S/PDIF converters

[whawalter]

Hello,

I successfully connected my Eclipse to a Digi 003 soundcard through s/pdif connection. It works fine with Protools as insert/send instrument but I noticed a huge worsening in terms of sound quality. Is it normal with this kind of connection? Can I improve it somehow?

thanks,

Walter

[nickrose]

Sound quality should be good. My guess is that you have a sample rate synchronization problem -either the Eclipse is not locked to the Digi card (make sure that the ext light is not flashing, if it is, check Setup/Digin/clock (p.25 of UM)), or the Digi card is not locked to the Eclipse output (discuss this with Digi). You also need to make sure that Protools is locked to the Digi card (discuss this with Digi).

One approach might be to set the Eclipse to Int 48K, and then sync Protools to the Eclipse's Word Clock output.

In short, using DAW software with external hardware is not simple …

[whawalter]

When I did this connection I selected the Digin/clock page and then the Eclipse automatically read the Digi frequency of  44.100 hz. Maybe an higher frequency could improve the sound quality but I don't know if I have to change the internal Prootools frequency too.

[nickrose]

I'm afraid that you probably have to talk to Digi – if the Eclipse is showing the right sample rate and the EXT light is not flashing, it is doing all it can. But, make sure that sample rate conversion is off (Setup/digin/SR-CNV on p.26 of UM).

It is unlikely that changing the sample rate will noticeably affect the sound quality in itself. My guess is that you probably have a sample rate incompatibility somewhere.

Having said the above, there are many other things it could be:

1) You don't say what preset you are using – maybe it sounds the way it is supposed to ? Try using Preset 102, Thru Seriies

2) Maybe the level to or from the Eclipse is too high or too low ? Make sure all the green leds light on peaks and that the red one never does.

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