Need help with 828 and macbook.

AnalogousGumdropDecoder · Post by **AnalogousGumdropDecoder** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:36 pm

Sorry for the double post (here and Gear Talk). I really need help figuring this out. I've been banging my head against a wall for three years just trying to get to the point where I can say "testing" into a mic and have it come out in some recorded media. Many financial and technological disasters have ensued.

So I finally gave up on getting my tape machine and board up and going in the short term, since I've spent so much time and money on them at this point and I can't afford to spend a month's rent on a test tone tape.

I saved up and bought a MOTU 828mkII from ebay. I get the thing in the mail, and I want to test it. I now realize that it won't plug up to my macbook. I have a port on my laptop that I THOUGHT was firewire. I've never used firewire before and I looked at a picture online and thought this was it. Well, it's kind of shaped the same (kind of) but it's a completely different size. I have no idea what it is. Anyway. I just spent all my money (I'm poor, ok?) on a board, a tape machine, and an A/D converter that I can't use. I read somewhere that you can't adapt firewire to USB... they're not compatible or something. Does anybody know of any way I can make my laptop communicate with this thing? I'm at wits end here.

I'm kind of an idiot when it comes to technology. I'm looking at my girlfriend's external hard drive. I see a firewire port on it. What does that do and is there a way I can hook the 828 to my computer via an external device like a hard drive?

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 7:59 am

Hi Cody,

Sorry to hear you could not get your tape machine up and running.
I have had pretty much all the Motu 828 interfaces at one time or another.
Here, let's take a look at a picture, so it becomes more clear :

In this case, we will look at the back of the unit. This is the bottom image.
You mention having issues identifying what connector is the one to hook up to your computer.
It is the one labelled "FireWire", which is two connectors side by side, that look like two rectangles standing up, with tapered bottom ends.

This is known more specifically as a "FireWire 400" connector, and it is used with a FireWire 400 cable, available at any electronics store, and you might have gotten one with the Motu unit.

Now, on your laptop you should be able to see a connector that is identical in shape, but might be on it's side, or upside down, etc. The important part is that the shape be the same. If you cannot find one, then chances are your laptop has a different FireWire connector, one called "fireWire 800", which is a different shape, like this:

Now, if this is the case, all you need to do is buy a cable which goes from one type to the other, like this :

http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2004/04/ ... ectors.jpg

Once you have this hooked up, you can then worry about installing the software to run it with (the DAW< plus the audio drivers)

Cheers

Mudcloth · Post by **Mudcloth** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:00 am

Same thing happened to me when I bought my new Macbook. It has a firewire 800 port and the 828MKII, along with virtually everything else, has a fire 400 port.
You can go to Best Buy or probably even Rat Shack and get either an adapter or a dedicate 400/800 firewire cable.

For what it's worth, I love my 828 and Digital Performer. If I ever need more than 10 inputs I'd consider buying another one as opposed to going the Digimax LT or Firepod route.
Good luck!

AnalogousGumdropDecoder · Post by **AnalogousGumdropDecoder** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:30 pm

Nick Sevilla wrote:Hi Cody,

Sorry to hear you could not get your tape machine up and running.
I have had pretty much all the Motu 828 interfaces at one time or another.
Here, let's take a look at a picture, so it becomes more clear :

In this case, we will look at the back of the unit. This is the bottom image.
You mention having issues identifying what connector is the one to hook up to your computer.
It is the one labelled "FireWire", which is two connectors side by side, that look like two rectangles standing up, with tapered bottom ends.

This is known more specifically as a "FireWire 400" connector, and it is used with a FireWire 400 cable, available at any electronics store, and you might have gotten one with the Motu unit.

Now, on your laptop you should be able to see a connector that is identical in shape, but might be on it's side, or upside down, etc. The important part is that the shape be the same. If you cannot find one, then chances are your laptop has a different FireWire connector, one called "fireWire 800", which is a different shape, like this:

Now, if this is the case, all you need to do is buy a cable which goes from one type to the other, like this :

http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2004/04/ ... ectors.jpg

Once you have this hooked up, you can then worry about installing the software to run it with (the DAW< plus the audio drivers)

Cheers

I definitely don't have that port. Apparently more recent macbooks don't have them. I guess they did it so you'd have to upgrade to the macbook pro. I don't know why I thought this thing was a firewire port. This is getting really frustrating. Are there any decent USB interfaces in the $300-350 range?

AnalogousGumdropDecoder · Post by **AnalogousGumdropDecoder** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:33 pm

Apparently what I thought was a Firewire 400 port is, in fact, a Mini DisplayPort.

lapsteel · Post by **lapsteel** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:22 pm

You can buy a firewire card and install it in your laptop.

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 7:30 am

lapsteel wrote:You can buy a firewire card and install it in your laptop.

No.
No.
No.

A MacBook is not customizable.

Ok, Cody, time to send us all here a picture of the connectors on your laptop.

All this speculation.... is leading nowhere...

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 9:07 am

There are no firewire connections on newer white plastic MacBooks. If you want Firewire you need a MacBook Pro.
There are tons of USB interfaces out there but I'm pretty sure most are 2 channel. I wouldn't want to suggest anything without knowing what you are trying to do, what system your running, etc, etc. After reading about your trial and tribulations the best suggestion might be for you to go to a shop that specializes in digital audio and have them help you find something that will work with what you have and do what you want.
Seeing as how Nashville is one of the recording capitols of the world i'd expect you'll have a number of places to choose from.

lapsteel · Post by **lapsteel** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 10:00 am

Nick Sevilla wrote:
lapsteel wrote:You can buy a firewire card and install it in your laptop.
No.
No.
No.

A MacBook is not customizable.

Ok, Cody, time to send us all here a picture of the connectors on your laptop.

All this speculation.... is leading nowhere...

What kind of worthlessness? Your telling me you can't take out a usb drive and put firewire card in its place? I see it doesn't have an expansion slot, but it seems like you would be able to take out the usb and add firewire. This is why I like having a PC, so I can upgrade as needed. Built myself just for recording. Thanks for correcting me about the macbook.

My suggestion is to buy an all-in-one unit and ditch the computer recording. If you couldn't figure out you didn't have a firewire port, then computer recording will just be an impediment. Get a Tascam and you will be up and running in one hour.

Andy Peters · Post by **Andy Peters** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 10:18 am

lapsteel wrote: What kind of worthlessness? Your telling me you can't take out a usb drive and put firewire card in its place?

In a laptop?

Pray tell me how you'd remove the "USB drive" and replace it with a "firewire card."

I see it doesn't have an expansion slot, but it seems like you would be able to take out the usb and add firewire. This is why I like having a PC, so I can upgrade as needed. Built myself just for recording. Thanks for correcting me about the macbook.

The MacBook, like all other laptops (Windows or otherwise), does not have the expansion capabilities of a desktop computer. Modern desktop machines, like the one you built and the one on my desk at work, will have one or more PCIe slots, maybe one or PCI slots, and for the old-school, maybe an ISA slot. You install various expansion cards into these slots. So if you want a FireWire interface in your PC then you add a FireWire card.

Now please tell me where you'd fit a PCI or PCIe card in a laptop.

-a

My suggestion is to buy an all-in-one unit and ditch the computer recording. If you couldn't figure out you didn't have a firewire port, then computer recording will just be an impediment. Get a Tascam and you will be up and running in one hour.[/quote]

lapsteel · Post by **lapsteel** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 11:01 am

Andy Peters wrote:
lapsteel wrote: What kind of worthlessness? Your telling me you can't take out a usb drive and put firewire card in its place?
In a laptop?

Pray tell me how you'd remove the "USB drive" and replace it with a "firewire card."

I see it doesn't have an expansion slot, but it seems like you would be able to take out the usb and add firewire. This is why I like having a PC, so I can upgrade as needed. Built myself just for recording. Thanks for correcting me about the macbook.
The MacBook, like all other laptops (Windows or otherwise), does not have the expansion capabilities of a desktop computer. Modern desktop machines, like the one you built and the one on my desk at work, will have one or more PCIe slots, maybe one or PCI slots, and for the old-school, maybe an ISA slot. You install various expansion cards into these slots. So if you want a FireWire interface in your PC then you add a FireWire card.

Now please tell me where you'd fit a PCI or PCIe card in a laptop.

-a

My suggestion is to buy an all-in-one unit and ditch the computer recording. If you couldn't figure out you didn't have a firewire port, then computer recording will just be an impediment. Get a Tascam and you will be up and running in one hour.

It depends how the laptop is setup. It would be an expresscard, not PCI. They are made for laptops. So if the USB is an expresscard it can be replaced with a firewire expresscard. A lot of laptops have an expresscard slot, but the macbook doesn't; the macbook pro does. I was just thinking that maybe the USB hookup was an expresscard on the macbook. Then you could replace it with an expresscard that either has just firewire or even both.

Andy Peters · Post by **Andy Peters** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 12:04 pm

lapsteel wrote:It depends how the laptop is setup. It would be an expresscard, not PCI. They are made for laptops. So if the USB is an expresscard it can be replaced with a firewire expresscard. A lot of laptops have an expresscard slot, but the macbook doesn't; the macbook pro does. I was just thinking that maybe the USB hookup was an expresscard on the macbook. Then you could replace it with an expresscard that either has just firewire or even both.

Right, ExpressCard is just PCIe brought out to a convenient connector, but that's not what was said in this thread. There was something about "replacing the USB drive with a FireWire card," and that doesn't make any sense.

But you seem to be saying two things: one, you thought that the "USB connection was an ExpressCard on a MacBook," then two, "the MacBook doesn't have ExpressCard slots."

I'm just saying: be careful and explicit about what you write, as clarity is important when trying to solve someone's problems via an Internet forum.

a-

AnalogousGumdropDecoder · Post by **AnalogousGumdropDecoder** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:01 pm

Nick Sevilla wrote:
lapsteel wrote:You can buy a firewire card and install it in your laptop.
No.
No.
No.

A MacBook is not customizable.

Ok, Cody, time to send us all here a picture of the connectors on your laptop.

All this speculation.... is leading nowhere...

There's no need. I have a headphone jack, 2 USBs, a mini displayport, and a jack for a network cable. I'm certain now. I've been reading about recent macbooks, and they dropped the firewire port a couple of years ago to try and force people who do this kind of thing to upgrade to the macbook pro - which is bigger, heavier, and way more expensive without being that much better overall. This is my mistake. I should have been more careful when I picked my laptop and had more foresight as to what I'd be needing down the road. Still frustrating, especially if it's true that I'll only be able to record 2 channels using USB. It's okay though if I'm not going to have any other options.

I have some apprehension about getting a standalone digital "machine" - if I can't have the analog sound at the moment, I'd at least rather utilize the editing capabilities of a DAW. I already do a lot of in-box editing with Logic right now, I just want to be able to run mics and lines in.

P.S. - My power was out all day today and I wasn't able to check in on my thread. It got really weird.

AnalogousGumdropDecoder · Post by **AnalogousGumdropDecoder** » Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:09 pm

Anybody built a PC lately? I haven't messed with this kind of thing in YEARS. How much would I be looking at to put together something capable of running a DAW smoothly that has a firewire jack?

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Need help with 828 and macbook.

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