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Producerstrut: Opinons on the MOTU 828mkii

pjl2000xlpjl2000xl 1,795 Posts
edited December 2006 in Strut Central
http://www.zzounds.com/item--MTU828MKIIAnyone own this or have experience with one? If its the firewire 4pin or 6pin firewire?

  Comments

  • spelunkspelunk 3,400 Posts
    Rock solid. MOTU makes quality stuff that just plain works. The ADAT/lightpipe capability is real useful if you ever want to upgrade and get high-end D/A or A/D converters. I'd say it's the most reliable audio interface out there.
  • pjl2000xlpjl2000xl 1,795 Posts
    yeah its looking to be that way. Im doing alot of recording on the road so i need something that sounds pretty decent and has 8 ins. I like that whole cue dsp mixer in it too. And for $750 that aint bad. How are the preamps in it? Im bout to sell my mpc to buy it in a few days so if anyone is looking for an mpc2000xl studio plus with custom chameleon paint job and stickers underneath the clear coat, 8 outs, scsi works great, zip drive 100 internal, zipdrive with it, zipdrive for pc, and mad zip disks, get at me on the pms. There is a picture of it on my myspace halfway thru the page.
  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    ive heard of driver problems when i was looking for one a while ago but i forget if that was a problem with pcs or macs
  • prof_rockwellprof_rockwell 2,867 Posts
    yeah its looking to be that way. Im doing alot of recording on the road so i need something that sounds pretty decent and has 8 ins. I like that whole cue dsp mixer in it too. And for $750 that aint bad. How are the preamps in it? Im bout to sell my mpc to buy it in a few days so if anyone is looking for an mpc2000xl studio plus with custom chameleon paint job and stickers underneath the clear coat, 8 outs, scsi works great, zip drive 100 internal, zipdrive with it, zipdrive for pc, and mad zip disks, get at me on the pms. There is a picture of it on my myspace halfway thru the page.

    maybe you can clarify as to why you need 8 ins on the road, yet are selling your MPC that has the 8outs board already installed? Unless you are doing a lot of live stuff, it might be overkill and you may want to consider the MOTU Traveller.

    But either way, I've had my 828 for almost 2 years and it's freakin kickass.
  • pjl2000xlpjl2000xl 1,795 Posts
    yeah its looking to be that way. Im doing alot of recording on the road so i need something that sounds pretty decent and has 8 ins. I like that whole cue dsp mixer in it too. And for $750 that aint bad. How are the preamps in it? Im bout to sell my mpc to buy it in a few days so if anyone is looking for an mpc2000xl studio plus with custom chameleon paint job and stickers underneath the clear coat, 8 outs, scsi works great, zip drive 100 internal, zipdrive with it, zipdrive for pc, and mad zip disks, get at me on the pms. There is a picture of it on my myspace halfway thru the page.

    maybe you can clarify as to why you need 8 ins on the road, yet are selling your MPC that has the 8outs board already installed? Unless you are doing a lot of live stuff, it might be overkill and you may want to consider the MOTU Traveller.

    But either way, I've had my 828 for almost 2 years and it's freakin kickass.
    i record for npr doing orchestras and choirs and shit. I also work with musicians at school and am doing alot of band recordings and demos. Some rock stuff. I need usually 4 to 5 mics and some line sources so this thing would cover all the bases.
  • prof_rockwellprof_rockwell 2,867 Posts

    i record for npr doing orchestras and choirs and shit. I also work with musicians at school and am doing alot of band recordings and demos. Some rock stuff. I need usually 4 to 5 mics and some line sources so this thing would cover all the bases.

    sweet! then the 828 is definitely the way to go. But I would highly suggest comparing it with the traveler that MOTU puts out as well. You get 4 mic preamp input (vs. 2 on the 828), bus or battery powered, and the only thing it doesn't have the the 828 does is SMPTE (dunno if you're doing much video synching, but most people do that on the computer nowadays anyways).
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    I have the 828 mark 1, had it for 6 years now, never a problem, sounds great, I run 8 analog and 8 lightpipe and I think I paid $600 for the thing, not bad for 16 quality ins.

    I like MOTU shit.
  • E_DailyE_Daily 812 Posts
    A few years ago I kept hearing about issues with PCs and Motu hardware.
    Perhaps things have changed since then?!

    Friend of mine has this Motu and we use it with Logic (on a mac of course).
    Perhaps I just cant understand MOTUs Idea behind this, but for some reason the Inputs dont match the names in logic or any other audio app. inputs 1+2 are always 3+4 and so on....

    Since im on the PC side at home I prefer RME converters.
    The multiface/fireface series is GREAT!!!

    Super low latency, never had ANY problems with it (had it for 3 years now - and it has been running every day since I got it!) plus the coolest thing about the RME is the TotalMix software which is basicly a digital patchbay for your A/D and D/A with presetslots to save your favorite settings.

    I was reading a thread on gearslutz where somebody A-B'd the Apogee Rossetta against the RME and the Fireface won

    In case you dont know, Apogee Converters are industry standard and are hooked up to almost every ProTools rig on this planet (Yes the normal PT HD converters sound like ass).
    Apogee's start at around 2,4 k. So the RME is kind of a steal for ~700-800 bucks.

    Usually, I'm the first dude to say that its wrong to tell other people what you like best is the best for them - but if you take a look on the gearslutz board, you'll see RME is highly praised by many professionals.

    Hope you end up buying something that suits you -pz
  • TabneticTabnetic 206 Posts
    A few years ago I kept hearing about issues with PCs and Motu hardware.
    Perhaps things have changed since then?!


    Perhaps I just cant understand MOTUs Idea behind this, but for some reason the Inputs dont match the names in logic or any other audio app. inputs 1+2 are always 3+4 and so on....

    Since im on the PC side at home I prefer RME converters.


    I was reading a thread on gearslutz where somebody A-B'd the Apogee Rossetta against the RME and the Fireface won


    motu considers the mic inputs on the front 1 and 2 for some weird reason. but "analog 1" is input 3, etc. i agree its weird.

    as far as the original post:

    MOTU 828 mkII is a good bang for the buck. i have used the RME fireface 800 before as well, but it doesn't have a dedicated monitor knob (don't understand this) and it's a pain in the ass to try and control monitor levels. this won't matter if you have a dedicated monitor switcher/controller, but it seems like you don't so that's somthing to consider, besides the fact that it's significantly more expensive.

    the RME converters are superior. the motu ones are decent. the preamps are a bit muddy, but at this price range they are good. it seems like for your needs (the NPR stuff) you should consider the 828mkII or the traveler, which also sounds great.
  • PABLOPABLO 1,921 Posts
    i have used the RME fireface 800 before as well, but it doesn't have a dedicated monitor knob (don't understand this) and it's a pain in the ass to try and control monitor levels.

    I don't understand why this hasn't been addressed with all soundcards by now.
    I purchased a Gina3G just to tide me over for a year before I purchased an RME (which I now have to rethink due to the above info). I assumed the Gina's headphone jack & it's knob were independent of the Main Mix out, either by hardware or a software matrix...nope.
    And I really don't want to spend the extra money on a damn Mackie Big Knob or CentralStation, etc.
    Jeez.

    P.S. Heard these guys do some pretty wonderful mods to the 828's:
    http://www.blacklionaudio.com/motu_firewire_mod.html
  • pjl2000xlpjl2000xl 1,795 Posts

    sweet! then the 828 is definitely the way to go. But I would highly suggest comparing it with the traveler that MOTU puts out as well. You get 4 mic preamp input (vs. 2 on the 828), bus or battery powered, and the only thing it doesn't have the the 828 does is SMPTE (dunno if you're doing much video synching, but most people do that on the computer nowadays anyways).
    The only issue i have with the traveler is that it is a 6pin firewire and my laptop has the 4pin firewire a. My laptops batteries are shot though anyways, so it is always plugged in. It wouldnt be an issue then to have it run off of bus or battery. Also its a little more expensive then the 828. Im trying to get like $850 to $1k for the mpc so i can get the motu, get 2 gigs of ram for the desktop, and maybe a 7200 rpm external hd. thats another reason also why i cant really get the rme. I would love to own that but the 8 channels is like $1200?
  • E_DailyE_Daily 812 Posts
    i have used the RME fireface 800 before as well, but it doesn't have a dedicated monitor knob (don't understand this) and it's a pain in the ass to try and control monitor levels.

    I don't understand why this hasn't been addressed with all soundcards by now.
    Yupp, its retarded - Not only is it uncomfortable, but also if you use the headphone volume fader or output fader in your soundcard tab, you will monitor with lower bitrate. There is a better and rather nerdy technical explanation for this, which im skipping for the sake of all our brains.

    AFAIK this is the best amongst the affordable attentuators that can be used to control your monitoring level:




    The recent firefaces do have a volume knob as you can see, is also $1k and not $1200.


    What I'm not sure of is if this knob controls the volume within the box or just right before the d/a outputs. This would make a crucial difference.

    I'd check some more stores or even ebay sellers for prices. I got my Multiface (1) with the pci card for about $680 a few years ago.
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