U
umair
New member
Hello. I have been out of the recording game for a while now and I tried searching for some specifics and couldn't really find anything. I ended up picking up a MOTU 896HD with a Behringer ADA8000. I previously used two RME ADI-8 and the old 9652 ADAT card. The card no longer works in Windows 7 so I thought I would "upgrade" my setup to the Motu because its capable of 96Khz and comes with what seem to be decent preamps. I originally thought I was going to get a simple setup if any but started playing a little bit again. Now I am seriously regretting selling my stuff.
I have not decided on my DAW software and I'm trying out whatever free trials I can get. I've historically used Nuendo but that was a while ago. I've been recommended Ableton but it looks completely alien to me right now so I downloaded the cakewalk trial. I do 16 simultaneously recorded tracks normally with a full band.
So I setup my Motu with the latest drivers and I get all kinds of latency. Its started at 100ms and after playing with the settings I got it down to 11ms and under. I'm not sure what typical latency but the RME stuff was pretty much zero latency. I've gotten my latency down to 8ms but with only 8 channels. My RME would run 16 in and out with zero latency and effects! I'm having a terrible time with setting up monitors for the players and feel like its severly impacting performance. Expecially when we try to play to the metronome. I find it hard to believe that my 10 year old computer outperforms my current brand new one with newer equipment.
1.) Is the Latency dependant on the Firewire card (I am using my computer's built in firewire card). I had bought a card to install just to realize that my computer doesn't use PCIe slots anymore. I'm so out of touch. The new slots are much smaller so I got the wrong card. I heard SIG is a good one to buy but now I have to return/sell it. But my initial reaction makes me think that an ADAT card outperforms a firewire setup. Or maybe I'm doing something wrong.
2.) My computer is pretty beefy with an I7 processor and 8 gigs of RAM with Windows 7 64 bit. Are there specific settings that need to be tweaked? I know XP had a lot of tweaks back in the day that would optimize it for latency. There are no background services being run or anything.
3.) I tried out Ableton and got 8-9 sec latency and honestly I have no idea how to use that software. I also downloaded the 30 day trial of Sonar and I like it. I got the latency down to 4 seconds but again I got some clicks and pops. I am looking for a trial version of Cubase but I don't know if Steinberg even makes one. Does the DAW software severly impact latency?
4.) I think the Motu is a fine piece and I have heard it in other applications. I haven't tried the behringer yet (was a package deal). However the Motu doesn't sound like the RME. I can't put my finger on it. I was also only recording at 16 bit depth at 44.1khz. Perhaps I need to change some settings around. Or perhaps its the DAW.... or more likely.. perhaps it was the players just being off because we definitely were having trouble. I hope I didn't make a mistake with the Motu. It's so hard to audition stuff like this. I've heard the Motu in a friends studio and it sounded great but he was mostly doing Midi stuff and didn't record a lot of live instruments like I do. I guess this question is more about what are the proper settings for a computer like mine. The buffers, sampling rates, and all the other things you can change.
5.) Will adding the 8 ADAT in/out really change my latency and make it worse?
6.) If I use the Cuemix direct monitoring, how does that work for overdubs? Won't I have a problem playing to the latency of previously recording tracks?
7.) If I decide to get rid of the Motu, what would be the next step up from here? There are dozens of interfaces nowadays. Seems everyone makes one, presonus, focusrite. Then you have the desks: Yamaha 02r96 and Tascams, Allen & Heath etc. I kind of wanted a simpler setup so hopefully with some help I can get some good results from the Motu. Incidently, the direct input of a bass guitar into the Motu sounded excellent. And so did one of the fake drums from Cakewalk or Ableton.
I have not decided on my DAW software and I'm trying out whatever free trials I can get. I've historically used Nuendo but that was a while ago. I've been recommended Ableton but it looks completely alien to me right now so I downloaded the cakewalk trial. I do 16 simultaneously recorded tracks normally with a full band.
So I setup my Motu with the latest drivers and I get all kinds of latency. Its started at 100ms and after playing with the settings I got it down to 11ms and under. I'm not sure what typical latency but the RME stuff was pretty much zero latency. I've gotten my latency down to 8ms but with only 8 channels. My RME would run 16 in and out with zero latency and effects! I'm having a terrible time with setting up monitors for the players and feel like its severly impacting performance. Expecially when we try to play to the metronome. I find it hard to believe that my 10 year old computer outperforms my current brand new one with newer equipment.
1.) Is the Latency dependant on the Firewire card (I am using my computer's built in firewire card). I had bought a card to install just to realize that my computer doesn't use PCIe slots anymore. I'm so out of touch. The new slots are much smaller so I got the wrong card. I heard SIG is a good one to buy but now I have to return/sell it. But my initial reaction makes me think that an ADAT card outperforms a firewire setup. Or maybe I'm doing something wrong.
2.) My computer is pretty beefy with an I7 processor and 8 gigs of RAM with Windows 7 64 bit. Are there specific settings that need to be tweaked? I know XP had a lot of tweaks back in the day that would optimize it for latency. There are no background services being run or anything.
3.) I tried out Ableton and got 8-9 sec latency and honestly I have no idea how to use that software. I also downloaded the 30 day trial of Sonar and I like it. I got the latency down to 4 seconds but again I got some clicks and pops. I am looking for a trial version of Cubase but I don't know if Steinberg even makes one. Does the DAW software severly impact latency?
4.) I think the Motu is a fine piece and I have heard it in other applications. I haven't tried the behringer yet (was a package deal). However the Motu doesn't sound like the RME. I can't put my finger on it. I was also only recording at 16 bit depth at 44.1khz. Perhaps I need to change some settings around. Or perhaps its the DAW.... or more likely.. perhaps it was the players just being off because we definitely were having trouble. I hope I didn't make a mistake with the Motu. It's so hard to audition stuff like this. I've heard the Motu in a friends studio and it sounded great but he was mostly doing Midi stuff and didn't record a lot of live instruments like I do. I guess this question is more about what are the proper settings for a computer like mine. The buffers, sampling rates, and all the other things you can change.
5.) Will adding the 8 ADAT in/out really change my latency and make it worse?
6.) If I use the Cuemix direct monitoring, how does that work for overdubs? Won't I have a problem playing to the latency of previously recording tracks?
7.) If I decide to get rid of the Motu, what would be the next step up from here? There are dozens of interfaces nowadays. Seems everyone makes one, presonus, focusrite. Then you have the desks: Yamaha 02r96 and Tascams, Allen & Heath etc. I kind of wanted a simpler setup so hopefully with some help I can get some good results from the Motu. Incidently, the direct input of a bass guitar into the Motu sounded excellent. And so did one of the fake drums from Cakewalk or Ableton.