synching symphony and HD24s

Guitarmory · 30th September 2009

Hi, I'll be recording a live show next week and I plan to use my symphony setup (2 x rosetta 800 and AD-16x) with two HD24s as a backup system. The recording is for radio, so video sync is not an issue but I'm wondering what's the best was to synch two systems?

As the HD24s are being set to digital input and being fed from the adat outputs of the apogee units should they be synched via WC from the apogees, or can they exist on their own internal synch?

My gut tells me to synch the whole system from the apogees, however I'm worried that as a BU system, if the HD24s are receiving WC from the apogees and my main system goes down, won't they (HD24s) experience issues too?

Guitarmory · 30th September 2009

any thoughts

Pat · 30th September 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guitarmory

As the HD24s are being set to digital input and being fed from the adat outputs of the apogee units should they be synched via WC from the apogees, or can they exist on their own internal synch?

Depends if you want everything in sync. But for a backup i would sync the 2 HD24s with their own synch, works pretty well.

LX3 · 4th October 2009

If you're using digital inputs you absolutely CAN'T be on internal sync unless you want clicks all thru your audio. You have to sync to the same clock that the digital signals are using.

So yes, if the Apogees go down and stop sending signal, you'll also lose the HD24s. (Obviously). But at least if the computer hooked up to your Symphony/Apogee system crashes, the converters should still be sending lightpipe. I hope. How do you keep the Apogees all clocked to each other? Does the symphony card handle that? Or do you make clock connections directly from one Apogee converter to another?

You can use the lightpipe signals as your clock source for the HD24. No need to hook up a separate word clock.

Sync the HD24s to each other using an ADAT sync cable, then make sure the master's clock source is set to optical. The slave's clock source will always be the ADAT sync cable... but that will be the same clock as the optical that you're feeding to the master, so you're good.

Personally, I try not to daisy chain recorders like this... I use one recorder with analog inputs running on internal clock, then another with digital, so that if any clock or timecode or fancy A-D converters should die on me, the analog machine just keeps trucking along. Of course, if a preamp goes, we lose eight channels on both machines, but you have to draw a line somewhere. In spite of some huge curve-balls thrown at us - including all main stage and video power going down at a major festival recently - we've never lost a recording with our current rig.

30th September 2009	#1
Guitarmory Gear Head Joined: Oct 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 33 Thread Starter	synching symphony and HD24s Hi, I'll be recording a live show next week and I plan to use my symphony setup (2 x rosetta 800 and AD-16x) with two HD24s as a backup system. The recording is for radio, so video sync is not an issue but I'm wondering what's the best was to synch two systems? As the HD24s are being set to digital input and being fed from the adat outputs of the apogee units should they be synched via WC from the apogees, or can they exist on their own internal synch? My gut tells me to synch the whole system from the apogees, however I'm worried that as a BU system, if the HD24s are receiving WC from the apogees and my main system goes down, won't they (HD24s) experience issues too?

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4th October 2009	#4
LX3 Lives for gear Joined: Aug 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,034	If you're using digital inputs you absolutely CAN'T be on internal sync unless you want clicks all thru your audio. You have to sync to the same clock that the digital signals are using. So yes, if the Apogees go down and stop sending signal, you'll also lose the HD24s. (Obviously). But at least if the computer hooked up to your Symphony/Apogee system crashes, the converters should still be sending lightpipe. I hope. How do you keep the Apogees all clocked to each other? Does the symphony card handle that? Or do you make clock connections directly from one Apogee converter to another? You can use the lightpipe signals as your clock source for the HD24. No need to hook up a separate word clock. Sync the HD24s to each other using an ADAT sync cable, then make sure the master's clock source is set to optical. The slave's clock source will always be the ADAT sync cable... but that will be the same clock as the optical that you're feeding to the master, so you're good. Personally, I try not to daisy chain recorders like this... I use one recorder with analog inputs running on internal clock, then another with digital, so that if any clock or timecode or fancy A-D converters should die on me, the analog machine just keeps trucking along. Of course, if a preamp goes, we lose eight channels on both machines, but you have to draw a line somewhere. In spite of some huge curve-balls thrown at us - including all main stage and video power going down at a major festival recently - we've never lost a recording with our current rig.