MOTU converters

  • Thread starter Thread starter les666paul
  • Start date Start date
L

les666paul

New member
what do you guys have to say about MOTU converters
i have two MOTU 828's and im wondering how they compare to other brands

also should i do 44.1 or 48 clockspeed
 
I don't have experience with anything but my 896HD. I am not rushing out to buy new converters- in fact, they'd probably be amongst the last things I'd upgrade, so I guess I like 'em okay.
 
We use a MOTU 828 mkII and I love it. Haven't had experience with anything else but I've read it is the best in a sane price range. I have no gripes with it and think it works amazingly and is easy to deal with, with the desktop bus mixer. Anyway, hope that helped.

-Deng
 
never had any cause for complaint. They compare well with the RME one in my sound card at any rate !
 
I had a 2408 for about a year. I have used a Delta 1010 extensively too.

The MOTU converters sounded much nicer to my ears. The 1010 converters had a sort of "boxxy" sound to them, even when clocked with a Lucid clock.

I have a Lynx One card. The MOTU converters don't sound as good as it.

I had an Alesis HD24. I would say that the MOTU and HD24 converters are comparable.

What I really don't like about MOTU is their drivers and mixer interface.
 
I had a 1224 and then an 828mkII - thought they were pretty good. Then Dot (Dan Richards) told me before I upgrade my mics or preamps that I would need to ditch the MOTU's. I was under the impression that converters were all pretty good, and the LAST thing I should upgrade. Guess what? I was DEAD WRONG!!! Moved up to Apogees, and WOW what an improvement. Far more than any mic or preamp has done (and I've had quite a few).

You can get decent results with a MOTU, but if you can swing it, I would step up. I hear the new Aurora's are supposed to be pretty good as well, for not much more than a motu.....

I guess it all depends on how good is good enough, and what kind of gear you already own - and your acoustic enviroment - it's all part of the picture. I guess I am really saying that it's impossible to say without knowing the whole situation.....

Man, even I am confused. :D
 
I use a an 828mk2, clean and no trouble setting it up. I was using a USB-122. I like the sound of the MOTU much better.

I would love to step up to an Apogee, funds will not support that right now. I would love to have 16 channels of A/D conversion instead of the 8 I am using currently. NL5, I know the Apogee is the top dog in A/D conversion. Do you feel some of the advantage and improvment over your 828mk2's is the fact that the Apogee is 192khz and the 828mk2 was 96khz? Just wondering?
 
Last edited:
fenderlady said:
I use a an 828mk2, clean and no trouble setting it up. I was using a USB-122. I like the sound of the MOTU much better.

I would love to step up to an Apogee, funds will not support that right now. I would love to have 16 channels of A/D conversion instead of the 8 I am using currently. NL5, I know the Apogee is the top dog in A/D conversion. Do you feel some of the advantage and improvment over your 828mk2's is the fact that the Apogee is 192khz and the 828mk2 was 96khz? Just wondering?
Click to expand...

Nope - they are both 96khz, and I record at 44.1 anyway.
 
I have a 2408 mkII and an HD24, both clocked with a GenX6 and I agree, the converters are pretty comparable.
 
Ford Van said:
Pretty usable too.
Click to expand...


I just want to clarify my answer a bit.

Yes, they are very usable. My only point is - from my experience - the upgraded converters made more difference than upgraded preamps or microphones. YMMV. :)
 
NL5 said:
I just want to clarify my answer a bit.

Yes, they are very usable. My only point is - from my experience - the upgraded converters made more difference than upgraded preamps or microphones. YMMV. :)
Click to expand...

How do you go into your DAW NL5? Optical or something else? I see that Apogee does offer a Firewire option with an additional card. Also do you have both AD-16x and DA-16x? I see on the Lynx Aurora site that the A/D conversion is both ways on the Aurora 8 and 16.
 
fenderlady said:
How do you go into your DAW NL5? Optical or something else? I see that Apogee does offer a Firewire option with an additional card. Also do you have both AD-16x and DA-16x? I see on the Lynx Aurora site that the A/D conversion is both ways on the Aurora 8 and 16.
Click to expand...


Actually, I have the older AD16 (no "X") and a DA16. I go into a RME Hamerfall via lightpipe cables (4).


Hey - are you in Portland?


edit - and please, don't confuse me with an expert - I am just relaying my personal experience.............

:D
 
Yes I live in one of the suburbs of Portland. Are you in the Portland area?
 
fenderlady. Hmmmmm..now I must look to see which lady guitarists in town recording their own music! LOL

Again, I think MOTU fits into the "better than junk, not quite high end" stuff along with MANY other converters.

While an upgrade to something like Apogee would be cool, certainly, you can make a lot of great sounding music without spending that much!

I did work on 16 bit ADAT's for a long time, and have received some great reviews of that stuff! Check out some of these mixes, in particular, the Sky Blue Mind, and Heavy Brothers stuff. Both done ALL 16 bit (multitrack was ADAT, the mixes were DAT tape). http://www.phoenixlightandsound.com/Audio

Don't worry about your converters too much. I can link you to song after song of stuff that sounds wonderful that uses VERY average converters.
 
fenderlady said:
I know the Apogee is the top dog in A/D conversion. Do you feel some of the advantage and improvment over your 828mk2's is the fact that the Apogee is 192khz and the 828mk2 was 96khz? Just wondering?
Click to expand...

There are a quite a few high end converters on the market, and many people that have had the opportunity to compare them would NOT agree that Apogee is "top dog in A/D conversion"! While it is one of the better brands, there are plenty of other converters that rival Apogee, and many other brands are preferred by some over Apogee.

Apogee owes a LOT of it's success to being one of the few companies that made A/D/A for earlier ProTools systems. This lead to it's wide use.

If you want to know what "top dog" is in A/D/A's, start looking at what mastering facilities are using. Some use Apogee, but you will see some converters that cost about twice what Apogee does! ;)

The difference between an Apogee and a MOTU converter has NOTHING to do with sample frequency. A Apogee at 44.1KHz will certainly sound better than a new MOTU at 192KHz! Apogee just has a far superior analog circuit, and a MUCH MUCH MUCH better word clock! Those two things alone make up about 95% of the difference in quality between them.
 
Ford Van said:
There are a quite a few high end converters on the market, and many people that have had the opportunity to compare them would NOT agree that Apogee is "top dog in A/D conversion"! While it is one of the better brands, there are plenty of other converters that rival Apogee, and many other brands are preferred by some over Apogee.

Apogee owes a LOT of it's success to being one of the few companies that made A/D/A for earlier ProTools systems. This lead to it's wide use.

If you want to know what "top dog" is in A/D/A's, start looking at what mastering facilities are using. Some use Apogee, but you will see some converters that cost about twice what Apogee does! ;)

The difference between an Apogee and a MOTU converter has NOTHING to do with sample frequency. A Apogee at 44.1KHz will certainly sound better than a new MOTU at 192KHz! Apogee just has a far superior analog circuit, and a MUCH MUCH MUCH better word clock! Those two things alone make up about 95% of the difference in quality between them.
Click to expand...

I agree 100% - Apogee is by no means the "top dog" - I just got a SCREAMIN' deal on my AD16 used (Not much more than I sold one of my 828mkII's for. Also, I by no means think anyone with MOTU needs to run out and upgrade. My main point is the same one that was made to me - better converters are important - I think moreso than fancy mic pres or mics for that matter.

Lastly, FV is right, it's NOT the frequency - in fact, I record at 44.1.

The better clock made a difference in several ways. Imaging, detail, and smootness in the high end - especially when running 20+ tracks. It really was quite a difference. :)

Fenderlady - you don't happen to code websites with php and mySQL do you?
 
NL5 said:
I agree 100% - Apogee is by no means the "top dog" - I just got a SCREAMIN' deal on my AD16 used (Not much more than I sold one of my 828mkII's for. Also, I by no means think anyone with MOTU needs to run out and upgrade. My main point is the same one that was made to me - better converters are important - I think moreso than fancy mic pres or mics for that matter.

Lastly, FV is right, it's NOT the frequency - in fact, I record at 44.1.

The better clock made a difference in several ways. Imaging, detail, and smootness in the high end - especially when running 20+ tracks. It really was quite a difference. :)

Fenderlady - you don't happen to code websites with php and mySQL do you?
Click to expand...

Don't worry, I wasn't aiming an attack at you. If I was, I would have made it personal! ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top