don't mouse around with an external clock

[@?,*???&?]

Had a glitching scenario recently running an external clock during recording. Using the 001, a Behringer ADA8000 and having the Pro Tools locked to the external optical clock source, I had glitching (digital snits) occurring with the audio while in record and mousing around on the screen. Repeatable too. When I maneuver to internal clock, I can mouse and record simultaneously with no problem. Switch to external optical and I can only throw the thing into record with enough pre-roll to not affect the recording.

Anybody else experience this? I suspect this is an intrinsic problem to the 001 due to it's whacky 'host system architecture', but don't know other wise. I know this is the rare set-up actually using the 16 additional inputs...

[joel hamilton]

Weird. System interrupt processes (like the mouse or keyboard) shouldnt fuck with anything to do with the 001 unless you are already at the outer limits of what your CPU can deliver. Clocking shouldnt be more taxing.. Hmm. weird.

I did have a problem like that once or twice with my 001 rig back in the day, but it seemed to go away when I shut off the color coding of the tracks and hid everything I didnt need to see while working, so the cpu wasnt handling waveform tasks and mousing over all of those waveforms. Even "blocks" veiw seemed to help when I was up against the wall with CPU.
I am sure you tried all the usual CPU freeing tricks like this, and more...

Totally weird. That kind of shit is just not acceptable.

[JohnDavisNYC]

well, it is protools...

[b3groover]

I would think this would be more of a GPU problem and not a CPU problem. What graphics card are you using?

[@?,*???&?]

I'm not running a blazing fast system- although I agree that I am overdue for a processor upgrade.

It's a Mac G4, 400Mhz and it's an AGP unit. So it should have the proper graphics card. I am sure there is probably an upgrade available for it to.

It is somehow believable that recording 16 tracks at once on this system could very probably have it operating at it's limit with regard to placing audio onto a hard drive with a 400 Mhz processor. The drive I was recording to is a Maxtor 7200 rpm dedicated for use. I do have a 10,000 RPM SCSI drive and have tested it and it's shown no increase in system performance.

[joel hamilton]

I ran that same G4, in fact I still do with the HD system, and I swapped out the stock graphics card for a mega super duper radeon thingy, one of the super 128 things...

It didnt do much, even with an HD3 rig. I wanted the counter, and meters, and waveforms to smooth out a little. It kinda sorta did.

I wonder what the actual protocol is when clocking externally via the card (optical) and not the breakout box (spdif) with a host based system like that. Weird.

It doesnt pop out of record altogether? that is the weirdest part. I had things like that happen, but it would simply give up, rather than just glitch or stutter...

[pedrohead]

hmmm..

i run on a PC with an 001 and an Aardvark Aardsync external clock and have never had these types of problems.

[jebjerome]

Does it actually record the glitches or does it just affect the live monitoring?

[@?,*???&?]

Been thinking about this, and here are a few more bits of information.

Mousing isn't an issue, clicking and mousing is. I have to click and mouse for fader rides.

The purity of this digital clock is probably debatable. I'd love to have an Aardsync II.

DAE buffer setting may be the culprit. I need to re-visit the manual and see if opening that setting up can alleviate this. Inadequate buffering could probably cause this. I usually just work with the default setting on that anyway as I had another strange anomaly when bouncing with it set larger than the default. Found the answer to that problem on the Digidesign answerbase.

Thanks for thinking about this for me guys.

[pedrohead]

The purity of this digital clock is probably debatable. I'd love to have an Aardsync II..

i may be dumping mine very soon as it looks like i may be getting a mytek AD/DA set and using their clock.

let me know if you're really after one.

[cookiekixx]

yipes, i wouldn't not!

especially the 888's sound horrible to me and adding an external clock makes them much more palettable. oftenly i use an ardsync, rosendahl, or if there's nothing else around an apogee psx100's clock. the USD clocks are really nasty and give me a headache. smoothing that out is also the way of customizing your final product.... makes it not sound soooo digidesign.
i do feel though that HD sounds alot nicer and while mixing off it i'm much less likely to franticly look for an alternate clock.
as for your glitch? i wouldn't put it past digi to have shotty methods of external clocking on LE level systems. i would experiment with it more before dismissing it because it's a simple way to increase your fidelity. having smoother wordclock for your converters adds dynamic range and mellows out highs in a really noticable way when working with live drums with cymbals.
hope this helps!
chris coady

[pedrohead]

i know this is kind of an oft talked about thing, but from what i've gathered, high quality converters that have their own serious PLL clock run better on their own clock than from an external clock (bob katz' quote saying that is around here somewhere). external clocks are great at smoothing out so-so converters (which i'm not even sure 888's can be considered so-so because of their age and where the technology has come), but are kind of overkill with a great converter like a mytek/lavry/etc if they have a great internal clock. external clocks are also great if you've got more than one or two things that need the clock, but i'm just not sure it's necessary with my current setup. i need to do some tests here before i'm sure.

i'm tracking some clients this weekend and hope to do a little experimenting.