Guys,
I have been struggling with this problem for months, I hope someone here can point me in the right direction.

I have a Motif ES rack synched to an MPC with the MPC as master. I have an Edirol UA 25 interface connected to a PC running Reaper.

I would like to record the audio from my Motif into a DAW (i.e track out) to complete my song on the computer.

My issue is that when I track (for example) a bassline played by the Motif it will not loop cleanly in my DAW
(yes, I the tempo set to in my DAW the same as the MPC). 

My other problem is that when tracking out live (i.e just playing the motif and recording in the DAW without synching) using two balanced outs from the Motif into my interface (with the gain on the interface set to zero) I get noise on the DAW track.

I also find that the signal from the Motif is soft and so if I raise the gain either at the input stage or even on the track in the DAW itself.....I get loads of noise.

So without boring you with my problems can I ask a question in a nutshell....

“What is the most effective way to record the outputs of the Motif.....do I need to synch the Motif with the DAW and should I use the optical/digital or audio outputs of the Motif?”

Here are some suggestions I have for you - by no means am I experienced… :)

- Sources of noise are most probably caused by the gain and settings on your audio interface. You have to mess around with it for a while. Hopefully it’s not faulty. Make sure you have the latest drivers installed.

- Another source of noise is ground bounce - a lot of folks don’t acknowledge it but it will cause some hiss sounds in your recordings…

- For syncing - it really depends on you. You will get all kinds of opinions but I recall that there is section in the MPC manual that talks about syncing it with a keyboard and it explains the step-by-step on how you can do that. Check it out. If you are still having syncing issues, then it could be by some settings in the MPC or from your DAW settings. You need to make sure your clock signals are straight. There are a few posts on the internet about syncing MPC’s - check’em out.

- You mentioned that you are getting a low volume when you record. Did you adjust the volume on the motif (you did not mention that - you said you only adjusted the levels on the audio interface and in the DAW as far as I understood)?

BTW - what PC are you using?

Hope this can help…

Ahmed