Linking a Motu to Ensemble

by **Mickstape** » Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:39 pm

Hi dudes, i grabbed the 828 off Steve L today, i'm just wondering exactly how i should patch it it into the ensemble or my mac to get the extra channels? Do i just firewire out of the 828 into the second firewire on the apogee or do i need to use a lightpipe<digital> in/out? I have a co-axial spidf cable handy if that helps me. its doing my head in and i dont want to be ferking my shit up if ya follow me.

by **Chris H** » Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:50 pm

I have done this with the ensemble and the MOTU 896. It won't link up using firewire unfortunately, so lightpipe is the way to go. So you go from the ensemble to the computer via firewire and to & from the MOTU via lightpipe. Set the ensemble as the master. In logic the ensemble is accessed via options_Audio_Appogee Control Panel. Also all outputs & inputs are accessible via Maestro.

by **Mickstape** » Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:21 pm

thanks chris, just wondering if i would get a better connection via co-ax? i don't have any spare opticals atm and the missus will nut off if i raid the ones from the stereo haha

by **Mickstape** » Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:34 pm

oh and i just wanted to clarify something in regards to sample rate, if i have the master and the session at 96kHz is it going to cause drama with the 828 having a max sample rate of 48kHz? forgive the novice question dudes. im just a little unsure about that one, whether or not the ensemble will down-sample the input into its convertors and then re-convert in the DAW?

by **Chris H** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:03 am

They have to work at the same sample rate because the motu is clocked via the ensemble. As for coax, is that SPDIF? I havent even looked at that option but if both units have it give it a go as it should work

by **Mickstape** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 11:14 am

Chris H wrote:They have to work at the same sample rate because the motu is clocked via the ensemble. As for coax, is that SPDIF? I havent even looked at that option but if both units have it give it a go as it should work

if i interprete that correctly then i will have to run everything at 48kHz otherwise the master will have issues with the slave. correct? If thats the case then i guess i can only have 48kHz sessions if i want the extra ins then?

by **Chris H** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 11:58 am

Mickstape wrote:
Chris H wrote:They have to work at the same sample rate because the motu is clocked via the ensemble. As for coax, is that SPDIF? I havent even looked at that option but if both units have it give it a go as it should work

if i interprete that correctly then i will have to run everything at 48kHz otherwise the master will have issues with the slave. correct? If thats the case then i guess i can only have 48kHz sessions if i want the extra ins then?

Or 44.1. I record at24 bit 44.1 if i'm staying in the box for mixdown and mastering as any gains in going 48 are likely lost during sample rate conversion. If i'm mixing on the console or mastering via analogue then higher sample rates are an advantage. Because i use a MOTU 896 with the ensemble i can go to 96 kHz.

by **we88** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 5:02 pm

why not make an aggregate device in audio prefs? works a treat for me and it never misses a beat. I have a metric halo ULN2 and a MOTU 896 set up like this,- no cables/pipes necessary

by **Chris H** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 5:11 pm

we88 wrote:why not make an aggregate device in audio prefs? works a treat for me and it never misses a beat. I have a metric halo ULN2 and a MOTU 896 set up like this,- no cables/pipes necessary

........pleaze explain>.....no cables???

by **lonearranger** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 6:06 pm

if you are on a mac you can create a special device that consolidates audio hardware. Here is a guide :

http://logicstudiotraining.com/members/ ... wball-mic/

If you are on PC then have a look at a thing called ASIO4all
http://www.asio4all.com/

Cheers

by **we88** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 1:33 am

Chris H wrote:
we88 wrote:why not make an aggregate device in audio prefs? works a treat for me and it never misses a beat. I have a metric halo ULN2 and a MOTU 896 set up like this,- no cables/pipes necessary

........pleaze explain>.....no cables???

well you need to daisy chain the FireWire devices but all the hard work is done by osx. Clocking etc . One device is master , one slave which follows the master clock. Mac only of course but if you have an ensemble then you are almost there. The link above should explain

by **Chinagraf** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 9:37 am

Mick, unless you are working at 96K, rack them together and just buy a couple of cheaper 1 foot toslink cables of ebay and run adat. We are talking 10 - 15 bucks for both. At a length of 1 foot the cheaper cable is fine. Search for Selby on ebay.com.au - I'm using their cables to feed a rack of reverbs out of a fireface800. Nobody has said "why old chap that reverb sounds like it has more jitter in it's analog feed" etc yet.
The coax you mention - are you talking about BNC like tv arial stuff...if so it is the word clock connector, not for audio.

by **Mickstape** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 3:05 pm

Chinagraf wrote:The coax you mention - are you talking about BNC like tv arial stuff...if so it is the word clock connector, not for audio.

Nah it's not that solid core stuff, it's a co-ax spidf cable, a digital one. All good mate i got it sorted.

Thanks for the link Lindsey, very helpful.

by **DwaneHollands** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 3:35 pm

we88 wrote:why not make an aggregate device in audio prefs? works a treat for me and it never misses a beat. I have a metric halo ULN2 and a MOTU 896 set up like this,- no cables/pipes necessary

Great to hear that it's working. I'm looking at doing a similar thing. Perhaps with two M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R's for more I/O. Pretty exciting possibilities where you can mix and match hardware.

I'm looking for a way to intergrate an external word clock like the Black Lion Audio MicroClock MkII, so that they could all slave to it. (heard that clock does wonders even for be!@#$%^& AD/DA). But it's probably unlikely it'd work like that!

by **reddirt** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:18 pm

Michael (OP) I guess you've got your answer so hope you don't mind the thread being hi-jacked; - Lindsay, what's your feeling on the ULN-2; are the pres and the stability as good as we're led to believe , are you using the plus DSP and if so could you comment please?
Am looking at maybe, ensemble , ff800 , ULN-2/ digimax fs combo or possibly ULN-8 and no way to hear or use any of it.
Cheers, Ross

by **Mickstape** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 7:30 pm

No problem at all Ross.

I'm guilty of several horrendous thread hijacks myself.

Cmon Lindsay, fess up. Is it any good or wat?

by **we88** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:03 pm

I have the dsp model. I recently had the 2d card upgrade with all the added grunt but have not really used it yet as I have been computerless for some time now. I can say though that the supplied effects are very useable/functional but in the original format I couldn't do a whole mix- that should change with the upgrade where I plan to use the channel strip across all groups.

I would have to say that the strength is in those pres. I doubt there are better ones on any audio interface. I believe the converters are very good to but I am no expert and don't realy have anything to compare it to- any difference to the 896 is subtle - monitoring on ADAM A7's in a decent sized home studio-

Generally I would recommend the unit and I am happy that the company has stuck to the promise of upgrade and improvement not only to the software but also the hardware. My only fear is that FireWire will disappear , we are still waiting for FW3200 devices. The protocol was signed off 2 years ago but still nothing

by **no-fi** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:41 pm

hi lindsay!!!
:-)

by **we88** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:01 pm

Hi Julian
:-/

by **we88** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:05 pm

I heard you can find some good gear around here- like that birthday Arp. Speaking of what's with the Axxe?

by **no-fi** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 10:09 pm

we88 wrote:Hi Julian
:-/

awwww whats with the wonky face?
:-s

no birthday arp for me.

...axxe? are you talking about the avatar you brought over for me to look at?!?

by **we88** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 9:12 am

no-fi wrote:
we88 wrote:Hi Julian
:-/

awwww whats with the wonky face?
:-s

no birthday arp for me.

...axxe? are you talking about the avatar you brought over for me to look at?!?

That is more of a wry smile... and yes Avatar; why did i think it was an ARP Axxe? blocking out that movie maybe. Did it ever make a bleep?

by **no-fi** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 9:50 pm

we88 wrote:That is more of a wry smile... and yes Avatar; why did i think it was an ARP Axxe? blocking out that movie maybe. Did it ever make a bleep?

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

yeah, I opened it up a while ago, and had a bit of a poke around with a multimeter. the PSU is not very happy. it probably needs the little blue tantalum caps in it replaced all through the synth for a start (quite a few of them!) then need to work out what's up with the PSU. got a few of my own projects to work on first though....

looks like I'm out of instant miracle cures after making your 501 work.

do you want it back?
:-)

Linking a Motu to Ensemble

Linking a Motu to Ensemble

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