User manual

Table Of Contents
663
Synchronization
Activating VST System Link
4. On computer 2, open the MixConsole and locate the corresponding digital input
bus.
The audio being played back should now “appear” in the program running on
computer 2. You should see the input bus level meters moving.
5. Reverse this procedure so that computer 2 plays back and computer 1 “listens”.
Now you have verified that the digital connection works as it should.
Ö From this point on in this chapter, we refer to the busses connected to the digital
inputs and outputs as “VST System Link busses”.
Settings for the audio hardware
When you exchange VST System Link data between computers, it is important that
the digital information is not changed in any way between the programs. Therefore,
you should open the control panel (or additional application) for your audio hardware
and make sure that the following conditions are met:
If there are additional “format settings” for the digital ports that you use for VST
System Link data, make sure that these are turned off.
For example, if you are using an S/PDIF connection for VST System Link, make
sure that “Professional format”, Emphasis, and Dithering are turned off.
If your audio hardware has a mixer application allowing you to adjust the levels of
digital inputs and outputs, make sure that this mixer is disabled or that the levels for
the VST System Link channels are set to ±0
dB.
Similarly, make sure no other forms of DSP (pan, effects, etc.) are applied to the
VST System Link signal.
Notes for Hammerfall DSP users
If you are using RME Audio Hammerfall DSP audio hardware, the Totalmix function
allows for extremely complex signal routing and mixing in the audio hardware. This can
in some situations lead to “signal loops” in which case the VST System Link will not
work. If you want to make absolutely sure this will not cause any problems, select the
default or “plain” preset for the Totalmix function.
Activating VST System Link
Before you proceed, you need to make sure that VST System Link is set as the
timecode source in the Project Synchronization Setup dialog and that the desired
Sync options are activated, see
“Timecode Preferences” on page 655.
After setting up the inputs and outputs, you now need to define which input/output
will carry the actual VST System Link information.
The VST System Link networking signal is carried on only one bit of one channel. This
means that if you have an ADAT-based system which normally carries eight channels
of 24-bit audio, once you activate VST System Link you will have seven channels of
24-bit audio and one channel of 23-bit audio (the least significant bit of this last
channel will be used for networking). In practice this makes no discernible difference
to the audio quality, since you will still have around 138
dB headroom on this channel.