MOTU 896HD User's Guide download pdf (Page 48)

MOTU FIREWIRE CONTROL PANEL (MAC OS 9)

synchronizing digitally to the 896HD or an

external synchronizer such as the Digital

Timepiece. In this case, the ADAT Optical clock

source setting lets you slave the 896HD to the

device itself via its digital input to the 896HD.

If the ADAT Optical setting does not appear in the

menu, it means that the 896HD’s optical input is

currently either turned off. Choose the ADAT

optical format from the Optical input menu

(Figure 6-1 on page 46).

This setting is also useful if you just need to make a

simple, click-free digital transfer between the

896HD and another device — where a time code

reference and shared transport control are not

needed — without having to set up an elaborate

synchronization scenario.

For further details about this setting, see “Syncing

optical devices” on page 25.

Other audio interfaces

Yo u m ay s e e o t her audio interfaces in the Clock

Source list, such as another MOTU FireWire

interface, a MOTU PCI-324 or PCI-424 system, the

Macintosh built-in audio, or perhaps even another

third-party audio interface. The 896HD can

resolve to these other audio devices via their

CoreAudio driver. This allows you to play and

record audio with your host audio software via

both interfaces at the same time without their

audio streams drifting apart from one another over

long recording or playback passes. No external

synchronization connections are required for this

setting, as the two devices are entirely resolved via

the software driver.

Samples Per Buffer

The Samples Per Buffer setting lets you reduce the

delay you hear when patching live audio through

your audio software. For example, you might have

a live microphone input that you would like to run

through a reverb plug-in that you are running in

your host audio software. When doing so, you may

hear or feel some “sponginess” (delay) between the

source and the processed signal. If so, don’t worry.

This effect only affects what you hear: it is not

present in what is actually recorded.

Yo u c a n u s e Samples Per Buffer setting to reduce

this monitoring delay—and even make it

completely inaudible.

☛ If you don’t need to process an incoming live

signal with software plug-ins, you can monitor the

signal with no delay at all using CueMix Console,

which routes the signal directly to your speakers

via hardware. For details, see chapter 12, “CueMix

Console” (page 93).

Adjusting the Samples Per Buffer setting impacts

the following things:

■ The strain on your computer’s CPU

■ The delay you hear when routing a live signal

through your host audio software plug-ins

■ How responsive the transport controls are in

your software

This setting presents you with a trade-off between

the processing power of your computer and the

delay of live audio as it is being processed by

plug-ins. If you reduce the Samples Per Buffer, you

reduce patch thru latency, but signiﬁcantly increase

the overall processing load on your computer,

leaving less CPU bandwidth for things like real-

time effects processing. On the other hand, if you

increase the Samples Per Buffer, you reduce the load

on your computer, freeing up bandwidth for

effects, mixing and other real-time operations. But

don’t set the Samples Per Buffer too low, or it may

cause distortion in your audio.

If you don’t process live inputs with software

plug-ins, leave this setting at its default value of

1024 samples. If you do, try settings of 256 samples

or less, if your computer seems to be able to handle

1 2 ... 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 ... 104 105

Comments to this Manuals

No comments

MOTU 896HD User's Guide Page 48

Comments to this Manuals

Related products and manuals for Recording Equipment MOTU 896HD