Unicorn Digital Timepiece User Manual

Digital Timepiece

User’s Guide

Mark of the Unicorn, Inc.

1280 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 Business voice: (617) 576-2760 Business fax: (617) 576-3609 Tech support fax: (617) 354-3068 Tech support email: techsupport@motu.com Web site: http://www.motu.com

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS AND ELECTRICAL REQUIREMENTS

WARNING: T O REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRICAL SHOCK, DO NOT EXPOSE THIS APPLIANCE T O RAIN OR O THER MOISTURE. CAUTION: T O REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRICAL SHOCK, DO NO T REMO VE CO VER. NO USER-SER VICEABLE PARTS INSIDE. REFER SER VICING T O

QUALIFIED SER VICE PERSONNEL. WARNING: DO NO T PERMIT FINGERS T O TOUCH THE TERMINALS OF PLUGS WHEN INST ALLING OR REMO VING THE PLUG T O OR FROM THE OUTLET. WARNING: IF NO T PROPERLY GROUNDED THE Digital Timepiece COULD CA USE AN ELECTRICAL SHOCK.

The Digital Timepiece is equipped with a three-conductor cord and grounding type plug which has a grounding prong, appro ved by Underwriters' Laboratories and the Canadian Standards Association. This plug requires a mating three-conductor grounded type outlet as shown in Figure A below .

If the outlet you are planning to use for the Digital Timepiece is of the two prong type, DO NO T REMOVE OR AL TER THE GROUNDING PRONG IN ANY MANNER. Use an adapter as shown below and always connect the grounding lug to a known ground. It is recommended that y ou have a qualiﬁed electrician replace the TWO prong outlet with a properly grounded THREE prong outlet. An adapter as illustrated below in Figure B is availab le for connecting plugs to two-prong receptacles.

Figure A Figure B

Grounding lug

Screw

3-prong plug

Make sure this is connected to a known ground.

Grounding prong

Properly grounded 3-prong outlet

Two-prong receptacle

Adapter

WARNING: THE GREEN GROUNDING LUG EXTENDING FROM THE AD APTER MUST BE CONNECTED TO A PERMANENT GROUND SUCH AS TO A PROPERLY GROUNDED OUTLET BOX. NOT ALL OUTLET BO XES ARE PR OPERLY GROUNDED.

If you are not sure that your outlet box is properly grounded, ha ve it check ed by a qualiﬁed electrician. NOTE: The adapter illustrated is for use only if y ou already have a properly grounded two-prong receptacle. Adapter is not allo wed in Canada by the Canadian Electrical Code. Use only three wire e xtension cords which have three-prong grounding type plugs and three-prong receptacles which will accept the Digital Timepiece plug.

IMPORT ANT SAFEGU ARDS

1. Read instructions - All the safety and operating instructions should be read before operating the Digital Timepiece.

2. Retain instructions - The safety instructions and owner's manual should be retained f or future reference.

3. Heed Warnings - All warnings on the Digital Timepiece and in the owner's manual should be adhered to.

4. Follow Instructions - All operating and use instructions should be followed.

5. Cleaning - Unplug the Digital Timepiece from the computer before cleaning and use a damp cloth. Do not use liquid or aerosol cleaners.

6. Overloading - Do not overload wall outlets and extension cords as this can result in a risk of ﬁre or electrical shock.

7. Power Sources - This Digital Timepiece should be operated only from the type of power source indicated on the marking label. If you are not sure of the type of power supply to y our location, consult your local power company.

8. Power-Cord Protection - P ower-supply cords should be routed so that the y are not likely to be walked on or pinched b y items placed upon or against them. P ay particular attention to cords and plugs, conv enience receptacles, and the point where they exit from the Digital Timepiece.

9. Lightning - For added protection for the Digital Timepiece during a lightning storm, unplug it from the wall outlet. This will prev ent damage to the Digital Timepiece due to lightning and po wer line surges.

10. Servicing - Do not attempt to service this Digital Timepiece yourself as opening or removing covers will e xpose you to dangerous voltage and other hazards. Ref er all servicing to qualiﬁed service personnel.

11. Damage Requiring Service - Unplug the Digital Timepiece from the computer and refer servicing to qualiﬁed service personnel under the following conditions.

a. When the power supply cord or plug is damaged. b. If liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the Digital Timepiece. c. If the Digital Timepiece has been exposed to rain or water . d. If the Digital Timepiece does not operate normally by follo wing the operating instructions in the owner's manual. e. If the Digital Timepiece has been dropped or the cabinet has been damaged. f. When the Digital Timepiece exhibits a distinct change in perf ormance, this indicates a need for service.

12. Replacement Parts - When replacement parts are required, be sure the service technician has used replacement parts speciﬁed by the manufacturer or have the same characteristics as the original part. Unauthorized substitutions may result in ﬁre, electric shock or other hazards.

13. Safety Check - Upon completion of any service or repairs to this Digital Timepiece , ask the service technician to perform safety checks to determine that the product is in safe operating conditions.

ENVIRONMENT

Operating Temperature: 10°C to 40°C (50°F to 104°)

A V OID THE HAZARDS OF ELECTRICAL SHOCK AND FIRE

Do not handle the power cord with wet hands. Do not pull on the power cord when disconnecting it from an A C wall outlet. Grasp it by the plug.

INPUT

Line V oltage: 100 - 120 volts A C, RMS (US and Japan) or 220 - 250 v olts AC, RMS (Europe). F requency: 47 - 63 Hz single phase . P ower: 7 watts maximum.

CAUTION: D ANGER OF EXPLOSION IF BATTERY IS REPLACED . REPLA CE ONLY WITH THE SAME OR EQUIVALENT TYPE RECOMMENDED BYMANUFA CTURER. DISPOSE OF USED B A TTER Y A CCORDING TO MANUF A CTURER’S INSTRUCTIONS.

CHAPTER

Chapter 1 –

5 5 5 5

Chapter 2 –

9 9

9 10 10

11 12

Chapter 3 –

13 14 Computers 16 Digital Multitrack tape decks 18 Working with the Tascam DA-88 22 Word Clock Devices 24 S/PDIF devices 27 Video 28 SMPTE time code devices 29 MIDI Time Code devices 29 Alesis LRC 30 MMC control surfaces

Chapter 4 –

33 34 34 36 36 36 36 36 36 37 37

Contents

About the Digital Timepiece

Packing list About this guide Register for technical support What is the Digital Timepiece?

Degrees of Accuracy

Before you go any further… Sample-accurate sync Frame-accurate sync with phase-lock Frame-accurate sync Frame-accurate triggering

Front Panel Quick Reference Rear Panel Quick Reference

Installation

Overview

Front Panel Settings

Overview About synchronization Choosing a time base mode Internal MTC LTC Video/Internal Video/MTC Video/SMPTE (LTC) Video/VITC Video/Sony

Word 1x/Internal

Word 1x/MTC

Word 1x/LTC

Word 256x/Internal

Word 256x/MTC

Word 256x/LTC

Word 1x/Video/Internal

Word 1x/Video/MTC

Word 1x/Video/LTC

Word 1x/Video/VITC

Word 1x/Video/Sony

S/P DIF/Internal

Control track 1 or 2

Word 1x/Control track 1 or 2

DA-88

Word 1x/DA-88

ADAT

Word 1x/ADAT

the SMPTE frame rate setting

The Word clock rate setting

Chapter 5 –

Chapter 6 –

Chapter 7 –

Example Setups

Overview

The Digital Timepiece as master

Video as time base master

Devices that cannot act as a slave

Using an Alesis BRC or Tascam RC-848

Converting/Generating Time Code

Overview

Starting playback

Deferred playback

Generating or Converting time code

Striping Time Code

Overview

General procedure

Striping frame-locked LTC onto video

Striping SMPTE on a multitrack tape deck

Regenerating fresh time code

Lengthening a SMPTE track

Regeneration and time code bits

Recording VITC

Recording burn-in & other graphics

Chapter 8 –

Chapter 9 –

MIDI Machine Control

Overview

How MMC works

A recommended scenario for MMC

MMC Device IDs

Setting up MMC slaves

Setting up a MMC transport master

MMC control of record functions

Digital Timepiece & Performer

Overview

Getting the Digital Timepiece to appear in Performer’s MMC window

Slaving Performer

Using Performer as transport master

MMC record commands

Video streamers

Controlling a DA-88/SY-88 with Performer

Chapter 10 –

Digital Timepiece & Other

Sequencers

Overview

Establishing communication

Slaving your sequencer

Using your sequencer as transport master

MMC record commands

Chapter 11 –

79 79 81 81 81 82

Chapter 12 –

83 84 85 85 86 88 91 91 92

Chapter 13 –

93 93 94

Chapter 14 –

95 98 98 98

Digital Timepiece & OMS

Overview ClockWorks and OMS Preparing ClockWorks Preparing OMS Adding the DTP to your OMS setup Using AV Controls

Digital Timepiece & Pro Tools

Overview Pro Tools, ClockWorks, OMS & FreeMIDI Enabling OMS emulation in FreeMIDI Preparing OMS Pro Tools as master Pro Tools as slave Pro Tools and Triple-sync Transport control Lockup time

Alesis LRC

Using an Alesis LRC LRC button functions LRC Calibration

Troubleshooting

Common problems and solutions Customer Support Replacing Disks Technical Support

CHAPTER

About the Digital Timepiece

Thank you for purchasing the Digital Timepiece™!

PACKING LIST

Your Digital Timepiece box should have the following items in it. If not, contact Mark of the Unicorn customer service at (617) 576-2760.

■

Digital Timepiece

■

Power cord

■

Digital Timepiece Manual

■

ClockWorks™ Manual

■

ClockWorks™ software installer disks

■

Registration card

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

This guide provides important information about installing and setting up the Digital Timepiece. There is a companion guide for the Macintosh software console that ships with the Digital Timepiece called the

ClockWorks User’s Guide

WHAT IS THE DIGITAL TIMEPIECE?

Think of the Digital Timepiece as the synchronization hub for your recording studio. It provides stable, centralized synchronization services for most analog, digital audio, and video equipment found in today’s recording studio. Until now, locking together ADAT™, DA-88™, Pro Tools™, word clock audio devices, S/PDIF devices, video decks, SMPTE time code devices, MIDI Machine Control devices and computers has been difﬁcult — if not impossible. The Digital Timepiece can connect to all of these types of devices and synchronize them with one another.

A computer is not required

You do not need a computer to use a Digital Timepiece. Essential settings are available directly on the front pan el. Once y ou ch oose an operatio nal mode with the TIME BASE controls, the Digital Timepiece will generate or convert all forms of synchronization necessary to keep all connected devices synchronized with one another.

Before you go any further, take a moment to ﬁll out and mail in the registration card included in this package. Doing so entitles you to:

■

free, unlimited technical support via email

■

free newsletters

■

new product information

Since Mark of the Unicorn can only provide customer service and technical support to registered users, please send in the card right away.

Degrees of accuracy

■

Sample accurate sync

■

Frame-accurate sync with phase lock

■

Frame-accurate sync with no phase lock

■

Frame-accurate triggering

Synchronization ﬁrsts

The Digital Timepiece offers several synchronization ﬁrsts. For example, you can now synchronize a stack of Alesis ADAT™ recorders with a stack of Tascam DA-88™ recorders with ‘plug-and-play’ ease and sample-accurate timing. The Digital Timepiece also works with other devices that support the ADAT and DA-88 proprietary sync protocols, such as the Panasonic MDA-1™, SONY PCM-800™ and Tascam DA-38™.

The components of sync

The Digital Timep iec e su p p lies all o f the necessary components for stable, sample-accurate synchronization: address (SMPTE time code location and audio sample number), time base (word clock), and machine control (for transport and cueing). You choose an external source — or the Digital Timepiece itself — as a time base and address master, and then the Digital Timepiece continuously generates all other synchronization formats, locking together all connected devices with frame-accurate timing. Sample-accurate timing is achieved with devices that allow it, such as ADATs and DA-88s.

The ﬂexibility you need

The Digital Timepiece is more ﬂexible than most synchronizers because it allows you to choose different mast er so ur c es f or time base, address and transport, as best ﬁts your studio setup. For example, you could choose house sync video as the master time base, the Digital Timepiece as the address (time code) master, and your computer software as the transport master.

All standard digital audio sync formats

Digital audio synchronization formats supported include word clock, Digidesign 256x ‘superclock’ and S/PDIF. These industry standard formats allow the Digital Timep iece to synchronize a wide variety

of digital audio systems, including Digidesign Pro Tools™ 4.0, Pro Tools Project™, stand-alone hard disk recorders, digital mixers, computer-based digital audio wo rkstations, S/PD IF devices (such as DAT recorders) and Digidesign’s Audiomedia™ II and III cards.

Expensive add-ons are not needed

Because the Digital Timepiece directly supports third-party synchronization formats like ‘s u per cl ock’ and AD AT Sync, i t eliminates the need for expensive synchronization add-on equipment such as Digidesign’s SMPTE Slave Driver™, the Digidesign Video Slave Driver™, Alesis BRC™, Tascam SY-88™ sync card and others. The Digital Timepiece dramatically undercuts the cost and setup overhead of these other devices while offering most of the same features in a compact, efﬁcient, single rack-space unit.

All SMPTE time code formats

The Digital Timepiece can also generate and slave to all forms of SMPTE time code, including LTC, VITC and MTC (MIDI Time Code). All SMPTE frame formats are su pported when generating and reading time code, including 29.97 drop and nondrop for NTSC video applications. These SMPTE sync features allow the Digital Timepiece to synchronize with computers, analog tape decks, stand-alone hard disk recorders, MIDI devices, and virtually anything that can either generate or slave to SMPTE or MIDI Time Code.

MIDI Machine Control

The Digital Timepiece supports MIDI Machine Control (MMC) transport and record functions. These features allow you to control your entire rig from a single source (such as your MMCcompatible computer software), eliminating the need for expensive, dedicated hardware control surface add-ons such as the Alesis BRC™ and Tascam RC-848™ for basic machine control tasks.

ABOUT THE DIGITAL TIMEPIECE

SONY 9-pin machine control

The Digital Timepiece includes support for the SONY 9-pin machine control format. You can connect a SONY 9-pin compatible video deck, which can then be slaved to the Digital Timepiece. This allows you to control the video deck, along with all of your other gear, from your favorite MMC-compatible computer software or any MMC-compatible hardware controller. Conversely, the Digital Timepiece can slave to the 9-pin video deck.

Advanced video features

The Digital Timepiece provides many other essential video features. The rear panel has two BNC video jacks (IN and OUT) in addition to its SONY 9-pin connector. Internally, the Digital Timepiece has a built-in video sync generator, which can be synchronized with the Digital Timepiece’s audio phase lock engine or run independently of the Digital Timepiece’s synchronization features. The VIDEO IN jack allows the Digital Timepiece to slave to any NTSC or PAL video source, such as house sync video or VTR output. The VIDEO OUT jack can display whatever is being received on the input, or it can produce blackburst. In either case, the Digital Timepiec e can ov erlay u p to twel ve lines o f text and information o n i ts video output signal, in c luding a large and small SMPTE time code burn-in, status information (e.g. the Digital Timepiece’s current sample rate output), MIDI sequencer triggered streamers with punch, and numerous lin es of userprogrammed text (such as client and project names). Text lines can be positioned vertically as desired.

44.1 and 48 kHz with pull up/down

The Digital Timepiece supports 44.1kHz and 48kHz sampling ra tes. I t also s upp lies 0.1% pull-up and pull-down at both ra tes, an essen tial featur e fo r those of you who work with ﬁlm cues that have been temporarily transferred to video for music scoring or audio post production. By using a pull-

down rate while working with ﬁlm in video format, you can easily avoid synchronization and drift problems tha t arise from the 0.1% speed diff erenc e between the ﬁlm transfer rate of 30fps and the NTSC video playback rate of 29.97fps.

Proprietary technology

The Digital Timepiece delivers pristine sound and an extremely stable, high-resolution digital audio time base with no dithering, rounding, or software delays. This level of performance is made possible by custom-designed VLSI technology and a proprietary high-frequency phase engine.

Fast lockup time

Depending on the speciﬁc scenario in which the Digital Timepiece is being operated, its lock-up time can be as fast as one second. Fastest lockup times are achieved b y sla ving the Digital Timep iece to house sync video (“blackburst”) or by running under its own internal clock. When slaving the Digital Timepiece to SMPTE or MIDI time code (without video as a time base), lock up time is typically 2-4 seconds, depending on the overall stability of the incoming time code.

Control track

A new, proprietary Mark of the Unicorn synchronization format, called ‘Control Track’, is supplied via two 8-pin circular DIN sockets on the Digital Timepiece rear panel. B y means of high-resolution sample address information, Control Track can synchronize two Digital Timepieces with sampleaccurate timing.

Stand-alone and computer-based operation

The Digital Timepiece can be operated in a computer-based setup or as a stand-alone synchronizer . The front panel supplies b utt ons an d status LEDs for making all of the necessary basic operational settings. You can choose the overall operating mode (called the ‘time base mode’), the sample rate (44.1kHz or 48kHz), sample clock pull-up or pull-down (0.1%), and SMPTE time

ABOUT THE DIGITAL TIMEPIECE

code format (30, 29.97, 29.97 drop, 25 and 24). Status LEDs are also supplied to indicate communication between the Digital Timepiece and devices connected to it. A convenient S/PDIF THRU button allows you to easily bypass the Digital Timepiec e when transferring S/PDIF a udio from one device to another — without having to swap cables. The fro nt pan el also has a quarter inch phone jack for an Alesis LRC™ or compatible controller.

The Digital Timepiece rear panel

The Digital Timepiece rear panel has three input/ output pairs of BNC connectors for video, word clock and Digidesign superclock. A pair of RCA phone jacks supply S/PDIF input and output. Other rear panel connectors include a pair of standard ADAT 9-pin Sync In and Sync Out sockets, DA-88 15-pin Sync In and Sync Out sockets, a SONY 9-pin video sync jack, a pair of

quarter-inch phone jacks for SMPTE (LTC) input and output, two pairs of MIDI IN and OUT sockets, an RS-422 jack for optional connection directly to a Macintosh computer, and two additional circular DIN-8 sockets for the Digital Timepiece’s proprietary Control Track protocol.

Convenient software included

The Digital Timepiece™ ships with Macintosh console software that provides access to numerous additional features. For example, the console allows you to program SMPTE time code offsets for individual devices connected to the Digital Timepiec e, such as a single ADA T within a chain of ADATs. You can even program individual track offsets for ADATs and DA-88s; track offsets can be speciﬁed as a number of samples. The console software also lets you control the Digital Timepiece’s video graphics features.

ABOUT THE DIGITAL TIMEPIECE

CHAPTER

2 Degrees of Accur acy

BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER…

Digital audio devices found in today’s studio support varying degrees of accuracy when it comes to synchroniza tion. The Digital T imepiece s upp lies the best possible accuracy for each type of device that it supports. Here is a brief overview of several basic categories of accuracy to which most digital audio devices belong, starting with the highest (best). After you look them over, think about each device in your studio an d the categ ory it belongs to . Doing so will help you mak e better d ecision s when installing the Digital Timepiece, which supports a wide range of synchronization scenarios.

SAMPLE-ACCURATE SYNC

When two devices achieve sample-accurate sync, the master device and slave device are in continu ous, sam ple-accurat e synchronizatio n with each other. Not only are their sample clocks continuously aligned (phase-locked), sample for sample, but they also locate to —and start playing or recording on — exactly the same sample every time. For example, if the master device cues to sample n umber 49,856,237 in a rec or ding, the sla ve device will cue to exactly the same sample. Resolu tion is 44.1 or 48 th ousand ths o f a second. A slight bit of skew might be introduced due to analog ﬁlter delays. But if so, the skew will be consistent, so it will not cause phasing.

continuous phase-lock). But even more signiﬁcantly, the Digital Timep i ec e can al so make a stack of ADATs synchronize with a stack of DA-88s (which also support sample-accurate sync) at this level. The Digital Timepiece is the ﬁrst synchronizer to be able to do this.

FRAME-ACCURATE SYNC WITH PHASELOCK

When two devices achieve frame-accurate sync with phase-lock, mast er an d slave device play back in continuous phase-lock with each other, sample for sample, with no phasing or drifting over time. However, the timing resolution at which the devices locate — and begin recording or playing back — is equivalent to the SMPTE time code frame rate being used (e.g. 30 frames per second). Digidesign Pro Tools is a classic example of a system that synchronizes at this level of accuracy. When slaving externally, Pro Tools locates and begins recording or playing according to MIDI Time Code it receives, which has a has a quarter frame resolution of 30 frames per second times four — or approximately a 120th of a second (or whatever time code frame rate is being used). Because MTC suffers from general MIDI delays and skewing, Pro Tools and systems like it also employ a software averaging scheme which helps with accuracy even further.

An example of devices that support this level of synchronization is a ch ain o f ADAT tape recorders via their proprietary ADAT sync protocol. If you record a stereo track pair from one ADAT to another in two separate record passes, the stereo image would remain in perfect phase. The Digital Timepiec e has the a bility to drive a c hain of ADATs at this level (sample-accurate locating with

Note, however, that Pro Tools — as a slave — also requires a sample clock (Digidesign refers to it as “superclock” or “slave clock”) to keep it phaselocked with its master once it starts. While “superclock” maintains phase lock at normal digital audio sample rates (44.1 or 48 thousand times a second), it does not provide single-sample locating as described in the previous section: it simply keeps the Pro Tools sample clock in phase

with the master digital clock during playback or recording, sample for sample, to prevent phasing (which causes distortion) or drifting (which causes sync problems). Bu t the highest resol ution at which Pro Tools can locate — and begin playing or recording — is one 120th of a second (quarterframe resolution). If you transferred a stereo track pair in two separate record passes into Pro Tools, the stereo image would not be transferred in perfect phase. In other words, Pro Tools cannot start at exactly the same sample as other digital audio devices, like ADATs can. (Future versions of Pro Tools may provide sample accurate synchronization capability.)

FRAME-ACCURATE SYNC

When two devices achieve frame-accurate sync without phase lock, master and slave remain in sync with each other, but their digital audio clocks are not kept in phase. Instead, they stay in continuous sync via time code, which has a resolution of a thirtieth of a second (or one of the other standard SMPTE time code frame rates).

This form of synchronization inevitably ca uses two digital audio devices to phase with one another as they play, since the timing reference (30 frame per second time code) has suc h a low er resol ution than their internal sample clocks.

An example of this type of sync would be a standalone hard disk recorder slaved to the Digital Timepiece via SMPTE time code only, with no word clock connection between the devices. The hard disk recorder would read the incoming time code and con tinually ad just its digital a udio o utpu t to stay in sync with the time code.

FRAME-ACCURATE TRIGGERING

With frame-accurate triggering, unlike any of the continuous forms of sync already discussed, the master device only tells the slave device where to locate (at a speciﬁc time code location). But when the slav e begins playing or recording, it runs under its own internal clock, inevitably drifting out of sync with the master, given enough time. The time it takes for drift to become noticeable depends on the devices involved and the situation in which they are being used. Timing resolution is equivalen t to frame rate being used (e.g. 30 frames per second).

Most devices today use one of the continuous forms of sync described earlier . You proba bly wo n’t encounter a device of this type in your work with the Digital Timepiece.

DEGREES OF ACCURACY

When the S/PDIF THRU button is pushed in, the LED

illuminates and the Digital Timepiece passes digital

audio signal from its S/PDIF IN to its S/PDIF OUT jack.

The TIME BASE section of the front

panel is where you choose which

components of your system are the

The LOCK indicators (A ddress and Word) glow

steadily when the Digital Timepiece has

successfully achieved and is maintaining

The Digital Timepiece cannot slave to an incoming

S/PDIF signal when the THRU button is engaged.

When the THRU button is released (turned off), the

Digital Timepiece can slave to an incoming S/PDIF

signal. In addition, it continuously generates its own

time base master and the time code

(address) master. For example, if you

choose video+SMPTE mode, video

blackburst (house sync) could be the

time base master, while SMPTE time

lockup to the current address and time base

sources. The Address LED glows when the

Digital Timepiece is successfully reading and/

or generating time code. The Word LED glows

when the Digital Timepiece’s digital audio

S/PDIF signal on its S/PDIF output jack, to which a

connected device can slave.

code (LTC) from a VTR could be the

address master.

phase loop engine has stabilized and is

currently generating or locking to a time base.

Press the SOURCE button repeatedly t o choose the over all time base and time code

(address) source. There are 28 possible settings but only 11 LEDs, so many time

base modes are indicated by a combination of 2 or 3 illuminated LEDs (indicated

with a / sign below). Below is a brief summary of each mode:

Time base mode Explanation

When one of these ﬁrst

four LEDs is illuminated,

the Digital Timepiece

controls the global word

clock rate as determined

by the word rate settings

of six word clock rates as

■ 48 kHz

shown by these four LEDs.

The six possible rates are:

Press the RATE button

repeatedly to choose one

The selected item is both time base and address (time

code) master.

Video serves as the time base master and the other

chosen source (Internal, MT C, LTC, or VITC) is the address

(time code) master.

Internal

MTC

SMPTE (LTC)

Video / Internal

Video / MTC

Video / SMPTE (LTC)

on its front panel (at left).

All other time base modes

derive the word clock rate

from their respective

external time base source.

■ 48 pull-up (+1%)

■ 48 pull-down (-1%)

■ 44.1 kHz

■ 44.1 pull-up

■ 44.1 pull-down

(from the 9-pin deck or from house sync) is the time

base master and the 9-pin deck is address master (via

its 9-pin connection).

An external word clock device serves as the time base

master and the other chosen source (Internal, MTC, LTC,

control track, ADAT or DA-88) is the address (time code)

master.

Video (VITC)

Video SONY 9-pin This mode is indicated by a blinking Video LED. Video

This word clock rate

setting only needs to be

Word 1x / Internal*

set manually here when

you have selected the

Digital Timepiece, time

code or video as the time

Word 1x / MTC*

Word 1x / SMPTE (LTC)*

Word 1x / control track 1 and 2

Word 1x / ADAT

* Also available in

Word 256x format

for Pro Tools systems.

base master (with the

TIME BASE controls on the

right). Other time base

An external word clock device serves as the time base

master. The external word clock master device and the

Digital Timepiece are both resolved to video, so that

Word 1x / DA-88

Word 1x / video / Internal

Word 1x / video / LTC

Word 1x / video / MTC

modes derive the word

clock rate from their

respective external time

base source.

both devices can achieve accurate video frame lock. The

address master can be Internal, LTC, MTC, VITC or 9-pin.

master and the Digital Timepiece is the address (time

Word 1x / video / VITC

Word 1x / video / Sony

S/PDIF / Internal An external S/PDIF device serves as the time base

code) master.

The selected item is both time base master and address

(time code) master.

Control track 1 or 2

ADAT

DA-88

The TACH light blinks once

per second when the Digital

Timepiece is either generat-

ing or converting time code.

The LOCK light glows when

the Digital Timepiece has

successfully achieved and is

maintaining lockup to

external time code.

0 Front P anel Quick Refer ence

The COMMUNICATION

STATUS lights blink when

data is sent to and from

the Digital Timepiece.

Time code appears as a

steady glow. Polling and

“handshaking” messages

appear as ﬂickering.

For time base modes

that require you to

manually choose

the SMPTE time

code frame rate,

If the Digital Timepiece is

currently set to Internal

mode (as shown by the

TIME BASE LED to the

right) — which makes it

The output status lights

show when data is being

sent to each output

destination. When the

Digital Timepiece is idle

Connect an Alesis LRC

or LRC-compatible

remote control here.

press the FORMAT

button repeatedly to

the address (time code)

master, pressing the

(not generating or

converting time code),

choose the desired

rate. However, for

time base modes

STRIPE button makes it

begin generating time

code (as well as all other

the output lights will

ﬂicker about once per

second as the Digital

that make the

Digital Timepiece

sync formats) at

0:00:00:00, unless you

Timepiece continuously

checks for devices

follow external time

code, this setting is

made automatically

have used the ClockWorks

console software to set

any SMPTE start time you

connected to it. If a

device is present, the

Digital Timepiece contin-

by the Digital

Timepiece, which

senses the frame

rate of the incoming

wish. If an external source

is currently chosen as the

address master, pressing

this button won’t do

ually checks for its

current frame location to

make sure it is in sync

with the Digital

time code.

anything.

Timepiece. When the

Digital Timepiece is

generating or converting

time code, the LEDs will

glow continuously.

■ A MIDI interface connected to a

Use the MIDI ports to connect the following

types of MIDI devices:

To connect the Digital

Timepiece directly to a Macin-

tosh computer (without a

The Digital Timepiece must either be at the

beginning or end of a chain of ADATs.

Accordingly, never connect both the Sync In

computer (not necessary if the Digital

Timepiece is connected to a Macintosh

via the RS422 REMOTE port)

separate MIDI interface),

connect this RS422 port to the

modem or printer port of the

and Sync Out sockets at the same time. Only

use one or the other. In most circumstances,

you will want the Digital Ti mepiece to be the

compatible device

■ Any MIDI Machine Control (MMC)

■ Any MMC controller, such as a JL Cooper

Macintosh. This allows the

Digital Timepiece to talk to an y

MIDI software, and it acts as a

sync master over your ADAT (or chain of

ADATs). If so, connect the Digital Timepiece’s

ADAT Sync Out port to the Sync In of your

CuePoint™ or CS10™

that you would like to slave t o MT C (MIDI

Time Code)

■ Any MIDI device or computer software

standard 1 MHz MIDI interface.

The Digital Timepiece even

allows MIDI devices connected

to its MIDI ports to communi-

ADAT, and, if you have others, chain them off

of the ﬁrst ADAT as directed in your ADAT

manual. The ADAT Sync In port allows the

Digital Timepiece to be the slave of an ADAT

cate with MIDI software

(or at the end of a chain of ADATs), which, in

■ Any MIDI instrument, such as a synthe-

sizer, sampler, drum machine, etc.

CONTROL TRACK is the Digital

Timepiece’s own, proprietary

synchronization format. It

carries all three components of

synchronization: word rate,

address and transport infor-

mation. Connect any device

that supports it, such as

another Digital Timepiece.

running on the computer.

Connect a SONY 9-pin

compatible video

tape recorder (VTR)

here. This connection

allows the Digital

Timepiece to be

either a master of or

slave to a SONY 9-pin

compatible video

deck or other device.

turn, could be controlled by a BRC. Note that

all of this applies to other ADAT-compatible

decks as well, such as the Fostex RD-8.

0 Rear Panel Quick Ref erence

WORD 256x is Digidesign’s

own special ﬂavor of word

clock. It w orks with Digidesign

systems only — ones that

have word clock jacks with a

label on them something like:

If you want to slave the

Digital Timepiece to an

S/PDIF device, connect

the master S/PDIF signal

to the Digital Timepiece

S/PDIF IN connector. An

The SMPTE IN and OUT

jacks are standard tip/

ring, balanced +4dB

connectors for SMTPE

LTC. Connect a LTC

source, such as a

■ “Slave clock”

■ “Superclock”

■ “Word 256x”

S/PDIF device can be

slaved to the Digital

Timepiece via the S/

PDIF output connector,

multitrack tape deck

or the audio from a

VTR, to SMTPE IN. The

SMPTE OUT jack can go

Compatible systems include

Pro T ools™, Pro T ools Project™

(formerly called “Session 8”)

and Pro Tools III™.

which continuously

generates S/PDIF sync,

unless the THRU button

is pushed in on the front

panel, in which case it

to any destination,

such as a stand-alone

hard disk recorder, a

time code track on a

tape deck, etc.

The Digital Timepiece must either be at the

beginning or end of a chain of DA-88s.

Accordingly, never connect both the Sync In

and Sync Out sockets at the same time. Only

use one or the other. In most circumstances,

you will want the Digital Ti mepiece to be the

sync master over your DA-88 (or chain of

DA-88s). If so, connect the Digital

Timepiece’s DA-88 Sync Out port to the Sync

In of your DA-88, and, if you have others,

chain them off of the ﬁrst DA-88 as directed

in your DA-88 manual. The DA-88 Sync In

port allows the Digital Timepiece to be the

slave of an DA-88 (or at the end of a chain of

DA-88s), which, in turn, could be controlled

by a RC-848. Note that all of this applies to

other DA-88 compatible decks as well, such

as the Tascam DA-38.

Connect any standard

digital audio word

clock device, such as a

stand-alone hard disk

recorder, to these

connectors. Do not

connect Digidesign

hard disk recording

systems here. For

Digidesign systems,

use the WORD 256x

connectors instead.

simply passes input to

its output.

To VIDEO IN, connect any video

source, such as house sync black-

burst or a VTR. To VIDEO OUT,

connect any video destination,

such as a video monitor or any

device that requires video sync.

The Digital Timepiece ’ s time c ode

burn-in display and other video

display options are viewed from

its video output.

The Digital Timepiece has a built-

in video sync generator. For

important information about

how the video sync generator

interacts with the Digital

Timepiece’s synchronization

features, see chapter 9, “Working

with Video” (page 67).

CHAPTER

3 Installation

OVERVIEW

Because the Digital Timepiece supports a wide range of devices, this installation guide is divided into sections. Each section expl ains how t o connect an individual type of gear to the Digital Timepiece. It may also brieﬂy discuss other important information, such as special considerations or operating requirements you need to know to successfully operate the gear with the Digital Timepiece.

For sections that do not apply to you (you don’t own that speciﬁc piece of equip men t, f or exam pl e), just skip over them.

Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Digital Multitrack tape decks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Word Clock Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

S/PDIF devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

If your device isn’t speciﬁcally mentioned

If you have a device that is not speciﬁcally mentioned in this installation guide, read the general description of each device category to see if your device falls in that category. If it does, the general description p rovided — tog ether with your device’s instructions — should be enough to get it working with the Digital Timepiece.

Also check these other resources for late-breaking information about new devices that can be used with the Digital Timepiece:

■ Inserts included with this manual

■ Our Web site (www.motu.com)

SMPTE time code devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

MIDI Time Code devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Alesis LRC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

MMC control surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

COMPUTERS

The Digital Timepi ece serves as an exc ellen t wa y to synchronize MIDI software and computer-based digital audio workstations with the rest of the gear in your studio. If your software supports MIDI Machine Control (MMC), you can control the transports of everything from your computer. If your software supports MMC record functions, you can accomplish basic recording tasks from your computer, too, such as arming tracks, recording on them, and even recording automated punch-ins.

The Digital Timep iece does not r equir e a com put er to perform its basic synchronization duties. A computer does provide one important advantage: it allows you to run the Digital Timepiece’s control panel software, called ClockWorks™, which gives you access t o features in the Digital Timep i ec e tha t are not available from the front panel.

For information about installing and using the Digital Timepiece software console, called ClockWorks™, see the ClockWorks User’s Guide that accompanies this guide.

How it works

Comput er software co mm unicat es with the Digital Timepiece via either MIDI Time Code (MTC), MIDI Machine Control (MMC) or both (Figure 3-1). Software on the computer slaves to MTC generated by the Digital Timepiece. Conversely, software that supports MMC can send MMC transport commands (play, stop, rewind, locate, etc.) to the Digital Timepiece.

MIDI software

and/or

digital audio workstation

MIDI Machine Control

(MMC)

Figure 3-1: How a computer software communicates with the Digital Timepiece.

MIDI Time Code

(MTC)

Digital Timepiece

Connecting a Macintosh

There are two different ways you can connect a Macintosh to the Digital Timepiece:

■ With a standar d RS422 (ci r cular “DIN-8”) cable

and the Digital Timepiece’s built-in serial port (Figure 3-2)

■ With MID I cabl es and a separa te MID I in te rface

(Figure 3-3) There are no performance or operational

advantages either way, so the choice is a practical one. If you have an available serial port and a DIN-8 serial cable that will reach from the comp uter to the Digital Timep i ece, it may be more convenient to connect directly, thus avoiding time code routing issues in your MIDI interface. Also, if you use OMS, there are additional practical considerations that you may want to consider. See chapter 11, “Digital Timepiece & OMS” (page 79) for details.

☛ Digital audio workstations that involve

additional hardware installed inside the computer or connected externally to the computer may or may not require these MIDI connections in lieu of connections made directly between the hardware and the Digital Timepiece.

INSTALLATION

Connecting via the Mac’s modem or printer port

When you connect the Digital Timepiece directly to the Macintosh’s modem or printer port with a standard RS422 (DIN-8) cable (Figure 3-2), it acts as a standard 1 MHz MIDI interface. Set your MIDI software to 1 MHz on the serial port that th e Digital Time Piec e is conn ected to , an d also be sure that your sequencer or DAW software has the ability to receiv e MT C from tha t serial port. U se th e other serial port for your MIDI interface, if you have one.

Macintosh

computer

Digital Timepiece

modem

port

printer

port

Serial

cables

(RS422)

MIDI interface

If you have a MIDI Timepiece AV

The Digital Timepiece’s synchronization capabilities far exceed those of the MIDI Timepiec e AV. Ther efo re, you will probably want to make the Digital Timepiece handle synchronization chores while the MIDI Timepiece AV takes care of MIDI processing and networking. For optimum ﬂexib ility, connect the Digital Timepi ece to your Mac using a combination of the connections in Figure 3-2 and Figure 3-3. Or connect it to the Net port of the MIDI Timepi ece AV.

To modem port on Mac

MIDI Timepiece AV

Using the MTP’s front panel LCD controls, set the ‘Net’ port to ‘Mac’ in the in the ‘Global Hardware’ menu.

Digital Timepiece

Net port

Serial cables

(RS422)

Mac port

Remote port

Figure 3-2: An example of how to connect a Macintosh computer to the Digital Timepiece via their serial ports.

Connecting via a MIDI interface

When you connect the Digital Timepiece to a Macintosh via a MIDI interface (Figure 3-3), make sure that the interface is programmed to route MTC from the Digital T im epiec e to the M acin tosh. For example, some interfaces connect to both Mac serial ports and dedicate one serial port entirely to time code.

Macintosh

computer

modem

port

Digital Timepiece

Figure 3-3: An example of how to connect a Macintosh computer to the Digital Timepiece via a MIDI interface.

Serial

cable

MIDI interface

MIDI

cables

Figure 3-4: Connecting a Digital Timepiece to the Net port of a MIDI Timepiece AV.

Connecting an IBM-PC or compatible

The Digital Timepiece connects to a PC like any standard MIDI device: via MIDI cab les and a MIDI interface (Figure 3-5). Connect MIDI OUT to IN and IN to OUT as shown. If the W indow s driver fo r your interface provides a special sync port for MIDI Time Code (most of them do), make sure your MIDI software is properly addressing it.

MIDI interface

Parallel

port IBM PC/compatible

computer

Digital Timepiece

Figure 3-5: An example of how to connect a PC or compatible computer to the Digital Timepiece via a MIDI interface.

Printer

cable

MIDI

cables

INSTALLATION

DIGITAL MULTITRACK TAPE DECKS

This section explains how to use the Digital Timepiece with modular digital multi-track (MDM) tape recorders such as the following:

■ Alesis ADAT and ADAT XT

■ Tascam DA-88 and DA-38

other MMC controller). The Digital T i mep iece h as many of the same capabilities as a BRC, making it unnecessary for basic synchronization and MMC remote control of ADATs. The Tascam DA-88 synchronizes with other devices via an SY-88 addon card. See “ABS time versus SMPTE offset with an SY-88” on page 18 for details.

■ Fostex RD-8 and CX-8

■ Panasonic MDA-1

■ SONY PCM-800

■ Other devices that support the ADAT sync

protocol, such as the Darwin hard disk recorder from E-mu Systems

ADATs and DA-88s have their own proprietary synchronization format, which is supported directly by the Digital Timepiece. MDMs from other manufacturers have, in some cases, adopted either the Alesis or Tascam sync format. One example is the F ostex RD-8. The RD-8 has adopted the Alesis ADAT sync forma t and, as a res ult, can be connected directly to the Digital Timepiece in the same fashion as an ADAT. Check with the manufacturer of your device for compatibility.

Modular digital multi-track systems have their own means of chaining multiple units and synchronizing them with single-sample accuracy to form, in effect, on e large system tha t functions as a whole. The Digital Timepiece synchronizes multiple unit systems just as easily and effectively as a single unit. In fact, the connections and procedures for the Digital Timepiece are the same for single- and multiple-unit systems. The Digital Timepiece can even sync ADATs and DA-88s with each other with single-sample accuracy.

Modular digital multi-tracks also provide a way to synchronize to SMPTE time code. For example, ADATs and ADAT XTs require an Alesis BRC to synchronize to SMPTE or to follow MMC transports commands from com put er software (or

How proprietary synchronization works

AD ATs, DA-88s and any other devices that s up port the ADAT o r DA-88 proprietary sync protocols are connected directly t o the Digital Timepiece via the ADAT and DA-88 Sync ports. This connection provides both a sample-accurate time base and frame-accurate address information (Figure 3-6). In addition, the multi-track recorders to be either master of or slave to the Digital Timepiece.

Digital Timepiece

proprietary,

sample-accurate

time base

and

address

Figure 3-6: How modular digital multi-track recorders like the ADAT, DA-88, DA-38 and RD-8 synchronize with the Digital Timepiece.

ADAT, DA-88, DA-38, RD-8

or other

modular digital multi-track

Refer t o the sections bel ow f or speciﬁc inf orma tion about each device, including important considerations if you are al so using an Alesis BR C or Tascam SY-88 sync card.

New MDM systems are frequently being introduced. If you have a device other than the ones discussed in the following sections, contact Mark of the Unicorn technical support as described in “Technical Support” on page 98.

INSTALLATION

Connecting ADATs as slaves

In most circumstances, you will want the Digital Timepiece to be the sync master over your ADAT(s). If so, connect the Digital Timepiece’s ADAT Sync Out port to the Sync In of your ﬁrst ADAT using the sync cable supplied with the ADAT as shown in Figure 3-7. Don’t worry about setting the ADAT device ID: the Digital Timepiece sets it automatically.

Digital Timepiece

Connecting the Digital Timepiece as a slave

If you hav e an Alesis BRC, an d y ou wan t t o use it as your master control surface, you will need to connect the Digital Timepiece as the last device in your ADAT chain, as shown below in Figure 3-9, with the BRC as the master of the chain.

BRC

Sync Out

ADAT

Sync

Out

ADAT

Sync In

port

Figure 3-7: Connecting an ADAT as a slave to the Digital Timepiece.

ADAT sync cable

If you ha ve sev eral ADATs, y ou can c hain the r est of them to the ﬁrst one as shown in Figure 3-8.

Digital Timepiece

ADAT

Sync Out port

ADATs

Sync In

Sync Out

Sync In

Sync Out

ADAT

sync cables

ADATs

Sync In

Sync Out

Sync In

Sync Out

etc.

Sync In

Sync Out

Digital Timepiece

Figure 3-9: Connecting a slaved Digital Timepiece as the last device in an ADAT chain.

ADAT

sync cables

ADAT

Sync In

Sync Out

etc.

Figure 3-8: Connecting multiple ADATs.

INSTALLATION

WORKING WITH THE TASCAM DA-88

There are sev eral ways to connect the DA-88 to the Digital Timepiece, depending on whether you are running the DA-88 under ABS time or SMPTE time (while under the control of a Tascam SY-88 sync card). The next section discusses ABS time versus SMPTE offset with an SY-88 card.

Connecting a DA-88 as an ABS slave

This type of sync can be done without an SY-88 sync card. The Digital Timepiece controls the DA-88. For example, from your computer sequencer, you can shuttle the Digital Timepiece, which in turn controls the DA-88. In this scenario, the DA-88 operates under ABS time only.

ABS time versus SMPTE offset with an SY-88

The Tascam DA-88 can measure time in two ways:

■ absolute time (also called ABS time)

■ SMPTE time with an offset (start frame)

Absolute time is a measurement of actual elapsed time since the beginning of the tape, where the beginning of the recordable portion of the tape (immediately after the tape leader) is zero. The front panel o f the D A-88 disp lays ABS time, as does the MMC/Sync window in the Digital Timepiece’s ClockWorks software. For example, if you start recording at the beginning of the tape and record for 20 minutes, the ABS time display on the front panel of the DA-88 would display approximately 0:20:00:00.

If your Tascam DA-88 has an SY-88 sync card installed inside, the SY-88 card provides you with the ability to stripe (recor d) SMPTE time code o n a special “sub-code” track on the tape. Once a tape has been striped in this manner, the SY -88 car d can then read the time code on sub-code track and generally pla y, locate, and otherwise cue the D A -88 according to the time code, rather than ABS time. For example, you could stripe the tape starting at a time other than zero — a common situation when working with audio f or picture — s uch as one h our and ﬁve minutes (01:05:00:00). You can then choose the offset option on the front panel of the D A -88 t o disp lay SMPTE time instead of ABS time in the DA-88’s front-panel counter. If you then record f or twen ty minute s starting at the beginning of the tape, the DA-88 counter would read approximately 1:25:00:00.

If you need to reference the DA-88 and Digital Timepiece to an external time code source, use one of the SY-88 related scenarios described in the following sections.

This scenario provides sample-accurate sync between the DA-88 and the Digital Timepiece.

When the Digital Timepiece has control over one or more DA-88s via the DA-88 sync connectors (using ABS time), it must cue in three-second intervals to maintain sample-accurate sync. For example, if you cue the Digital Timepiece to 5 minutes and 2 sec on ds fro m the transport con tr ol s in your sequencer, and then start playback, the Digital Timepiece (and all devices under its control) will begin playing at the nearest 3-second interval (5 minutes, 3 seconds in this example).

If you are do in g d etailed work for which this threesecond interval is not acceptable, use one of the SY-88-related sync scenarios described in the following sections.

INSTALLATION

In this scenario, connect the Digital Timepiece’s DA-88 Sync Out port to the Sync In of your ﬁrst DA-88 using the sync cable supplied with the D A -88 as sho wn in Figure 3-10. I f you ha v e a single DA-88, make sure the device ID selector on the ‘System’ card on its rear panel is not set to zero. If you ha ve a c hain of D A -88s, make sure that none of them are set to zero, and also make sure that each unit has a unique ID setting.

Digital Timepiece

DA-88

Sync

Out

DA-88

Any device ID except 0

Figure 3-10: Connecting a Tascam DA-88.

DA-88 sync cable

Sync In port

If you have several DA-88s, you can chain the rest of them to the ﬁrst one as shown in Figure 3-11. Note tha t you can c onnect both AD AT s and D A -88s at the same time (not pictured).

Digital Timepiece

DA-88

Sync Out port

DA-88s

Device ID 1

Sync In

Sync Out

DA-88

sync cables

Connecting the Digital Timepiece as ABS slave

In this scenario, the DA-88 serves as the time base, address, and transport master. You control the Digital Timepiece, along with everything else attached to the Digital Timepiece, from the transport controls on the DA-88 itself. This scenario provides sample-accurate sync between the DA-88 and the Digital Timepiece.

There may be so me situa tions in which y ou w ant t o slave the Digital Timepiece to your DA-88 instead of the other way aro und. For example, if yo u ha v e a Tascam RC-848 controller, and you wan t to use it as your master control surface, you will need to connect the Digital Timepiece as the last device in your DA-88 chain, as shown below in Figure 3-9, with the 848 as the master of the chain.

RC-848

Sync Out

ADATs

Sync In

Sync Out

Sync In

Sync Out

etc.

Sync In

Sync Out

ADAT

sync cables

Device ID 2

Device ID 3

Figure 3-11: Connecting multiple DA-88s.

INSTALLATION

Sync In

Sync Out

Sync In

Sync Out

etc.

Note: if you are using house sync, it should not be fed to the DA-88s in this scenario. House sync should be fed to the Digital Timepiece instead.

ADAT

Digital Timepiece

Figure 3-12: Connecting a slaved Digital Timepiece as the last device in a DA-88 chain. In this example, the RC-848 is master of the chain.

Sync In

Make sur e yo u set the R C-848 ID to zer o (0) so that it powers up as the master of the chain. Also make sure the DA-88s in the chain are set to unique IDs. The Digital Timepiece itself has no ID in this scenario.

Using a DA-88 with an SY-88 sync card as the SMPTE time code master

If you woul d like t o use the SMPTE time code track on a DA-88 deck equipped with an SY-88 card, then the DA-88 cannot operate as a slave to the Digital Timepiece. Instead, the DA-88 acts as the master and the Digital Timepiece slaves to it, a shown below in Figure 3-13. The word clock connection from the SY-88 card to the Digital Timepiece is optional, although it is highly recommended for tighter sync and faster lockup time.

This scenario requires an SY-88 card. The DA-88/ SY-88 combination serves as the master, feeding SMPTE time code (LTC or MTC) to the Digital Timepiece and other devices. You control the Digital Timepiece, along with everything else attached to the Digital Timepiece, from the DA-88. This scenario allows yo u t o sync the DA-88 — and

the Digital Timepiece — to time code from other sources, such as a video deck, or the time code subtrack on a DA-88 tape.

DA-88/SY-88 as SMPTE and word clock master

This scenario is identical to the SMPTE-only scenario just discussed, except that you also feed word clock from the SY-88 card into the Digital Timepiece, in addition to SMPTE time code, as shown below in Figure 3-13. This produces faster lock-up times and tighter sync than the SMPTEonly scenario above.

MMC compatible

sequencer or audio

software

bi-directional MIDI

for MMC and MTC

MMC remote control setup notes

To control this entire rig from your computer:

1. Set the Machine ID on the SY-88 car d using the ﬁrst four DIP switches at location S2 on your SY-88 card. Refer to your DA-88 manual for details.

2. Connect a MIDI Out from your MIDI interface to the MIDI In on the SY-88 card so software can send MMC commands to the SY-88 card.

3. Be sure to feed MTC back to the computer, either from the SY-88 MIDI OUT port or from the Digital Timepiece (but not both!).

4. Make your software send MMC commands with the same ID you gave the SY-88 (not the Digital Timepiece). See “Controlling a DA-88/SY-88 with Performer” on page 72.

Figure 3-13: To use the time code track on a DA-88 equipped with an SY-88 sync c ar d , the DA-88 serves as the time code master. In this setup , it also serves as the time base master. The Digital Timepiece slaves to the word clock and SMPTE it receives from the DA-88. The MMC remote control from the computer as shown here is optional. Figure 3-14 on page 21 shows this setup with everything referenced to house sync.

Digital Timepiece time base mode: Word 1x/LTC

Various forms of word clock and SMPTE time code distributed by the Digital Timepiece to other devices.

DA-88 with SY-88 Sync Card

SY-88 Card SMPTE out

(LTC or MTC)

SMPTE IN

(LTC or MTC)

Digital Timepiece

DA-88

Word clock out

Word 1x IN

DA-88/SY-88 setup notes

1. If you are using MTC, make sure the SY-88 is programmed to send MTC by checking the SY-88 card’s S2 location DIP switches (on the board itself). The 8th switch should be “On”.

2. Make sure the Digital Timepiece’s frame rate and sample rate match the DA-88/SY-88. (Note: the DA-88 sample rate is visible on the front panel; the frame rate can be set by depressing the up/down arrows simultaneously. Use the up/down arrows to change the frame rate, if necessary. Depress DISPLAY & down arrow to exit.)

3. T he SY-88’s rear panel MODE DIP switches must be set to enable MIDI Machine Control. All switches should be in the down position, except for #2

INSTALLATION

Using house sync with the Digital Timepiece and a DA-88/SY-88 (“Triple-sync”)

If you would like to use the SMPTE “sub code” track on a DA-88 equipped with an SY-88 card as the master address source for your rig, and you would also like to use house sync video as a timebase for everything, connect the DA-88 to the Digital Timepiece as shown below in Figure 3-14.

In this setup, both the SY-88 card and the Digital Timepiece resolve to house sync. In addition, the Digital Timepiece resolves to the word clock generated b y th e SY-88 card. The SY-88 card serves as the time code address master source.

This scenario is identical to the o ne on the pr evious page (Figure 3-13), except for the video feed to both the DA-88 and the Digital Timepiece.

Of all the SY-88-r ela ted (no n-ABS) sync scenarios, this one prod uc es the tight est l ock-u p betw een th e Digital Timepiece and the DA-88.

You can contr ol the transpo rts of the entire rig (via the SY-88 card) from one of several possible transport control sources:

■ The transport buttons on the front panel of the

DA-88

■ An RC-848 controller connected to the DA-88

■ Computer software that has been set up to

control the SY-88 card via MIDI Machine Control Because the Digital Timepiece is so ﬂexible, you

can use various sources for time code, video, and word clock. For example, you co uld feed S MPTE to the SY-88 card and Digital Time pi ece fro m a video deck that is also referenced to house video, such that the video deck is the transport/address mast er.

Controlling a DA-88/SY-88 from Performer

You can trigger the entire rig shown in Figure 3-13 or Figure 3-14 from Performer. For step-by-step directions, see “Controlling a DA-88/SY-88 with Performer” on page 72.

Check the DA-88/SY-88 setup notes in

MMC compatible

sequencer or audio

software

Check the MMC remote control setup notes in Figure 3-13 for additional important info.

Figure 3-14: To use the sub code track on a DA-88 equipped with an SY-88 sync card as the address master while using house sync as the time base, connect the DA-88/SY-88 to the Digital Timepiece as shown here. Notice that the time base mode for the Digital Timepiece is Word 1x/ video/LTC (or Word 1x/video/LTC). The Digital Timepiece can resolve to both the house sync and the word clock from the DA-88/SY-88, which is also resolved to house sync, while at the same time following the SMPTE time code (LTC or MTC) from the SY-88 card.

INSTALLATION

bi-directional MIDI

for MMC and MTC

Digital Timepiece time base mode: Word 1x/video/LTC or Word 1x/video/MTC

Various forms of word clock and SMPTE time code distributed by the Digital Timepiece to other devices.

Figure 3-13 for additional important info.

DA-88 with SY-88 Sync Card

Video Sync In

SY-88 Card SMPTE out

(LTC or MTC)

DA-88

Word clock out

Word 1x INSMPTE IN (LTC or MTC)

Video IN

House Sync

Video Generator

Digital Timepiece

WORD CLOCK DEVICES

Word clock is a timing reference for digital audio devices. Word clock supplies common timing to multiple devices so that they can be synchronized with one another. We call a device that supports word clock — i.e. it has word clock connectors on it — as a word clock device. Here are a few examples:

■ Digital mixers

Digital Timepiece

Word clock

Time code (LTC or MTC)

word clock device

Yamaha 02R digital mixer

■ Stand-alone hard disk recorders

■ Computer-based digital audio workstations

■ Computer audio cards

The Digital Timepi ece sup ports two diff eren t wo rd clock formats: Word 1x and Word 256x. Word 1x is an industry standard format and is supported by all devices except several systems made by Digidesign. Digidesign systems have their own word clock format, Word 256x, which they refer to as superclock, slave clock or word 256x. Always connect Digidesign hardware to the WORD 256x connectors on the Digital Timepiece. Connect all other word clock devices to the WORD 1x connectors.

How it works

When synchronizing two word clock devices, one acts as the master and the other serves as a slave. The slaved device follows the master to maintain sample-accurate synchronization.

Figure 3-15: How word clock devices synchronize with the Digital Timepiece. In this example, the Digital Timepiece is both the word clock (time base) master and address (time code) master.

Inter estingly , though, the wor d clock master d evice does not necessarily have to be the address master. A word clock sl ave can be an address master, while the word clock master provides the overall time base. In the example shown in Figure 3-16, the Digital Timepiece is the word clock master, while the Akai DR8 hard disk recorder is the time code master. This setup would allow you to control the transports of everything from the DR8 front panel (or a transport control surface connected to the DR8).

Digital Timepiece

Word clock Time code (LTC or MTC)

word clock device

(Akai DR8 hard disk recorder)

Word clock is a time base referen ce o nly, pro viding an accurate measurement of the passage of time and the speed at which sam ples s hould g o b y. Word clock carries no address (time code) information (e.g. “we’re at 1:05:33:14”). Therefore, word clock by itself is not enough to synchronize two devices. Time code is also required so that each device knows where to go in time when you tell it to cue, play, record, stop and chase. An example is shown below in Figure 3-15.

Figure 3-16: In this example, the Digital Timepiece is the word clock (time base) master and the Akai DR8 hard disk recorder is the address (time code) master. This allows you to synchronize the DR8 with other digital audio devices connected to the Digital Timepiece, while at the same time controlling the transports of everything from the DR8 (or a control surface connected to the DR8).

INSTALLATION

Connecting a word clock device as slave

In most situations, you’ll want to connect your word clock device as a slave to the Digital Timepiece as shown below in Figure 3-17.

Digital Timepiece

word 1x

SMPTE

Word clock device

Figure 3-17: Connecting a word clock device. In this example, SMPTE time code is being fed to the word clock slave device via the Digital Timepiece’s LTC SMPTE output. Alternately, you could feed MIDI Time Code (MTC) from the Digital Timepiece’s MIDI OUT.

OUT

word clock

Connecting multiple word clock devices

If you ha v e mor e than o ne w or d cl ock device, there are several possibilities for connecting them to the Digital Timepiece. First, the Digital Timepiece actually provides two w ord clock o utputs: a W ORD 1x OUT and a WORD 256x OUT , and it is possible to use both at the same time. For example, you could connect a stand-alone hard disk recorder to the word 1x output and a Digidesign Pro Tools™ system to the word 256x output. (Just remember, only Digidesign hardware will work with the 256x output.)

But what if you already have a device connected to the 1x word clock output, such as a hard disk recorder, and you’d like to connect a second word clock device, such as a digital mixer? In this scenario, y o u can try chaining the second device to the ﬁrst, connecting the word clock output of the ﬁrst to the word clock input of the second. Keep in mind, however, that some devices don’t support this very well. For best results, try to keep the cable lengths as short as possible.

INSTALLATION

S/PDIF DEVICES

S/PDIF is an industry standard format for transferring stereo digital audio from one device to another. While many devices on the market support S/PDIF, the term S/PDIF device as used in this discussion refers to a device that has no other way of synchronizing digitally with other devices. Examples of this kind of device are:

■ Digidesign Audiomedia I, II and III cards

■ DAT decks

Devices that hav e S/PDIF c onnector s, bu t also ha ve word clock connectors, ADAT sync connectors, or other means of digital audio synchronization, should be incorporated into a Digital Timepiece system using these other sync formats.

How S/PDIF sync works

When synchronizing tw o S/PD IF d evices, one acts as the master and the other serves as a slave. The slaved device follows the master to maintain accurate synchronization that won’t drift.

S/PDIF is similar to word clock in the sense that it is a time base reference, providing an accurate measurement of the passage of time and the speed at which samples should go by. S/PDIF can also contain embedd ed address inf ormation (e .g. “we’re at 1:05:33:14”). However, many S/PDIF devices, including most DAT decks, do not support embedded time code. In order to support as wide a range of devices as possible, the Digital Timepiece does not support embedded S/PDIF time code either . Instead, it uses the S/P DIF sam p le clock as a time base and relies on time code (SMPTE time code or MIDI time code) to make the S/P DIF device chase, locate and play in sync with the Digital Timepiece. An example is shown in Figure 3-22 on page 26.

S/PDIF devices cannot be chained.

S/PDIF thru

S/PDIF differs from word clock because it is not just a synchronization format: it consists of actual digital audio signal, which can be recorded from one device to another. As a result, the Digital Timepi ece has a S/PD IF THRU butto n on the fro n t panel that allows the Digital Timepiece to become transparent and pass any a udio signal it recei ves on its S/PDIF IN port directly to its S/PDIF OUT po rt.

When the THRU button is pushed out, the Digital Timepiece “swallows” incoming S/PDIF signal. If the Digital Timepiece is currently set to its S/PDIF time base mode, it will also slave to the S/P DIF signal that it swallows. When the THRU button is pushed in, the THR U LED on th e fron t panel lights up and the Digital Timepiece ignores whatever it receives on its S/PDIF input, passing the signal through, unaltered, to its S/PDIF output as shown in Figure 3-18. The Digital Timepiece cannot slave to S/PDIF input when S/PDIF THRU is engaged.

This feature is supplied as a convenience, so you don’t ha ve to swap cables for different situations. If you want to slave the Digital Timepiece to an S/ PDIF device, r elease the THRU button. I f yo u wan t to pass the device’ s S/PDIF signal to another device connected to the Digital Timepiece’s S/PDIF Out, push the THRU button in.

S/PDIF device A

S/PDIF In

S/PDIF Out S/PDIF In

S/PDIF device B

Figure 3-18: An example of bidirectional communication between two S/PDIF devices. When Digital Timepiece’s S/PDIF THRU button is pushed in (turned on), device A can send signal to Devic e B. When the

S/PDIF Out

S/PDIF In

S/PDIF Out

Digital Timepiece

S/PDIF THRU

turned on

(button pushed in)

INSTALLATION

S/PDIF THRU button is pushed out (off), the Digital Timepiece “swallows” the signal from Device A. The Digital Timepiece can slave to Device A only when THRU is turned off.

Connecting S/PDIF devices

The S/PDIF connections you make to the Digital Timepiece depend on what devices you have. Here are a few examples.

Digital Timepiece

S/PDIF In S/PDIF Out

If you have two S/PDIF devices, you can connect them as shown in Figure 3-18 on page 24. But only Device B can be slaved digitally (via S/PDIF) to the Digital Timepiece.

Example: Digidesign’s Audiomedia card

Digidesign’s Audiomedia card serves as a useful example for how you can use the Digital Timepiece’s S/PDIF synchronization capabilities. The Digital Timepiece’s S/PDIF sync feature helps solve two problems for Audiomedia™ I, II or III users: drift and digital transfers to and from ADAT and other systems.

S/PDIF InS/PDIF Out

S/PDIF device

Figure 3-19: Connecting a single S/PDIF device to the Digital Timepiece.

If you have S/PDIF device, such as an Audiomedia card, and another device that is slaved to the Digital Timepi ece, such as an AD AT or DA-88, and you would like to do S/PDIF transfers between them, you would need to connect them like this.

Digital Timepiece (Internal mode)

S/PDIF

Out

S/PDIF

Audiomedia

Sync mode:

Figure 3-20: Connecting an Audiomedia card bidirectionally with a DA-88 via the Digital Timepiece. The Digital Timepiece is the word clock and time code master. When recording from DA-88 to Audiomedia, engage S/PDIF THRU on the Digital Timepiece front panel (push it in). When rec ording fr om Audiomedia to DA-88, disengage S/ PDIF THRU (push it out). This same scenario could be used for ADAT (with an Alesis AI-1 converter, which connects optically to ADAT).

S/PDIF Out

Digital

S/PDIF

Out

IF-88AE

converter

DA-88

Sync Out

TDIF-1

I/O

DA-88

Sync In

DA-88

The drift problem

The ﬁrst problem is drift. If you have an Audi omedia card, you are probab ly running it with a digital audio sequencer or a Digidesign software package like P r o Tools™ or Sessio n™. But yo u have probably discovered that when you are slaving the software to external time code, long portions of audio (i.e.audio regions that are longer than a minute or so) can drift out of sync with time code. This is because the Audiomedia card triggers regions at the proper time during playback, but once they start, they’re on their own, playing at a rate determined by the Audiomedia card’s own internal clock. Because the Audiomedia card’s clock is not resolved to external time code, the audio inevitably drifts over time. To address this problem, most Audiomedia-compatible programs offer a software synchro niza tio n f ea tur e, where the software slaves to external time code and then drives the Audiomedia hardware. B ut this f eatur e is undesirable because it actually adds or removes samples as needed to stay in sync with external time code — not exactly a high-ﬁdelity solution. Another work-around is to chop lengthy audio regions int o small pieces — no t exactly co n venie nt.

INSTALLATION

MIDI Time Code source

MIDI Time Code

Figure 3-21: Before the Digital Timepiece, was available Audiomedia would either run on its own internal clock or be driven by software synchronization. The results were either drift or audio distortion.

Macintosh with Audiomedia card

running audio software

The Digital Timepiece solves these drift problems by supplying the Audiomedia card with a stable, external word clock time base (via S/PDIF output from the Digital Timepiece to the S/PDIF input of the Audiomedia card.), along with resolved time code, which is fed as MIDI Time Code (MTC) to the software running the card. The Audiomedia card slaves in perfect sync with the Digital Timepiece via its S/PDIF input, which continuously resolves the word clock time base. And since the Digital T im epiece is providing these synchronization services to all other devices as well, the Audiomedia card can stay perfectly in sync with all other devices, too.

Digital audio transfers

The second problem for Audiomedia users has been successfully transferring audio digitally between Audiomedia and other devices that are slaved to their own word clock master. Before the Digital Timepiece, this type of transfer would be inconvenient because you would have to temporarily make the other device slave to the Audiomedia card for the transfer, which often involves physically plugging and unplugging cables. But the Digital Timepiece solves this problem because both Audiomedia and the other device can be connected to and slaved to the Digital Timepiece at all times, even during digital audio transfers between them.

A schematic example is shown in Figure 3-23 between the Audiomedia card and the Tascam D A-88 via the Tascam IF-88AE format c on verter. A similar arrangement could be made with Alesis ADAT and Alesis AI-1 format converter.

The connections required for Figure 3-23 are shown in Figure 3-20.

Digital Timepiece

S/PDIF word clock MIDI Time Code

Macintosh with Audiomedia card

running audio software

Figure 3-22: The Digital Timepiece supplies stable, resolved S/PDIF word clock to the Audiomedia card, along with MIDI Time Code.

S/PDIF word clock

Macintosh with Audio-

media card running

audio software

Audiomedia sync mode

set to ‘Digital’

Figure 3-23: An example of making digital audio transfers to and from a Digidesign Audiomedia card. In this example, both the Audiomedia card and the Tascam DA-88 multitrack recorder are slaved to the Digital Timepiece. Transfers between the Audiomedia card and the DA-88 are made possible by the Tascam IF-88AE format converter (not shown).

MIDI Time Code

bidirectional

S/PDIF transfers

via

Tascam IF-88AE

format converter

DA-88 Sync

DA-88

INSTALLATION

VIDEO

The Digital Timepiece can synchronize to any video signal, including blackburst (“house sync”) or a video feed from a standar d video tape rec ord er (VTR). It can read and lock to VITC. It has video display features, including a SMPTE burn-in, which it superimposes over the video signal sent from its VIDEO OUT connector. Its VIDEO OUT can be either a thru from the input or video black, which can be generated by the Digital Timepiece’s built-in video generator. In either case, you can choose whether or not to include the Digital Timepiece’s video overlay display.

Connecting video devices

Connect any video source to the VIDEO IN of the Digital Timepiece. Typical sources include:

■ House sync

■ VTR output (with or without VITC)

■ Video distribution ampliﬁer

Connect any video destination t o the VID EO OUT of the Digital Timepiece. Most often this will be a video monitor, so you can see the time code burn in and other video display features of the Digital Timepiece. It could also be a video deck.

Accessing the Digital Timepiec e video f eatur es

The video features in the Digital Timepiece can be accessed using ClockWorks™, the Digital Timepiece’s console software. See your ClockWorks manual for details.

The advantage of house sync video

House sync video pro vides faster locku p times. F or details, see “Getting faster lockup time with house sync (blackburst) as a time base” on page 35.

Using the Digital Timepiece video generator

The Digital Timepiece has a built-in video sync generator. For important information about how the video sync generator interacts with the Digital Timepiece’s synchronization features, see chapter 9, “Working with Video” (page 67).

INSTALLATION

SMPTE TIME CODE DEVICES

The Digital Timepiece is a SMPTE time code converter and generator. As a converter, it reads incoming longitudinal SMPTE time code (LTC) from a time code sour ce . As a generator, it produces time code that is recorded to a destination.

The Digital Timepiece is also a VITC reader and generator. For information, see “Video” on page 27.

When making the SMPTE time code connections described in the following sections, d o not pass the signal through any type of signal processing equipment. Use shielded quarter-inch audio cables.

Connecting a SMPTE time code destination

Connect the Digital Timep iece ’s SMPTE OUT port to the SMPTE time code input of any destination device that accepts SMPTE time code as shown in Figure 3-25.

For example, time code can be recorded on an outside track of a multitrack tape recorder so that everything can subsequently be synchronized to the multitrack. Other examples of a SMPTE time code destination are syst ems that ha ve th e ability to slave to SMPTE time code, such as stand-alone hard disk recording systems, digital audio workstations, or automated mixing consoles.

Connecting a SMPTE time code source

Connect any SMPTE time code source, such as the SMPTE time code track on an analog multitrack tape deck, to the SMPTE IN port on the Digital Timepiece as shown in Figure 3-24. (For information abou t recor ding time code tracks with the Digital Timepiece, see “Striping SMPTE” on page 90.)

Analog audio tape recorder Video tape recorder

REC

PLAY

Examples of a SMPTE

time code source

Audio or SMPTE out

Shielded, quarter-inch audio cable

SMPTE in

Digital Timepiece

SMPTE out

Shielded, quarter-inch audio cable

SMPTE or Audio in

Examples of a SMPTE

time code destinations

Analog audio tape recorder

Figure 3-25: Connecting a SMPTE time code destination.

Video tape recorder

PLAY

Digital Timepiece

REC

Figure 3-24: Connecting a SMPTE time code source.

INSTALLATION

MIDI TIME CODE DEVICES

The Digital Timepiece provides MIDI Time Code (MTC) to any device (or computer software) that requires it. MTC is transmitted from the Digital Timepiece’s two MIDI OUT ports, as well as the RS422 REMOTE port (which would normally be connected to a Macintosh computer).

ALESIS LRC

The LRC REMOTE jack on the front panel of the Digital Timepiece can serve as an input for the Alesis LRC™ remote controller, or any device that emulates th e LR C, such as the Fost ex M odel 8312™ controller.

To slave a device to MTC generated by the Digital Timepiece, connect the MIDI OUT of the Digital Timepiece to the MIDI IN on the device. For computer connections, see “Computers” on page 14.

Digital Timepiece

LRC REMOTE jack

Alesis LRC

or similar device

Figure 3-26: Connecting an Alesis LRC remote controller.

INSTALLATION

MMC CONTROL SURFACES

MMC control surfaces are hardware devices that provide gen eric MMC co n tro ls, such as transports, a jog/shuttle wheel, and time code display of some kind, record-enable buttons and often a host of other programmable controls.

Example of such devices are the JL Cooper CuePoint™ and CS-10™ workstations.

How it works

MMC controller devices issue MIDI Machine Control commands that control the Digital Timepiec e. F or exam ple, the transpo rt button s on a MMC controller send MMC commands such as play, stop and locate, to the Digital Timepiece, which follows them, generating sync for all connected devices. the Digital Timepiece also sends Time Code back to the controller so that its SMPTE counter can provide you with a running update of time code — And so the controller knows where the Digital Timepiece is at any time. You are, in effect, triggering the Digital Timepiece from your MMC controller, while the Digital Timepiece is actually the time code master.

MMC controller

Time Code (LTC or MTC)

MIDI Machine Control (MMC)

Digital Timepiece

Connecting a MMC controller

You need to establish bidirectional MIDI communication between the Digital Timepiece and the MMC con troller (fo r MMC — and MT C, if you are using it instead of LTC). To do so, you can connect the MMC co n tr oller dir ectly t o the Digital Timepiece MIDI IN and MIDI OUT jacks. Alternately, you could connect both the Digital Timepiece and the MMC controller to your multiport MIDI interface and route MMC internally from the controller to the Digital Timepiece.

Some controllers may require an LTC connection for time code instead of MTC. If so, connect SMPTE OUT from the Digital Timepiece to LTC IN on the controller.

From the standpoint of achieving MMC transport control over the Digital Timepiece, the above preparations ar e all yo u need. Ther e may, of course, be other preparations necessary in the controller itself.

The factory default MMC device ID for the Digital Timepiece is one (1). Make sure you program the transport controls on the controller for ID 1. Note, however, that the Digital Tim epiece uses a 1-based ID numbering scheme (from 1 to 128), whereas your MMC controller may use a zero-based numbering scheme (from 0 to 127). If so, the Digital Timepiece ID setting in your MMC controller should be zero (0), i.e. the lowest ID value possible.

Other devices

slaved to the

Digital Timepiece

Figure 3-27: When the Digital Timepiece is the time code address master (i.e. it is in one of its Internal time base modes), you can control it (and everything connected to it) directly from a MMC hardware controller.

MMC record commands

Some MMC controllers have the ability to send MMC record commands to MMC devices. For example, you can rec o r d-ena bl e a track on a MM C device by pressing a b utt on o n the co ntr oller. Some controllers let you do more elaborate record functions, such as set automatic punch-in and punch-out recording.

INSTALLATION

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