Re: WHAT SORTS OF FIREWIRE INTEFACES ARE PEOPLE USING THESE DAYS?

[Dustbunnies <mech@m3ch.net>]

On 12/14/10 12:45 AM, "tEd ® KiLLiAn" <tedkillian@charter.net> wrote:
> 
> I played my Gibson and VG99 combination into the MOTU.... [*snip*]
> 
>  ...I was only using a pair of the regular line-level inputs on
> the back.

Ted,

Is the 99 your sole sound source here?  If so, don't neglect the Digital
I/O!

The VG-99 is, of course, a digital sound source.  What you're now doing is
taking that digital signal, then running it through the VG's onboard DAC's
to turn it into an analog signal then digitizing it all over again when you
run it into the MOTU's ADC.  All this is just to get a digital signal into
your computer.

Why?

Instead, see what happens if you keep everything digital going into the
computer.  Try running the S/PDIF Output from the VG directly into your
laptop, or even the USB Out.  I've gotten good results using S/PDIF (not as
much so with the USB -- it "felt" a little laggier -- although that could
merely be a rote psychological effect, since I almost expected something
like that).  In fact, the Digital I/O is why I grabbed my AudioFire2 in the
first place.

(aside: this was before I realized that the input on the Macbook can also
accept Optical S/PDIF directly; so I could've cheaped out on a $30
Coax-to-Optical converter rather than a $200 interface.  Still, I needed a
small 2-channel DAC for the output, and it does a great job there.)

As it stands, you're putting your signal through an extra digital 
]-->analog
]-->digital conversion that doesn't necessarily need to be there.  It's
obvious you don't like the sound that the MOTU interface is imparting on 
the
signal, so try removing that conversion and going direct digital into the
computer.

Even if you don't like the idea of remaining in the digital domain, it
should, at the very least, tell you if your problem is with the MOTU's 
Input
conversion or if the difficulty is with the interface's outputs.  Should
help troubleshoot the exact source of your frustration.

    --m.