Word Clock with Mbox 2 & Fireface - How does it all work?

[pennyco]

Hoping somebody can shed some light on how word clock would work in this situation. I am currently using a Fireface 800 and interested in picking up an Mbox 2 Pro to work on a collaborative project in PT. The Fireface will give me superior sound I would like to continue to use that instead of the Mbox 2 hardware, but if Digi locks PT to the Mbox hardware I would have to interface with it, correct? So I'm thinking that word clock saves me in this situation, but wouldn't I need to make the Fireface the master clock and if so will PT let me do that? Finally, if I can get this to work with the Fireface as the master, can I use all of the I/O on the Fireface with PT? Does the Fireface flow "through" the Mbox in some way or are they both independent?

-p

[whitecat]

The wordclock implementation on the Mbox 2 Pro is terrible, unfortunately, and in this case you'll actually ignore it.

The only way to use your Fireface is to use its SPDIF outputs to the Mbox 2 Pro's SPDIF inputs.

Pro Tools will only "see" 2 channels at a time - you must route all of the analogue inputs on the Fireface to the SPDIF outputs.

The Fireface will be the master clock, and it will pass wordclock along the SPDIF connection. You'll need to select the clock source in Pro Tools as 'SPDIF' in order for it to lock (and in order to enable the SPDIF inputs at all!)

I believe the highest SR you can work at will be 48khz with the SPDIF in as well, I believe this to be an Mbox restriction (not a SPDIF one...)

Hope that helps.

[pennyco]

Thanks T3. In the setup as you describe it, would I be using pre amps/converters on the Mbox ultimately, just "clocked" from the Fireface? If so, how does that compare (fidelity-wise) with using the Fireface by itself directly connected to a DAW like I am doing today?

-p

[whitecat]

Originally Posted by pennyco

Thanks T3. In the setup as you describe it, would I be using pre amps/converters on the Mbox ultimately, just "clocked" from the Fireface? If so, how does that compare (fidelity-wise) with using the Fireface by itself directly connected to a DAW like I am doing today?

You can use your Mbox 2 Pro preamps whose conversion will indeed be clocked from the Fireface, and you can also use any preamps on the Fireface which can be routed to the Fireface's SPDIF output (you'll have to forgive me for not knowing much about the Fireface, and how to do this but I'm sure it's possible.)

Fidelity-wise, the stuff that goes into your Fireface and then into Pro Tools will sound the same as if you were using your Fireface with another audio application. The stuff that you record into your Mbox will sound like using your Mbox to record with. We could get into a very long discussion/argument about whether the Mbox's converters will be helped or hindered by external clocking, but suffice to say I haven't got enough energy for that exchange right now...!