[NOTE: The MOTU 828mkII is out of warranty, but MOTU provides a refurbished replacement unit for a $100 service fee, which is what I am going to do. It worked nicely for approximately 8 years, and I can use it with the MOTU 828mk3 Hybrid, which is fine with me . . . ]
There was sound from Digital Performer 7.24, iTunes 10.5.2 (11), all the IK Multimedia virtual instruments, and so forth, with the exception of NOTION 3, so I called MOTU Technical Support for a bit of help . . .
The MOTU Technical Support specialist had me check a few things, and everything was looking good, so it appeared that it was a routing problem, which led to examining the way NOTION 3 routes its audio, with this leading to the suggestion to step through the 32 output channel pairs, which I did, and the "Channels 9-10" output pair is the one that worked, which makes absolutely no sense to me, but so what . . .
So what!
I already had discovered that it is best to avoid all the output channel pairs that have any single-digit numbers when doing ReWire on the Mac, but while eventually I might have tried stepping through all the output channel pairs, it was very helpful to have the MOTU Technical Support specialist suggest this strategy after a few minutes of checking various configuration information . . .
Selecting "Channels 9-10" as the Output for the Master stereo track of the NOTION 3 Mixer works, and it solves the problem, which is great, but it is sufficiently weird to merit a post so that if anyone else encounters this odd behavior, then the solution will be at least somewhat easy to find . . .
It works, and I am happy!
P. S. Using a pair of $130 (US) Kustom KPC15P 15" Powered PA Speakers as high-quality full-range flat response studio monitors at the sound pressure level (SPL) of 80dB to 85dB might appear to be a vastly strange idea, but it makes sense from the fact-based perspective of acoustic physics, which is explained in great detail in one of my ongoing topics in the IK Multimedia FORUM, where the summary version is that every commercial off the shelf (COTS) studio monitoring system designed and manufactured on this planet at the dawn of the early-21st century (a) relies on the "missing fundamental" auditory illusion and (b) even when augmented with deep bass subwoofers, which double or triple the price of the complete systems, requires significant tweaking to get anything resembling full-range response for the normal range of human hearing (20-Hz to 20,000-Hz), which is virtually mind-boggling . . .
[NOTE: Technically the "missing fundamental" auditory illusion is called a "psychoacoustic phenomenon", but I prefer to call it an "auditory illusion", because it only tricks those folks who are overtone hearers, and I am a fundamental tone hearer . . . ]
Missing Fundamental Auditory Illusion (wikipedia)
[NOTE: The researchers at Heidelberg University provided a simple audio test for determining whether someone is (a) an overtone hearer or (b) a fundamental tone hearer, and the audio file and instructions for interpreting the test results are provided at the following link to the Hydrogen Audio FORUM topic . . . ]
How do you hear tones? (Hydrogen Audio FORUM)
The Fabulous Affordable Studio Monitor System Project" (IK Multimedia FORUM)
The Kustom KPC15P 15" Powered PA Speakers are vastly overpowered for use in a small mixing studio, but this is part of what makes them work, since by virtue of being "big and heavy" they can be equalized and calibrated with a Behringer DEQ2496 UltraCurve Pro Mastering Processor for a flat response at the aforementioned SPL without needing to be concerned about the consequences of boosting the low frequencies, because the Kustom KPC15P 15" Powered PA Speakers are run at a very low volume, which maps to having sufficient overhead and so forth . . .
The Behringer equalizing and calibrating real-time analyzer unit costs approximately $300 (US), plus $50 for the Behringer ECM8000 Calibrating Microphone, so when combined with the Kustom KPC15P 15" Powered PA Speakers and a pair of XLR microphone cords, this maps approximately to $650 for the complete studio monitoring system, which is approximately $6,500 to $7,000 less than the high-end JBL studio monitoring system when there are two deep bass subwoofers, which is the only way to be able to hear the lowest notes on the low-pitch "E" string of an electric bass or contrabass at equal loudness, as well as being able to hear the deep bass of kick drums, and so forth and so on . . .
Lots of FUN!
