d8b Forum

Okay guys, I need a bit of info here from anyone experienced with the MOTU 2408mk3. I am considering one of these with the PCI 424 card AND the MID Timepeice. I have 3 Apogee Digital I/O cards installed in my D8B (with TDIF and ADAT in/out connections {are these good/bad vs. the standard ADAT card?}. I figured the 2408 can handle the 24 channels of audio via ADAT, but here's the part I need help with. The D8B only has 1 MIDI in/out, so even with the timepeice I'd still only be able to control 8 faders? My question is, how much control in my DAW (Sonar X1/Pro Tools 9) can I eek out doing this, and how does that work between the Mackie OS (I have v3.0) and the DAW? I know the DAW should be able to see the 24ch. of lightpipe as long as I have the inputs active in the DAW, but but how does that workon the Mackie OS side??? Do I need transport control of the DAW via the D8B? Do I have to actively setup for recording on the D8B THEN the DAW?

I'm trying to determine if the MOTU setup would be worth it, as I currently have no means of PC connectivity for it at all. It's cheaper than the RME RayDAT, and I would expect the MOTU box to be far less glitchy than say an M-Audio Lightbridge. I'm going to mount all of this (Mackie CPU, MOTU2408mk3, Quad Core Rack Server w/DAW) into an SKB case. When Marc's solution becomes available, I'll swap out for 3 8 channel external Pre's. The goal is to be able to use the full D8B for recording until Marc's Control Surface project solution becomes available. I can pick up the MOTU combo on Ebay around 4-600$. swapping over to external pre's is going to take a bit, so I'm looking for a workable stop gap to get the Mackie into the PC.

Thoughts or suggestions?

Axeman,
Did you come up with a solution ?
I have the same setup and want to do the same setup here.
Thnx.
murat

No solution yet. I want to use the MOTU, just cant figure out how much control I can eek out using that and a MIDI/HUI Mode combo. I'd like to use the Mackie pre's to record until I can make the full conversion to 3 8 channel pre's. But I'd like to know if the MOTU peice is reliable enough (I think it is) to make investing $500 in one with a 424 PCI card, a reasonable investment. I figure even once Marc's Control Surface solution comes out, I can always use the MOTU in a Mobile recording setup...

Your best solution is to map the d8b to the software. It won't have all the control that the hui layer would(not by a long shot) but it is useful. It can be confusing at first but once you map a few functions it gets easier. What DAW are you using?

-Casey

You can check out the HUI mapping for Pro-Tools in the OS v5.1 Owner Manual.

Appendix F: HUI Mode. (Pages 168 and 169).

Peter Holmquist.

@Casey Right now I am using Sonar X1b. But I'll also be using Pro Tools 9 in the near future (Windows version) I believe Sonar Supports Mackie Control Surface protocols, but see here's where I'm getting confused. When you say map it, I'm confused a bit. Mapping HOW...through MIDI, or what? You said; "It won't have all the control that the hui layer would(not by a long shot) but it is useful." I'm pretty sure Sonar shouldn't have too much trouble with MIDI mapping, but then I only get 8 control assignments per MIDI I/O channel right?

@ Peter Thanks, I figured someone knew where it was. I'll go check it right now...

Take a look at this post.

http://www.sonido-7.com/d8b/tpis.html#Post16

obviously somethings will not apply to sonar but it should get you going in the right direction.

I've mapped my FX/retun layer to give me 24 faders, 24 mutes and 24 rec enable buttons via the assign button on that layer. I've also mapped save functions and window funtions to other parts of the board that I wasn't using.

-Casey