Word Clock / AES11

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Word Clock / AES11

Also called Digital Audio Reference Signal, DARS.

A dedicated square-wave timing signal (or the AES11-standardized Digital Audio Reference Signal carried over AES3) distributed by coax/BNC to keep multiple digital audio devices sample-locked, still essential wherever non-networked digital audio gear must share a clock.

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Clock and sync Tiny, ruthlessly regular

Almost no bandwidth. Carries no content at all, only agreement about when. Its value is entirely in its regularity.

What kills it. Jitter, an unaware switch delaying the timestamps it was meant to correct, and two devices both convinced they are the master.

The four flows, and why the model is worth having →

What goes wrong

Word clock cabling needs correct 75-ohm termination and respects cable length limits - mis-terminated runs are a common cause of clicks/dropouts in digital audio systems.

Networked audio protocols (Dante, AES67, AVB) generally replace word clock with PTP-based sync, but word clock remains common for interfacing older digital audio hardware.

What speaks Word Clock / AES11 (22)

22 products — 20 hardware, 2 softwareshow all

Product	Direction	Notes
Ardour Ardour Community	in	Clocks to the audio interface.
Pro Tools Avid	in	Clocks to an external word clock via the interface.
Allen & Heath Avantis Allen & Heath	bidirectional	Clock.
Allen & Heath dLive S7000 Allen & Heath	bidirectional	Word clock in and out.
Avid VENUE S6L-32D Avid	bidirectional	Word clock in and out.
Behringer X32 Behringer	in	Word clock input.
DiGiCo Quantum 338 DiGiCo	bidirectional	Word clock in and out for the digital rack.
DiGiCo SD12 DiGiCo	bidirectional	Clock in and out.
DirectOut PRODIGY.MP DirectOut	bidirectional	Clock.
Evertz 5601MSC Master Sync and Clock Evertz	out	Audio reference.
Ferrofish A32 Dante Ferrofish	bidirectional	Word clock in and out.
Focusrite RedNet A16R MkII Focusrite	bidirectional	Word clock in and out.
Lab.gruppen PLM 20K44 Lab.gruppen	in	Clock follows the Dante or AES3 source.
Lab.gruppen Lake LM44 Lab.gruppen	bidirectional	Clock.
Midas HD96-24 Midas	bidirectional	Word clock in and out.
RME Digiface Dante RME	bidirectional	Clock.
Rosendahl nanosyncs HD Rosendahl Studiotechnik	out	Word clock distribution outputs.
SSL Live L550 Solid State Logic	bidirectional	Clock.
Yamaha CL5 Yamaha	bidirectional	Word clock in and out.
Yamaha DM7 Yamaha	bidirectional	Clock in and out.
Yamaha Rio3224-D2 Yamaha	bidirectional	Clock.
Yamaha RIVAGE PM7 Yamaha	bidirectional	Word clock in and out.

Sources

Understand the mechanism

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