Motu vs. PreSonus

Elephat

New member
So which one of the interfaces do you guys think is better?

The Motu 8pre 16x12 Audio Interface

OR

The PreSonus Firestudio Project

I'm trying to upgrade my home studio a bit and wanted to know what people thought about these two interfaces.

They both have a 24-bit/96K sample rate and high-speed firewire.

So what do you think?
 
I'm in the same boat as you. I'm considering exactly the same interfaces. From what I understand, the Presonus has a higher latency and the MOTU preamps sound better. I found a good deal on the MOTU (like $440 new with shipping) and I think I'm gonna pull the plug on that one.
 
I love my MOTU 828, so I'm a MOTU fan boy.

But 8Pre versus Firestudio project... the Presonus does have more output options, but according to Marcadiablo the MOTU may have better latency and pres. The lack of output options on the 8Pre is annoying to me. So that's the trade :D
 
I've got a Firepod, which I guess would be pretty much the same thing. I've never had a single problem out of it and the pres sound fine to me. Then again, I've never used the other interface, so I can't say. Personally, if I had the choice, I'd go with the PreSonus, just because of how well mine's worked for me.

So which one of the interfaces do you guys think is better?

The Motu 8pre 16x12 Audio Interface

OR

The PreSonus Firestudio Project

I'm trying to upgrade my home studio a bit and wanted to know what people thought about these two interfaces.

They both have a 24-bit/96K sample rate and high-speed firewire.

So what do you think?
 
I've got a Firepod, which I guess would be pretty much the same thing. I've never had a single problem out of it and the pres sound fine to me. Then again, I've never used the other interface, so I can't say. Personally, if I had the choice, I'd go with the PreSonus, just because of how well mine's worked for me.

The firepod is an ENTIRELY different beast than the firestudio. The firestudio is DICE-II.

Even to compare the firepod to the 8pre, the 8pre (with the 3.6.7.x drivers, NOT the 3.6.8.x [the 3.6.8.x drivers are total trash]) will have far lower latency at the same buffer settings and far less cpu use at the same buffer setting

The firepod and firestudio both have better I/O layouts and functionality than the 8pre, but if you want to be up and working, its probably better to have something with decent latency that doesnt eat all your cpu needlessly, or i nthe case of the DICE-II units, just flat out not work acceptably at ANY latency

The firepod is a great unit at a great price, unfortunately with an extremely high unit failure rate, the firestudio is not even worth looking at unless you enjoy frustration, the 8pre hasn't been around too long yet to tell (though I have had one unit fail already) with much better latency and cpu use




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The firepod and firestudio both have better I/O layouts and functionality than the 8pre, but if you want to be up and working, its probably better to have something with decent latency that doesnt eat all your cpu needlessly, or i nthe case of the DICE-II units, just flat out not work acceptably at ANY latency

I have been running a FireStudio 2626 with a DigiMax FS for a while now and it works great with Reaper. No compatibility issues, no drops outs. I did have to build a Q6700 based computer to handle 16 inputs at 96kHz, but everything works, and sounds, great.
 
You are one of the lucky few. When we were trying them out, some of Presonus' test PC's seemed to be working ok as well, but we werent able to get enough details to duplicate one.

What sort of specs are you running exactly?

The profire 2626, TC konnekt, and other DICE-II chips cards have the same issues
 
Hey Pipeline,

I started with a PIV machine (3Ghz CPU) with only 2G of SDRAM and it worked with that, though not as many inputs at 96kHz and with a (much) higher sample buffer.

Now I am running a Q6700 on an ASUS P5K-E mobo, 4G Corsair SDRAM, GeForce 8600GT 256M video, ADS Tech PYRO PCI 642 Firewire Adapter, and Western Digital SATA HD's, with Windows XP Home with SP 3. My sample buffer is much smaller (around 128 I think) and I am recording 14 tracks of drums at 96kHz/24bit.

I have an older set of drivers for the PreSonus. I was running Vs 1 until I picked up an MSR, then I had to update te drivers/firmware for it, but it's still not the most resent rev.

Using ASIO, Reaper sucked it up with no problems what-so-ever. Oddly enough, it was PreSonus's issues with SONAR that drove me to Reaper. Well, that and FunkyBeat sealed the deal. ;)

-Wes
 
Are you running the SP1 FW mod for SP3? Or does SP3 not need it?

I don't actually know off of the top of my head. I pulled SP1 down off of the MS site, burnt it to a CD and ran it on my DAW. Then I went to SP3 using the same method (for some reason I couldn't go right from XP to XP SP3).

Is there a way I check? Does it show in the updates list? I would assume that it is in SP3 as it claims to include all previous updates.

-Wes
 
I don't actually know off of the top of my head. I pulled SP1 down off of the MS site, burnt it to a CD and ran it on my DAW. Then I went to SP3 using the same method (for some reason I couldn't go right from XP to XP SP3).

Is there a way I check? Does it show in the updates list? I would assume that it is in SP3 as it claims to include all previous updates.

-Wes

go to add/remove programs, and when the list is made, it should show there(service pack 1, etc.)
 
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