Topic: anyone ever use a smpte master clock?

[woodybear]

i have recently upgraded my rig to 16 tracks and it looks like i need a clock to keep them in time. i don't have 2K to drop on one and wondered how the cheaper clocks worked. anyone?

[anodyne33]

What recorders are you trying to sync? All I've ever used in this situation (and mostly just to sync midi boxes) was an MPC, but it worked like a dream once you got everything else happy with the clock signal.

[woodybear]

linking 2 echo layla 24/96's. i have them connected via MTC and am getting pops and clicks galore.

[anodyne33]

via MTC?

Does that mean that they have a provision to slave off of another's clock? Do these have a word clock input?

[woodybear]

i believe one acts as master ie internal clock, and one uses mtc. i have them connected via midi cable. i do have word clock in/outs.

[anodyne33]

If you have someplace that you can rent an MPC or borrow one I'd suggest giving it a shot. They're not small, but the 2000XLs are going for under a grand used.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Akai-MPC2000XL-MPC-2000XL-2-Megs-Manual-795-00_W0QQitemZ130061137021QQihZ003QQcategoryZ38069QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Like I said before, in probably 3 years in the studio trying to get all kinds of half assed sampling and sequencing gear to talk nicely there were only a few times that it didn't work out for us.

My first course of action though, would be to email ECHO and see if they can figure out what's going on. Sounds like this may be an issue on their end if the boxes are designed to sync to one another and it's not working out. Are you sure that you're just not maxing out your system trying to do 16 tracks at once? What happens is you arm one or two tracks on each box? Do you still get the digi noise?

[ghellquist]

Check the manual. What you will need is a word-clock cable (BNC-connectors in both ends, preferrably the right type of cable as there are several to choose from) . Set one of the cards as master and the other as slave. No external clock needed.  Connect from Out on Master to In on Slave. If you have a short cable (a few feet max) than there is no absolute need for termination.

Neither mtc or smpte will solve the issue, what you need is synchronizing of the samples -- exactly what word-clock is for.

Gunnar

[TNJazz]

And if that fails, good clocks from Aardvark, Lucent and other manufacturers (even Rosendahl) can be had for under $500 on the used market.

I agree with Gunnar, you need to get a couple of BNC cables and sync your devices with word clock.  Make sure the cables are 75 ohm as well; not all BNC cables are.  I can get 3 foot cables from the local electronics supply shop for about $5 apiece.  Expect to pay triple or more at the Banjo Mart or similar "music store".

[woodybear]

i am  picking up some bnc's at the local pro audio store tomorrow. is mtc strictly for syncing midi devices? the rca spdif is strictly for connecting to dats? for some reason i was under the impression that i could use one of those in lieu of bnc. i have both boxes connected w/ spdif and the midi and it is giving me the digi noise. i have noticed in multitrack mode if i have a bunch of the vst's running and scroll btwn tracks or move the mouse, my processor spikes and i get noise. is the word clock going to help that or am i looking for a bigger processor. my ram PF sits around 4% so i guess 2.5 gb is fine. any clue?

[ghellquist]

The digital noise is probably because the two cards do not run on exactly the same frequency. They will hence "slip" compared to each other now and then. The simple solution is to make them run from the same clock -- simple set one as master and the other as slave and transfer the word-clock between them. That is what the WC in and out connectors are for.

mtc is strictly for synching where you are on the "tape" so to say, the big picture. It does not carry word clock

spdif can be used to carry a clock signal between two devices, it contains word clock. a proper word clock on BNC-s is often more convenient though

synching will not help with cpu load, sorry.

Gunnar

PS: if all you want to do is to synch two units, all you need is one (1) cable. Word clock was designed ages ago to have something called termination, in effect a resistor placed on the last of several units daisy-chained on the same cable. For a very short cable run this is generally not needed and many sound cards does include termination on the IN connector anyway, so wait a bit with that if you are on a tight budget. If not, get the T-connector and termination resistor at the same time you get the cable.

[woodybear]

ok, i got the word clock set up and will find out tomorrow night if it helps at all. is there anything i can do with the sample size in audition or on the laylas to use more ram and less processor?

[Church-Audio]

ok, i got the word clock set up and will find out tomorrow night if it helps at all. is there anything i can do with the sample size in audition or on the laylas to use more ram and less processor?

What kind of processor are you using and how much ram do you have on your computer and what size hardrives make model?