Slave ProTools to Logic Pro - separate machines

[Trailerman]

Best way by far is to record word locked time code on an audio track in Logic. Slave the clocks and chase ProTools with Sync i/o.

Hi Steve - thanks for your input.

This is what I was hoping to hear - an alternative to using MTC for synchronisation, because I'm just not finding it reliable enough.

Is there any chance you could give a brief outline of the steps involved (for stupid people like myself!). What type of code are you putting on the Logic track and where do you route that out of? Does it matter how it's generated - presumably I could use the Unitor 8 to create the code and feed it back into Logic? What do you mean by "word locked" - both my systems are locked to wordclock from a Rosendahl Nanosync's so I'm presuming the WC side of things is covered? Is this LTC or VITC code you're using? Presumably you're suggesting this is tighter and/or more reliable than using MTC.

Sorry to ask more questions and for my ignorance - complex sync' is fairly new to me - but we could really do with pinning this down, or at the very least, establishing if buying a Sync IO is going to open up more and preferably better options for us.

Thanks very much for your help Steve - I'm truly grateful.

Jules

[Nick Batzdorf]

MTC is not the tightest thing I've came across so to say.

That depends on the sync device you're using and the receiving software. There's nothing inherently worse or better about MTC than linear SMPTE.

The tightest sync box I know of is the Aardvark TimeSync II, but Aardvark seems to have disappeared - which is sad, because they made great stuff.

[Trailerman]

That depends on the sync device you're using and the receiving software. There's nothing inherently worse or better about MTC than linear SMPTE.

Hi Nick

My issue is not with MTC per se., it's that ProTools, at least in our studio, does not sync to MTC via the Generic MTC reader as well as it should. I get late MIDI notes when ProTools is online, and timing is really not tight - I'd certainly say a few ms drift each way, which although ok for automation passes, is not really tight enough to run audio on, in sync with the Logic rig.

My dealer has offfered me a Sync IO to test, so perhaps I can try Steve's idea of striping SMPTE code to an audio track in Logic, and getting ProTools locked to that via the Sync I/O.

All I know is what I have currently is not reliable enough for professional use.

Thanks to all for the help and feedback.

Jules