MOTU 896HD vs Presonus Firepod

  • Thread starter Thread starter Buen
  • Start date Start date

Which device is better for the buck?

  • MOTU 896HD

    Votes: 20 40.8%

  • Presonus Firepod

    Votes: 29 59.2%
  • Total voters
    49
B

Buen

New member
Both of these products have 8 XLR inputs and a firewire interface for the computer. My question is which one is better for the buck and which one has nicer pre's.

So far Motu looks very appealing, but I have heard the pre's are decent (Not the greatest) also though it has some compatability problems with PCs, but work great with MAC.

The presonus fits my requirements as well for an audio interface to the computer with it's 8 XLR inputs as well.
 
My question is more specifically about the DAW. Should I be concerned about the ability of a MAC laptop being able to support recording up to 8x simultaneous tracks? What are the hardware features we should look for? (E.x. 5400 RPM drives, memory.)
 
you are definatley wanna get faster drives than 5400 if you are recording 8 tacks to it at once.
 
I own the Firepod, and it is a nice product. The drivers are very stable on my XP system, and the pre's are pretty nice too. (No they are not as nice as stand-alone's, but no interface really is in this price range, but, the fact that Presonus has been making great mic pre's for so long, they know how to do them right.)
 
Heard a lot of complants about the Motu not getting along with PCs
 
Never had a problem with the MOTU and my PC. I'm running XP, and I use the 828mkii.
 
I'm planning on getting a firepod.
I have a dual 2gig Powermac G5, do you think it'll be able to handle 8 tracks at once?
 
vigormusic said:
I'm planning on getting a firepod.
I have a dual 2gig Powermac G5, do you think it'll be able to handle 8 tracks at once?
Click to expand...

Haha. definitely, yes!
one of the reviews of the firepod had the guy running 8 tracks into a cheapo laptop (i think it was a 733 MHz!!!) and he said latency was 6ms, HDD was working ok and not straining much!

i think your system will handle it just fine. :)
 
Has anybody used the firepod with a mac? if so, how was it? i'm thinking about getting a mac laptop, but i'm not sure if i want to get the motu or the firepod. suggestions?
 
vigormusic said:
I'm planning on getting a firepod.
I have a dual 2gig Powermac G5, do you think it'll be able to handle 8 tracks at once?
Click to expand...

Of course it won't.

You must have an Atari running at about 133mhz.

You Schlep....
 
get the firepod. it's cheaper and it rocks. you won't regret it.
 
Is the Firebox about as good as the Firepod...ignoring the extra connections of the Pod?
 
Monkey Allen said:
Is the Firebox about as good as the Firepod...ignoring the extra connections of the Pod?
Click to expand...

$200 for six more channels? I'd go with the pod.
 
896HD all the way

OH it is so stable. I love it SO MUCH. I haven't really gotten to exploit it to its fullest extent yet. But I LOVE my 896HD. I had it up and running on my PC within like 15 minutes. I have never had any stability problems. The drivers have been top notch everytime I have turned on the computer. The meters on it are WONDERFUL. I love being able to see how hot my signals are on the front end. The overload lights just aren't enough for me. The CUEMIX direct monitoring with the Motu is really great also. And the routing options are crazy.
 
Another vote for the Firepod. Really a great unit. Very simple setup. I was very careful and meticulous to follow all the directions to the click, and it still only took me about an hour to go from box opening to recording.

The Midi took me a little longer to get the hang of, but the Pod never got in the way. Oh, and for the price, the preamps are VERY usable.
 
I have a 24io that I'm not terribly fond of. It wasn't bad for the money, but it doesn't sound as good as I'd like. The card also seems to be causing problems for me and like at most tech companies, the tech support is full of idiots, so getting stuff to work well is going to be a bit of a hastle right now.

As far as not playing well with PC, the problems have usually been with the older VIA chipsets and almost any other firewire interface had issues with those chipsets as well. At least that's what I hear. I haven't used their FireWire interfaces though.
 
minofifa said:
you are definatley wanna get faster drives than 5400 if you are recording 8 tacks to it at once.
Click to expand...

Not really necessary. I recorded our jam one night (2 hours nonstop) on a 4200rpm laptop. That was 7 tracks at 24/48. It was only 7 tracks coz we only had 7 mics. I trialled it OK 24/96, but I didn't want to risk it. 5400 should be plenty
 
I have a dual 2.0 ghz Powermac G5 and the Motu 896Hd for about a year and a half and the system runs smoothly with Logic. I started with Mac OS 10.2/Logic 6.4 and now I have Mac OS 10.4 and Logic 7.1 . I don't know much about the firepod but I know that I haven't had a problem with my system. The only thing that I don't really like are the pres for the Motu but I'm assuming that the pres in the firepod aren't really all that great as well. I bypass the pres in my Motu now to use the pres in my Soundcraft Ghost. They sound much smoother.
 
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