S/PDIF Processor problem(lexi 550) I have a deadline, Please help!!

[Arnold Drummand]

Hey all, I have posted this topic before, but I didn't really get a chance to mess with this until today. I am running Pro-tools 5.1 with a dual G4 with plenty of disk space. I need to finish mastering this track, without having to use realverbs.
[img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]
My problem is that when my audio signal hits my external processor it gets out of synch with the rest of the track. This also happens to my midi clock(but not to this extent)if that makes a difference.

I am kind of new to the tools so could somebody please tell me if I am doing this right? Honestly I don't know if it's in my connections or in my settings and you all know how frustrating that is.

For example, I am trying to apply reverb from my lexicon 550 to my beatz. I set my S/PDIF in on my lexicon. My labels are set, so I open an aux track, set the input to lexi(s/pdif in) and set the output to my main out(1/2). and then I set the out of the track I want my effects on to LEXI.

Thanks to anyone that can help me out-ohh this is just pissing me off so bad. EZ

[encephalon]

Originally posted by Arnold Drummand:
Hey all, I have posted this topic before, but I didn't really get a chance to mess with this until today. I am running Pro-tools 5.1 with a dual G4 with plenty of disk space. I need to finish mastering this track, without having to use realverbs.
[img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]
My problem is that when my audio signal hits my external processor it gets out of synch with the rest of the track. This also happens to my midi clock(but not to this extent)if that makes a difference.

I am kind of new to the tools so could somebody please tell me if I am doing this right? Honestly I don't know if it's in my connections or in my settings and you all know how frustrating that is.

For example, I am trying to apply reverb from my lexicon 550 to my beatz. I set my S/PDIF in on my lexicon. My labels are set, so I open an aux track, set the input to lexi(s/pdif in) and set the output to my main out(1/2). and then I set the out of the track I want my effects on to LEXI.

Thanks to anyone that can help me out-ohh this is just pissing me off so bad. EZ

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Your post is a little cofusing, so I'll respond based on my interpretation of your setup.

The way I have always used my Lexicon MPX-500 as an external effects processor is this:

1. Connect both my S/PDIF in and out to the Lexicon. I am not sure if you are using only the digital out of the Lexicon (it seems that way in your post) or are also sending to the Lexi via S/PDIF.

2. For effects bussing I assign a bus output to S/PDIF and route the audio of tracks to the Lexi via the bus, thus allowing me to send multiple channels for reverb/delay etc. I return the effects via an Aux channel.

3. For insert effects, I set up a channel insert (I/O via S/PDIF).

I am not specifically sure why you are having a sync problem, but I think your routing scheme is a little unconventional. If you want your sends to be post fader you can set it to be so.

If you are sending your audio to the Lexi via an analog output and returning via digital, you may encounter more latency due to the DA conversion. Exactly how bad is the sync problem? Are you noticing significant latency? Is your sample rate set to the same frequency on both your PT session and your Lexicon?

I hope this information helps.

encephalon
Lush Music

[Arnold Drummand]

Thanks encephalon for the help I made a couple changes but I am still having problems. Yes I am using both the digital in/out on the back of my lexi.


My first step would be to create an aux track.
On that track the input would be set to Bus 1/2 and the output would be going to S/PDIF(lexi).

then I would set the output of the track in which I would like to apply the effects to----to Bus1/2.

I would then create another aux channel. The input would be set S/PDIF(lexi)

Is this basically what you described your setup to be?

Now with this potential retarded setup I am hearing my processed audio, but it is not in sync with the rest of my tracks. Bigtime latency

Thanks alot for the help, I have no pro-tools routing expirience, so I could really use it [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[encephalon]

No, your setup is not how I described, however, I can't see why you'd have an enormous amount of latency. What kind of effect are you using? Reverb? Delay?

If reverb, do you have a pre-delay time set?

Another question: do you want to hear the unprocessed audio as well as the processed audio? If so, you need to assign the bus output of the source track to your S/PDIF, and the track output to your main (or monitor) outs.

Are you sending lots of tracks out to Aux 1? If you're only processing one track, use a channel insert instead. Like I said before, you can send each track to the effect via a bus and not the main output.

Also, what is your buffer setting? If it's high, you'll get lots of latency. Set it to 256 or lower.

Here's run-down of the set-up I described before:

Audio Channels (that you want to process): create a send (the 5 banks above the I/O section of each channel) and assign it to S/PDIF L/R (for stereo).

Raise the send level in each channel to desired amount.

Create an Stereo Aux Track. Assign it's input to S/PDIF. Adjust volume accordingly.

That's it. If your effects processor is configured properly (mix: 100%), you should be getting the effects back via the AUX send.

There will be some latency - it may not be usable for effects like compression. But delays and reverbs work fine unless you really need precise alignment. The solution to latency is to actually record your effects onto another audio channel and slide it back 5-15 ms (to suit).

Hope this helps. I used the Lexicon MPX-500 reverbs on a lot of projects before I switched to Logic Platinum with it's sweet stock plugins. I also got some Waves stuff that I've been really happy with. But the Lexi saved one of my first commercial projects.

encephalon
Lush Music
Aliso Viejo, CA

[Arnold Drummand]

Thank you very much for all of your help. Everything is working fine now [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] I still don't know why this was happening, I changed a couple things, but I think it had to do with the buffer size--I changed it from 512 to 256.

chune sounds much better now. See you in hell-realverb............

Thanks again-EVASIVE