Sync 2 VF160 together

[timboZ]

A friend asked me if I wanted to buy his VF160 (with burner) for $350. He also has some headphones and speakers with it.

I have one and love it.
Has anyone used midi to sync 2 of them together?
How did ot work out for you?

[carelessorc]

When I upgraded from VF16 to VF160 I sync'd the machines to transfer my existing songs, before I sold the 16. I'm kinda sorry now I didn't keep it. The sync is straightforward although I seem to remember you have to sync MIDI and audio. The issue is how you combine the outputs for mixdown and monitoring, and the aux sends (if you use them). THe Fostex USA website, support section FAQ covers this topic.

Orc

[rboyce_boston]

Originally Posted by carelessorc

When I upgraded from VF16 to VF160 I sync'd the machines to transfer my existing songs, before I sold the 16. I'm kinda sorry now I didn't keep it. The sync is straightforward although I seem to remember you have to sync MIDI and audio. The issue is how you combine the outputs for mixdown and monitoring, and the aux sends (if you use them). THe Fostex USA website, support section FAQ covers this topic.

Orc

this is an interesting post...I've also been thinking about expanding (either by buying another VF-16, or a D-180 or a D2424LV), and I've been wondering how you would handle monitoring and mixdown. I guess one way to handle mix down (and keep it all in the digital realm) would be to buy a digital mixer that has at 2 SPDIF inputs. With 2 VF-16's (or VF-160's), you would then create 2 seperate stereo submixes and pump those into the digital mixer over TOSLINK/SPDIF, and then create 1 stereo mix on the digital mixer (which you could then mixdown to DAT, CD-R, minidisc or another HD recorder over TOSLINK/SPDIF or Coaxial/SPDIF).

Any other ideas?

-ray

[carelessorc]

I'm not sure that mixing two SPDIF signals is quite so easy - I think you'd have to have both VF-type machines slaved to the digital clock on the submixer.
It's a while since I read the Fos FAQ but I think they suggest sacrificing two tracks on machine #2 to bring in the stereo out (SPDIF) of machine #1. Machine 2 is set to slave for both MIDI and SPDIF. The advantage of this is that it means your monitoring arrangements aren't too different from a single machine, and you can still use internal mixdown, on machine #2. If you already lose channels as external effects returns or for external MIDI modules then maybe a small mixer between the two could combine the output of VF #1 and the other returns. (On the other hand, with all those tracks you could print your MIDI tracks and effects to audio!)
The aux busses could be submixed using a small mixer, but internal effects would have to be set up separately on each machine.
I think I need to stop talking about this - I'm beginning to think I want to do it!

Orc