A word clock or wordclock (sometimes sample clock, which can have a broader meaning) is a clock signal used to synchronise other devices, such as digital audio tape machines and compact disc players, which interconnect via digital audio. S/PDIF, AES/EBU, ADAT, and TDIF are some of the formats that use a word clock. Various audio over Ethernet systems use broadcast packets to distribute the word clock. The device which generates the word clock is the master clock.
Word clock is so named because it clocks each sample. Samples are represented in data words.
Read more about Word Clock: Comparison To Timecode, Word Clock Over Coax Cable, Word Clock Over AES3
Famous quotes containing the words word and/or clock:
“At ev’ry word a reputation dies.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“Whoever considers morality the main objective of human existence, seems to me like a person who defines the purpose of a clock as not going wrong. The first objective for a clock, is, however, that it does run; not going wrong is an additional regulative function. If not a watch’s greatest accomplishment were not going wrong, unwound watches might be the best.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)