Holy crap this thing is awesome

[joel hamilton]

The Antelope OCXV with the 10M atomic clock source. WOW. I just bought one after getting the demo from Marcel. What else can you get that elevates every single piece of gear you own.. mic pre's, console, outboard of all kinds, your digital recording rig..?

This thing is DRASTIC. Forget what you think a good outboard clock will do for your system. This thing really, truly makes things better in every direction. width, depth, "position in space" overall soundstage, and top end.. definition. everything just got nicer to listen to at once when I switched from my trusty old aardsync II over to the 10M/OCX combo. An atomic clock in my studio. I always wanted to own something powered by atomic energy, now my HD rig is. Sort of. powered.

Check these things out. Absolutely incredible.

[b3groover]

This thing is DRASTIC.

So is the price.

[Marc Alan Goodman]

True, but there are plenty of things you can buy where the price is drastic but the returns are not.

Anyway we put it up for about 10 minutes this afternoon and went back and forth with our regular clock (Aardsync II). The 10M is no joke. It literally jumped out of the speakers in the first 5 seconds, and we spent the rest of the time going back and forth in sheer disbelief.

It's prob not for everybody's studio (I sure as hell can't put one in mine right now...) but it's well worth knowing about.

-marc alan goodman

[wedge]

Does this gear have any relevance to someone mixing entirely ITB? I have an MBox mini for input, so's we ain't talking high end stuff here, but all things being equal, is there a place in my signal chain for something like this? I have a Soundcraft board, too...

[bplr]

what's the main difference between the OCX and the OCX-V? is the V just for clocking video too or is there something different about the clock itself for audio? the difference is $400 ...

[b3groover]

What's $400 when the companion 10M is $6000?

[Marc Alan Goodman]

I've been told that the OCXV is a SLIGHT improvement over the OCX, enough so that they recommend you spend the extra $400 if you're already gonna spend the cash on the 10M. However if you're never planning to go atomic and you're not syncing to any video I can't imagine the difference is worth $400. Then again i didn't get to try the two side by side...

-marc alan goodman

[b3groover]

So I'm confused. Is the sonic improvement there without the 10M? Joel said he tried the two together. What does just the OCX sound like?

[joel hamilton]

So I'm confused. Is the sonic improvement there without the 10M? Joel said he tried the two together. What does just the OCX sound like?

WIthout the 10m the improvement is not like "oh my god" it is like "wow, that is nice, but I already have a nice clock." With the 10M attached it is like "oh my god, That is ridiculous, my whole studio and everything in it just got like 15 to 20 % better in every way." Really, 15 to 20% better. Putting an ADL 670 across the 2mix I would call a 15% gain in quality of the mix, so a 15 to 20% gain in quality from +-~ 7500 dollars (the OCXV and the 10M) compared to 20,000 dollars for a ADL670, yes, this thing is amazing, and also a great, great deal when we are thinking in these terms. A lot of money? Yes, but nobody ever said owning a quality studio would be "cheap."

[b3groover]

So I'm confused. Is the sonic improvement there without the 10M? Joel said he tried the two together. What does just the OCX sound like?

WIthout the 10m the improvement is not like "oh my god" it is like "wow, that is nice, but I already have a nice clock." With the 10M attached it is like "oh my god, That is ridiculous, my whole studio and everything in it just got like 15 to 20 % better in every way." Really, 15 to 20% better. Putting an ADL 670 across the 2mix I would call a 15% gain in quality of the mix, so a 15 to 20% gain in quality from +-~ 7500 dollars (the OCXV and the 10M) compared to 20,000 dollars for a ADL670, yes, this thing is amazing, and also a great, great deal when we are thinking in these terms. A lot of money? Yes, but nobody ever said owning a quality studio would be "cheap."

Thanks, Joel. So for little ol' me and my Presonus Firepods with only a spdif input and no wordclock input, would the OCX be a good buy or would another clock do the job just as well? I don't think there is any real chance of me ever buying a $6k clock.

Sounds cool, though. I wish I could hear it.

[OM15.2]

A lot of money? Yes, but nobody ever said owning a quality studio would be "cheap."

I kinda really really disagree.

I mean, you have made great sounding records, right? And countless other fantastic recordings have been made from much lesser studios, or non-studios.

So i think a "quality" studio is judged on the quality of it's output, and not on the money spent on it, (and i think there are probably enough weirdos on gearslutz who spend a bizzilion$ without actually recording anything, to prove the point).

So yeah.... I get the thing about needing to be able to hear it to be able to fix it... but i think you are hearing things just fine, and no matter how awesome this thing is, there really isn't a studio in existence that *needs* a 6 grand word clock.

[joel hamilton]

A lot of money? Yes, but nobody ever said owning a quality studio would be "cheap."

I kinda really really disagree.

I mean, you have made great sounding records, right? And countless other fantastic recordings have been made from much lesser studios, or non-studios.

So i think a "quality" studio is judged on the quality of it's output, and not on the money spent on it, (and i think there are probably enough weirdos on gearslutz who spend a bizzilion$ without actually recording anything, to prove the point).

So yeah.... I get the thing about needing to be able to hear it to be able to fix it... but i think you are hearing things just fine, and no matter how awesome this thing is, there really isn't a studio in existence that *needs* a 6 grand word clock.

I knew that this type of thing would come up. Really: listen to the difference with this clock, and then tell me that it isnt a good value when all of a sudden every mic pre you own (regardless of price) and every piece of outboard all combined, and your console (again, all regardless of price) gets 10-15-20% better the moment you use it.

I can not imagine a piece of gear that woul elevate purchases already made, to such a large degree. That is why I chose to let people know on this board. This is not a post that says, " throw away your 300 dollar compressor, you cant make a real record with that ." Why would you turn it into that type of thing?

The very idea that a studio doesnt "NEED" something like this is such a subjective call on your part. What does it "need" then? Where is the line that you, personally draw? My tape machine cost me WAY more than than this clock [because I bought it when tape machines cost more than $10 ].

"Need" is a tough way to put this, because really we all just kind of need food and water, and certainly not an atomic clock if we are now looking at it from a strictly human survivalist point of view. From the point of view of someone that strives to get every last bit of goodness out of any piece of gear, from 10 dollars to 100,000 dollars: this clock is worth it to me.

If it is not something you want to have in your studio I fully understand.

Please note that I have absolutely no vested interest in this thing selling or not.
I personally heard a huge difference and wanted to share that with everyone here.

[roscoenyc]

I remember my first outboard clock

all kidding aside I bet the Antelope sounds great.

there are a lot of clocks out there that will help peoples rigs from the Black Lion to the Antelope stuff. If your using a DAW it will sound better with an outboard clock.

[8th_note]

If the thing makes that much improvement I could see how it would be worth the money. The question I have, however, is if the difference will translate into a better sound of a mixed and mastered CD - or even the raw tracks for that matter.

If you recorded tracks with your standard clock and another set of similar tracks with the Antelope, mixed them down to 44.1/16, and played them on your CD player, does the dramatic difference still hold up?

[burn]

As a digital recording novice, there is something I don't get, when you said whith this clock everything get 15% better, does that mean that if you record/mix stricktly on an analog setup (2" to neve, no computer involved) the result will be sooo much better than with the computer without a really expensive clock?

so on an smaller scale, I used to record on 1" 24trks, I recently got a digi002 so I could mix automated and save my mixes. If i follow that rule, that means going to digital with cheap clock will degrade a lot the sound versus staying with my old analog setup? It was hard for me to really compare the difference because between both because with the digi I mix with plugins eq and comp vs the all outboard of the 1"...