MOTUnation.com

Hi everyone,

I love my MOTU interfaces. The only thing that annoys my just a tiny-wheezy-bit is that I have to spend 3 seconds every night turning it off (yeah I'm not very patient, lol, but hey thats 18 Minutes a year! )

So i saw this auto-power on option and I just wondered: When I use my MOTU Audio Express or Track16 with a DC adapter and USB connection, is there a way to automatically turn on an off with USB connection detection? (i.e. when the studio pc turns of, turn off as well).

If not, I'm currently tinkering to build a power strip (hope that's the right word) with USB detection. Is it harmful for the MOTU to be turned of abruptly? Does it have some kind of shutdown procedure that shouldn't be skipped? Don't really think so because it can be powered by firewire alone but... thought I'd better ask.

Thanks

My experience with MOTU interfaces is that they all thump pretty loudly when you power them on and off, so you have to make sure your speakers are muted. Also, you will lose connection to the computer which may or may not be auto detected when you power them back on (my USB interfaces are pretty good, Firewire not so much and you'll lose connection to any drives connected after the interface.)

I just plug mine into a power strip that has my interfaces and any record drives attached to it, and as long as I unmount the drives and quit any apps using the interfaces I don't have any powering issues. My powered speakers are on a different power strip.

Don't know how you are going to make a USB detected power switch, but it sounds like trouble to me.

Hi,

thanks for the reply, the most important thing for me is that turning the interface off via a power strip won't result in hardware damage or settings loss?

Let me worry about building the USB-Powerstrip, I'm an EE student and tinker all the time I plant to put a microcontroller with USB in a normal power strip and add a relay switch to each plug. If the µC looses USB connection (i.e. PC turns off) it will turn off one device after the other (i.e. the speakers on plug 1+2, then wait a few seconds then turn of the interfaces etc.)

Thanks,