kohit8 Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 Title pretty much describes the problem but I'll give more details about the setup. I'm using a focusrite 18i20 gen 3 for the interface and the clock master. I'm using S/PDIF sends to the focusrite and using its clock out to the clock in on the helix. I just bought a new 75 ohm BNC cable because I thought the old one was the issue but I'm still having the same problem. Every clock setting seems to work with this setup besides 96khz and that is unfortunate because that is what I like to use! Has anyone one experienced this issue or am I just an idiot? Let me know if you have any questions about my setup. Helix firmware is at 3.01 and the focusrite was just updated using the latest Focusrite Control version on their website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohit8 Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 Does anyone else have 96k running on S/PDIF out of the helix? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datacommando Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 On 3/6/2021 at 2:22 AM, kohit8 said: Helix firmware is at 3.01 and the focusrite was just updated using the latest Focusrite Control version on their website. Hi, I’m not in a position to be able to check this, but if both the Focusrite and Helix are set to the same sample rate then theoretically it should just work. You say that all the other sample rates are working as expected, so you need to try to isolate the problem I would guess from the statement - 96khz is what you like to use - then you have been using this setting successfully up to now? The thing is, as you have updated the firmware in both units, it makes tracking down the problem a little more difficult. If you know that your Helix synced previously, I would suggest that you reflash your Helix firmware back to a known good version number. If it then works perfectly, then it’s a bug in the Helix firmware, and if the opposite is true then I would suspect the Focusrite. Without having both pieces of hardware available to test, it is very awkward to pinpoint which maybe at fault. I would suggest that you contact Line 6 Customer Support to see if they can assist, also raise the issue with Focusrite at the same time to see if they have encountered anything similar. Hope this helps/makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohit8 Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 Thanks for the reply datacommando. Yes, 96k is the desired sample rate that I want to operate at. I have never gotten 96k to work. I am now just trying to transition from using analog outs on the helix to digital. 96k has not worked before and after firmware updates just to be clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zappazapper Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Is there some reason that you need to have the Focusrite be the master clock? Have you tried syncing the Focusrite to the S/PDIF input? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohit8 Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 Yes, the focusrite is the hub of my sound system/DAW. It remains powered on 100% of the time while I'm working, however, the helix rack only comes on when I'm tracking guitars. The focusrite will work just fine clocking off the helix using S/PDIF but the focusrite won't fall back to its own internal clock when the helix shuts off. So if I shut the helix down, the sound going through the focusrite will cut out entirely. I don't want to keep my helix on 100% for the clock nor do I want to change the clock source on the focusrite every time I want to track guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zappazapper Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 I get that the ideal situation is syncing the HX to the Focusrite, but it doesn't work at the sample rate you want. Syncing the Focusrite to the HX does work at the sample rate you want, and the only inconvenience is a couple of mouse clicks to change the sync settings, which is honestly a rather common task - the HX Rack is really the only guitar processor that I can even think of that has a Wordclock In, so changing the sync settings is just something that you've always had to do to record a guitar processor digitally. And honestly, syncing devices has never been an exact science. In my own experience, sometimes it works perfectly from the get-go, and sometimes it never works no matter what you do. If there's a setting/configuration that works, I would urge you to just settle on that, because I've spent hours/days/weeks/months/years trying to figure out why things don't sync like the manual says it should, changing settings, swapping cables, buying cables, buying external clock generators, blah blah blah. You've found a workaround that involves very little inconvenience. I urge you to make use of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohit8 Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 Honestly, I'd just rather go back to analog out than to deal with changing the clock source every time I want to use the Helix. Digital is not worth the inconvenience. Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zappazapper Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 haha Ya, honestly, my first reaction to your post was "just use analog", but that wasn't the question you were asking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohit8 Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 Well it really shouldn't be this way. It's supposed to work the way that I have it configured (I think) but it just isn't and it's really disappointing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datacommando Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 2 hours ago, kohit8 said: Honestly, I'd just rather go back to analog out than to deal with changing the clock source every time I want to use the Helix. Here’s an idea for you. If you use the USB out from the Helix, you can record the processed stereo output along with the dry audio signal all at 96khz, thus avoiding using the analogue outs and another stage of A/D conversion. Not sure what computer and DAW you’re using, but it should be possible to do this by creating an aggregate device on a Mac. Hope this helps/makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zappazapper Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 2 hours ago, kohit8 said: Well it really shouldn't be this way. It's supposed to work the way that I have it configured (I think) but it just isn't and it's really disappointing. Ya I can't see anything wrong with what you're doing. Sync is just like that, sometimes it just doesn't work the way it's supposed to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
margat78 Posted May 27, 2021 Share Posted May 27, 2021 Oh no! It's frustrating... have you resolved issue? I'm interested to digital connection of Helix Rack inside my gear with M-Audio FW - s/pdif and Ableton Live (no DA and DA added latency). I'm planning to buy Helix but is not comfortable to know that there's a bug like that!! So it's not resolved with 2.54 Firmware in 2018?! https://line6.com/support/topic/19234-helix-spdif-out-loses-sync-too-often/page/4/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HonestOpinion Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 On 3/5/2021 at 9:22 PM, kohit8 said: Title pretty much describes the problem but I'll give more details about the setup. I'm using a focusrite 18i20 gen 3 for the interface and the clock master. I'm using S/PDIF sends to the focusrite and using its clock out to the clock in on the helix. I just bought a new 75 ohm BNC cable because I thought the old one was the issue but I'm still having the same problem. Every clock setting seems to work with this setup besides 96khz and that is unfortunate because that is what I like to use! Has anyone one experienced this issue or am I just an idiot? Let me know if you have any questions about my setup. Helix firmware is at 3.01 and the focusrite was just updated using the latest Focusrite Control version on their website. If after exhausting your own efforts and others' suggestions you still can't get this to work I would open a ticket with Line6. If there is a way to get this working hopefully support will provide it and if not perhaps it is a bug they can work on resolving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohit8 Posted May 28, 2021 Author Share Posted May 28, 2021 I did not find a solution to this problem and I did reach out to support but didn't follow through with trouble shooting. I just went back to XLR. One thing that I do still wonder is the quality of my RCA cables. The RCA cables that I'm using aren't technically SPDIF cables. I tried looking for RCA SPDIF cables but nothing returned in those searches but the optical SPDIF cables. I also looked for RCA cables rated to 96Khz but had no luck there either so I gave up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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