System information
OS
Mac OS 10.5
OS version
10.5.1
CPU
intel core duo santa rosa
RAM
4Gb
Additional information
Troubleshooting
* no succes thusfar
Steps to reproduce
1. Please read the discription of the issue which contain all info
Details
We've had no issues in creating an aggregated with 2 8pre, configuration has gone very smooth and have done intensive stressing on our setup to lure any issues before going to our customers. In our first attempt with a macbook(2,1) and 2 8pre's we noticed that we had problems due to the use of the interal HD of the macbook which was immediatly solved after adding a Lacie D2 in the firewire chain(using it instead of the internal HD). With the set aggregated device and the added Lacie drive weve been able to record up to 32 devices with no occurances of sudden "click" noises or total dropouts of signals fed to the 8pre's and completly sample accurate. Of course both units have had the firmware upgrade.
Todat we purchased yet another 8pre but a different model than the previous 2, the motu logo is lacking from the rack ears, the 96khz indication in blue is gone and the mix out ports are also a different kind. I first updated the firmware and then we set up a new aggregated device by removing the previous and added a new aggregated device containing both 3 8pre's and again started stressing the setup.
We noticed sudden drop outs on all channels on the new unit (did not record for a duration of about 1 second) but not on the older model 8pre's.
We also noticed that the new unit went out of sync after about 3 minutes and the older model 8pre's remained in sync.
We then tested the same setup in logic 8.02 instead of logic 7.2.3 but same occurances took place on the macbook(2,1).
We replicated the issue aswell on a macbook pro (late 2007), again in both versions of logic.
We then continued replicating the issue on the macbook pro running logic 8.02 but with a newly created aggregated device using 1 older model 8pre and the new unit. We did not manage to get a dropout replicated but it did wennt out of sync after recording for a few minutes. We then connected both old model 8pre's to the macbook pro running logic 8.02 and again found no issues whatsoever.
We're a bit startled as from this moment were a day away from 2 jobs where we need this to work so i have questions of course.
1. Does the new 8pre have issues or has hardware differences apart from using different
jackplugs and rackears, is there a different firewire controller used and/or a different
clock. I address these two components due to the nature of our issue, assuming that
these ARE different than this fact would imply that we need the old model 8pre instead as
our 3rd device.
2. As you setup a new aggregated device, is it bare essence to set the devices in consecutive
order (8pre#1 first in the row devices, then 8pre#2 & 8pre#3). If so then what is the
theory behind it ( please dont refer to applecare enterprises for this, im an applecare
Tier2, they will not have the answer).
3. How do i define how OSX recognizes the 8pres upon connecting or daisychaining the
firewire ports. For example, it seems that the unit with the oldest serial number always
is going to be 8pre#1.
4. In conjuction of questions 2 and 3; How does the way of defining 8pre#1 relate to the order of 8pre devices set in the aggregated device. I have the feeling that the definition process of which is 8pre#1 and the way you setup the aggregated device influence one and another which becomes very confusing but perhaps there is logical reasoning behind which has gotten lost on me.
Responses
Edit
Added by Jeroen on 2008/11/25 18:27:30 US/Central
Today we aquired a 4th 8pre to replace the "newer" model 8 pre. Updated the firmware first then setup a firewire chain corresponding to how osx defined which 8pre is #1, #2 and #3.
So we plugged the firewire cables as : MAC to fw in #1, fw out#1 to fw in #2 - fw out#2 to fw in #3 - fw out#3 to fw HD .
In the "motu audio setup" we set the following clocksources:
#1 clock to :Internal
#2 clock to #1
#3 clock to #1
adat i/o 's disabled, all same sample rate ofcourcse.
Then created a new aggregated device in consecutive order and making #1 clock , then renamed the aggregated device.
We're testing again with the Macbook(2,1) and a Lacie D2 connected to the Firewire out on 8pre #3 (last in chain). We're going to feed 24 line signals simultanious to stress the setup , recording them into Logic 7.2.3.
After stressing the system for 3 hours we concluded that the revised 8pre (newer model) really was the bottleneck and is going to be returned to the dealer. No dropouts, clicks or sync issues on all recordings. The issue is not resolved, the new 8pre's clearly have issues.