MR816 Zero-latency monitoring completely solved!

I’ve completely solved the zero-latency issues present when using multiple MR’s!

I’ve sold three of the five units I had, and connected the remaining two via ADAT to an RME UFX interface - problem solved.

The TotalMix software is amazing, allowing routing of any input to any output with no latency.

Without even bothering with direct monitoring routing, the combination of the UFX and Nuendo-5 gives a much lower latency than using only MR816’s with Nuendo-5.

:wink: well. A good buy. Maybe mr816 better used as pre and converters then sound card.
I wish they do driver/firmware update to solve many flaws. But looks they wont.
Any way enjoy ur real direct monitoring system.

I originally bought the five MR816 units when they first came out, about two years ago I think. Since then I’ve wasted a huge amount of time just trying to get things working, which is a great creativity killer.

I’ve lost a lot of money selling three of them, but the new system works every time I turn it on and is a pleasure to use.

One thing I do like about the MR816’s is the fact that each of the eight analogue inputs has its own phantom power and pad switches, which is something the new UR series can only provide in pairs.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend you have a look at the TotalMix software that comes with the RME. The ease of use and routing facilities are what Steinberg should have done with the MR’s in the first place (too late now).

I’m curious… As I use Cubase, one of the main benefits of the MRs is the integration, including being able to run a channel strip from the Cubase mixer. I’m assuming that if you connect them through the RME, the control from the mixer would be lost. True? If so, then it’s really just sacrificing one feature for another.

i have a friend who has ff800 with total mix mixer. well he his very happy with it. stable and very flexible routhing. actually he can routh everything anywhere !!
well done RME. as far as i know many brands motu,m-audio presouns and others have more flexible routhing and zero latency monitring even with fx to everywhere(not like mr816 where even the reverb for monitoring can not be sent to all outpots"headphons monitors")

But that is not true! With MR816 you can send the reverb for direct monitoring wherever you want! However, in order to achieve this, you should not forget about the following two things:

  1. Set the reverb return levels for the output channels - the reverb destinations. (This one is quite logical.)
  2. Now the tricky part: for MR816, the reverb send routing is always post-fader. It means that the resulting amount of the reverb is given not only by the “Reverb Send” and “Reverb Return” parameters, but also by the level of the signal sent to the particular output channel which is actually selected as the reverb source in the reverb routing window.

So, for instance, let’s have the following situation:

  • you have set the reverb send on the input channel “5” (vocal microphone) to the max
  • you have set the reverb return on the output channel “3+4” (vocalist’s headphones) to the max
  • the output channel “1+2” (drummer’s headphones) is actually checked as the reverb source in the reverb routing window

Now, let’s assume that you have decided not to monitor the vocal (input “5”) on the drummer’s headphones (output “1+2”) at all. To achieve this, you have completely turned down the respective fader or send (depends on whether you use Control Room or not). Although this may seem okay, now you have effectively switched off the reverb from the vocal for all output channels, including the vocalist’s headphones (output “3+4”). This result obviously wasn’t intended, however, I suppose that it’s a common mistake in direct monitoring with MR816.

Best regards

Miloslav

i was not completely correct sorry.
but still the rev routing is not comfortable and flexible as should be.
i want to assign for every output the amount of reverb as the performer wants.
and when i mute the instrument that shares the send ,all reverb to all outputs are muted or if i mute in other output
u dont hear the dry signal (as should be) but the reverb still heard.
well strange indeed. bed design.

Welcome to RME! I LOVE Totalmix!
BTW: The new UR824 would have achieved a similar result (less DSP obviously)…

RME TotalMix is THE answer - it leaves everything else standing (in my experience at least) !

It’s still not an solution but a work-a-round which costs alot of money, nevertheless congrats!

I agree with that - I would not have had to go back to RME if Steinberg had got their act together with regard to zero-latency monitoring with multiple MR’s.

But now the stress is gone - the system works better than ever and the TotalMix software is a revelation.

You saying you can use a MR816 and a UR824 to get 16 inputs with monitoring?

UR824 has two sets of ADAT I/O so you can connect it to two MR816s (or other ADAT units). This way, you will get even 24 mono inputs and 12 independent stereo outputs with direct monitoring!
I use one MR816csx connected to Presonus DigiMax FS and these two units also give me 16 mono inputs and 8 stereo outputs with direct monitoring - without any problems :slight_smile:
The “direct monitoring problem” affects only multiple MR816 units that are stacked (daisy-chained) with FireWire.


Miloslav

I’m not sure about 12 stereo outs with direct monitoring. In the UR824 manual it says that within the UR824 mixer there are only 4 stereo mixes available. Whether this pertains to direct monitoring, I don’t know.

You are right, thanks for the heads-up! Indeed, the manual really mentions only 4 separate mixes for direct monitoring. However, I’m curious how this constraint is implemented for UR824 in direct monitoring through Cubase. I personally don’t use Control Room since it has only 4 studio sends (insufficient!), nevertheless, on MR816 you can route an audio track from an arbitrary input to an arbitrary output even in direct monitoring (not talking about FW daisy-chained units). And this feature really gives you 8 independent stereo mixes. If UR824 worked the same way, it should be capable of 12 independent mixes but - as you pointed out - the manual suggests that this is not the case. What a pity…

Best regards

Miloslav