Avid MBox mk 3 & Ableton - opinions? / vs MOTU ultra lite 3?

[vjfranzk]

(btw - avid bought maudio)

So I want a new audio interface am considering
Avid MBox mk 3 & Ableton - opinions? / comparisons?

It's made for protools, but Live 8 is what I want to use it with, of course.

I'm making electronica (suprise!) mixed with other styles,
so also want good clean preamps for vocal mics,
and recording my bandmates and friends guitars etc.
Like many of you, I HATE latency. It's the bane of electroacoustic music

I use outboard beatboxes like Electribes and Tenori-on also,
so MIDI synch / control funtionality is quite important.

Another unite I'm considering is the MOTU Ultra Lite 3,
which has several more inputs, but I've heard that the preamps arent as good,
also some claim that the USB / firewire thing makes it glitchy (in a bad way!)

Reviews, opinions? or better first hand experience?

Thanks in advance!

[vjfranzk]

another interesting candidate, which seems to review well:

Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 IO Firewire Interface

It would be NICE I suppose to have USB ability,
(especially since the Firewire connectors ultimate future is unknown? USB 3 is coming...)
but I'm mainly using a Macbook pro, and PC compatibility is secondary

[vjfranzk]

Thanks for votes! But SOMEbody's got to have more of an text based opinion?

Everyone is talking about the new Mbox 3 as "so much better than Mk 2"
with "better a/d converters" by Cirus Logic

as if it is the best thing since sliced bread? but how do YOU slice it?

the mini version is too small and has no MIDI.*
the "pro" costs too much at this time... (and IS there MIDI on there somewhere?)

I guess the mid sized on is "just right".

*Am I correct in assuming that one gets better synch of MIDI vs audio
when both signals are coming from the same machine?
(instead of two seperate - an audio interface, and say an UNO?)

[twisted-space]

*Am I correct in assuming that one gets better synch of MIDI vs audio
when both signals are coming from the same machine?
(instead of two seperate - an audio interface, and say an UNO?)

Errrm.......



No.

[vjfranzk]

I see you are a man of few words.

Off the forum, I got one vote for MOTU, and one for the Focusrite

The question is: at aprox the same price, the MOTU offers more simul. inputs
So are they of less quality, individually?

(Or is Mbox just overpriced? I don't intend to use ProTools that much,
as Ableton is my main DAW now.)

*Am I correct in assuming that one gets better synch of MIDI vs audio
when both signals are coming from the same machine?
(instead of two seperate - an audio interface, and say an UNO?)

Errrm.......



No.

[twisted-space]

I see you are a man of few words.

I was simply attempting to answer your question in a concise and succinct manner. I can be verbose when required but in this case I felt my reply was entirely sufficient.

[The Leveller]

I would advise the whole world is issued with a Motu Ultralite at birth, great little interface, lashings of I/O, solid as a rock, never had an issue.

[randrohe]

I have an ultralite and a mbox pro 2....
No comparison..get the Motu...
If not for the extra features, than as a slap in the face to Avid who has kept us down with the limited functionality.

[pepezabala]

I have a motu ultralite, but the previous generation. It has worked fine through dozens of gigs, only one time, when the sun was hitting it very hard on a very hot summerday, on a festival, it turned off because of too much heat.

And it's heavy. I mostly use only two ins and two outs, so sometimes I think I would be better with something smaller/lighter (I often have to carry my stuff in a backpack).

[The Leveller]

I have the Motu hooked up with multi I/O in y studio so I'm considering a mobile solution. Have come across the Mackie Onyx BlackJack. Looks great, has the Onyx preamps and the Cirrus logic A/D converters.

No-one seems to use it though...but I am tempted for £120. if you don't need massive I/O choice that would be my choice.

[vjfranzk]

I have an ultralite and a mbox pro 2....
No comparison..get the Motu...
If not for the extra features, than as a slap in the face to Avid who has kept us down with the limited functionality.

yes, life has too many limitations without artificially imposed ones.


I have heard many dislike the Mbox 2 generation, but the 3 are supposed to be signifigantly better.

My friend has a MOTU ultralight (1st gen, firewire only) which does sound great,
to record his band using multiple inputs on Ableton
but he says it sometimes has glitches in playback (and recording) for unknown reasons

I would hate that to happen in the middle of a concert or something.

I have heard some complain of glitches with Motu v3, but they seemed mostly PC users
(and I mostly use mac.)

[vjfranzk]

well, it seems the Mbox is more well liked by many, so I'll probably go for it myself.

buy here's an interesting new development for non PT users -

the mBox will be cheaper if you buy it non-bundled with pro tools.

I've used PT before at my friend's studio, it is indeed a tool for pros ,
but but because I like Ableton a lot for composition / mixing / performance,
and value simplicity, I think I will just keep using it for all functions at MY studio.

see info - red box update
http://www.harmonycentral.com/docs/DOC-1956

[borg nagar]

Tons of problems with my Motu Ultralite mkIII with mac.

It used to work pretty well, while always being quite hard on the CPU. But nowadays it's really horrible. During my one and half years of using it I've had the following persisting problems.

Sound crashes. Either to no sound at all until I reboot the interface, or then I'm getting a super high pitched beep and no other sound until I reboot the interface. Also my main outs stopped working with no apparent reason. Both at the same time, which seems quite odd. Now I'm using the 3-4 analog outs for main outputs. Also last time I was recording some drums with the builtin preamp inputs 1-2 they recorded out of sync. The other track was clearly something like 30ms in different sync than the other one. Really annoying.

These problems are occurring with mac os x 10.4.11 and Ableton Live 7.0.18.

Also I've never found any real use for the dsp in the card. It was a real turn-off since I though it'd rock to have some dsp going on. Otherwise I love the card

[vjfranzk]

Just when I was about to go buy a MBOX 3...

Wow, this is the most negative review I have read from a Mac user
(there seems to be some issues with windows, but...)

I notice your OS and ableton versions aren't the most current.
What model Mac is that, BTW? And are you using the USB or firewire

Macs before a certain date don't have USB2, they have USB 1 which is slower,
And causes trouble with certain devices, I've seen it happen

can't wait for Thunderwire, or whatever they're calling the new interface on MacBooks!
MEGA bandwidth

Tons of problems with my Motu Ultralite mkIII with mac.

It used to work pretty well, while always being quite hard on the CPU. But nowadays it's really horrible. During my one and half years of using it I've had the following persisting problems.

Sound crashes. Either to no sound at all until I reboot the interface, or then I'm getting a ....
These problems are occurring with mac os x 10.4.11 and Ableton Live 7.0.18.

Also I've never found any real use for the dsp in the card. It was a real turn-off since I though it'd rock to have some dsp going on. Otherwise I love the card

[vjfranzk]

Also, while reading a review in Sound on Sound magazine, I discovered that the MBOX
(ZOMGBox?) sends all input through it's preamps, even the line level,
Which I guess could be limiting if you use a lot of different input types?

http://www.akaipro.com/eie#
And check this out, Old Maconald - it's the EIE I/O!
Coming in summer from akai, for $200

Looks cool, but I suspect at that price it wont have comparable audio quality to these other players in the game