ASIO syncing problems

[yonson]

Hi,
I've been using Pulsar II cards now for a couple of years, have 2 installed in my PC and I've had the same problems since I started. I'm using Logic 5.1 on a 3.4GhZ Pentium PC with 2GB RAM. I recently changed over from another PC and am still having the same problem.

I usually have the cards running as 'SLAVE' on 44.1kHz. They slave to a signal from my Roland VM mixer, and the sync signal is done through the ADAT cables.

The problem I have is that often the sync will stop (i.e. in the settings box the red light for the ADAT input will flicker, and the '44.1kHz' text will disappear) which causes the ASIO driver in logic to crash.
I'm using the highest ULLI latency settings
My query is:-

a) has anyone else come across this before and if so do you have any advice how to solve it?

b) are there better ways to sync up rather than using the ADAT input. I've tried using the SP/DIF but that doesn't improve anything. I've also tried setting the pulsar card to MASTER but still have the same problem

Thanks in advance!

[marcuspocus]

one word : wordclock

[garyb]

yes.
i had synced very reliably thru adat for years with no real problems, but when i switched to wordclock, things were much more "solid".

your setup should be reliable, though. are you sure you have good cables and that the connection is solid and dust-free?

[yonson]

Hi guys,
thanks for the reponses - however I don't have a PCI slot to put a wordclock card into! Any other ideas?

The problem is weird as its persisted across 2 different PCs, and I've re-invested in new sets of ADAT cables, so I can't really see why it won't sync

[valis]

Wordclock card doesn't require an actual PCI slot, it merely needs a free rear (of the case) PCI bracket/space.

[garyb]

adat syncs fine on multiple computers here.