Clocking multiple units for dummies -- Help please

[sounds_good]

I've been tasked to record a special service at church, but will have more than the 16 inputs I can handle with my 002 & ADA8000. The church has an HD24 which I will use, but my question is, how do I get all 3 of them synced to the same clock? I'll admit, I don't know much about word clock since I haven't had to worry about it with my current setup (002 set as master and ADA8000 slave via ADAT). With the addition of the HD24 I'm not sure how to link them all together, particularly since the ADA8000 & HD24 do not have clock in AND out connectors.

The live mixing desk at the church is a Yamaha PM-5D so someone had mentioned I could use that as a master clock to a video distribution amp (which the church does have) with multiple outputs from the amp to the 002, ADA8000 & HD24. Will that work? If not, what's the best course of action without having to buy gear?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

[Park Seward]

The max number of inputs with PT LE is 18. You can use the SPDIF to add two along with your 16.

The way the 002 works is to have it sync to an external source. Your other D/A needs to sync to that external source.

[Top Jimmy]

It's all going to come down to exactly how many inputs you need and whether you're recording from all analog inputs or using ADAT outs from the console.

If you're using all analog into the HD24, ADA8000 and 002 for 40 channels, I would use the HD24 as master clock syncing the ADA8000 to it via ADAT and the 002 to the ADA8000 via ADAT. This will keep the two systems from drifting. Since I expect that you'll want to get all these tracks into Pro Tools when done, I would be sure to print a head pop on at least 1 track of each bank of 8 along with the input to the 002. This will allow you to slip each group of 8 tracks to line up for sample-accurate sync.

[sounds_good]

Park,
I'm not planning on recording more than 16 into ProTools. The HD24 will record tracks internally to its hard drive to be imported to ProTools after the fact.

Top Jimmy,
Right now, there are about 36 inputs to record individually (and could grow), so I will need to use all 3 units. I don't believe the HD24 can work as a master clock. I think it can only accept word clock input via BNC, or receive clock sync via optical connection when recording from a digital source or sync with other HD24 units using their 9pin ADAT sync ports. I can't find any documentation that an HD24 can work a master clock source. And yes, I will record snare top to both the HD24 and directly into PT in order to line up the tracks when I import the HD24 tracks.

To provide a bit more information, the 5D does not have ADAT optical outputs, I will be taking XLR splits before the 5D to an analog board that will serve as pre-amps for all recorded channels. So really, none of my signals will be coming through the 5D, but we could use the 5D as a clock source, if I can figure out how to link my 3 recording units to that source.

[Top Jimmy]

Any of the ADAT outputs on the HD24 can be used as a clock source. Assuming you have no need for the analog outputs on the ADA8000, you can sync it to the HD24 via an ADAT cable, setting the clock to Slave>ADAT In.

[sounds_good]

Top Jimmy,

As my thread title indicates....you will have to dumb this down for me Can you please specify exactly how I would connect these 3 units together and sync to the HD24?

Thanks.

[Top Jimmy]

• Keep the HD24 on internal clock and make sure you have the correct sample rate selected.
• Run an ADAT cable from any of the ADAT outputs on the HD24 to the ADAT input on the ADA8000. On the back of the ADA8000, set the sync to slave>ADAT in.
• Run an ADAT cable from the ADA8000 to the 002. Create a new session in Pro Tools. Make sure you create the session at the same sample rate that you selected on the HD24. In PT hardware setup, set the optical format to ADAT and make your clock source optical.
• If necessary, straighten out routing in I/O setup. Delete all input paths and then hit the default button. Do the same for the outputs. This step corrects any lingering I/O routings that was established in a previous session.

You mentioned that you would print snare to both the HD24 and Pro Tools. This will work, but how are you going to be getting the audio off of the HD24? If you have to transfer via ADAT, then you can only do 8 channels at a time leaving 2 of the 3 sets of 8 without time reference. If you're going to use the networking, it will work in keeping all 24 tracks alligned, but will take a long time to transfer at 10baseT. If you have a Fireport, it will go much faster than using the networking.

[sounds_good]

Thanks for the step by step. I will give this a shot next week when we set up the recording room!

I had thought that in order for the ADAT IN on the 002 to function properly, the out also needed to be hooked up as well, is that not the case? In your scenario, the 002 ADAT out is not hooked up to anything, correct?

Yes, we have a Fireport that we will use to copy the files off of the HD24 drive.

Thanks again for the help!

[Top Jimmy]

Originally Posted by sounds_good

In your scenario, the 002 ADAT out is not hooked up to anything, correct?

Correct