my buddy told me the best way to get a solid no latency no phase style mix is to use an external clock. I ran into an issue of my song being out of time last night and it was really frustrating so now I am looking into getting something with an external clock. Is this advice sound? What is a good device that is affordable with a solid external clock?
external clock
- Thread starter onestu3
- Start date
SouthSIDE Glen
independentrecording.net
I think there's a little bit of a confusion of terminology here. While having a nice solid external clock is a very nice thing to have, potentially sharpening the focus of stereo image and providing a nice reference for syncing multiple devices*, phase issues and latency problems are usually far more likely caused by something other than a wavering clock.
Latency problems are more commonly the domain of software design and computer resource management (buffer sizes, caching, etc.), and phase incoherence tends more to be a function of the music instrument sound design and mix arrangement, and are usually most commonly addressed there.
That said a nice, rock solid "house clock" is a very nice thing to have, but it's something I'd relegate to page 2 of the home studio budget and not page 1, as quality clocking (Apogee, Antelope, etc.) can easily cost close to a thousand dollars or even more, money I'd rather personally spend on room treatment, a nice ribbon mic or another quality preamp as giving me much more bang for the buck.
If you're perfectly happy with what you got in that regard - if your room is as good as it's going to sound and your perfectly happy with your mic locker and the preamps to plug them into - you're probably several steps ahead of most of us
. And in that case if you have the money to spend, then yeah, a nice house clock can be a nice investment to take your studio to the next level. But if you still have work to do on those other ladders, I'd say hold off on the big clock and get caught up on the other more important stuff first.
IMHO, YMMV, TGIF, ETC.
G.
*In the interest of full disclosure, there is a school of thought out there that clocking issues such as jitter and lack of master clocking are virtually irrelevant, and that it's all just marketing gimmick. Though some parts of that school make valid points, my experiences with such real-life setups tell me that good clocking can indeed make a difference.
Latency problems are more commonly the domain of software design and computer resource management (buffer sizes, caching, etc.), and phase incoherence tends more to be a function of the music instrument sound design and mix arrangement, and are usually most commonly addressed there.
That said a nice, rock solid "house clock" is a very nice thing to have, but it's something I'd relegate to page 2 of the home studio budget and not page 1, as quality clocking (Apogee, Antelope, etc.) can easily cost close to a thousand dollars or even more, money I'd rather personally spend on room treatment, a nice ribbon mic or another quality preamp as giving me much more bang for the buck.
If you're perfectly happy with what you got in that regard - if your room is as good as it's going to sound and your perfectly happy with your mic locker and the preamps to plug them into - you're probably several steps ahead of most of us
. And in that case if you have the money to spend, then yeah, a nice house clock can be a nice investment to take your studio to the next level. But if you still have work to do on those other ladders, I'd say hold off on the big clock and get caught up on the other more important stuff first.IMHO, YMMV, TGIF, ETC.
G.
*In the interest of full disclosure, there is a school of thought out there that clocking issues such as jitter and lack of master clocking are virtually irrelevant, and that it's all just marketing gimmick. Though some parts of that school make valid points, my experiences with such real-life setups tell me that good clocking can indeed make a difference.