Motu 828 mkII

[Maggis]

I want it I need it there must be something wrong with it... It's too cheap.

Does anyone know about this bit of kit?

[EngineerGrl]

I don't own one but know a bit about the unit. When I was in the market for an audio interface, I did some research and here is what I found:

The power supply has a very noticalbe buzz. In the studio, that is unacceptable. I think it was just a bad batch of units that hit the market though.

You have to step through menus and functions on a small screen using small knobs which is time-consuming and tedious -- also unacceptable in the studio when clients are paying by the hour!

I've heard some complaints from users that the front display screen burns out. I did not experience that personally -- just heard it from other users. My guess is that another bad batch of units hit the market before being checked at the factory.

In fairness, the unit sounds great and can produce pristine sound recordings. It's one of the few firewire-based interfaces on the market and a good buy at $750.

[Maggis]

I had my eye on it since it appeared on the scene and watched the price drop dramaticaly which made me think hmmm...

Buzz and humm is nothing I will pay for ever... You are right totally unacceptable although I'm only going to be using it for my fun that shit irritates me. I go mad when I to comprimise my sound quality to notch out a noise that shouldn't be there in the first place... I've been thinking of getting a second hand mark of the unicorn 828 as I know and trust it more and after what you've said I think I may be right. The old motu 828 I have used and only ever experienced problem which was overcome by turning off the dimmer light switch in the room (hehe it's always the simple things)

Side note: Yeah the one thing that annoys about digital stuff it the pissing about with knobs live stuff is that same if not worse for time issues, does have it's pros though...

I'll keep am eye out for changes, what you've said makes sense about bad batches. But If I can pick up a trusty second hand mark of the unicorn for less money perhaps I could think about more kit open for abuse with the extra cash eh?

ps have you heard about the edirol one firewire one? What do have to say about that?

Thanks for your help too ;D

[EngineerGrl]

I agree that your best bet is to look for a used 828. You'll save some bucks that you can use toward other gear.

Edirol has two (I think) firewire interfaces available. The FA-66 and the FA-101. Which one were you referring to?

[Maggis]

The FA 101

[EngineerGrl]

Once again, I don't own the unit. What I am stating here is what I've seen and heard from other users and researched.

Overall, it sounds like a nice unit. Compatible with Mac and Windows XP. If you use a Mac computer, take note: the FA101 requires the latest OS 10.3.3 or later. Also, for Windows users, you must have XP and at least 512 megs of RAM or better. In fact, any computer used for recording, I recommend at least 1 Gig of RAM.

I understand that latency is an issue so you will have to tweak settings to compensate -- not a big deal. Mic preamps have low gain which means gain settings will be pushed more than usual. That is a nightmare for sound engineers since pushing the gain causes noise and hiss. But I hear that in spite of this, the sound of the FA101 is crisp and clean.

Even though it is a small half-rack unit, it is well designed and easy to use. Ten inputs and ten outputs should give most project studios I/O to burn and live audio for that matter.

For the money, I'd say it's a winner!

[EngineerGrl]

A comment about your problem with an old 828:

Dimmers are big no-no's in the studio! They are notorious for introducing noise and hum into the system. They're also a nightmare onstage. Many gigs I've played, we would waste so much time trying to deal with the system buzz caused by the room's lighting. :-\
It's usualy the dredded 60 cycle hum and sometimes you can just lift the ground and be done with it.

[EngineerGrl]

Maggis,

What kind of live engineering are you doing?

[Maggis]

EngineerGrl said:

Maggis,

What kind of live engineering are you doing?

I wouldn't call myself an engineer yet with my skills more of a tech really... And wouldn't want to go into the gory details of what I do because it often varies from day to day but generally...

The biggest thing I've done FOH on is a soundcraft MH4 so that should give you an idea something. So, on the whole I tend to do a lot of realtively small stuff in "trendy" places with supposedly important names sometimes something comes along that reminds me why I do what I do.

[Maggis]

EngineerGrl said:

Once again, I don't own the unit. What I am stating here is what I've seen and heard from other users and researched.

Overall, it sounds like a nice unit. Compatible with Mac and Windows XP. If you use a Mac computer, take note: the FA101 requires the latest OS 10.3.3 or later. Also, for Windows users, you must have XP and at least 512 megs of RAM or better. In fact, any computer used for recording, I recommend at least 1 Gig of RAM.

I understand that latency is an issue so you will have to tweak settings to compensate -- not a big deal. Mic preamps have low gain which means gain settings will be pushed more than usual. That is a nightmare for sound engineers since pushing the gain causes noise and hiss. But I hear that in spite of this, the sound of the FA101 is crisp and clean.

Even though it is a small half-rack unit, it is well designed and easy to use. Ten inputs and ten outputs should give most project studios I/O to burn and live audio for that matter.

For the money, I'd say it's a winner!

I thought it sounds ok too I'll look further into it...

[EngineerGrl]

Soundcraft MH4!! That's a serious piece of hardware! How do you like it?

[Maggis]

all things considered it's a mixer (I don't know inside out as I would like to) but my favourite bit about it was the eqs -they really work

yesterday for example I was doing FOH and monitors on a 4 way mix for 3 bands all using the headliners backline and drums on a mixwizard (-aw) the drummer had decided two stick a four-poster bed into his bass drum some radical eq's were in order to turn the pathetic pocky click into a boom with an mh4 this would have been a breeze like wise when I first saw a mh4 it was in a room with some serious bass reflection going on and I managed to combat it so easily (too easily at first because it took me by surprise)-it's a bloody great mixer it also makes you feel like god when you use it.

[EngineerGrl]

I don't remember all the details about the units EQ section. Does it have four-band parametric EQ or is it two-band parametric and two-band fixed? I think it's four-band parametric.

How do you like working FOH?

[Maggis]

I think it's four band too but as I said, I don't know that mixer as well as I'd like to... I might download the manual thinking about it.

EngineerGrl said:

How do you like working FOH?

There are so many things I like about it to list them could prove quite boring for others the short of it is I love doing it when the bands are good or interesting in some way sadly isn't as often as I'd like, recently I've done some good stuff though. I love discovering something new every day and always getting better at what I do. I love the rushing around and working stuff out.

Although i do get very bored with crap talentless shambolic bands who think it's a good idea to start smashing things up and assaulting the audience and that's when and take it a bit personally. Also trying to give up smoking is impossible when you're in a room full of smoking people and you might end up strangling one of the musicians or promoters (no, really).

In the long run ideally I'd like to build my own studio produce stuff that I like though.

[EngineerGrl]

You strangled a musician?! LOL Nicotine withdrawals huh?

I hear you on the smoking issue. I quite smoking decades ago and am exposed to second hand smoke at gigs. Occupational hazard I presume.

Is music your full-time gig?