karambos
Tape Op
Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 24
Location: Munich, Germany |
| What's a word clock? |
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I apologise in advance for my ignorance but what does a "Word Clock" actually do?
I'm told [URL=http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/bigben.php]
this
[/URL] is a good one.
But I don't know what it does?
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Fri Aug 06, 2004 8:03 am |
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AUdIoCoUrSeS
Joined: 31 Oct 2002
Posts: 2014
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| Digital Audio Word Clock |
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In a studio environment we can often have many pieces of digital audio equipment such as, samplers, sequencers, recorders etc. All of these individual items will have their own internal system for a clock. If you understand that digital audio by its nature is a set of mathematical calculations and that any one point in time will have an associated discreet number assigned to it.
So the first note in the second verse will have an absolute value, which will be tied into the unit's clock, or timeline if you like.
Now imagine all the equipment in your studio having their own timelines, all working independantly from one another, not good!
So we need a way of being able to "tie" all of the items together so they all know where they are at any given point and are synchronised, working on the same timeline.
That is what a word clock is.
The word clock comes in a couple flavours such as the AES work clock which is distributed through the XLR connector and also there is the method distributed through a BNC connector, which I think is simply called "Word Clock".
Often a master Word Clock generator is housed in the studio which is then fed to all of the digital audio equipment to establish the studio clock.
Does that help?
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It's all in the ears. - Learn the concepts not the software.
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Fri Aug 06, 2004 8:46 am |
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karambos
Tape Op
Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 24
Location: Munich, Germany |
So there's a cable going from the word clock to each piece of digital equipment. And a cable going from the word clock to the computer. The computer tells the word clock what's going on and the word clock tells all the other pieces of digital equipment what's going on.
Is that right?
If yes, why not miss out the middle man and have the computer tell all the digital stuff what's going on?
_________________
Mac G4 dual 1GHz Mirror Door Drive, 1.25GB RAM, 140GB drive, OS10.3.6
LOGIC Plat 6.4.3, Audiowerk 2 card
All the fun of [url=http://www.thefair.de/]
The Fair
[/url] |
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Fri Aug 06, 2004 9:03 am |
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AUdIoCoUrSeS
Joined: 31 Oct 2002
Posts: 2014
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| Yup |
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Usually you can just chain it all together rather than star it.
The computer (a standard PC) doesn't have a word clock built in, what would a secretary do with that? Plus having seperate gear for different jobs is generally considered a good thing as it lowers the strain on gear. So the computer doesn't have to process all the vst plug-ins as well as generate the Word Clock.
If you buy a dedicated digital audio workstation (DAW) however, Word Clock will come as standard, such as soundscape, pro tool and various others.
Also you can buy a P.C. interface with Word Clock on it and that is in effect doing what you suggest.
http://www.pcproaudio.com/details/_productDetails.php?ProductID=213
Get it?
_________________
It's all in the ears. - Learn the concepts not the software.
Audio Courses is a way into the music business for you
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Fri Aug 06, 2004 9:26 am |
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karambos
Tape Op
Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 24
Location: Munich, Germany |
got it 
_________________
Mac G4 dual 1GHz Mirror Door Drive, 1.25GB RAM, 140GB drive, OS10.3.6
LOGIC Plat 6.4.3, Audiowerk 2 card
All the fun of [url=http://www.thefair.de/]
The Fair
[/url] |
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Fri Aug 06, 2004 10:15 am |
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