SPDIF - no signal when Kemper is not clock master

    Seems like I did what nobody ever should do: I changed a running system... maybe somebody of you folks can see what I currently do not see and give me a hint how to solve that please.


    After years of completely flawless and very convenient recording via SPDIF when Kemper was clock master and audio interface was clock slave I needed to change that setup a few days ago due to some other changes in the studio. Now my Kemper is clock slave. Sychronization looks fine, see picture below, it reflects whatever I select in the control panel of the audio interface (M-Audio/AVID Fast Track C400 - old but trustworthy and so far good enough for what I do here). No other setup changes.


    Now no signal comes through in that setting. When I switch back to Kemper is master and interface is slave it immediately works as it did before and the signal is absolutely fine. Pretty strange :/


    So what goes wrong here? Any hints? Any parts of the manual that slipped off my memory? Appreciate your help Kemperians!


    OS Version 8.7.20 44681, I have not upgraded to 9.0.5 yet in order to not confuse my system with the USB audio interface functionality.

    SPDIF cables (both for in and out) did a fine job for recording and reamping for years. Checked them all though.




    I suspect you are using a unit built before 2019. just a guess.....


    See post #10 in this thread Dating used Kemper equipment.

    "Faith don't need no second opinion"

    Like 1

    Thanks Edward!


    Would it be able to sync then as shown on the picture? I always thought that when it allows you to switch to "slave mode" and sync then it is capable to do so. Not exactly sure when my KPA was built, but I guess it was indeed early 2019 when I bought it new.

    from the picture it looks like it's OK on the PROFILER's side ( the option 'auto' would not be available when the unit didn't have SPDIF slave capability; and the screen indicates the correct samplerate when changed externally)


    so : it looks like there is no actual audio signal carried over the cable coming out of your audio I/F : maybe you could plug that I/F's output cable into another SPDIF slave to cross-check?

    Quote from kpahuitsing

    from the picture it looks like it's OK on the PROFILER's side ( the option 'auto' would not be available when the unit didn't have SPDIF slave capability; and the screen indicates the correct samplerate when changed externally)

    Thank you very much for the confirmation. Very helpful as that is what I thought how it should be.


    Meanwhile I had a chance to grab another pair of similar high quality cables (same result), another interface (same type, same software, same result) and my SPL Track One channel strip with SPDIF module. The latter indeed showed the same results as well. SPL being master = all good, SP being slave = no signal. That at least rules out the Kemper I'd say. Very good. Thanks again! :thumbup:


    Next step, I will grab another interface then to cross check...