Word 1x vs. Word 256x

[bennychico11]

Can anyone explain the difference to me? I know 256x is Digi's proprietary clock but how does it differ with 1x?

I ran into some syncing issues today where my Sync I/O (MOTU Digital Timepiece) was bumped and the source was changed to Internal/Word 256x (it's usually set to receive Word Clock from my Aard Sync). It screwed up what I was recording and I couldn't figure out what the problem was until after the session. But I was wondering why it changed things so drastically. I figured if there was no 256x clock plugged in Pro Tools wouldn't try and sync to it and would just use an internal clock?

[georgia]

word 256 is a much faster clock rate than word 1x. Word x1 runs a clockrate of 48Khz. Word 256 utilizes word clock * 256 or 122.88 Khz ( hope i got the math right )... A Digital Timepiece can utilize an incoming sync from word 1 , word 256 , video black, and SPDIF or AES clock. If your system utilized 256 word for protools from the Digital Timepiece, you can run into a problem if your timepiece internal clock is setup incorrectly. there are way to force a DTP to run it's clock at an incorrect rate and output signals appearing correct but very slow...or fast.. to protools 888s and the like... I lived this and learned the hardway... Never assume anything with clocking. Even in my facility I double check clock rates everyday before I start my sessions.
My whole place is clocked from a single house clock sending word 256, word 1, aes black, video black, etc to all my gear on all floors. Unless a specific system is taken off-line and locally sync'd all my gear stays sync'd together so that I can utilize digital audio interconnects across the facility. So the more advanced your rig gets, the more you have to stay on top of the details...


To resolve the problem in the past , I have been able to re-create the sync config that caused the off-time clock signal problem, bring up the session and then, transfer the session from one system to another via analog re-tracking to a properly setup and independenly sync's 2 second system.
cheers
geo

[bennychico11]

Thanks for your reply
Everything you said is what happened to me last week. And I ended up having to send it via analog to Digibeta and then bring it back in digital.
I guess that also can kind of explain why the artist sounded like she was in a tin can. Everything seemed fine at first glance except the equalization on her voice. It wasn't until after the session that I realized what it probably was.
Thanks again.
-B