Where do I get info about word clock and ADAT cable requirements?

[amplayer]

I just bought an Apogee Ensemble. I intend to hook it to my Mac (via firewire), and also hook it to a MOTU 828 MKII (via wordclock and ADAT) that is serving as the audio/MIDI interface for a PC. The 828 and PC are just used as a soft synth machine -- that is, all the DAW work is done on the MAC, and the PC is used to offload the sampler and soft synth CPU cycles.

The Ensemble will provide word clock to the 828 and also get 8 channels of audio back from the 828 via the ADAT. Hence, 2 cables between the Ensemble and the 828 are required.

 

So, my question is: how long can these 2 cables can be, and what are their requirements?

I don't want to start a cables war. There have been plenty of those already. I am just looking for where to go to find this information. So far, it doesn't appear that the Apogee or MOTU web resources are the best for this.

[MikeRivers]

 

Originally posted by amplayer I just bought an Apogee Ensemble. I intend to hook it to my Mac (via firewire), and also hook it to a MOTU 828 MKII (via wordclock and ADAT) The Ensemble will provide word clock to the 828 and also get 8 channels of audio back from the 828 via the ADAT. Hence, 2 cables between the Ensemble and the 828 are required. So, my question is: how long can these 2 cables can be, and what are their requirements?

You problably want three cables - two optical, one for gozintas and the other for gozoutas, unless you're using the MOTU as an input device only.

 

ADAT Optical is officially "defined" for cables up to 10 meters. People have used longer cables without problems. There seems to be little difference in the performance between one brand and another. The weakest link is the cheap plastic connector and they all use that because it's in the TOSLink standard. Even if you buy cables with premium connectors, you probably don't have mating premium connectors on the hardware, and you know what they say about chains and weak links. Core Sound has good quality cable assemblies and will make them in custom lengths. It's messy stuff to de-slack, so if you have reasonably firm plans, it's a good idea to get cables that aren't too too long.

 

As far as word clock cable, that's 75 ohm coax, usually with BNC connectors on both ends, but check your gear. It's not all that critical, and up to about 50 feet should be no problem. Core Sound sells those, too, if you want to order from the same place. But Radio Shack video cable is just fine as is any of the music store or electronic distributor (Markertek, etc.) cable brands.

[amplayer]

 

Originally posted by MikeRivers You problably want three cables - two optical, one for gozintas and the other for gozoutas, unless you're using the MOTU as an input device only. ADAT Optical is officially "defined" for cables up to 10 meters. People have used longer cables without problems. There seems to be little difference in the performance between one brand and another. The weakest link is the cheap plastic connector and they all use that because it's in the TOSLink standard. Even if you buy cables with premium connectors, you probably don't have mating premium connectors on the hardware, and you know what they say about chains and weak links. Core Sound has good quality cable assemblies and will make them in custom lengths. It's messy stuff to de-slack, so if you have reasonably firm plans, it's a good idea to get cables that aren't too too long. As far as word clock cable, that's 75 ohm coax, usually with BNC connectors on both ends, but check your gear. It's not all that critical, and up to about 50 feet should be no problem. Core Sound sells those, too, if you want to order from the same place. But Radio Shack video cable is just fine as is any of the music store or electronic distributor (Markertek, etc.) cable brands.

 

 

Wow! Thank you very much for the excellent (and quick) response.

 

WRT the gozintas and gozoutas, I really do only need one ADAT cable: The one going out of the PC (828) and going into the Ensemble. For this application, I have no need to send audio to the PC. The only data going to the PC is MIDI that comes from the MAC via MIDI over lan (ethernet).