Motu 828es Phase Issues

[Bullone]

Dear fellow MOTU 828es users,

I am experiencing phase issues on my MOTU 828es: when I feed the same mono signal to inputs 1&2 (front) I should get two identical mono signals in both channels.
However, when I analyse them with MOTU Audio Tools Phase Analysis in rectangular view, it shows a line that tilts right very much like the example MOTU gives for the one-sample delay case in their MOTU Audio Tools user guide.
It looks like channel 2 has a delay of one sample.
On further inspection, I could verify that at 48Khz sample rate, there is one-sample delay between the channels. It does vary at different sample rates. In Ableton Live, as a workaround, I managed to compensate using either the AlignDelay plugin or a custom built max4live patch: by delaying channel number one of exactly one sample @ 48khz sr I can perfectly phase-align the two channels (straight line in Phase Analysis).
This happens with all input pairs 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, but curiously the delay for all rear inputs is reversed (line tilting to the left, showing a one-sample delay in channel 3, 5, 7). On the other hand, it does not happen if I pair the inputs this way: 1-3, 2-4, 5-7, 6-8.

My workaround allows me to fix my recordings, but I can’t do anything for live monitoring nor for standalone mixer use.

I contacted MOTU support in September 2023 and I sent them screenshots, audio clips and detailed description. They recognised the issue and told me they were going to check with their engineers. I have regularly asked for updates every 15 days or so, but my issue has been constantly postponed until yesterday, when I received a message stating “I do not want to get your hopes up for an update in the near future”. After waiting for more than 4 months, my hopes are very low indeed.I guess this is how it goes with out-of-warranty products (my 828es was 3 years old when I first contacted them).

Hence, I am asking the community: could you please check if you can reproduce the issue on your units?

Please let me know, that would be much appreciated.

Best,

Gianluca

[GIANT22]

I had the same problem. This a hardware issue and they k ow it. There were plenty of users had the same issue. I also switched the device 3 times. they all had the same issue. Lucky me that thomann was very customer centric. They took it back (after one year), I threw another grand on it and I bought an Apollo… best decision ever. (the RMe forefathers was out of order that time - today I would go that way because more bang for your bug…

I‘m sorry. The only workaround is to use inputs 1+3, 2+4 and so on for stereos. it this isn’t a solution.

Big ups!

[Bullone]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

This is sad news… on top of that, it feels bad because you are saying that MOTU are aware of the issue. They’ve been keeping me on hold since September 2023 and they won’t give me any clear answer…