User Guide
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ProFire 610
Digital Clocking
Your computer-based DAW stores and manipulates music as digital samples Those samples are sent to and
from your DAW as “snapshots” of data These snapshots are all the same size—16-bit or 24-bit, depending on
your selected resolution—each with a beginning and an end, and are sent in sequential order (i e , one after the
other) as a stream of data Think of this data stream as a sentence, made up of a series of words of identical
length The rate at which these words are transmitted (i e , how many samples are transmitted each second) is
known as the “sample rate” of the device Audio CDs have a sample rate of 44,100 samples per second (known
as “44 1 kHz”) whereas certain high-end professional audio devices (such as ProFire 610) support very high
sample rates (up to 192 kHz) for high audio fidelity
Precise, accurate timing in sending and receiving those words is critical Each device in your interconnected
digital world must share the same timing in order to communicate correctly—that is, their clocks must be
synchronized
This synchronization is achieved by designating one device as the timing “master,” and all other connected
devices as “slaves,” locking the slaves to the master Only one device in the chain can be the master, and all other
devices must slave to that master All devices must be running at the same sample rate as well For example, if
the master is running at 44 1 kHz, no other device should be set to any other sample rate
Word Clock is an important part of digital studios but is often overlooked by engineers new to digital recording It
is crucial to set up Word Clock correctly because without precise synchronization between your digital devices,
your digital audio signal will be filled with clicks, pops, and white noise, or may not play at all The following
scenarios provide practical digital synchronization examples and setup tips
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