I'll comment on the 828 mkii as I own that one.
Its very versatil, very reliable and does the job. The AD and the mic pres are decent though not spectacular. It has besides the 2 built in pres, 8 analog inputs, 8 more inputs via adat optical and 2 more via spdif. I run 8ch of quality pres through the analog inputs with very good results and 2 ch via spdif through a rosetta bypasing the converters for critical tracks such as vocals and lead instruments. The 2ch pres on the 828mkii I usually run my keyboards through them like a direct box and the sound is great.
for mics though, the gain is a little low but hey, its ok.
When you I'm recording a band, I use the 8 analog inputs for drums but also will run the kick and the snare through the rosetta for tighter low end (better conversion) - the bass and rythm guitar I will run through the 828 pres with good results- For vocals and overdubs later I will again use the rosetta with 2 ch of pres via spdif and will bypass the 828 mkii AD

Bottom line: for $650 or so this box can't be beat. to do better you'd have to buy the 8ch Rosetta with the firewire option an 8ch od quality pres and we are talking about 5K+ here 8)

long story, but believe me, as a pc user, expect a lot of crap before your mk2 works fine..(mine still doesnt, but it works perfect in logic, so i'm happy)..
BUT...It's still a fantastic product though..would propably make the same decision again, knowing the trouble it took me to make it work..
But while searching for solutions, i found out that lots more pc users have problems with motu stuff..

Mac laptops really are too expensive i.m.o.

ive got a digi 002r and i can only say that i like it and it works for me. I have a PC so using a mac would probably suit it better so your in luck there.

the mic pres are decent but nothing to write home about. Converters are also not bad. listen, none of these audio interfaces have top of the line stuff in them. Its up to budget and personal taste. Im sure you wont be able to tell the difference of them when the song is on cd.

Therefore i can only put my hand up for the DIGI 002. 8-)

Thanks guys for interesting opinions on my question. Motu products are highly regarded by my friends. It works great with mac and logic. Yet, 002r is still attractive because it comes wih Pro Tools LE. By familiarizing myself to pro tools program may offer me better opportunities as a sound engineer in long run (as a protools operator?I don't know.) There are arguments that pro tools is no longer industrial standards since many companies are offering great programs which may be as good as or out-perform pro tools in some aspects (i.e. Nuendo) How necessary would it be to have protools for someone who is looking for his career to be a sound engineer?

I just sold my Digi 002 Rack for an 828 to use with Nuendo. Though I like the Protools software, Protools LE's 32 track limit was always a problem, and i found the Rack nothing but a cheap mixer, with cheap noisy Pre's (I.M.O of course) does not help you learn. If you want to check out or learn Protools mess around with Protools Free on OS9 first.

Then I say learn everything you can, so the industy standard's will no longer have meaning!

Thanks for your suggestion. Yes, I will learn everything I can! As you mentioned, flexibility to work with various equipment is one of the strength of sound engineer. Anyway, I found another option I may consider. Tascam FW1884 is the one I found interesting. It seems to have options (ADAT, Micpre) that many other firewire interfaces have. My search will continue....

Have a look at the RME stuff like the fireface 800. I hear its a killer. Anyway just another suggestion to confuse you even more. hehee
:lol:

I, too am looking heavily at the FireFace800. I just got the RME AID-8 Pro, so the AID-8 in conjunction with the FireFace would allow 16 pristeen AD and DA connections on a single FW cable! I'm going Laptop based for tracking, so this seems like a real winner.

I can't comment on the Mic Pres (The AID-8 is just a line-level converter), but the converters sound pretty darn good from the few minutes I have played with it (I just got it).

:cool:

Motu 896 is great value

If you want a half decent sounding all in one solution, why dont you look at something like the Motu 896 HD. Higher sample rates, ok pre's and good functionality as well as being expandable later. Just add a couple of Audient 8 channel pre rigs, one analog and the other digital in case you need more tracking capability. You have to drop down to 48 khz to get 16 in but it has to be better than a Digi 002. Later just do the same again and you can track 32 at 48 khz or 16 at 192 khz. Might be another option for you. Do not touch the RME gear! Its more trouble than anything you could imagine and not good value for money. I know because I have one of the crappy things and I am looking for a better solution myself.

Good luck, I hope you find what you need...

Thomas,

What RME unit do you have, and what don't you like about it?

I have read many problems about MOTU and PC not "playing well" together.

:cool:

Everyone, thanx for all your suggestions and experience. I will do more research regarding to my daw front end. I believe every DAW system introduced here are good enough to produce pro quality recording. I know some famous and well respected vocalist cut her title song for her album @ hotel room with digi 001 rig. I do have preference in sonic characteristics, It may be the best idea to mess with them at store/my friends/co-workers' place to see what would be the best choice for my preference.

thanx everyone

YK

Fireface

I have a RME Fireface and really like it. No problems ever.

Good sounding preamps and perfect converters for that price tag.

Best bang for the buck...

RME mic pre

Hi Steffen

Do you compare the RME mic preamp to others preamp ?

Re: Randymans Qyuestion

Hey Randyman,

I have hdsp96/52 with two Audient ASP008 pre units and a Tascam converter for output. I am monitoring through KRK V88's for the moment. Its a basic rig that should be rock solid but it is so quirky it hurts. Dropout and latency isues keep poping up and it is not for lack of tweaking and testing. It may be a defective card but its been back to RME twice and the same things keep happening. This thing even swithes sample rates and sync options when your not looking. It may be posessed or something! I have had it in three different systems and they all do the same things.

Absolute pooh!

so basicly everyone is trying to say the motu sucks for PC?

Im in this same boat.

I was waiting to buy a friends used digi 001 but.....
i only wanted pt for studio compatibility,but the more i read the less i see this as being a problem even if i did run nuendo....

so i was thinking about the motu 828 mk2 FW

but .....

RME Fireface

I own the Fireface 800, and it really kicks butt, no problems so far after 2 months, the only slight issue I have with it is the Mic Pres don't have a lot of gain. The sound it produces is unbelievably clean, you must try for yourself. Before getting the RME, I used the Cubase System 4 with all kinds of problems this and this was a major step up and I am happy I made the choice to the Fireface.

dexters lab wrote: so basicly everyone is trying to say the motu sucks for PC?

but .....

Hmm. What makes you think that? My 828mkII works just fine. No problems.

Basically I think that a lot of PC-s has problems with audio applications. It puts very high demands both on IO, shuffling sound to and from harddisk and audio card, and on CPU, doing intensive calculations. Some work, some not. It all goes down to the very large variations in hardware and software you find on the PC-s. You know, there was even a bug in some Intel CPU-s that made them bog down in some floating number calculations.

Apples has less of a variation and seems to be more consistent, it either works on them all or not (this part is only hearsay). But then again OS9 and OSX are two completely different OS-s I and think this has made a bit of problems here and there.

Gunnar.

Where does the MOTU-PC problem come from? I've set up plenty of systems using 88, 828II and 896 on both PC and Mac - honestly, I've had more problems interfacing the units with with some "hi-end" digital mixers (which have been tracked back to the mixer). As long has the PC is configured properly as a DAW and nothing else, we haven't had a problem. Simple things like keeping drivers up to date over the entire sytem will help you no-end.

As far as the other manufacturers go, RME converters and pre's are pretty decent, though we've had problems syncing to the same brand digital mixer - no names allowed, here in SA they get really grumpy and try and sue our pants off :roll:

The Digi will always be decent from a software point of view, though the pres suck IMHO. Converters not bad.

Overall, I agree with Thomas - check out the 896HD. Nce converters, decent pre's and pleny of I/O options. If it's out of your price range, then the 828II will be probably be your best bet. If you have a Mac you can upgrade the bundled AudioDesk to DP4 - which isn't a bad program. Sorry, am beginning to sound like salesman. my 2 cents