Problem monitoring more than one track at a time with a MOTU 828 and N-Track

M

mhetheridge

New member
I have a motu 828 firewire card running into a Sony Vaio 1.5ghz pentium 4 with 512megs of ram and a 60gb hard drive.

After finally getting the motu 828 installed properly (I think) I began to play with n-track. I can monitor Input 1 and 2 on the Motu but no other inputs. For instance I laid a bass track down on input one and could hear it while playing and recording it. I then plugged the bass into input 3 (not through any preamp) and tried re-recording it and could not monitor it while playing the part. It recorded and I can hear it during playback. I can not figure out how to monitor mulitple input sources into the Motu at one time.
 
It sounds like you haven't yet configured N to use all of the MOTU's inputs. In Properties (Ctrl-P), you need to hold Ctrl while selecting all 4 pairs of analog inputs. That tells N you want to activate all the inputs. Then, in Recording Setup (little hammer icon on the Recording VU Meter), you need to configure and select all 4 pairs. When done, you should see 8 (4 pairs) LEDs on the Recording VU Meter.

This tutorial might help you a bit; altho' it shows a standard, stereo soundcard. Your Recording Setup dialog will look a bit different, and you'll have to click Select Inputs (or something like that) and do the setup for all 4 pairs.

Setting Up N for Recording


tj
 
Make sure you have the latest drivers from MOTU.com
http://www.motu.com/english/download/index.html
Get the FireWire Software for your OS. Once you install the software, then turn on the MOTU. Do not have it on prior to installation or during.
(For Windows OS's)
Once it is installed, turn it on and go to Start button, all programs, MOTU. There you will find three icons.
1) FireWire CueMix Console - This is your volume control for what you monitor at the outputs you select. At the far right of the mixer applet above the master fader is where you select the output you want to monitor from. (I have a feeling you will find that you don't have the faders adjusted for the other inputs that you are using) Keep in mind that fader control in the CueMix applet only controls levels of what you monitor directly off of the MOTU's output you selected at the master fader. They do not control levels going into n-Track. These levels must be set via preamp control or output level of whatever Line level device you may hook up (ie Keyboard, Drum machine, etc..) Check these levels using the record meters in n-Track.
2) FireWire SMPTE Console - This is the console for generating time code (don't worry about this yet) It's all in the manual.
3) MOTU FW Console - This is the console for internal settings such as Sample Rate, Clock Source and Samples Per Buffer. There is also a tab labeled 828, this allows you to enable\disable optical In and Out and also let you select what you want the Phones to mimic or the Phones can be an output of their own.

If you have other questions, like setting up n-Track for the MOTU, I'd be glad to help.

-Ken

P.S. Make sure to study the MOTU's manual and n-Track's manual.
 
re:

I have an icon for cuemix console on the motu. However, when I click it on the screen goes blank and then the windows xp desktop reappears. I did download the update a few nights ago. As a side note, I figured out my problem in n-track. I think, I've gotten that problem fixed. I will try reinstalling the update. Thank you for your advice.

Matt
 
The MOTU needs to be turned on when you click the icon for cuemix. If it is on and you still get a blank screen ..... Hmmm ... I would try reinstalling the MOTU software. Again, if you do reinstall the software, keep the MOTU off till after the install.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

-Ken

-Edit to add .... What model 828 is it? Is it the 828mkII or just the older 828?
 
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