CharlesRandolph: “What A/D converter do you have?”
I should be clear: this setup is in the making. I am working in theory at this point in order to inform future purchasing decisions. Right now I am still using my Z4's A/D conversion. My plan is to purchase a high-end A/D converter with a good word clock (I'm eyeing a used Crane Song HEDD).
CharlesRandolph: "I've been eyeing the Antelope Audio Pure2 Mastering AD/DA Converter & Clock."
Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out!"
NearTao: “For signal integrity/quality are you able to get a balanced signal all the way through the chain, if you're really looking for the cleanest sound that'd be an area I'd look into.”
Definitely going with balanced for the analog connections…
“I’m afraid I cannot answer the word clock question, but I'm imagining you're trying to sync fx like a delay or something to tempo?”
…but once the signal jumps through the A/D, from what I understand I ideally would have the FX and Z4 word clock slaved to the A/D. This is supposedly to avoid any jitter between the sampler and the FX. But I have no experience with word clock myself.
“I have so many other questions about your setup... like why not use the z8 for sampling duties? Are you using the Z8's for tracking out like a tape deck? Why is the 4k only for sequencer duties and no sampling?”
The decision to use the separate devices for sampling, sequencing and playback was made just simply to give myself headroom when working on longer or more complex projects. If I follow through with this deep sampling approach, my programs are going to start eating up RAM and CPU. Also, I want to keep the load off of the 4000 as much as possible in order to guarantee the most stable sequencing performance, hence reducing its role to a pure midi computer.
Here's is the video that got me thinking about all of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFvWWQU8cYcpask: “Could you test it for us?
I'm debating whether I should find an optional Wordclock card for my 4k to help tightening the sound a bit more.
When connecting your 4k as the last clocked unit, don't forget to engage the termination switch (on the wordclock card).
Thanks!”
Thanks for the advice. Yes, once the COVID-19 lockdown ends, I'll be making more money again and then I will make final purchasing decisions about which A/D and FX, etc. I will check back in once I have thoroughly tested the setup.
dabmeister: “I use an Apogee Big Ben to lock all my devices that require clock sync. But I'm going to take a stab at what the op is asking. What A/D conversion are you referring to.”
The advice I've been given so far has led me to the same conclusion. Since in my future ideal setup I would be recording these samples inside of a vocal booth, the sampling rig might not even be in the same room as where my sequencing, tracking out and mixing will be going on.
The A/D I am interested in currently is a used Crane Song HEDD Quantum module. They supposedly have very pristine conversion and an accurate word clock generator. For the rest of my setup, I will probably get another high-end clock and run it as the master to a distribution device such as the Drawmer D-Clock.
“And yes, clocking stays active if you keep it selected as such. Basically you give the other device converters to a master.”
Yes! Thank you for answering my question! I couldn't find anything online about this topic, about how word clock operates with a sampler. That's exactly the information I was seeking out with this post.
“But whatever master that is should be stable enough to keep everything else in line.”
Yes, I think whatever A/D I invest in, the word clock will be of equal concern to me as the conversion itself.