Venue + ProTools + External Word Clock Problems

Hey All, I have been using a Venue with 2 192s and an HD3 clocked by an Apogee Big Ben (which also generates house video sync) for a couple of years. Recently I changed ProTools to internal clock, and now am unable to change back to ANY other clock source if the Venue digilink cables are plugged in. This includes adat, tdif, word clock - anything. I can only select internal. Perhaps it has been this way since we started using the system, and since I always use the Big Ben, it's never come up. One of our engineers called PT tech support (at a cost of $75.00), and the tech support guy said that using the Venue with 192s was an unsupported setup, and could not provide a solution!! If I unplug the digilink cables coming from the Venue, I can select other digital inputs or word clock as a clock source. I am also recently getting a steady full scale pop on every channel which looks like a clock problem. I haven't had time to troubleshoot that yet, but I'll be working on it tomorrow. Are the other guys out there with similar setups using PT as the clock for all your digital devices? When we've done this and PT crashes, it causes a loud pop as the Venue switches back to it's own internal clock. Any thoughts? Related system components: Venue w/ 2 stage racks and HDX1 Quad 2.5 G5 w/ 4gb ram 2 - 192i/o Apogee Big Ben PT 7.3.1 Thanks, Travis

Travis, Hey there, how's it going? Long time no talk! Here's the deal.....neither ProTools NOR Venue should be the master clock when you're connecting to an HD system for live worship, IMHO. Digi assumes you will always run both together which, obviously, isn't the case. IMHO, I would not allow the BigBen to be the master house video sync---instead, use video sync from your video room from an actual master sync box. I have the SyncIO (key here) running 24/7 locked to house sync where ProTools is seeing running timecode at all times. The SyncI/O is not the master clock, but it is sending (passing) word clock through to my BigBen---from there, I'm clocking the VENUE console, a 96IO in the studio and a few other devices. EVERYTHING, including Venue, is a clock slave. If you're not able to select anything other than internal--you probably need to do a complete re-install. This happened to me and it was frustrating, that was the only thing that worked. That's also the only option if you need to install MachineControl, grrrrr! Please elaborate more on your setup and how it's wired. Which cards are your I/O and Venue on?

I think you need to re-install, but tomorrow while I'm in preparing for our Sunday service---I'll talk to our tech director to confirm that's what we did.

I might be stating the obvious here but just in case....make sure you boot up Venue first, THEN ProTools. But anyway, I did have this issue where PT would just NOT allow me to select anything but internal. After a re-install, all was fine.