Bringing my MOTU 2408 MKII back to life with 2014 mac mini?

[FMiguelez]

Hello.

I wonder if my 2408 MKII can stop being a door stop and come back to my studio to do something useful.... It used to be amazing with TIGHT clock and perfect sync. It's MUCH better than my Track 16 in every way. I would use it with my 2014 Mac Mini.

Is there a practical way to use it again via some kind of cage/converter?
It uses the original connection that went to the card in the computer, similar to a FW connector.
Or, if bringing it back to life is too complicated and expensive, should I try to sell it instead?

I just miss the perfect TDIFF sync!

Thanks for any suggestions.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Hmmm... I’m curious how it’s better than the T16? My T16 works great.

[FMiguelez]

Hmmm... I’m curious how it’s better than the T16? My T16 works great.

I won't make you read the whole thread below to explain, but in a nutshell, I've been having all sorts of monitoring and recording latency issues. And whatever I do to fix it, changes when monitoring/recording VIs VS hardware synths.

So if I fix the timings for VIs, they get all messed up for hardware synths and viceversa (MIDI being recorded very late and giving me monitoring latency too).
I figured how to fix either of them, but it's so not workflow-friendly to have to keep resetting the timings depending on what sounds I use. I'm really not happy about this, and I tried everything I was suggested in the thread.

With the 2408 I didn't even know these latency issues existed. It was so reliable and accurate!

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=65345&start=0

[mikehalloran]

The answer to your question is no. Many old threads on this including suggested (and expensive) workarounds but the answer is still no.

You need a Mac Pro 5.1 or earlier with PCie slots or a PPC with PCI, PCIx or PCIe slots and the correct 424/424x/424e card. Lots of threads on keeping a Mac Pro 5.1 current and viable — doesn’t cost that much, probably less to acquire and update (SSD, Metal Graphics compatible video card) than one of the many Thunderbolt to PCIe solutions that absolutely cannot work. If you look hard and are lucky, you might find one of the late 2012s that came from Apple with a Metal Graphics GPU. Properly done, it will run circles around a 2014 Mini.

So, can you still use a 2408 card? Yes but not in any Mini.

[FMiguelez]

The answer to your question is no. Many old threads on this including suggested (and expensive) workarounds but the answer is still no.

I like it when you're blunt

Joking aside, thanks for your direct and short answer packed with information.

You need a Mac Pro 5.1 or earlier with PCie slots or a PPC with PCI, PCIx or PCIe slots and the correct 424/424x/424e card. Lots of threads on keeping a Mac Pro 5.1 current and viable — doesn’t cost that much, probably less to acquire and update (SSD, Metal Graphics compatible video card) than one of the many Thunderbolt to PCIe solutions that absolutely cannot work. If you look hard and are lucky, you might find one of the late 2012s that came from Apple with a Metal Graphics GPU. Properly done, it will run circles around a 2014 Mini.

So, can you still use a 2408 card? Yes but not in any Mini.

The alternatives you suggest are not particularly appealing to me, though... Considering what you wrote, I'd rather keep the 2408 as a door-stop (or try to sell it) and save for a new and more powerful main computer (which I need anyway) and some other solution for a sound card .

I will have to move my studio to another place soon, so this will be a good time to take a good look around and get rid of unused hardware and think about new and more practical options for the new place.

Thank you for making my decision an easy one

[MIDI Life Crisis]

To tell a family secret... I never really trusted the Mac Mini very much for anything beyond basic office use. It just lacks balls.

[FMiguelez]

To tell a family secret... I never really trusted the Mac Mini very much for anything beyond basic office use. It just lacks balls.

What has always helped me enormously, even since my G5 days, is that most of the real hard work is distributed between many computers in a VE Pro farm.
Having maxed RAM and SSDs, and managing my VI usage smartly in the Chunks window, makes them like little flying bullets.

However, for the audio-mixing stage, when everything piles up in just the master computer, you're right.
There have been big projects where I've definitely felt I could use something more powerful just for the audio alone. But these little bad boys still handle it, even if I have to temporarily freeze or bounce tracks to do all the mixing work!

But it's a fact that I will get whatever most powerful Mac happens to be available when I move my studio. And then this master Mini will be demoted to an extra slave

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Good call. My rig cost me $5k after the bigger hard drive and converters from TB to FW, etc. it’s paid for itself several times over.

[mikehalloran]

this will be a good time to take a good look around and get rid of unused hardware ...

Good! You can start with my basement, the place where analog goes to die and never be seen again.

[bayswater]

If you still have TDIF stuff: I think can you use the 2408 standalone device to connect TDIF to ADAT, with a connection to the ADAT inputs on a more up to date interface? I was doing that connecting a DA-38 to the 2408 and the 2408 via ADAT to a 828-3, which in turn was connected via FW800 to an iMac. I had to use a word-clock connector between the two MOTU units. Still have it all connected but haven't used it for a long time.

I also used the 2408 to set up an external effects loop: ADAT connecting 828 to 2408, and the 2408 connected to an old Mac with a UAD card in it and a few analog effects on the analog in and out on the 2408. There are some latency issues that can be solved with AUDelay plugins.

If you can connect the 2408 to your regular interface with ADAT, I'm pretty sure you can configure any signal flows using the front panel controls that you would have done with the MOTU setup.