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Inputs just cutting out randomly
Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:22 pm
by rainmaker
Ok, this is getting annoying. I'm recording a live show with three motu 8pre's connected to an iMac. For some reason I cannot figure out, one of the units will just drop all inputs and cut out from 1 to 3 seconds every few minutes. The meter bridge in DP will reflect the cut with all inputs from that unit going blank. Anybody have any idea what might be causing this? The other two units are going strong as they should. They are all daisy chained with one cable going to the computer so I don't think that its the cable either. Not good for a live setting
Thanks,
Rainmaker
Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:25 pm
by kassonica
I would try replacing the firewire Cable just to be sure.
Also chaining them in this way maybe exceeding the firewire bandwith.
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 1:25 am
by Kaspar
I've done some testing and have succesfully recorded 90 minutes of 48 tracks with 3 x 8pre and a MacBook.
At first I had drops too but then I did the following:
Set "Buffer Size" to its maximum to give the processor time to do its different tasks.
Set "Host Buffer Multiplier" to 2. The manual isn't very informative about this parameter.
Use the internal disk in the computer so that the data aren't travelling two times on the FireWire cable (From the 8pre's to the computer and from the computer to an external disk).
Use short FireWire cables. The total length can become quite long with "normal" cables. Apple has some 50 cm cables.
Turn off BlueTooth and Wi-Fi.
Any processor spikes during the recording can lead to drops, so I'm not having any plugins loaded when I do 48 tracks and I'm not "disturbing" the recording.
Less than this can possibly also give fine recordings, but when you only have one try, it's better to be safe than sorry!