Motu Opinions

inis · Post by **inis** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 5:41 am

I know alot of guys are on traveller, so i definelty want to hear anything about that. Ive been an M-audio guy for a while, and i still am, but i need a second audio interface to use in my home studio, i will probably rarely transport it, and im willing to spend what it takes to be satisfied.

I dont need anything with a shit load of features. i dont do alot of multi channel recording. Anyway, the motu stuff looks pretty nice, so im really curious to hear from all the users.

This will be for my G5 running reason, live, logic, pro-tools.

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 5:59 am

the traveler is proving to be my favorite of all the audio interfaces I've owned. It sounds great, and is easy to use.

btw, you won't be able to use pro tools with it--unless you use it via lightpipe with one of the digi interfaces like the 002.

zion15 · Post by **zion15** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 6:06 am

the sound quality is fine, the drivers are damn solid and overall i'm happy with mine. been using it for a few months now at home and on gigs and it hasn't failed me in any way yet.

however, if you're not planning to transport it i'd suggest looking to 828mk2. it sounds as good (and nobody really needs 192k anyway unless the converters are killer and you're recording classical), has the same drivers and costs less. only big differences seem to be no bus powerability in 828 and slightly different i/o configuration.

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 6:06 am

oh, and the latency is practically non existent! I was tracking vox tonight at a buffer of 184 samples and getting 6 ms of latency. that's waaay better than the m-audio ozonic I own. I bought the ozonic specifically to use in the studio all the time, but the latency is ridiculous on that piece.

that's why i copped the traveler.

inis · Post by **inis** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:03 am

rahlo wrote:the traveler is proving to be my favorite of all the audio interfaces I've owned. It sounds great, and is easy to use.

btw, you won't be able to use pro tools with it--unless you use it via lightpipe with one of the digi interfaces like the 002.

can you use live, logic, reason with the digi interfaces?

Winterpark · Post by **Winterpark** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:54 am

inis wrote:
rahlo wrote:the traveler is proving to be my favorite of all the audio interfaces I've owned. It sounds great, and is easy to use.

btw, you won't be able to use pro tools with it--unless you use it via lightpipe with one of the digi interfaces like the 002.
can you use live, logic, reason with the digi interfaces?

you can.. but just be aware that digidesign are kinda lame with their customer support and driver updates...

btw... i just got a traveler and it totally rules... awesome routing posibilities which works expecially well if you are trying to incorporate extrenal effects (both digital and analog). and low latency which is great if you are playing instruments/vocals through plugins.

:)M

dm_hawk · Post by **dm_hawk** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 6:47 pm

I originally wanted to get a firebox/fa-101/saffire type thing, but after reading countless threads concerning audio interfaces on the ableton, osxaudio, and em411 forums, plus conversations with a few audio engineers, I found that there are only two "portable" interfaces no one seems to bitch about:

MOTU Traveler
and
RME cardbus + multiface

It seems that there are quite a few people out there having bad experiences (mainly cpu/driver - related) with the smaller boxes. Maybe we just have to wait a few years before something solid hits the market.

As my pb's cardbus is fried, I decided to properly invest and go for the traveler.

I bought it a few days ago, and love it so far, but this doesn't mean much, as I'm still in the stage of waking up in the middle of the night to pet it while it sleeps, sending photos of it to my family, etc.

smart1123 · Post by **smart1123** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:08 pm

I love my traveller, sounds great, totally portable.
Don't run any drives off of the FW port.
Also if on a G4 laptop some people on the forums are suggesting a cardbus adaptor if you want to connect antthing to the other FW port (as the two ports on a G4 are only on one bus)

Killed my first one though... don't hotswap.

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:22 pm

smart1123 wrote:I love my traveller, sounds great, totally portable.
Don't run any drives off of the FW port.
Also if on a G4 laptop some people on the forums are suggesting a cardbus adaptor if you want to connect antthing to the other FW port (as the two ports on a G4 are only on one bus)

Killed my first one though... don't hotswap.

hmm. I've heard the same warning, but I've recorded gigs with fw drives connected to the traveler's other fw port. I've also used the ozonic for gigs where it's connected to the traveler's second fw port. the ozonic is also bus powered, and it worked great--no problems whatsoever!

kettensaege · Post by **kettensaege** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:59 pm

have to chime in here, the traveller really rocks. pretty lightweight (but not really small), bus powered, phantom power seperately switchable for the 4 XLR inputs, the cue mix console and the routing possibilities rock, drivers seem to be pretty cpu efficient and rock solid. I recorded 6 or 8 tracks simultaneously in Live to my external firewire drive daisy chained to the traveller, all hooked up to my 800MHz iBook G4, worked great. Don't regret getting one even if the price hurt quite a bit.

FORMAT · Post by **FORMAT** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 9:07 pm

rahlo wrote:
smart1123 wrote:I love my traveller, sounds great, totally portable.
Don't run any drives off of the FW port.
Also if on a G4 laptop some people on the forums are suggesting a cardbus adaptor if you want to connect antthing to the other FW port (as the two ports on a G4 are only on one bus)

Killed my first one though... don't hotswap.
hmm. I've heard the same warning, but I've recorded gigs with fw drives connected to the traveler's other fw port. I've also used the ozonic for gigs where it's connected to the traveler's second fw port. the ozonic is also bus powered, and it worked great--no problems whatsoever!

I've never heard that you shouldn't connect a drive at the other end of the Traveler, can you point me to some official info? Would it be better to connect the HD to the Powerbook first, then after that the Traveler?
I haven't had any problems with it so far, and with the first Motu 828 I've owned.

To the first poster: Go for the 828 Mk2.

smart1123 · Post by **smart1123** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 9:43 pm

All I know is I get dropouts if I even have another drive on the FW port let alone run audio off it. The only exception being my buddies FW800 drive. Great that you others can run drives off that port... but I can't.

FORMAT · Post by **FORMAT** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 7:30 am

smart1123 wrote:All I know is I get dropouts if I even have another drive on the FW port let alone run audio off it. The only exception being my buddies FW800 drive. Great that you others can run drives off that port... but I can't.

Does it happen in both configurations, i.e. Traveler first and then the drive and vice versa?

smart1123 · Post by **smart1123** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 1:52 pm

only tried motu first, just bought a lacie cardbus fw adaptor, seems to be doing the trick (motu on cardbus, fw800 drive on mac port, played for two hours no dropouts)

inis · Post by **inis** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 1:32 am

rahlo wrote:the traveler is proving to be my favorite of all the audio interfaces I've owned. It sounds great, and is easy to use.

btw, you won't be able to use pro tools with it--unless you use it via lightpipe with one of the digi interfaces like the 002.

anyone mind a quick explanation or link to lightpipe?