Clock nightmare ...

[deardaddy]

Good morning from Belgium

Here's what I did, what was wrong ?

First I have to tell you that I had to do some things because of the poor budget !!!
I should have recorded on the same computer but did not the budget to rent another interface and more importantly I should have rent a clock generator but ... same reason !!!

2 MOTU 896HD ADAT out into 01V96 then 01V96 analog out 1-8 and ADAT out 1 in Digi 96i/o (analog and ADAT ins) in G5 running PT HD 7.3. 01V96 analog out 9-16 and ADAT 2 in Digi 002 rack (analog and ADAT ins) in Powerbook running PT LE 7.3.

MOTU #1 was set to Master clock feeding the clock to the 01V96 through ADAT, 01V96 as clock slave. 96i/o and 002 rack were set as clock slaves receiving clock through ADAT from the 01V96.

My tests at home were OK but when I was in the hall for the recording, everything went wrong, getting all kinds of clock errors on the 01V96, the 96i/o and 002 rack.
Of course, a lot of clicks and pops in the recordings.

I then tried all clock connections and possibilities (I think) but I still had the same problems. 01V96 as master was giving the same results, PT as master also ...

Can you tell me if that kind of set up can work properly ?

I know that the best solution would be to have a Big Ben, would it resolve all my problems ? How should I connect all my gear if I had the Big Ben ?

Thanks for your time.

Please don't throw stones on me ....

[XLR2XLR]

Sorry to hear about your troubles and I am afraid with that config I can offer no advice except it seems an awfully complicated setup for what a dedicated hardware unit could have done with zero problems and without a clock (other than internal) I might be dead wrong but the idea of external clocking/chaining clocks on a remote just does not seem the way to go.

If in doubt the old strip it back and connect it all up 1 at a time technique might help.

Best of luck sorting it out though.

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by deardaddy

Here's what I did, what was wrong ?
(...)
MOTU #1 was set to Master clock feeding the clock to the 01V96 through ADAT, 01V96 as clock slave. 96i/o and 002 rack were set as clock slaves receiving clock through ADAT from the 01V96.

You don't mention how (or even if) Motu #2 was synchronized... It would have to get Word Clock from somewhere, els it will be out of sync with #1 and the rest.

Apart from that, the setup is not overly complex and does not require a central clock generator, in my opinion.

[noamraz]

Hi there,

IMO Running an external clock has a main advantage in this kind of setup:
It can run the Clocks in Parallel to all converters, In case of clock failure the "price" will be in most cases 1 failing converter.

In Serial clocking situation if the word-clock connecting between the 1st and 2nd machine fails, that's a GENERAL FAILURE.

ADAT cables seems to interact differently with different machines regarding wordclocks - That's a fact for me.
I have cables that will do the "Audio" job successfully and won't do the "Syncing" job.

That's why i advice you to mark your adat cables while you are test-running the rig before you're out to the field.

Best regards, Noam.

[deardaddy]

Thanks for the replies.

d_fu : MOTU#2 was getting its sync from MOTU#1 (AES connection between the 2 MOTU). Can you please tell me how you would have done the clocking between the units ?

Noam : thanks for the infos on ADAT cables, I will test them ASAP.

XLR2XLR : When I was getting all these errors, I did what you said, disconnect everything and restart all the connections, one by one.

By the way, can someone tell me what is the best quality/budget clock generator

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by deardaddy

d_fu : MOTU#2 was getting its sync from MOTU#1 (AES connection between the 2 MOTU). Can you please tell me how you would have done the clocking between the units?

That should be ok...

Guess you'll have to reproduce the setup to find the problem.

[deardaddy]

In fact, it looks it was not ok as I had all these problems.
I really thought this set up would work but it completely failed.

I'll try reproduce it now that I'm back home.

[mohthom]

You may want to have a play with Izotope RX. It's declicking tool has worked well whenever I've seen it in action. Prevention IS better than cure, but I guess it's too late for that!

10 day free trial . . .

MohThoM

[deardaddy]

Fortunately the recordings have no clicks or pops.
Just before the concert began I connected the MOTU's directly to the Digi hardware, I had no connection between the MOTU's and the 01V96.