Members Bluewater Posted September 21, 2005 Members Share Posted September 21, 2005 I'm assuming I'll get better audio quality using the SPDIF connector from my ToneLab to my AudioFire interface, since this avoids a DA/AD conversion. Assuming this is true (is it?), and given that the ToneLab has an optical connector and the AudiorFire has RCA, where can I find a convertor/adapter cable to connect these two devices? And why isn't there one standard for S/P DIF, for cryin' out loud? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 You need something like one of these. About $80 list. Why is there two standards - optical and coax? Beats the heck out of me. Yes, that should sound better, since you will be avoiding a couple of converter stages. Make sure you set your computer soundcard's word clock setting to "S/PDIF slave" so that you don't have any word clock related issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bluewater Posted September 21, 2005 Author Members Share Posted September 21, 2005 Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe You need something like one of these. About $80 list. Why is there two standards - optical and coax? Beats the heck out of me. Yes, that should sound better, since you will be avoiding a couple of converter stages. Make sure you set your computer soundcard's word clock setting to "S/PDIF slave" so that you don't have any word clock related issues. Thanks Phil; somehow knew you'd have the answer. You can probably expect a question on word clock issues at some point, because I've managed to avoid dealing with that aspect of the digital domain so far.................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 Well, if that becomes an issue, feel free to ask! The main thing to remember is that all digitally connected devices need to share a single, common word clock source - IOW, one device has to be the WC master and all other digitally interconnected devices have to be WC slaves of that master word clock source. There should be a clock source button or menu on your sound card applet... just make sure it's set to "slave" when you're feeding S/PDIF digital audio into your soundcard and you should be good to go. Oh yeah, make sure you have the sample rates (IOW 44.1 kHz / 48 kHz or whatever) also set properly for each device - they need to be set to the same rate. If you have any problems, please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bluewater Posted September 21, 2005 Author Members Share Posted September 21, 2005 Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe Well, if that becomes an issue, feel free to ask! The main thing to remember is that all digitally connected devices need to share a single, common word clock source - IOW, one device has to be the WC master and all other digitally interconnected devices have to be WC slaves of that master word clock source. There should be a clock source button or menu on your sound card applet... just make sure it's set to "slave" when you're feeding S/PDIF digital audio into your soundcard and you should be good to go. Oh yeah, make sure you have the sample rates (IOW 44.1 kHz / 48 kHz or whatever) also set properly for each device - they need to be set to the same rate. If you have any problems, please let me know. Thanks again, Phil. My AudioFire had "internal," "spdif," and "word" options, so I assume it's the spdif that I should select in this case. Once I get the convertor, I'll confirm that it works -- hope the $59 price is worth the increase in audio quality... From what I can tell so far, nothing beats a mic'd amp. And I can understand the necessity for digital devices to have a single clock for midi, but if I'm going to play a guitar using the ToneLab, thru the AudioFire to multi-track with a pre-recorded loop of drums on Sonar for example, why do the digital clocks need to be sync'd/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 Thanks again, Phil. My AudioFire had "internal," "spdif," and "word" options, so I assume it's the spdif that I should select in this case. Correct. I'm kind of surprised that your card has a "word" option - it must have a dedicated Word Clock input jack (usually a BNC type connector), and not all soundcards do. But yes, since the word clock data will be traveling over that same S/PDIF cabe as the digital audio (from your Vox), that's the setting to use. Once I get the convertor, I'll confirm that it works -- hope the $59 price is worth the increase in audio quality... From what I can tell so far, nothing beats a mic'd amp. You may still feel that way after you do the digital connection... but OTOH, it should sound better than using the analog connections. And I can understand the necessity for digital devices to have a single clock for midi, but if I'm going to play a guitar using the ToneLab, thru the AudioFire to multi-track with a pre-recorded loop of drums on Sonar for example, why do the digital clocks need to be sync'd Don't confuse MIDI sync with Word Clock sync - they're two different things. The WC sync is to make sure that the two devices are running at EXACTLY the same clock speed... even a slight variance between the two clocks will cause pops and clicks in the digital audio, and the ONLY way to avoid that is to make sure they are sharing a common word clock. That way, the digital samples will "line up" properly and you'll avoid those nasty clicks and pops in your audio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bluewater Posted September 21, 2005 Author Members Share Posted September 21, 2005 Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe Thanks again, Phil. My AudioFire had "internal," "spdif," and "word" options, so I assume it's the spdif that I should select in this case. Correct. I'm kind of surprised that your card has a "word" option - it must have a dedicated Word Clock input jack (usually a BNC type connector), and not all soundcards do. But yes, since the word clock data will be traveling over that same S/PDIF cabe as the digital audio (from your Vox), that's the setting to use. Once I get the convertor, I'll confirm that it works -- hope the $59 price is worth the increase in audio quality... From what I can tell so far, nothing beats a mic'd amp. You may still feel that way after you do the digital connection... but OTOH, it should sound better than using the analog connections. And I can understand the necessity for digital devices to have a single clock for midi, but if I'm going to play a guitar using the ToneLab, thru the AudioFire to multi-track with a pre-recorded loop of drums on Sonar for example, why do the digital clocks need to be sync'd Don't confuse MIDI sync with Word Clock sync - they're two different things. The WC sync is to make sure that the two devices are running at EXACTLY the same clock speed... even a slight variance between the two clocks will cause pops and clicks in the digital audio, and the ONLY way to avoid that is to make sure they are sharing a common word clock. That way, the digital samples will "line up" properly and you'll avoid those nasty clicks and pops in your audio. Got it, thanks Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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