quick question

[metaltim]

hopefully..
I am going to record my band live (first time) I have 002 rack, and I'm going to use THIS to get additional inputs through optical. Glancing at the manual briefly it mentions stuff about clock source.. something I've actually never dealt with. Can someone briefly tell me what I'll need to do in order to hook up that Behringer Adat, and have it work correctly with PT? In PT getting started it says 'when using optical, be sure to select the appropriate optical I/O format as the clock source in the hardware setup dialog.'

I need to know which format is the 'appropriate one'.
Again I know nothing about Clock issues.

The back of the Behr. ADAT must be selected to one of these options:
Slave Wc In, Slave ADAT in, Master 48.0 kHz or Master 44.1 kHz

Thanks in advance.

I'm gonna take a guess that PT is the master, so the Behr. must be Slave - ADAT in

[spkguitar]

I need to know which format is the 'appropriate one'.

well, you're using the lightpipe connection in 8 channel ADAT format, not 2 channel S/PDIF, so...

Most times, when hooking up external gear, the external clock is the better clock, so you would choose to clock to ADAT in PT, and set the external unit to be the master. However, I'm pretty sure the Digidesign clock is the better one in this case, so you might want to reverse that and set the external unit to slave.

I've got a tutorial for doing this on my webpage that you might want to check out.

[metaltim]

ok that seems easy enough.. on your tutorial, of course that is explaining having S/PDIF and ADAT, I'll just have ADAT, but you say 'go to Setup->Hardware and under the "Clock Source" dropdown, you would select which device you have decided to be the master clock, either ADAT or S/PDIF.'

But then on here you say it may be better to go with Digidesign clock. Will that be an option in the 'clock source' dropdown also?
If so, then I would set Digi to master, than on ADA8000 set it to Slave - ADAT IN? how does ada8000 know if session is 48.0 or 44.1, or does the master determine that, and the slave follows suit?

I'm glad I read that, I didn't know you need a cable going both ways.. I learned that the hard way with MIDI way back when..

FYI I'm not gonna be able to see PT till I hook this up and have to record, so that's why I'm asking without just looking. The 'appropriate' selection, I realize I could have figured that out now, but I just had no idea what could be in the dropdown menu.

[spkguitar]

Will that be an option in the 'clock source' dropdown also?

Yes. There is an "Internal" option under Clock Source on the Hardware Setup Dialog in Pro Tools. It's set that way by default.

then I would set Digi to master, than on ADA8000 set it to Slave - ADAT IN?

Yes.

how does ada8000 know if session is 48.0 or 44.1, or does the master determine that, and the slave follows suit?

You answered your own question, there.

Like I mention on my tutorial page, though; it's all personal preference. You could/should try it with the Bear-ringer as the master and see which way you prefer.

[metaltim]

cool, so what exactly will be the differences, i mean exactly what would I prefer one way compared to the other way? Is it just sound quality? I'm not really gonna be able to give it a test run, just plug it in, check the signal then hit record.
I assume that both ways will be a right, or a correct way to hook it up.

Thanks for the info. Sound like it should be easy.

[spkguitar]

Is it just sound quality?

Yes.

[metaltim]

Do I for sure need 2 cables, out/in and in/out. The behr manual says 'At the 8-channel digital in, you can connect an adat device. The signal will be automatically routed to the 8 analog line out connetors.' and also, 'a signal present at the digital IN will not be routed to digital OUT.'

so why would i need two? Midi makes since to me, not this.

[spkguitar]

I don't own one myself, so I can't say for sure, but I have read previous posts that claim that both cables were necessary with the behringer (not sure why; as I mentioned, I don't own one).

You can always just try (or someone else with the ADA could confirm).

[lemix]

Do I for sure need 2 cables, out/in and in/out. The behr manual says 'At the 8-channel digital in, you can connect an adat device. The signal will be automatically routed to the 8 analog line out connetors.' and also, 'a signal present at the digital IN will not be routed to digital OUT.'

so why would i need two? Midi makes since to me, not this.

metaltim,
Think of it this way :
An ADAT protocol optical cable will carry both your (up to eight channel) audio AND the embedded digital clock signal.
In theory, just by connecting an optical out lead from the Bear-anger to the 002R should work.
Observe the setup rules ( as posted above) of course.
If the manual calls for two cables (I don't know that unit) it's possibly to:
-facilitate record and playback trough the unit
-or..their internal clock generator suxs/jittery , therefore it's advisable to use external sync sources for it.


hope this helps a bit..happy tooling,
a