blue motu 828 w/ pc vs ?

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zappacrappisshh

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I bought a motu 828 and am in the proccess of getting the write firewire card(not an nec chip card) and i need a good 8 bus mixer and im looking at a soundcraft not a makie or yamaha or alesis cause soundcraft is better but wondering if i should have went with a digital multitrack all in one system in the long run like the akia dps 24 because it will be just about the same price when im done?

does anyone know how good this motu 828 is? has anyone compared all the interfaces? where does the blue mk1 motu 828 come out? i thought it was the best but is there any other opinions

i need a great 8 bus mixer for cheaper than 900.00 help
 
The Spirit M8 is nice. There's no way I'd go back to stand alone studio crap.

Computer-based is much better, IMO. You made the right choice.
 
Doesn't the 828 have ADAT lightpipe?

So if # of inputs are a priority, you COULD get a digital mixer to utilize those and get EIGHT extra ins.

I would look at a used Yamaha 01V on ebay with that ADAT expansion card. something like this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2577816813&category=41475

It only has 4 omni outs to feed the analog ins on the 828, but you would get 8 channels into the adat ins, and 2 more into the SPDIF for a total of 14 simultaneous channels with preamps for everything. Not to mention motorized faders, FX, and the ability to save mixer settings. Jesus I sound like a salesman.

Just an idea...
 
If you are looking at the 828 (or any MOTU product) take a look at the Unicornation BBS (Unicornation.com). It’s a board dedicated to MOTU products and has a section on hardware. You have to register to see posts but it’s worth it.

I’ve used an older 828 for several years and I’ve never had any issues with it. I’m a Mac user, however, and some PC users have reported issues.

The 828 has been upgraded and is offered by MOTU as the 828mkii. The old 828 has Toslink/lightpipe/SPDIF optical inputs/outputs so digital connections (including a digital mixer) are possible. It also has two XLR ins with phantom power, a nine pin ADAT sync in and RCA SPDIF in/out, and six TRS 1/4” inputs which can be used balanced or unbalanced. The A/D converters are 24-bit, 64x oversampling converters

How good is the 828? The folks at unicornation rate it higher than the digidesign stuff when it comes to preamps and converters. They may be biased or objective--who knows! At the same time, there are a lot of users who are bypassing the 828 with outboard preamps and standalone A/D-D/A converters. Many seem to favor the addition of the Apogee Rosetta or Lucid’s 9624 for A/D conversion.
 
Hey willis, is that site just mac users? I just picked up a MOTU 2408 MKII and thought I would check it out, but I'm on a PC so I was just wonderin.
 
Trogdor......

To be honest, I can't tell. There is a mac bias evidenced by the fact that they have a Mac computing section. Also, MOTU has traditionally been geared towards mac users. On the other hand, I have seen posts by pc users and alot of the issues dicussed are software/hardware issues relevant to both mac and pc. They also have discussions about general recording issues etc.
The only down side to Unicornation is that you have to register to see posts--you can't just lurk!
 
I've been roaming the unicornation forum the past week or two as I'm looking into either the 828mkii or 2408mkii, seeing if I can dig anything up with problems with those products and my motherboard.

I great percent of the board are Mac users, and if you are a PC user with a problem with a motu product it's pretty likely you'll get the "your problem is you are using a PC- BUY A MAC" reply.

reading the board though I'm not too sure I want to go with the 828 or 2408 anymore, I have read problems with 2408 and my motherboard and too many problems with the 828 (main outs volume are unbalanced/new units out of the box have dead displays/random beeps from certain outputs) and with my budget I'll have to buy 2nd hand and may not have the option for return. But the 828mkii's that do work I hear great things about- I'm not rushing it though...

if anyone here is running a 828mkii or 2408mkii on a a7n8x-deluxe board with athlon xp chip, let me know how it's working or didn't work for you.
 
I use the 828MKII with a G4 PowerMac and am very impressed with the system. My recordings have been of excellent quality. I use the included software with the Mac and the integration of hardware, software and Mac is excellent. I also am impressed with the quality of manuals included with the products. They are well written and geared towards beginners, (sometimes).
I cannot comment on the integration with the PC, which is your main concern.
Yours, ES
 
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