mackie, behringer, word clock

[protoolsman]

Hi there,

I just bought a Mackie SDR 24 track. I love the fact that I can record 24 tracks at 96 khz. Just through the analog ins though. I also already own ADA8000's by behringer. They have external clock in. I was thinking about upgrading the ADA8000's by sending them to Black Lion. I think their upgrades are great. However, with sending back and forth added this would set me back around a 1000 dollar. Which I currently can't affort. So I am thinking of adding an external word clock. I know Black Lion also makes a great one, but does anybody know of another fine clock in the 500 dollar region? Thanx.....

[A.David.MacKinnon]

$1000 is a lot of money to spend hod-rodding an ADA8000. I'm sure you could find a better option. Hell, I'd just start buying some nice pres to run into the analog ins on the Mackie.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

P.S. Even modded I don't think the ADA8000 will support anything higher than 48K.

[newfuturevintage]

P.S. Even modded I don't think the ADA8000 will support anything higher than 48K.

+1.

for $1k? Fool / money / parting. At that price point, I'd probably just pick up an onyx 800r.

[snatchman]

Hi there,

I just bought a Mackie SDR 24 track. I love the fact that I can record 24 tracks at 96 khz. Just through the analog ins though. I also already own ADA8000's by behringer. They have external clock in. I was thinking about upgrading the ADA8000's by sending them to Black Lion. I think their upgrades are great. However, with sending back and forth added this would set me back around a 1000 dollar. Which I currently can't affort. So I am thinking of adding an external word clock. I know Black Lion also makes a great one, but does anybody know of another fine clock in the 500 dollar region? Thanx.....

Hello. Can the Mackie do 24/96 on all 24 tracks via analog..? I didn't know this.... .. I thought it was like the Alesis HD24.. 24/96 with 12 tracks via digital..

[Stevil]

i'm looking to upgrade my ada8000's, for $1k i'd check the Focusrite OctoPre.

but does anybody know of another fine clock in the 500 dollar region? Thanx.....

Lucid GENx192

[firby]

I sync my stuff to an aardvark via bnc. It would likely make just about the right clock for gear in your range. It was about 300 at the time on flea bay.

[eh91311]

Hi there,

I just bought a Mackie SDR 24 track. I love the fact that I can record 24 tracks at 96 khz. Just through the analog ins though. I also already own ADA8000's by behringer. They have external clock in. I was thinking about upgrading the ADA8000's by sending them to Black Lion. I think their upgrades are great. However, with sending back and forth added this would set me back around a 1000 dollar. Which I currently can't affort. So I am thinking of adding an external word clock. I know Black Lion also makes a great one, but does anybody know of another fine clock in the 500 dollar region? Thanx.....

Hello. Can the Mackie do 24/96 on all 24 tracks via analog..? I didn't know this.... .. I thought it was like the Alesis HD24.. 24/96 with 12 tracks via digital..

Manual reads that SDR 24/96 can record 24 channels simultaneously at 24/96k using the SDR's inputs, 24 @ 24/44.1 or 48k, 12 @ 96k when using the optical inputs. Impressive.

How does it sound compared to an Alesis HD24?

[snatchman]

Hi there,

I just bought a Mackie SDR 24 track. I love the fact that I can record 24 tracks at 96 khz. Just through the analog ins though. I also already own ADA8000's by behringer. They have external clock in. I was thinking about upgrading the ADA8000's by sending them to Black Lion. I think their upgrades are great. However, with sending back and forth added this would set me back around a 1000 dollar. Which I currently can't affort. So I am thinking of adding an external word clock. I know Black Lion also makes a great one, but does anybody know of another fine clock in the 500 dollar region? Thanx.....

Hello. Can the Mackie do 24/96 on all 24 tracks via analog..? I didn't know this.... .. I thought it was like the Alesis HD24.. 24/96 with 12 tracks via digital..

Manual reads that SDR 24/96 can record 24 channels simultaneously at 24/96k using the SDR's inputs, 24 @ 24/44.1 or 48k, 12 @ 96k when using the optical inputs. Impressive.

How does it sound compared to an Alesis HD24?

Ok then it is as the HD24.. 24 tracks@44.1/48 khz via analog.. 12tracks @96khz via optical..The Alesis HD24-XR does 12tracks@96khz via the analog inputs tho..I haven't heard the Mackie I only have the XR..Thanks..!

[Ryan Silva]

i'm looking to upgrade my ada8000's, for $1k i'd check the Focusrite OctoPre.

but does anybody know of another fine clock in the 500 dollar region? Thanx.....

Lucid GENx192

Mackie Onyx 400's have pretty good AD/DA conversion (and 4 pres) for around $650.

Not to mention it matching your console.

[protoolsman]

Ok then it is as the HD24.. 24 tracks@44.1/48 khz via analog.. 12tracks @96khz via optical..The Alesis HD24-XR does 12tracks@96khz via the analog inputs tho..I haven't heard the Mackie I only have the XR..Thanks..!

No. I think you are still missing it. The Mackie does record 24 tracks @ 24/96 (or 24/88.2 ) but only via the analog ins. If you use the optical ins you have 48K as a max samplerate.

The Mackie sounds GREAT. It really does. I am surprised actually. Also the fact that the drives are just IDE / FAT32 and the WAV's are broacast wave is super. I just dump the drive into a Sharkoon IDE dock. Copy the files to my computers audio drive and add the files to protools. Incredibly simple.

I indeed think upgrading to better preamps is the way.
I do not really like the octopre but think millenia (for instance is to expensive) any other suggestions?

[Stevil]

i pulled the trigger on a Lucid GENx192. should be arriving tomorrow & give it a test drive this weekend. been reading up on all the 'jitter' / word clock propaganda, so i can hopefully make a semi educated judgment of what i'm hearing. from "shoot outs" the clocked ADA8000 seems more 3-dimensional & less linear, gritty & dense in comparison to the internal clock on the ADA.

my favorite quote from the search:

"Minute timing variations in a digital audio system produce an analog-like variability in the final analog signal's fidelity. The belief that if the ones and zeros are the same, the sound must be the same, is thus exposed as, at best, na?ive." - Robert Harley

http://www.stereophile.com/reference/19 ... index.html

i'll post again once i think i've wrapped my head around what happens with my setup.

[Andy Peters]

i pulled the trigger on a Lucid GENx192. should be arriving tomorrow & give it a test drive this weekend. been reading up on all the 'jitter' / word clock propaganda, so i can hopefully make a semi educated judgment of what i'm hearing. from "shoot outs" the clocked ADA8000 seems more 3-dimensional & less linear, gritty & dense in comparison to the internal clock on the ADA.

... which is completely ridiculous because of the design of the ADA8000 and the converters used in that product.

Basically -- the converters (both ADC and DAC) all generate the modulator clock (the high-frequency clock that actually does the sample) from a supplied sample-rate clock input using PLLs that are inside each chip. It does this regardless of whether you provide a word-clock input or use internal clocking. The general consensus of this PLL is that it's "not all that great."

Here's where it gets weird. When clocked in internal mode, the clock source is a crystal oscillator (of unknown quality) driven by the usual HCU04. This provides a clock at the modulator-clock frequency (12.288 MHz for 48 kHz, 11.2896 MHz for 44.1 kHz). This clock does not drive anything directly; it is divided down to the sample rate, and this divided clock is fed to the converters as the sample-rate clock noted above.

When clocked in external mode, a typical 4046-based PLL takes the incoming word clock (at the sample frequency) and generates the high-frequency (12.288 MHz or 11.2896 MHz) clock, essentially in place of the crystal oscillator, and that generated clock is divided back down to the sample frequency and fed to the converters as noted above.

So that's two PLLs in series. Not exactly a recipe for great jitter performance.

-a

[Stevil]

So that's two PLLs in series. Not exactly a recipe for great jitter performance.
-a

perhaps as some have suggested in this great debate i'll "like the sound of jitter". all this squabbling has got my interest peaked. also i've got multiple devices running & want to see if it will improve that.


also:

"Any experiment of interest in life will be carried out at your own expense" - John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

[jnTracks]

i've been reading a lot of this jitter/clock "quality" stuff and i really get the feeling of propaganda. (as somebody here said already)

i'm not ready to say it's all crap but, i'm feeling like as long as it's good enough to keep a steady clock that doesn't produce pops and clicks in recorded audio, you're good.