User`s guide
 INSTALLING THE TRAVELER HARDWARE
35
SYNCING S/PDIF AND AES/EBU DEVICES
DAT decks and other devices with S/PDIF and/or 
AES/EBU digital I/O will sync to the Traveler in 
one of two ways:
■ Via the S/PDIF or AES/EBU connection itself
■ Via word clock
Devices with no word clock
If your S/PDIF or AES/EBU device has no word 
clock sync connectors, just connect it to the 
Traveler v i a  t h e  S/PDIF or AES/EBU connectors. 
When the device records a digital audio signal 
(from the Traveler), it will simply synchronize to 
the clock provided by the digital audio input.
On the other hand, when you transfer audio from 
the S/PDIF or AES/EBU device into the Traveler, 
you’ll have to slave the Traveler to its S/PDIF or 
AES/EBU input. If you have other digital audio 
devices connected to the Traveler, and they are not 
slaved directly to the Traveler itself, you may hear 
clicks and pops resulting from their unsynchro-
nized audio clock. If so, just turn them off during 
the transfer.
Devices with word clock
If your S/PDIF or AES/EBU device has a Word 
Clock input, slave the device to the Traveler via 
their word clock connection. You can then freely 
transfer audio between the Traveler and the S/PDIF 
device.
S/PDIF or AES/EBU
S/PDIF or AES/EBU 
device
Trav eler
Trav el er 
Clock Source setting = 
Internal (when transferring from the 
Trav el er to the other device)
Figure 4-18: Two setups for synchronizing an S/PDIF device with the Traveler. In the top diagram, sync is achieved via the digital I/O connection
itself. In this case, you have to choose S/PDIF or AES/EBU as the Traveler’s clock source when recording from the other device. If you don’t want to
have to worry about switching the Clock Source setting depending on the direction of the digital transfer, you can slave the other device to word
clock from the Traveler or vice versa (not shown). The Word Clock connection maintains sync, regardless of the direction of the transfer.
Trav el er 
Clock Source setting = 
S/PDIF or AES/EBU (when transferring 
from the other device to the Traveler)
SPDIF or AES/EBU
Trav eler
Word Clock Out
Word Clock In
Trav el er 
Clock Source setting = Internal 
With this setup, in the MOTU FireWire Audio Console window, choose Internal, 
or any other clock source setting except SPDIF or AES/EBU. The other device 
slaves to the Traveler via word clock for digital transfers in both directions.
S/PDIF or AES/EBU
SPDIF or AES/EBU
S/PDIF or AES/EBU 
device
!Traveler Manual/Win Page 35 Monday, November 29, 2004 3:50 PM










