Synchronization - MOTU Traveler User Manual

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 Traveler. Usually,
these offsets will be consistent, and you can
compensate for them in AudioDesk. To do so,
choose Configure Audio System>Fine-tune Audio I/
O Timing from the Setup menu as shown in
Figure 8-2.
Figure 8-2: Fine-tuning the timing of audio playback and recording.

SYNCHRONIZATION

AudioDesk 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 AudioDesk under its own transport
control
If you do not need to synchronize AudioDesk with
time code or another recording device, such as a
tape deck, just leave the Slave to External Sync
command in the Studio menu unchecked.
However, even though AudioDesk is not slaving to
external sync, you still need to be concerned with
the synchronization of the Traveler's digital audio
clock with other devices connected to it digitally (if
any). For example, if you have a digital mixer
connected to the Traveler via an ADAT optical
lightpipe cable, you need to make sure that their
audio clocks are phase-locked. For details, see
"Syncing optical devices" on page 32 and "Making
sync connections" on page 25. If you don't have any
digital audio devices connected to the Traveler,
digital audio phase-lock does not apply to you.
66
Resolving AudioDesk and the Traveler to
SMPTE time code
If you need to slave AudioDesk and the Traveler to
SMPTE time code, you can do so with or without a
dedicated synchronizer.
Resolving directly to time code (with no
synchronizer)
To resolve your AudioDesk/Traveler system
directly to SMPTE time code with no additional
synchronization devices, use the setup shown in
"Syncing to SMPTE time code" on page 30.
Choose Receive Sync from the Setup menu and
choose the Sample accurate option. Then make
sure that the Slave to External Sync command in the
Studio menu is checked. Make sure the Clock
Source setting in the MOTU FireWire Audio
Console window is set to SMPTE. Also, make sure
that you've connected an LTC input signal to a
Traveler analog input, and that you've specified that
input in the SMPTE Console.
Resolving to video and/or time code with a
dedicated synchronizer
To resolve your AudioDesk/Traveler system to
video and/or SMPTE time code using an
additional synchronization device, use the setup
shown in "Syncing to video and/or SMPTE time
code using a synchronizer" on page 31.
Choose Receive Sync from the Setup menu and
choose the MTC (MIDI Time Code) option. Then
make sure that the Slave to External Sync command
in the Studio menu is checked. To ensure that your
audio tracks don't drift out of sync with your MIDI
tracks — or time code, use a hardware
synchronizer like the MIDI Timepiece AV or
Digital Timepiece to resolve the Traveler hardware
as well, as shown in Figure 3-17 on page 31. A
digital audio synchronizer is required for drift-free
SMPTE/MIDI time code sync. Make sure the Clock
Source setting in the MOTU FireWire Audio
Console window has the appropriate setting for
locking the Traveler to the synchronizer. For
A U D I O D E S K