Clocking 828's and adat interfaces

[mattmundesley]

My set up:
Powerbook G4 1.5 ghz 2gb RAM OSX 10.4.8
DP5.11
2x 828 mk2's
1x 828
2x Behringer ada8000 a/d convertors
Latest motu firewire drivers installed

Hi,
I hope someone can help with this. I am having acute problems with the above set up, I have set one of the behringer units as master clock driving 828#1 via adat, wordclock drives 828#2, ADAT optical clock to the next behringer and spdif clock to the mk 1 828. The problem is that when I launch DP I get all sorts of horrible spikes and clicks on the adat inputs of both mk2 828's (the analog inputs are fine). This problem only seems to be there when DP is running and goes when I quit DP I have tried changing firewire and adat cables with no luck, and I have tried running an 828 as master which seems a little better but still not very stable.
Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated as I have a concert to record on Monday evening!

Many thanks,

M.

[mattmundesley]

I'm now beginning to doubt if it is a clocking problem as everything seems ok until I launch DP then I start to get noise on the adat inputs only which immediately stops if I pull the firewire cable out!?

[Saintmatthew]

Me thinks you need to sync all those via wordclock to a single master such as a MOTU timepiece or such.

[Aramis]

Me thinks you need to sync all those via wordclock to a single master such as a MOTU timepiece or such.

No ....

[Aramis]

My set up:
Powerbook G4 1.5 ghz 2gb RAM OSX 10.4.8
DP5.11
2x 828 mk2's
1x 828
2x Behringer ada8000 a/d convertors
Latest motu firewire drivers installed

Hi,
I hope someone can help with this. I am having acute problems with the above set up, I have set one of the behringer units as master clock driving 828#1 via adat, wordclock drives 828#2, ADAT optical clock to the next behringer and spdif clock to the mk 1 828. The problem is that when I launch DP I get all sorts of horrible spikes and clicks on the adat inputs of both mk2 828's (the analog inputs are fine). This problem only seems to be there when DP is running and goes when I quit DP I have tried changing firewire and adat cables with no luck, and I have tried running an 828 as master which seems a little better but still not very stable.
Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated as I have a concert to record on Monday evening!

Many thanks,

M.

We would need a schematic of your setup to help you with this !!!!
Aramis

[mattmundesley]

Hi,
Many thanks to those who took the time to reply, I have posted this discussion on the MOTU Hardware forum as "Noise on 828II ADAT inputs" as further work has suggested that this is not a DP specific problem.
Something I ommitted from my original post is the fact that his is a set up I have used in the past to record up to 44 inputs simultaneously and the clocking scenario is as suggested by MOTU themselves in a Tech support reply I received some time ago.

The new information I have posted on the Hardware forum is as follows:

I have now replaced the Behringer ADA8000's with Focusrite Octopre LE's but still have exactly the same fault on the ADAT optical inputs of the 828 MkII's.
Based on my continuing attempts to resolve the problem I would add the following details:
The problem doesn't after all seem to be related to DP but just builds up over time.
The problem begins with a slight high pitched whine from the 828 with occasional clicks on ADAT input #1 this builds over time, usually an hour or so, to the point where there is what sounds like awful 'static' blasts across all 8 ADAT inputs which clip continuously. Disconnecting the ADAT input removes this noise but it appears again when reconnecting it. The whine can be removed by restoring factory defaults on the 828's but the static can only be removed by changing the clock source to ADAT optical, but it eventualy returns. I have tried clocking to various sources including an MTP AV but the problem persists.
Attempts to isolate the problem to a particular 828 or ADAT interface have been entirely unsuccessful. Running just one 828 with an ADAT interface also exhibits this problem and I have tried this with both 828 mk2's.

If anyone can help I would extremely grateful.

MM.

[mattmundesley]

Hi,
Many thanks to those who took the time to reply, I have posted this discussion on the MOTU Hardware forum as "Noise on 828II ADAT inputs" as further work has suggested that this is not a DP specific problem.
Something I ommitted from my original post is the fact that his is a set up I have used in the past to record up to 44 inputs simultaneously and the clocking scenario is as suggested by MOTU themselves in a Tech support reply I received some time ago.

The new information I have posted on the Hardware forum is as follows:

I have now replaced the Behringer ADA8000's with Focusrite Octopre LE's but still have exactly the same fault on the ADAT optical inputs of the 828 MkII's.
Based on my continuing attempts to resolve the problem I would add the following details:
The problem doesn't after all seem to be related to DP but just builds up over time.
The problem begins with a slight high pitched whine from the 828 with occasional clicks on ADAT input #1 this builds over time, usually an hour or so, to the point where there is what sounds like awful 'static' blasts across all 8 ADAT inputs which clip continuously. Disconnecting the ADAT input removes this noise but it appears again when reconnecting it. The whine can be removed by restoring factory defaults on the 828's but the static can only be removed by changing the clock source to ADAT optical, but it eventualy returns. I have tried clocking to various sources including an MTP AV but the problem persists.
Attempts to isolate the problem to a particular 828 or ADAT interface have been entirely unsuccessful. Running just one 828 with an ADAT interface also exhibits this problem and I have tried this with both 828 mk2's.

If anyone can help I would extremely grateful.

MM.

[mattmundesley]

Hi,
Many thanks to those who took the time to reply, I have posted this discussion on the MOTU Hardware forum as "Noise on 828II ADAT inputs" as further work has suggested that this is not a DP specific problem.
Something I ommitted from my original post is the fact that his is a set up I have used in the past to record up to 44 inputs simultaneously and the clocking scenario is as suggested by MOTU themselves in a Tech support reply I received some time ago.

The new information I have posted on the Hardware forum is as follows:

I have now replaced the Behringer ADA8000's with Focusrite Octopre LE's but still have exactly the same fault on the ADAT optical inputs of the 828 MkII's.
Based on my continuing attempts to resolve the problem I would add the following details:
The problem doesn't after all seem to be related to DP but just builds up over time.
The problem begins with a slight high pitched whine from the 828 with occasional clicks on ADAT input #1 this builds over time, usually an hour or so, to the point where there is what sounds like awful 'static' blasts across all 8 ADAT inputs which clip continuously. Disconnecting the ADAT input removes this noise but it appears again when reconnecting it. The whine can be removed by restoring factory defaults on the 828's but the static can only be removed by changing the clock source to ADAT optical, but it eventualy returns. I have tried clocking to various sources including an MTP AV but the problem persists.
Attempts to isolate the problem to a particular 828 or ADAT interface have been entirely unsuccessful. Running just one 828 with an ADAT interface also exhibits this problem and I have tried this with both 828 mk2's.

If anyone can help I would extremely grateful.

MM.

[mattmundesley]

Hi,
Many thanks to those who took the time to reply, I have posted this discussion on the MOTU Hardware forum as "Noise on 828II ADAT inputs" as further work has suggested that this is not a DP specific problem.
Something I ommitted from my original post is the fact that his is a set up I have used in the past to record up to 44 inputs simultaneously and the clocking scenario is as suggested by MOTU themselves in a Tech support reply I received some time ago.

The new information I have posted on the Hardware forum is as follows:

I have now replaced the Behringer ADA8000's with Focusrite Octopre LE's but still have exactly the same fault on the ADAT optical inputs of the 828 MkII's.
Based on my continuing attempts to resolve the problem I would add the following details:
The problem doesn't after all seem to be related to DP but just builds up over time.
The problem begins with a slight high pitched whine from the 828 with occasional clicks on ADAT input #1 this builds over time, usually an hour or so, to the point where there is what sounds like awful 'static' blasts across all 8 ADAT inputs which clip continuously. Disconnecting the ADAT input removes this noise but it appears again when reconnecting it. The whine can be removed by restoring factory defaults on the 828's but the static can only be removed by changing the clock source to ADAT optical, but it eventualy returns. I have tried clocking to various sources including an MTP AV but the problem persists.
Attempts to isolate the problem to a particular 828 or ADAT interface have been entirely unsuccessful. Running just one 828 with an ADAT interface also exhibits this problem and I have tried this with both 828 mk2's.

If anyone can help I would extremely grateful.

MM.

[mattmundesley]

Hi,
Many thanks to those who took the time to reply, I have posted this discussion on the MOTU Hardware forum as "Noise on 828II ADAT inputs" as further work has suggested that this is not a DP specific problem.
Something I ommitted from my original post is the fact that his is a set up I have used in the past to record up to 44 inputs simultaneously and the clocking scenario is as suggested by MOTU themselves in a Tech support reply I received some time ago.

The new information I have posted on the Hardware forum is as follows:

I have now replaced the Behringer ADA8000's with Focusrite Octopre LE's but still have exactly the same fault on the ADAT optical inputs of the 828 MkII's.
Based on my continuing attempts to resolve the problem I would add the following details:
The problem doesn't after all seem to be related to DP but just builds up over time.
The problem begins with a slight high pitched whine from the 828 with occasional clicks on ADAT input #1 this builds over time, usually an hour or so, to the point where there is what sounds like awful 'static' blasts across all 8 ADAT inputs which clip continuously. Disconnecting the ADAT input removes this noise but it appears again when reconnecting it. The whine can be removed by restoring factory defaults on the 828's but the static can only be removed by changing the clock source to ADAT optical, but it eventualy returns. I have tried clocking to various sources including an MTP AV but the problem persists.
Attempts to isolate the problem to a particular 828 or ADAT interface have been entirely unsuccessful. Running just one 828 with an ADAT interface also exhibits this problem and I have tried this with both 828 mk2's.

If anyone can help I would extremely grateful.

MM.

[mattmundesley]

Hi,
Many thanks to those who took the time to reply, I have posted this discussion on the MOTU Hardware forum as "Noise on 828II ADAT inputs" as further work has suggested that this is not a DP specific problem.
Something I ommitted from my original post is the fact that his is a set up I have used in the past to record up to 44 inputs simultaneously and the clocking scenario is as suggested by MOTU themselves in a Tech support reply I received some time ago.

The new information I have posted on the Hardware forum is as follows:

I have now replaced the Behringer ADA8000's with Focusrite Octopre LE's but still have exactly the same fault on the ADAT optical inputs of the 828 MkII's.
Based on my continuing attempts to resolve the problem I would add the following details:
The problem doesn't after all seem to be related to DP but just builds up over time.
The problem begins with a slight high pitched whine from the 828 with occasional clicks on ADAT input #1 this builds over time, usually an hour or so, to the point where there is what sounds like awful 'static' blasts across all 8 ADAT inputs which clip continuously. Disconnecting the ADAT input removes this noise but it appears again when reconnecting it. The whine can be removed by restoring factory defaults on the 828's but the static can only be removed by changing the clock source to ADAT optical, but it eventualy returns. I have tried clocking to various sources including an MTP AV but the problem persists.
Attempts to isolate the problem to a particular 828 or ADAT interface have been entirely unsuccessful. Running just one 828 with an ADAT interface also exhibits this problem and I have tried this with both 828 mk2's.

If anyone can help I would extremely grateful.

MM.

[mattmundesley]

Apologies for the multiple posts it kept telling me it hadn't been sent, something about 'debug mode'

[auptown]

Just a thought, but is it possible that you are just overloading the firewire bus? I can't really tell by your description of the system, but I also have PB G4, and I don't think that I have the horsepower to run that much stuff on the FW bus.

[mattmundesley]

Just a thought, but is it possible that you are just overloading the firewire bus? I can't really tell by your description of the system, but I also have PB G4, and I don't think that I have the horsepower to run that much stuff on the FW bus.

Yea, I did this before and ran 44 inputs to my G4 with exactly this set up very successfully. As I understand it you can daisy chain up to 3 828's on one firewire bus before exceeding the bandwidth.So this current problem is very frustrating!
Many thanks for the reply though.

MM

[auptown]

OK, let's try to figure this out. From what I can tell, the 828's work fine by themselves. In other words, you can use the analog inputs and you don't have any problems. Right?

But, the problem is the device plugged into the ADAT inputs of the 828gets weird. Right again?

So, what is the device plugged into the ADAT inputs? And where does that device get its clock from? Because it must be running on the same clock as the 828. For example, plugging a word clock out from the 828 to the ADAT-device input and setting the ADAT-device to lock to incoming word clock would probably help.