A word clock challenge for you. Please help.

[Darryl Ramm]

$500

Something sounds wrong with maybe both vendors for not being more flexible with clocking.

You might be able to pick up a lower cost Mutec MC-3 or MC-7 on Reverb or EBay, (MC-7 has been discontinued but does the WC multiplication you would want and should be less cost) or I guess just buy a used Big Ben... they also divide.

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

$500

1st installment of 8? :)

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Something sounds wrong with maybe both vendors for not being more flexible with clocking.

This is the taste that's left in my mouth, though Lynx has been more flexible, willing to explore fixes and more ambitious about finding a fix. Prism is assisting but they should have more to say about why it operated for a week and now does not, because if I could recreate those circumstances this would be over.

[s.d. finley]

2 possible options. One is to make the Lynx the WC master. Next option would be to hook the SPDIF out of the Titan to the AES in of the Lynx and have the Lynx sync to AES. You would have to get a special cable for SPDIF to AES and the sync probably won't be as tight if it was coming from the WC BNC of the Titan. It's a work around but could work. I would try the Lynx as the WC master first.

[JFreak]

SPDIF and AES clocking is otherwise identical, but double wiring of AES makes longer cabling possible.

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by s.d. finley

2 possible options. One is to make the Lynx the WC master. Next option would be to hook the SPDIF out of the Titan to the AES in of the Lynx and have the Lynx sync to AES. You would have to get a special cable for SPDIF to AES and the sync probably won't be as tight if it was coming from the WC BNC of the Titan. It's a work around but could work. I would try the Lynx as the WC master first.

The Titan does ship with a spdif to AES cable, but the Aurora doesn't have the digital board installed -- I'd need to buy that -- so that option is currently out.

I was happy to hear that the Prism and Lynx guys got together at NAMM and discussed this case. They agreed that both units simply handle clocking differently when used in HDX mode and they're not easily compatible with each other (in fact, so far they're not compatible at all) despite the fact that both are listed as ProTools HDX units. It's a bit like NASA combining the imperial and metric systems in the same rocket but only realizing at the end. Oops.

So there are three options as I see it: 1) get the digital board for the Aurora and have it first in the chain with the Titan slaving, 2) get a separate WC distributor which can throw out base (44/48) and session clocks simultaneously, and 3) figure out how to get the Titan back into Main/Sub mode, which appears to be how it was configured during that first week of operation when everything worked beautifully. Unfortunately, forcing it into that mode has been trickier than expected.

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by JFreak

SPDIF and AES clocking is otherwise identical, but double wiring of AES makes longer cabling possible.

My monitors are only four feet away from the interface so this digital cable run is very short.

I would feel better about using AES than spdif, understanding that one isn't going to sound different than the other, but because I'm still a traditional engineer at heart and "AES > spdif."

This is yet another reason to let the Aurora be the master unit (since it allows AES) and have the Titan act as the slave (since it only allows AES via an RCA connector).

[s.d. finley]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

The Titan does ship with a spdif to AES cable, but the Aurora doesn't have the digital board installed -- I'd need to buy that -- so that option is currently out.

I was happy to hear that the Prism and Lynx guys got together at NAMM and discussed this case. They agreed that both units simply handle clocking differently when used in HDX mode and they're not easily compatible with each other (in fact, so far they're not compatible at all) despite the fact that both are listed as ProTools HDX units. It's a bit like NASA combining the imperial and metric systems in the same rocket but only realizing at the end. Oops.

So there are three options as I see it: 1) get the digital board for the Aurora and have it first in the chain with the Titan slaving, 2) get a separate WC distributor which can throw out base (44/48) and session clocks simultaneously, and 3) figure out how to get the Titan back into Main/Sub mode, which appears to be how it was configured during that first week of operation when everything worked beautifully. Unfortunately, forcing it into that mode has been trickier than expected.

Oh yeah those new- to me at least- Aurora Ns have a bunch of different expansion cards. Yours has multiple BNC WC outs? The Titan doesn't accept normal WC? I see it puts out loop sync only. I didn't suggest a dedication clock that would send both types of clocks cause jeez, that's probably expensive.
Have you tried to reset the Lynx to factory setting and try the original set up again?

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by s.d. finley

Oh yeah those new- to me at least- Aurora Ns have a bunch of different expansion cards. Yours has multiple BNC WC outs? The Titan doesn't accept normal WC? I see it puts out loop sync only. I didn't suggest a dedication clock that would send both types of clocks cause jeez, that's probably expensive.
Have you tried to reset the Lynx to factory setting and try the original set up again?

Yes the Aurora was reset during a firmware update, after all this began. Although it seems that the Titan is the one which needs some settings adjusted as it is the one which changed modes (or so it seems) after I unplugged that WC cable a few weeks ago.

I tried my scenario #1 above -- with the Aurora first in the Digilink chain -- but this didn't offer any success. No matter which master clock source I chose in PT one of the units would refuse to have acceptable word clock. No sense in getting the digital board for the Aurora at this point.

So maybe I'll be settling into that 2nd option of buying a distribution box. What's another $1,000...

edit: or... I ditch the Prism and buy 8 more channels for the Aurora. It would be great having everything in one box, but I'd definitely miss that smooth Prism sound.

[s.d. finley]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

Yes the Aurora was reset during a firmware update, after all this began. Although it seems that the Titan is the one which needs some settings adjusted as it is the one which changed modes (or so it seems) after I unplugged that WC cable a few weeks ago.

I tried my scenario #1 above -- with the Aurora first in the Digilink chain -- but this didn't offer any success. No matter which master clock source I chose in PT one of the units would refuse to have acceptable word clock. No sense in getting the digital board for the Aurora at this point.

So maybe I'll be settling into that 2nd option of buying a distribution box. What's another $1,000...

edit: or... I ditch the Prism and buy 8 more channels for the Aurora. It would be great having everything in one box, but I'd definitely miss that smooth Prism sound.

Is there a way to reset the Prism? If you like the Prism more than maybe ditch the Lynx?

That is good that Lynx and Prism were discussing your issue at NAMM.

I am surprised that AVID doesn't have some kind of HD requirement that if a manufacturer uses the HDX expansion then that companies hardware has to play fair with other companies that also use the HDX protocol.

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by s.d. finley

Is there a way to reset the Prism? If you like the Prism more than maybe ditch the Lynx?

Not more overall, it's just different. Prism = more refined & warm whereas Aurora = more in-your-face and aggressive. Each has its advantages and its place in my studio so I'd love to keep both for diversity.

Originally Posted by s.d. finley

I am surprised that AVID doesn't have some kind of HD requirement that if a manufacturer uses the HDX expansion then that companies hardware has to play fair with other companies that also use the HDX protocol.

I had a similar thought. I guess it's the HDX protocol which is controlled but not how external WC is handled. I never guessed in advance that this would be an issue. And apparently both companies see "how things *should* work" differently. To me, if an interface is operating at 96K it should pass 96K via WC, or at least have the option of sending that session rate, not just 44/48.