Presonus Quantum 4848 and MOTU 112D Together on a Mac Studio M1 Ultra...

[Justin1524]

Hello MOTU users -

I'm Justin, new to the forum and happy to be here. At long last, last year I upgraded my old cheesegrater Mac to a loaded Mac Studio M1 Ultra computer and love it. I sold my old Avid HD Native Card and 2 - 192 Digidesign Interfaces which, while really old, heavy and hot running, did provide me with a lot of analog and digitial IO. I found a great price on ebay (about half of retail) for a Presonus Quantum 4848 which provides a glorious amount of analog IO and also some ADAT IO - there's really nothing on the market at this price like it. I love it and really it's enough for me.

But I did kind of miss my AES/EBU IO - it's just nice to have because I have a couple of Panasonic RAMSA 8 channel preamps, a Digidesign Eleven Rack and a Line 6 Helix LT and, doggonit, they all have AES/EBU IO. So I waited patiently watching ebay and Reverb for a deal on another, very unique interface, the MOTU 112D. It's an interface I feel few would choose because not a lick of analog IO on it - BUT - for me that's the beauty, all digital and wow a lot of it! 24 AES/EBU, 24 ADAT and MADI/AVB via ethernet and thunderbolt 2 built in.

My plan is to try and use both the Quantum 4848 and the 112D together, using the xtra thunderbolt thru port on the 4848 and Core Audio Aggregate IO. One bonus I think might work is, on occasion, I need to run audio from a PC for apps on the PC - like Skype etc. I'm kind of hoping I can just run an ethernet cable to the 112D either directly from the PC or onto my home network switch and get audio IO from/to PC/Mac using AVB. That'd be a nifty bonus.

For those asking why in the heck in a small studio would anyone need so much IO? Well actually, it's dumb, less things to unplug/replug. Having a lot of IO provides options for outboard gear and gives you, essentially a massive digital patchbay right in the computer. Even something simple like running a digital Toslink from a TV, you've got all those ports, easy peasy. Think I'm crazy? Well, can't wait to get my 112D and see if this beast works well. If anyone's readying this and it actually makes sense to you, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Cheers!

Justin

[HCMarkus]

Welcome Justin! I made the move to a Mac Studio Ultra myself a few months back; it has been absolutely lovely. Had Apple introduced the new Mac Mini Pro back then, I might have been tempted to spend a little less. That said, no regrets at this point.

Sounds like a cool setup. Hope it meets your needs, and then some.

One thought: For an Ethernet audio connection thru a switch, you my need an AVB-capable switch.

[Justin1524]

Thanks HC - that's a good point about the AVB switch. I'll be curious to try this new rig out. Routing audio can be one of the most frustrating (albeit critical) things we do in studios. Time will tell.

[HCMarkus]

Thanks HC - that's a good point about the AVB switch. I'll be curious to try this new rig out. Routing audio can be one of the most frustrating (albeit critical) things we do in studios. Time will tell.

As complex as it can seem, the MOTU Pro Audio Routing page presents a tremendous amount of flexibility. I spent a good week thinking about what I needed to accomplish before I actually started setting it up, but haven't had to revisit it since.