Welcome to this tutorial on connecting devices with Toslink leads.

Free from ground loop or RF interference issues, fibre optic connections are among the best ways to connect devices. The only disadvantage is that leads are limited to a maximum distance of approximately 10m. The 2 primary signal formats that Toslink leads are used for in the home and project studio are SPDIF stereo and ADAT 8 channel.

The optical signal takes the form of red light, so it easy to see if a signal is present simply by looking at connectors or sockets. As leads can only send signals in one direction, and 2 leads are required for send and return connections, you can connect leads easily without having to label them.

Leads are delicate so its is important to take care and not kink or bend them. It may be a good idea to run them in a plastic conduit if you think they could be vulnerable.

Caption - Connecting devices with Toslink leads

Connecting devices with Toslink leads requires 2 distinct processes ..

1. physically connecting the leads
2. configuring the digital synchronisation word clock, which may involve connecting a BNC word clock lead

Also, if one of the device is the software environment of a DAW you will need to create an configure an i/o mixer channel for it.

Caption - Integrating an outboard hardware effect processor with a DAW using a Toslink leads (SPDIF optical)

Demonstration Follow this procedure ..

1. Turn down the monitoring system
2. Nominate the device which will operate as the word clock master, either the DAW, audio interface, or effect processor
3. Turn on the effect processor
4. Set the sample rate of the effect processor to match that of the word clock master device
5. Set the i/o of the effect processor to optical or Toslink
6. Set the word clock sync of the effect processor to synchronise to the embedded word clock signal within the SPDIF/Toslink signal.
7. Whilst observing the red light signal in the lead connectors and sockets, connect 2 Toslink leads between the effects processor and the audio interface. You may find you will need to remove ports and connector covers first.
8. Create a stereo axillary channel object in your DAW, insert an i/o utility into it and set its outputs and inputs to the physical i/o ports the effect processor is connected to on the DAWs audio interface
9. Whilst observing the meters on the effect processor, ping the connection to allow the DAW to determine the required latency compensation
10. Send a signal to the aux and check it is getting to and returning from the effect processor
11. Raise your monitor level

Caption - Thanks for watching

The script for this video, with accompanying images, can be found at projectstudiohandbook.com 

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