Time code routing - best practice ?

A

andrew gissing

Sophomore
Jan 11, 2011
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Perth Western Australia
www.stylusra.com.au
So we've got this DJ that wants to send time code from stage to FOH down XLR lines - analogue.

Usually it's a digital console out front so we would use one or 2 of the analogue return core (we have dual sex XLR panels).

Sometimes however we've got a console like SC48/M7CL out front so we need to run analogue to FOH. One of our guys wants to route the time code into our patch rack (totally passive 3 way split no transformers) and unplug those lines from the console. His reasoning was that the monitor console (on the split) could then monitor the time code and see if the DJ gear is generating it.

Can I ask for your thoughts - how would you route time code ?


Andrew
 
Re: Time code routing - best practice ?

andrew gissing said:
So we've got this DJ that wants to send time code from stage to FOH down XLR lines - analogue.

Usually it's a digital console out front so we would use one or 2 of the analogue return core (we have dual sex XLR panels).

Sometimes however we've got a console like SC48/M7CL out front so we need to run analogue to FOH. One of our guys wants to route the time code into our patch rack (totally passive 3 way split no transformers) and unplug those lines from the console. His reasoning was that the monitor console (on the split) could then monitor the time code and see if the DJ gear is generating it.

Can I ask for your thoughts - how would you route time code ?


Andrew
Click to expand...

Interesting... to what purpose?

SMPTE LTC is fsk modulation, 1k2 and 2k4. If you're not doing FF/RW speed code reading I think you can treat it like audio.
 
Re: Time code routing - best practice ?

Actually, I would assume it did matter to the snake. SMPTE timecode does look like audio, whereas MIDI time code does not, right? MIDI, time code goes over a MIDI link, and you can't ship MIDI over an audio cable directly.
 
Re: Time code routing - best practice ?

Jay Ashworth said:
Actually, I would assume it did matter to the snake. SMPTE timecode does look like audio, whereas MIDI time code does not, right? MIDI, time code goes over a MIDI link, and you can't ship MIDI over an audio cable directly.
Click to expand...

When I did this to test the concept (decades ago) I had to make my own adapter to run midi down an XLR snake, but now you can buy factory made adapters.

midi-to-xlr-adapter-mtx-0312x0130.png


I would be careful about setting a new distance record, but I plugged a couple snakes together for my test.

JR
 
Re: Time code routing - best practice ?

Jay Ashworth said:
Actually, I would assume it did matter to the snake. SMPTE timecode does look like audio, whereas MIDI time code does not, right? MIDI, time code goes over a MIDI link, and you can't ship MIDI over an audio cable directly.
Click to expand...
MIDI will travel 100's of meters on normal balanced audio cable. MIDI is optically isolated and a current loop transfer, very robust.
 
Re: Time code routing - best practice ?

It's also 31khz, which means that the capacitive reactance of audio cable becomes a problem.
 
Re: Time code routing - best practice ?

I'm with JR, I carry a pair of MIDI to XLR cables which I use all the time. MIDI will go a surprisingly long way on regular audio cable with no special baluns or line drivers. MIDI to Cat5 is also a good cable to make, since Cat5 is cheap and works well for high-frequency data.

If I want to go really far, I use CTP Systems midi line drivers.

Back to the OPs question about timecode. Assuming its SMPTE/LTC, then treat it like regular audio. I regularly route it via consoles, through pre-amps etc...
 
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