# BVCC LS9 Word Clock



## GStephenson (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi All, my 1st post on this forum. We have a new sound system in our church, the console is a Yamaha LS9-32. We have an issue with the Wordclock creating a ticking sound or fuzzy noise on the wireless. We have a Digimax LT for wireless.

Switching from 44K 48K some times clears the issues it is totally random.

Any ideas as to fixing this issue.

Gerry


----------



## icewolf08 (Nov 23, 2008)

First off, welcome to the booth! Hope that you can find what you are looking for here.

Though a am not really a sound guy (I used to be), I do hang out with the sound designer for our theatre. We also have an LS-9 and have found that using the internal wordclock has never worked out well. We have one of our digital preamps set up as the master clock. I would recommend either getting a separate wordclock generator or using a device other than the console as your master clock.

I am sure that some of our more audio savvy guys will be around soon and tell me I am crazy, but I know that this is what we have found at our theatre.


----------



## mixmaster (Nov 25, 2008)

GStephenson said:


> Hi All, my 1st post on this forum. We have a new sound system in our church, the console is a Yamaha LS9-32. We have an issue with the Wordclock creating a ticking sound or fuzzy noise on the wireless. We have a Digimax LT for wireless.
> 
> Switching from 44K 48K some times clears the issues it is totally random.
> 
> ...



Can't say that I've had a problem with the wordclock on our new LS-9 but we've only had it for a couple months. Are you clocking down the lightpipe or with an external BNC cable? Are your mics or receivers located close to the Digimax or the clock cable? It's a bit of a wild guess here, but if the clock signal was "bleeding" into the RF link (maybe affecting the carrier?) that might cause it. Shifting to 48K may be enough of a frequency shift to avoid the interference? Have you tried changing the frequency of your wireless? If you can't change the frequency of the wireless units try a different wireless system with a radically different frequency and see if the problem still exists. Another thing to check might be the 75 ohm terminate switch. Not sure how that would effect things but I'm sure it's there for a reason.


----------



## DaveySimps (Nov 25, 2008)

I have used the board on several occasions always with the internal clock, and have never had any issues with it. How do you know it is the wordclock creating the noise? Perhaps it is another piece of gear that needs to be looked into. If you are running Studio Manager off of a laptop near by, I would say that could couse enough interfearence to have the same result. Just a thought though.

That fact that switching the rate of the clock only "someimes" clears up the problem, is not enough info alone for me to think it is the clock. Can you offer any additional info about the gear that is in nearby racks, or on the same system? Perhaps it would help offer more insite to potential causes.

~Dave


----------



## TimmyP1955 (Nov 30, 2008)

Are the antennae in the wings, or at FOH? How long are the antenna cables? In either case you may have so little RF hitting the receivers that it does not take much to get some bleed.

I've yet to hear of anyone having a problem using the internal clock on any of the Yammie consoles (although it is said that they sound better with a Big Ben).


----------



## Chris15 (Dec 2, 2008)

Let's start by easing some confusion. After looking it up, the DigiMax LT is a Presonus 8ch AD converter with ADAT output. It's not a wireless system.

Digital can get clocking issues far too easily. Usually they show up as clicks in the signal, which seems to be what you are getting. It has to do with signal refreshes mid data stream.

Someone mentioned not having heard of issues using the internal Yammie clocks, now when used as a single device with only analog IO, there is no real need to worry about sync. Some people argue that some consoles sound better when externally clocked, but there is some evidence to suggest that with a single device, there is little gained in doing so as it still uses the internal clock, the device just syncs it's phase locked loop to the external clock. I can't say whether it does or does not do things to improve the sound. There is a white paper written by one of the guys at Apogee on the matter...

Now that is all for a single device. You've got 2 with the AD and the console. Now unless you have SRC on the inputs to the Yammie, which can correct the issue as well as allowing input at a different sample rate, albeit at a latency and fiscal cost, then you need to have your devices synced some how.

As has been asked, could you let us know how the LS9 is currently clocking?

Given you only have the two devices, my advice here would be to go and find a piece of 75R coax with BNCs and connect the wordclock out on the Digimax to the wordclock in on the LS9. Then set the Digimax at 48k. That should sync things up nicely. Termination - the LS9 word clock in is internally terminated. I won't get into termination here, but for what you are talking about, don't worry about it.

If your clock is bleeding into your RF, you need better RF. Clock runs a square wave at 48 kHz. Even VHF RF is running at 100MHz and UHF higher. If the front end of the receivers can't filter out 48K, then it's absolutely rubbish.

And after all that, have you tried sticking a hardwired mic into the Digimax and seeing if that has the same issues and likewise if the radio mic straight into the console behaves?


----------

