Word Clock
From Sonikmatter
Word Clock is the backbone of a digital audio system. It is like a metronome at sampling frequencies that tells all of the audio equipment the correct time to send data. Digital Audio is like a syncronous communication protocol, where there is a master clock that all of the devices listen to, and they should all send data in time with this clock to ensure that there are no nasty artefacts in the signal.
For digital audio this master clock is called Word Clock, and there should only be one Word Clock source in any digital audio network. All other devices should slave to the master clock.
Many digital devices have a dedicated BNC connector especially for Word Clock, but Word Clock is also contained in S/PDIF, AES/EBU, mLAN, ADAT and TDIF signals. Other more aesoteric standards such as KDS and RBUS also contain a wordclock that can be used as the master Word Clock source, depending upon the specific equipment.
ADAT can be a special case, as while the ADAT signal is transmitted to a clock source (that can be extracted), it is common for a seperate RS 232 cable to be used for syncronizing Word Clock. All other standards can use the internal Word Clock for syncronization.
The Puppeteer 20:28, 14 December 2005 (EST)
