[Danny T]

So when dealing with a Mackie, Behringer, Helix, Alesis or any of
those other small mixers, it is better to set a clock source to the
Mac or the device?

I've had this question posed to me by several people lately.... its a
weird coincidence so I figured I better find out:-) Personally, I
can't tell the difference.

[Danny T]

On May 22, 9:10*pm, "Soundhaspriority" wrote:
"Soundhaspriority" wrote in message

...





"Danny T" wrote in message
....
So when dealing with a Mackie, Behringer, Helix, Alesis or any of
those other small mixers, it is better to set a clock source to the
Mac or the device?

I've had this question posed to me by several people lately.... its a
weird coincidence so I figured I better find out:-) *Personally, I
can't tell the difference.

Danny,
* *The way you posed the question doesn't allow an answer; there are too
many dangling specs. A Firewire mixer cannot be set to run off a clock
internal to a computer that is connected only by Firewire, because
Firewire can't carry an audio clock. Sometimes the appearance of the menus
makes it seem this can be or is being done.

Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511

Danny,
* * The Firewire mixers generally come with a "panel app" that gives a
choice for clock as "locked to ___" or "same as project." *In both cases,
the clock is actually generated in the mixer. Perhaps this is a point of
confusion.

Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511

That is exactly the confusion and I am really thankful you said that.
After thinking about it I read through and found on 2 of my mixers,
that the manual said that if I have other unites syncing that I was
better off using the computer's clock. I have a midisport 4x4 so I
just went in and set my mixers up to be mac driven. I would have had a
nightmare wondering why they didn't work if you hadn't said something.
My church wanted me to figure it out for them as well (which is what
got me started) so I would have set them astray tomorrow.

I guess there are no such things as dumb questions :-)

many thanks

[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

On Sat, 22 May 2010 17:31:46 -0700 (PDT), Danny T
wrote:

So when dealing with a Mackie, Behringer, Helix, Alesis or any of
those other small mixers, it is better to set a clock source to the
Mac or the device?

I've had this question posed to me by several people lately.... its a
weird coincidence so I figured I better find out:-) Personally, I
can't tell the difference.


This isn't an answer to your question, but it might be interesting
that the June Sound on Sound has an article on Master Clocks. After
reviewing a number of quite high-price units, they come to the
conclusion that an audio studio doesn't need one, and, in fact, if
anything it would degrade performance.

They also have a section on making your own videos. I think their "5
Best Buys" in various software and hardware categories is a joke. It's
like the "money to burn" pullout in a Sunday supplement!

[Mike Rivers]

Danny T wrote:
So when dealing with a Mackie, Behringer, Helix, Alesis or any of
those other small mixers, it is better to set a clock source to the
Mac or the device?

It depends on what works. Most small USB or Firewire mixers
don't have an external word clock inputs so they don't give
you a choice and the question never comes up. Honestly, when
I plug a Firewire cable between my Mackie mixer and
computer, I have no idea which one is the clock master. I
suspect that it's the mixer since that's where the A/D
converters are.

Personally, I can't tell the difference.

With 10 year old gear, you might be able to tell the
difference. With today's converter chips, most people can't
tell the difference. In theory, the internal clock (where
the A/D converter is) is the best one to use. If it really
sounds better with an external clock, that means that the
A/D converter design isn't very good. If you can improve it
with an external clock source, by all means do so. If you
can't, then don't bother.

Of course if you have multiple digital connections in a
system, the clocks must be synchronized, and you do that
however you can. Not everything has an external clock input
and/or output.


--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

[Mike Rivers]

Laurence Payne wrote:

This isn't an answer to your question, but it might be interesting
that the June Sound on Sound has an article on Master Clocks. After
reviewing a number of quite high-price units, they come to the
conclusion that an audio studio doesn't need one, and, in fact, if
anything it would degrade performance.

A few years back I wrote a short paper on word clock
synchronization for Transamerica Audio Group, the US
distributor of Drawmer, when they brought out a line of
clock devices. While it's marketing material intended to
present the facts and typical clock situations, I did make
some comments about the popular conception or claim (abused
for marketing other products of that era) that an external
word clock would make a device sound better. I think I gave
a reasonably balanced analysis.

Take a look at it he

http://www.drawmer.com/uploads/File/...clock-sync.pdf


--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

[Danny T]

On May 23, 7:04*am, Mike Rivers wrote:
Danny T wrote:
So when dealing with a Mackie, Behringer, Helix, Alesis or any of
those other small mixers, it is better to set a clock source to the
Mac or the device?

It depends on what works. Most small USB or Firewire mixers
don't have an external word clock inputs so they don't give
you a choice and the question never comes up. Honestly, when
I plug a Firewire cable between my Mackie mixer and
computer, I have no idea which one is the clock master. I
suspect that it's the mixer since that's where the A/D
converters are.

Personally, I can't tell the difference.

With 10 year old gear, you might be able to tell the
difference. With today's converter chips, most people can't
tell the difference. In theory, the internal clock (where
the A/D converter is) is the best one to use. If it really
sounds better with an external clock, that means that the
A/D converter design isn't very good. If you can improve it
with an external clock source, by all means do so. If you
can't, then don't bother.

Of course if you have multiple digital connections in a
system, the clocks must be synchronized, and you do that
however you can. Not everything has an external clock input
and/or output.

--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

I cannot tell any difference and doubt that I could have 10 years ago.
Thanks for the input