OK, I did it ... I bought a MOTU 828 MkII

Who f****g said I should huh ??? LOL

Only kidding !!!

Well, it's a USB 2.0 connection and it's in. I uninstalled my Sound Blaster Audigy and removed the card, but I need to order some new audio cables (using crappy Behringer Monitors) so right now I am just using the Phones socket to monitor.

FIRST PROBLEM - NO SOUND!!

Tried plugging in my guitar into Mic/Guitar 1 - no sound.

Opened Guitar Rig, Audio Setup, Cakewalk ... messed around with Audio Settings (input - Mic/Guitar output - phones) nothing!!

I notice on Guitar Rig there is a couple of soundcard options DirectSound or Multimedia. One of them brought my system to a halt, cant remember what.

I opened iTunes also and no sound. Plug speakers into PC Sound Card and sound appeared.

Opened a mix in Cakewalk and it played OK, no issues.

A little confused what is going on, can anyone help ???

Thanks Frank

Yep, I was kinda thinking that was part of the problem (with the soundcard).

I'll look into the other stuff.

Also you mentioned Guitar Rig. I'm not really familiar with Guitar Rig. Does that act as a sound card? It so, I'd probably look for a way to route Guitar Rig through the Motu and only use the Motu as your only sound card for Sonar.

I wouldn't even have bothered to remove the Soundblaster.

Naturally I love your band's name.

Phil

Yay! A bunch of guys that know what they're talking about instead of the usual "You want to get the SB card (onboard sound) outta there pronto 'cause its not a pro card yadyada."

I've always worked on Frank's preferred method and used the onboard or SB card as a decoy so your DAW can get on with the serious Sound card. Saves more headaches that people know.


To the OP: MOTU uses a proram called Cuemix which is your software mixer where you can set all your routing. It should have installed along with your MOTU drivers. You don't need to run SONAR to check this out. Once you have checked it out then start SONAR and test there.

Now if you're using Guitar Rig hardware as a sound card and the 828 as a sound card and using ASIO drivers then you'll have problems as ASIO only allows access to one device at a time. Better to get your 828 setup first. If Guitar rig is just like a footpedal and you're just running from the line out into the 828 thats OK.

I guess we need a little more info back now to help you further.

You don't have to worry about sharing drivers with other windows programs. That's basically the reason why. I've seen other posts claiming that the Edirol FA-66 does just fine with general Windows programs but on the Edirol you have to manually set the sample rate via a switch on the back and in order to do so you have to power the unit off. Even with the Fireface which switches the sample rate automatically, I've run into sample rate issues with non audio/video editing apps. And have you tried running other programs such as windows media player while having a Sonar session open? What happens? What if the sample rates don't match between the two programs? I've seen posts where people mention that they switch to another app while running Sonar and when they set the focus back to Sonar, Sonar becomes unresponsive and often someone mentions the sharing driver thing. So it's just a convenient way to avoid conflicts with other apps which has worked for me. Also, connect both cards outs to a mixer so you can use your monitors for general windows sounds.

Now, the one thing I've learned from working with computers is that what works for me doesn't always work for someone else and vice versa. Since you have the MOTU you know better how it works then I do so you could give better advice.

Look, me and bitflipper at MGM Studios. Boy, those where the days!


I wasn't sure if you saw this in one of my posts last week. LOL

Mmm, sorry catalog, we sort of forgot about your original question.

I'd start by making the MOTU the default audio device and then troubleshoot it with Windows Media Player to keep it simple.

Open the Audio Devices control panel applet. The first thing I'd recommend is disabling the Windows sounds. Go to the Sounds tab and select "No Sounds" from the list of sound schemes.

Next go to the Audio tab and select "MOTU Main Outs" as the default device. If it's not on the list, something's gone awry with the driver installation.

Next, start the MOTU CueMix program, which is your virtual mixer. Under "Output", select Main Outs and turn the fader up. At this point, you should be able to play a CD in WMP and hear the output.

If you still don't hear anything, then I'd investigate any possible issues with the USB port or cable. Try using another USB cable. I have had both the USB and Firewire versions of the 828, and neither of them liked long cables, even when the cable length was within the USB/FW spec.

I am on page with Bitflipper...2408mk3 worked from day as my only sound device as well. No probs, except for like he said...make sure the unit is turned on before you boot up. Did have to troubleshoot WMP, but everything was and still is peachy after I reconfigured everything there.

I get sound but terrible latency. Doesn't the MOTU claim to have no latency ???

Zero-latency monitoring is not possible when you're listening to computer-based effects such as Guitar Rig. You're sending the signal to the plugin, where processing has to happen, processing that takes a finite amount of time. You also have to endure the unavoidable overhead of buffering.

As you discovered, there is a limit to how low you can get your latency by adjusting the buffer size. This limitation depends on how powerful your CPU is and how much work you're making it do. Eliminating some of the work the CPU has to do may allow you to reduce latency further. For example, while tracking, freeze any previously-recorded tracks that have effects on them. Hold off on any master bus effects until tracking is done. Check for and kill any unnecessary Windows processes that may be eating CPU cycles, e.g. disable your network adapter. If you have a PCI video adaptor, make sure it's not hogging the PCI bus. Turn off waveform preview. Try telling Windows to give priority to background tasks. The list is endless.

When possible, the best solution is to simply not monitor computer-based effects. Only then will you experience true zero-latency monitoring. If you can't play guitar without effects, get a cheap hardware effects stompbox and use that while playing - but don't record it, instead record a dry signal and add your effects in the box afterward. Same with reverb on vocals. The hardware effects don't have to be great ones, just good enough to give the right feel during the performance.

Incidentally, when I change my settings in the above tabs, the first tab VOLUME states NO AUDIO DEVICE (or something similar).

This is normal. You cannot use the Windows volume controls with your external interface, as it bypasses the Windows mixer when you're using WDM or ASIO (that's a good thing).

I also have no sound coming out my speakers, only the phones.

Are your speakers plugged into the main outputs? Not the ones labeled "1" and "2", but the ones labeled "main out" below them.

My setup is:  MOTU 2408mk3 + MTP-AV + HP xw4100.  I installed everything and it works perfectly without any glitches.  Onboard sound card was disabled in control panel and the "windows" audio sounds like boot up, dings, beeps, warnings and media player all run through my MOTU audio interface to the main speakers.  The windows volume control and mixer work like a charm and I can control the windows sounds separately from the MOTU + Sonar output. Win Media player will even run at the same time as the DAW (unpleasant but it does it perfectly).  On the back of the MOTU I can route any output or input with a cable.  My phones vol. and mains vol. are both active constantly so I can dial up either one manually from the front of the MOTU.  
     For software from MOTU I have TWO routing programs that are opened individually.  One for MIDI to send the Midi to the appropriate port(s), and one for Audio, to send the audio to the selected output(s).   Sonar sees these two routing maps from inside Sonar and I can select them from inside Sonar with the Sonar interface.  The MOTU interface does not pop up.  Once the MOTU routing maps are set I don't need to fiddle with them, they are more like setup programs.  (Your interface may have one setup program containing MIDI & audio.)
     I can select any combination of outputs both audio and midi without rebooting or restarting anything.  
   Be sure you have a software program that controls the MOTU, it's running and it works. 
     In Sonar go to the audio and choose the driver type you will be using and check the box that says "Always use these drivers".  Reboot. 
     Windows needs some type of sound card even if it's disabled to load it's own drivers.  "On board sound card" is fine even if it's "disabled" in the control panel.  During Win bootup before it ever gets to your firewire MOTU, windows has already decided to load the windows mixer etc... therefore if something hardware,  is present you will have the features of the windows program but it will be redirected to the MOTU at the end of bootup. 
   As for your problem with the phones vs mains.  I suspect the MOTU and/or the Sonar setup files.  make a copy, then scout through these text files for something that looks funny like a double entry ie: 
Mains     (and the next line below says something like)
Mains, phones     (get it?)  
    Once you get it running back it up.  It WILL do everything you ask and more.  Every once in awhile a MOTU gets fouled up and the owner comes on looking for help... and the non-owners mistakenly blame the MOTU as the problem.  It's usually in the setup files and/or boot order.  Good luck