User Manual-for Windows

MOTU AUDIO CONSOLE
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■ 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
them. If your host audio software has a processor
meter, check it. If it starts getting maxed out, or if
the computer seems sluggish, raise the Samples Per
Buffer until performance returns to normal.
If you are at a point in your recording project where
you are not currently working with live, patched-
thru material (e.g. you’re not recording vocals), or
if you have a way of externally monitoring input,
choose a higher Samples Per Buffer setting.
Depending on your computer’s CPU speed, you
might find that settings in the middle work best.
The Samples Per Buffer setting also impacts how
quickly your audio software will respond when you
begin playback, although not by amounts that are
very noticeable. Lowering the Samples Per Buffer
will make your software respond faster; raising the
Samples Per Buffer will make it a little bit slower, but
barely enough to notice.
Monitoring live inputs without plug-in effects
As mentioned earlier, CueMix FX allows you to
monitor dry, unprocessed live inputs with no delay
at all. For complete details, see chapter 8,
“Reducing Monitoring Latency” (page 65).
Use stereo pairs for Windows audio
Some legacy Windows audio applications require
audio channels to be grouped in stereo pairs. If you
are using old Windows audio software, and you are
having issues accessing Audio Express channels
from within the software, try enabling the Use
Stereo Pairs for Windows Audio option.
Use WaveRT for Windows audio
If your host software supports WaveRT, enable this
option. Consult your host application
documentation for details.
Enable Pedal
Check the Enable Pedal option if a foot switch is
connected to the 896mk3 and you would like to
trigger recording punch in/out (or other software
functions) with it. Use the Set buttons to determine
what keystroke is triggered by the pedal-up and
pedal-down positions. You can assign the pedal to
any two keystrokes you wish. (You are not
restricted to punch in/out.)
896MK3 TAB SETTINGS
Phones Assign
The Phones Assign setting lets you choose what you
will hear from the headphone jack. Choose Main
Out 1-2 if you’d like to route the Main Out stereo
pair to the PHONES jack. Choose Phones 1-2 if you
would like the headphones to serve as their own
independent output, which you can access as an
independent output destination in your host audio
software and as an output destination for the four
on-board CueMix FX mix busses.
896mk3 Hybrid book Page 43 Friday, August 19, 2011 2:04 PM