External Clock

[fradenigris]

Hello,
a strange problem is happening here.
I have a ProTools 8.1.1 system running on snow leopard.
Master clock is generated by a Rosetta 800 on HD Core, a 192 is on Accel card and is slaved by the Rosetta WC out.
Everything used to work ok, on the 192 the "ext" led was lit and system was running solid.
Now it seems that he 192 won't accept anymore an external clock, only way to make the system work is by using the "loop sync in" on the 192, but this won't allow me to run session at higher sample rates.
Tried to trash preferences, and even to reinstall ProTools to no avail:
when Protools is booted the 192 stays on its internal clock. This si of course causing clicks and pops.
The strange thing is that if I boot from another HD, same OS and PT, everything works fine as it should. I would rather not change boot disk since I am now on an SSD and don't want to revert to spinning drives!
Any suggestion?

[Craig F]

did the clock get switched for Word to Tascam clock?

[fradenigris]

No,
clock is always set as Word

[John_Toolbox]

Since the problem goes away when you boot from a different drive, this is most likely a software issue. If you've already done the basics like repair permissions, trash prefs, etc.... Try creating a new user account and run Pro Tools from that account. Worst case scenario, assuming the SSD is healthy, this will probably be solved if you start with a fresh copy of OSX and reinstall all of your programs from scratch. If the SSD is failing, all kinds of weird stuff can happen.

[JFreak]

Does it help if you power up the Rosetta but leave 192 switched off, then once Rosetta is feeding stable clock you turn on the 192 -- does it lock to the clock or not?

[Top Jimmy]

Originally Posted by fradenigris

Now it seems that he 192 won't accept anymore an external clock, only way to make the system work is by using the "loop sync in" on the 192, but this won't allow me to run session at higher sample rates.

I'm curious about this statement as loop sync is nothing more than word where the loop master runs on internal clock and switches a terminator into the loop input and all others sync to their loop input. As long as the Rosetta is the loop master and you put a 75 ohm terminator on the loop out of the 192, you should be able to run any clock rate from the Rosetta and the 192 will follow suit.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Top Jimmy

As long as the Rosetta is the loop master and you put a 75 ohm terminator on the loop out of the 192, you should be able to run any clock rate from the Rosetta and the 192 will follow suit.

Rosetta shouldn't be connected to loop sync but I think that wasn't what you meant. It is however my opinion that 192 clock is superior to Rosetta's (it doesn't have the C777 clock that the 16-channel boxes and Big Ben have) so in my opinion set the 192 clock master and lock the Rosetta to that.

[Top Jimmy]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Rosetta shouldn't be connected to loop sync but I think that wasn't what you meant. It is however my opinion that 192 clock is superior to Rosetta's (it doesn't have the C777 clock that the 16-channel boxes and Big Ben have) so in my opinion set the 192 clock master and lock the Rosetta to that.

But I did mean to connect it to the loop sync in. Loop sync is nothing more than serially distributed word clock. I went through this years ago syncing multiple 192s, Rosetta 800, DA16s and a Sync HD with a Big Ben. You can feed the loop sync word clock as long as you put a terminator on the end of the loop and never use any of the interfaces in the loop chain as the loop master.