Wordclock distribution

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Hey.

Another question! I'm looking to get a cheap wordclock distribution amp
for use at home. I'm happy using the clock from my MOTU 2408mk3, so I
only need to distribute the signal through multiple BNC connectors and
accept a master clock input.

Can anyone suggest any suitable, cheapish products? Most of the ones
I've seen so far have a clock built in, or interact with the signal in
other ways that I don't require, thus pushing up the price!

Thanks,
Ben.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Hi Ben,

While not 'super cheap' the under $400 street Lucid CLKx6 should work
really well for you. See it here :
http/www.mercenary.com/lucclaudcloc.html

Best of luck!

John L Rice
Drummer@ImJohn.com

"Ben Bayliss" <usenet@drives.me.mad.benbayliss.co.uk> wrote in message
news:418bd8e8$0$87837$65c69314@mercury.nildram.net...
> Hey.
>
> Another question! I'm looking to get a cheap wordclock distribution amp
> for use at home. I'm happy using the clock from my MOTU 2408mk3, so I
> only need to distribute the signal through multiple BNC connectors and
> accept a master clock input.
>
> Can anyone suggest any suitable, cheapish products? Most of the ones
> I've seen so far have a clock built in, or interact with the signal in
> other ways that I don't require, thus pushing up the price!
>
> Thanks,
> Ben.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <418bd8e8$0$87837$65c69314@mercury.nildram.net> usenet@drives.me.mad.benbayliss.co.uk writes:

> Another question! I'm looking to get a cheap wordclock distribution amp
> for use at home.

> Can anyone suggest any suitable, cheapish products? Most of the ones
> I've seen so far have a clock built in, or interact with the signal in
> other ways that I don't require, thus pushing up the price!

Once you get beyond the single sound card in your computer, you're no
longer living in an inexpensive world. You've probably already looked
at the usual suspects. Maybe you should think about getting a better
word clock generator.

You may be able to find a video distribution amplifier in the junk
closet of your local TV station. I've never tried using one to
distribute word clock, but it works OK for S/PDIF digital audio so
there's a pretty good chance it would work. Most broadcast engineers
are hip to eBay so they don't throw stuff away any more, but maybe if
you have a public TV station that has an obsolete distribution
amplifier, you can get it for an offer of a contribution.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Ben Bayliss <usenet@drives.me.mad.benbayliss.co.uk> wrote in message news:<418bd8e8$0$87837$65c69314@mercury.nildram.net>...
> Hey.
>
> Another question! I'm looking to get a cheap wordclock distribution amp
> for use at home. I'm happy using the clock from my MOTU 2408mk3, so I
> only need to distribute the signal through multiple BNC connectors and
> accept a master clock input.
>
> Can anyone suggest any suitable, cheapish products? Most of the ones
> I've seen so far have a clock built in, or interact with the signal in
> other ways that I don't require, thus pushing up the price!
>
> Thanks,
> Ben.

Here is an eye opening discusion on Pro Sound Web that might be helpful.
http/recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/t/2133/0
Wayne

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Mike Rivers wrote:

> In article <418bd8e8$0$87837$65c69314@mercury.nildram.net> usenet@drives.me.mad.benbayliss.co.uk writes:
>
> > Another question! I'm looking to get a cheap wordclock distribution amp
> > for use at home.
>
> > Can anyone suggest any suitable, cheapish products? Most of the ones
> > I've seen so far have a clock built in, or interact with the signal in
> > other ways that I don't require, thus pushing up the price!
>
> Once you get beyond the single sound card in your computer, you're no
> longer living in an inexpensive world. You've probably already looked
> at the usual suspects. Maybe you should think about getting a better
> word clock generator.
>
> You may be able to find a video distribution amplifier in the junk
> closet of your local TV station. I've never tried using one to
> distribute word clock, but it works OK for S/PDIF digital audio so
> there's a pretty good chance it would work. Most broadcast engineers
> are hip to eBay so they don't throw stuff away any more, but maybe if
> you have a public TV station that has an obsolete distribution
> amplifier, you can get it for an offer of a contribution.

Yeah, a video DA would be my suggestion too.

Google around and you should find an inexpensive one. There's not really much inside.


Graham

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Pooh Bear <rabbitsfriendsandrelations@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>Yeah, a video DA would be my suggestion too.
>
>Google around and you should find an inexpensive one. There's not really much inside.

What you want is a video _synch_ DA, which will square up all the corners
of the waveforms. A standard video DA will work, but the output won't be
as square as the input, which defeats much of the purpose of a master clock.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Scott Dorsey wrote:
>
> What you want is a video _synch_ DA, which will square up all the corners
> of the waveforms. A standard video DA will work, but the output won't be
> as square as the input, which defeats much of the purpose of a master clock.
> --scott
>

Thanks Scott (and others).

Now if only I could *find* an affordable (2nd hand?) sync da I'd be
happy! I've tried all the usual outlets in the UK, but none seem to sell
them.

I'm slowly coming round to the idea however of buying a proper word da
or possibly even a budget master clock, but I'm wary that a low-end
clock source might make things worse.

Has anyone seen the options from LA Audio? They do both a 1->4 DA and a
Word/Superclock generator for the same price (~£230 inc VAT) which
appears to be the lowest price units here in the UK.

I looked at the linked discussion that wayne posted (thanks!) and it
suggested that a clock is damage limitation, as the internal clocks for
most 'reasonable' AD/DAs are better than any external clock.

In case it'll affect what you suggest, I should say that the clock is
required to sync 3 Focusrite OctoPres connected via ADAT lightpipe to a
MOTU 2408mk3. The wordclock inputs on each are terminated, and I've
tried using a BNC T-Bar already with no success. The clock sync is only
required for *recording* and wont be used for mixing sessions as I mix
on the computer and can just switch the MOTU to internal. My concern is
therefore getting the audio to disk as accurately as possible.

What do you think? Thanks as always for your replies.

Ben.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Ben,

Since you are using a MOTU PCI interface you should do some research on how
well your software works with it when trying to use an external clock. I
and many others have had major problems trying to use an external clock (
particularly when using something other than 44.1 ) when using Cubase ( and
Nuendo and others ) and MOTU interfaces.

Check out this lengthy thread at Nuendo.com :
http/forum.nuendo.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/021348.html

Best of luck!

John L Rice
Drummer@ImJohn.com


I can get it to work but often it takes several minutes of dealing with
erroneous message boxes and changing setting in menus etc.
"Ben Bayliss" <usenet@drives.me.mad.benbayliss.co.uk> wrote in message
news:418e3e03$0$114$65c69314@mercury.nildram.net...
> Scott Dorsey wrote:
> >
> > What you want is a video _synch_ DA, which will square up all the
corners
> > of the waveforms. A standard video DA will work, but the output won't
be
> > as square as the input, which defeats much of the purpose of a master
clock.
> > --scott
> >
>
> Thanks Scott (and others).
>
> Now if only I could *find* an affordable (2nd hand?) sync da I'd be
> happy! I've tried all the usual outlets in the UK, but none seem to sell
> them.
>
> I'm slowly coming round to the idea however of buying a proper word da
> or possibly even a budget master clock, but I'm wary that a low-end
> clock source might make things worse.
>
> Has anyone seen the options from LA Audio? They do both a 1->4 DA and a
> Word/Superclock generator for the same price (~£230 inc VAT) which
> appears to be the lowest price units here in the UK.
>
> I looked at the linked discussion that wayne posted (thanks!) and it
> suggested that a clock is damage limitation, as the internal clocks for
> most 'reasonable' AD/DAs are better than any external clock.
>
> In case it'll affect what you suggest, I should say that the clock is
> required to sync 3 Focusrite OctoPres connected via ADAT lightpipe to a
> MOTU 2408mk3. The wordclock inputs on each are terminated, and I've
> tried using a BNC T-Bar already with no success. The clock sync is only
> required for *recording* and wont be used for mixing sessions as I mix
> on the computer and can just switch the MOTU to internal. My concern is
> therefore getting the audio to disk as accurately as possible.
>
> What do you think? Thanks as always for your replies.
>
> Ben.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

John L Rice wrote:
> Ben,
>
> Since you are using a MOTU PCI interface you should do some research on how
> well your software works with it when trying to use an external clock. I
> and many others have had major problems trying to use an external clock (
> particularly when using something other than 44.1 ) when using Cubase ( and
> Nuendo and others ) and MOTU interfaces.
>
> Check out this lengthy thread at Nuendo.com :
> http/forum.nuendo.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/021348.html
>
> Best of luck!
>
> John L Rice
> Drummer@ImJohn.com

Hi John

Thanks for this pointer. I'll check it out right away but don't think
there'll be a problem. I use SONAR with the WDM drivers which cant
interface directly with the card (ie. it cant change the clock source
etc. like the ASIO ones can).

I've now tried it and it seems to behave perfectly well. I also tried
using the ASIO driver, and whilst the clock setting isn't saved with
SONAR or the project, it does stick with whatever you've given it.

Having had a quick read of that thread, it seems that the problem is
that Steinberg packages allow changes to hardware settings from within
its own software, whereas the MOTU card only likes being manipulated
from within the 'PCI Audio Console'.

Phew

Ben