Sync via WC , not adat

[Eric White]

Hey there sac guru's. I need some help please. I am needing to know if I should switch over to WC sync and abandon adat.

I have a yamaha processor that sits between my card and ada8k outs. This processor is an DME64n that I use for all my speaker processing and I have it loaded with ADAT cards so that I may take the output of sac DIGI9652 -->to the yammy --> to the ada8k outs. The ADA8k preamp inputs connect directly into the DIGI9652 card. I am getting sync errors because the ADA8k is not syncing (IMHO) to the RME, I don't know what it is syncing too. My thought was to run everything WC and set the RME as the master and let everything clock as slave.

Your thoughts please? - Thanks

-Eric

[905shmick]

Hey there sac guru's. I need some help please. I am needing to know if I should switch over to WC sync and abandon adat.

I have a yamaha processor that sits between my card and ada8k outs. This processor is an DME64n that I use for all my speaker processing and I have it loaded with ADAT cards so that I may take the output of sac DIGI9652 -->to the yammy --> to the ada8k outs. The ADA8k preamp inputs connect directly into the DIGI9652 card. I am getting sync errors because the ADA8k is not syncing (IMHO) to the RME, I don't know what it is syncing too. My thought was to run everything WC and set the RME as the master and let everything clock as slave.

Your thoughts please? - Thanks

-Eric

If the DME64n cannot be configured to pass the WC signal via ADAT to the ADA8K's then you will need to use a coax WC to sync them all together. I would use the RME as the master, as you've suggested.

[dasbin]

Do you have the possibility to use up an ADAT INPUT port on your RME card from an ADAT OUTPUT on your Yamaha?
If that's possible, then you can set the Yamaha to be the Master, and both the RME and ADA8k's as Slaves to the Yamaha. That way all your devices get their clocks from a single source directly, no additional gear or WC coax needed.

If you don't have the additional ADAT ports to do this, I would be tempted to get a dedicated clock source rather than attempting to daisy-chain the coax, which can be problematic.

[905shmick]

Do you have the possibility to use up an ADAT INPUT port on your RME card from an ADAT OUTPUT on your Yamaha?
If that's possible, then you can set the Yamaha to be the Master, and both the RME and ADA8k's as Slaves to the Yamaha. That way all your devices get their clocks from a single source directly, no additional gear or WC coax needed.

If you don't have the additional ADAT ports to do this, I would be tempted to get a dedicated clock source rather than attempting to daisy-chain the coax, which can be problematic.

A dedicated clock source isn't going to be any more or less reliable or problematic than the RME card. The clocks on the RME cards are well regarded. I wouldn't bother spending any money on a dedicated clock source.

[RBIngraham]

I am assuming you are trying to clock the DME via ADAT Optical Input?

I have used a lot of Yamaha gear over the years. Almost all of them do a terrible job of locking to a wordclock via an ADAT input. Don't know why, they just do. Use a dedicated wordclock input or even an SPDIF Coax input and it works just fine. Try to lock to an optical input... it'll probably mess up at some point.

So I don't think you need a dedicated workclock, although I will say I find that far more reliable and easier when dealing with more than two or three devices you need to sync.

Give some other form of clocking the yamaha a shot, I suspect it will suddenly all start working.

[Eric White]

I appreciate the replies. Here is a word diagram of the connections.

RME adat #1 out ----> Yamaha adat IN
............................ .Yamaha adat out ------------> Ada8k in (outs)

RME adat#1 in <--------------------------------------Ada8k out(inputs)


RME adat#2 out -------------------------------------> Ada8k in

RME adat#2 in <------------------------------------- Ada8k out




Syncing via adat clock has been great, but i took a chance with inserting the yammy. Believe it or not, it works fine most of the time, but every 10-15 minutes I will get a little distortion that lasts for a few ms, then goes away. Its usable, but NOT ideal. So is it WC for me guys?

Thanks -Eric

[dasbin]

The clocks on the RME cards are well regarded. I wouldn't bother spending any money on a dedicated clock source.

The issue isn't that the clock source is any worse; it's that you would have to daisy-chain the output one after another, rather than individual lines from a single distribution center, which keeps the clock signal much cleaner and you don't have to worry that the second device in the chain might be messing with it before sending it along to the third device.

[905shmick]

The issue isn't that the clock source is any worse; it's that you would have to daisy-chain the output one after another, rather than individual lines from a single distribution center, which keeps the clock signal much cleaner and you don't have to worry that the second device in the chain might be messing with it before sending it along to the third device.

As long as the devices are set as slave, not master, there should be no problems. The RME as master will send the clock signal and everything else will listen to that clock. No need to make it any more complicated by adding in dedicated clock which I see as yet another single point of failure in the path.

[dasbin]

And how exactly would you suggest doing this? Coax "T" connector adapters at the Yamaha insertion point and a 75-ohm resistor termination at the ADA8k end?
This can work, but is a bit of a crap shoot, as the signal is weaker, noisier, and more delayed for every split you make / and every meter of cable.

Dedicated clock source makes this easy. For three devices you can probably go either way, but if that increases to four or more, it definitely becomes easier and more reliable to have a dedicated source with multiple WC outputs.

[905shmick]

And how exactly would you suggest doing this? Coax "T" connector adapters at the Yamaha insertion point and a 75-ohm resistor termination at the ADA8k end?
This can work, but is a bit of a crap shoot, as the signal is weaker, noisier, and more delayed for every split you make / and every meter of cable.

Dedicated clock source makes this easy. For three devices you can probably go either way, but if that increases to four or more, it definitely becomes easier and more reliable to have a dedicated source with multiple WC outputs.

That's exactly how you do it. It's called parallel distribution. You only need to worry about distance if you're going to be running more than a couple hundred feet of cable.