User Manual-Mac

DIGITAL PERFORMER
80
INPUT MONITORING MODE
To determine how Digital Performer will monitor
input from the PCI-424 system, go to the Basics
menu and choose Configure Audio System>Input
Monitoring Mode. For complete details, see your
Digital Performer manual.
FINE-TUNING I/O TIMING
The PCI-424 system has the ability to be sample
accurate. This means that when you transfer audio
between Digital Performer and an ADAT or other
ADAT Sync-compatible recorder, you can record
the audio back and forth as many times as you want
between them and it will remain exactly at its
original sample location (unless you move it in
Digital Performer, of course).
Under normal operating conditions, Digital
Performer’s timing will be sample-accurate with
ADAT Sync-compatible recorders. It will also be
sample-accurate with Tascam sync-compatible
recorders if you are synchronizing them to a
2408mk3 interface with a Digital Timepiece.
Occasionally, you may encounter a situation in
which you observe a slight offset of one sample —
or maybe a few — caused by inherent latencies in
the devices you are using with the 2408mk3.
Usually, these offsets will be consistent, and you
can compensate for them in Digital Performer. To
do so, choose Configure Audio System>Fine-tune
Audio I/O Timing from the Basics menu as shown
in Figure 7-3.
Figure 7-3: Fine-tuning the timing of audio playback and recording.
SYNCHRONIZATION
Digital Performer can run under its own transport
control or slave to an external sync source, such as
SMPTE time code or ADAT sync (sample address).
Running DP under its own transport control
If you do not need to synchronize Digital
Performer with time code or another recording
device, such as a tape deck, just leave the Slave to
External Sync command in the Basics menu
unchecked.
However, even though Digital Performer is not
slaving to external sync, you still need to be
concerned with the synchronization of the
PCI-424 system’s digital audio clock with other
devices connected to it digitally (if any). For
example, if you have a digital mixer connected to a
2408mk3 interface via an ADAT optical lightpipe
cable, you need to make sure that their audio clocks
are phase-locked. For details, see “Syncing ADAT
‘lightpipe’ devices” on page 46 and “Make sync
connections” on page 35. If you don’t have any
digital audio devices connected, digital audio
phase-lock does not apply to you.
Resolving DP and the PCI-424 to video and/or
SMPTE time code
If you need to slave Digital Performer and the
PCI-424 system to video and/or SMPTE time code,
you can do so with or without a dedicated
synchronizer.
Resolving directly to video and/or time code
(with no synchronizer)
To resolve your Digital Performer/PCI-424 system
directly to video and/or SMPTE time code with no
additional synchronization devices, use the setup
shown in “Syncing to SMPTE time code” on
page 41 or “Syncing to video” on page 42.
☛ Direct video sync requires a 2408mk3
interface. SMPTE time code sync can be done with
any MOTU PCI audio interface.