Anyone using 2 8Pre's ? XP & Cubase SX3

Gmanstudio · Post by **Gmanstudio** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 2:22 pm

I was wondering if anyone has had any positive results using two 8Pre's daisy-chained under XP & Cubase.
My first 8Pre works flawlessly, but when I added a second one, all sorts of problems popped up. Primarily, the 2nd unit goes out of clock sync randomly and causes a buzzing noise on the channels assigned to it in Cubase SX3.
I've already done the SP2 to SP1 patching to the 1394 drivers, and upgraded our computer to a Ahtlon dual Core 2.2 GHz with 2GB RAM and 250 GB SATA. All the MOTU, Cubase, and XP patches are installed. Cubase recognizes the 2nd unit fine but when we do any recording, the units go out of clock sync.

wkessing · Post by **wkessing** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:48 am

I'm having the same problem, except with Cubase 4. It will also go out of whack if i try using just Cuemix. Intel Core 2 duo in my machine.

dr. Fill · Post by **dr. Fill** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 2:10 pm

have you tried removing the driver
and installing it again?

or tried the other firewireport on the 8pre?
Do they work when hooked up through ADAT?

just starting with some basic trouble shooting 1.01 before making it difficult.

Gmanstudio · Post by **Gmanstudio** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:22 am

All good questions... here's what I've done so far:
1) swaped #1 & #2 units via internal firewire ports on the 8Pre's
2) Hooked both units into separate 1394 ports on the PC
3) Recorded with each unit individually (works fine)
4) put in the SP1 1394 patch & SP 1 drivers, port speed in registry entry is at "3" (s400/800)
5) Downgraded to previous MOTU drivers
6) Checked IRQ's to make sure there is no sharing on the firewire ports
7) Hooked one unit to the motherboard firewire, the other to a PCI firewire card (TI chipset)

swapped out firewire cables on both
9) Made sure clock sources were correct on both

I haven't tried making the 2nd unit the master clock though. I will try tonight.

Same symptoms in every scenario, records fine on both units for a while (<3 minutes), then all channels on the 2nd unit start "buzzing", the clock LED on the 2nd unit starts to flash, then stops, and then, the audio starts recording again.
Task manager & Perf monitor in Cubase say the CPU's never go over 22%.
Each unit works fine on its own, it's just when I daisy chain them that the trouble begins.

Gmanstudio · Post by **Gmanstudio** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:25 am

If I were to try to hook the 2 units up via ADAT ports, would I loose any inputs from the 2nd unit?
I thought MOTU said to daisy chain via firewire.

dr. Fill · Post by **dr. Fill** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:41 pm

I can say for sure you won't loose any inputs, but I can't say for sure if you'll keep the main out and the headphone out.

I'll have to look into that one.

Gmanstudio · Post by **Gmanstudio** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 8:42 am

More info....
This is a dedicated DAW, I'm a geek and am proud to say I've been able to get the number of processes down to the bare minimum (10).

I do have an update....and it is very confusing.....

During all of this testing, I've always set the source clock in the MOTU audio application as 8pre #1......last night out of desperation, I switched it to the 8pre #2, and I was having pretty good success in that I was recording a total of 12 tracks for 15 mins constantly with none of that buzzing happening or the clocks going out of sync.

Before it would intermittently happen within 3 minutes. Strange! It seemed logical to me to have unit #1 be the clock source, but switching to unit #2 seems to have made the difference.

dr. Fill · Post by **dr. Fill** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 3:16 am

I think the #1 #2 8pre only tells your computer which is which. So #1 doesn't have to be the most important one.
And if it works when #2 clocks, then let it clock

Gmanstudio · Post by **Gmanstudio** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 7:17 pm

OK,

I have found a configuration that actually works everytime.
All multi-8Pre users should read this.
The working config is:
8Pre #1 hooked up to the firewire port on the PC
8Pre #2 is connected to #1 via the ADAT ports
8Pre #1 is the clock source.
It works, and works well.
Why doesn't MOTU stop telling us to daisy chain via firewire? It just doesn't work!

dr. Fill · Post by **dr. Fill** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:35 am

when dasiychaining you'll keep the outputs (main/headphone). At least i think those don't work in this setup. On the 8pre #2 that is.

Gmanstudio · Post by **Gmanstudio** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:02 am

I use Cuemix for monitoring any inputs on 8Pre #2 thru 8Pre #1's headphone/main outs and it works OK.
(They show up on Cuemix as ADAT 1 -

I don't feel like I wasted $500 on the 2nd unit anymore!

You know, the products themselves are fantastic, great features, quality, etc. It's just the integration software that seems to be lacking.

plilley · Post by **plilley** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 8:50 pm

I have just purchase 2 8 pre's running under an old version of Nuendo (1.6); running at 48k/24 bit with 8 pre #2 as master I can get all tracks to run into the computer (HP Laptop) no problem, but loose the headphone monitoring for both, but they playback fine.

So, you have the ADAT output of #2 running into the input of #1? How do you have the cuemix setup?

MOTUnation.com

Anyone using 2 8Pre's ? XP & Cubase SX3

Anyone using 2 8Pre's ? XP & Cubase SX3

Same with me

ADAT connection?

Finally Fixed!