User Manual-for Mac

INSTALLING THE 896MK3 HARDWARE
36
each other ensures that they remain as tightly and
continuously phase-locked as if they were one
unified interface.
There are two ways to synchronize the 896mk3
with other devices, as discussed in the following
sections: via the driver or via word clock.
Resolving to other Core audio drivers
The MOTU FireWire/USB driver can resolve to
other Core Audio drivers. This allows the 896mk3
and other MOTU interfaces to resolve to other
audio interfaces running simultaneously on the
same computer, such as the Mac’s built-in audio, a
PCI-424 core system, or even 3rd-party interfaces,
without the need for external word clock
connections between the devices. Doing so ensures
that audio tracks being played or recorded by your
MOTU FireWire/USB interface will not drift apart
from tracks on the other device during long
playback or recording passes.
To synchronize multiple devices via the MOTU
FireWire/USB driver, choose one device (PCI,
FireWire, USB or otherwise) as the master clock
and then slave the 896mk3 and other devices to it.
All interfaces will remain resolved to each other via
the master interface.
Make the Clock Source settings for each interface
as follows:
■ For the master interface, click its tab in MOTU
Audio Setup and choose any clock source you wish
(except any of the slave interfaces, of course).
■ For each slave interface, click its tab and choose
the master interface from the Clock Source menu, as
demonstrated below in Figure 4-23. This causes
the slave interfaces to resolve to the master
interface.
Figure 4-23: To resolve a MOTU interface to another Core Audio
device, choose the other device from the Clock Source menu in MOTU
Audio Setup. In this example, the 896mk3 will slave to the 828mk3.
If you have multiple 896mk3s, choose one as the
master, and set its Clock Source to Internal. Then,
click the tab of the other 896mk3s and set their
Clock Source to the first 896mk3.
Resolving to word clock
To resolve two 896mk3 interfaces with each other
via word clock, choose one as the word clock
master and then slave the second interface to the
first, as shown in Figure 4-21 on page 35. For three
interfaces, you can probably get away with daisy-
chaining them via their word clock connectors, but
this may not always produce the most reliable
results. For three or more devices, a word clock
distribution device is highly recommended. In this
case, the distribution box is the master, and all
interfaces slave directly to it (instead of to each
other).
Connecting other MOTU FireWire interfaces
You can mix and match multiple 896mk3 Hybrid
interfaces with other MOTU FireWire interfaces
using a standard FireWire hub. You can daisy-chain
828mkIIs, 828mk3s, 896HDs, 896mk3s, Travelers,
896mk3 Hybrid book Page 36 Friday, August 19, 2011 1:44 PM