1 Topic by sambasevam (edited by sambasevam 2016-03-22 03:41:45)

  • Registered: 2014-12-22
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Topic: Sync problem with RME HDSP and ADA8000! HELP!

I'm having a sync problem that's driving me nuts.

My setup is as follows:

9652 ADAT 1 <-> Babyface ADAT (Slave)
9652 ADAT 2 <-> 9652 ADAT (Loopback)
9652 ADAT 3 <-> ADA 8000 (Slave)

9652 SPDIF <-> Coaxial Loopback

Now, ADA8k is where I've connected my mic inputs. And I see that it goes between Sync and Lock in the hammerfall settings. Sample rate is 48K. ADAT 1 and ADAT 2 are in Sync.

I've tried the following:
- Instead of ADAT 3 I tried ADAT 2 port to ADA8000. No luck.
- Set Babyface as Master and 9652 as Slave. Nope.
- Disabled PCI Express Root Port device having the same IRQ as 9652 in Device Manager. Nope.

Someone else is having this issue too : https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewto … mp;t=60470

PLEASE help!  It makes my mic inputs unusable (recorded audio has gaps whenever it goes out of sync).

  • vinark
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Re: Sync problem with RME HDSP and ADA8000! HELP!

And the ADA8k as master? Does that work?
And how is the ADA connected and synced?

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632
  • Registered: 2014-12-22
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Re: Sync problem with RME HDSP and ADA8000! HELP!

vinark wrote:

And the ADA8k as master? Does that work?
And how is the ADA connected and synced?

If the ADA8k is the master things seem to work fine. No sync issues. ADA is connected to the 9652 ADAT 3 ports with 9652 as the master for everything.


But I'm not sure the audio quality implications of ADA8k being the master. I thought RME's SteadyClock was supposed to be really good and is probably leaps ahead of the ADA, for whatever that's worth.

Does this affect my buffer settings at all? Any downsides of having the ADA as the master?

4 Reply by vinark (edited by vinark 2016-03-22 20:34:30)

  • vinark
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Re: Sync problem with RME HDSP and ADA8000! HELP!

If you are using the inputs (mic) of the ADA it is even better to have that as a master. Yes the clock of RME is very good, but that doesnt mean the ADA is good at syncing to it. There was a SOS magazine test that revealed the all but the most expensive devices ran best at their internal clock. RME on the other hand is very good at syncing so this might be your best option anyway.

AFAIK the whole myth of better clocks is caused by one of the first protools interfaces, which had a very bad clock and improved with external clocking.
And it is easier/cheaper to make a good internal clock then to make a converter that is very good at syncing to external clocks.

But even so your ada should work as slave. How do you send the clock to the ada? Best is an adat cable from RME adat out to ADA in. Second choice would be wordclock. Without one of them no sync!

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632
  • Registered: 2014-12-22
  • Posts: 116

Re: Sync problem with RME HDSP and ADA8000! HELP!

vinark wrote:

If you are using the inputs (mic) of the ADA it is even better to have that as a master. Yes the clock of RME is very good, but that doesnt mean the ADA is good at syncing to it. There was a SOS magazine test that revealed the all but the most expensive devices ran best at their internal clock. RME on the other hand is very good at syncing so this might be your best option anyway.

AFAIK the whole myth of better clocks is caused by one of the first protools interfaces, which had a very bad clock and improved with external clocking.
And it is easier/cheaper to make a good internal clock then to make a converter that is very good at syncing to external clocks.

But even so your ada should work as slave. How do you send the clock to the ada? Best is an adat cable from RME adat out to ADA in. Second choice would be wordclock. Without one of them no sync!

Thanks for that info - yeah it should work either way which is what I'm puzzled about.

The ada is synced via adat- I.e. Both In and out are connected to 9652.  Otherwise it wouldn't have synced in the other direction. 

So the culprit is the ada 8k? Hard to believe as this is one of the most common and popular adat interfaces and I'm sure rme would have tested with this. It's just standard 48k clocking so I'm curious to see what RMEs response is.

6 Reply by vinark (edited by vinark 2016-03-23 08:39:08)

  • vinark
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Re: Sync problem with RME HDSP and ADA8000! HELP!

One thing to try is to swap the adat cables or try another one.This has been known to help. Or use another adat port on the hdsp.
And are you sure the ADA is running on external sync. And last sure the RME ADAT is not set to SPDIF?

One thing RME is gonna say is try a loopback. So adat 3(or any) out to in and see if it syncs. If it does it is not the HDSP. Also a good way to test cables.

Still if recording quality is most important set the recording AD as master.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632

7 Reply by sambasevam (edited by sambasevam 2016-03-29 00:01:28)

  • Registered: 2014-12-22
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Re: Sync problem with RME HDSP and ADA8000! HELP!

vinark wrote:

One thing to try is to swap the adat cables or try another one.This has been known to help. Or use another adat port on the hdsp.
And are you sure the ADA is running on external sync. And last sure the RME ADAT is not set to SPDIF?

One thing RME is gonna say is try a loopback. So adat 3(or any) out to in and see if it syncs. If it does it is not the HDSP. Also a good way to test cables.

Still if recording quality is most important set the recording AD as master.

I've tried another port on the HDSP, same problem. Loopback works fine. I've double checked the ADA and RME settings. RME spdif in is set to coax.

But behringer ADA is such a common unit I'm sure RME atleast has documentation explaining why this happens? Hello RME??

  • vinark
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Re: Sync problem with RME HDSP and ADA8000! HELP!

Could be a faulty ADA.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632
  • Registered: 2014-12-22
  • Posts: 116

Re: Sync problem with RME HDSP and ADA8000! HELP!

vinark wrote:

Could be a faulty ADA.

Apparently I'm not the first person to encounter this issue with the 9652. Another person has had the same exact issue with a different ADAT unit (not ADA).

  • vinark
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Re: Sync problem with RME HDSP and ADA8000! HELP!

Are you 100% sure the ADA is accepting the clock from the RME? How can you check it is in slave mode? The results you have are pointing to the ADA still running on internal clock.

Ah wait I see you have the ADA8000 and not ADA8200 (the newer better one). Sync problems are a known issue with this one and with all brands, not just RME. Solution is always use the ADA as master.

To test if the ADA is working as a slave, use the outputs on the ada. Send a sine wave to the ADA in slave mode and listen for clicks. If there are any, the slave mode of the ADA is not working.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632