Topic: Syncing AD1K with V3 WC, AD1K with SPDIF and AD1K with Toslink

[ethan]

So I had some success today. I finally got to the electronics store and got some BNC terminators and a BNC RCA adapter.

My goal was to see if I could sync my two AD1K's with a non-moded V3 I've been borrowing.

One of my AD1K's a (rev D) had no problem syncing at both 48 and 44.1 to the WC out of the V3. To sync an AD1K to an external WC you first set terminate one of the BNC connectors with a terminator and then set the first dip switch to 75 term. Next you turn the Sample Rate Knob to point straight down at the unmarked bottom position (6 oclock) and set the Synce Source Knob to WC. I connected the WC out of the V3 to the remaing BNC connector on the AD1K. Powered up and worked like a charm with the rev D. The rev C AD1K wouldn't sync to anything 

Next I attached the BNC RCA adapter to the non-terminated BNC connector of the AD1K and connected using a regular digi cable the SPDIF out of the V3 into the BNC RCA adapter. I left the Sample Rate Knob in the same position as above but moved the Synce Source to the SPDIF setting. Worked great. This second approach is interesting as it means you can sync to any digi SPDIF and are not required to have a WC.

Finally I took out a toslink cable and synced the rev D up to the rev C using an optical connection so potentially modded-V3's could be used to sync an AD1K and still pass a coax to a recorder.

I'm somewhat bummed my rev C was not able to lock on any source. I was hoping to be able to set up synced 6 channel capability but am happy that at least one of my AD1K's can sync. Now I can do 4 channel recordings. 

The rev C is fully operation and has no problems except for this. The serial number is a very low number 120 and I'm just guessing it's an original problem and was just fixed when Apogee released the rev D's.

Though someone might find this interesting/useful.

Now the question is can a AD1K with a bad clock sync to any of the 5 possible sources (AES sync and Video are also possible with the AD1K)

-e

[Todd R]

Very cool, Ethan!

It's interesting that the AD1K syncs to a spdif stream, and is not only restricted to a wordclock out.  I'm curious how other units handle this.  I'd really like to know whether the 722 wordclock input could take a spdif stream to lock onto, and not just a wordclock out.  It'd be nice to be able to lock my 722 to my opti-mod V3 via the spdif coax out and not have to reverse mod the V3 back to its original configuraton.

[ethan]

I'm curious how other units handle this.  I'd really like to know whether the 722 wordclock input could take a spdif stream to lock onto, and not just a wordclock out. 

I'm curious too. However, considering that the AD1K has different Sync Source settings for each type of sync input it's probably unlikely that other units sync on different sources without separate sync source settings.

-e

[Chuck]

So, Ethan, I assume this is a way to get an AD-1000 with a bad clock to work? Just feed it a sync signal!
If so, good work man! Very cool. If this works, some old boat anchors may find their way back into the field.

[ethan]

So, Ethan, I assume this is a way to get an AD-1000 with a bad clock to work? Just feed it a sync signal!
If so, good work man! Very cool. If this works, some old boat anchors may find their way back into the field.

No I do not have an AD1K with a bad word clock. Note in my description my two units are both operation and one didn't sync even though it works.

I just wanted to outline the process for working units. I would like to get ahold of a unit with a bad WC. However I'd really like to explain why a working unit wouldn't sync before so as not to get a bad one that wouldn't have synced to begin with.

-e

[Todd R]

Very cool, Ethan!

It's interesting that the AD1K syncs to a spdif stream, and is not only restricted to a wordclock out.  I'm curious how other units handle this.  I'd really like to know whether the 722 wordclock input could take a spdif stream to lock onto, and not just a wordclock out.  It'd be nice to be able to lock my 722 to my opti-mod V3 via the spdif coax out and not have to reverse mod the V3 back to its original configuraton.

Excellent!!  Tested my 722 about getting an external clock sync from the V3 digi out (not WC out), and it worked like a charm.

Details are in this thread:
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,81171.0.html

[H₂O]

Thanks Ethan for testing this! I was thinking of doing this as well as I have a AD1K with a possible failing clock and want to see if I can bypass the internal clock and run a 4 channel config at some point.  Good thing mine is a rev D as well.

According to Apogee Support (called them back in 2002) you can see if your clock is failing by tapping the side with a rubberized screwdriver handle (somewhat hard) and if the clock unsyncs then it is beginning to fail (may be old news).  It took me 5 or so good wacks before it actually unsynced. 

I have had the unit fail twice in the field after about 2 hours of use, but it is inconsitent (I have run it only 5 times or so since and it only failed that 1st time and it didn't fail again until the last time I ran it).  The other night I powered it up for the first time in 4 years and left it running on internal clock for over 3 hours without issue (no input though).  Needless to say I don't trust it anymore.

With Word Clock syncing can you run one device at 24/48 and another at 16/48? 

If so would you have any issues postproduction dithering the 24bit source down to 16bits and mixing the two sources (i.e. could dithering using Wavelab affect the sample rate offset)?

[Brian Skalinder]

If so would you have any issues postproduction dithering the 24bit source down to 16bits and mixing the two sources (i.e. could dithering using Wavelab affect the sample rate offset)?

You wouldn't need to dither the 24-bit source to 16-bit before mixing, you'd just mix the 24-bit source directly with the 16-bit source.  Sample rate's another story and needs to match (but not necessarily clocked identically) across both source files.

[H₂O]

You wouldn't need to dither the 24-bit source to 16-bit before mixing, you'd just mix the 24-bit source directly with the 16-bit source.  Sample rate's another story and needs to match (but not necessarily clocked identically) across both source files.

Thanks for the clarification.