Fandango
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linking MOTU 2408 to Echo Mona, anyone help?
Okay, I'm trying to lock a MOTU 2408 Mk1 to my Echo Mona (cardbus). I've never used multiple cards before or had to think about synching devices and clocks etc... Drivers for the Mona are set up and selected in SONAR and I'm attempting to run the 2408 in stand-alone mode, ADAT optical out to the Mona. This is where I hit the wall. First, I don't have the users guide for the 2408 and can't find anything online as far as instructions for explaining up the stand-alone format conversion setting and operation. Also, not exactly sure but I think that the Mona should be set to "ineternal" clock and the MOTU to "external"? Then what? Can anybody point me in the right direction from here?
-Fandango
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Sorceress Sarah
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RE: linking MOTU 2408 to Echo Mona, anyone help?
2006/10/25 04:09:54
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ORIGINAL: Fandango
Okay, I'm trying to lock a MOTU 2408 Mk1 to my Echo Mona (cardbus). I've never used multiple cards before or had to think about synching devices and clocks etc... Drivers for the Mona are set up and selected in SONAR and I'm attempting to run the 2408 in stand-alone mode, ADAT optical out to the Mona. This is where I hit the wall. First, I don't have the users guide for the 2408 and can't find anything online as far as instructions for explaining up the stand-alone format conversion setting and operation. Also, not exactly sure but I think that the Mona should be set to "ineternal" clock and the MOTU to "external"? Then what? Can anybody point me in the right direction from here?
-Fandango
The MOTU can take a clock from the ADAT, S/PDIF or a Word Clock cable. You'll need to specify which. Use the ADAT and specify "Optical" for the MOTU's clock.
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Fandango
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RE: linking MOTU 2408 to Echo Mona, anyone help?
2006/10/25 15:58:08
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Thanks Sorceress. My options are Clock, Source, Bounce, and Meter. I will be connecting to the 8 inputs of group "C" and running the optical in and out of "C" to the Mona. I don't see an option for "Optical" but assuming that is the ADAT option because it's listed as "ADAT Optical" on the back. Here is what the front and back look like. I'm not sure how to set "bounce or "source"   -Fandango
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Sorceress Sarah
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RE: linking MOTU 2408 to Echo Mona, anyone help?
2006/10/25 17:09:10
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ORIGINAL: Fandango
Thanks Sorceress. My options are Clock, Source, Bounce, and Meter. I will be connecting to the 8 inputs of group "C" and running the optical in and out of "C" to the Mona. I don't see an option for "Optical" but assuming that is the ADAT option because it's listed as "ADAT Optical" on the back. Here is what the front and back look like. I'm not sure how to set "bounce or "source"
-Fandango
If that's a firewire plug I see, you may want to connect the firewire to the computer and use the MOTU driver to communicate with it. Otherwise, you mash lots of buttons and discover what they do, until you get a clock it likes. . .
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Fandango
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RE: linking MOTU 2408 to Echo Mona, anyone help?
2006/10/26 16:34:36
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Sorceress I got it working last night. I got some help from a friend and it was a mash job as you suggested. Eventually the 2408 told me which group it would send and recieve on and everything came together. I don't have a firewire port on my lap top, but I am now using the MOTU clock for both cards through the PCMCIA port. Thanks again for the advice.
-Fandango
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Sorceress Sarah
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RE: linking MOTU 2408 to Echo Mona, anyone help?
2006/10/27 02:58:07
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ORIGINAL: Fandango
Sorceress I got it working last night. I got some help from a friend and it was a mash job as you suggested. Eventually the 2408 told me which group it would send and recieve on and everything came together. I don't have a firewire port on my lap top, but I am now using the MOTU clock for both cards through the PCMCIA port. Thanks again for the advice.
-Fandango
Now I'm going to make you cry. . . Grab Voxengo SPAN. It's a pretty good freeware spectrum analyzer. Pup it onto any pair of inputs on the MOTU. Set it for the highest dynamic range. . . See the signal at the bottom, the one that ramps up from about 1kHz to 20kHz? That is noise created by the jitter in the MOTU internal clock. Now guess what? You'll see the same noise on the Mona, cuz all the ADCs are using the same clock!
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Fandango
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RE: linking MOTU 2408 to Echo Mona, anyone help?
2006/10/27 12:33:16
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Ugh. Before I do this and have to break out the Kleenex, are you telling me that the MOTU clock is inherently noisy, or that synching devices using ADAT optical is inherently noisy with any sound card?
-Fandango
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Sorceress Sarah
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RE: linking MOTU 2408 to Echo Mona, anyone help?
2006/10/28 04:31:48
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ORIGINAL: Fandango
Ugh. Before I do this and have to break out the Kleenex, are you telling me that the MOTU clock is inherently noisy, or that synching devices using ADAT optical is inherently noisy with any sound card?
-Fandango
I have not found a clock yet, short of a rubidium standard that claims the specs necessary to do anything beyond 24/48 audio. . . and that includes Apogee Big Ben. And the Word Clock standard is fatally flawed because of that 1ns/ft delay line. . . I've been looking at this stuff with signal generators, oscilloscopes and spectrum analyzers and I'm amazed that it works at all.
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Fandango
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RE: linking MOTU 2408 to Echo Mona, anyone help?
2006/10/30 11:20:15
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Sorceress, that's some extensive research your doing on this subject, very impressive! Kind of a dissapointment to learn about these shortcomings. Anyway, my goal was to have enough I/O to record a live date that I played on last Friday in a small club. It worked out surprisingly well. Being live and in an uncontrolled environment the noise isn't much of an issue, but I would definitely reconsider a similar setup in my home studio. It's time to sell a few things and update/simplify my live recording rig. Something with 4 mic/line plus an additional 8 line inputs firewire would do it...
-Fandango
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