Connecting multiple digital devices and closck settings for 003

[slienke]

I have been buying gear, this weekend I start connecting the pieces to my 003. I have a couple of questions that I hope those of you with experience will help me with to minimize the frustration I may be faced with.

Gear:
- Apogee Ensemble (ADAT in/out & Word Clock - connections)
- Eleven Rack (SPDIF in/out coax - connection)
- API A2D (SPDIF out ONLY coax - connection
- Digi 003 (SPDIF in/out coax, ADAT in/out, Word Clock in/out)

1) I have an Eleven Rack and an API A2D - both of which I plan to connect to my 003 via SPDIF. I know that only 2 channels of digital I/O via SPDIF can be running at one time. If I do not try to use both units at the same time can I connect them in series (A2D out, into Eleven, Eleven out, into 003) so both units will connected to the 003 OR do I need to get an A/B switch to have both units connected to the 003 at all times?

2) All of my digital gear has a word clock connection, except for the Eleven. I have an Apogee Ensemble that I would like to use as the master clock. Will this configuration work?

- Apogee Ensemble (master) out to 003 adat/light-pipe in (clock 003 through adat connection)
- 003 (slave - clocking off of Ensemble, though ADAT connection from Ensemble
- Eleven (slave) receiving clock signal through spdif coax from Ensemble through 003
- API A2D (slave) (SPDIF coax OUT ONLY, Word Clock OUT ONLY) receiving clock signal from Ensemble through 003 then out to Eleven, Eleven out to A2D - all using coax connection (this scenario assumes that I can connect the A2D in series with the Eleven - see question 1).

If I need to use an A/B switch to connect the A2D and Eleven to the 003: The clock will come from the Ensemble, out to the 003, 003 out to the A2D via SPDIF coax

3) Can the clock signal traveling from the 003 to external devices rely on a mix of ADAT and SPDIF coax connections simultaneously - or do they all need to be one or the other (SPDIF coax or ADAT light-pipe)?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Scot

[Eric Seaberg]

IMHO, clock over lightpipe is not as reliable as a good, solid BNC connection.

SPDIF out of Eleven and the API, is that Coax or lightpipe?

If everything EXCEPT for Eleven has wordclock I/O, then I'd make the 003 wordclock master sending BNC to the Ensemble, then loop-thru to the API. When you want to use Eleven, then you have the 003 lock to incoming digital from Eleven and everything else will follow.

Based on testing I had done 6 or 7 years ago, the Digi hardware has more jitter when trying to lock to an external clock. In the short term, you're a lot better off keeping the 003 internal except for using Eleven.


_____________________________

I just re-read your post. Since the API only has SPDIF and WC outputs, there's no way to lock it to anything else. If you want to use it, it MUST be the master when you do. Does the 003 have SRC on the digital inputs? That's the other option for the API. You can still use the above scenario with the 003 as master and turn on SRC for the SPDIF input when using the API.

[slienke]

Thanks - your reply was a huge help. It turns out that the api a2d does have a word clock connection for in and out, it has been modded by API. The a2d will also accept a clock from the SPDIF coax connection.

Thanks again!
Scot