TWO DAWS and TWO D8B's

[Carlo]

Dear All,

Has anyone ever used a separate DAW for each mixer and connect them via MIDI to play in sync?

D8B - A with Sound interface and DAW A
D8B- B with another sound interface and DAW B
mixers connected with Ethernet
DAW connected via MIDI

Regards

Carlo

[Phil.c]

I have two d8b's/HDR's, these days I only run one, but I use it to run transport with Logic via midi from an HDR and a mastermaster clock, Motu 2408 for tracking, I can't see a problem with running two DAW's.

Phil

[Carlo]

Thanks phil

[Phil.c]

I just use Logic for midi instruments, all main tracks are on my HDR, if you use a Motu 2408, you will have eight tracks you can record from your d8b to DAW, and play back eight also, these come into the "Tape" Bank.

Hope this helps?

Phil

[Carlo]

Yes im using motu 2408. I have two of them which i can connect separately to each d8b and to two PC's. Will check it out when i get the new pc.

The only problem i forsee is that a song will have tracks recorded on both pc's instead of having everything on one hard disk hence on one pc.

Thanks alot
Carlo

[Phil.c]

I'm wondering if two 2408's can be connected to one DAW?

I know with Logic, the track outputs are shown as 1&2 3&4 5&6 7&8 but that is perhaps because there is one 2408 connected?

What clock are you using?

Phil

[Carlo]

Yes you can connect up to 4x 2408 on one pc. Im using the apogee but without a clock generator tge 2 d8bs will not clock well. That is why im trying to use two pc's and 2 d8bs

[Y-my-R]

Hmm... I thought if you have an Apogee clock card in both d8b's, and modify one to allow turning the termination off, then you can just daisy chain the word clock...? There's an article in the database how to do that.

Still seems more practical than running two computers and sync them, if you intend to run both to record tracks for the same project...?

Besides, with the daisy chained WC sync, and the network ports configured correctly, you can cascade your two d8b's to share busses, etc., from what I read. Seems well worth the effort to mod a card, rather than dealing with a complicated two-computer setup each time you record. Just my two cents...

Also, if you're on Logic (...probably not, since you said you'll get a new PC and Logic is Mac only... I think it was Phil who's on Logic), it will detect another copy of Logic with the same serial/identifier on your network and refuse to launch a second instance... unless you buy a second copy/license.

My recommendation would be to skip the 2 computers, and instead cascade the two 2408s, and modify one of the Apogee clock cards in the d8b, slaving everything off of a single device.

As an example, before I upgraded my audio interface, I was running the following devices all synched off of a single clock source with no problems:

M-Audio Octane 8 channel preamp (Master)
Focusrite Saffire Audio Interface (Slave - via ADAT)
d8b (Slave - via Word Clock)
M-Audio ProFire 610 (configured for standalone use as Mic-Pre, slave via S/PDIF loop from Saffire)

...and to complicate things further, I had an old M-Audio "Digipatch" patchbay connected, that allowed me to switch digital connections on the fly... I'd typically use it to change the ADAT input on the Saffire, to receive signal from the d8b instead of the Octane, when I needed to send 8 channels into the interface from the desk. (Better turn off the speakers before making such a switch).

All this worked fine, without a clock generator. You just gotta be a little thoughtful about how they all sync to each other (...and have a modded Apogee clock card in one d8b, that doesn't terminate).

I'd totally do this, if my 2nd d8b would have a working CPU unit (just using it with a ProBox). I even have the modded card already, in case I stumble over a CPU for a good price

[Carlo]

Hi Y my R
nice explanation and this is what im looking for as such...no Clock generator. I have two apogee clocks in both d8B's not modified though. so in order to work as you are describing here you need to keep the apogee non terminated i.e. one has to be modified as described in the database. Am i right?

So you are taking the word clock from your focusrite (Master) interface it seems from your description. im using cubase by the way on PC.

regards

Carlo

[Carlo]

just looked at the modification for the apogee terminated and un-terminated switch. I would like to ask a silly question......

Why does the apogee has BNC IN & OUT clock when it is hard wired terminated? If its terminated the OUT BNC should not work? so why is it there? Since its terminated from factory, only the IN's work? Why is there an OUT port? I thought that i can daisy chain since the apogee has IN and OUT word clock.

However i believe im missing something that is why i said its a silly question LOL. bear with me LOL