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I'm building a new PT/DP rig and was wondering... what's the best choice for a wordclock master these days? I've used Aardsync boxes in the past but I hear there are some cheaper, and maybe better, alternatives now. Lucid? Rosendahl? Or should I get a wordsync DA for my AD-8000 and use that as the master clock?

Hmmm. Any thoughts before I raid my dealer and set up another 'shootout'?

Thx guys.

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Guest Sat, 09/01/2001 - 14:06

Originally posted by pan:
You already got an Apogee, so why bother about a masterclock you already have one.

The Apogee clock is nowhere near as stable as the Lucid nor the Aardsync [on paper, I thought the Lucid looked better than the Aardsync, though I haven't listened to them 'head to head']

If you have to sync to tape or video consider the Timemachine by C-Lab
and stay away from rosendahl as a clocksource!

Would you be kind enough to explain how you came to this conclusion. I've never heard of the 'Timemachine by C-Lab', nor have I spent any real amount of time with the 'Rosendahl' (or is it Rosenthal?), so I'm curious why you say one is superior to the other. Is this a 'listening' thing? A 'looks better on paper' thing? What?

pan Sat, 09/01/2001 - 16:31

If you have to sync to tape or video consider the Timemachine by C-Lab
and stay away from rosendahl as a clocksource!

Would you be kind enough to explain how you came to this conclusion. I've never heard of the 'Timemachine by C-Lab', nor
have I spent any real amount of time with the 'Rosendahl' (or is it Rosenthal?), so I'm curious why you say one is superior to
the other. Is this a 'listening' thing? A 'looks better on paper' thing? What?

I made several tests comparing USD vs Rosendahl vs Timemachine when synced to LTC off 24Track Otari/Studer:

Comparing the phase of a Click from tape to same Click recorded to ProTools synced by the different devices (AD/DA through A8000) compensating the conversion delay of approximately 100 (30 Samples more than 888/24 :eek: ) Samples:

USD and Timemachine worked well - the Timemachine got a more consistent lock-behaviour than the USD, while the Rosendahl kept changing the phase of the two tracks once locked.

I could not hear any difference between A8000 internal to A8000 synced by superclock to a Timemachine (internal). Other game with USD and worse: Rosendahl.
Never heard Lucid or Aardsync though.

Btw. the Timemachine is a really powerful unit, check out:

http://www.c-lab-digital.de/

Niko

OneMan Sat, 09/01/2001 - 17:43

I bought a Genx 6 about 3 months ago and when I set it up, I did not here a diff in my system at all besides the clicks and pops. It was obvious that it was not setup properly. I was in the beginning stages of a pretty large project so I decided to just not use it until the project was complete. I am now a couple of days away from being finished and now I am asking for suggestions on how to set up my system and how to make this work. My system consists of the following:

DA7
Motu 1296, MTP AV and Digital Performer
tc electronic Gold Channel
Apogee Wide Eye cables
and of course, the Genx 6
I would like to record 24 bit...where do I begin?

I appreciate any help you can give me.

OneMan

Guest Sun, 09/02/2001 - 06:26

Originally posted by pan:

I made several tests comparing USD vs Rosendahl vs Timemachine when synced to LTC off 24Track Otari/Studer:

Comparing the phase of a Click from tape to same Click recorded to ProTools synced by the different devices (AD/DA through A8000) compensating the conversion delay of approximately 100 (30 Samples more than 888/24 :eek: ) Samples:

USD and Timemachine worked well - the Timemachine got a more consistent lock-behaviour than the USD, while the Rosendahl kept changing the phase of the two tracks once locked.

You seem to be talking about the ability to lock to 'longitudinal time code' as opposed to clock "jitter characteristics", or am I not understanding again? The 'USD' is the only one of those that will do 'varispeed', so I would assume it would lock better than the others. Have you ever tried locking the Otari deck [depending on which Studer it is, locking could be a nightmare. If it's an A-80 24 trk, I think I'd rather have colon cancer than try to lock that machine to anything so it maintains a stable phase lock] to a syncronizer like a Lynx "Timeline II"?

When locking decks to dig, I've found it better to slave the analog deck from the computer via a syncronizer than trying to have the computer attempt to lock to the deck.

I could not hear any difference between A8000 internal to A8000 synced by superclock to a Timemachine (internal). Other game with USD and worse: Rosendahl.
Never heard Lucid or Aardsync though.

Try one, I think you'll find the audio much clearer and fuller when using an external Lucid or Aardsync clock. At least I know I do.

pan Sun, 09/02/2001 - 13:13

You seem to be talking about the ability to lock to 'longitudinal time code' as opposed to clock "jitter characteristics", or am I not
understanding again? The 'USD' is the only one of those that will do 'varispeed', so I would assume it would lock better than the others. Have
you ever tried locking the Otari deck [depending on which Studer it is, locking could be a nightmare. If it's an A-80 24 trk, I think I'd rather
have colon cancer than try to lock that machine to anything so it maintains a stable phase lock] to a syncronizer like a Lynx "Timeline II"?

You're right - I was talking *also* about LTC lock-ability wich has IMO a big impact on jitter-characteristics (Rosendahl)
Talking about Varispeed...the Timemachine can do varispeed on its own - you can pitch +-12% :p do that with ...I don't know
And yes it's a whole new topic to discuss syncing a DAW and a Tapemachine...

erockerboy Tue, 09/04/2001 - 07:54

Thx 4 the replies guys...

LTC lock is a non issue for me. Sonic quality is. I do notice an improvement in the way my system sounds while clocked to Aardsync vs. the Apogee or Digidesign (ack) internal clock.

What I was hoping to find out was, is there anything out there at the moment that's worth listening to before I buy another Aardsync box? I've heard rumors that the (substantially cheaper) Lucid box is actually a better clock than the Aardsync. Comments?

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