Trying to hook up 3 Motu 8pre's

[smudman]

Hi guys, I am new here and having trouble getting my 8pre's hooked up. I have 3 Motu 8 pre's and a MacBook Pro. I have no problems hooking one up by firewire and getting the audio but I start having trouble with the second one. The second one I have connected by digital optical cable and I get audio from the channels but sometimes it drops them completely. I had a tough enough time getting two hooked up so I haven't tried the third one again yet since I got the second one somewhat working. I can hear the audio from them in Garage Band and they show up in the Cue program that comes with it but I hear no audio. I would appreciate any suggestions and help.

[Pappy725]

Have you tried hooking them together via FireWire? I think you should be able to get them all running that way. The first one is the master clock and the other two receive clock through the optical in/outs. Also, in MOTU Audio Setup, select all three of them.

HTH,
Pappy

[smudman]

No I have not tried that yet. I have thought about it but I thought the only way you could hook them all together to get 24 inputs was by the optical. I will try it out tomorrow and hope that it works. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Pappy725]

In my 828 manual it says you can hook 4 units together via FW without wordclock, but that has bitten me in the backside a couple of times so I always clock my two units together.

Pappy

[timothyclee]

I've been doing this for several years. Daisy chain all three 8 pre's computer to firewire in of #1 and then #1 to #2 and #3 to #3.

In digital performer under audio interface you will need to make sure you have all three selected.

[smudman]

Well it seems I have made some progress. I can now receive audio from all 3 8pre's. I am having issues in Garageband now. Let me start here. I am using these to record my church's praise team live. In Garageband I have added input 7 from 8pre #3 and input 2 from 8pre #2 and I can't get them to record at the same time. I add the input from #3 first then the one from #2. After I add the one from #2 the one from #3 says Mono7 (Motu 8pre #2) instead of Mono7 (Motu 8pre #3). I have tried using Audio Desk also but am having absolutely no luck with that. My Motu audio settings are: 8pre #1 clock source internal, optical input and output ADAT. 8pre#2 clock source ADAT Optical, optical input and output ADAT. 8pre#3 clock source ADAT Optical, optical input and output ADAT. Looking for anymore help, at least I have made some headway.

[Pappy725]

Your 8Pres should work flawlessly with AudioDesk. Does MOTU Audio Setup come up when you turn them on? There should be a tab at the top of that window for each of them. In AD, go to the setup menu, hardware setup and select all three. Check bundles (shift-U) to make sure all inputs have been added. Check studio setup to see if you have enough voices enabled.
You'll get it going, sometimes it takes a bit to get it all working correctly.

Hang in there,
Pappy

[smudman]

WOW I THINK THAT WAS IT. All three were showing up but I didn't have all three selected as you wrote in your last post. I had three mic's on and I was able to record all three at the same time. Thank you very much for your help, I greatly appreciate it. The only problem I have right now is that when I go to play back what I recorded I don't hear anything.

[Pappy725]

You have to select the output for each track and/or master fader and hook the main outs of one of the 8Pres to an amp or powered speakers. It will be Main Out 8Pre (1) or whatever.
Almost there!

Pappy

[smudman]

So there is no way that I can listen to what I recorded on my MacBook or would I have to make a rig that would let me to be able to do that? I am brand new to the world of digital sound and Mac so I am just cutting my teeth this week.

[Pappy725]

You can plug in headphones to the 8Pre and listen thru them.

Pappy

[smudman]

I was hoping to be able to take the MacBook home so that I can remix it there. If I am understanding you right I won't be able to do that.

[Pappy725]

Okay, I'm getting you now. You'll have to change the outputs in your recording software to built in to listen on your MBP. Are you recording to the internal drive that has your audio software on it? Most folks on Motunation recommend an external drive to record the audio files to. 24 tracks of audio might bog down the FW bus on your MBP. That and reading from and writing to the same disk.

Pappy

[smudman]

Yes, right now I am recording to the same drive but am hopefully getting an external drive this week. So all I would have to do then is change the output on Audio Desk to built in?

[Pappy725]

That should do it. Of course, that is after you have disconnected the 8Pres and are running AudioDesk without the interfaces.
Sooooo cloooose.......
Pappy