MOTU 2408I MK1 for PC

  • Thread starter Thread starter jack1234
  • Start date Start date
J

jack1234

New member
I can't believe that there is little information on the web regarding this product and configuration. This weekend I purchased one on ebay from a reputable seller in mint condition. The reason I bought the MK1 version is because my board is an older style -10db so I wanted the rca ins and outs.
I spent all weekend configuring this unit to to work in 3 different computers to get the best results.

1. First computer a Intel DUO with a VIA chipset a 2.8 ghz with 2 gigs of ram and an 80 gb hard drive. This would not work no matter what I did. You find that after you install the software then install the card that the motu pci software will not see the card in its utility software. I later find a VIA chipset and DDR ram and a PCI bus supporting 3.3 volts will not work. Well every new board in the last 3 years uses a pci bus with 3.3 volts. MOTU PCI 324 wants 5volts so no go. Also it hates a VIA chipset. So if you want it to work in a super fast computer forget it!!!!!

2. Next I install it in a 350mhz pentium II computer and guess what it works right off the bat. Howver i am concerned that with 350mhz and only 384k ram I wont get the 16 channels of in and out I want and plugins without it coming crashing down. Yes I was hoping to get another 2408 to link to the pc324 card for 16 in and outs. I am afraid this machine wont cut it.

3. Then I have an old Compaq 1350 server with dual 500mhz cpus and 1 gig of ram. It uses scsi 3 drives in a radi configuration hot swappable. It installs and sees the motu no problem. However it took a few installations of CUBASE VST before I go t the Cubase working on it. It is now a solid system. I recorded 8 tracks all at once and though the scsi hard drives were cranking whild writing it worked great. So I guess this is the machine for this setup.

A SOFTWARE NOTE!!!!!!! Motu 2408 MK1 will only work correctly on CUBASE VST. If you try Cool Edit Pro the software will not let you select seperate channels it only sees the card as analog 1-8 and will not let you select seperate channels.

So all in all if you go for a MOTU MK1 for a PC you should have CUBASE VST if you want it to work. CUBASE VST only took over 16 hours to figure it out to get full functionality and that wa with the manual. Cool Edit Pro is so much easier to wiork with but it will not do the job with MOTU. Somewhere i read cakewalk works however I ran out of tme and patience and did not try that configuration.

I can not believe no one else has ever posted there experiance with this product to save my many hours of work. So hopefully i can save someone else the headaches to get the right hardware off the bat to get it working.

Once up and running it does sound great!
 
i think mine is MKII unless MKI is the only 2408 version with RCAs... mine works with Cakewalk... It totally hates XP though.. It works decent but it's still rather bleh on the latency side.. wish i was monitoring from the board, haha.

I run a Pentium IV 2.?? ghz and a gig of ram.. It def. works though, so I'm assuming I'm right on the MKII Assumption.. but I bought mine on EBAY too.. did you atleast get a manual or anything?
 
Actually, there is lots of info concerning the older MOTU 2408's. I can't tell you how many times I have posted concerning my experiences with MOTU 2408's. The biggest problem lies within the PCI 324 card. It has major compatibility issues and some of the worse tech support I have ever encountered. It is pretty widely known amongst MOTU users that the PCI324 card has all sorts of compatibility issues with certain VIA chipsets and even certain brands of RAM. Windows XP however has never been the issue for me with the PCI 324 card. The only real positive experinece I had with MOTU was how there horrid support forced me to look at RME. Never had a single issue with RME since the 7 or so years ago when I bought my first and only (because I am still using it) RME card.
 
Motu 2408 Mk 1

Hey New Age Mutt Lange,

The MK1 is the only one with rca's. The MK2 and MK3 have 1/4". Question if you do have the MK1 what is the manufacturer of your board. What chipset. What kind of ram. I heard ddr ram does not work with the PCI-324? I want to build the fastest computer thet the Motu2408 MK1 will support because i want 16 channels in and out to work through my tascam M-3500 32 channel console.
 
Jack:

I'm running 1gb DDR.. my comps rather crapped out though, its like a 2-3 year old emachine with XP Home - nasty as hell from drunken abuse.. uhm, couldn't tell you the mobo maker off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure its a Pentium4 Processor. I'll get back on here afterwork and post it up for you though.

XStatic - The only issue I've had from XP was before I reinstalled my OS. It would continuously tell me I had a new PCI card attached even though I had already installed the drivers, wiped them, and installed them again.. But after the format everything has been cool.. latency is kinda crap though.

I've been looking into RME and if I ever get any money I'll definately be buying that, unless I end up going Firewire (But I doubt that'll happen)
 
I've been using the MOTU audio interfaces for years with minimal problems.

You need to realize how old that PCI card is. Early to midi 90's maybe? It's not MOTU's fault that it doesn't work with computer systems that didn't exist when the card was designed and built.

The really *great* thing about MOTU audio interfaces is that legacy systems like the 2408mkI are still compatible with MOTU's newest PCI cards. So you could buy a new PCIe card from MOTU and use that same 2408mkI with the latest 3.3 volt PCI express slot on a newer computer system.

I know of very few companies that maintain compatibility of their legacy equipment like MOTU does.

As far as tech support, I've had good experiences with MOTU over the years, and I've been using their software and hardware since the late 80's. The line is often busy, so I use email. Even then, sometimes it takes a few days for them to get back to me. But they always solve the problem, so I really have no complaints.
 
i definately agree with the fact that they do maintain compatibility well, if hadn't bought mine on ebay I'd have just upgraded the old PCI to the 424 by now, i just don't have the cash for a new one and full price at the moment. But my main thing is latency, which is probably more due to the fact that i'm running a 10 year old PCI card in a 3 year old computer haha.. Eventually I'll be getting something else though.. whether i stay with motu or not is something I'm not fully set on, I like the adat ins on the RME card though..
 
When i had my issues with the PCI324 card it was the current card in production for a few years before the PCI 424 card came out. Basically, I had that PCI 324 card installed in 4 different computers at times and it only functioned properly on one of them. When it did, the MOTU unit was a pretty nice little guy, especially with the amount of I/O of different types. However, 3 of the comps either did not work at all, or even worse, very sporatically. I am not really trying to say anything bad about the whole MOTU product line, but more about the PCI 324 in specific. It is pretty common knowledge that the PCI 324 had major issues with computer equipment that was even around when the PCI 324 was at its peak. As for their customer service, I can only relate my experience with them. Their idea of a solution was outrageous and completely unacceptable. Maybe I just got one idiot from their tech support staff, but I had to go through several others first just to get to talk to him, so at least at that time there was some serious support issues on their end. As for RME's tech support, I could not tell you anything about it because I have never had to use it. My RME card has installed and functioned flawlessly and easily in probably 10 systems of different architectures. If you ask me, RME has the most solid driver set out there (at least for PC's). My 10 yearl oldl or whatever age it is RME card still functions with most of RME's new software upgrades that aren't even spec'ed for it:)
 
I am still using the original RME Hammerfall 96/52. The newer HDSP version has better monitoring, but I am a large format console so I don't need that and latency is not an issue for me. I may switch away from RME soon though. Not because I am not happy with it, but if I get the SSL card that goes with my SSL converters it will increase my I/O count and give me better routing options on my converters.
 
lemme know if you switch, might buy the rme from you :-D
 
I will certainly do that:) Although I will be probably be trying to sell it paired with a MAckie SDR 24/96 recorder as a 24 channel setup:)
 
I am currently using two motu 2408 MKIIs and have latency diown to a manageable amount. I am right now using a ABIT AMD NF7s board (nforce chipset), and it works perfectly. For a DAW I am using Reaper. I have not yet pushed it to all 16 channels, but so far so good. When I upgrade next I will most likely have to upgrade to a pci 424 card. But I for right now I am really happy with the Motu's.
 
SonicAlbert said:
You need to realize how old that PCI card is. Early to midi 90's maybe? It's not MOTU's fault that it doesn't work with computer systems that didn't exist when the card was designed and built.

The really *great* thing about MOTU audio interfaces is that legacy systems like the 2408mkI are still compatible with MOTU's newest PCI cards. So you could buy a new PCIe card from MOTU and use that same 2408mkI with the latest 3.3 volt PCI express slot on a newer computer system.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I'd definitely pick up a PCIX-424 card on eBay (NOT the PCI-424---look for the second notch on the edge connector). The 324 card was pretty much a lost cause even in its day from everything I've read, and doubly so now that 5V PCI silicon is forbidden by the current specs.... :)
 
xstatic said:
I will certainly do that:) Although I will be probably be trying to sell it paired with a MAckie SDR 24/96 recorder as a 24 channel setup:)
Click to expand...

still might buy it depending on the price... just pm me if when you know whats up...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top