Motu 896 Settings; Sample Rate; Clock Source - MOTU 896 User Manual

It doesn't matter which way you access the MOTU
896 settings. They are the same in all three places.

MOTU 896 SETTINGS

Figure 5-1: The MOTU FireWire Audio Control Panel gives you access
to all of the settings in the MOTU 896 hardware.

Sample Rate

Choose the desired Sample Rate for recording and
playback. The MOTU 896 can operate at 44.1 KHz
(the standard rate for compact disc audio),
48 KHz, 88.2 kHz or 96 kHz.
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Mismatched sample rates cause distortion and
crackling. If you hear this sort of thing, check the
sample rate settings in your hardware and here in
the MOTU FireWire Audio Control Panel.
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Clock Source

The Clock Source determines the digital audio clock
that the MOTU 896 will use as its time base. For a
complete explanation of synchronization issues,
see "Making sync connections" on page 19. The
following sections briefly discuss each clock source
setting.
Internal
Use the Internal setting when you want the MOTU
896 to operate under its own digital audio clock.
For example, you may be in a situation where all
you are doing is playing tracks off hard disk in your
digital audio software on the computer. In a
situation like this, you most often don't need to
reference an external clock of any kind.
Another example is transferring a mix to DAT. You
can operate the MOTU 896 system on its internal
clock, and then slave the DAT deck to the MOTU
896 via the AES/EBU connection (usually DAT
decks slave to their AES/EBU input when you
choose the AES/EBU input as their record source).
If you would like help determining if this is the
proper clock setting for your situation, see "Do you
need a synchronizer?" on page 20.
With ADAT devices, however, you usually want an
external digital audio synchronizer, such as the
MIDI Timepiece AV or Digital Timepiece, to be the
digital clock master. In this case, you would set the
MOTU 896 clock source setting to ADAT 9-pin, as
described below.
ADAT 9-pin
The ADAT 9-pin clock source setting refers to the
ADAT digital audio synchronization format. It
allows the MOTU 896 to slave to an ADAT — or
ADAT sync chain — via its ADAT sync 9-pin
connector. ADAT sync also carries precise, sample
location information, which allows AudioDesk and
Digital Performer to transfer audio to and from
ADATs without drifting by as much as one sample.
M O T U F I R E W I R E A U D I O C O N T R O L P A N E L