![]() Given that, in our experience, the composition DAW is rarely the same as the delivery DAW (usually Pro Tools), we will not be testing these proprietary setups. ![]() Of course, this only allows the synchronisation of multiple Steinberg systems. ![]() Steinberg’s VST System Link can link multiple Cubase or Nuendo systems for ‘sample-accurate synchronization’. Of course, this only allows the synchronisation of multiple Pro Tools systems Pro Tools systems can link together using Avid’s Satellite Link feature - though each system requires an Avid Sync HD interface (and Pro Tools HD hardware) to achieve ‘near sample-accurate lock’. By using such a proprietary protocol, Avid can avoid sending timecode messages through the MIDI layer of the host OS and thereby claim ‘near sample-accurate lock’ Pro Tools|HDX and Pro Tools|HD Native support the Avid Sync HD interface, which provides a proprietary connection into the HDX PCIe card / HD Native interface. There are also a few proprietary systems available for improving the sync between two DAWs - but they are limited in their application: In general, using a SMPTE signal to connect two DAWs together will require conversion from and to MTC at each end anyway - thus negating any potential benefits offered by the increased timing events that a SMPTE signal offers. Whilst this might have been a problem in the days of mechanical tape machines whose only speed reference was an incoming SMPTE feed, today’s digitally-controlled and digitally-locked DAWs do not need such resolution in their timecode stream Likewise, whilst a SMPTE signal potentially offers 80 points in every frame for ensuring that the receiving unit is in sync, MTC only guarantees that there is a reliable sync point every 2 frames. Additionally, the proliferation of fast computer interfaces available for transmitting MIDI from one system to another affords an easily-available non-congested MIDI pipe - allowing MTC messages to be transmitted with high timing resolution Whilst it is true that a congested MIDI path could cause some variation in the timing of MTC signals, a sufficiently well-developed MTC interpretation engine should be able to smooth these out without significant issue. However, the situation is not entirely black and burst white: MTC has, over the years, gained an unfair reputation for not being very accurate compared with a ‘traditional’ audio SMPTE signal - and some users consequently advocate using a SMPTE signal to connect two DAWs together. Prior to the widespread adoption of computers for audio, an audio-band SMPTE timecode (also known as LTC - Linear Timecode - as it was striped on a linear tape track) was used to synchronise tape machines and video recorders - and its uncanny ability to bleed into unwanted audio signal paths was one of the banes of the studio technical engineer’s life. The original MTC specification was created by two engineers from Digidesign in 1987 - just four years after the original MIDI specification was standardised. Whilst we might now be able to feed a thousand channels of digital audio down a single network cable, synchronisation is still decidedly old-school. Whilst the world of digital audio technology has introduced us to all manner of new wonders, the ability to lock two different DAWs together still relies on an older technology: MIDI Timecode (MTC). ![]() If you just want to learn the outcome of our tests, you can skip straight to the conclusion here. Given a recent conversation between some of our professional clients, we decided to investigate this topic further and perform some tests so we really understood exactly what the systems were capable of. This requirement is even more stringent when multiple passes of a cue are required to transfer all required tracks from composition DAW to Pro Tools: if the timecode lock between systems is not accurate and repeatable, then the tracks will not all be accurately time-aligned in the Pro Tools session. Whilst care needs to be taken to avoid adding unwanted latency to the monitoring with this addition, care should also be taken to ensure that, during printing of stems, the playheads between composition DAW and Pro Tools are in sync - so that a timecode-locked cue in the composition DAW appears at the correct timecode position in Pro Tools. ![]()
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