Steinberg Nuendo Time Base, Руководство по эксплуатации

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TIME BASE
VST System Link 8 – 85
How does VST System Link work?
If you use two computers, these are bidirectionally connected. Three
or more computers are connected as a daisy-chain ring.
Time Base must be connected to the main work computer in this ring.
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When you use Time Base in a VST System Link setup, it automatically
becomes the Clock Master for the whole system.
Data transfer is accomplished via standard digital cables. The “Patch-
bay” of the Master software that runs on the first computer takes care
of data distribution. All VST System Link compatible applications work
together seamlessly. It is for instance possible to use both Cubase
and Nuendo together and in sync within the same system setup.
Each computer must be equipped with an ASIO-compatible sound
card. This must at least have one digital audio socket – e.g. ADAT or
S/P-DIF.
VST System Link uses a single bit on a single channel of the audio
stream as a carrier for sample accurate synchronization of all comput-
ers, transport command and MIDI data transfer of up to 16 MIDI chan-
nels. For instance, if you use an ADAT bus for this, you can use seven
of the eight audio channels for audio data transfer with full bandwidth.
The eighth channel can of course also be used normally for audio data
transfer. Its maximum available bandwidth of 24 bit has only been re-
duced to 23 bit, which in reality doesn’t cause audible problems.
If you wish to use more than 16 MIDI channels, you can optionally use
other bits of the audio stream. But even then the loss is minimal. If you
reserve just one more bit for MIDI transfer, you can use it to transfer
approx. 140 additional MIDI channels. If you sacrifice one complete
digital audio channel, this can be used to transfer all necessary VST
System Link data, such as sync and transport data,
and up to 1000
MIDI channels. This should be sufficient for even the most complex
applications.
When transferring MIDI data via VST System Link no timing and
bandwidth problems occur. MIDI timing is very stable.