Technical data

Operation

There are three basic operation modes of your MC-3+ Smart Clock:

»INTERNAL«

The MC-3+ runs as a clock generator and is locked to its internal ultra-low jitter master clock. The basis clock rate for all out-

puts is selected in the »REFERENCE« menu under »INTERNAL + 10.0M« (see next page).

»EXTERNAL«

The MC-3+ is locked to an externally applied reference signal, which can be a Word Clock, a 10.0 MHz reference from a so-cal-

led atomic clock or GPS receiver and an AES3/11 or S/P-DIF digital audio signal, selected in the »REFERENCE« menu.

»RE-CLOCK«

The MC-3+ allows to receive digital audio signals of the AES3 or S/P-DIF format (selected in the »REFERENCE« menu) especial-

ly for re-clocking to improve their acoustical quality. There are two audio re-clocking modes available, one based on the inter-

nal clock oscillator (»RE-CLOCK« & »INTERNAL«) and one working with an externally applied clock reference (»RE-CLOCK« &

»EXTERNAL«).

»RE-CLOCK« & »INTERNAL«

With ﬁrst selection of the »RE-CLOCK« mode the »INTERNAL« and »RE-CLOCK« LEDs start lighting and show that re-clocking

based on the internal clock oscillator is active. Under »REFERENCE« the ﬁrst available digital audio input »S/P-DIF op« is se-

lected automatically as default. Press the »MENU« key once and you enter the »REFERENCE« menu. Here press repeatedly the

»SELECT« key to select the desired digital audio input. The applied digital audio signal will be re-clocked with a new generated

ultra-low jitter clock signal, embedded in the outgoing audio signal with the incoming audio signal‘s sampling rate.

»RE-CLOCK« & »EXTERNAL«

This is a very special function only available in your MC-3+ Smart Clock! After selection of the ﬁrst re-clocking mode press the

»SELECT« key one time again and the »EXTERNAL« and »RE-CLOCK« LEDs light and show that re-clocking based on an exter-

nally applied clock reference is active. Under »REFERENCE« »WCLK« and the ﬁrst available digital audio input »S/P-DIF op«

are selected automatically as default. Press the »MENU« key once and you enter the »REFERENCE« menu. By pressing the

»SELECT« key repeatedly, you can select one of the three available digital audio inputs together with one of two possible

external clock references: WCLK and 10.0M. Therefore, every selected audio input is automatically combined with one of the

two external references:

Selected Audio Input + WCLK

Selected Audio Input + 10.0M

Selecting one of these externally-referenced re-clocking options enables to re-clock a digital audio signal with an external

clock reference of a different master clock device. E.g., when selecting your desired audio input + »WCLK«, you must feed in

at the Word Clock input an additional Word Clock reference signal with a clock rate between 32.0 kHz and 192.0 kHz. When

selecting your desired audio input + »10.0M«, the Word Clock input accepts a 10.0 MHz reference signal from e.g. a so-called

Atomic Clock or GPS receiver. In both ways, the outgoing digital audio and Word Clock signals have got the same basis clock

rate like the incoming digital audio source.

In the »CLOCK

IN» menu the clock rate of the incoming digital audio signal is displayed and with help of the »CLOCK MULTI-

PLIERS« menu the Word Clock output signals can be multiplied as described in the section »Selecting Clock Multipliers«.

Attention

Digital Audio Format Conversion – When running the MC-3+ in the »RE-CLOCK« mode and applying a digital audio signal of

AES3 or S/P-DIF format as reference, all digital audio outputs will transmit the source signal. The signals at the outputs which

are not of same format as the reference signal will be format converted in realtime aligned to the AES3 – 1992/2003 and

IEC 60958 digital audio format standards. Thus, your MC-3+ Smart Clock works also as digital audio format converter for you!