H8000FW AES/EBU clocking issues

[homer]

Hi all,

I have tried to hook up both of my Harmonizers to my DAW. I connected both the H8000 and my Orville via the AES/EBU XLR I/Os.

For the setup: My signals are transmitted to and from my DAW via the RME PCIe AES-32 using a RME breakout box. Clock is coming from my Antelope Orion, usually 48khz for my projects. I use both boxes as external plugins that way.

Pluging in the Orville, everything just works flawless. You configure the clock to be external and to be taken from AES 1/2 and you are done. Rock solid.BTW that worked with my H7600 and the DSP 7000 in the past as well.

With the H8000FW there is an issue. It will show the AES ports all to be "unlocked" even though its the same signal which the Orville syncs to without effort. I can even change cables or ports on the BoB, the result is the same.

The RME AES-32 tells me in its control panel that the signal is "lock" but not "sync" as with the Orville. I did a factory reset already, but that didn't change anything.

This is not my first Eventide, so I am pretty much out of ideas how to get this working. Any input appreciated….

[nickrose]

You don't say which AES you are using on the H8000FW, but I'm going to guess that it is one of the back panel XLRs. This is because there is a difference here from our other rack units, as these cannot be used as sync sources. (see User Manual p.10).

I would suggest that you either use one of AES11-17, or WordClock as the sync source for the H8000FW.

[homer]

Hi Nick,

thanks for the answer. Sometimes I would appreciate if you would dedicate a paragraph in the manuals to all the things that are different or special on the particular unit. 🙂

Sad to see that you changed that on the unit. I mean I wanted to keep things consistent such that clock is distibuted over AES/EBU only as I have a BURL ADC that is in the loop, too. In that case I would need to shell out 100 bugs for that DB25 snake…not. May be it is easier to slave the H8000 to the Orville via SPDIF…I' will try that and get back to you in case I need some more help.

Thx anyway

John

[nickrose]

Wordclock is cheap and easy, and may give slightly better performance.

[homer]

So you mean Wordclock vs SPDIF and not WC vs AES? From your experience should I hook all the units to WC or is a mixed setup ok?

[nickrose]

You could certainly use S/PDIF (the one by the Wordclock connector).

A mixed setup is fine, but you should avoid having the sync signal pass through pieces of equipment – it is best if it fans out from a single point.

For a complex system W/C is often preferrred, because you can easily daisy-chain the sync connections (as long as you understand termination), and it may have lower jitter which can cause a slight but probably imperceptible distortion reduction.

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