PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Do we really need Wordclock these days? I think I should have this for ADAT audio but I'm still not sold on it.

if you have 5 different digital devices, how the hell are you supposed to sync them all to the same clock?

for 2 different digital devices, wordclock probably isn't necessary.

The best ones are Mutec.
I’m able to use ADAT and XLR on all ins and outs looping, while having 3 x Fireworx, A16Ultra and ADA8200.
2 devices with XITE-1 works fine.
ART Sync Gen is good too.
But doesn’t allow me to ADAT and XLR into and out of other converters like Mutec.

But it’s really nice not losing 6 out of 8 Channels just because it’s ADAT.

Thanks guys,

I guess I'll be using 2 devices and put the rest on analog.

I once had my Scope machine in another (attic) room, and the adat runs were so long (and I probably didn't buy the most expensive lightpipe cables either) that I noticed occasional misclocks. A sync plate + BNC fixed this. I now have multiple devices, and distributing clock off my RME works fine with the right BNC T connectors, cables & terminators. I don't often USE them all at the same time, but the joy of not having to get up and reconnect stuff constantly is worth the small investment in distributing clock...

So I guess if it doesn't work, it will be obvious.

there are repeaters(amplifiers) for looong ADAT runs, as well....

wordclock is a nicer solution.

I have my PCI cards in a separate computer slaved to my Xite but my Xite is slaved to my Presonus master. I also have a TC Fireworx AES/EBU slaved to the Xite. The A16Ultra is z-Link slaved to the Xite too but i guess that is separate.
Anyway, it all just seems to work fine?

braincell wrote:So I guess if it doesn't work, it will be obvious.

Actually clock drift may not be that obvious, misclocking is. Clock drift may just give occasional clicks every few seconds, which can be hard to miss if you lack accurate monitoring and have enough signal going through the digital connection (to mask/obscure a single cluck basically).

I used 'digicheck' from RME which has a bitscope that will show clocking errors when they occurred, as everything will light red momentarily for your selected channels, when no signal is passing.

yayajohn wrote:I have my PCI cards in a separate computer slaved to my Xite but my Xite is slaved to my Presonus master. I also have a TC Fireworx AES/EBU slaved to the Xite. The A16Ultra is z-Link slaved to the Xite too but i guess that is separate.
Anyway, it all just seems to work fine?

sure, if it works well, it works well.

see valis' post above....

valis wrote:

braincell wrote:So I guess if it doesn't work, it will be obvious.

Actually clock drift may not be that obvious, misclocking is. Clock drift may just give occasional clicks every few seconds, which can be hard to miss if you lack accurate monitoring and have enough signal going through the digital connection (to mask/obscure a single cluck basically).

I used 'digicheck' from RME which has a bitscope that will show clocking errors when they occurred, as everything will light red momentarily for your selected channels, when no signal is passing.

Is there an clock analyzer we can use for our Scope systems?

If you know your DAW or WAV editor well enough to know how it deals with very small transients, you can use that. What I mean is, when you 'zoom out' horizontally, some will keep a small transient visible and others will 'remove' it as they either interpolate or drop values in between what is able to be displayed at your current zoom level. In my case I know my copy of Wavelab 6 (win) will do this.

Armed with a tool that you are sure will do this, simply record silence and look for the transient 'clicks'.

valis wrote: I used 'digicheck' from RME which has a bitscope that will show clocking errors when they occurred, as everything will light red momentarily for your selected channels, when no signal is passing.

Okay I got DIGIcheck, thanks! I'm an RME customer.

Then go into Function Select > Bit Statistic & Noise, then go into input device setup and select the channels you want to monitor and watch an empty signal to see if you have occasional clocking errors. If your cable run is optical & under 25' probably not...if you're doing SPDIF and just using regular RCA style cables with the wrong impedance, around other gear, and have a longish cable run, you might see some clock errors occasionally.

No, just optical ADAT.