VRC-128 to control an Alesis HD24

vivalamonkey · Post by **vivalamonkey** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:14 pm

Hello all,

I hate for my first post to be a question (long time lurker of this forum), but this problem is seriously puzzling me. I have Searched this board and seen people having similar issues but all the posts seem to meet non-definitive ends...

I have also sent an email to the hard working folks at SonicCore but wasn't overly hopeful about receiving a response.

What I am trying to do is slave my HD24 to the virtual remote so I can control transport and track arming functions without having to shell out more money for a BRC. I am already clocking the HD24 from my Sync Plate using the BNC connector at 48KHz (which syncs reliably). The major obstacles in my troubleshooting process are that I don't have access to important items to swap out for trial and error (such as a second sync plate, a regular ADAT, a BRC, etc...).

What I would like to know is, has anyone gotten this setup to work reliably? I saw on some of the posts that possibly astroman had a similar setup working, maybe with just some regular ADATs?

I have tried several versions of setup to make this work:

1. VRC-128 -> VDAT -> Sync Plate Destination -> ADAT Sync In of the HD24 (with this configuration, the VDAT works as intended, but the VRC sees only 1 slave unit, the Play and Stop controls work on the HD24 but not the FF or Rewind and none of the locate functions, HD24 still shows as Master on its display, track arm functions of the VRC work for VDAT but not HD24)

2. VRC-128 -> Sync Plate Destination -> ADAT Sync In of the HD24 (this configuration shows 0 slaves on the VRC, controls work as in above situation)

3. ADAT Sync Out of the HD24 -> Sync Plate Source -> VDAT (in this configuration, Play and Stop controls from the HD24 make the VDAT play and Stop but none of the locate or shuttle commands seem to work)

Sometimes during these situations, the Stop command does not work either and either the HD24 or VDAT will just continue playing or recording (depending on which is slaved).

Again, just seeing if anyone has actually made this scenario work, but as always would definitely be up for any suggestions in troubleshooting this.

Thanks for your time!

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:24 pm

A timely post for your first one!

Can I ask (if you don't mind) why you need the HD24? Was it gear lust or a calculated buy?

vivalamonkey · Post by **vivalamonkey** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:36 pm

hey shroomz!

it actually is a multi-purpose end to the means :) (with only some slight gearlust thrown in)

first off it give me 24 channels of pretty decent converters at 48k (it is the XR unit with the upgraded ADDA) and the benefit of mobility as well as another source for backups

the more that I use it, the more I am finding a zen with the workflow it provides, which is really nice. I will usually record direct to it while monitoring through the ADATs into a scope mixer, then when it comes time to comp or make edits, i will dump it down into Sonar and let it do what it do :)

Fluxpod · Post by **Fluxpod** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:39 pm

Does the hd24 have the 9 pin input? Or are you using this already?I just looked at a picture.It has the 9 pin and the syncplate has the 9 pin ( the oldschool connector that was used for mouses on pcs a few years ago).If you get a cable use it,it works flawlless.

vivalamonkey · Post by **vivalamonkey** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:43 pm

[quote="Fluxpod"]Does the hd24 have the 9 pin input? Or are you using this already?I just looked at a picture.It has the 9 pin and the syncplate has the 9 pin ( the oldschool connector that was used for mouses on pcs a few years ago).If you get a cable use it,it works flawlless. :wink:[/quote]

hey flux!

I am using a Hosa ADAT cable to run between the ADAT sync connnectors of the Sync Plate and the HD24

Fluxpod · Post by **Fluxpod** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:51 pm

vivalamonkey wrote:
Fluxpod wrote:Does the hd24 have the 9 pin input? Or are you using this already?I just looked at a picture.It has the 9 pin and the syncplate has the 9 pin ( the oldschool connector that was used for mouses on pcs a few years ago).If you get a cable use it,it works flawlless.
hey flux!

I am using a Hosa ADAT cable to run between the ADAT sync connnectors of the Sync Plate and the HD24

Optical or the 9 Pin?

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:54 pm

Hey there.

I don't have an HD24, but think that Fluxpod might have just solved your problem, because afaik the EXT ADAT sync is founded on that 9 pin connector.

vivalamonkey · Post by **vivalamonkey** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:58 pm

[quote]Optical or the 9 Pin?[/quote]

Using the 9 Pin ADAT Sync cable to connect the ADAT Sync ports between the two devices, optical only for transferring audio between the two and BNC for wordclock sync with the Scope Project set for wordclock master

Fluxpod · Post by **Fluxpod** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:05 pm

vivalamonkey wrote:
Optical or the 9 Pin?
Using the 9 Pin ADAT Sync cable to connect the ADAT Sync ports between the two devices, optical only for transferring audio between the two and BNC for wordclock sync with the Scope Project set for wordclock master

Ah ok! So thats not the issue.Well all i can give you as advice is...try out as many things as you can because i have absolutly no idea why it wont work.Check the alesis manual.May even try to phone sc.Sorry cant really help you.

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 10:44 am

I think it seems like a compatability issue with the HD24. Sounds like I'm stating the obvious, but you sound like you know what you're doing technically, so if it's working as you describe, just not fully working... It may well not get any better than that... unless of course you get ADAT machines & maybe a BRC, which are what VDAT was designed to work with. I'd try to hold on to the HD24 anyway, because you'd be kicking yourself if you sold it to buy adats & then SC came along with a fully HD24 compatible version of VDAT (although I personally can't see that happening).

vivalamonkey · Post by **vivalamonkey** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:31 am

That is what I sort of guessed :)

I guess the next step is to get a pro card and the SDK and see if I can tear into the VRC lol

Thanks for your help and replies!

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:29 am

vivalamonkey wrote:I guess the next step is to get a pro card and the SDK and see if I can tear into the VRC lol

No chance of you being able to do that without SonicCore.
Sure, you could load the VRC's into the sdk, but you won't be able to do anything with the release versions. You could only make significant changes to the VRC's if you were given the VRC DP/sdk projects & all related information on other addressed files by SonicCore & that's something which I doubt they'd supply unless you were working for them direct (that's just a guess on my part though).

Shroomz