Could someone please help me sync my gear?

[joexing]

Hi All,
I would appreciate it very much if people would comment (constructively, if at all possible) on how I'm trying to connect my hardware and software in order to record MIDI and audio simultaneously. Failing that, if someone could recommend to me a good book on the theory and practice of audio/MIDI recording with an emphasis on synchronization, I would be grateful.

Details below, but here is what is happening: When I press 'play' in Sonar I can see that the Digital Timepiece starts and the "Lock" indicator lights (under LOCK / Address in the TIME BASE section of the Digital Timepiece front panel) light up. Sonar 'chases' to a certain SMTP time and then Sonar and the MIDI Express XT seem to march along at the same pace. But the 'lock' light on the MIDI Express XT does not light up and although things start out OK the MIDI and the audio soon drift.
First of all, I'd appreciate it if someone could confirm that the hardware connections described below are valid. When I examine the 'sync' tab for the MIDI Express Xt n Clockworks, the indicators for 'framelock, input quarterframe phase lock are 'lit' UNTIL I press play in Sonar and then the indicator goes out for input quarterframe phase lock. The 'framelock' indicator stays lit. It seems that the MIDI Express is synced with the Digital Timepiece until I press 'play.'

As background, I have some experience with MIDI and some experience with audio and little success with getting them together in my DAW. First, let me say that I'm an amateur and none of my gear is new: The outboard hardware I am working with is a Delta 1010 (24/96 PCI card) for digital recording, a MIDI express xt and a digital timepiece. For software I'm using Sonar 7 running on an Asus P5GDC Deluxe mobo with an Intel P4 CPU running at 3GHz. The system has 2 Gb memory and plenty of hard disk space. I am a guitarist and I use a Roland GI10 pitch-to-MIDI interface with success and I am able to record audio successfully with the Delta 1010. I run into trouble when I need to record a) more than just myself and b) MIDI and audio simultaneously and when I need to playback my MIDI + audio stuff. Mostly, I can get either the MIDI and audio to sound OK but to drift quickly out of sync or I can get the MIDI and audio to play in sync but it sounds terrible(that problem is, I think described as jitter).

The details: I believe I need to use the word clock on the Delta 1010 as the master (this seems to have solved my jitter problem). I have connected the Word Clock out of the Delta 1010 to the Word Clock In of the Digital Timepiece. I'm attempting to slave the MIDI Express XT to the Digital Timepiece via the SMTP connections (Digital Timepiece SMTP out to MIDI Express XT SMTP in). I am setting Sonar to SMTP sync and because I don't have a hardware connection to the Digital Timepiece I have to get SMPT from the MIDI Express XT. I am trying to control the MOTU gear from Sonar via MMC.

I have MOTU Clockworks running on my PC and it communicates with the MIDI express. I would love to control the Digital Timepiece with Clockworks but I cannot communicate via software with the Digital Timepiece because it lacks an interface to the PC. I have done a lot of testing and I believe that all of the gear functions. I believe that I can get the MIDI Express XT to sync to the Digital Timepiece and I can sync the Delta 1010 to the Digital Timepiece. I have not been able to obtain a manual for the Digital Timepiece (I cannot believe that MOTU can't provide one). I have the manual for the MIDI Express XT.

Thanks,
Joe

[billruys]

May I ask why you are slaving Sonar via SMPTE? When you set SMPTE as the clock source in Sonar, that is exactly what you are doing. If you don't need to sync to tape, I have absolutely no idea why you would want to do that. You are making life way more difficult than it needs to be.

Let me make this clear... Unless you have a compelling reason not to, you should have Sonar's clock source set to audio. You don't usually need to lock your MIDI interface to the DAW, as all MIDI events are relative to the DAW's clock anyway. The audio clock is the most precise clock you have. By comparison, SMPTE is not very accurate.

In regards to the Digital Timepiece - again you only need this if you are trying to sync disparate pieces of hardware. If you are just doing audio and MIDI, just set Sonar to use the audio clock - you don't need the Digital Timepiece and it is only complicating your issue.

So in summary, take the Digital Timepiece out for the moment - you don't need it. Set the project's timing source back to audio - this is the most accurate timing for Sonar. Also in Sonar's Audio Options dialog box, double check that your playaback and recording timing masters are set to the 1010 in the "General Tab".

Now go record something!

EDIT: Forgot to mention, if you have already recorded some MIDI and audio together with the setup you described, chances are the audio & MIDI timing are all screwed up. Follow the steps above and then do some fresh recordings and listen back to them to confirm that things are fixed.

[joexing]

Thank you for your reply, Bill. I began this journey w/o either the MIDI Express or the Digital Timepiece and I spent a lot of time trying to record using the configuration you suggest. In my experience the main problem I encountered is that the MIDI and the audio drift apart.

However, I will remove the Digital Timepiece from the equation and sync Sonar to 'audio' and begin again. In this case I believe that I should choose 'Full Chase Lock' on the Synchronization Tab of 'Audio Setup.' Correct?

Thanks,
Joe

[billruys]

Thank you for your reply, Bill. I began this journey w/o either the MIDI Express or the Digital Timepiece and I spent a lot of time trying to record using the configuration you suggest. In my experience the main problem I encountered is that the MIDI and the audio drift apart.

I have a pair of Delta 1010's that I used with Sonar for years and never had a problem with MIDI/audio timing. This was true even when I used a separate MIDI interface. The only time I have seen audio/MIDI timing drift is when someone has either (a) used something other than audio as the timing source for Sonar, or (b) not selected the correct interface for the recording or playback timing master in Sonar's audio options dialog box (this can happen if you have an on-board audio card as well as a separate recording interface).

However, I will remove the Digital Timepiece from the equation and sync Sonar to 'audio' and begin again. In this case I believe that I should choose 'Full Chase Lock' on the Synchronization Tab of 'Audio Setup.' Correct?

Yes, that should be fine. I'm pretty sure that's the default out-of-box setting and is fine in 99% of cases.