RME or MOTU

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Hidden Driveways
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by Hidden Driveways » Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:00 am

The next interface I buy will carry me for the next five years at least. Most of the music and recording work that I carry out over those five years (or more) will pass through that interface. The quality of that interface will determine the overall quality of that work. To me, the expense of RME hardware is justified.

mike_o
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by mike_o » Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:27 am

Hidden Driveways wrote:The next interface I buy will carry me for the next five years at least. Most of the music and recording work that I carry out over those five years (or more) will pass through that interface. The quality of that interface will determine the overall quality of that work. To me, the expense of RME hardware is justified.

don't really agree about the audio interface determining the overall quality of the sound, at least not between the interfaces mentioned here, motu, RME, Focusrite etc. can all produce top quality sound.

RME's real strengh is in their low latency, they are a higher quality overall but the real shows-tealer is their low latency.

Tarekith
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by Tarekith » Tue Feb 09, 2010 5:01 am

Guess it depends on how much you want out of your soundcard really. I loved my Ultralite, I still think it's the best bang for the buck soundcard out in terms of sound quality and stability, and just plain easy to use. That said, A/Bing my Ultralite with the FF400 was like night and day here, the FF400 just had so much more detail in my studio.

Actually, let me rephrase that. The difference in sound quality was noticeable enough that I didn't think the additional cost was at all a waste, given that I got the RME strictly for it's improved clarity. On the flip side, I don't at all think that I couldn;'t get equally professional results with the Ultralite, but after years of training my ears to hear small audio errors, I enjoy working on the FF400 more.
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SubFunk
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by SubFunk » Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:31 am

mike_o wrote:what everyone is saying about the RME's being in another league is true, but unless you have them side by side like subfunk you will probably never notice a difference. I looked at the RME's and just couldn't justify the expense versus the ultralight MK3,

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Fireface400/

$1299 + %8.25 tax= $1406

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UltraLite3Hy/

$549 + %8.25 tax = $594

thats an $812 difference, thats a lot and I dont remember being THAT impressed with them.
you certainly got a point there... i always see equipment also in respect to the money you pay for...

but i agree with tarekith, an RME is worth the extra bucks, not sure if i think a lynx or benchmark, etc. is it worth, at least not in a home / project studio where the whole signal chain hardly keeps up with a card like that.
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GrooveNinja
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by GrooveNinja » Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:35 pm

Tarekith wrote:Guess it depends on how much you want out of your soundcard really. I loved my Ultralite, I still think it's the best bang for the buck soundcard out in terms of sound quality and stability, and just plain easy to use. That said, A/Bing my Ultralite with the FF400 was like night and day here, the FF400 just had so much more detail in my studio.

Actually, let me rephrase that. The difference in sound quality was noticeable enough that I didn't think the additional cost was at all a waste, given that I got the RME strictly for it's improved clarity. On the flip side, I don't at all think that I couldn;'t get equally professional results with the Ultralite, but after years of training my ears to hear small audio errors, I enjoy working on the FF400 more.
I had the UC for a week or so, before I sent it back because it would have noise and distortion on anything that I recorded. During that time, I compared it to my Virus Ti, and although it was not a very scientific comparison (it takes quite a bit of time to swap the cables to my monitors), I could not really hear any difference between it and the Virus. I attributed that to the quality of the Virus' outputs. Then, I received my Apogee Duet. The very first thing that I played out of it made me sit up and say, "Wow!" It was like I had never heard the song before! The clarity, definition, and sense of space around all of the instruments is simply amazing. Until that moment, I had thought that people who claimed that they could hear the difference between different DACs were simply fooling themselves.

Cryptic UK
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by Cryptic UK » Tue Feb 09, 2010 5:21 pm

Had thought of getting a duet but its very limited on the i/o's for me
Drums

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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by Tarekith » Tue Feb 09, 2010 5:34 pm

They need to make a Quartet version.
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Bongo Dave
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by Bongo Dave » Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:46 pm

Just upgraded to RME Fireface 400 UC and having nothing but trouble.
Live 8.1.1 won't even start half the time, when it does start it always crashes quickly.
Also, latency is terrible. Must use minimum of 1024 samples.
Very disappointed. Ready to throw the whole thing in the river.

Hidden Driveways
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by Hidden Driveways » Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:13 pm

Bongo Dave wrote:Just upgraded to RME Fireface 400 UC and having nothing but trouble.
Live 8.1.1 won't even start half the time, when it does start it always crashes quickly.
Also, latency is terrible. Must use minimum of 1024 samples.
Very disappointed. Ready to throw the whole thing in the river.
Bong... do you have the Fireface 400 or the Fireface UC? They're two different pieces of hardware which will require two different sets of drivers and RME's flash updates.

zalo
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by zalo » Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:35 pm

Bongo Dave wrote:Just upgraded to RME Fireface 400 UC and having nothing but trouble.
Live 8.1.1 won't even start half the time, when it does start it always crashes quickly.
Also, latency is terrible. Must use minimum of 1024 samples.
Very disappointed. Ready to throw the whole thing in the river.
might just be live, 8.1.1 doesnt start half the time for me, no matter what soundcard im using

also what is your system specs, did you install only the drivers from the included disk or did you download new ones?

Silence
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by Silence » Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:08 pm

do the rme cards or the motu cards plug&play?

cuz i remember the firebox i had, it was great in that way. i just plugged it in and all sound went through it. logic just detected it, true plug&play style.

now i use a Mbox1 until i get a new card and the mbox sucks. sure it sounds ok and all but its a real hassle and it uses its own version of core audio. "digi core crap something or another". What i wanna know is if i just can plug one of those in without a bunch of install crap and superduper mixers that i have to use cuz it makes everything SOOO much better.

I want a damn card that is truly class compliant and that works (i do realize that if i want to make a bunch of internal routing and such that i need the mixers, but that´s as they say "next level shit" )


good day to you all
MBP - Ultralite MK3 - Genelec 8020 & 8030 - BCR2000 - padKONTROL - NordRack 2

Hidden Driveways
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by Hidden Driveways » Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:12 pm

Silence wrote:do the rme cards or the motu cards plug&play?

cuz i remember the firebox i had, it was great in that way. i just plugged it in and all sound went through it. logic just detected it, true plug&play style.

now i use a Mbox1 until i get a new card and the mbox sucks. sure it sounds ok and all but its a real hassle and it uses its own version of core audio. "digi core crap something or another". What i wanna know is if i just can plug one of those in without a bunch of install crap and superduper mixers that i have to use cuz it makes everything SOOO much better.

I want a damn card that is truly class compliant and that works (i do realize that if i want to make a bunch of internal routing and such that i need the mixers, but that´s as they say "next level shit" )


good day to you all
Here's the ideal solution... check this out:

http://www.presonus.com/products/Detail ... roductId=4

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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by 3phase » Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:15 pm

Bongo Dave wrote:Just upgraded to RME Fireface 400 UC and having nothing but trouble.
Live 8.1.1 won't even start half the time, when it does start it always crashes quickly.
Also, latency is terrible. Must use minimum of 1024 samples.
Very disappointed. Ready to throw the whole thing in the river.

you might try Live 7 to find out if its a L8 issue or a problem with your rme driver install..
if L7 fails aswell you might check the RME forum.. they post there sometimes betas to cure urgent issues or might be helpfull otherwise..
mac book 2,16 ghz 4(3)gb ram, Os 10.62, fireface 400,

Silence
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by Silence » Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:37 pm

Hidden Driveways wrote:
Silence wrote:do the rme cards or the motu cards plug&play?

cuz i remember the firebox i had, it was great in that way. i just plugged it in and all sound went through it. logic just detected it, true plug&play style.

now i use a Mbox1 until i get a new card and the mbox sucks. sure it sounds ok and all but its a real hassle and it uses its own version of core audio. "digi core crap something or another". What i wanna know is if i just can plug one of those in without a bunch of install crap and superduper mixers that i have to use cuz it makes everything SOOO much better.

I want a damn card that is truly class compliant and that works (i do realize that if i want to make a bunch of internal routing and such that i need the mixers, but that´s as they say "next level shit" )


good day to you all
Here's the ideal solution... check this out:

http://www.presonus.com/products/Detail ... roductId=4
cute... u suggested that i buy the sound card i already had ;)

ok... so i assume neither the RME or the Ultralite are as plug & play as the firebox?
MBP - Ultralite MK3 - Genelec 8020 & 8030 - BCR2000 - padKONTROL - NordRack 2

zalo
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Re: RME or MOTU

Post by zalo » Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:57 pm

3phase wrote:
Bongo Dave wrote:Just upgraded to RME Fireface 400 UC and having nothing but trouble.
Live 8.1.1 won't even start half the time, when it does start it always crashes quickly.
Also, latency is terrible. Must use minimum of 1024 samples.
Very disappointed. Ready to throw the whole thing in the river.

you might try Live 7 to find out if its a L8 issue or a problem with your rme driver install..
if L7 fails aswell you might check the RME forum.. they post there sometimes betas to cure urgent issues or might be helpfull otherwise..
also itunes has a hard 512 buffer size, so if you must use a minimum of 1024 you will hear artifacts when listening to itunes, give that a shot

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