Is anyone using a Word Clock with a Digi 002?

[Rick Hunter]

man, my word clock is writing checks my ass can't cash. Ha!

[joel hamilton]

"Anyone else have any comments on the difference in quality between the cheapies and top of the line? "


Example from personal experience:

I bought an 001 the week they came out. I thought I would use it at home for editing and maybe some vocal overdubs in my living room for demo stuff. I wound up moving it into studio G, and we used it basically as a 24 bit dat machine. Like sound designer on steroids (because no matter what you think of the 001, the conversion is much nicer than a 16 bit AMIII card with RCA's on it,.....).

We had that thing running well. We wound up getting enough into it that we got another 8 channels via lightpipe. Neat. Now we can mess with some of our own stuff. A pal brought over a TC finalizer to try out, just for the hell of it. He had been digging it as a comp, and a good way to track vocals into this new "LE" world of protools. We were all used to TDM rigs going back to PT3 (when I was PUMPED to learn it, and try out the sick 4 channel interface that had just come out!!!!).

Anyway,

We plug the TC into the 001 via SPDIF, and set the synch to SPDIF, and HOLY CRAP!!!

I was like, what the fuck happened??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! This was some project that had like 22 tracks and 9 auxes and a master fader, and as many plugins as the G4 400 could handle. The WHOLE mix just sat up at attention, and suddenly I didnt need a bunch of EQ or fader moves to make things "pop" or "sit."

I was like, holy crap. This is CRAZY!?!?!? I didnt want to believe it was the clock source, and then I started researching the affects of jitter on all kinds of A/D and networking and telecommunications.. All kinds of shit.

The guy took his TC and me and tony were like: "we gotta get a clock!!!!!!"

We got a Rosendahl Nanosynch RIGHT when they came out for a bunch of money, and it kicked ass with that rig for a few years.

Right now there is an Aardsynch II counting away in the corner, hooked to an HD rig with 192k converters, and a 96k converter for 24 i/o. There is also an alesis AI3 hooked to the 96k converter just in case I need to automate some sends to real verb and delays and stuff, and send it out of the box.

All that stuff sounds really, really good with an aardsynch connected to it.

Find a clock source that fits your budget, and makes sense in your system financially and quality wise.

You will benefit more from the high end stuff, and it will be a piece worth keeping and have better resale value should you decide to sell it. That is no different than anything in pro audio. The flipside is that there are a bunch of cool pieces that have much better clocks in them (including high end DAT machines) that can be used as an additional 2 channel interface with something like an 001 or 002.

I hope everyone that cares got something from this thread. It really is one of the most esoteric, yet crucial parts of digital audio in my opinion.

On the other hand:

Fuck it!

Hit record!!!!!!!!

[jerrymac]

"
I was like, what the fuck happened??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I had the same thing happen, but in reverse. I had a borrowed L2 limiter (the real one, not the plugin) connected, synched and on while I was running some stuff off a reel to reel into the computer. I'm sitting there, doing the mixes, then listening back to them off the computer. That was when I decided that I should probably shut the L2 off and disconnect it. Protools stumbled for a second, and then continued along without the external clock....and I really felt it and said it aloud: "What the fuck just happened?" My mix collapsed. I sat there for the next 20 minutes turning it on and off. Unreal! So then I started doing all the research, and after that started busting out the o-scope to look at the clock on every digital output I owned. I'm a believer. Clock is important!

jerry

[joel hamilton]

Another interesting side effect:

I had been running the HD rig without an external clock, as it sounds pretty great without one.

I was getting "serious clock errors" while bouncing, which I had never encountered before. I checked the cables like 10 times. Trashed the prefs... you know, the usual crap you do after a PT crash in OS9....

WITH an external clock connected via the WC input on the top converter (the 192), no problms yet at all. More solid performance? fix a problem? I dunno, but it sure sounds great and isnt crashing when bouncing to disk. I only BTD for two track stuff anyway, to make listeners (or better).

[eh91311]

Joel, regarding external clocks, is a Lucid GENx6-96 of sufficiently high quality to serve as a decent external clock, or must one buy the Aardsynch II at more than twice the cost of the Lucid to get decent results?

[dstroud]

I've been checking this one out as well, it looks like the big difference feature-wise is in the supported sample rates, connection types, and the ability to be rack mounted. As far as quality goes, I'd like to hear from someone who's used both. I'd bet that better ears than mine may be able to tell. I think I'll take the plunge in a few weeks and see how it does at 88.2 and 44.1.

-Dan

[joel hamilton]

As far as quality goes...

Get the veery best clock source you can afford. They get better and better as you go up the price scale. The Aardsynch, and the big ben being the best commercialy available clock sources in many people's opinion.

Many people that make the records you hear on the radio all the time, and beyond that. Many people whore are not afraid of state of the art recording, and all that means.

Get he best clock you can afford.

[scarygroover]

Hi Joel,

can you explain how to set this up if I were to get one? I have 2 motu 896's(soon be getting on more) running with a p4 through firewire. I use my amek angela in front of and returning from my DAW. Where would I put the clock for best results?

Thanks,
Michael

[@?,*???&?]

Many clock devices have multiple outputs on them to run clock to many different pieces of gear. The less expensive units don't, but you can buy distribution boxes as supplements for another $600 or so. Aardvark makes a few depending on need. I believe Lucid has one and there are many other companies that make them too. One thing you can't do with word clock is run a y-cable type connector and expect to get the same result as a separate feed.

[chuckfurok]

Would an apogee mini-me be any good in this capacity?

[scarygroover]

bump

[dstroud]

I'm no expert, Scarygroover, but I believe you just run a BNC connector from the master Word Clock device to all the slave devices, and set them up to externally sync. Assuming you have enough outs on the master clock, and everything is able to sync to the proper sample rate, seems straight forward.

Any takers?

-Dan

[scarygroover]

thanks dstroud.

[joel hamilton]

"can you explain how to set this up if I were to get one? I have 2 motu 896's(soon be getting on more) running with a p4 through firewire. I use my amek angela in front of and returning from my DAW. Where would I put the clock for best results? "


I was just out of town....

Anyway:

I dont know the protocol with the MOTU boxes, but I personally would simply start by connecting the clock out to the WC in on the #1 896, then out of that one to the next box. Sometimes converters need a master, and cannot all be set individually to EXT sync via wordclock. The #1 converter determines the sync for the other converters, so I would start just hooking the top box to the clock source, then connecting the other converters to the top 896 via the WC ins/outs.

With protools HD that is how we run it. FOr ease of operation( a liitle trick here), you CAN hook the 44.1/48k out from an aardsync to one converter, then hook the 88.2/96k (X2multiplier out) to another converter and not have to switch on the back. Simply make the WC input active that is valid for your session from within the hardware setup panel .

The other converters will clock to the one you chose in the setups, and clock to it.

Pretty awesome no having to reach behind the converters all the time when you are flipping between multiple WC outs!

Good luck!

[norton]

found an apogee mini-me to try out.

i set the clock to the external spidif and did a little listening and switching... and listening.... and switching....

the external clock didn't seem to make a drastic difference in what was already in the computer... more low end round-ness and nicer high ends with more definition, yes... definitely something different that's hard to describe.... but not drastic.

am i missing something here, or do my ears just suck?

the sound going through the apogee's mic pre's is drastically nicer though.