Pro Tools Setup I/O error with MOTU Aggregate Device

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Discussion related to installation, configuration and use of MOTU hardware such as MIDI interfaces, audio interfaces, etc. for Mac OSX
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TinenTech
Posts: 138
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 10:36 am
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Western Massachusetts

Pro Tools Setup I/O error with MOTU Aggregate Device

Post by TinenTech »

Last week during a live remote I had an unusual issue where Pro Tools didn't "see" all the inputs coming from my MOTU interfaces. Very odd situation...ADAT Optical channel #1 doesn't show up at all, and then #3 shows up as #2, and #8 is "skipped"...this continues through the two other optical interfaces. Rebooting, resetting, etc. etc. didn't cure it.

(I have a MOTU 896 mk 3, with two ADAT inputs, and a Traveler mk 1 with one ADAT input connected via Firewire to a Macbook Pro, listed in Audio MIDI Setup as a "MOTU Aggregate Device".)

Luckily, good 'ol Digital Performer saw all 24 channels of optical input in the correct order, so I used that, though my client's preferred format is Pro Tools :cry:

I've never had this happen with Pro Tools before, but I'd only used analog inputs from MOTU to Pro Tools when using both interfaces; this was the first time I was using all three ADAT ports (coming from a Yamaha LS9 console during a live show). When I'm using just the 896 or just the Traveler, I have no problems using the ADAT Ins.

It's probably a Pro Tools bug, so this is just FYI unless someone out there has had a similar issue.

BTW, one MOTU/Pro Tools issue is that on the Settings/IO page, it's difficult to see what input is what...the interface channels are listed just a long stream of numbers, can't tell where the 896 ends and the Traveler begins, what's AES, what's analog, what's Cue Mix and Reverb returns (until you look up the numbers in Audio MIDI Setup in Mac). When using multiple Avid interfaces, the names of the inputs are clear and there's a "header" row over the column showing which interface is where.
MacBook Pro 9,1 (mid-2012 Core i7 2.3 GHz 4 GB RAM), OSX 10.11.3, Newertech Voyager SATA drive dock
MOTU: DP 9.02, Traveler Mk 1, 896 MkIII Hybrid, MIDI Express XT
Alesis AI3 optical interface, QS8, QS7, DM Pro, DM5, QSR
Mackie Controller and Extender (original MIDI)
Pro Tools 12
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