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kepeb

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Joined
Sep 4, 2010
Messages
581
Location
Norwich, UK
hey :)

well, I'm still slowly getting there with my first attempt at a completely OTB home studio.
Its coming together with spare time and almost zero budget.

after I got through a couple of roadblocks I came to the clock and thought i'd finally get a better understanding, more specifically, a configuration for my specific equipment.

for my modest da/ad I have a pro40, a twintrack pro and a behr*nger ada8000 (totalling 20 outs and 18 ins) for when i dont use a budget tape multitrack.

the twintrack has a BNC for both clock in and clock out and connects to the pro40 via spdif.
the pro40 can set the clock as internal/external via the software interface but goes through the adat(or spdif?)
and the ada8000 has one BNC but a selector switch.

how do i get them to all see the same clock source?
 
I may be completely off base, but it looks like there is a word clock signal embedded in the spdif connection. From my readings, I cannot say for sure if the saffire can generate this (be master), or simply slaves to a signal generated from the twin trak. From what I can gather, the twin trak generates a clock signal in the spdif that the saffire 40 can sync to, and then the ada8000 can sync to the pro 40 over the ADAT.  If not, you can run the BNC to the ada8000, but it looks to me like the Twin trak needs to be the master clock.
 
ok, i'm still not completely sure. is there a way to tell if they are all in sync? i'm not convinced :(
in the twin trak manual it suggests i run a BNC from the ADC to the DAC sections if you have the optional card. which i do.
in the pro40 software it lets you choose internal adat or spdif source

so i have the ada8000 set up as slave through adat, the two bnc ports on the twin looped together and the spdif option selected as source in the pro40 software. now the twin dont light up 'locked' but the other two do.

and i thought the patch bay was a PITA
 
if there not in sync they will give you data blurps or pops.

The ADA can lock to the PRO40 via ADAT sync but not word clock since the Pro40 does not have word clock. I believe it's been reported that the ADA also is better clocked via word clock as it performs better with less Jitter.

As far as the twintrack you could send that via SPDIF to the Pro40.

If it was me I'd do SPDIF to the PRO40 and use ADAT for the connection between the ADA and Pro40 until I could get better goodies. Use 2 optical cables for the ADA. Make sure they are all on the same clock rate or you will have pops.

Last since the analog outputs are still unused if you want to run some of your DIY gear after the Twintrack then pipe that into the analog inputs of the Pro40.
 
Digital is so much fun...Looking over the specs again, I may have mis read something. Does the twin trak come up locked without the ADA 8000 connected? What happens if you set the ADA to clock from the twin trak pro? How about resetting the saffire as the master clock. Do the twin trak and ada sync?

I don't know, just throwing out ideas. It all hinges on whether or not the twin trak is actually generating it's own clock signal, or simply passing on what it gets over SPDIF.
 
In essence if the Pro40 is the source, the clock should be the same on the SPDIF and ADAT but thats more based on Software/Driver settings.

Digital clocking is harder when they swap around the connection types and don't have a standard connection for clock on low end boxes. I'm dealing with these same issues on setting up my equipment as well.

KaZ
 

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