PC Audio Editing, 2nd Edition

Appendix 2

Clicks and clocks

When you copy digitally to your computer, are you plagued with clicks and plops? Is there a regular beating sound where there should be digital silence? If so, you are probably suffering from unsynchronized word clocks. Arcane though it sounds, the problem is simply solved.

Copying digitally from one device to another is, in many ways, easier than using an analogue link. There is no level adjustment to be made and quality is assured, provided the link is made by good quality cable.

Yet there is an extra factor that it is vital to get right, and this is what is known as word clock synchronization. You will be using 32 000, 44 100 or 48 000 samples per second sampling. These figures are also known as the word clock ...