MOTU 24 i/o will 192 khz become the standard

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jack Hammer
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Jack Hammer

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for now I am using a MOTU 2408 mkII. i run it in conjunction with a 24 track analogue board. I have wanted 24 real tracks for quite some time and considered exapnsion units. It now appears that MOTU has answered my needs nicely. since I am not usin an DATS or dedicated hard disc recorders, the 2408 does not really give me 24 tracks. Rather, it is compatible with my 8 bus board but still, not really 24 tracks.

The 24 i/o seems perfect and it goest ot 96 khz.
I am wondering though. MOTU has come out with the HD 192 which is a 12 channel unit operating at up to 192 khz.

So the question becomes, should I purchase the HD 192 and save for a second exapnsion thus getting my 24 tracks or will the 24 i/o at 96 khz be s ufficient.

The real question is, will 192 become the standard any time soon such that the purchase of the 24 i/o will become obsolete rather qucikly or, at least quicker than usual which is to say, very fast indeed.
 
I have to preface this by saying that I have never really liked any MOTU gear. That said, I think the MOTU 24 I/O is a brilliant piece of gear at an awesome price, and frankly it makes me want to switch to MOTU.

The 192 question is a little tougher. There are a few main things that you have to think about.
  1. What are you using it for? DVD production? Classical music recordings? If the answer to any of these is "yes," you might want to consider 192 kHz. But readthe next list items first!
  2. What are you using it for (part II). Rock, indie, or lofi? Film post production? Sound effects? Country, folk, blues, etc? (if the answer to any of these is "yes," 96 kHz is plenty).
  3. Realize that any time you double your sampling frequency, you halve your processing power. At this time, there are not many systems that can even handle 24 tracks @ 192 kHz with any decent array of plugins. That's the same processing power it takes to run 96 tracks at 48 kHz. And every MONO plugin is equivalent to running 4 plugins at 48kHz. Running a stereo reverb at 192kHz would therefore be equivalent to running 4 stereo or 8 mono reverbs at 48k, which is going to take a monster system.
  4. Also, realize that there is not a universally accepted digital format for the future direction of audio yet. DVD Audio is one possibility, SACD is another, and a number of other competitors are squirming around. I think we still have at least another 5 years solid of CD technology, and possibly another 10-15. Bottom line, by that time, if 192 is the standard, the interfaces will be much cheaper (just think about how much it would have cost to buy a 24 track DAW with 24 analog I/Os, even at 44.1kHz/16 bit! just 5 years ago).
    [/list=1]
 
Hi jackhammer,
you say you've got a 24 channel analog board with your MOTU....I was considering the same thing with the 24 i/o...how have you got everything hooked up with your 2408 at the moment...I've got the idea but just curious about the way you rigged up all the effects, monitors, recorders...etc...

Thanks
Cheers
 
192kHz

Well I have to admit #1) when I first saw the MOTU HD 192 I flipped my wig too #2) I have already made almost this exact post right here...
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69149

But anyway... I got a ton of feedback from the fellas here and I think it would behoove you to read what all everyone had to say. I too am on a 24 channel board (Mackie 24 channel 8 bus analog console) and I too am looking to get a 24 I/O interfance running at 96kHz. And like I said.. I too almost shite my pants when I saw a 192khz interfance. but I have no clue who could use that?

As "charger" already said...
"Any time you double your sampling frequency, you halve your processing power. At this time, there are not many systems that can even handle 24 tracks @ 192 kHz with any decent array of plugins."

The reason DigiDesign's ProTools (whom MOTU have so obviously targeted as competition) can pull this 192kHz stuff off is because they have bad ass DSP cards that runn all the audio non-natively (meaning that the Pent, AMD or G4 Mac processor in your computer has almost nothing to do with it all. A ProTools system uses your computer as simply a means to an end... something to project the user interface into a monitor and to provide power to the DSP cards, and have the opperating system tell it when to do what. Other then that the processor that comes inside your PC or Mac is basically useless for ProTools.

now, when MOTU brings in the whole 192kHz stuff to the native system (PC/Mac) ballgame without the DSP cards to back it up... then you had better have a Pent 10 running at 40gHz in order to do anything other than one or two tracks. Granted, those one or two tracks will be fucking pristine chrystal clear tracks... But I bet if you hooked up two identical system with two identical MOTU HD 192's and recorded a guitar or drums at 96kHz and then simultaniously recorded it at 192kHz... only a blind man with perfect hearing, London Orchestra type musical training, and absolutely no hair in his ears could tell the difference.

Save your money and buy a bad ass microphone that will do the MOTU 24I/O 96kHz justice.

Don't you DARE spend $1,800 on a 192kHz interface and then run a fucking Shure or AT mic into it. That is just plain dumb.

(Well it could be argued that an AT mic would be fine... whatever... don't want to open that can of worms. But you get the point!)
 
You're mostly right. However, the Pro Tools system still relies on the CPU to do disk I/O, and that still requires 4x the CPU power that standard frequency rates (44.1 and 48) require. Also, even with the DSP cards, you don't get all that much processing power at 192kHz. To me, it's still pretty much a lose/lose situation, until that time in the future when computers can handle it without flinching.
 
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