MOTU Traveller anyone?
Ralf R. Radermacher
the MOTU traveller Mk III.
Currently, I'm using an EMU 1616M, cardbus version. I'm quite happy with
its quality, sound, and functionality but I'd like to have something
that will work with my Intel notebook as well as my Mac desktop at home.
I also like the idea of not having to bother with 12V-to-AC converters
and their eternal noise probs in mobile use.
Anyone who's using the Traveller in a mobile set-up who'd like to share
his experiences?
Ralf
--
Ralf R. Radermacher - DL9KCG - K�ln/Cologne, Germany
Blog : http://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com
Audio : http://aporee.org/maps/projects/fotoralf
Web : http://www.fotoralf.de
Soundhaspriority
"Ralf R. Radermacher" <foto...@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:1jaw2oq.1yek58g9wj70qN%foto...@gmx.de...
Ralph, there are strong pluses and minuses:
1. It sound terrific, really so. It has new silicon inside. The clock was
reworked, and it is claimed that it can sync to a bad clock without penalty
via a technique previously used only in very high end stuff.
2. The driver problems, with Windows, are notorious, while the Mac is
reputed to be problem free, except, possibly, with the ones that use the
Agere firewire chip.
That said, I actually use it with a 1st generation Centrino XP laptop, with
no problems. Others are not so lucky.
Read my review here:
http://groups.google.com/group/aus.hi-fi/browse_thread/thread/a0cd86ac1285492b/d4f4d74375156935?hl=en&q=MOTU+Traveler+MKIII+preliminary#d4f4d74375156935
Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511
Igor The Terrible
> I'm pondering the question of changing audio hardware and I'm looking at
> the MOTU traveller Mk III.
>
> Currently, I'm using an EMU 1616M, cardbus version. I'm quite happy with
> its quality, sound, and functionality but I'd like to have something
> that will work with my Intel notebook as well as my Mac desktop at home.
>
> I also like the idea of not having to bother with 12V-to-AC converters
> and their eternal noise probs in mobile use.
>
> Anyone who's using the Traveller in a mobile set-up who'd like to share
> his experiences?
>
> Ralf
>
> --
> Blog :http://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com
> Audio :http://aporee.org/maps/projects/fotoralf
> Web :http://www.fotoralf.de
I'm using my MKIII for both home and mobile uses. It is by far the
best value out there. They completely blow everything out of the
water I have owned to date. I used TC electronics Konnekt Live
(absolute joke and so is the company), Layla (Echo Audio),
etc...nothing comes close. I'm running WinVista 64 and I have had
absoluely no problems whatsoever. If you decide to get one, trust me
on this one, you will not be disappointed.
Ralf R. Radermacher
> Ralph, there are strong pluses and minuses:
> 1. It sound terrific, really so. It has new silicon inside. The clock was
> reworked, and it is claimed that it can sync to a bad clock without penalty
> via a technique previously used only in very high end stuff.
> 2. The driver problems, with Windows, are notorious, while the Mac is
> reputed to be problem free, except, possibly, with the ones that use the
> Agere firewire chip.
>
> That said, I actually use it with a 1st generation Centrino XP laptop, with
> no problems. Others are not so lucky.
Thanks to all who replied. I've bought one, two days ago. No probs with
an old Powermac G5 and a HP/Compaq NC6200 (also Centrino based). The
only regret so far is that the firewire PCMCIA card I've bought fo the
laptop doesn't power the Traveller althogh it has the larger 6-pin
Firewire connectors. Is this the same with all of them or only with this
particular model (Belkin "Firewire Notebook Card")?
The traveller fits snugly into my laptop bag and that's a great thing
compared to the half-size rack I've made for the EMU 1616M, the RME
Quadmic and the compressor/limiter that I've been hauling along for the
last two years.
Only question remaining: how will it sound by comparison to the 1616M?
We'll see...
Happy holidays to one and all.
Soundhaspriority
"Ralf R. Radermacher" <foto...@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:1jb0n7r.w6n01ui0ngqtN%foto...@gmx.de...
> Soundhaspriority <now...@nowhere.com> wrote:
>
>> Ralph, there are strong pluses and minuses:
>> 1. It sound terrific, really so. It has new silicon inside. The clock was
>> reworked, and it is claimed that it can sync to a bad clock without
>> penalty
>> via a technique previously used only in very high end stuff.
>> 2. The driver problems, with Windows, are notorious, while the Mac is
>> reputed to be problem free, except, possibly, with the ones that use the
>> Agere firewire chip.
>>
>> That said, I actually use it with a 1st generation Centrino XP laptop,
>> with
>> no problems. Others are not so lucky.
>
> Thanks to all who replied. I've bought one, two days ago. No probs with
> an old Powermac G5 and a HP/Compaq NC6200 (also Centrino based). The
> only regret so far is that the firewire PCMCIA card I've bought fo the
> laptop doesn't power the Traveller althogh it has the larger 6-pin
> Firewire connectors. Is this the same with all of them or only with this
> particular model (Belkin "Firewire Notebook Card")?
>
No PCMCIA card can power it. It is a limitation of the slot, not the card.
> The traveller fits snugly into my laptop bag and that's a great thing
> compared to the half-size rack I've made for the EMU 1616M, the RME
> Quadmic and the compressor/limiter that I've been hauling along for the
> last two years.
>
> Only question remaining: how will it sound by comparison to the 1616M?
> We'll see...
>
Ralph, it sounds sooo good. The converters are not specced as highly as the
flagship units used in the 1616M, but it does not appear to be a practical
limitation. MOTU did a lot of work on the clock in the Traveler III, so the
next-step-down converters perform to spec, which is not always the case.
More subject to question is the quality of the small geometry IC preamps in
the Traveler versus the all discrete design in the Quadmic. Since the
Traveler has only 4 pres, you may end up using the Quadmic with it. I would
be very interested in your evaluation.
Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511
hank alrich
> "Ralf R. Radermacher" <foto...@gmx.de> wrote in message
> news:1jb0n7r.w6n01ui0ngqtN%foto...@gmx.de...
> > Soundhaspriority <now...@nowhere.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Ralph, there are strong pluses and minuses:
> >> 1. It sound terrific, really so. It has new silicon inside. The clock was
> >> reworked, and it is claimed that it can sync to a bad clock without
> >> penalty
> >> via a technique previously used only in very high end stuff.
> >> 2. The driver problems, with Windows, are notorious, while the Mac is
> >> reputed to be problem free, except, possibly, with the ones that use the
> >> Agere firewire chip.
> >>
> >> That said, I actually use it with a 1st generation Centrino XP laptop,
> >> with
> >> no problems. Others are not so lucky.
> >
> > Thanks to all who replied. I've bought one, two days ago. No probs with
> > an old Powermac G5 and a HP/Compaq NC6200 (also Centrino based). The
> > only regret so far is that the firewire PCMCIA card I've bought fo the
> > laptop doesn't power the Traveller althogh it has the larger 6-pin
> > Firewire connectors. Is this the same with all of them or only with this
> > particular model (Belkin "Firewire Notebook Card")?
> >
> No PCMCIA card can power it. It is a limitation of the slot, not the card.
Some cards have provision to connect an external power supply to the
card to provide bus power to connected devices. I have an IOgear PCMCIA
card that does.
> > The traveller fits snugly into my laptop bag and that's a great thing
> > compared to the half-size rack I've made for the EMU 1616M, the RME
> > Quadmic and the compressor/limiter that I've been hauling along for the
> > last two years.
> >
> > Only question remaining: how will it sound by comparison to the 1616M?
> > We'll see...
> >
> Ralph, it sounds sooo good. The converters are not specced as highly as the
> flagship units used in the 1616M, but it does not appear to be a practical
> limitation. MOTU did a lot of work on the clock in the Traveler III, so the
> next-step-down converters perform to spec, which is not always the case.
>
> More subject to question is the quality of the small geometry IC preamps in
> the Traveler versus the all discrete design in the Quadmic. Since the
> Traveler has only 4 pres, you may end up using the Quadmic with it. I would
> be very interested in your evaluation.
--
ha
shut up and play your guitar
http://www.armadillomusicproductions.com/CarryMeHome.html
http://hankalrich.com/
Soundhaspriority
"hank alrich" <walk...@nv.net> wrote in message
news:1jb1vac.4ze6qamojdioN%walk...@nv.net...
Yep, I omitted to say. But the Motu needs 1.5 amps at 12 volts. Firewire
doesn't have a uniform power spec. It varies from card to card. The
polyfuses in your card might not let that much through. Do you have anything
on how much the card will let through?
Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511
Mike Rivers
> I omitted to say. But the Motu needs 1.5 amps at 12 volts.
> Firewire doesn't have a uniform power spec. It varies from card to card.
That's a lot. Can it only be powered through the Firewire port, or does
it come with an external AC power supply? That's a lot of current to pull
from a laptop batter ("Traveler" suggests portable operation) even if the
current capacity was there. Few if any laptop PCs have a powered (6-pin)
connector anyway.
Now that I'm thinking about it, does anyone make an external Firewire
power supply, a box that goes between a computer's Firewire port and
a Firewire device?
Joe Kotroczo
"Mike Rivers" <mri...@d-and-d.com> wrote:
http://www.qimaging.com/products/accessories/power_supply.php
--
Joe Kotroczo kotr...@mac.com
Scott Fraser
> Soundhaspriority wrote:
> > I omitted to say. But the Motu needs 1.5 amps at 12 volts. Firewire doesn't have a uniform power spec. It varies from card to card.
>
> That's a lot. Can it only be powered through the Firewire port, or does it come with an external AC power supply? >>
There's a generic Chinese wall wart PSU for the Traveler which states
an output of 15 volts at 1 amp.
> That's a lot of current to pull from a laptop batter ("Traveler" suggests portable operation) even if the
> current capacity was there. Few if any laptop PCs have a powered (6-pin) connector anyway.>>
All Mac laptops are provided with FireWire ports. Although MOTU
hardware does officially work with PC's, it's a very Mac-centric
company & their PC drivers are said to be problematic. The Traveler is
rock solid on a Mac.
Scott Fraser
Mike Rivers
>> Soundhaspriority wrote:
>>> I omitted to say. But the Motu needs 1.5 amps at 12 volts.
> There's a generic Chinese wall wart PSU for the Traveler which states
> an output of 15 volts at 1 amp.
Hmmmm . . .
hank alrich
We're apparently entering a new techo phase, where specs are like
standards, so many of them for a parameter of a single device.
geoff
>
> All Mac laptops are provided with FireWire ports. Although MOTU
> hardware does officially work with PC's, it's a very Mac-centric
> company & their PC drivers are said to be problematic. The Traveler is
> rock solid on a Mac.
I think that could be ancient info - MOTU Windows drivers have been pretty
solid for the the last 5 years or so, in my experience. Though I havent any
MOTU FireWire interfaces. They did eentually recognise that the PC market is
mre significant than the Mac one.
geoff
Soundhaspriority
"Mike Rivers" <mri...@d-and-d.com> wrote in message
news:hgnqsm$dko$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
> Soundhaspriority wrote:
>
>> I omitted to say. But the Motu needs 1.5 amps at 12 volts. Firewire
>> doesn't have a uniform power spec. It varies from card to card.
>
> That's a lot. Can it only be powered through the Firewire port, or does
> it come with an external AC power supply?
It has extremely flexible power options. It has a barrel socket that mates
with their, or any other, 12V 1.5 amp wall wart, which is reverse polarity
protected, and actually accepts, IIRC, up to 24V.
It also has the standard professional 4 pin XLR 12 volt input. Since it
provides full timecode support, it is frequently found on sound carts.
>That's a lot of current to pull
> from a laptop batter ("Traveler" suggests portable operation) even if the
> current capacity was there. Few if any laptop PCs have a powered (6-pin)
> connector anyway.
>
The only ones that do, and can supply enough power, are Macs. The Firewire
spec is weird, in that it doesn't provide a single specific power spec. Up
to 30V can be present on the connector. I have looked at several Firewire
pci cards; they have different size polyfuses. The older Pyro cards had
large polyfuses; the more recent ones have tiny ones.
> Now that I'm thinking about it, does anyone make an external Firewire
> power supply, a box that goes between a computer's Firewire port and
> a Firewire device?
It is best not to think in that direction. The 6 pin Firewire port has both
mechanical and electrical defects that make destruction possible. Without
too much effort, it is possible to plug a 6 pin in upside down, which
destroys the interface. And an electrical study of Firewire showed that even
when plugged properly, transients can occur that destroy devices if they are
hotplugged. Whenever possible, remove power from a Firewire interface, and
get it somewhere else.
Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511
Soundhaspriority
"geoff" <ge...@nospam-paf.co.nz> wrote in message
news:dd6dnVBaf6dQfbLW...@giganews.com...
Unfortunately, not so. Log into MotuNation. Particularly cursed are modern,
dual core laptops, just the thing one would want to use. Multithreading,
when the threads are actually mapped to different physical cores, frequently
manifest bugs that are not present when the same software is run on a single
core machine.
Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511
Soundhaspriority
"hank alrich" <walk...@nv.net> wrote in message
news:1jb2o4s.nu6wuu1mpogugN%walk...@nv.net...
> Mike Rivers <mri...@d-and-d.com> wrote:
>
>> Scott Fraser wrote:
>>
>> >> Soundhaspriority wrote:
>> >>> I omitted to say. But the Motu needs 1.5 amps at 12 volts.
>>
>> > There's a generic Chinese wall wart PSU for the Traveler which states
>> > an output of 15 volts at 1 amp.
>>
>> Hmmmm . . .
>
> We're apparently entering a new techo phase, where specs are like
> standards, so many of them for a parameter of a single device.
>
Nah, my memory failed me. I knew it was more than 12 watts. At 12V, the
current spec would be more than an amp.
Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511
Scott Fraser
>
> Bob Morein
> (310) 237-6511>>
Although I can't imagine forcing a non-compliant FireWire plug in
upside down I have heard of it being done. It really constitutes not
paying attention to what you're doing, though. More to the point about
using a FireWire connectored PSU is the fact that FireWire is just a
plain lousy, non-robust connector, intended to be plugged once & left.
That's a problem with any mass market consumer item when used in pro
audio applications.
Scott Fraser
geoff
>
> Although I can't imagine forcing a non-compliant FireWire plug in
> upside down I have heard of it being done. It really constitutes not
> paying attention to what you're doing, though. More to the point about
> using a FireWire connectored PSU is the fact that FireWire is just a
> plain lousy, non-robust connector, intended to be plugged once & left.
> That's a problem with any mass market consumer item when used in pro
> audio applications.
Depends on what 'size' firewire plug you are referring to. The large
'primary' one is perfectly robust in my experience. The toy mini ones are
not so good.
geoff
hank alrich
Soundhaspriority
"hank alrich" <walk...@nv.net> wrote in message
news:1jb34tv.1wxolrh137khkiN%walk...@nv.net...
No, and the electrical problems can get you even if you pay attention.
Hotplugging kills!
Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511
geoff
> geoff <ge...@nospam-paf.co.nz> wrote:
>
>> Scott Fraser wrote:
>>>
>>> Although I can't imagine forcing a non-compliant FireWire plug in
>>> upside down I have heard of it being done. It really constitutes not
>>> paying attention to what you're doing, though. More to the point
>>> about using a FireWire connectored PSU is the fact that FireWire is
>>> just a plain lousy, non-robust connector, intended to be plugged
>>> once & left. That's a problem with any mass market consumer item
>>> when used in pro audio applications.
>>
>>
>> Depends on what 'size' firewire plug you are referring to. The large
>> 'primary' one is perfectly robust in my experience.
>
> But not like an XLR, say.
No, but I've seen far more broken XLRs ( dozens) than Firewire plugs of any
variety (ie none) ! But tyen I've seen more XLRs full stop.
geoff
hank alrich
Right, and probably under more rigorous usage, too. First off, an XLR
can lock into its receptacle.
Mike Rivers
> Although I can't imagine forcing a non-compliant FireWire plug in
> upside down I have heard of it being done. It really constitutes not
> paying attention to what you're doing, though. More to the point about
> using a FireWire connectored PSU is the fact that FireWire is just a
> plain lousy, non-robust connector, intended to be plugged once & left.
I thought it was to plug into your video camera whenever you had recordings
to transfer to the computer, which implies frequent connection and
disconnection.
It's not a very good connector for that purpose, for sure. But most
people who use
it for that application are non-pros who will probably replace both the
camera
and the recorder every couple of years, before the connector wears out
mechanically.
I have my Firewire audio interface plugged in to the desktop computer
and it's
left in place, but if I take the Mackie Firewire mixer out with the
laptop, that's a
connection that's made-and-unmade for every job.
Pros are stuck with it, While I haven't seen the need for it myself, I
suppose that
using a pair of adapters that would allow the connector on the device
to remain
mated and let the adapters wear out. Remember "socket savers" for vacuum
tubes?
Mike Rivers
>> Depends on what 'size' firewire plug you are referring to. The large
>> 'primary' one is perfectly robust in my experience.
> But not like an XLR, say.
I wonder if that Neutrik Firewire connector in the XLR housing uses a better
quality Firewire plug and socket than what's usually mounted in an equipment
chassis.
At least it has the advantage of not being able to plug it in upside
down and
it locks in place when mated.
Arny Krueger
> hank alrich wrote:
>
>>> Depends on what 'size' firewire plug you are referring
>>> to. The large 'primary' one is perfectly robust in my
>>> experience.
>> But not like an XLR, say.
The full-sized XLR connector system has a unique and well-deserved
reputation for being as close to unbreakable as any modern connector, and
far better than most. They were once a bit nasty to assemble, but Neutrik
put that all in the past long ago.
I've repaired cables where the XLR fell apart in my hand after being
unmated, but the actual in-use failure was not due to the connector. It's
always the cables that break. The cable failures are generally due to poor
assembly, not any problem with the connector itself. Even most cheap clones
can be trouble-free if properly assembled.
> I wonder if that Neutrik Firewire connector in the XLR
> housing uses a better quality Firewire plug and socket
> than what's usually mounted in an equipment chassis.
> At least it has the advantage of not being able to plug
> it in upside down and it locks in place when mated.
If properly aligned when inserted and removed, and relieved of undue stress
when mated, most popular connectors, even a 3.5 mm phone plug, will have a
very long and happy life. Neutrik's repackaging of popular connectors into
XLR-like shells seems to have a tremendous potential for ensuring that kind
of operational environment for whatever it encapsulates.
In an installed system environment, it is up to the installer to provide an
appropriate environment for his choice of connectors. For portable systems,
Neutrik's approach seems to have a lot of romance.
hank alrich
hank alrich
The hard part is drilling out the side of this laptop here to fit the
XLR. <g>
Arny Krueger
I find that right-angled versions of common plugs are easier on the jacks
they are inserted into. I think this is because the part that sticks out
makes a shorter lever arm.
Mike Rivers
> The hard part is drilling out the side of this laptop here to fit the
> XLR. <g>
You need a bigger lap so you can get a bigger laptop computer. Look for
one with a 20 hour battery life. That'll be big enough. <g>