Two 896HD's, Mac Pro, No Console, pair of Studio Monitors..

Trachnyne · Post by **Trachnyne** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:01 pm

Hey folks. This is my first post on here, so I hope I'm not asking a silly question.

I just purchased two 896HD's (firewire), a pair of studio monitor speakers, and a Mac Pro with Digital Performer 5. (I haven't recieved anything yet, still shipping). However, I do not have a mixing console.

I'm just curious what my best options would be for monitoring, and listening to the total mix from DP through my monitors.

If the 2 896's are daisychained together, can I listen to both through one pair of monitors? Can I listen to the entire mix from DP through one (or both) 896's?

Thanks in advance.

stephentayler · Post by **stephentayler** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:26 pm

Hi Trachnyne, welcome to Unicornation!! I hope you will find lots of help here.

You will be monitoring your mix by assigning all your tracks to the main outputs of one of your interfaces. I assume your monitors are active?

kind regards

Stephen

stephentayler · Post by **stephentayler** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:47 pm

Can I point you to this page at MOTU's website?

http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/ ... rview.html

if you move the cursor around the back panel illustration, it shows details of the ins and outs.

Stephen

rockitcity · Post by **rockitcity** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:53 am

If the 2 896's are daisychained together, can I listen to both through one pair of monitors? Can I listen to the entire mix from DP through one (or both) 896's?

I'm assuming you got 2 896's for the inputs? (Why not one 896 and an 8-pre?). Anyway, the multiple outputs won't do you much good without a console to sum them in. So, how will they be daisy-chained? I would suggest that you run one 896 into the other via ADAT lightpipe. Then they both would appear on one Cuemix panel. Your studio monitors can only be connected to one of the 896 main outputs. You could use the 896 main out volume or you could get a monitor controller. (I just recently added a Mackie Big Knob to replace an aging digital console, and I like its functionality-especially the routing and talkback functions).

Sounds like you're putting together a pretty serious rig. Good luck getting it all set up and making tracks! Keep us posted as to how it's working out.

Bob

Trachnyne · Post by **Trachnyne** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:16 am

Thanks, guys! So far my expereince on this message board has been an incredibly positive one. I appreciate the input, as I am very new to this. However, I do have an old 896 that I used on a windows based machine, and although the OS wasnt all that stable, the hardware worked beautifully. I love the preamps in the motu gear, that's why I am coming back!

Now I just need to figure out how to use a mac, and DP 5!

Thanks again!

Fibes · Post by **Fibes** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:29 pm

When tracking and using cuemix for monitoring i link the units using the AES/EBU I/O, otherwise you will get two separate cuemix scenarios.

Anyhoo, good luck.

Trachnyne · Post by **Trachnyne** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 2:34 pm

Fibes wrote:When tracking and using cuemix for monitoring i link the units using the AES/EBU I/O, otherwise you will get two separate cuemix scenarios.

How does that work with listening to the playback from the machine? The same way?

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:47 am

Trachnyne wrote:Now I just need to figure out how to use a mac, and DP 5!
Thanks again!

If I had to reduce what little I know to one phrase of advice, it would be an expression I came up with once that seems to fit:
"Mac your way through it" (point and click).
After all, a couple of clicks can be worth many pages of the monoloth, er, manual.

Happy clickin'.
M