You should be able to get this all to work without major issues providing you pay attention to the clocking. Tweakheadz had a couple of pieces about a similar setup ([="http://www.tweakheadz.com/reviews/review_of_the_motu_896_mk3.html"]here[/]="http://www.tweakhea…"]here[/] and [[url=http://="http://www.tweakhea…"]here[/]="http://www.tweakhea…"]here[/])

I would connect the two 866s as a FireWire daisy-chain and the 8pre as an ADAT-output pre-amp to the ADAT inputs of one of the 896s. Leave the 8pre FireWire cable unconnected, and it will act as an ADAT-output 8-channel pre-amp. The 896 Mk3 has wordclock in and out, so assign one of them to be the clock master and take the WC out of that one to the WC inputs of the other 896 and the 8pre. Terminate with 75 Ohm at the end of the WC chain.

Create an aggregate I/O device of the two 896s, and assign your channels to the ADCs of both the 896s and also the ADAT input of the one that has the 8pre connected. From the control panel, set the clock to be internal in the master unit and wordclock on the other.

This setup will work at higher sampling rates (up to 96KHz) if your Mac has the FireWire bandwidth to cope with the number of channels you ask for. I have not tried to use an 8pre stand-alone at higher rates, and it may be that you have to connect the FireWire in order to set it up in this mode, and then disconnect it when you have done that.

Thanks, really useful, however, I have got myself completely confused about whether I should be using Firewire/Optical - and using the 8Pre - MOTU site is crap, can't seem to find any of my products that were registered by my predecessors - really want to get this sorted GRRR!!!

Both 896s should be daisy-chained to the same FireWire port on the computer. The FireWire port on the 8pre should be left unconnected, but the 8pre's ADAT output ports should be connected via lightpipes to the ADAT input ports of one of the 896s. The exception may be a temporary FireWire computer connection for the 8pre in order to set it up to higher sampling rate operation, if required, but never having had to do this, I don't know if it is done in this way.

daisy chaining 896mk3 and 8pe in windows 7 64bit and cubase 5 32bit

i am having mega issues too.

i have 1 motu 896mk3 and 1 motu 8pre, windows 7 64 bit and cubase 5 32 bit.

The problem is that they will not stay in sync, as you said about slaving and the master clock is fine, but it only allows you one option for clocking in the motu audio console. i have had the error #25 error, i've had them near stable and connected all the ins and outs in cubase then it wont record anything, i have had them both work individually too so i know im connecting everything in the DAW correctly. i have installed the latest drivers from the motu site and the firmware update for the 8pre but still there is no improvement. my latest idea is that i could try and use optical out from the 8pre into the optical in on the 896mk3, will i still be able to use the 8pre in the same capacity (8 analog ins)? also do you think this would cure the syncing issue? i have read on cubase.net about there being a firewire issue and there is a great fix, i haven't tried it yet as its specifically for xp, the link is below, what do you think about this matter?

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.cubase.n…"]Cubase.net .:::. View topic - Has ANYONE daisy-chained two MOTU 896s in XP SP3?[/]="http://www.cubase.n…"]Cubase.net .:::. View topic - Has ANYONE daisy-chained two MOTU 896s in XP SP3?[/]

any help would be greatly appreciated as it aint a cheap operation and im losing hair, thank you in advance

sybowarrior, post: 352677 wrote: i am having mega issues too.

i have 1 motu 896mk3 and 1 motu 8pre, windows 7 64 bit and cubase 5 32 bit.

The problem is that they will not stay in sync, as you said about slaving and the master clock is fine, but it only allows you one option for clocking in the motu audio console. i have had the error #25 error, i've had them near stable and connected all the ins and outs in cubase then it wont record anything, i have had them both work individually too so i know im connecting everything in the DAW correctly. i have installed the latest drivers from the motu site and the firmware update for the 8pre but still there is no improvement. my latest idea is that i could try and use optical out from the 8pre into the optical in on the 896mk3, will i still be able to use the 8pre in the same capacity (8 analog ins)? also do you think this would cure the syncing issue? i have read on cubase.net about there being a firewire issue and there is a great fix, i haven't tried it yet as its specifically for xp, the link is below, what do you think about this matter?

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.cubase.n…"]Cubase.net .:::. View topic - Has ANYONE daisy-chained two MOTU 896s in XP SP3?[/]="http://www.cubase.n…"]Cubase.net .:::. View topic - Has ANYONE daisy-chained two MOTU 896s in XP SP3?[/]

any help would be greatly appreciated as it aint a cheap operation and im losing hair, thank you in advance

This may be a W7/64 driver problem, but as I said in the previous post, you need to be connecting the ADAT lightpipe output of the 8pre to the lightpipe input of the 896, and set the 896 to clock from its ADAT input. Do not connect the 8pre FireWire port.