ok i'm having a problem. I've got a da78 that I've always just used
analog ins and outs. I bought an apogee fc-8 tdif/adat converter on
ebay recently so i can connect the da78 to the optical in on my maudio
fw1814. I want to transfer from the da78 to pro tools via fw1814. So
i take the optical out of the fc-8 into the optical in on the fw1814.
tdif to tdif. I set the clock on the maudio control panel to external.
It can't detect the sample rate. The fc-8 has a word clock connector
and it's labeled "adat clock" ... does tha tmean in or out? I tried
plugging the word out of the da78 into the fc-8 but same result. if i
plug the word out of the da78 into the word in of the maudio and set
clock source to "word clock" on the maudio control panel then it will
detect the sample rate, but there's a harsh, loud continous signal that
goes through the system. In short, i can't get this set up properly ad
i'm not sure why! i haven't yet been able to find a manual for the
fc-8 and the da78 and maudio manuals leave much to the imagination. I
hope someone here can tell me what to do!

Nate

now that i look at it, it's possible i'm connecting it right
(technically i guess you don't need the word clock cable because the
tdif carries it to the converter and the optical should carry its own
too, right?). I'm thinking maybe the guy sent me a bum converter,
because with both machines, the tdif indicator doesn't light up showing
an incoming signal. Why do I always end up with **** that doesn't
work? Anyway, if you could at least let me know if I'm hooking it up
and configuring it all right and then I'll know if it is the converter
or not. thanks,

nate

Nate Najar wrote:
now that i look at it, it's possible i'm connecting it right
(technically i guess you don't need the word clock cable because the
tdif carries it to the converter and the optical should carry its own
too, right?).

Yes, but the FW1814 may not extract the clock from the ADAT data
stream. Is there a clock option that clearly says that? Generally
"external word clock" means it expects a word clock signal coming into
its Word Clock Input (usually BNC) connector.

I have a preliminary brochure here on the FC-8 that says "A BNC
connector allows the output of word clock to the DA-88 when it is in
slave mode. Three LEDs indicate Lock, TDIF active, and ADAT active."
You'd use that to derive a word clock signal from an incoming ADAT
stream that you'd use to sync the TDIF recorder. But that's not what
you want to do.

Also, the FC-8 (which had a pretty short product life) was designed for
the original ADAT and the origianal DA-88. Both were 16-bit. I believe
it would accept a longer word length, but it will be truncated. But the
DA-88's sync input is 90 degrees out of phase with the actual word
(data) clock, and I don't know if Apogee got that right or not. It
wasn't very clear in what TASCAM had available as documentation at the
time. (if they got it right, it would be wrong for everything else)

I'm thinking maybe the guy sent me a bum converter,
because with both machines, the tdif indicator doesn't light up showing
an incoming signal.

Maybe, maybe not. TASCAM changed the TDIF spec between the original
DA-88 for which this converter was designed. So that could explain why
the TDIF light doesn't light when you play your DA-78. It was designed
to transfer between a DA-88 and original ADAT. Since you're not doing
that, you can't tell for sure if it's really working or not.

I'd recommend that you do and analog-analog transfer. That always
works, the DA-78 analog sounds very good, and the analog inputs on your
FW-whatever are bound to be better than a 16-bit ADAT.

Why do I always end up with **** that doesn't work?

Because you buy stuff on eBay based on a short description written by a
seller who doesn't know what he has (or knows all too well what he has)
and you don't know exactly what he has and whether it will work for
you. If you had described what you were trying to do, including listing
the equipment you had, and asked if it would work, he'd probably tell
you that he wasn't sure but that he thought it should.

See my rants in the current "PAYPAL Scam" thread.