new driver version

[jaymzyates]

actually I just loaded up bfd 2 with my mpd and i had sound. So it appears it's just limited to vista's own mixer routine (aka, I cant play an audio file in windows media player, for example)

[Bill Phillips]

I need to have the CueMix console working.

Bill

I received a response to my motu tech support request on CueMix. I was told to restore the mkII's factory defaults. I did that and CueMix appears to be working. I wasn't able to test it thoroughly last night; but it's a lot better than it was.

Now, all I need is to be able to record using ASIO drivers, 32 sample buffers and 96k. MOTU is still working on that one.

Bill

[hswin]

Hey Guys,

Those who were looking for MOTU drivers MOTU FW 3.6.7.4 were directed to this website <http://www.driversdb.com/device.php?id=113378> and it does nothing. Also while visiting the MOTU website they have an "all downloads" page which lists the 3.6.7.4 driver, then you have to login. After you login, you don't get the option of selecting 3.6.7.4 anymore, you get the 3.6.7.1400 (updated for MKIII units ONLY, they forgot to say). If you have older units like I do, they don't work at all.

Anyhow, for now I have 3.6.7.3 installed and all is well. I'm leary of 3.6.7.4 until I get a chance to check it out. Might work well.

[Bill Phillips]

After you login, you don't get the option of selecting 3.6.7.4 anymore, you get the 3.6.7.1400 (updated for MKIII units ONLY, they forgot to say). If you have older units like I do, they don't work at all.

3.6.7.1400 sorta works with my mkII and Vista x64. The ASIO drivers aren't completely useable; but the Wave[RT] drivers are. I had to reset my mkII to factory defaults to get the CueMix interface to work; but it works now. Also, the ADAT I/O is split with half at the top and half at the bottom which hoses my templates. Other than than it works fine.

Oh yeah, the lowest buffer setting is 96 and the highest sample rate is 48k. I think that's all the strangeness and limitations.

I don't know if this will happen everytime; but when I reset the mkII to factory defaults my registry was corrupted causing me to loose the top four ADAT inputs and some plugins. I re-installed SONAR to fix that little problem.

I don't know where I went wrong. I thought waiting for a year and Vista SP1 would give MOTU enough time to work out the bugs. I was way wrong.

Bill

[dare]

... If they don't sort it out soon the 828 will go on EBAY and I will switch to RME.

I should have bought RME in the first place... It is no wonder that this interface sits in a lot of racks in pro studios. Shiny cosmetics charmed me and I went MOTU

[elsoma]

After you login, you don't get the option of selecting 3.6.7.4 anymore, you get the 3.6.7.1400 (updated for MKIII units ONLY, they forgot to say). If you have older units like I do, they don't work at all.

3.6.7.1400 sorta works with my mkII and Vista x64. The ASIO drivers aren't completely useable; but the Wave[RT] drivers are. I had to reset my mkII to factory defaults to get the CueMix interface to work; but it works now. Also, the ADAT I/O is split with half at the top and half at the bottom which hoses my templates. Other than than it works fine.

Oh yeah, the lowest buffer setting is 96 and the highest sample rate is 48k. I think that's all the strangeness and limitations.

I don't know if this will happen everytime; but when I reset the mkII to factory defaults my registry was corrupted causing me to loose the top four ADAT inputs and some plugins. I re-installed SONAR to fix that little problem.

I don't know where I went wrong. I thought waiting for a year and Vista SP1 would give MOTU enough time to work out the bugs. I was way wrong.

Bill

U're lucky man; I'm pratically sharing your hw system, using a different daw, but there's no way to make this damn thing working... I've been forced to downgrade to a worthless xp sp3 and still isn't working a its ("declared or hypothetical") full potential. Thus motu, tell me why I've thrown my money to buy an "high end" pc unit if I even can't use it with your device (and you still haven't read my complainings in techlink)??????

[Yorgos Arabatzis]

Ok let's face it,

All of us with older units back to 3.6.7.4...Everything's sweet there for me..
I have everything i need...

Cheers

[eyeknow]

I have been back with the 3.6.7.4 driver for quite some time (back to the first page I posted a long time ago!) and even THEY give some issues.

For one, regardless of if I am using the wall wart or bus power, much of the time I'll shut off the wifi (which you basically have to with motu) and still it won't work. Then, if I launch cubase 4.5.2 or EXT2, or a standalone it will all hang.......

Of course if you try to contact motu, no matter how detailed your query is, the only thing they respond with is "do you have the latest drivers?".......ugggggg, it's just bad.

More to the point, I still really want to upgrade to the mk3 series but simply can't

BTW, when I bought this traveler, I was on mac. Don't be fooled, it didn't work properly (no squeals with internet connection, hangs, etc) on that, so it's a driver issue across the board....

Ok, done venting, wish motu would read and care, would love the traveler mk3, but alas......can't do........

[APADRecordings]

This will likely make some folks unhappy but I want to state that the only problem I have found with the new 1400 driver is that the Toslink output actually appears as ADAT B 7-8. I understand that many folks are having problems but I don't believe they are being caused by MOTU drivers. The real problem is with the new Core 2 Duo machines, their chipsets, and the drivers provided by Intel. I believe this is caused by the "rush to market" philosophy and inability to thoroughly test everything.

I used two Travelers on the FW buss for several years with no problems using an IBM Netvista and an ASUS Z7100 notebook. About the time I acquired a MOTU 828 MKIII I also acquired a Dell D830 notebook. The Dell came a day before a big recording at the Meyerson Symphony Center. I was horrified to hear gaps, squeals and pops as the concert began. I quickly shut down the Dell and used my old ASUS to finish the job with no problems. To keep it short, I no longer use the Dell for anything except business applications and graphics work. It does very well at these tasks. It cannot stream audio reliably because the whole I/O system is seriously compromised in order to provide maximum versatility and because there is not room in the case to do otherwise. Many folks on this forum have experienced the same thing and try tweaking the OS, blah-blah, etc. Many Mac notebook users experience the same thing because there is nothing magical about a Mac. In fact, Apple doesn't even make the thing.

I went back to my Netvista for recording but since I purchased it in 2002 (I think) it was getting old. I went to ebay and found IBMs quite cheap coming off bank and corporate leases. I picked up a Thinkcentre M55e (3.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, SATA drives, etc.) for $189.00. I had to purchase restoration CDs from Lenovo for $50 but soon had it up and running. I put a Genius 3 port card in the expansion port, plugged in the MOTUs and immediate experience pops, squeals, etc. I sold it the next day for $300. I tried several other Thinkcentres before settling on the Thinkcentre S51, 8171. These machines can be had for $89 to $139 and work flawlessly. I can use XP SP3 and record reliably while running MSN Messenger, email. In short, it just works, as it should. FW is not that hard!

[APADRecordings]

To continue the earlier post:
Figuring that the Thinkcentres were about three years old I attempted to install some new drivers. A dialog popped up warning me that the new Intel driver I was attempting to install had not been tested by IBM/Lenovo. I ignored it figuring Intel certainly knew how to write drivers for its own chipsets! I immediately began having pops, squeal, etc with the MOTUs. I rolled back to the IBM tested driver and the problems disappeared. About this time the new MOTU 1394 driver became available and I was alerted by them that the timing in the software had been completely redone. I found I could record with a Traveler MKIII, an original Traveler and an 8Pre all on the FW buss. That's a heck of a load for FW400!

Having proved to myself that the real problems lie with the chipsets and their drivers I asked MOTU if they would pass this on to Intel. They said, yes, but audio-video users constitute less than 1% of PC users and they really had no interest.

So the gist of it all is - you can spend big bucks on the lastest and greatest, tweak the software, re-install SP1 FW software, etc., and still have problems. Or you can spend big bucks from companies like Rain that have done all that for you. I'd rather spend very little, get a plug-n-play computer, record reliably day after day even if it's not the lastest and greatest. I'm convinced that the MOTU Traveler MKIII is the finest most versatile unit on the market at any price! And there's nothing wrong with the drivers.

If this interests you, go to Ebay and look for Thinkcentre 8171 with 1GB RAM, 80 GB SATA drive and 3.2 GHz CPU. These can be had for $130 or less, purchase the restoration CDs from Lenovo for $51 and set it up. You're getting a real simple powerhouse for about what you'd pay for XP alone. These machines are small, quiet, and simple to get into. No screws - press two buttons. I replace their CD-ROMs with LiteOn DVDRW drives.

[Yorgos Arabatzis]

Too much frustration my friend...
I just rolled back my drivers and i'm cool again...
"If it ain't broken don't try to fix it"

[Mark S]

To continue the earlier post:

Having proved to myself that the real problems lie with the chipsets and their drivers I asked MOTU if they would pass this on to Intel. They said, yes, but audio-video users constitute less than 1% of PC users and they really had no interest.

So the gist of it all is - you can spend big bucks on the latest and greatest, tweak the software, re-install SP1 FW software, etc., and still have problems,...

Statement one: why Microsoft hasn't fixed their mess too.

#2: I'll disagree a bit. Running dual core AMD here and never had a issue unit I got a second unit. The reinstall to SP1 really is for people running two firewire units in daisy chain configurations but doesn't work consistently on multi proc machines. No one, regardless of who makes the unit, gets off free with this on the Windows platform when trying to daisy chain.

The AVT drivers seem to work though,...

Otherwise, I'm with you all the way.

[dare]

This will likely make some folks unhappy but I want to state that the only problem I have found with the new 1400 driver is that the Toslink output actually appears as ADAT B 7-8. I understand that many folks are having problems but I don't believe they are being caused by MOTU drivers. The real problem is with the new Core 2 Duo machines, their chipsets, and the drivers provided by Intel. I believe this is caused by the "rush to market" philosophy and inability to thoroughly test everything...

What kind of traveller do you have ? MK2 or MK3 ? The issue is with the new 1400 ver. and MK3. It is all messed up... It is kinda lame to have messed I/Os... I can live with that, but it is very disappointing that they haven't address that small issue for such a long time. Additionally, some ASIO software simply doesnt run with the v1400 - and I doubt it is because of all the other hardware. And if the chipset is the problem, then how come RMI hardware works just fine with the same one ?

[Bill Phillips]

This will likely make some folks unhappy but I want to state that the only problem I have found with the new 1400 driver is that the Toslink output actually appears as ADAT B 7-8. I understand that many folks are having problems but I don't believe they are being caused by MOTU drivers. The real problem is with the new Core 2 Duo machines, their chipsets, and the drivers provided by Intel. I believe this is caused by the "rush to market" philosophy and inability to thoroughly test everything.

I was encouraged by your statement and thought that I may have been to quick to abandon the ASIO driver. So, I switched back from Wave[RT] to ASIO and tested my I/O with SONAR. I found the Main Outputs from SONAR drove mkII outputs 1/2 with all others shifted up. That seemed tolerable bcause I only use the 10 analog outputs.

However, I use all 20 inputs and lost interest in trying to map out what was happening when I found SPIDIF Left where ADAT 7 should be. I couldn't help but think that being this screwed up was likely to cause problems even if a I could keep track of the actual routing.

Bill

[APADRecordings]

I know nothing about RMI hardware so I can't answer your question. I do know that MOTU releases maintenance updates for their drivers without necessarily adding new features. I don't know if that's on any kind of schedule or not.

I have 9 computers here, all using the 915 or 865 chipsets, and I have flawless operation with the 828MKIII, TravelerMKIII, 896MKIII, Traveler, and 8Pre (except for the Toslink misread that I mentioned). I don't consider the Toslink problem serious because the optical outputs could be ADAT or Toslink. Behavior is the same with all my computers except the Dell 830 which is not suitable for streaming audio. Apparently, the PCMCIA, ExpressCard I/O actually work into the PCI Express buss in an unconventional way. This makes the Dell very versatile. But when streaming audio using a FW adapter in either of those ports it may work beautifully for 3 to 5 minutes and then the audio disappears for several seconds or it may squeal or the cursor may lock up. There is no fix for it, either software, firmware or hardware. Notebooks, in general, are a total disaster. I will never buy another without actually trying it out/living with it for several hours. I have tried several computers using the 945 and 946 chipsets - none worked with Firewire adapters.

I'm convinced that the shifts in ouputs and problems that many are experiencing are mainly due to variations in Intel chipsets and the drivers written for them. I also applaud Microsoft's efforts to require certification of all drivers. Printed circuit board layout, capacitor size and placement on the buss are other hardware variations that can cause timing problems (timing is everything). Without strict standards there is no way to account for or eliminate these problems. Neither MS nor MOTU can write drivers to accommodate all the variations.