I'm pretty much clueless on this one...
Got a Motu PCI324--->Motu 2408 Mk2 and a Motu MTP AV that are linked to my G4, and a Luna 2 with 2 Pulsar II's STDM'd in my PC
I've got VDAT and want to master with the Creamware system, but I'm not totally understanding how to run sync to the VDAT from Digital Performer 4.5. I've been rtfm'ing, but somehow am stuck on that I can lightpipe the whole show together.
I tried optical from the 2408 to optical in in the first Pulsar II card in the chain, and set Scope 4.0 to be slaved. I set transmit sync in DP to Scope, tried fiddling (!) with Motu's PCI 324 configuration, and set up ADAT source in Scope. It almost seemed to respond, but then went dead.
Felt like this was a kludge that wasn't going to work anyway; is it that the only way to sync this mess is with a Creamware Sync Plate?
Help, help; thanks!
How to get VDAT to sync with Digital Performer 4.5?
Oooookaaaaay...
So, I jumped right in without introduction...
Hi, I'm Mike, Scorpio, 45, been using Creamware products for about 7 years or more, love 'em 'til the end, or until I tear every last hair out of my head (okay, so I'm fairly bald, anyway) due to not knowing about what drives VDAT in my system. Again, rtfm's been done; does this preclude assistance?
By the way, I admire and am very grateful for what I've learned every while checking in every once in a blue moon. Twould be so awesome to have direct tech support from Canada, but for now, I'm relying on your mercy
I don't do anti-anxiety drugs, so pardon if I post on this again in the not-too-far distant future (perhaps tomorrow).
Cheers!
Hi, I'm Mike, Scorpio, 45, been using Creamware products for about 7 years or more, love 'em 'til the end, or until I tear every last hair out of my head (okay, so I'm fairly bald, anyway) due to not knowing about what drives VDAT in my system. Again, rtfm's been done; does this preclude assistance?
By the way, I admire and am very grateful for what I've learned every while checking in every once in a blue moon. Twould be so awesome to have direct tech support from Canada, but for now, I'm relying on your mercy
I don't do anti-anxiety drugs, so pardon if I post on this again in the not-too-far distant future (perhaps tomorrow).
Cheers!
i left you a PM.
are you trying to playback your performer tracks through vdat, or do you just want to link the systems to mixdown on the scope mixer?
vdat is a multitrack tape recorder, digital performer is a multitrack tape recorder, i'm not sure what the reason to connect them is. if you want to use performer as your tapedeck, sound will go out the the motus into the scope cards. if you use vdat, you can export wav files for each track in performer and import them into vdat. you could also run a different sequencer entirely on the pc and import those wav files. they will be perfectly in sync.
if you want to sync start/stop controls in DP and VDAT, that's done through midi clock. there are two types of sync happening in the computer. one is sync via timecode in the sequencer. this type of sync is for the timeline in multiple sequencers(audio/video, multiple audio, etc). it keeps all machines(a sequencer is a virtual reality machine, a multitrack deck) starting stopping and turning at the same time. but perhaps you say VDAT but mean ADAT.......
the other type of sync is digital sync. a digital recording is a series of snapshots of the sound happening at regular intervals. a common interval is 44.1khz, that's 44,100 pictures per second. when transfering a stream of digital audio data, the clock must be known in order for the stream to be read in an orderly sensible manner. for the clock to be known, all devices(computer to computer for example) must use the same clock. in order for this to happen, there can be only 1 master. the item that must be master or slave in a digital transfer is hardware. the virtual device(sequencer or file player) gets it's clock from the interface(hardware). when connecting scope and the motu, one device(hardware, i.e. scope or the motu) must be set to master, and the other to slave. setting DP to master or slave is only about timecode sync. you need to get into the motu settings for digital sync.
i hope this helped.
are you trying to playback your performer tracks through vdat, or do you just want to link the systems to mixdown on the scope mixer?
vdat is a multitrack tape recorder, digital performer is a multitrack tape recorder, i'm not sure what the reason to connect them is. if you want to use performer as your tapedeck, sound will go out the the motus into the scope cards. if you use vdat, you can export wav files for each track in performer and import them into vdat. you could also run a different sequencer entirely on the pc and import those wav files. they will be perfectly in sync.
if you want to sync start/stop controls in DP and VDAT, that's done through midi clock. there are two types of sync happening in the computer. one is sync via timecode in the sequencer. this type of sync is for the timeline in multiple sequencers(audio/video, multiple audio, etc). it keeps all machines(a sequencer is a virtual reality machine, a multitrack deck) starting stopping and turning at the same time. but perhaps you say VDAT but mean ADAT.......
the other type of sync is digital sync. a digital recording is a series of snapshots of the sound happening at regular intervals. a common interval is 44.1khz, that's 44,100 pictures per second. when transfering a stream of digital audio data, the clock must be known in order for the stream to be read in an orderly sensible manner. for the clock to be known, all devices(computer to computer for example) must use the same clock. in order for this to happen, there can be only 1 master. the item that must be master or slave in a digital transfer is hardware. the virtual device(sequencer or file player) gets it's clock from the interface(hardware). when connecting scope and the motu, one device(hardware, i.e. scope or the motu) must be set to master, and the other to slave. setting DP to master or slave is only about timecode sync. you need to get into the motu settings for digital sync.
i hope this helped.
Helps a bunch, thanks
Thanks, Gary!
I'm getting better understanding as I go along, and your explanation furthers my understanding.
The scenario that I'm going for is to master mixes in Creamware, multitracking to VDAT (Creamware's native virtual ADAT), and deriving what I think are benefits from using Vinco, PsyQ and Optimaster. Correct me if you think otherwise, but I value the sound of the Creamware system, to master with, over MOTU's. I like editing features of DP 4.5, so I'd like to use that for audio assembly in a rough mix.
What seemed to ALMOST work was a single optical cable from the 2408 to the first Pulsar II in the chain, with Scope as slave, and DP transmitting sync to Scope.
I was doing various experimental tweaks with the MOTU PCI 324 configuration, and with what combination of choices I'm not certain of, I saw that Scope's Samplerate settings display was changing from blank to 44.1 kHz. I came back to the same setup the next day, after rebooting the Mac and PC, and the samplerate only got to 32 kHz, although I didn't change a setting. After a couple of MOTU 2408 restarts and configuring it to what seemed to produce 44.1 k before, I got the slaved Scope to register the 44.1. However, as was a deficiency the previous day, whenever I played what I had recorded in DP, it wouldn't trigger the playback or recording of armed tracks in the VDAT. (Isn't the VDAT, or an ADAT, supposed to start playback from playing back on the master system?)
The previous day, at least I was able to arm and monitor DP's audio output through VDAT, but there seemed to be no recognition of a timecode that would drive the VDAT's transport.
I'm not certain if I'm misconfiguring in the Mac, or if the timecode doesn't get to the Creamware Scope software because the clock (?) signal isn't being transmitted properly. (Is that somehow supposed to be provided through MIDI?)
If you and/or anyone's familiar with the Scope VDAT software, what I'm doing is taking the relevant Pulsar card's MIDI Source, cabling to the MIDI-in of an ADAT input, sending the eight channels into VDAT while connecting the clock 0 to 1 of the respective ADAT input/VDAT connection.
I'm confused! Like, isn't it that the audio and synchronization info can both be transmitted through a one-way optical hookup? Or, is there another cable that's supposed to be transmitting the synchronization, like BNC, or that multi-pin DB-something?
I might have to experiment further, but I wonder if anyone reading this thread has some similar experience and may have a way (steadier than mine) of achieving the needed sync to control Creamware VDAT transport from DP4.5.
I hope I'm not being confusing or difficult. I won't be at my home studio for a couple of days, but please, ask for specifics as you need.
Thanks for your help!
Mike
I'm getting better understanding as I go along, and your explanation furthers my understanding.
The scenario that I'm going for is to master mixes in Creamware, multitracking to VDAT (Creamware's native virtual ADAT), and deriving what I think are benefits from using Vinco, PsyQ and Optimaster. Correct me if you think otherwise, but I value the sound of the Creamware system, to master with, over MOTU's. I like editing features of DP 4.5, so I'd like to use that for audio assembly in a rough mix.
What seemed to ALMOST work was a single optical cable from the 2408 to the first Pulsar II in the chain, with Scope as slave, and DP transmitting sync to Scope.
I was doing various experimental tweaks with the MOTU PCI 324 configuration, and with what combination of choices I'm not certain of, I saw that Scope's Samplerate settings display was changing from blank to 44.1 kHz. I came back to the same setup the next day, after rebooting the Mac and PC, and the samplerate only got to 32 kHz, although I didn't change a setting. After a couple of MOTU 2408 restarts and configuring it to what seemed to produce 44.1 k before, I got the slaved Scope to register the 44.1. However, as was a deficiency the previous day, whenever I played what I had recorded in DP, it wouldn't trigger the playback or recording of armed tracks in the VDAT. (Isn't the VDAT, or an ADAT, supposed to start playback from playing back on the master system?)
The previous day, at least I was able to arm and monitor DP's audio output through VDAT, but there seemed to be no recognition of a timecode that would drive the VDAT's transport.
I'm not certain if I'm misconfiguring in the Mac, or if the timecode doesn't get to the Creamware Scope software because the clock (?) signal isn't being transmitted properly. (Is that somehow supposed to be provided through MIDI?)
If you and/or anyone's familiar with the Scope VDAT software, what I'm doing is taking the relevant Pulsar card's MIDI Source, cabling to the MIDI-in of an ADAT input, sending the eight channels into VDAT while connecting the clock 0 to 1 of the respective ADAT input/VDAT connection.
I'm confused! Like, isn't it that the audio and synchronization info can both be transmitted through a one-way optical hookup? Or, is there another cable that's supposed to be transmitting the synchronization, like BNC, or that multi-pin DB-something?
I might have to experiment further, but I wonder if anyone reading this thread has some similar experience and may have a way (steadier than mine) of achieving the needed sync to control Creamware VDAT transport from DP4.5.
I hope I'm not being confusing or difficult. I won't be at my home studio for a couple of days, but please, ask for specifics as you need.
Thanks for your help!
Mike
-
hubird
ADAT sinc is transmitted through the ADAT connection (and Midi clock sync via Midi)
If you make hardware A master, hardware B will 'see' it and stay on slave mode, as there can be only one master.
I must admit I find the sample rate settings page of SFP terrible, the colums and rows are chaotic if you are not so sure about what setting to choose.
If you make hardware A master, hardware B will 'see' it and stay on slave mode, as there can be only one master.
I must admit I find the sample rate settings page of SFP terrible, the colums and rows are chaotic if you are not so sure about what setting to choose.