Separate A/D for Masterlink?

[the kid]

Happy Holidays to all.

For those who own a Masterlink unit AND do not use the onboard converters, do you have a dedicated external converter for ML?

Assumptions:
* all digital equipment is connected to PC
* tracks are recorded at 96kHz in DAW
* mix is output to D/A converter for outboard (2-bus) processing

... and now you want to record the final mix into the ML at a diferent sample rate (ie external A/D into ML at 48k or 44.1k). Can I do this with an A/D converter that's connected to the DAW?

I'm curious to hear what others have done. Perhaps just record back to DAW at 96k from the beginning and use software SRC?

All help is appreciated.
Mitch

[thethrillfactor]

The answer is yes or yes.

Also you can have Jim Williams mod the Masterlink which means another yes.

[the kid]

Thx Thrill.

In terms of recording to ML at a different sample rate than DAW is playing, does your answer change if that unit (Lavry Blue) is also the master clock? If I change the sample rate on the M*Sync, will it screw up the DAW's playback? I suppose if that were the problem I could make an Apogee DA16x the master clock?

I'm still wiring up some new toys in a new space so I haven't tried all these options ... any advice before I wire myself into a corner is appreciated.

Thanks again.

Mitch

[thethrillfactor]

Originally Posted by the kid

Thx Thrill.

In terms of recording to ML at a different sample rate than DAW is playing, does your answer change if that unit (Lavry Blue) is also the master clock? If I change the sample rate on the M*Sync, will it screw up the DAW's playback? I suppose if that were the problem I could make an Apogee DA16x the master clock?

I'm still wiring up some new toys in a new space so I haven't tried all these options ... any advice before I wire myself into a corner is appreciated.

Thanks again.

Mitch

On the first yes.

You can't clock both to the same clock if you need different sampling rates.

This goes for any clock.

But you mentioned about going out from the D/A of the DAW and coming back analog into the Masterlink which in this case it doesn't matter.

The Masterlink will clock to whatever A/D you choose or if you are using its internal converters.

Confusing enough for you?

[Dave Peck]

I use a couple of high-end A/D mastering converters to track into the DAW (max four channels at a time) then come out through 24 channels of pretty-darn-good D/A converters (but not as good as the four channels of A/D) to mix analog, and the final analog goes through one of the high-end A/D converters again onto the Masterlink at 24/88.2kHz.

I have a Weiss Hydra-X that I originally got to convert AES two-wire to one-wire, and I found that I can now use it as an AES signal splitter/router so I don't have to repatch anything at mixdown. Handy. There are a few other simple devices that can be used to repatch & route AES signals, but even without them, I think you would only have to repatch one converter output from the DAW to the Masterlink, so it should be no biggie.

Dave Peck

[the kid]

thx guys

I was looking/hoping to avoid analog directly into ML (will have to keep Jim's mod open as an option) ...

*what if* I clocked the DAW system to an Apogee DA16x? Given that the unit has the C777 clock, would it be adequate to clock the system? If so, then I guess the Lavry Blue unit can be set to whatever sample rate I chose for use with Masterlink. Do you think this would work?

[thethrillfactor]

Originally Posted by the kid

thx guys

I was looking/hoping to avoid analog directly into ML (will have to keep Jim's mod open as an option) ...

*what if* I clocked the DAW system to an Apogee DA16x? Given that the unit has the C777 clock, would it be adequate to clock the system? If so, then I guess the Lavry Blue unit can be set to whatever sample rate I chose for use with Masterlink. Do you think this would work?

Hmmm...

I am not sure about the Apogee clock.

I thought D/A's reclock everything coming in, but not output their clock(like to an A/D).

If you dedicate the Lavry as your front end for the Masterlink than you are in good shape.

No matter what if you need 2 different sample rates you will have to do at least one conversion to analog somewhere.

[the kid]

I always thought the same abt D/A's .. this one has WC in and out on back - figured it might be able to ouput that signal. perhaps not.

Well I need the Lavry I own as front end to the DAW. It sounds like even if (as Dave suggested) I manually re-route the AES cable from DAW to Masterlink, I may still have problems as the DAW is running on the Lavry clock - ie can't do both at once. Guessing I'm going to need to open my wallet for a dedicated AD to do this. Ugh


Thanks for the help.

[davey boy]

Not to throw a wrench into your quest but have you considered bypassing using the masterlink and just going back into your daw? I've not used my masterlink in over a year and couldn't be happier. I take a separate digital output out of my digital mixer back into my computer interface and actually record into another app as if it was a stand alone recorder. I can then crop, fade, normalize, whatever real quick and cd burning is light speed. The Masterlink was killing me in regards to making client cds. I still have it but will be selling it soon. Just a thought.

[the kid]

hey davey boy,
yah, thought of recording just summing box back into DAW (I don't have a 2nd app to record with - oh I guess Wavelab could), but thought going directly into an external 2-track (non-DAW) recorder would allow me a cleaner point to change sample rate if & when necessary. I don't think I'd be able to record into Wavelab at a different sample rate - unless it was on a different PC (the laptop I thought I'd use for this purpose just fried ).

Starting to wonder if I'm making too much work (and expense) for myself ... perhaps Voxengo's SRC program would serve better.