#813

Hey Matt, good to see you here! The rca > won’t do what you want in this case, the TRS wants to see a balanced input and that adapter is carrying two mono signals.

The MOTU should be able to accept TS/unbalanced 1/4" connections. The only downside is you’ll lose a bit of gain and if you have a very long cable run you could pick up some additional noise, esp. if the cables are run parallel to power cables. Honestly if you have RCA cables I’d grab a couple of rca > 1/4 TS adapters or even cables.

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4 Likes
#814

Thanks, and nice to see you here, too!

So I think I must have been completely misinterpreting the manual and therefore over-complicating things. If those analog ins can take unbalanced TS plugs then great–I should already have the cables I need kicking around somewhere.

If I want to do CV out, I should be using TRS cables, though, right? Or more exactly, TRS 1/4 to TS 3.5mm?

1 Like
#815

That’s the only way I’ve seen it done.
EDIT: TS 1/4" to TS 3.5mm is the only way I’ve seen it done. Not TRS.

1 Like
#817

@msh:
No - you can use ¼" TS to 3.5mm TS cables for this purpose. They don’t need to be TRS.

The outputs on the MOTU are designed so that they can drive either balanced (on TRS) or unbalanced (on TS). Since the other end, the C.V. input is unbalanced, there is no need for a TRS to TS style cable.

@claasp & @shellfritsch :
I bought an MOTU UltraLite AVB last Spring when I re-did my studio space. I’m super happy with it, and like @shellfritsch have been using it as my main routing and mixing center in the studio. The flexibility to/from the computer (when I use a computer) is amazing…

As for mixing - the mk4 and AVB series have a web based mixer UI built in - so you can just connect to the unit from anything - my computer, a tablet, or even my phone, and the UI was surprisingly usable. I’m totally happy with it as the way to mix, eq, add some general reverb on the mix.

One realization: All my electronic instruments have a volume control easily available on them … and so I don’t miss faders at all.

5 Likes
#818

@ideaofnorth and @mzero thank you both so much. I completely misunderstood the mk4 owner’s manual and I’m going to blame that on a busy week at work and not enough sleep. Yup. That’s my excuse.

Thank you!

2 Likes
#819

Hey Rosten, I’ve a few questions for you about the Model 12 as I’ve been lately eyeing it. Much appreciated if you happen to have some insight about it and maybe a minute or two to answer my questions.

  1. When using the Model 12 in DAW controller mode to control, say, Ableton Live, is audio from the Model 12 routed into Live simply pre-fade directly into the DAW, without going through the channel strip?

  2. What’s your experience with latency with the Model 12 and a DAW combo been so far?

  3. Being a class compliant USB interface, have you by any chance used the Model 12 with an iPad Pro by any chance? If so, how has the experience been?

Thanks in advance!

#820

I also interpreted the MOTU 828es manual to mean that a 1/4" TRS to 3.5mm TS cable was needed to transmit CV, so you’re at least not alone in that regard. I’ve never found anyone who sell those, so I’ve never tried it. @mzero thanks for clearing that up!

1 Like
#821

Check out the Expert Sleepers floating ring cables. I use them to send cv from my MOTU Ultralite Mark 3 Hybrid to my eurorack. They work great!

2 Likes
#822

Your Motu Ultralite works fine in Big Sur?
I just contacted them, because their website states otherwise. Did you do a fresh install of Big Sur or did you just update the OS?

#823

Nice to know it’s not just me!

@eblomquist I did come across those cables when I was researching this recently, but they seem to be out of stock everywhere. Have you used TS to TS cables as well, and do you notice any difference with the Motu?

#824

I have never tried ts to ts so I don’t have any useful information on that, sorry!

However, see the ES page warning about cables:

In general special cables are recommended when using a DC-coupled audio interface as a source of CVs. Most audio interfaces have balanced outputs (on TRS (‘stereo’) jacks or XLRs), while synth CV inputs are unbalanced (usually on TS (‘mono’) jacks or minijacks). If you use a regular stereo or mono jack lead, you’ll be shorting out one of the balanced output signals (usually the R (ring) to the S (shield)). While this probably wouldn’t be a problem for normal audio use, when outputting the sustained voltages that are useful as CVs you risk damaging the interface hardware.

“Risk damaging” is all I needed to hear!

2 Likes
#825

Hey, happy to answer your questions as I can.

  1. You can actually set the routing point to be pre-comp. & pre-eq, post compressor & pre-eq, or post compressor/eq. It is all pre-fader afaik. And to be honest, I only messed with the post compressor and post eq modes in order to confirm that for you just now. (and it seems like it gets a little fiddly and confusing in terms of the live monitoring setting when you do that).

  2. I have not noticed significant latency when recording live through the Tascam into ableton. I’m not really a millisecond watcher but ableton says ~4.6ms/32 samples and I’m not getting clicks. Syncing Live with my hardware sequencers and stuff definitely takes some fiddling and delay compensation but i’ve gotten it to a place where it all feels locked in. It seems like I need to adjust this by ear per-session and I don’t honestly do it all that often - I usually track everything into the model 12 and then bring it into live for additional fiddling.

  3. I’ve never used it with an ipad. It has a single usb-c connection and it seems to like being plugged directly into my computer without a hub. I haven’t tested it extensively but I remember it being fiddly once, plugged it in directly while troubleshooting, it worked, and I haven’t tried it a different way since.

1 Like
#826

update on my previous statement: it works…sort of.

audio has worked seamlessly. I’ve had a few tiny hiccups on occasion, but I think they came from somewhere else in my chain.

however, every time that my macbook is closed and goes to sleep with the ultralite on, it crashes my laptop. so I have to shut down my mk4 before I close my laptop. or deal with the crashes.

not ideal, but livable enough assuming it’s a short-term thing.

2 Likes
#827

Thank you for taking your time to elaborate on these!

#828

Im planning on repurposing my a&h zed10fx (which was mainly my pa mixer back when there were gigs) to use with my modular…has anyone done this and are there any concerns about modular levels damaging the line ins? Im sure i can attenuate on the way in, just wondering about whats the ‘worst case’ and might i fry my channels.

#829

cool. thanks for the feedback.

#830

Yup, I’ve used that mixer with my modular. Works just fine, altho I always use attenuators on the way out for any mixer I’m using. I like the Pittsburgh mixers that double as attenuators. Also always a useful additional stage for dialing in additional control of saturation to the mic preamp stages. No worries about damaging anything that I’ve ever encountered, but maybe there’s something I don’t know.

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#831

The spec sheet for the ZED-10FX says it accepts up to +31dBu on the line inputs, which is just shy of 78 volts peak-peak - so unless you’ve got some very odd modules you should be OK.

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#832

To add to that, most modular systems use ±12V or ±15V supplies, so anything they generate or process will be clipped to well under 24Vpp or 30Vpp inside the system in any case.

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#833

Is frying mixer/soundcard inputs with too hot signals really a thing that happens? I get that maybe if you put a full scale modular output into a small battery powered consumer speaker it might have problems, but I see a lot of people say to be careful but I don’t hear many stories of bad things actually happening to pro or semipro gear.

1 Like