What if a Slave Cannot Find a Master?
Sometimes, your UltraSync ONE may be out of range of its master. In this situation, your UltraSync ONE cannot receive timecode from the master and so uses its own internal timecode instead. This is called 'free running'.
Typically, an UltraSync ONE will free run because the master is out of range.
With master-slave connection failures, there are several different scenarios to consider:
| Slave Connection to Master | Result |
|---|---|
| Slave is trying to connect to a master for the first time, but cannot establish a connection. | Slave free-runs using its own timecode. |
| Slave was connected to an RF master, but has lost the connection. The RF master is an UltraSync ONE, SyncBac PRO, or minitrx+. |
Slave free-runs using its own timecode. It will continue to be synchronised with the master's timecode for approximately one day. The slave will connect with the first master device that comes into range and is using the same RF channel (as the slave). |
| Slave turned on, connected to BLINK master, but lost connection. The BLINK master is a :pulse or :wave. |
Slave free-runs using its own timecode. It will continue to be synchronised with the master's timecode for approximately one day. The slave will only re-connect with its previous BLINK master. It will ignore any other masters that come into range. If you want the slave to connect to a different master, you will need to restart the slave. |
Example:UltraSync ONE Out or Range of Master
Let's say you want to film a car chase scene involving two cars, Car A and Car B. The cars will take different routes through a city area and you will film the action using car-mounted cameras that are connected to UltraSync ONE units.
Car A has its UltraSync ONE set to run in Master TX mode and use RF Channel 4.
Car B has its UltraSync ONE set to run in RF Slave mode and use RF Channel 4.
At the start, Car A and Car B are UltraSync ONEs are within range and so they synchronise.
The chase begins and Car A speeds ahead. Car B is in pursuit and then veers off down a different street, as planned. At this point, the UltraSync ONE slave is out of range of the UltraSync ONE master.
Unable to connect to the master, Car B's UltraSync ONE uses its own timecode. As it was recently synchronised with the master UltraSync ONE, the slave UltraSync ONE's timecode still matches the master's timecode.
Towards the end of the scene, Car A and Car B come back together again, so the UltraSync ONEs are within range. The slave UltraSync ONE and master UltraSync ONE reconnect and are synchronised again.
