adding an 888 I/O to single 888 system issues

[Steveoinpa]

I am trying to add another 888 to my system, the one thing
I notice is the analog light for tracks 1-2 it flashes, and should go solid green
never does, I tried hooking it up as a slave to the first 888
and then tried adding it in protools, I must be missing a step somewhere
it does not seem to be online, system has mix-core for the first 888
and one mix farm for the second 888, is there some other place
to setup hard ware besides "hardware setup" and I/O setup
it seems to show up there but not be fully online
this is protools 6.4.1 on macosX
Anyway Thanks if you can help


Steve

[Philgood]

Don't know protools for osx but are you sure you have selected the second 888 for the farm card and not selected just the b-channel for the core card ?
The cards, core and farm can actually handle 2 interfaces through using y-cables.
Are these two 888 of the same model line ?
Two older 16bit or two newer 24bit or a mixed set ?

[Steveoinpa]

I have two 888/24 hooked up and I just verified, port A for second mix card
which I assume is the farm card, Thanks for that info I was wondering about the
port B assignment, and I think I have the Y cable setup on my other system
basically it shows up in protools but if I assign a track to say B-1-2 it wont
move the meters, like it never gets to the I/O
I also tried a regular 888 non 24 bit, I also have tried
using the 888 (new one) as the primary and it seemed to work fine..

[Philgood]

I had once a setup with 3x888 with Logic under OS9 working but i remember i also tried in Protools. I remember the "matrix" i/o setup screen.
Maybe try to start over again, trashing preference files...?

[Steveoinpa]

I know that I/O setup screen looks intimidating, it seems like it fills in the
"defaults when you add the unit in hardware setup,
I dont really wanna scrap what I have I dont want to lost the one that is
working, I dont really need two of them on this system
I just bought a couple on ebay and thought I would add one
I can get away with 8 tracks for now, just curious for future

[paule]

Hi Steve,
are you sure you have connected the "world clock" of the 888s in the right way? I remember that I did it the wrong way or have used the wrong cables and the third 888 wasn't recognized.

If anything else doesn't help, why you don't disconnect the digicables of all "working" 888/24 and just connect the new 888 alone= Then you can check if the new one is damaged...

Best, paule.

[Steveoinpa]

I am sorry I took a break here, I did try the new 888 by itself
and the meters did move, I bought 3 of them so I doubt they are all bad
I had tried the BNC cables as "slave" for the new one and that did not
change things, I wonder if I should get a USD and hook it up that way?
I have a working system in the basement and it uses the USD to sync two units
I could also try adding a third down there to see if that works..

[mrhappy]

I wonder if I should get a USD and hook it up that way?

I'd try to figure out what's up before adding another variable to the equation. Start with the one 888/cable combination that works then swap in the other 888s to verify that they are each working... then swap the cable to verify that they both function properly. Once you know all the components work by themselves then hook up a second interface... if things aren't working try a different clock cable and verify the settings/setup menus... hopefully it will come to life!!

[Steveoinpa]

Its working now, I had like 3 bad cables, I have been buying stuff on ebay some things came with cables, luckily I have like 6-8 cables, I cant understand why so many are bad..?
but that was the ticket as soon as I found a second cable that would run the first 888
bingo! I used my good cable and hooked up the B side sent some I/O over there
and watched the meters dance!!
  now what to do with 16 tracks in a small bedroom ?

[mrhappy]

Ok great... Glad you're up and running!😁