How do I change the word clock in Cubase?

[Disco Cat]

It won't let me select anything but "Internal," but I want it to be set to external so that my API a2d will be the master. Right now, Cubase and the a2d are both using their internal clocks.




These are the tabs for my soundcard's control panel. The a2d is connected via spdif, however, it shows up as Digital-In within the control panel and also within Cubase.

[chris carter]

On "Device Setup" click "Control Panel".

[Disco Cat]

This is what Control Panel bring up:

[Disco Cat]

Does anyone know? I'm thinking that having both my clocks (on the api a2d and in Cubase) set to master may account for the low quality sound I get in recording, and API customer service would like me to change Cubase's clock to external as the next step in their assistance, but I don't appear to have that option.

[skibob]

I had a similar situation a while ago trying to hook up an SPIDF preamp to an MAudio card. I can't remember exactly what I had to do to make it work, but in the screen shot of your audio card control panel where it says "SPDIF in:Unknown or invalid signal", that's where you need to start. It should say something like "signal present" if it's talking to the preamp. Are your preamp and soundcard set to the same sample rate?

You probably won't be able to set Cubase to external clock until it sees an external clock.

Hope that helps. If I was at my DAW I could probably be more specific but...

[Disco Cat]

Hi, I don't have an option to set my soundcard's bitrate except in playback, it seems. There, it's set at 96 khz, the same as my preamp.

When I turn off my preamp, the "Digital-In" in my soundcard's control panel reverts to "Unknown or invalid signal," just like it says for SPDIF. I guess it's reading the signal, but not as SPDIF?

[chris carter]

All I can say is that when you hit "control panel" it brings up your sound cards settings. These settings are dependent upon your specific sound card. So basically, what I'm saying is that the problem of not being able to set external clock has to do with your soundcard. Time to bust open the soundcard manual

[danbronson]

I wasn't going to say anything, but it isn't getting said, so here it is.

Buy a professional sound card. You're using a consumer one that is not designed to be used like this.

And on that note...what are you even doing with an API A2D if you're just going to run it through something like this? Do you even have good enough monitoring to hear the difference? It's like buying a thousand dollar Blu-ray setup and watching it through a black and white TV from the 50s.

[Disco Cat]

I chose the Auzentech Prelude because it's 24 bit/96 khz with both coaxial and optical spdif. I don't need preamps or converters in an interface, since the a2d has both, so the Prelude seemed like the thing to get. I still don't know that I can blame my sound issue on the card. I was using an m-audio mobile pre previously, and it sounded clearer than what I'm now getting with the a2d. Then I ran some 7th Circle Audio preamps (A12 / N72) through the line-in of the mobile-pre, and it sounded as muffled as the a2d now does. I feel like I'm cursed.

[0-it-hz]

Your soundcard is crap. Buy something with proper drivers and a proper coaxial wordclock connection.... you won't regret it.

[pdiddy]

Originally Posted by skibob

I had a similar situation a while ago trying to hook up an SPIDF preamp to an MAudio card. I can't remember exactly what I had to do to make it work, but in the screen shot of your audio card control panel where it says "SPDIF in:Unknown or invalid signal", that's where you need to start. It should say something like "signal present" if it's talking to the preamp. Are your preamp and soundcard set to the same sample rate?

You probably won't be able to set Cubase to external clock until it sees an external clock.

Hope that helps. If I was at my DAW I could probably be more specific but...

Wow - that was me just yesterday. I think the trick was to set the soundcard to external immediately after a reboot BEFORE you had any signal coming in for it to lock on. I did get Cubase to record after that but then couldn't get it to playback correcty 'cause it was a 32Khz feed and CB wouldn't go that low (so everything sounded like the chipmonks).

[Disco Cat]

Originally Posted by 0-it-hz

Your soundcard is crap. Buy something with proper drivers and a proper coaxial wordclock connection.... you won't regret it.

Ok, but what is crap about it (since it's 24/96 with spdif) And I still don't know how I can relate the soundcard to my sound quality issue (which was also present with the mobile-pre's lin-in). I asked whether this might be a clocking issue on TGP, and someone said that a clocking issue would result in click and pop noises, not the muffled sound that I'm now getting. Cursed, I tell you, I'm just cursed.

And what new soundcard would be suggested? Another reason I chose the Auzentech Prelude is because it lets me plug a 1/8" speaker jack into it, while pretty much any dedicated recording soundcard doesn't. I don't have monitors, atm.

[danbronson]

You're not cursed, you just made a bad purchase and now you're paying for it. Like I said, you have a CONSUMER sound card. This means it's meant to do very simple, basic things and not be flexible when working with PROFESSIONAL products like the A2D. That's black and white enough, right? CONSUMER.....PROFESSIONAL....THEY ARE DIFFERENT (if you want to get into depth, read the manuals and learn exactly what everything means, especially word clock, the absence of which is the problem you're having right now).

So what do I recommend? I recommend you send back the A2D and get a real interface that you can actually learn how to use. Spend a lot of time working on it until you understand EVERYTHING about it. Only then have you earned the right to move up (NOTE: This doesn't imply that you should get something cheap, it means you should simplify and get the basics right first). Only then will you have the experience and knowledge to make something like the A2D work and be able to appreciate it as well.

In a nutshell, start with the fundamentals. Learn how to use your gear and THEN branch off into A2D territory.

[Disco Cat]

Thanks for taking the time to advise me, I appreciate it. You clearly disagree with the people on TGP who told me "I didn't hear anything that sounded like a clocking problem to my ears" and also "Clocking errors usually results in clicks and pops."
Concerning "consumer" vs "professional" audio cards, I thought the only thing that mattered was that it provided 24/96 conversion and had spdif. Clearly, that's not the case. I will email the company who made my soundcard to ask about word clock configure ability and also look into another interface. However, I think I'll be keeping the a2d, as I've probably had it too long to return, and I feel that I know the device fairly thoroughly at this point, and can attribute my issue to something outside the a2d itself.

This question lingers: why did I not have a muffled sound when using an m-audio mobile-pre's preamps, but received the same muffled sound I'm having now when using the mobile-pre's line-in with SCA kits (bypassing the pramps but using the AD converters)?