Question about MOTU 824mkII as ADAT i/o for Scope/Pulsar

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rrominet4
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2003 4:00 pm

Post by rrominet4 »

Hello to all,

I'd like to know if anyone used the motu 824MK II as ADAT i/o for scope or pulsar ?
http://www.motu.com

I was wondering if it works fine, and also if there are conflicts or performance fall when you use it with a firewire pci extension (no firewire on mother board).

It's difficult for me to understand the concept : with a regular ADDA converter, you plugs the adat wires and it's done.

With a card like the motu, it's a second soundcard, and i imagine that you make routings in the motu mixer, while you have it communicate thru firewire and pci with the pc (and thru adat/midi with scope).

If i'm not wrong, this make 2 loop of the sound before it gets to the analog outputs (of the motu).

Does this cause latency or problems ?

Can you still use the scope normally (especially using Scope Asio source/dest ? )

For example, if in Cubase you assign outputs to the motu, and the scope (for effects or synths), what are the chance that you get unsynched signal ? (due to different latency : my old scope allows a minimum of 13 ms , whereas the motu allows very low latencies (1ms ?)

It's more expensive than an a16, but it is portable so i could also use it on a laptop if needed (not at the same time of course).

The question is good for rme+ multiface
http://www.rme-audio.de/english/hdsp/multifa.htm
(but the vus and mixer of motu look efficient, don't they)

If you have any experience with this kind of setup, thanks to give us advices (I don't intend to buy a motu or rme soon, but it would be welcome to know)


thanks in advance

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: rrominet4 on 2003-07-01 16:37 ]</font>
rrominet4
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2003 4:00 pm

Post by rrominet4 »

oh yes, i'm under win XP...
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astroman
Posts: 8455
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2002 4:00 pm
Location: Germany

Post by astroman »

hi rrominet4,

I don't know exactly about the drivers of the units by Motu and RME, but it's probably ASIO. That would mean that you have to decide between Scope Asio and Motu Asio in your Sequencer. There can be only one :sad:
You may route some channels via Adat hardware of course, but I wouldn't consider this a solution for such an expensive device.

Regarding latency: it's reduced when the samplerate increases - of course a cycle at 88khz needs only half the time of it's 44 khz counterpart :wink: which makes many suppliers promote the latency of the highest samlperate - regardless if the unit is still operational in practical use at that rate.

cheers, Tom
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darkrezin
Posts: 2133
Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2001 4:00 pm
Location: crackney

Post by darkrezin »

Hi

I sometimes use my RME multiface to act as a multichannel AD converter feeding straight through the ADAT connectors into the Pulsar.

The Multiface has to be connected to the PC although it does not need to be used as an ASIO device, you can leave it idle (but you need to set up the routing in the RME) and just acting as a converter. I assume the same would apply to the MOTU.

Unless there is any specific reason you have to buy either of these (they can have other uses than just being a converter too), I would advise going with a standalone ADAT converter like the ones RME makes. The bonus is that you don't need to have it connected to the PC and configured in its little routing app.

peace
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