Getting lots of hiss and crackle?

[psongman]

Hi, I have been trying to record my next CD and getting the above in most of my transfers from my Fostex VF08. Here is what I do and some of my hardware and software. I record the basic 8 tracks in some form and then send them out via the spdif digital output into CEP 2.0, through my SB LIVE digital input. I know the soundcard samples at 48., but even tried setting that to the track recording and that didn't help much. Should I go back to the regular line-in, set at 48, or try some setup where there is less resampling. If you have had the same or similar problems, please assist. I am thinking getting a different soundcard, as even with the resampling, there shouldn't be that much noise. I do use the noise reduction formats, do clean up the tracks before mixing and mastering. Anyway, help me out if you can esp. if you have had any success in track transfer from a digital 8 track. Appreciate it, Psongman

[lpdeluxe]

Do you have any way of synching the word clock between the recorder and your sound card? It sounds like they are not locked up together.

[psongman]

No, there is no way to do that. I do have a Tascam TMD1000 digital mixer, and there you can sync up. I really shouldn't be getting all this hiss and crackle, because it is all digital, but I am finding out that this digital realm is finicky and once you get it in, it is all digital anyway, so the inputting is the secret, finding the most reliable, quiet way, Amen, Psongman

[lpdeluxe]

What I think is going on with your setup is that both the soundcard and the mixer consider itself to be the master word clock. (A related difficulty is whether both are set to the same sampling frequency. The Tascam is switchable between 44.1KHz and 48; the SB probably is set to one or the other, most likely 44.1KHz.)

Digital devices always have to have their word clocks synched (by designating one the master and the other the slave) or you get noise because each device is samplng the sound in different places, so to speak.The TM-D1000 defaults to "master" and you then go to the soundcard's control panel and tell it to be the slave (or, you can go through the menus on the TM-D1000 and slave it to the soundcard, which you would have to do if you can't control the status of the soundcard). Word clock is embedded within the S/PDIF data stream, so you don't need an external BNC cable.

With the TM-D1000 set to "slave", every time you power it down and back up you will have to reset the word clock that way. If I remember (now that I leave the mixer as "master" I don't reset it all the time any more) you go to "Setup" in the menu and then arrow over to find "Word Clock." It's clearly explained in the manual, in any case.

Good luck.

[Havoc]

What sample rate did you use to record the tracks in the Tascam? If it is 44.1, then the soundcard has to work at 44.1 also. Next you need to make sure the Tascam is set as master (should be that way if you use the spdif). There should be a way to tell the SB that is has to sync from spdif. Again, I would expect this to be the case without much setting up.

Next, you have to run CEP at the same samplerate. Are you also sure the buffer settings are OK? Maybe try some other settings for the buffers.

[lpdeluxe]

I should have mentioned that the soundcard as "master" only works if you have an S/PDIF cable going back to the mixer for playback. I know it works, though, since I ran my Tascam with a Lexicon sc for a couple of years that way.

[psongman]

I first want to thanks everyone for all the kind info...but, and there is always a but, heeh. I just mentioned my mixer in passing and everyone jumped on that as a link. NO, I don't use the mixer for transferring tracks from Fostex VF08 to computer, but for mixing voices and instruments etc. when recording.

I do know about the mixer syncing though, as it came up numerous times when I tried to record straight to the computer. I realized it was better to work out most tracking on digital 8 track then transfer. Unless you have a really nice powerful computer, no workee. So, if you know of a way I can eliminate some of that hiss and crackle, would save me a half hour of running Noise Reduction processes before I started editing, mixing and mastering. Thanks again for interesting comments and sendings, Psongman