Masterlink ?

[sugarfuzz]

Hello my fellow DUCers!

I am mixing a project for a guy and he brought a masterlink to dump the mixes down to. I am just waning to hear some options I have from people who have successfully used the masterlink.

I guess my concerns are that I keep PT slaved to either My Apogee or RADAR, then come S/PDIF out to the master link. Does that make sense?

Please feel free to school me in detail, in the ways of the masterlink.

Thanks
chad

[sleepingtiger]

Hey Chad,

I'm just getting started in earnest with a new 6.4LE rig (although I'm quite familiar with Protools from other studios) and I've also used the Masterlink extensively. What you described makes total sense and is what I do. So far I've dithered down to 44.1, 16 in PT and simply assigned stereo sides to sp/dif. When using this method with a higher sampling rate PT doesn't offer the coaxial sp/dif as an option on channel outputs (or at least I haven't been able to do this, the outputs show up as "n/a"). I believe that a higher rate can be passed through the coaxial outputs if the sp/dif outputs are mirrored but so far I haven't had a chance to confirm this. I plan to try it soon...

Hope that this is helpful...

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[rockwithrespect]

What purpose does a Masterlink really serve now that so much music is recorded and mixed inside the box? Why take the time patching the masterlink into your computer when you could just bounce to disc and burn playable audio CD's or 24 bit masters without ever sending signal down an unnecessary cable.

Kyle

[Paver]

I use mine instead of bounce to disc when I'm using a lot of plugins and my cpu can't keep up. Then I'll burn a cd and re-import into a new session for final track separation and finalizing for Toast or Jam

[sugarfuzz]

Sleepingtiger:

So you are saying that at 24 bits the S/PDIF will not carry the info over to the masterlink?
Boy that sucks! I will give it a shot tonight. I have never used the masterlink, and I do not have a manual. So I am left to my own to figure it out.

So what is the process for getting master link ready for a tune to be put in it?

Thanks
Chad

[sleepingtiger]

Chad,

I'm still trying to find the time to fully realize the capabilities (getting my system free of bugs and errors has been a time consuming chore). When I had a session open last night that is at 24 bit, 44.1 I clicked on the output on the master fader and was shown sp/dif as an option, I didn't have time to actually do a transfer but I have a feeling that it would work. What I was saying in my previous post is that when i placed bounced mixes in dual mono tracks in protools and tried to assign the outputs from there (these mixes were at 88.2, 24 bit) I was only given one option which was sp/dif on the optical ports (the masterlink doesn't have optical in) When I dithered these mixes down to 44.1, 16 bit I was given all digital outs as options and mad the transfer with no problem. As far as I can tell from the literature both machines support professional sp/dif at higher sampling rates so I have a feeling that any transfer should be possible, perhaps from a master fader or by mirroring the outputs. Hopefully soon I will be able to find this out for sure but tonight and tomorrow I'm tracking a band to analog so it may be a couple of days...

The masterlink that I have has a bug that is common. Sometimes when finalizing a disc the software doesn't recognize that the task is complete and I have to eject the disc myself. I'll do this if the display stays in the finalizing disc phase for more than a few minutes. The disc is done but the machine will have you think that you're aborting creation. Simply switch the machine to cd mode and reinsert the disc if this happens to check it. It's annoying but it happens every now and then. Other than that there's not much to tell. Set the input to digital and I believe it will recognize the rate and bit depth. It pretty much operates like any recorder from that point... If you run into specific issues leave a post and I'll try to help if I can. I've got a manual if needed...

Kyle,

Good point. I may sell mine at some point but for now my only disc creation software is toast so the masterlink offers a lot more editing and dsp options. It's a pretty handy, if cumbersome machine. Besides I'm used to it and have lots of mixes from analog archived that my clients may need access to at some point. I'll most likely phase it out over time...

Take care,
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[sleepingtiger]

Chad,

After the last post it occured to me that I use the Masterlink so often that I don't think about how potentially quirky it can appear (at least it appeared that way to me the first time that I used it)...

When you're ready to record find an empty playlist. Press the playlist edit button and then hit "new track". You're then ready to arm the machine and see input levels on the meters. The record operation is straightforward. When you've recorded a tune and you're ready to move on press "new track" again to record the next tune. If you don't do this you will record over the first tune. I suggest naming your passes. It's very easy to lose track of them later if you're moving them around the hard drive. Some of the functions, such as scrub, are destructive and there's no "undo" so be aware...

Hope this is helpful...

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[mersisblue]

The MasterLink

Is great if you need to do a mixdown from an anologue board where Pro tools is the multi track

Also the converters are better than anything on the 001 ( which is what I have )

also red book cd creation is an great feature to have which pro tools doesnt

It is kind of slow at rendering and then burning but dont aply dsp and its not so bad on time

I also like the fade in out option on it because once you do that the only place these files go is on cd so

its another chance for a final adjustment in cropping . IT Has helped me in to adjust mix after listening on a

couple of systems for translation also it allows me to record the finalizer . also I like having a couple of digital

units connected when mixing a song . Also the limiter is good



I might start Taking the Masterlink into my G4 for some pultec pro eq

or the BF76

[sugarfuzz]

Thanks guys,

Sorry I am late, but i spoke with the mastering engineer for this project, and he prefers CD 24 off of the Masterlink, so thats what i will be shooting for. I appreciate your help in this situation.

Peace