D8B as masterclock for Pro Tools Mix TDM

[angelotaylor]

Mmmmmm... I have run SPDIF IN with the patching, as You told me. It is worked. But I dont see the second channel - AES in patching menu! I have a two pair connectors on expansion board - XLR (first AES pair) and RCA (second SPDIF pair) SPDIF - is worked. I see the SPDIF L/R labels in the patching menu, but not of AES. And no any result with headphones! Not working!What physical channels routing to AUXes? What channels routing to AUX 9-10? I cant see any signal from it on the meter bridge!

Today, I will relink BNC connection for sync, as You told me and will try to work with position reference with Cubase on second PC (than not working now). I will report for the result. Thank You for help!

[angelotaylor]

Hi Angelo,

OK... I never said you have 3 PCs (except if you'd count the D8B rack-unit as a 3rd PC). Anyway... good to know what options you have on the 2nd PC.

Let's start with the digital sync between D8B, PC1 and PC2, first. Here's what I'd do:

1. D8B S/PDIF out to 888 S/PDIF in. Pro Tools set to sync to the digital signal coming in from the S/PDIF on the 888. You already confirmed that this is working.

2. BNC Word Clock OUT from the USD (Universal Slave Driver - use the "regular" Word Clock out, not the Superclock out), to BNC Word Clock In on the Layla rack unit. Then set the Layla to sync to the signal coming in from the BNC Word Clock connector.
If you have problems with this, but you're using a proper 75-Ohm BNC Word Clock cable, then you might need to add a Terminator on the Layla side, and possibly on the USD side. Some devices are internally terminated on their Word Clock connectors and some are not (and some have a hardware or software switch). If they Layla and/or USD are NOT internally terminated and can't be switched, then you need to add an external BNC Terminator, by using a "T" Connector piece. In any case, both ends need to be properly terminated for Word Clock sync to work reliably.

As mentioned in a previous post, I'm not actually sure if the BNC connector on the DIO.8 card in the D8B actually sends a Word Clock signal. When I said that earlier, it was just to try it out, since you don't have a Apogee Word Clock card (yet). But since the 888/Pro-Tools computer is already synced to the D8B, you can then go on and sync the Cubase/Layla computer to the Pro Tools computer to have them all in sync in a "daisy-chain". For this, the D8B has to be Master (it's the only option with the stock clock card anyway), and both the Pro Tools computer and the Cubase Computer need to be set to "Slave" to the digital input that is coming in (and in the case of the Pro Tools computer, coming in, then passing back out via the Word Clock connector and going to the Layla).

Once all 3 "devices" (D8B/ProTools/Cubase) are in sync, you should be able to freely transfer digital signals between all of them without getting digital pops and clicks. Of course they all have to be set to the same Sample Rate and Bit Depth, though (unless you're working with Video, that should be 44.1 kHz. If you work with video, then it's usually 48 kHz. I think you said you're working for TV productions... so, then you would usually choose 48 kHz).

So, technically it's not impossible to sync all 3 together without an Apogee Word Clock card. What I described further above should work just fine that way... but you always have to have all 3 "devices" on (D8B/Pro Tools PC/Cubase PC), while using any of them.

As for the other question about using the S/PDIF input and the ADAT input on the D8B at the same time... there is no limitation to this, and they're all active simultaneously. However, you may need to change some routing settings on the D8B, to make the S/PDIF (or ADAT) signal appear on a channel on the D8B.

For ADAT, it depends on the card slot where your DIO.8 (or OPT8) card is installed. If it's in one of the "Tape" slots, then you should already see a signal coming in, once you push the "Tape In/25-48" button on the D8B, to switch to the "Tape Return" layer on the mixing desk.

(If it's in the Alt I/O Slot, then you need to push the "Effects/49-72" button and should see your ADAT signal come in on the last 8 channel faders on the right).

For S/PDIF, you have to change the default input for a channel on the D8B, to receive it's signal from the S/PDIF input, instead of the default analog input, that is active by default for each channel (there's some other options where/how you can route S/PDIF, but I'm guessing you want that signal on an input channel?).
Do you have a Monitor connected to the D8B? If so, click on where it says "PRE" on any "odd" channel (1, 3, 5, 7, etc.) (close to the top of the screen), then "Channel Patch >" and select "SPDF-L". Then do the same thing for the "even" channel to the right of it (2, 4, 6, 8, etc.), then "Channel Patch >" and select "SPDF-R". If you're sending a stereo signal over S/PDIF, you will also want to pan those two channels hard left/right.
You should be seeing a signal coming in on those channels now (as long as a signal/music is being sent via S/PDIF to the D8B).

As for the Headphone routing, what button is currently lit for Headphone 1 and/or 2? I'd press the "Control Room" button first, and make sure that you have a signal showing on some of the channels. Make sure the faders for those channels are up, and the Master Fader is, too. With all this set like this, you should hear something on the headphone out.

The Headphone sections have a few more buttons, of course, that allow you to quickly switch between different signal sources for Cue-mixes, etc. That's what you'll likely mostly want to use the headphone outputs for, when tracking musicians/talents... but to just test if the headphone outs give a sound, what I described above should at least let you hear something.

But once the stuff I'm describing above works, you should be ready to spend some time with the D8B, to figure out how the routing and the D8B workflows work, for every day use. Hopefully what I described here will give you a head start.

Again, best of luck!

Dear Mr Y-my-R!

I have repeat step-by-step all Your instructions, as You teach me in Your post here. Its all worked! Also, I read user manual from USD Sync Driver and make some changes to setup. I change Clock Source from Internal VCO to Word Clock in the USD settings in the Pro Tools Project Setup. I add BNC cable from D8B to USD WC IN (it not working without it!!!) And all play ok, but sometime, Pro Tools unexpectedly stop to play for unknown reason. I think, reason in the 75 ohms sync cable, with bad bnc contact, I will try to change the bnc connector. In Russia we talk "Thank You for the science". Let me Thank You again!

And so, now is worked:

Reference clock;
Positional clock;
Sound - with no any anomaly.
PROBLEM - IS SOLVED!!!
You can listen my first results of sound! https://yadi.sk/d/VaZ-6cMPjLNcWQ