Sync advice for D8B - HDR - DAW

[nagnila]

Hi,

After a hot poursuit during 2 years, finally I bought a very mint HDR to use with my d8b.
I'm kindly asking your advice about sync options to use in my chain.

I have:

-MOTU 2408 mk3 with SMPTE and WordClock
-Maudio Midisport 8x8 with SMPTE
-HDR with 3x OPT8 cards
-Remote 24
-D8b with 4x DIO8 cards with 2.0 Eproms (1 in Alt.) without Apogee WC card (unfortunately)
-Using Cubase and PT as DAW

I prefer to use Remote 24 (HDR) as master, but it is also possible to use d8b.

Also when I connect d8b to HDR directly, I can not hear any audio..is it because of OPT8 does not sync with DIO8? (I checked both bios settings, 44.1-48 khz settings on HDR and d8b) I know well from this site that DIO8 is able to sync via lightpipe, but the situation seems different.

Thanks from advance.

Cihan

[anyhorizon]

You should still be able to hear audio without syncing the three devices together via Word Clock but it's highly likely that there will be clicking and popping because they're on different clocks. I'm assuming you have the Stock Clock card in the sync slot of the d8b. Is that correct?

Peter

[nagnila]

Thanks Peter for your reply,

Yes, I have only stock clock card for the moment.
My expectation was to hear a sound (popping or clicky sound maybe) when I was plugging lightpipes between HDR and d8b, but it is strange that no audio is coming. I'll try to transfer 2 DIO8's from d8b to HDR (in order to see if OPT8 are working or not), because I'm sure that DIO8's are working good.

[anyhorizon]

You have to set which input/output the d8b addresses for the DIO 8 card in the system setup window. Obviously, choose OPT/Adat and not TDIF.

Peter

[nagnila]

Exactly, ADAT options are all selected in D8b setup window, not TDIF...

I just transferred 1 DIO8 from d8b to HDR to see if there will be any audio signal, but unfortunately no signal is coming.
I am sure that these DIO8's are working, HDR becomes suspect this time.

Now it's time to plug HDR in&outs to MOTU to see if HDR sending a signal or not.

Cihan

[anyhorizon]

I've had this. If you're game, remove the cover of the HDR. At the back left you'll see all the relevant cards. Clock, MIDI, Ethernet etc. Carefully remove all of them and clean the edge connectors, firstly with an eraser and finally with some Isopropyl Alcohol wipes. Replace firmly. See if that works.

Peter

[nagnila]

I've had this. If you're game, remove the cover of the HDR. At the back left you'll see all the relevant cards. Clock, MIDI, Ethernet etc. Carefully remove all of them and clean the edge connectors, firstly with an eraser and finally with some Isopropyl Alcohol wipes. Replace firmly. See if that works.

Peter

Thanks Peter,

I'll try this, it sounds like good maintenance for HDR.

I asked help from Mike Rivers and sent him an e-mail. Thanks to his kindness and charity, he had very detailed explanation about the case. His comments may be very useful also for other friends. You may find below Mike's comments, sharing them won't have an unfavourable effect for Mike I think

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That's most likely the case. The d8b was designed before the HDR, and the digital I/O was there so it could connect digitally to Alesis ADAT or TASCAM DTRS (DA-88/98/38) recorders. The ADAT could extract the clock sync from the optical data stream, so the two would work together by setting the ADAT recorder to sync to the d8b optical output. You had to set it up that way (d8b as the word clock master) because the d8b can't do the same trick and extract a word clock from an incoming ADAT optical source.

Unfortunately, they used the same digital I/O cards for the HDR as for the d8b, so neither one would get clock sync from the other's ADAT optical output.

The best solution for you would be to find an Apogee word clock I/O card for your d8b, but they're really scarce.

Before beating yourself up chasing a different problem, if you haven't already done so, verify that the HDR's digital output really works. Connect it to your MOTU 2408's ADAT optical inputs, set the 2408 to use ADAT clock sync, and try to record some playback from the HDR into the computer through the 2408.

If that works, you can try connecting the BNC sync output on one the DIO-8 cards in the d8b to the word clock input on the HDR. Set the d8b for internal word clock and the HDR for external (BNC) word clock. As I recall, the Version 2 EPROMs have that BNC sync output in phase with the data clock, so it'll work as a word clock output from the d8b.

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I plugged HDR to MOTU by lightpipe, I checked that 3xOPT cards are all working, good news...
BNC solution of Mike may save life if you don't have budget for an Apogee WC Card for the moment.

For me it's time to find an Apogee WC Card to make my chain all synced..

Thank you all, especially Mike!

[anyhorizon]

I told ya. You won't find one for under $350. Best to jump now.

Apogee Word Clock Card

Peter

[nagnila]

I told ya. You won't find one for under $350. Best to jump now.

Apogee Word Clock Card

Peter

Thanx Peter but as I also told you before, you are asking too much for it...sorry

[anyhorizon]

That one's not mine. I sold mine for $365.00.

Peter