Syncing f8 tracks with Saffire 40 tracks possible?

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pasternak

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Hello - I recently bought an old and very affordable Focusrite Saffire 40 audio interface to fall back on in the event my Zoom F8 breaks down in session.

Now I am wondering if the addition of the Saffire/MacBook Pro might double the number of tracks available for recording live music in the studio. Hypothetically speaking, is it possible to record half of the band (musicians) with the F8 and the other half of the band with the Saffire 40 and sync the audio files in post? I know both - Focusrite & Zoom - have clock sync functionality for video camera/audio recorder parity. But can one sync audio files via shared clocking index?
 
The Zoom F8 has "Timecode" functionality that is designed for audio and video sync. (Also for syncing a pair of F8s, which I've done.) The old Saffire has "Wordclock" input/output, and is only for audio sync. They are not the same thing, and while there are devices which can send both, it's not really going to help you since the timecode data is just "metadata" that helps align/sync stuff in post.

I wouldn't worry about it unless you're recording something of extensive length. Just do the clapboard thing like you'd use for video, and do it between numbers. Unless the clock drift is significant, You'll probably be fine. (I recorded stuff on two different Zoom devices - an H6 and early H2 - and it was fine for a half dozen songs I recorded at a jam. (Recorded an e-drumkit on the line in of the H2, and just used the bleed in vocal mics to sync.)
 
keith.rogers said:
The Zoom F8 has "Timecode" functionality that is designed for audio and video sync. (Also for syncing a pair of F8s, which I've done.) The old Saffire has "Wordclock" input/output, and is only for audio sync. They are not the same thing, and while there are devices which can send both, it's not really going to help you since the timecode data is just "metadata" that helps align/sync stuff in post.

I wouldn't worry about it unless you're recording something of extensive length. Just do the clapboard thing like you'd use for video, and do it between numbers. Unless the clock drift is significant, You'll probably be fine. (I recorded stuff on two different Zoom devices - an H6 and early H2 - and it was fine for a half dozen songs I recorded at a jam. (Recorded an e-drumkit on the line in of the H2, and just used the bleed in vocal mics to syncExcellent. I suppose all I need to do is can really zoom in on the wave
Click to expand...
 
Oh, of course. All I need to do is zoom in on the wave form to sync. Didn’t figure I’d get the resolution I need for acceptable quality that way. I’ll give it a shot. Thank you, Keith.
 
If you create an Aggregate Device on your Mac you should be able to use both at the same time and the Mac should take care of the synchronisation. However, I'm not sure how it actually does that - whether it simply drops samples if one of the interfaces is lagging behind or whether it uses a more intelligent sample rate conversion approach.
 
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