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Post by copperx on Sept 18, 2023 13:24:17 GMT -6
I use the MOTU Ultralite AVB nearly every day in my rehearsal studio. I have a 24ao and a 24ai hooked up to it through an AVB box and I've never had a hiccup. I've literally got that thing maxxed out so I feel like if there were driver issues, I would have experienced them. The Ultralite is a cool little box if you ask me. A surprising amount of I/O packed in there. One thing I really like about MOTU is that each input is independent. So it's not like others where they list all these inputs on a small box but some of them actually cancel out the others. You really can run 10 analog inputs into that thing. It's crowded back there, but it works! That's really cool! Have you noticed any AD/DA quality difference between the rack units and the Ultralite? |
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Sept 18, 2023 13:53:20 GMT -6
I use the MOTU Ultralite AVB nearly every day in my rehearsal studio. I have a 24ao and a 24ai hooked up to it through an AVB box and I've never had a hiccup. I've literally got that thing maxxed out so I feel like if there were driver issues, I would have experienced them. The Ultralite is a cool little box if you ask me. A surprising amount of I/O packed in there. One thing I really like about MOTU is that each input is independent. So it's not like others where they list all these inputs on a small box but some of them actually cancel out the others. You really can run 10 analog inputs into that thing. It's crowded back there, but it works! That's really cool! Have you noticed any AD/DA quality difference between the rack units and the Ultralite? I wouldn't have noticed either way. The rack units are taking 24 i/o from my board so it's a totally different animal. Way too many variables to judge the conversion on its own in this case. I've never bothered to do a controlled comparison. The Ultralite AVB (as of 2019) has the same conversion as my 828ES which I liked better than the Apollo x8 it replaced. No idea if it's actually better than the Apollo mind you. Or even if the difference is real. But everything sounded better to me when I switched to 828es. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2023 13:55:50 GMT -6
anders, the Ensemble looks fantastic indeed. I hadn't considered it. It checks every single box in my requirements! The only thing is that I am not exclusively on a Mac. I wonder whether adding something like an RME Digiface USB would solve the Windows portion of the equation. Because, well, it looks like Ensemble has everything I'm looking for. I'm just not comfortable having an interface dictate which OS I should use. Seems backwards. But I'm thinking it might be worth it. The Apogee preamps seem very convenient. I just found out that a similar box (in features) is the Avid Carbon. Preamps and, I believe, DAD conversion. It's $2k without software. Just a small detail; I'm not using ProTools. I wonder whether I could use it in other DAWs without losing functionality. The MOTU Ultralite AVB and MK5 are in stock, too. From what I've read, their drivers are a downgrade from their better units, which is a shame. I'll guess the box with the least drawbacks wins. The Motu Ultralite AVB has the same AVB drivers as the 828es, 16a, and 1248. There's just no thunderbolt port so higher latency on Mac. Thunderbolt latency for MOTU is about the same as there USB latency on Windows. Motu drivers are not nearly as stable on Windows as on Mac. Pro Tools Carbon is not a DAD interface. The Avid rebranded DAD interfaces are the MRTX Studio which is a cut down fixed MRTX II with the stock IC anti-alias filters. The MRTX II is the Avid branded AX64. MRTX Studio comes from the AX Center. |
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Post by copperx on Sept 19, 2023 0:19:38 GMT -6
The Motu Ultralite AVB has the same AVB drivers as the 828es, 16a, and 1248. There's just no thunderbolt port so higher latency on Mac. Thunderbolt latency for MOTU is about the same as there USB latency on Windows. Motu drivers are not nearly as stable on Windows as on Mac. Had I known that, I would have purchased the Ultralite AVB a long time ago! I thought it used the not-as-good drivers like the ones for the M2/M4/M6 family. Right now the Ultralite is the top contender. The RME 802FS a close second. The SSL Big Six is also VERY tempting. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2023 6:52:01 GMT -6
The Motu Ultralite AVB has the same AVB drivers as the 828es, 16a, and 1248. There's just no thunderbolt port so higher latency on Mac. Thunderbolt latency for MOTU is about the same as there USB latency on Windows. Motu drivers are not nearly as stable on Windows as on Mac. Had I known that, I would have purchased the Ultralite AVB a long time ago! I thought it used the not-as-good drivers like the ones for the M2/M4/M6 family. Right now the Ultralite is the top contender. The RME 802FS a close second. The SSL Big Six is also VERY tempting. If you're just looking for an 8in / 8out I wouldn't overlook the Focusrite Clarett stuff either, in terms of conversion they're certainly no worse than over a decade old MOTU design. I know someone who has one and their productions are annoyingly brillant. Eventually if I get a mixer of some description I'll be buying a Rednet (with more I/O), mainly because of Pro Tools but it looks pretty good as well. |
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Sept 19, 2023 7:32:34 GMT -6
Had I known that, I would have purchased the Ultralite AVB a long time ago! I thought it used the not-as-good drivers like the ones for the M2/M4/M6 family. Right now the Ultralite is the top contender. The RME 802FS a close second. The SSL Big Six is also VERY tempting. If you're just looking for an 8in / 8out I wouldn't overlook the Focusrite Clarett stuff either, in terms of conversion they're certainly no worse than over a decade old MOTU design. I know someone who has one and their productions are annoyingly brillant. Eventually if I get a mixer of some description I'll be buying a Rednet (with more I/O), mainly because of Pro Tools but it looks pretty good as well. Fwiw MOTU updated the converters in the Ultralite back in 2019. But I've never used the Clarett so I can't really comment on it. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2023 8:58:07 GMT -6
Had I known that, I would have purchased the Ultralite AVB a long time ago! I thought it used the not-as-good drivers like the ones for the M2/M4/M6 family. Right now the Ultralite is the top contender. The RME 802FS a close second. The SSL Big Six is also VERY tempting. If you're just looking for an 8in / 8out I wouldn't overlook the Focusrite Clarett stuff either, in terms of conversion they're certainly no worse than over a decade old MOTU design. I know someone who has one and their productions are annoyingly brillant. Eventually if I get a mixer of some description I'll be buying a Rednet (with more I/O), mainly because of Pro Tools but it looks pretty good as well. The Clarett’s problem is the build absolutely sucks more than the sound, which is a slightly cleaned up version of prosumer sound. The pots are garbage. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2023 12:11:06 GMT -6
Fwiw MOTU updated the converters in the Ultralite back in 2019. But I've never used the Clarett so I can't really comment on it. Copper X is considering RME so I'm not sure how much it matters.. Ouch  ..
Joking aside I bought a rather expensive RME UFX 2 and ultimately didn't care for the sound of it, neither was the latency any better than the interfaces I had previously. Mostly in terms of AD IME there's subtle differences, the gap is probably wider with SSL because there's a whopping great analogue section in front of it but after a tad bit of EQ and volume matching it's not all that different.
@tomegatherion , what does "prosumer" sound even mean? Are the specs a lie? I've heard one and there's nothing wrong with it but yes it is cheap obviously, as long as it sounds great the warranty can do the rest.
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Post by notneeson on Sept 19, 2023 12:32:49 GMT -6
Meh, workflow is so much more salient than the differences in sound between contemporary converters.
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Sept 19, 2023 13:11:54 GMT -6
Meh, workflow is so much more salient than the differences in sound between contemporary converters. My feelings precisely. |
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Post by copperx on Sept 19, 2023 16:32:10 GMT -6
Copper X is considering RME so I'm not sure how much it matters.. Ouch ..
Hahaha! Well, I thought RME had upgraded to the ESS converters and a different audio path (according to the Purple Forum), so I was hoping it wasn't going to be TOO bad. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2023 16:53:36 GMT -6
Fwiw MOTU updated the converters in the Ultralite back in 2019. But I've never used the Clarett so I can't really comment on it. Copper X is considering RME so I'm not sure how much it matters.. Ouch ..
Joking aside I bought a rather expensive RME UFX 2 and ultimately didn't care for the sound of it, neither was the latency any better than the interfaces I had previously. Mostly in terms of AD IME there's subtle differences, the gap is probably wider with SSL because there's a whopping great analogue section in front of it but after a tad bit of EQ and volume matching it's not all that different.
@tomegatherion , what does "prosumer" sound even mean? Are the specs a lie? I've heard one and there's nothing wrong with it but yes it is cheap obviously, as long as it sounds great the warranty can do the rest.
JRC or NJM opamp circuits with junk caps Cheap multichannel codec chips with poor performance Inadequate anti-aliasing filters |
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Post by cyrano on Oct 9, 2023 20:12:53 GMT -6
Take into account that Intel no longer makes Thunderbolt chips. Apple has their own. TB could be included with USB-C, but you need to check cause most PC laptops don't have TB in their implementation of USB-C.
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Post by EmRR on Oct 10, 2023 14:12:03 GMT -6
I gave up on TB after 6 months with the Mac Studio, after using it since 2014. The TB/USB-C converters seem to suck. Intermittent connection, and recorded noise bursts across all tracks! Not so with USB.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2023 14:24:44 GMT -6
I gave up on TB after 6 months with the Mac Studio, after using it since 2014. The TB/USB-C converters seem to suck. Intermittent connection, and recorded noise bursts across all tracks! Not so with USB. Thunderbolt can be unreliable compared to PCI-E and more reliable USB implementations even on some Macs. It's truly per computer. The problem is many good interfaces are thunderbolt only (UAD and Apogee for more than 2i/2o) or only low latency over thunderbolt (Lynx). |
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Post by ab101 on Oct 10, 2023 14:24:58 GMT -6
Tb working without a hitch for years with Aurora (n)
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Post by mcirish on Oct 10, 2023 15:01:59 GMT -6
Tb working without a hitch for years with Aurora (n) Same here. On Windows 11 |
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