syncing MOTU 828 w/ Digimax LT

[mchimes]

Hi,

I'm considering buying a Digimax LT for my 828, but it only has wordclock, and the 828 only has ADAT sync.

Will the digimax slave to the 828 through the optical lightpipe or will I have to get a master timepiece to reconcile the to different sync formats?

I'm assuming that these have to be in sync for clean digital transfers . . . right?

Thanks,
Mike

[jamie garner]

i have an 828 and the 'full' digimax, and i use the sp/dif out on the digi to send sync to the 828. of course, i set the 828's control panel to use external sp/dif sync.

it's worked really well for me- i'm thinking the digi lt has sp/dif out as well?

i use the 828/digimax combo with an imac for location recording, and i've been extremely pleased with the performance of the 828 (i can record 16 24-bit 48k tracks without a hitch on the 400mhz g3 imac), and REALLY happy with the excellent sound of the digi! i use a mackie 1402vlz to feed the 828's 1/4" ins, primarily using the mackie's pre's for electric guitar, snare drum, ect. the digi gets vocals, any bass-heavy signals like bass guitar, kick drum, ect, as well as drum overheads and any 'delicate' sources like acoustic guitar, violin, and the like. the digi's pres (which i understand are the same in the 'lt' version) do a fine job of reproducing the source!

btw, speaking of sync- my home studio (non transportable) is based around a pro tools digi001, and i use the same digimax/ mackie with it. i added a langevin dual vocal combo to it (holy cow, it's GREAT!), and in order to get the best a/d conversion to disk i bought an apogee rosetta- the langevin's outs go to the rosetta, which then feed the 001's rca sp/dif ins, allowing 18 tracks at once- very nice. to keep everything in sync, the chain is like this:

rosetta's bnc wordclock out into digimax wordclock in
rosetta's rca sp/dif out to 001's rca sp/dif in
digimax's adat out to 001's adat in
digimax's sync set to external
001's sync set to sp/dif external

the quality of the rosetta's a/d conversion and stable sync has really made an audible difference in the 001's quality- i haven't taken it out into the field with the 828/digimax, but the sync would be setup the same, and i imagine the quality would be, as well.

i'm thinking about getting the aphex 207 dual mic pre for the remote rig, and if i do, the rosetta would be necessary at that point. but 'til then, the sp/dif sync from the digimax to the 828 has been really working perfectly.

[mixer]

whatever output you use from the digimax to the soundcard should be the timing master...if you are using lightpipe select it as the timing master. if you hookup spdif it should be the timing master. remember that if you don't have the digimax on and are mixing you will have to switch the sound card back to internal clock.