Syncing HD and LE System for more Inputs - ???

[Andi R]

Hi all!

I guess I am not the first to have this Idea, and yes, I read the manual, in fact it´s on my table here, but I wanted to know if someone has done this before:

I have a HD system (G5, 2 192I/O, a MIDI I/O and HD3) and a LE System (Powerbook, 002 Rack)
I do not (yet) own a SYNC I/O.

Now, my question is:
Can I sync both systems to expand my HD with 16 more inputs for a total of 48 Inputs (32 HD, 16 LE)??

If I understood correctly this can be done if every system has a SYNC I/O, and they get synced via MMC or something.

Am I right, that this CANNOT be done with what I have? (plugging a MIDI Cable into MIDI IO and 002r for example, haha...)

I am quite new to this syncing stuff, so please forgive me if this is a stupid question...


Thanks to everyone,

Andi

[Chief Technician]

You should be able to generate MIDI Timecode (MTC) from either system and use any compatible MIDI interface on both to connect the MTC from system A to system B. The system that is receiving the MTC then has to be configured to chase MTC. This will take care of synchronizing the position of the two systems. To synchronize the speed, you will want to send a word clock or some other digital audio synchronization signal from system A to system B. With both of those in place, your two systems will be synchronized. Having a SYNC I/O negates the need for a MIDI interface with the HD system (provided that the HD system is the master), but it is not necessary. The SYNC I/O will not work with your LE system the way it does with an HD system.

I have used MTC from PT to synchronize Digital Performer with PT, so it can be done.

[MAXIMUSIC]

Like the Chief said, it can be done.
Here is my system's configuration:
PT-HD3 Accel, G5dual 2.7 with Midi I/O as the master sending MTC to 3 computers:
G5 dual 2.7 with Logic Pro(synths and midi), G5 dual 2.0, PT-MPowered as an FX machine and a PC Pentium4 3.6 with GigaStudio.
They all follow the main machine via MTC flawlessly.

[Andi R]

great, thanks for the answers!
stupid question, but how is it done?
I plug a MIDI Cable from the MIDI IO (HD) outputs into the 002racks MIDI inputs, right?
and then, what do I do in ProTools??? I need to say the HD that i want to output MTC and the LE to be slave to the MTC, but how do I do that??
I don´t understand the manual, and I think they talk about different things there...

Thanks in advance, anyone!!!!


Andi

[Chief Technician]

In the session setup window (Apple+2), you choose to generate MTC to port and specify the port. Then you put your transport online (Apple+J). I don't know what to do exactly on the LE side, but essentially you need to instruct LE to listen for MTC on the MIDI port and to chase it. My first guess would be to look in the session setup window and the preferences window.