MOTU HD 192

[tremoloking]

Hi all,
i've been recording on a Roland VS880EX which is a great machine but ultimately the recordings miss warmth and'openness' for lack of a better word.
I finally realized ( duh ) that the problem lies in the A/D/A converters. I've been wanting more tracks anyway so i figured i'd make the jump into computer based recording. since i don't have the funds for apogee converters etc. i was thinking of buying the MOTU HD 192 converter system as a cheaper alternative but still hopefully much better sounding than the Roland converters. anyone have any experience or opininons on this system?

[SKEETER]

you might try to run everything through an aurel exciter, I am not into using any more gear than you have too, but an aurel exciter really fattens a master up big time.

[JamesHE]

crap in = crap out

I'm a 828mkII owner. The converters on it are really good, especially for it's price. The HD 192 should be even better. I'd love to be recording at 192 right now, but the rest of my chain needs a serious step up before I get there. I say go for it, it will last you a long time. Stepping into DAW land is a big step. What platform? (mac, PC) (go PC ) What software?

[J.B.Horns]

for what it's worth, an HD192 will be my next purchase. It has gotten some really good reviews, and I'm sure it's a big step up from the Roland.

[tremoloking]

wow, thx for all the replies! I'm thinking of going with a pc since that's what i'm used to. the motu system has recording software in it that's supposed to be compatible with Protools. it's also supposed to be cross platform BUT I've also heard that MOTU is really a mac system and does not work as well with pc, PLUS their customer support is supposed to be notoriously understaffed. So...
Who knows..
i agree with the crap in-crap out statement!

[SKEETER]

customer support lacking? in america? the hell you say.................

[J.B.Horns]

the hardware works great with PC as far as I'm concerned, but Audio Desk (the software that come with all MOTU interfaces) is a Mac only app. And as far as Pro Tools compatability, I think it can open PT files, but not vice versa.

[audioboy6]

I would stay away from the PC for audio. Most of the pro recording software was designed on a mac (Logic, DP, Pro Tools to name a few). If your going to go with Motu hardware I would recommend going with a Digital Performer. They were designed to work together, and of course if you go with DP you will need to run it on a mac.

That being said I'm a mac guy all the way so my opinion is obviously biased.

Good luck

[chris harris]

I'm switching to Mac at the end of the year. I've been using a powerbook this year for internet/business stuff... I really like the OS.

but, that said, the whole "stay away from PC's for audio" thing is sooooo outdated.

PC's are great for audio. There's a little more tweaking needed than with a mac. But, PC's are perfectly capable of anchoring a studio setup.

The most compelling reasons to switch are ethical, imo. But, I won't get into those.

I'll just say that PC's are fine for audio.

chris

[Russian Recording]

I run 2 MOTU HD192s on a PC with Samplitude 7.22. I used to run a 2408 MK2 and a 1224 on my old setup. The older MOTU stuff was more difficult to interface with a PC. The HDs were insanely easy to get working with both Samplitude (ASIO Drivers) and SONAR (WDM Drivers). The HD192s are awesome units... they sound great, they are a cinch to use and the metering is fabulous (blows the Protools 192s out of the water... the metering that is).

Macs being superior to PCs is old news. My PC based DAW is balls out powerful and rock solid. Do yourself a favor and research what components to get, which brands to use, etc and build yourself a bad-ass machine. You'll spend half of what you'd spend on a Mac, have a more reliable setup (if you do it right) be able to tweak it to your particular needs, and also get that awesome DIY satisfaction out of it. There is a dul processor G4 running Protools HD at my work and it doesn't screw up all that often, but it does screw up nonetheless. So far with my PC I've had no problems. I also worked on a similar setup running AVID, and that fucker would crash like nobody's business. It was worse than my old PIII running 98.

As far as software goes, all the "pro" software was mac-only about 2 years ago. Now both Samplitude and Nuendo, which are just as powerful as PT, are both PC oriented programs and in my opinion smoke Protools HD (I haven't used Logic).

In the end, both computer formats will record music and both are capable of doing it very well. It's all about what your used to, what you know, how much money you want to spend and how much time you want to spend.

[scarygroover]

hey tremelo king. I run a pc. dell dimension 8250 w/ 1 gig of ram.

I run it on Sonar 2.2 with 2 motu 896's . works like a charm. easy to use and stable.

-MP

[Ajpulzetti]

It's nice to hear so much praise for MOTU. I'm thinking about picking up an 828 mkII soon... What is the deal with the Inputs on that by the way? It looks to me like 8 or ten simultaneously, musician's friend says 20... how exactly does it work, and what inputs are there. I know that it has 2 mic inputs in the front and what looks like 8 1/4' inputs on the back, no? Then there's ADAT ins and SPDIF outs or ins or something... Does it also have a place where I can plug in a telephone handset and just record myself calling up my friends?

check out the FS pages too... I think I'll post my 2 ADAT black faces there if anyone is on the market . Didn't want to *directly* put it in a post in general recording, where it doesn't belong. I think I can hear the messageboard police coming for me already.

[musikman316]

The 828 MK II has 8 analog inputs/outputs, 8 adat I/Os and SPDIF I/Os, which is 18 in at the same time. It has the outputs, plus a dedicated stereo headphone out which is why they call it 20 outputs. 18/20 just like PT LE and many of the other budget DAW's.

Later,
musik

[greatmagnet]

I am a longtime MOTU/Mac user. Had the 896, and traded it in for the 2408 because I wanted a PCI card type system to take a load off my computer. Lately I've decided to get the HD192 for sure because the converters are even better, and I totally miss the easily-viewable and reliable metering on the 896, which the HD192 has as well. metering on the 2408 blows goats. here's the real scoop on MOTU:

1.) The cool thing about 'em is they are really intuitive (in terms of hardware anyways) insofar as they seem to always be offering me the in/out/metering options the real-world musician/engineer really needs to keep the ol' studio running properly, particularly for the price range.

2.) Unfortunately, I must mention that I believe that their great value comes at the cost of poor build quality. When I say that I've owned a 896 and a 2408 what I really mean is that I've owned 3 of each. Literally. The input/output/headphone jacks consistently fail...I'm guessing they don't have their shit together as far as soldering stuff to the boards goes. Buy them at your local music store so you can take it back easily if it shits out on you. My 2408 has no functional headphone jack as we speak.

3.) When it was mentioned that their tech support is notoriously understaffed, that is an understatement. Once you buy their product they will not give one shit about you ever again. Hard to believe given how user-friendly their hardware and iterfaces are. Their stuff was obviously givn some serious thought by real engineers and musicians. Sad.

4.) The DP4 software is a bit hard to learn as some of it's options are hidden in strange, non-intuitive menu locations, but the payoff is big. This program can do a lot. The instruction book is as big as War and Peace.

5.) The downside of DP4 is that it does NOT have latency compensation for plugins. I think they are absolutely alone in this amongst competitors in their price range these days. I had a Universal Audio UAD-1 card that I sadly had to get rid of simply because it was impossible to use with DP4. It came with latency plugins but those are too difficult to keep track of to use in real-world situations. Hindsight 20/20 I should have just kept it and saved up to buy Cubase SX or something like that. It's amazing to me that MOTU hasn't gotten it together as far as latency goes yet. Maybe someday soon?

That's all I can think of right now. You guys make me wanna go out and buy a PC!

[kdarr]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned RME yet. I haven't ever used any of their gear, (my setup is MOTU 2408-based) but I hear nothing but good things.

Just another possiblity to take into consideration.

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