Question

I'm considering upgrading my system to incorporate the new Quantum Thunderbolt Audio Interface by adding a Thunderbolt interface to it. My mother board is an Asus X99-A which is compatible with the Asus ThunderboltEX 3 interface. My PC is running Windows 10 64bit Pro with a specification that satisfies the Presonus Quantum Interface System requirements.  My DAW is running  Presonus Studio One 3 Pro with a Studio 192 audio interface.

Can the new Quantum Thunderbolt audio interface be used with the Studio 192 interface simultaneously?

In other words, can I run a USB3 device together with a Thunderbolt device - I'm thinking that it's not possible and just require confirmation.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Thunderbolt is its own very unique connection.  There are Thunderbolt to USB adapters that will work.  However, the Quantum and the Studio 192 are different class devices.  

You cannot use them simultaneously by intended design.  There may be unofficial and unsupported ways to combine the I/O of different class devices, but this is generally regarded as problematic for many reasons.

The Quantum is a truly excellent audio interface, but the Studio 192 is no slouch either.  

If you require more channels, you might consider getting a DigiMax DP88 and use it with the Studio 192 or the Quantum as well.

Answer 2

There are 2 ways of doing so but each offer a compromise.

The first one is using ASIO4ALL. It will require some patience and tinkering but you can combine several interfaces to act as 1 unit. You just have to assign the inputs and outputs in the ASIO4ALL interface. The caveat is the driver is not very stable when you first set it up especially with Pro Tools because nothing is stable with Pro Tools.....(Thats why Studio One is great lol sorry I went there.) If you have the patience and will, you can get it to work this way. I just want to stress that it will crash a lot during set up.  I once did an old Presonus firestudio, with a Scarlet 18i20, and a ZOOM H4N, for a total of 20 inputs to record a whole band together. It was a pain to do and required alot of patience to get it working but that was my only option at the time and it worked using ASIO4ALL and I was also using Pro Tools.

The other method which I recommend is making the quantum your main interface and just set your outputs on your 192 as adat 1-8. and just adat your inputs from the 192.

To do this youll have to plug in your 192 and configure it that way. The caveat is you wont have control of the preamps through your DAW. but this is method wont give you headaches like the one above.

Hope this clears anything up.