Alternatives to MOTU 828 mkII

Sexor · Post by **Sexor** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 2:36 am

About a month ago I got myself this supposedly nice interface (the USB2 version) but it's been giving me all sorts of c**p that I never expected and have never had to deal with in my 8+ years of digital music making....

-It's got bad drivers, terrible latency problems and crashes all the time.

I'm looking for something similar and in a similar price range that will actually WORK. I've looked at the new M-Audio Profire 2626 and it looks kinda nice... similar specs (8in, 8out, 1U rack) but is it worth swapping? Has anyone here used it?

It would also be nice if anyone knows any other similar alternatives...

The only good thing about the 828 is that when you say "I've got an 828" it sounds like "I've got an 808".

MitchK1989 · Post by **MitchK1989** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:14 am

are you on windows or mac? Motu has a better rep on the mac side.

Also... USB2? Why did you go for that over firewire? Firewire is superior for audio in my experience.

Sexor · Post by **Sexor** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:27 am

I'm using XP.

Everyone I talked to before getting the MOTU told me to stay the h**l away from the firewire versions. They tend to die unexpectedly and never work again, plus they have even worse drivers!

Post by **Stab Frenzy** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:09 am

USB is a bad protocol for audio, I'd recommend staying away.

I've used a few M-Audio interfaces at work, they don't seem to be very well made and seem a step or two below the Motus in build quality. I'd be looking at Presonus over M-Audio in that price range.

Motus work really well on mac, I've never used them on PC. A friend of mine who makes music on XP has an RME interface which works really well, and the convertors are apparently very nice. I'd check them out, especially if you can use a PCI/PCMCIA/Expresscard interface. Their firewire interfaces are good too though.

Post by **nathanscribe** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 10:27 am

I used to use an Edirol USB audio/midi interface on both PC and Mac, and it never felt quite right. a bit clumsy to use, a bit glitchy sometimes, not that flexible for my needs.

I currently have a Presonus Firepod (called FP10 now?) and I've used that on both my XP PC and Mac. Works fine on both without any bother. Whether that's the firewire at work, or the fact it's not an Edirol, I don't know. Either way, my only gripe about it so far is the way it expects external devices to be the master clock over s/pdif input. Not much of a gripe though.

As for MOTU, I use a Midi Express 128 USB interface, and it's always been just fine on the Mac.

My experience of M-Audio has been mixed. My old Midiman 2x2 midi interface seemed OK until I noticed the large amounts of lag and shoddy timing once I'd used it with XP and a (slightly) newer Cubase. I've got a cheap pair of powered monitors that are decent for the price, and an Axiom 61 controller (plugged over MIDI, not USB). I don't know how long it would last on the road, but on a desk it's been good so far. Except once, when I had to reset it because I couldn't figure out why it wasn't sending pitch bend, but then it turned out to be my synth's setting anyway. Doh!

xpander · Post by **xpander** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:38 pm

i own a 828mk3 & 896, used to own the 828mk2. they've all worked perfectly & the drivers (macintosh) have been flawless, too. i've never had a unit crash, either.

whenever i hear people have problem with drivers i always assume the root of the problem is windows not the driver.

Post by **Solderman** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 5:14 pm

Sexor wrote:I'm using XP.
Everyone I talked to before getting the MOTU told me to stay the h**l away from the firewire versions. They tend to die unexpectedly and never work again, plus they have even worse drivers!

Based on the research I did while troubleshooting my mk II at unicornation.com, I got the opposite impression: The USB2 version gave more troubles, and all of the mkII units, regardless of computer interface, have the same likelihood of just powering up one day and never work again.

I've managed to work out all my problems with my mk II Firewire version on Windows XP. First off, use the driver that came with the device, as the online updates are all s**t. They're mostly for the other MOTU drivers anyway, and Cubase SX will crash if I use any driver other than the stock one.
Mine was producing a random high-pitched whine that turned out to be because the SPDIF was connected to a powered-off device. The fairly infrequent popping and clicking I was getting was due to having my desktop PC's audio interface still on. I've since turned off all devices I don't need, and run all audio applications in a seperate bootable partition for this hardware profile.
I also disable the ADAT inputs and outputs so I can get decent latency, and I never never chain any other firewire devices to it. With all of that, it has finally stayed stable.

Post by **wiss** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:06 pm

I'm still using my orginal 828 and I have not had a single issue with it. ok, just one...I'm pretty postive it wont work with intel mac's and the latest OS's.

aredj · Post by **aredj** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:19 pm

I've been using the firewire 828mkII on xp for years with rock solid performance...

I've had a couple maudio interfaces and got rid of them quick... I found their drivers pretty unstable (2 years ago... maybe things have changed)

When mobile I've been using a small edirol ua-25 and have found it pretty solid...