ATTENTION ADAT/PT LE USERS...

[Eric Heil]

I switched mother boards from Abit be-6 to Asus cusl2-c which cured my hang on shut down problem but...

I still have a couple of nagging setup problems that some of you experienced users can help with.

1. I need to sync ADAT to protools with as close to sample accuracy as possible to fly in tracks from ADAT, record new parts in PT LE and export back to ADAT at the EXACT point they were taken from.

On the ever elusive and always vague computer nerd psycho babble AVICE of Digidesign Tech Support (sorry guys, not every audio engineer in the world sight reads machine language over cheerios in the morning!)... I purchased the JL Cooper DATAsync II as an afordable alternative and thought all my problems were solved.

a big fat... WRONG!

OK... So now I go back to the Digidesign demi-gods and beseach an aswer of thee...

And the thundering voice form above booms, "BUY A MIDI PERIFERAL AND USE MIDI FROM PT LE AND NOT 001!" So off I go to the local Guitar Center to buy my next peice of oh so needed gear for my Digi 001 "ALL IN W-ONE-DER, DON'T NEED NUTTIN' ELSE" box. When all of a sudden... The local "CERTIFIED" Pro Tools demi-god tell me to Dump the DATAsync II I just bought, 5 days past the return date, and buy the MOTU Midi Time Piece AV for another $500.00 magic beans!

OK...OK... so the guy at the store said he would take it back if I came in this week to dump more money in his lap.

NOW ! ! ! !! ! ! !

What the truth from those of you out there that still MUST deal with ADAT in your setup?

2. OH... You thought I was finnished did ya...

I cannot seem to find DMA in the Device Manager>Disk Drives>Hard Drive>Settings>Options and my lag time between pressing "RECORD" and actual record start is completely intolerable. Not sure what to do there.

EVERY ONE ON THE FACE OF THE PRO TOOLS PLANET SAYS, "OH... Just enable DMA in Device Manager..." like DUH ! ! ! If it were there I would but it ain't and my question has been WHY?!?!? since the begining.

Anyway... Let me know what you all think.

Eric

[nwkurzrep]

Eric, goto System>Device Manager>Disk Drives>click on your hard drive/drives>choose properties>settings>and there you should see DMA...

AM

[thepontif]

Lag time before record...

In Preferences, tell PTLE to only use 60 minutes worth of space for recording instead of open ended.

ADAT sync...

PTLE is the transport.
MOTU is MTC source for ADAT and PTLE.
ADAT is digital sync source for PTLE.

The Timepiece AV is perfect. PTLE should be set for Optical Sync. You will hear pops and clicks if this is not set to optical.

In "Peripherals" set PTLE to receive MMC. Also, set PTLE to SEND MMC to the MOTU (probably default ID #20).
Put PTLE "online" and hit play (or record...whatever you're doing at the time)

This is a QUICK rundown as I'm in a hurry. I have more for you if you need it. Let me know.
-Mike Pope

[Eric Heil]

Originally posted by nwkurzrep:
Eric, goto System>Device Manager>Disk Drives>click on your hard drive/drives>choose properties>settings>and there you should see DMA...

AM

That's the problem. It's not listed there. As far as I can see when the BIOS is detecting hardware, it does list both of my drives and says that they are UDMA 66 enabled. Does winows simply delete the option if the drives are on the Mother Board 66mgz controler or is there a problem with my operating system?

I thought I may have heard that windows ignores the option in one of the other threads but I've read so many now I don't know who said what.

OK Mike I'll take your word on the MOTU MTP AV. I know you post quite a bit in the DUC so you must know where of you speak (If not, you do a great immitation). If you can think of anything else worth mentioning, I'll be checking back.

Thanx Guys,

Eric

[crs117]

I am assuming that windows preconfigured dma in for you harddrives automatically. If it didnt you would probly be running into more errors (hard drive is too slow or to fragmented, or pci errors, since everything would run throught the PCI bus before going to the processor). I dont know cause I have never not had a hard drive dma enabled when working in pt.

Set your buffer size to 128, if it is taking a while for playback, or record to take place. if it is already set low, i would also make sure all background programs are off. This could slow up your processor when playing and recording.

Christian

[thepontif]

Eric,
Try this...

Go to Device Manager>Hard Disk Controllers and click the little "+" sign.

I should say something like...

Intel(r) 82801BA Ultra ATA Storage Controller
Primary IDE Controller (dual FIFO)
Secondary IDE Controller (dual FIFO)

If it doesn't you may have a 3rd party ATA driver installed which could be your problem. To remove it, just highlight it and click remove. Then reboot Windows and it should load its standard driver.

Did you try what I mentioned earlier about not setting the record allocation to "open ended"? That was my problem when my system lagged. Just curious.
-Mike

[thepontif]

OK...I just re-read your first post. Did you load the Ultra ATA driver that came on the install disk with the CUSL2-C? If you did, that's your problem.

Asus says to load it, but PTLE doesn't like it. When you installed your board, there was a software install program that installed all of your drivers. There was a SEPARATE install option for the Ultra ATA driver. You don't want that driver. If you remove it and reboot like I described before, windows will reload the standard driver. Then you'll find the DMA option where you've been looking for it.
-Mike

[Mocha]

Hi the Pontif, I was reading your instructions and I have the same set up he has. I have an Adat XT, a Motu MiditimepieceAV, and also a Jl cooper datasyncII. I've been trying to get protools to start my Adat or Vice verca. Could you please e-mail me the instructions again with more details on how to set it up to do so. If you also have instructions on how to make PtLE the slave that would be appreciated. I have some sequences on my keyboards and I want to hit play on the keyboard and have PTLE start recording.Forgive me, but I'm new to this Protools thing, I'm a cakewalk user trying to switch to PTOOLS and I've been frustrated with the software so far. Cakewalk is so much easier to use as far as the way it synchronises.My e-mail address is ([email protected].
I have an AMIII card with PTLE5.1 running on a dell gx1-500 with 18gscsi cheetah drives and a couple ok keyboards.Thanks again for your help.

[Eric Heil]

Hey Mike,

Yeah I took all of your suggestions and the record lag is all "BUT" gone. Still just a fraction of a second lag but, enough that it may interfere with manual Punch in/punch out.

I'll try your buffer settings. I may have had it to high because I began to get an error message about iterupts being held open too long. Although, I have the PCI slot (# 1) with 001 in it set to Priority in BIOS and I reserved the IRQ (# 5) that 001 selected for itself when it was installed and that may be part of the problem

I'll try removing the Asus drivers if they are there. I have been on accelerated learning curve since I got 001 and I sincerely don't remember if I installed them or not.

I also picked up the MOTU MTP AV yesterday and it looks like just the ticket! The Control Window looks like a piece of cake! I really can't say I've really done ANY midi before but, it shouldn't take too long to figure out. I know what channels are; what sys-x data is; what performance data is; what MTC and MMC are; so... now it's just a matter of applying that knowlege to real world situations.

My last question is probably going to be: "how do I align my ADAT time code to match my Pro Tools TC via "offset" I believe the MOTU manual covers a lot of this but I was pretty tired when I put down the MOTU manual. I probably read right over it and just forgot.

Hey Mocha,

If I'm understanding what Mike Pontif is saying... You can put the JL Cooper up on eBay. You won't need it! I see them going anywhere from $220.00 to $250.00 so you wouldn't be loosing much if any. Mine was $219.00 from Guitar Center in Atlanta. I hope you didn't pay too much.

Eric

[Eric Heil]

OK...

I got the MOTU MTP AV and I'm still having a lot of difficulty. I wish someone could just give me a "instert tab A into slot B" type of answer as to what my settings should be for all three devices (PTLE/MOTU MTPAV/ADAT).

THREE WEEKS, NIGHT AFTER NIGHT, UNTIL 3:00 AM, HAVE LEFT ME SO EXHAUSTED BOTH MENTALLY AND PHYICALLY I'M THINKING OF SUEING DIGIDESIGN FOR PUNITIVE DAMAGES STEMMING FROM INHUMAN MENTAL CRUELTY! ! ! !

(Only kidding Digi... )

I would be ever so greatful to finally be able to use the (NOW) $3000.00 investment I have made into 001.

ERIC DAY... ARE... YOU... OUT... THERE?!?!?

SOMEBODY?!?

ANYBODY?


HELP...


Eric