New Mac Pros, MOTU Hardware and Logic

A

adblau1

New Member
Hi all,

Sooooo... not sure which specific forum this should be going in on the new site, but here goes--

Anyone try out the new Mac Pros (& new Nehalem processor) with MOTU hardware? The 424 card and the 2408 specifically...? And with Logic 8, as well? Figuring out when to pull the trigger on getting the new machine...

Thanks,

Adam
 
I'm in the same situation....
Made the mistake before to be an early adopter, and paid the price for it in waiting for driver updates etc.
Any daring souls care to chime in?

...ZM
 
mac pro

I jumped in last week and got an 8 core mac pro 2.66 ghz. I usually wait for others, but was struggling with my G5, so I just went for it. So far, it's a rocket ship. Using Logic Pro, BFD2, Many NI instruments (incl Kontakt3, Absynth 4, Kontakt Player2 w/ The Trumpet and Mr Sax T, Pro-53, etc, etc, Addictive Drums, UAD2, and several more VIs. On the hardware side I use 2 MOTU 2408s (planning on possibly going to RME, but use the 23408s to get myself in the game), MOTU Midi Express 128, Massenberg mic pre to bring in external audio. I have not done a "real" session yet with this new mac, but other than lots of reinstall/re-registration issues that i'd get on any machine, the only app that doesn't wok on this machine is the latest Play update....1.2.0 I believe. That said, the previous version does work and East-West assured me that they are aware of the "nahalem" problem and expect a fix immediately. The computer is pretty impressive and I'm seeing almost no CPU levels on the meters with some big CPU stuff........mainly The Trumpet and BFD2. These don't even dent the power of this machine.
It works great for me so far, but I must say that if you can afford to wait, it might not hurt. On the other hand, you only live once.
bruce
 
bmiller360 said:
I jumped in last week and got an 8 core mac pro 2.66 ghz. ...
It works great for me so far, but I must say that if you can afford to wait, it might not hurt. On the other hand, you only live once.
bruce
Click to expand...

Bruce -

Thank you for the report! Keep us posted on how it works (good or bad) as you put it through its paces...I'm sure there are others looking to buy and also waiting for confirmation that all will go smoothly with the transition to Nehalem.
 
Hi all,

It's been a month and a half, so I'm bumping this topic to see if there have been any other revelations... MOTU hardware working well with the new Mac Pros?

Thanks,

Adam
 
had my 8 core pro for over a month. Most stuff is working, although I've spent tens of hours learning how to get updates working from various plugin sites (I still can't use RA, GPO & a couple of other things without spending some more bucks). The PLAY engine works here, plays back faultlessly through my MOTU 896, again the motu drivers seem to be working ok. I was annoyed to learn that the mac migration programme - designed to make a transition mac to mac - doesn't work when migrating power pc to intel, lost a lot of stuff there when the system hung in transfer - back up back up back up!! As someone said, however, this machine is VERY fast - the first test I did in logic was put 20 random logic plugins (including lots of space designers) on each channel strip processing a piece of audio, & was pleasantly surprised to discover halfway CPU levels for each strip - I got to loading 10 out of 16 core CPU meters (200 plugins) & then gave up out of boredom...
 
Hi, I'm an 8-core guy too and am looking at buying the MOTU Ultralite Mk 3 to use with Logic. I understand that it only works with the TI firewire chipset?
I'm not sure what chipset I have (no info thru "About This Mac"),
but I was reading that it was probably the Intel's 5000X(?)

Anyway, would love to hear comments and/or suggestions concerning this.

Thanks,

Rod
 
IMHO, and it is only IMHO, I would stay away from the MOTU stuff, unless you need a lot of inexpensive I/O and so go the 828 MK3/424 route.

1. They have terrible tech support; hard to reach and surly/haughty when you do in my experience.

2. Their A/D and D/A is mediocre.

3. Their drivers are mediocre.

4. The Comnsole app is very confusing compared to RME and Apoggee's.

5. Their quality control is not what it once was. I had a friend who had to be sent 3 424 cards before he got one that worked.
 
I find all this talk about M-Audio stuff rather disturbing!

I had an RME Hammerfall card in my G5 (great card) but it wouldn't work in my new Mac Pro because Apple change the card specs every time they make new hardware. 🙁

I thought that I'd go the Firewire route as it would be my only Firewire device - I have given up on Firewire hard drives and moved to eSATA.

So, I bought an M-Audio ProFire Lightbridge Firewire Interface which has been fine, but now I discover there are no drivers yet for 10.6.

Any comments on the audio and AD/DA quality of this device? Have I bought a lemon?
 
I couldn't agree more.

Jay Asher said:
IMHO, and it is only IMHO, I would stay away from the MOTU stuff, unless you need a lot of inexpensive I/O and so go the 828 MK3/424 route.

1. They have terrible tech support; hard to reach and surly/haughty when you do in my experience.

2. Their A/D and D/A is mediocre.

3. Their drivers are mediocre.

4. The Comnsole app is very confusing compared to RME and Apoggee's.

5. Their quality control is not what it once was. I had a friend who had to be sent 3 424 cards before he got one that worked.
Click to expand...
 
Jay Asher said:
4. The Comnsole app is very confusing compared to RME and Apoggee's.
Click to expand...


Hi Jay,

It's funny you say this. I am an extremely satsified MOTU 828 mk ll user. And I personally find the CueMix software very intuitive and simple to use. Granted it doesn't have the same flexibility as TotalMix; but I find it elegant and well laid out.

Now TotalMix is another story! I think I have some sort of mental block with it. I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around it. Whenever I am doing tech support for client's with RME - I am always stumbling around with TotalMix. I find it VERY confusing having those three rows of faders and in addition having assignable fields at the bottom of each strip.

Do you know of any simple summary or "Totalmix for Dummy's" kind fo doc or tutorial on line anywhere. My client's would be eternally grateful. 😀
 
Just my 2¢, but I've used a MOTU (firewire) 828 mkll for years without any problems. Even had the Black Lion mod which improved the sound. No problems.

Firewire seems like the safest, most future-proof assurance of compatibility with newer model Macs. My understanding is that PCIe cards offers a performance boost during to larger bandwidth, but FW has been a good friend when upgrading to a Mac Pro from a G4.

My impression is that MOTU is always ahead of the game by having their drivers updated before the release of major OS upgrades.

So yes, MOTU offers affordable and dependable interfaces. The sound is usable and you can patch in a high-end preamp or compressor of your choice into the signal chain before it enters into the computer.

But the stock sound, even the Black Lion upgrade fine as it is, is no match for an Apogee or similar high end interface.
 
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