Be Sure You Have Enough Voices - MOTU 828mkII User Manual

Buffer Size (OS X) / Samples Per Buffer (OS 9)
The Buffer Size setting (Samples Per Buffer under
Mac OS 9) can be used to reduce the delay — or
monitoring latency — that you hear when live audio
is patched through your 828mkII hardware and
Digital Performer. For example, you might have
MIDI instruments, samplers, microphones, and so
on connected to the analog inputs of the 828mkII.
If so, you will often be mixing their live input with
audio material recorded in Digital Performer. See
chapter 12, "Reducing Monitoring Latency"
(page 89) for complete details.
Optical input and output
To make a 828mkII optical input or output
available in Digital Performer, choose the
appropriate format (ADAT optical or TOSLink)
from the optical input and/or output menu. If you
won't be using the optical connectors, turn them
off.
Phones
This 828mkII setting lets you choose what you'll
hear from the headphone jack. For example, if you
choose Main Outs, the headphones will duplicate
the main outs. Or you can choose any other output
pair. If you choose Phones, this setting makes the
headphone jack serve as its own independent
output pair. As a result, you'll see Phones 1-2 as an
additional audio destination in Digital Performer's
audio output menus.

BE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH VOICES

Go to the Setup menu (Basics menu under Mac OS
9) and choose MOTU Audio System
Options>Configure Studio Size. Then check to
make sure you have enough mono and stereo audio
voices to cover the 20 channels of input and 22
channels of output provided by your 828mkII —
although the number of channels may depend on
how your 828mkII is configured:
12 channels for analog I/O (including the
■
headphone out)
D I G I T A L P E R F O R M E R
2 channels for RCA S/PDIF
■
Zero, 2 or 8 channels for optical, depending on
■
whether you have optical turned off, or set to
S/PDIF or ADAT optical
For example, if you are using analog only, you only
need 12 channels. If you are using analog and RCA
S/PDIF, you need 14 channels.
As another example, if you are using analog, RCA
S/PDIF and ADAT optical, you need 22 channels
(the maximum number of simultaneous output
channels provided by the 828mkII).
WORKING WITH 828MKII INPUTS AND
OUTPUTS
Once you've enabled the MOTU FireWire Audio
driver as explained earlier in "The 828mkII
settings" on page 59, 828mkII audio inputs and
outputs will appear in Digital Performer's audio
input and output menus. If you don't see the optical
inputs and/or outputs, check the MOTU FireWire
Audio Console to make sure they are turned on
and set to the format you require. If you don't plan
to use the optical input or output, turn it off to
conserve computer bandwidth.
Phones 1-2
If you've chosen to treat the 828mkII headphones
as an independent output, you'll see Phones 1-2 in
Digital Performer's output menus. Audio tracks
assigned to this output pair will be heard on the
headphone jack only. For further explanation, see
"Phones" on page 44.
Mix1 1-2
In Digital Performer's audio input menus, you'll see
an 828mkII input called Mix1 1-2. This input
source delivers the output of CueMix DSP "MIX1"
(the first mix bus of the four on-board no-latency
monitor mixes in the 828mkII) back to your
computer. This input serves, for example, as a
convenient way for you to record the 828mkII's
MIX1 monitor mix back into Digital Performer
61