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Anyone have the MOTU 828 mk3 working?

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I just upgraded from the Behringer FA1616 to the MOTU 828mk3 so I could get word clock support.  I've connected the interface to my Pacarana, it's in Firewire mode, I've got clock sync and ADAT channels up...  but the interface doesn't show up in the interface list in DSP Status.  I know it's seeing it on the FW bus, because if I power it off the Pacarana displays a notice that the device was lost.  I've tried Control -> Rescan a bunch of times, but still nothing shows up.  I'm stumped as to what to try next.
asked May 20, 2020 in Hardware & Interfaces by cory-west (240 points)
I connected the device to a Mac via USB and installed the drivers and confirmed it worked.  I re-attempted connecting it to the Pacarana via Firewire but no luck.  Sigh.

Does anyone have advice on an interface that supports word clock, is high quality, has two ADAT interfaces, and works flawlessly with Kyma?  (With the FCA1616 I could never get the digital link to work very well and had to use the FCA1616 as the master clock which I didn't really want todo.  So far I can't even get the Motu 828 working with the Pacarana.  I could really use some help finding an interface that will just work and isn't a source of frustration.)
Hi Cory, the 828 ought to work. Are you using the external power supply? (Bus power is not recommended). Please try doing a factory reset (in case there are some saved settings that are interfering): https://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/reset
Then double check the Setup screen on the 828 front panel to confirm that it is in FireWire mode (they sometimes get 'stuck' in USB mode, even after you switch to FW)
Quick update: I've tried both Firewire and USB connections to the Pacarana now, and neither are working.
Sorry, one more update: I found a post that mentioned that MOTU interfaces needed to be powered on AFTER the Pacarana is powered on.  I tried that both for USB and Firewire and still no luck.
Just saw the reply above... ooops.  I did a factory reset, made sure the device is in FW mode, and confirmed that I am using wall power.  Still can't get it to show up in DSP Status.  

Not sure if it matters, but I'm using Kyma 7+ with ethernet from my Mac to my Pacarana.  The MOTU is connected via Firewire to my Pacarana, and not visible to the Mac at all.

Any more things I can try?
Is there a way to get more diagnostic logs from the Pacarana?  It seems to notice when the device appears/disappears from the bus... but the device doesn't show up in the available device list neither in Kyma nor in the Pacarana console interface.  I don't have a Firewire bus analyzer handy sadly.

1 Answer

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And the answer was: the firewire cable included in the MOTU box was bad!!  (Honestly I should have thought of that last night...  sigh.)  Anyway, things seem to be working now with a new cable.  Whew!
answered May 21, 2020 by cory-west (240 points)
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