MOTU Monitor 8 User Manual
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MOTU Monitor 8 User Manual

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Monitor 8
™

User Guide

Title Page
1280 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
Business voice: (617) 576-2760
Business fax: (617) 576-3609
Web site: www.motu.com
Tech support: www.motu.com/support

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  • Page 1: User Guide

    Monitor 8 ™ User Guide Title Page 1280 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 Business voice: (617) 576-2760 Business fax: (617) 576-3609 Web site: www.motu.com Tech support: www.motu.com/support...
  • Page 2 The MOTU product is equipped with a three-conductor cord and grounding type plug which has a grounding prong, approved by Underwriters' Laboratories and the Canadian Standards Association. This plug requires a mating three-conductor grounded type outlet as shown in Figure A below. If the outlet you are planning to use for the MOTU product is of the two prong type, DO NOT REMOVE OR ALTER THE GROUNDING PRONG IN ANY MANNER.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Monitor 8 Rear Panel MOTU AVB Control Web App About the Monitor 8 Packing List and System Requirements Software Installation Hardware Installation Part 2: Using the Monitor 8 Presets The Front Panel LCD Working with Host Audio Software Mixer Effects Networking...

  • Page 4: Copyright Notice

    Authorization Number on the outside of the box below the shipping address. That license agreement is a contract, and clicking “Accept” binds you and MOTU to This warranty does not apply if the equipment has been damaged by accident, all its terms and conditions.

  • Page 5: Part 1: Getting Started

    Part 1 Getting Started...

  • Page 7: Quick Start Guide

    Interface + mixer A combination of the above two presets. If you have a Mac, choose the Monitor 8 from the ■ MOTU AVB Discovery app menu, as shown below. Live recording with Record a live concert or recording session, monitor mixing with a full monitor mix.

  • Page 9: Monitor 8 Front Panel

    4. MAIN OUT level meters. 10. POWER SWITCH : AVB and USB are “plug-and-play” altogether. protocols. That means that you can turn off Monitor 8 5. AUX OUT level meters. and turn it back on without restarting your computer. 13. Push ID to display the network ID for the device.

  • Page 10: Monitor 8 Rear Panel

    (powered) studio monitors or PA speakers, or also mirrors the headphone output. standard USB cable. If you plan to connect Monitor 8 to any other desired destination. Control volume from the an AVB network, use the network port (instead of USB).

  • Page 11: Motu Avb Control Web App

    To launch the web app, do any of the following: The MOTU AVB Control web app is served from the audio interface hardware itself, therefore it is If you have a Mac, choose the Monitor 8 from the ■ not an application on your computer’s hard drive.
  • Page 12 DEVICE TAB 1. If you have two or more MOTU AVB 6. Expands and collapses the sidebar. software. The front panel LCD on the source (13). If it cannot lock for some interfaces, the Device list lets you hardware itself will flash the name reason, this icon flashes red.
  • Page 13 Doing so also obtained through MOTU’s web site the output streams of other devices 25. The digital mixer in the Monitor 8 helps conserve DSP resources. or tech support department. The on the network here. This is how you supports up to 48 channels.
  • Page 14 Source column, to work with. If you aren’t working Monitor 8. The Main Mix and the top. Simply click in the grid to make just to the right of the output it is...

  • Page 15: Mixing Tab

    6. This column is the Legend. It in with the main mix or aux busses. 19. Reverb and aux sends. the 48-channel mixer in the Monitor 8, provides labels and controls for Disable the reverb processor to use it 20. Solo and mute. On the Monitor bus, which provides a main mix bus, monitor channel strip sections.

  • Page 16: Aux Mixing Tab

    The Aux Mixing tab provides quick 8. This is the master fader for the 12. Click the View Personal Mix button access to the Monitor 8’s mix busses (aux control which aux bus or group you current aux bus being viewed (4).

  • Page 17: Mixer Input Channel Strips

    Double-click to return to zero (unity 2. Provides hardware settings for gain) or -∞. inputs, if any, on other MOTU AVB interfaces. If there are no hardware 17. Click the dB scale numbers to make settings for the assigned input, this the fader jump exactly to that level.

  • Page 18: Main Mix And Monitor Channel Strips

    Monitor assigned to the Main Outs on the bus carries only the soloed aux bus Monitor 8, you’ll see trim settings for (any current channel solos are the outputs. This item is grayed out if excluded).

  • Page 19: Aux Bus Channel Strips

    AUX BUS CHANNEL STRIPS Aux busses can be used to create sub-mixes. An aux bus can be assigned to any output in the Routing grid (page 14). To access an Aux bus channel strip, go to the Mixing tab (page 15), reveal the side bar (item #3 on page 15), and then show the aux busses you want in the Mixer Outputs section (26).

  • Page 20: Group And Reverb Channel Strips

    GROUP AND REVERB CHANNEL STRIPS Group busses can be used to create a mix sub- group, which is a set of inputs you wish to control together as a group. Groups differ from aux busses in that they have aux sends, a reverb send, as well as a main mix send.

  • Page 21: About The Monitor

    About the Monitor 8 CHAPTER Monitor 8 Monitor 8 is a 24 x 16 x 8 monitor mixer, 6-channel 40 simultaneous audio channels (54 connections) headphone amplifier and USB/AVB audio interface with console-style 48-channel mixing and DSP Connection Input Output effects.
  • Page 22 Alternately, the Monitor 8 can be connected to the 50 simultaneous audio channels Ethernet port on a recent-generation Mac (any Mac with Thunderbolt on it) running Mac OS X Connection Input Output Yosemite (10.10) or later for audio interface Quarter-inch analog on bal/unbal TRS operation through AVB Ethernet.
  • Page 23 Stand-alone mixing with wireless control With additional standard AVB switches (from If you connect the Monitor 8 to an Apple Airport or MOTU or other brands) and standard Ethernet other Wi-Fi router with a standard Ethernet cable, cabling, you can build an extensive AVB audio you can control its powerful mixing and DSP network.
  • Page 24 crossfades, support for many third-party audio plug-ins, sample-accurate editing and placement of audio, and more. A B O U T T H E M O N I T O R 8...

  • Page 25: Packing List And System Requirements

    System Requirements PACKING LIST PLEASE REGISTER TODAY! The Monitor 8 ships with the items listed below. If Please register your Monitor 8 today. There are two any of these items are not present in the box when ways to register.
  • Page 26 P A C K I N G L I S T A N D S Y S T E M R E Q U I R E M E N T S...

  • Page 27: Software Installation

    Mac using a standard, high-grade (CAT-5e MOTU AVB USB Control Panel ..... . . 28 or CAT-6) network cable up to 100 meters in AudioDesk workstation software .

  • Page 28: Audio Drivers

    Mac OS X. On Windows, the installer provides USB ASIO and Wave drivers. MOTU AVB USB ASIO Driver On Windows, to enable the Monitor 8 in your ASIO host software, choose the MOTU AVB USB ASIO driver. Figure 3-2: The MOTU AVB USB Audio Control Panel Buffer Settings tab.

  • Page 29: Audiodesk Workstation Software

    PDF document. Figure 3-3: AudioDesk. WORKING WITH HOST AUDIO SOFTWARE For further information about using the Monitor 8 with host audio software, see “Working with Host Audio Software” on page 49. S O F T W A R E I N S T A L L A T I O N...
  • Page 30 S O F T W A R E I N S T A L L A T I O N...

  • Page 31: Hardware Installation

    Setup for web app control ......36 A typical Monitor 8 setup ......38 Audio connections.

  • Page 32: Avb Ethernet Audio Interface Setup

    Thunderbolt is available on other MOTU AVB-equipped interfaces, such as the 1248, 8M, 16A and 112D. Use this setup if you want to use the Monitor 8 as an AVB Ethernet audio interface for a recent- generation Mac (i.e. any Mac with a Thunderbolt port on it).

  • Page 33: Setup For Three To Five Interfaces

    Use standard CAT-5e Ethernet network cables to ■ Use this setup if you want to connect three to five connect the interfaces to the MOTU AVB Switch MOTU interfaces to your computer using a MOTU using their NETWORK ports. AVB Switch™ (sold separately).

  • Page 34: Setup For A Multi-Switch Network

    If you have Thunderbolt-equipped MOTU AVB interfaces on the network (such as the 1248, 8M or 16A), in addition to your Monitor 8, use them for computer connections. The computer then has access to 128 channels of input and output to the network.

  • Page 35: Setup For Multiple Interfaces

    Avid S3 console to If you have other MOTU AVB interfaces with the Mac, and then connect a MOTU Monitor 8 to Thunderbolt connectivity (1248, 8M, 16A or the S3’s extra network port (which is a built-in 112D) and your host computer has two or more switch).

  • Page 36: Setup For Web App Control

    Web app in your browser Web app control over USB or Thunderbolt If the Monitor 8 is connected through USB to a computer with internet access (as shown on page 31), you can access the web app from the computer, or any other device on the network. In Web app this case, make sure you’ve run the software...
  • Page 37 Figure 4-3: Web app control through a standard Ethernet hub or network (LAN). (Sold separately) Figure 4-5: Using the Ethernet port on the MOTU AVB Switch. H A R D W A R E I N S T A L L A T I O N...

  • Page 38: A Typical Monitor 8 Setup

    A TYPICAL MONITOR 8 SETUP Monitor 8 itself, controlled from your laptop, Here is a typical Monitor 8 setup. This rig can be tablet, and smart phone — or several devices operated with or without a separate mixer. All simultaneously.

  • Page 39: Audio Connections

    Here are a few things to keep in mind as you are its digital audio clock is phase-locked (in sync making audio connections to your Monitor 8 with) the Monitor 8. Once the optical connection is interface. made, choose the connected Optical bank as the Analog trims clock source (page 12).

  • Page 40: Syncing Multiple Avb Audio Interfaces Connected To A Mac

    For example, you may be in a situation where at least one MOTU device on the network must remain resolved to its own clock (or another clock source). Just know that in this case, audio cannot be streamed between MOTU AVB devices that don’t share the same...
  • Page 41 Part 2 Using the Monitor 8...

  • Page 43: Presets

    The preset menu (item #7 on page 12) contains a number of presets specifically designed for common use cases. By loading the corresponding preset, the Monitor 8 routing tab and mixer will be reconfigured accordingly. You can visit the Routing and Mixing tabs to inspect settings and adjust them as needed.

  • Page 44: Stand-Alone Mixer

    Audio inputs from stage, studio, etc. Figure 5-2: Using Monitor 8 as a stand-alone mixer. This example demonstrates how you can control the mixer from several Wi-Fi Figure 5-3: Using Monitor 8 as an audio interface and mixer, simulta- devices. neously.

  • Page 45: Live Recording With Monitor Mixing

    STAGE I/O Monitor 8 Use the Stage I/O preset when you want to connect the inputs and outputs on the Monitor 8 to other Stage area devices over Ethernet cabling. This preset routes all inputs and outputs on the Monitor 8 interface to...

  • Page 46: Studio Input Expander

    This preset routes AVB Figure 5-5: Use the Optical converter preset to use the Monitor 8 as an optical-to-analog expander. network streams to all physical outputs (analog and digital) on the Monitor 8.

  • Page 47: The Front Panel Lcd

    The Front Panel LCD CHAPTER OVERVIEW The front panel LCD displays level meters for all inputs and outputs. The LCD also provides several navigable menus that provide status information and basic hardware settings. Figure 6-2: Push the knob to activate the functions labeled in blue. Level meters .
  • Page 48 ADAT SMUX TYPE Indicates whether AVB networking is cur- rently enabled or disabled. For example, When the Monitor 8 is operating at either 88.2 or AVB could be disabled because a non-AVB switch is being used. When AVB is dis- 96 kHz, the Settings menu >...
  • Page 49 Run the web app........49 Choosing the MOTU AVB Audio driver....52 Enabling and disabling input/output banks Reducing monitoring latency.

  • Page 50: Working With Host Audio Software

    Routing tab, as explained below. Figure 7-1: An example of routing computer channels (from host audio software) to the analog outputs on a Monitor 8. Computer channels 1-2 are being split to two pairs of outputs: Main 1-2 and Aux 1-2.
  • Page 51 Figure 7-2: An example of routing physical inputs on the Monitor 8 to computer channels (for host audio software). W O R K I N G W I T H H O S T A U D I O S O F T W A R E...
  • Page 52 1-2 are being sent to Main 1-2 and Aux 1-2. To route an input to multiple outputs, click multiple boxes in its column, (see computer Figure 7-3: Choosing the MOTU AVB ASIO driver in Cubase. channels 1-2 in Figure 7-1). Where to go in popular audio hosts...
  • Page 53 Monitor 8. This is done by your computer, from when it first enters an input opening the Mix In group in the Outputs column...
  • Page 54 Figure 7-5: In Cubase or Nuendo, choose Devices menu > Device Under Mac OS X, audio I/O buffer size is handled Setup. Select your interface (Monitor 8), then click the Control Panel button to access the window above and the Buffer Size setting.
  • Page 55 For increase the overall processing load on your example, the Monitor 8 can serve as a monitor computer, leaving less CPU bandwidth for things mixer, routing channels to musicians, or it can like real-time effects processing.
  • Page 56 W O R K I N G W I T H H O S T A U D I O S O F T W A R E...

  • Page 57: High Pass Filter

    DSP mixer in LA-2A optical compressor, which provides the Monitor 8. For basic mixer operation, see: vintage, musical automatic gain control Mixing tab ......... . . 15 Reverb .

  • Page 58: Mixer Effects

    GATE Enabling EQ Each band has an enable/disable button All input channel strips provide a Gate module. (Figure 8-3), allowing you to enable as few or as many bands as needed for the channel strip. Figure 8-2: The Gate module. The gate silences the signal when the input signal’s Enable/disable level drops below the Threshold.

  • Page 59: Compressor

    be flexible enough to cover a broad range of follows a loud passage. Short Release times may applications. By adjusting Gain and Bandwidth cause the attenuation to “pump”, a term used to together, you can emulate the smooth and musical describe the sound of the compressor when the character of classic analog EQ circuits, in which the average input level quickly fluctuates above and...

  • Page 60: Leveler

    LEVELER form a capacitor. Making one of the electrodes The Leveler™ (Figure 8-5) provides an accurate transparent allows the light to escape. These model of the legendary Teletronix™ LA-2A® devices are essentially glow-in-the-dark paint on a optical compressor, known for its unique and piece of foil covered by metalized glass or plastic, highly sought-after Automatic Gain Control and are the same devices used in low-power night...

  • Page 61: Reverb

    Enabling or disabling the Leveler Routing inputs and groups to the reverb processor The Leveler models the LA-2A so closely, it also The reverb processor is a single, independent unit models the time it takes for an actual LA-2A to that provides stereo reverb.
  • Page 62 setting represents the bottom frequency of the Mid band. The Ratio determines the length for each band specified in a percentage of the low frequency reverb time. DSP USAGE The DSP Usage meter (item #26 on page 17) shows how much of the available DSP processing power is currently being used by the mixer for the mix and for effects processing.

  • Page 63: About Avb

    Just plug your MOTU AVB interfaces The MOTU AVB Switch ....... 68 into a standard AVB switch and go.

  • Page 64: Networking

    Depending on the Personal studio expansion model, some MOTU AVB devices can broadcast Let’s say you have a Monitor 8 mounted in a rack sixteen 8-channel network streams and simulta- next to your computer. You could add an 8M...
  • Page 65 A studio installation of three to five interfaces can Concert systems must be flexible so they can adapt be handled with a single MOTU AVB Switch. See to each new venue while on tour. Because of its “Setup for three to five interfaces” on page 33.

  • Page 66: A Quick Guide To Networking

    AVB-compatible switch. You can use any standard AVB audio can’t pass through more than seven ■ AVB switch on the market. MOTU offers the five- switches. However, you can daisy-chain more than port MOTU AVB Switch™ (sold separately). seven switches and route audio freely among them.

  • Page 67: Setting Up A Motu Avb Interface For Networking

    If a host computer is connected to an interface (through USB), mapping network input and 1 In the MOTU AVB Control web app, choose the output streams is accomplished as described in the device (item #1 on page 12).

  • Page 68: The Motu Avb Switch

    THE MOTU AVB SWITCH The heart of a MOTU AVB network is the MOTU AVB Switch (sold separately). For a brief overview of the switch and its features, visit: www.motu.com/products/avb/avb-switch. N E T W O R K I N G...

  • Page 69: Part 3: Appendices

    Part 3 Appendices...

  • Page 71: Troubleshooting

    Set your Clock to use the mixer in the Monitor 8. Please see Source to Internal and try recording just using the “Monitoring through the Monitor 8” on page 53.
  • Page 72 Connecting or powering gear during operation... The serial number of your MOTU device. This is ■ It is not recommended that you connect/ printed on a label placed on the bottom of the rack disconnect, or power on/off devices connected to unit.

  • Page 73: Audio Specifications

    Audio Specifications APPENDIX Line Out Connector Type 1/4” Female, TRS Balanced, tip hot Pin 2 hot 1/4” Female, TS Summed mono Output Impedance 100 ohm Per leg Dynamic Range 123 dB A-weighted THD+N -110 dB (0.0003%) -1 dBFS, Unweighted, 1 kHz Frequency Response +0, -0.1 dB, 20 Hz/20 kHz Ref.
  • Page 74 A P P E N D I X B : A U D I O S P E C I F I C A T I O N S...

  • Page 75: Mixer Schematics

    Mixer Schematics APPENDIX MONO INPUT CHANNEL...

  • Page 76: Stereo Input Channel

    STEREO INPUT CHANNEL A P P E N D I X C : M I X E R S C H E M A T I C S...
  • Page 77 GROUP BUS A P P E N D I X C : M I X E R S C H E M A T I C S...

  • Page 78: Monitor Bus

    MONITOR BUS A P P E N D I X C : M I X E R S C H E M A T I C S...

  • Page 79: Updating Firmware

    An AVB port on a MOTU AVB switch ■ (connected to your office network through the Ethernet port) Figure D-1: The firmware update banner appears automatically at the top of the Device tab when your web host has internet access and MOTU posts an update.
  • Page 80 Updating off-line, without internet access Viewing the latest firmware version information If the Monitor 8 (and the computer it is connected You can confirm the firmware version at the to) has no internet access, you can download a bottom of the Device tab (Figure D-2).

  • Page 81: Osc Support

    MOTU AVB audio interfaces support OSC, which provides remote control of all device settings and mixer controls from any OSC-enabled controller. For further details about remote control through...
  • Page 82 A P P E N D I X E : O S C S U P P O R T...

  • Page 83: Index

    Cockos Reaper 15, 58 Gate effect Mixing tab 15, 59 Compressor effect GR (gain reduction) Monitor 8 Computer Setup expansion Connecting multiple interfaces installing 28, 54 Control Panel Headphones setup example Control surface support (through OSC)
  • Page 84 Digital Performer Cubase MOTU AVB Nuendo Ratio 7, 46 USB ASIO driver Studio Input Expander preset Compressor 7, 46 MOTU AVB WebUI Setup Studio Output Expander preset Reaper 49, 52 Studio setup (example) Reason Synchronization Propellerhead Reason 63-68 Networking Become Clock Master...

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