covering those because I do not have a ton of personal experience with them. I am aware those are capable of handling this number of channels and more. However, I chose to focus on network, USB, and Thunderbolt connections since it does not limit the user to a specific DAW.
When I developed the Eclipse recording template, multitracking a large amount of audio at once became a fascinating topic for me. Adding in the layer of live sample rate conversion is intriguing because it allows for less storage space needed for these recordings. Additionally, it has been my experience that most post-production work will inevitably get downsampled at some point anyway. NTP and DirectOut both have great SRC capabilities for both live and post uses.
If you know of any other options that can reach the specification of 128ch/96kHz, please let me know. I would love to know what else is out there and what your experiences have been.
