Sweetwater Has 3 New MOTU Digital In / Out AVB Interfaces Listed for Pre-Order

Started by scratch17, February 11, 2017, 08:05:43 PM

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scratch17

First, a quick link:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=motu+avb&Go=Search

There are three new AVB interfaces there that are not even announced on MOTU's web site.

All are $595, all are AVB compatible, and have digital input and output only. All have USB2
connection for direct connection to a host computer. If you are only using one computer,
you can connect directly to the computer via ethernet (AVB). But if you want to use two
computers and two AVB interfaces, you must use the ethernet ports on both interfaces to
carry the audio via a crossover CAT 5E or CAT 6 cable. So the interfaces must connect to
the computer via either USB2 or Thunderbolt.

The LP32 comes with 4 banks of ADAT in / out (1 x speed = 32 channels, 2 x = 16 channels).
The 8D provies 4 channels each of coaxial S/PDIF and AES / EBU (on XLR).
The M64 provides MADI connections for 128 in / out.


Hamer Duotone, Brian Moore i213, Taylor 710 BCE 

VG-99, FC-300, RMC Fanout
RJM Mastermind GT10
Kemper Profiling Amp
Radial JDV Mk3, X-Amp
Mesa Recto Pre + 20/20
68 Fender Bandmaster (AB763)
Marshal AS80R

UA Apollo X6, Twin X, Logic Pro, Luna, Melodyne Studio

scratch17

Just thought I'd pass on info that Matt Hepworth over at the UA forums confirms I can connect my Apollos via ADAT to a MOTU AVB interface and still get under 2.5 ms of round trip latency when monitoring from the AVB mixer.

So I get to use my Apollos and UA plugins , with AVB's benefits.
Hamer Duotone, Brian Moore i213, Taylor 710 BCE 

VG-99, FC-300, RMC Fanout
RJM Mastermind GT10
Kemper Profiling Amp
Radial JDV Mk3, X-Amp
Mesa Recto Pre + 20/20
68 Fender Bandmaster (AB763)
Marshal AS80R

UA Apollo X6, Twin X, Logic Pro, Luna, Melodyne Studio

vanceg

 I've been enjoying the MOTU AVB boxes I'm working with a lot! Using them onstage for an artist who is sending 18 channels from his laptop to me at FOH. Working quite well.

jwhitcomb3

AVB is a very sensible approach. You can hang an AVB box with the appropriate interfaces next to whatever gear you need to support, then tie all the AVB boxes together with Ethernet cables via an AVB router. Goodbye snakes! Very flexible and powerful with low latency. It is cool you can configure the system via a web page.

However, currently the Mac implementation of AVB does not support 44.1KHz clock rates, or multiples thereof. Mac only supports 48, 96 and 192 kHz sample rates over AVB. That is, if you connect your Mac to an AVB device using USB or Thunderbolt, you can have a clock rate of 44.1 KHz, but not if you connect the Mac to the AVB device with an Ethernet cable.

Also, MOTU AVB boxes do not support MIDI over AVB. These shortcomings need to be addressed.

vanceg

Those shortcomings do need to be addressed.  Note, though, that if you connect your first MOTU box to a Mac via Thunderbolt or USB, and then connect a second MOTU to that first MOTU via AVB, then you can run them both at 44.1 (or multiples). 

Another cool thing about AVB (or this little combination AVB and Thunderbolt/USB trick) is that the Mac sees ALL the interfaces as one interface.  That is, you don't have to use the Aggregate Audio 'feature' of the Mac and you can combine interfaces together.  That is the best thing around for me!


Quote from: jwhitcomb3 on February 17, 2017, 06:00:30 AM
AVB is a very sensible approach. You can hang an AVB box with the appropriate interfaces next to whatever gear you need to support, then tie all the AVB boxes together with Ethernet cables via an AVB router. Goodbye snakes! Very flexible and powerful with low latency. It is cool you can configure the system via a web page.

However, currently the Mac implementation of AVB does not support 44.1KHz clock rates, or multiples thereof. Mac only supports 48, 96 and 192 kHz sample rates over AVB. That is, if you connect your Mac to an AVB device using USB or Thunderbolt, you can have a clock rate of 44.1 KHz, but not if you connect the Mac to the AVB device with an Ethernet cable.

Also, MOTU AVB boxes do not support MIDI over AVB. These shortcomings need to be addressed.

scratch17

The full info on these new interfaces is on the Motu web site.

I was pleased to see that they include the entire suite of AVB and
mixing software. This means you can get into AVB for under $600.

You could buy a single LP32, for example, and connect your legacy
interfaces via ADAT without needing to buy additional analog input /output,
then add AVB interfaces as your needs grow.

I plan to see how well my UA Apollos will work with an LP32 and the MOTU
AVB mixer as a front end.

The UA Console will let me use my UA plugins while doing hardware monitoring
from the AVB mixer. Total round trip latency should be less than 3 ms. If I want
to add a second computer and AVB interface, it will be virtually plug and play.

Very cool!

Hamer Duotone, Brian Moore i213, Taylor 710 BCE 

VG-99, FC-300, RMC Fanout
RJM Mastermind GT10
Kemper Profiling Amp
Radial JDV Mk3, X-Amp
Mesa Recto Pre + 20/20
68 Fender Bandmaster (AB763)
Marshal AS80R

UA Apollo X6, Twin X, Logic Pro, Luna, Melodyne Studio