Has anyone got any experience with using a MOTU Traveler or Ultra Lite for very long periods in a row (several days).

This is for an art installation (using Max) and I need to make sure that the MOTU traveler is stable for long periods of use. This would be under Mac OSX tiger.

Would anyone recommend another firewire-based soundcard which is good for sound installations ? (with a least 8 output channels).

Thank you.

GP

I’ve discussed these problems at length with Motu tech support,
without much result. I swapped the first 2 Travelers for a second
pair, and ditched nr 3 for an 828. Unfortunately the second pair of
Travelers had the same problems.

The MOTU 828 mk2 has been totally reliable for me in all circumstances
(heavy touring, installations). I also have great faith in Metric
Halo stuff.

Hope this helps,

Zip Boterbloem
Media Mechanics
Zwaluwstraat 54
2025 VR Haarlem
The Netherlands
+31627014758
zip@knoware.nl

Op 26-okt-2006, om 23:53 heeft Gui Pot het volgende geschreven:

>
> Hello,
>
> Has anyone got any experience with using a MOTU Traveler or Ultra
> Lite for very long periods in a row (several days).
>
> This is for an art installation (using Max) and I need to make sure
> that the MOTU traveler is stable for long periods of use. This
> would be under Mac OSX tiger.
>
> Would anyone recommend another firewire-based soundcard which is
> good for sound installations ? (with a least 8 output channels).
>
> Thank you.
>
> GP
>

> I’ve used Travelers in a museum installation with bad results. The
> units(3) would loose their settings (mike preamp gain etc) every once
> in a while, and worse, would suddenly produce high pitched noise that
> on one occasion burned the tweeters of a speaker pair. The high
> pitched noise trouble is easily fixed by manually resetting the unit,
> but this is not an option in an installation.

I have the same experiences with the traveler. The high pitched noise
happens sometimes, at least with my Intel MacBook and the latest Motu
drivers.
This seems to be a well known problem. The german motu support recommends to
flip the optical I/Os on and off …

> The MOTU 828 mk2 has been totally reliable for me in all circumstances
> (heavy touring, installations).

Yes, I can affirm that also the old 828 (MK1) doesn’t have this problem,
neither with older Macs / old OSX versions nor with MacIntels and the latest
system.

Andre

————————————————–
Andre Bartetzki
http://www.bartetzki.de
mailto:andre@bartetzki.de

Tel +49-(0)30-92375877
VoIP +49-(0)30-38108677
Fax +49-(0)30-38108678
UMS +49-(0)941-599214065 (Voice, Fax, SMS)
Skype bartetzki

————————————————–

Selon Gui Pot :

>
> Hello,
>
> Has anyone got any experience with using a MOTU Traveler or Ultra Lite for
> very long periods in a row (several days).
>
> This is for an art installation (using Max) and I need to make sure that the
> MOTU traveler is stable for long periods of use. This would be under Mac OSX
> tiger.
>
> Would anyone recommend another firewire-based soundcard which is good for
> sound installations ? (with a least 8 output channels).
>
> Thank you.
>
> GP
>
>

I made a wrong choice last time a bought a computer and need some advice or
experience.

Requirements:
* best management of professional Firewire audio/MIDI interfaces
* silent machine (will be used for recording)
* laptop or very small desktop
* < 1500 euros
* most difficult task: running a polyphonic software sampler in Max/MSP during a
live concert, at very low latency (48, 64 or 128 samples).

This machine will be used for audio only, and I need *stability* rather than
huge CPU power. To put it differently, I don’t want the sound to drop at low
latency when the total CPU remains below 70%.

The sound card will be a RME Fireface 400.

Is there a real advantage to get an Apple computer for low-latency audio with
Max/MSP, like the black Macbook or the Mac Mini ? I have Windows and Linux on a
desktop PC so I am not asking for a sterile XP / OS X debate (I think both are
very good, depending on what you are making).
For the PC side, I was thinking of the Samsung or Asus laptops.

Please share your experience
Thanks for your information
Julien

Carlo

—– Original Message —–
From: “julien breval”
To: ; “Gui Pot”
Cc:
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 1:01 AM
Subject: Re: [maxmsp] Stability of MOTU traveler in the long run ?

> The MOTU or RME ones are great
> Maybe something from Apogee also ?
>
> Selon Gui Pot :
>
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Has anyone got any experience with using a MOTU Traveler or Ultra Lite
>> for
>> very long periods in a row (several days).
>>
>> This is for an art installation (using Max) and I need to make sure that
>> the
>> MOTU traveler is stable for long periods of use. This would be under Mac
>> OSX
>> tiger.
>>
>> Would anyone recommend another firewire-based soundcard which is good for
>> sound installations ? (with a least 8 output channels).
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> GP
>>
>>
>
>