Motu M4 Ext Efx fail in Wave Lab 11 Pro

Routing for the M4 in WL11 Pro is:
Send: OUT CH3/Left and CH4/Right (balanced line level signals)
Return: IN CH7/Sub3 and CH8/Sub4 (balanced line level signals)

Routing for the M4 in Cubase 11 is:
Send: Out 3 Left and Out 4 Right
Return: In 3 and In 4

WL does list outputs 3 and 4, along with CH7/Sub3 and CH8/Sub4, but either pair choice will shut down WL. In Cubase ‘In 3’ and ‘In 4’ work fine in Cubase although not registering a delay ping, something Steinberg acknowledges as a bug.

It would seem that I am the only person using the Motu M4 Channels 3/4 in the Ext Efx connection of WL. Really? I can’t believe this but alright, I still would LIKE to see this antiquated connection process updated, PG. Motu makes a good product, and the M4 has been out since 2017. How complicated is the updating of this connection process if Steinberg and Cubase have sorted it?

I realize you are just one person and that there seems to be little comingling of WL tech with Cubase tech, but still, I think you could at least align your product’s use of an interface’s connection abilities to the level that the Cubase program offers. Please.

FWIW I tried using the MOTO 8D for my secondary rig and it was overall too strange so I got a second RME AES card and all is well.

I admit that it’s fairly confusing but without any screen shots and visuals of your settings and some kind of real-time interaction such as being there or a Zoom call, it’s a tough one to diagnose any further.

Thanks for your input, Justin. I remember your story about the Motu you had, yes. Actually, I think that the problem I am having is possibly related to the one you had - there are no coincidences? It seems to be a problem with the currently dated WL connection process that falls and fails directly on Motu’s interface. (Perhaps saying Motu interfaces is more correct?) At this point, having talked to someone at Steinberg regarding the fact that Cubase can choose the correct send/return outputs/inputs and then operate correctly, the buck stops here for me. It seems that the problem is directly related to how WL tries to map out the connections of the Motu interface. Cubase doesn’t have this problem, so Steinberg has sorted things. However, WL and Cubase are somehow VERY independent of each other and there doesn’t seem a desire to create something uniform here. PG is definitely in charge of his program, I get it. However, all of this said, I think that the act of connecting the ins and outs of the Motu is at the core of the Motu problem with WL.

Here’s 4 pics. One is showing how Win10 lists the inputs of the M4, One shows the Ext Efx options in Cubase, and then two pics show the connection options in WL.



Also, in support of my thinking here that the WL connection path is the problem, I can report that IF I USE 3 & 4 OUT - AND 1 & 2 IN - WL WILL CREATE A LOOP THAT WORKS IN THE EXT EFX PATH. However, this returns the output of the external device to a mic input - and this overloads the Motu, creating a distortion that is impossible to control, in particular, random bass thumps. (In comparison, when using 3 & 4 as the return in Cubase, the setup is rather perfect because the 3 & 4 returns are Line Level inputs.)

So, WL can work here, when returned to the wrong inputs, but it does not want to work with the 3 & 4 - OR - CH7/SUB3 & CH8/SUB4 ins.

OK, not sure what has changed here, but the EXT EFX connection routing with the MOTU M4 is working correctly in WaveLab Pro 11. There have been a few Win10 updates along with new Firmware and new Driver from MOTU since my last post. I’m assuming it was the Win10 update because I tried things using the new Firmware and Driver (dated October 13, 2021 and January 18, 2022) with no change. Win10/21H2/OS build:19044.1526, with the latest (2/11/2022) Cumulative Update for Win10 Version 21H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5010342).

As of 2/13/2022, WaveLab 11 Pro using the Ext Efx connection (SENDING OUT Channels 3 and 4, and then RETURNING IN to Channels 3 and 4) works as expected. It maps the ping latency and is completely controllable, no glitches or shutdowns.