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Post by Tbone81 on Aug 14, 2020 19:21:48 GMT -6
I've been considering upgrading my system for a while now. I have Mk III MOTU 828's that have served me well. But they're old and when it gets hot, and they've been on for hours, they start to glitch out in weird ways. I think the reaper is knocking at the door asking for them back.
With the way recording is today, and with working with a lot of clients over large distances, I've also been thinking of a portable setup. In that vein I've been eyeing the Motu UltraLite AVB. If I get it I'd also grab a Motu 16a. I'd have the Ultralite on my destop, feeding my monitors, headphone amps/cue mixes and probably have a di/reamp box tied to it as well. Then I'd have the 16a wired to the patchbay with all my hardware inserts, mic pres etc. That way I could grab the Ultralite and travel with it. Record on the road, at peoples houses etc. But still be able to easily set it up with my home system.
My current Mac Pro is pre thunderbolt so I need something that is USB but would like something that offers future expansion. As an alternative I was thinking I could get a FerroFish p16 to feed a smaller desktop interface. I also looked at the Audient interfaces but they don't have DSP and I like having built in reverb to feed singers. The advantage of going all Motu is that they'd seamlessly integrate over AVB.
What y'all think? Anyone have any experience with the UltraLite AVB? Is there anything I'm missing or not considering? How are the preamps on the Motu? Can I hook up the 16a and the UltraLite directly or do I need the Motu AVB switch?
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Post by tasteliketape on Aug 14, 2020 19:55:11 GMT -6
I have a Motu 16a connected to a Motu 8a. and it works flawlessly together thru AVB . With only two AVB unit you won’t need the AVB switch.
My 16a is 1-2 main outs and 3-16 are hardware inserts thru the patchbay.
1-8 on the Motu 8a are open inputs for outboard mic pre’s or whatever I need .
No experience with Motu pre’s , but the AVB has been great.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2020 21:01:53 GMT -6
Doooo it!!!!! There’s nothing even close for the price. Make sure to grab a new Ultralite AVB so you get the new ess sabre da. They updated them with the same da as the 16A. All you need is Ethernet cable to
Hookem up together.
Only flaws are:
1) web browser drivers
2) latency is +/- 1 sample at 44.1 and 48 kHz. It isn’t sample accurate like RME or AVID HDX. Rme make the only sample accurate Usb Interfaces. This means parallel crush with hardware inserts can fuck up the phase big time.
3) AVb connection is not time corrected in the web mixer. So one interface will be behind the other a bit. Learn this Value and fix it in your daw manually
4) da is better than the ad. Typical. Same as SPL and tons of other ear where one is better than the other.
That being said, it kicks the shit out of rme rack mount soundwise (The analog stages on the firefaces are more offensive than even babyface pro in some ways and sound like a joke next to the adi-2 pro and MOTUs) and rules the interface market in its price range. The apogee elements are Good but no expansion and impossible to track a full band without The 8 and Adat bs and Mac only. Bleh. I hate Adat. Never again. There’s no other multi channel interfaces that are this solid until you hit the Lynx Aurora (n) thunderbolt or Avid HDX rebrand dad DAD. Everything else as good except rme (which doesn’t sound nearly as good) needs you to buy another interface to hook up. I haven’t tried the new Steinberg axr4 or the Slate tbolt/pcie thing yet because they cost bank and I’ve never seen them in person or even heard of anyone using them.
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Post by RealNoob on Aug 15, 2020 20:57:34 GMT -6
We have 2 Ultralight AVBs for church. We run tracks on 6 channels. It has been flawless running off an iPad so compatibility it proven, even by our use. I have a second for redundancy after someone smacked the knobs to hell - only time one hasn't worked. In a live setting, I cannot discern any problems with fidelity or sound. I'm sure it's at least middle of the road and more than serviceable for creating commercially acceptable tracks/albums.
tomegatherion is right - nothing at the price point can really touch it.
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Post by Tbone81 on Aug 25, 2020 14:29:21 GMT -6
So I pulled the trigger on a Motu Ultralight AVB, should be here in about a week. I'll report back when I've run it through the paces.
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Post by keymod on Sept 3, 2020 14:14:45 GMT -6
Looking forward to your assessment
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Post by Tbone81 on Sept 3, 2020 17:50:25 GMT -6
It just came in the mail 2 days ago. I’m setting it up tonight but won’t really be doing much till this weekend. I’ll report back soon.
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Post by terryrocks on Sept 4, 2020 12:37:36 GMT -6
I love my two 16a
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Post by Tbone81 on Sept 5, 2020 16:13:24 GMT -6
So just a quick report after a day or so of using this interface.
1) Installation was a breeze, and it worked great right out the box
2) The DSP Mixer is a little confusing (as others have said) but I've been studying the manual and I'm starting to figure it out. I had a light bulb moment when I realized that the design/routing philosophy is not like an analog mixer. Instead you're audio is being transmitted "to the network" and from there you can tell it to go anywhere. You can route anything to anything. I'm starting to get the hang of it and luckily its very easy to make presets.
3) I was initially concerned because the DSP software runs off your web browser, but after using it its actually rather easy.
4) The sound: Initial impressions are that the lows sound a little deeper and more detailed than my previous Motu 828 mkIII. I can hear more distortion in bass guitars, kick drums, etc. I can hear the low mids of high gain guitars clipping in some reference mixes. I feel like the highs are a little higher too, if that makes sense. But the sound is also softer compared to my 828 mkIII. Transients seem a hair less snappy but overall music sounds more musical/less clinical...in a good way (for me at least). It's not a night and day difference from my 828 mkIII, but I would say an overall improvement. I haven't yet tried A/B'ing it with my old interface, and doubt I'll get around to it because, honestly, I don't care enough for the trouble.
I'll post more when I've had more time with it.
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Post by sirthought on Sept 5, 2020 18:23:49 GMT -6
Nothing better than a good plan that comes together
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Post by mrholmes on Sept 6, 2020 4:04:04 GMT -6
I've been considering upgrading my system for a while now. I have Mk III MOTU 828's that have served me well. But they're old and when it gets hot, and they've been on for hours, they start to glitch out in weird ways.
I had an 828 mk2. One day the motherboard literally burned. Since then I use RME. I still have my first one from 2006 all trouble it made was recapping. |
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Post by Tbone81 on Sept 6, 2020 13:47:43 GMT -6
Hey Terry, yeah I’m going to be adding a 16a when I have the funds. The expandability was a major selling point. I plan on having the ultra light be mobile and still be able to just plug in an Ethernet cable, change a preset and be rocking in the studio again. |
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Post by keymod on Sept 6, 2020 14:34:01 GMT -6
We have a 16A in the control room, along with a 24Ao in the keyboard room. I am considering moving the 24Ao to the control room so I can route 24 channels through the console. The 16A basically goes in and out of our tracking sidecar, via patchbay. If I do move the 24Ao, I want to get a Monitor8 to replace it in the keyboard room. That way we will still have plenty of I/O for the keyboards, but have the benefit of the headphone monitor mixes. It's only money.........
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,937 
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Post by ericn on Sept 7, 2020 16:53:10 GMT -6
So just a quick report after a day or so of using this interface. 1) Installation was a breeze, and it worked great right out the box 2) The DSP Mixer is a little confusing (as others have said) but I've been studying the manual and I'm starting to figure it out. I had a light bulb moment when I realized that the design/routing philosophy is not like an analog mixer. Instead you're audio is being transmitted "to the network" and from there you can tell it to go anywhere. You can route anything to anything. I'm starting to get the hang of it and luckily its very easy to make presets. 3) I was initially concerned because the DSP software runs off your web browser, but after using it its actually rather easy. 4) The sound: Initial impressions are that the lows sound a little deeper and more detailed than my previous Motu 828 mkIII. I can hear more distortion in bass guitars, kick drums, etc. I can hear the low mids of high gain guitars clipping in some reference mixes. I feel like the highs are a little higher too, if that makes sense. But the sound is also softer compared to my 828 mkIII. Transients seem a hair less snappy but overall music sounds more musical/less clinical...in a good way (for me at least). It's not a night and day difference from my 828 mkIII, but I would say an overall improvement. I haven't yet tried A/B'ing it with my old interface, and doubt I'll get around to it because, honestly, I don't care enough for the trouble. I'll post more when I've had more time with it. Are any of these DSP mixer apps not confusing? Now let’s all think how simpler life would be if everybody were to adopt a simple control protocol for these and then all the different DAW manufacturers could intergrate these functions into the DAW! Yeah I know far to simple and smart of an idea to ever see the light of day. |
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Post by Tbone81 on Sept 7, 2020 19:04:06 GMT -6
So just a quick report after a day or so of using this interface. 1) Installation was a breeze, and it worked great right out the box 2) The DSP Mixer is a little confusing (as others have said) but I've been studying the manual and I'm starting to figure it out. I had a light bulb moment when I realized that the design/routing philosophy is not like an analog mixer. Instead you're audio is being transmitted "to the network" and from there you can tell it to go anywhere. You can route anything to anything. I'm starting to get the hang of it and luckily its very easy to make presets. 3) I was initially concerned because the DSP software runs off your web browser, but after using it its actually rather easy. 4) The sound: Initial impressions are that the lows sound a little deeper and more detailed than my previous Motu 828 mkIII. I can hear more distortion in bass guitars, kick drums, etc. I can hear the low mids of high gain guitars clipping in some reference mixes. I feel like the highs are a little higher too, if that makes sense. But the sound is also softer compared to my 828 mkIII. Transients seem a hair less snappy but overall music sounds more musical/less clinical...in a good way (for me at least). It's not a night and day difference from my 828 mkIII, but I would say an overall improvement. I haven't yet tried A/B'ing it with my old interface, and doubt I'll get around to it because, honestly, I don't care enough for the trouble. I'll post more when I've had more time with it. Are any of these DSP mixer apps not confusing? Now let’s all think how simpler life would be if everybody were to adopt a simple control protocol for these and then all the different DAW manufacturers could intergrate these functions into the DAW! Yeah I know far to simple and smart of an idea to ever see the light of day. Yeah, but some are worse than others. The AVB thing is a whole other animal though. As great an idea as an industry standard protocol for DSP mixers, that wouldn't work with AVB. Once I told got rid of the idea that this was a "mixer", and started thinking like I was configuring a data server (which I've never done btw) it started to make sense. |
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Post by professorplum on Feb 12, 2022 19:44:45 GMT -6
Make sure to grab a new Ultralite AVB so you get the new ess sabre da. They updated them with the same da as the 16A. Have they upgraded the DA since it was released in 2015 without updating the model? I don't need preamps since I use 500 stuff and rarely record more than 6 channels; more often just 2 at a time. Looking for some high quality A/D without any preamps or fancy bells and whistles that won't break the bank. The Apogee elements series was a strong contender but don't want it since it's discontinued. Any suggestions that would be a A/D step up from my MOTU Ultralite Mk5 without pres/extras? |
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